A/N: Wrote this for one of my best friends as an Xmas prezzie. Hope you enjoy!
The Sinnoh region was very different to the way I remembered it. Okay, granted I hadn't been there for a good eight years or so now, but I'd always thought my memory was pretty reasonable. We stopped at the beach, the old boat rocking dangerously as the waves, much smaller than the ones that we'd tackled out at sea, slapped against the side. The captain, the very man who had been kind (and gullible) enough to give us a lift all the way out here, turned, a small grin on his face.
"Here's your stop then, lassies," he said, "Sunyshore City, exactly how you remembered it, I hope."
I stared out at the sand, exactly the same as it had been eight years ago, that same picture-perfect yellow that seemed to have been poured straight out of a postcard. I remembered the last time I'd been here, my whole family and myself, on holiday when I was just seven years old. The jubilation I'd expected to feel, triggered by the happy memories of arriving here combining with the present never came, and I couldn't figure out why. I put it down to the situation with forced self-reassurance. After all, running away from home was bound to repress the happiness I'd once felt being here.
"So where do we go next?" said Ana as we both landed in the sand after jumping from the boat. I squinted up ahead at the city. The beach wasn't very big, only a few feet or so in width – but still, it was one of the Sinnoh regions main docking facilities. It led straight into the city, where I could see a few houses dotting the road up into the centre. Towering over the sprawl of houses and buildings was a formidable structure, shaded almost menacingly in the slowly dying light of the day. The walkway hovering above the city, and connecting some of the houses on upper levels with each other, was made completely out of solar panels; that was how the city got its energy. That in itself still seemed to be the same to the way I remembered it – but everything else was different. The houses, once made out of expensive materials imported from the Unova region, had been knocked down, replaced with structures barely recognisable as living quarters, made out of nothing but wood from the berry trees. Almost nobody was out – but I could understand that; now that it was December, a chill had sunken into the air around us, stealing the breath from our lungs and turning it to clouds before our eyes. A harsh sea-breeze ripped into both Ana and I as we gazed around at the scene in front of us. It took a repeat of the question for me to remember that I was supposed to reply to my twin sister.
"I know somebody who lives here," I said, "they used to live on the upper level."
"Used to?" said Ana, doubt starting to leak into her voice. I nodded, not wanting to raise any of my anxieties to her right now, such as whether my friend would still live here or not now that things seemed to have gone downhill here. Either way I still headed onwards, Ana following a little reluctantly behind me, arms wrapped around herself in order to try and keep herself warm.
A little hope grew inside of me as we approached the stairs to the solar-panel walkway – they still seemed to be intact, suggesting that the city hadn't been completely crippled by whatever it was that had caused the houses to be pulled down and rebuilt with the less desirable materials. However, as we reached the walkway, I saw that most of the little glass windows in the panels had been shattered completely, clad in graffiti and muddy pokemon footprints. It made walking across the structure, slow and difficult, but it didn't take us too long. The house was positioned in the same place as I remembered, even if it did seem to have been completely rebuilt. I knocked three times, using the same rhythm as I had all that time ago, hoping that might evoke the memory of the women who lived inside with her little girl.
"If the person who answers it isn't a woman of approximately fifty years old," I said to Ana under my breath, "we run for it, agreed?"
"Agreed," said Ana, although her voice was slightly more high pitched than normal. I didn't blame her; my own stomach was swirling was nerves, and it was all I could do to keep them down. The moments ticked by, slowly, uncertainly. Then finally the door opened – and the person standing there was enough to make me turn tail and run right then. As I made the move to pivot on the spot, however, her hand lashed out and grabbed my shoulder, holding me in place. And that was when she spoke.
"Jenni?"
My heart froze, right there and then. Everything about her had changed – but beneath that old, withered tone was that undeniable strength that she'd always had, and always would possess. I turned back to her slowly, searching her face, creased and made old by hardships. Her eyes were still the same hazel colour. She held her mouth in that same perturbed frown that she'd always had before. In some ways I did recognise her – yet at the same time, everything felt wrong.
"Come in," she said, "it's cold outside."
