Trainer Hilda and the Ghost Challenger

Dragonspiral Tower

"Banette! Block it with your shadow ball!"

An explosion boomed in the top floor of the Dragonspiral Tower, as smoke came ejecting out of the impact site. The explosion radius was initially blocked from visible light as a cloud of thick brown dust and smoke acted as a smoke screen. Neither trainers could tell just what had happened to their pokemon at this point in time. The shockwave sent a rush of air and other material coasting outwards at high speeds, whipping hair and clothes around without actually destroying them. The trainer stood with her legs planted into the ground hard and her hands covering her hat and head from any debris or harsh winds. Meanwhile, the challenger clutched onto his hat and lowered his eyes to make sure nothing impacted them. It was a safety precaution.

When the smoke emerged only one pokemon was left standing as the other pokemon dropped to the ground upon clearing. Both trainers were left stunned and surprised at the turn of events.

X

One Hour Earlier…

X

Ghost stood at the entrance to the Dragonspiral Tower with his head hiked backwards to try to size up the enormous tower he was going to scale in attempts to…

Uncover a rumor. Or, bust it, rather.

Rumors have been spreading about a very powerful trainer who stands at the summit of Dragonspiral Tower. A trainer who had a… history… In Unova. It was a girl, not that that changed anything whatsoever, but he had no clue as to who this was. The rumors ran the girls name as 'Hilda' from Nuvema Town, nearly across the entire region. Ghost didn't know much about the town itself, but strong pokemon were found there which would give his pokemon a run for their money if he let them.

This was Ghost's excuse for, 'practising for the Elite Four.' Since they were literally leagues above him, he would have to train harder than he ever did before if he was going to even THINK about landing a hit on an Elite Four member. Defeating them was no easy task and if he was going to… might as well get the most amount of training as possible. After all, his pokemon as well as himself needed it more than anything at a time like this in his adventure. So close to ending it as a Champion of Unova… He just needed to convince the Champion, Iris, that he was.

So, step one.

Ghost took off his hat and ran two fingers through his purple, almost black, hair before returning his trainer hat to his head. The road to victory was beginning as he stepped forward into the rugged building.

Immediately, he took notice of the collapsed pillars and support beams, all seemingly destroyed with age and the attacks of powerful pokemon. Maybe trainers had battles in this area at one point? Whoever did, it wasn't apparent now as it looked untouched for centuries. Ghost looked around for some sort of path and smiled at the sight of a set of stairs that were to the left of him but darker than the rest of the building. He would need a source of lighting for a time like this.

"Come on out, Volcarona!" Ghost exclaimed as he tossed his pokeball up into the sky and watched it shatter open at the seams with a bright flash of white and red light. Following this, the fire and bug type pokemon appeared in front of him with a slight glow of heat coming off of both wings. "I need you to light up the path ahead, please."

Following the commands of the pokemon trainer who owned the fire pokemon, Volcarona agreed and surrounded herself in a thin gulf of flames which lit the area ahead and behind very well for the next sixty feet without a worry. He and his pokemon carried on upstairs without a single complication until he made it to the top of the staircase.

There, he noticed the entire room was decked out in random ledges and spots where the floor beneath him would drop off for tens of meters down. If he were to fail a jump here, he would undoubtedly fall and injure himself which… would really set back his training progress and hopes of challenging the girl Hilda whom he was trying to reach at once. So, he returned his Volcarona for fears of her falling. Even while she had wings, it was better not to risk it and be safe than to risk it and something bad happen. So, he carried on. His first jump felt so unreal, the gap of land underneath him simply begging to be fed by his unsure self as he bounded over. Nearly slipping off of the edge that he landed on, he found a grip on the ledge side and pulled himself up carefully. This wasn't going to be an easily enjoyable adventure up this tower whatsoever. Still, he pressed on with determination fueling his ascent.

The last ledge was, without a doubt, his most sketchy attempt. When he felt confident in himself and decided to shoot across the open land and catch himself on the ledge, his hand slipped, and he was left dangling without much support. The only reason he didn't fall to his death was a concrete beam that was chipped outwards that caught his fall. Still, it was a ten-foot drop, and he winded himself pretty badly.

"Ngh… I hate that I want to carry on even after this…" Ghost mumbled to himself before standing up once again and taking a few deep breaths. Obviously, being confident and being sure were two-way different things that he wasn't going to be taking lightly from here on out. It took a few unsure attempts to climb back up the descent that he accidently made happen. When he finally found a stable leverage which helped him pull himself back up, he vowed to never make that mistake ever again.

Once he left the room with the jagged ledges and unstable footing, he made it to the room with circular ledges that seemingly wrapped around the center of the building, a tall beam in the middle acting as a pivot for everything else in the room. He was going to need to move around the center carefully, obviously watching his footing, so he didn't make another foolish mistake that may almost cost him his life. To his delightment, several small items were decorated around the room such as Max Revives and Ethers and so on. All of this would prove to be valuable someday in some scenario. Maybe even the battle he was going to have with that woman.

Following his exit of the fifth floor, he made his way onto the sixth. The air was colder up here than it was lower and that meant he must be getting closer to the top. See, Ghost had no idea that this building had seven levels and that he was just below the trainer whom he would be challenging in just a few minutes. That's if he moved on instead of getting vertigo fright from staring off the ledges into the long sheer drop offs below him. It took him a few baffling moments until he was finally at the bottom of the stairs. Above him, he could see the sky so beautifully even while it was dark outside. The stars were out and twinkling perfectly. Not a single cloud was out and even the moon was gone from view. Pushing forward one last time, he stepped out into the cold and looked around. For a moment, there wasn't a single object in sight since it was so dark.

"Is anyone here…!?" Ghost exclaimed. No, there was no way he adventures all the way up here and nearly dies twice just to find nothing but a hole in the side walls on the exterior. There was NO WAY.

Nearly letting off his anger and attitude in the form of various curses and screams, he noticed a black… mass. It was contrast to everything else because it wasn't reflecting any light whatsoever. Everything else around him was reflecting some sort of light but this… snake like object was blocking his view of the hole in the sidewalls. Whatever it was, he was going to go inspect. It may be a new pokemon he hadn't caught before. The chance drew him in.

That is…

Until lights turned on, lights running in a parallel line up and down the center of the top floor of the Dragonspiral Tower, shining brightly. The red eye he saw at the head of the snake object were apparent now as a Serperior rested, coiling its body loosely around another object.

… It was a girl!

Hilda turned partly around to face the boy before all the way. However, her eyes were covered by the shade of the hat she was wearing.

"Oh… you must be... H-Hilda…!?"

His challenge was about to begin!