Both Ana and myself followed her through the front door, which she slammed shut behind us with surprising force for an old woman. I noticed her reach for a cane, which she used to help her walk as she moved more into the centre of the room. Looking around me, I knew that she was indeed the woman I'd been hoping to find here – although the house was smaller, the same possessions still lined the walls, in exactly the same position as they had been before. An armchair sat beside some miserable, smoking coals in the fireplace. A bed was pushed up against the same wall, covered by only a threadbare blanket. Meanwhile, a smoke oven was set into the wall perpendicular to it, although that too seemed to be smoking half-heartedly. The rest of the room was reasonably bare apart from a rug which covered most of the floor – and a girl which stood in the corner, studying Ana and myself closely. I turned to face her, wondering who she was. Maybe she'd been appointed as the care assistant to this old lady – although judging by her clothes, somehow I didn't think so.
"Sit down," said the woman, although it didn't seem to be that there was anywhere to sit apart from the rug on the floor – so Ana and I had no option but to sit cross-legged where we'd been standing. Sure enough, the woman too got the floor, albeit with a little difficulty. Even though we were sitting on a rug, I could feel the cold resonating from the floor beneath us.
"What brings you here to Sunyshore City after so long?" She said.
Nothing changed in my facial expression. All I did was utter two words. "It happened."
The old woman nodded, surprise flitting across her face briefly before being replaced by the same grimness she'd held upon her features upon opening the door. "I see. Could you elaborate on your story?"
"It started off the same as usual," I explained, "Mum and Dad were arguing. Ana and I," I said, gesturing towards my sister, "were in our room with Flamer and Aqua – when it happened. We heard this crack. Then there was silence, no more shouting. When we went downstairs... Mum was on the floor. Dad was standing over her. We left last night." My voice was strangely emotionless, even though I could feel waves of a dull aching begin to resonate on the inside, evoked by the memory. Ana was staring, transfixed at the carpet next to me. Her hair fell conveniently over her eyes, masking her from the world. I knew she wouldn't want me to attract attention to her. The woman sighed.
"I knew it would happen eventually," she said, "and you were right to come here. I've always feared that you didn't take me seriously that day when you were here and you came to me while your parents argued, that you would always be welcome here. You probably don't remember those days very well."
"Of course I do, Lillen," I said earnestly, "that's why we came. You're the only one we can trust. You were the only one who understood, who let us stay here in the evenings when it got bad." I looked around the house, praying it would turn back to that comforting place it had once been, made of proper materials rather than just wood and stone. My eyes flickered back to Lillien's. "It's a lost to ask... but can we stay with you for a while?"
Lillen opened her mouth to speak – but at that point she was cut off by the piercing voice of the girl in the corner.
"Stay here?" She said, "Stay here? Why on earth should you? Do you have any idea of how difficult it's been here recently, even for a family of two?"
I blinked hard at the girl. Wavy hair, the same shade of mahoghany as Ana's was, which hung loosely instead of the braid that both my twin sister and I wore. A pale blue bandana kept most of it away from her face, although a few strands still played in front of her eyes every so often. She wore a loose white shirt as well as a black vest jacket, as well as identically coloured jeans and pointed, matte boots. I knew that look from a mile away. The sight of it made me cringe away in terror.
"You remember my daughter Tania, don't you Jenni?" said Lillan, trying and failing to keep all uncertainty out of her voice, "the pair of you used to play together all the time when you were last on holiday here."
Of course I remembered Tania – but the girl in front of me did not fit the image in my mind of the girl with the two plaits and the azure dress that flounced outwards almost comically. Tania spat a piece of chewing gum out of her mouth. It missed the bin completely.
"Times are hard here," she said, "there's very little light left now, so the solar panels on the walkway don't work anymore. Sunyshore has had to import power from the other cities – and of course, they leapt at the chance to milk as much money out of our town as possible. The mayor had to tear down the houses and sell the expensive materials we imported from the Hoenn region in order to buy a years' supply from Hearthome, and now even that's running out. All we have to rely on now is fire, but we haven't the means to make such an element. I've had to join Team Aqua in the Hoenn region in order to try and earn something to keep my own mother alive – and trust me, I don't want to be there. Being a bad guy is so not my scene. But it's the only choice we have. I don't know if I earn enough to be able to support you and your sister too."
"Nonsense Tania," said Lillen, "we'll manage one way or another."
Ana looked up from the carpet, her large, round eyes examining the member of Team Aqua closely.
"Why is there very little light left?" She said.
Laughing a little sardonically, Tania pointed out of the window facing westwards. Ana and I exchanged a quick, nervous glance before hurrying over there to take a look. What I saw will remain imprinted on the surface of my subconscious forever, quick to return to me if I should ever find myself about to enter a nightmare. Mount Coronet lay to the North-West, rising from the ground, its fierce peak hidden by what appeared to be a giant, purplish-black vortex. My eyes raked the horizon for the sunset – but no, it was not there. It wasn't time for the light to be fading from the sky yet, but it was, a strange twilight descending over the land. Then I got it. This vortex was the reason for the lack of light. This vortex was the reason why Sunyshore's solar cells now no longer worked. This was why mine and Ana's only salvation had now been consumed by poverty.
"Legend says that it's Giratina that is causing it," said Tania's voice from beside me, having also come to stand beside the window, "but nobody's sure. We have very little communication with the other towns here in Sunyshore, apart from to import more resources for heat and light – and as none of us own fire-type pokemon, getting to the summit of the mountain is impossible, with all the snow and ice."
"So nobody knows what's really up there?" I said, "Or how to help it?"
"As I said, it could be Giratina. But if that is him, it doesn't seem like nobody wants to bother him."
I considered this for a second. The only way we were going to relieve the poverty in Sunyshore was to find a way to make peace with Giratina – but to do that, I'd have to get up to the peak first."
"Flamer, come on out," I murmured, tossing a pokeball into the air. A small flash of white light, and my Infernape appeared, gazing up at me with familiar eyes. Tania's mouth fell open, eyebrows shooting into the smooth outline of her bandana.
"Y-You have a fire type?" She exclaimed.
I nodded. "I have a Charizard too, if you want confirmation."
Tania stood there aghast. In that time, Lillan came shuffling over, a small smile written across her face.
"Oh yes, I remember Flamer well," she said, reaching down to scratch him under the chin, which he seemed to enjoy. "He was only a Chimchar the last time I saw him."
"It was a year ago when he evolved," I said, my proud smile suddenly fading, "it was the last time I remember Dad being happy. He always thought I could be a trainer. When that failed, he still insisted that I'd be important in the Pokemon world, even more so when Chimchar evolved up to Infernape without any proper training. But I'm nothing really."
Tania stepped forward again, her façade suddenly solemn. "Jenni," she said, "I think your Dad might just get his wish. And this is how we're going to do it."
The house was merry that night. Infernape coaxed flames both into the fireplace and into the old oven, causing both heat and a cheerful, amber glow to rise into the air, consuming the room completely. Ana raided what little food supplies Tania and Lillen could afford from the small market in Sunyshore to make bread, poffins and Oran berry stew with Militank milk for dinner, her Piplup Aqua keen to help. Even though we'd both gotten our pokemon at the same time, Aqua had never evolved like Flamer had – although I had a feeling that Aqua's attitude wasn't quite as suited to evolution as Flamer's was, and Ana's own mindset matched that of her Pokemon. Either way, both Pokemon and human alike had a flair for cooking, one that seemed to cheer both Lillan and Tania up considerably. I still couldn't get over how old Lillan suddenly looked, but then again, times had been hard. She seemed a little stronger after getting some decent food inside of her, and even Tania seemed to be in a good mood.
"We have plenty of berries here that should help you on your journey tomorrow," she said to me, laying down her fork as she finished eating, "but you'll probably need to buy some potions and things as well from Hearthome when you make it there. I trust you bought money?" I nodded, which seemed to reassure Tania enough to go on. "It also might be a wise idea to take some Ultra balls, just in case it turns out you need to catch Giratina, should the legend be true."
I smiled, but inside I knew I wouldn't need any ultra balls to catch such a pokemon. I'd taken it from my parents' house just in case we needed to sell it for money to make it across to Sinnoh, but there hadn't been a need for it in the end – until now of course. As we cleared away after dinner, Ana and I settling down on the carpet to sleep whilst Lillan and Tania took their usual places in the armchair by the fire and the bed by the window respectively, I couldn't help but reach into my pocket and feel the smooth, cool exterior of the Master ball against my fingers. Tomorrow, the Master ball would be brimming with power, with a creature so vast it made me shiver to think about it. Tomorrow I would save Sinnoh. And tomorrow, I thought to myself, as the dying embers of the fire bled into the darkness behind my eyelids, Flamer stumbling forwards to curl up next to me after extinguishing the flames from the oven, tomorrow I would make a new life for myself, as the Savior of Sunyshore city.
A/N: Not sure if I'll continue this or not as I'm pretty busy atm. But if you want to see the next part, please review!