Chapter 2: The hero's journey/ fire, lightning, and ice

The sky was black as the two trainers walked through the entrance to Barrier town. Leon's Sasukblade began to drift to sleep from all of the walking and Pokémon battles, so Leon had to carry him on his back. The town was a quiet little village, besides the plentiful trainers that were visiting it. It gave off an aura of tranquility as the town's regular occupants were either elderly or seasoned Pokémon trainer veterans that had decided to settle down. The architecture echoed an old time vibe; the various buildings in the small town were nothing more than wooden houses. Even the streets weren't modernized, for instead of concrete they were dirt roads surrounded by grass.

The exhausted trainers dragged themselves to the Pokémon center, where they would sleep for the night. However once the boys entered the building, they were astounded with sheer amount of trainers that were in the lobby. The Pokémon center was the biggest building in town, mostly because this was the spot that Pokémon trainers would register for the Pokémon league challenge and begin their roads to stardom. On the right of the large building was a small diner composed of a couple of tables and a line full of trainers that waited to receive their dinners from a brunette woman. On the left were various trainers having conversations about their Pokémon. Then in the middle of the building was a pink haired young nurse that stood next to a counter. In back of her was a red and white box shaped machine used for healing Pokémon. The two boys walked towards the nurse and gave her their Pokémon, whom were in their poke balls. The woman placed them in the machine and waited for a few seconds before handing back their fully healed Pokémon. Then the boys began to conduct their next order of business.

"Also Nurse Joy, we would like to register for the Pokémon league", said Leon.

"Okay, just tell me your full name and where you are from."

Leon leaned closer to nurse joy, making sure that no could hear what he was about to say. "It's Leon Braveheart, from Arise town", he whispered. The lady's eyes beamed when she received this information.

"Oh, I'm here to register for the Pokémon league too", said Cloud. "My name is Cloud Highwind and I'm from Arise town too." The lady's eyes beamed even more, clearly shocked, and yet surprised, from hearing their names.

"Oh. My. Arceus. Are you two seriously from the Braveheart and Highwind families?" shrieked the star-struck nurse. The two apparent rock stars sighed, and scratched their heads while giving her a modest smile. Suddenly the room became silent as all of the other trainers in the building stared at Leon and Cloud with awe. Or at least until the information registered in everyone's heads and the trainers scrambled towards the stars, as if they were obsessed fan girls. Leon and Cloud gave off another sigh as they attempted to push through the crowd to their rooms. The boys quickly locked the door after they found their rooms and reinforced the entrance with chairs and tables.

The Bravehearts and the Highwinds were one of, if not, the most famous trainer families in the entire Pokémon trainer community. They were comprised of some of the best and most respected trainers around the world, because they were trained from birth in the popular sport of Pokémon battling. For the families, being the best wasn't good enough. They strived for pure perfection, using many training methods to become even stronger. The Highwinds were especially known for training the formidable dragon Pokémon and were recognized as the true masters of the dragon type. The family included trainers such as Lance of Kanto and Cynthia of Sinnoh, Lance in particular being Cloud's father. The Bravehearts on the other hand were not as specialized in a specific Pokémon type. The Bravehearts though were so powerful because of their pure philosophy on Pokémon battling, and for that matter, the world. They believed in a philosophy they called "The Triforce". This consisted of a belief in three factors they called the body, the mind, and the spirit. The body represented physical prowess, such as physical strength and speed. The mind represented the knowledge and wisdom of the Pokémon and the trainer, which basically meant the knowledge of various moves and strategy. Lastly, the spirit represented the sheer will of the Pokémon and the trainer. Using this philosophy, the Bravehearts trained their Pokémon to be versatile and at their peak physical potential, there was no room for error because the Pokémon and trainer weren't able to adapt to their opponent.

_

"Tyranitar, use fire blast", Apollo commanded to the green tyrannosaurus. The behemoth latched onto the sandy beaches of the island and released an enormous flame from its mouth. The target of the attack was none other than the light blue legendary bird of ice: Articuno. Articuno was fighting on the ground, blasting icy beams at the other various dark Pokémon that were attacking him. The bird didn't notice the incoming flame attack, and as a result was engulfed in it. The ice bird then flew into the sky, realizing that it was outnumbered, and therefore, outmatched.

"Damn pussy! Tyranitar, hyper beam", Apollo angrily commanded. The Tyranitar blasted a white beam of energy at Articuno that had ascended off the ground. Articuno was fast, and tried to evade the beam by flying even higher. However, Articuno wasn't fast enough and was shot by the powerful attack, straight into the chest. Articuno instantly slipped into unconsciousness, and collapsed to the ground, hard.

Then Apollo reached into his pocket to reveal a small yellow and black poke ball. He smirked, and lobbed it at the fainted Articuno. Articuno than was engulfed in a red light, and was sucked into the poke ball. The ball then wiggled on the ground from side to side, Apollo's eyes locked onto the ball.

_

The next morning the sunlight shone through the dark room the boys were lodging in. They quickly got dressed and scurried to the lobby to get some breakfast at the cafeteria. After they had gulfed down the food, the boys went to the front desk to talk to Nurse Joy and receive the items they were supposed to get yesterday because they had registered for the Pokémon league. These items consisted of a trainer I.D. card, as well as a P.D.A. like system known as a Pokémon information handheld, otherwise known as P.I.H. The P.I.H. was used for various tings, in many ways similar to a poke gear or a Poketch, but even more. The P.I.H. could also display information for various Pokémon, ranging from statistics such as abilities, or the moves a Pokémon knew. After obtaining these items, the boys then gathered their backpacks and crept out the Pokémon center (to avoid detection from their numerous fans).

"So Leon, you still wanna have that battled we talked about having yesterday?" Cloud asked.

"Sure why not, I'll battle you most of time anywhere!" Leon's eyes then burned with the intensity of a burning sun as he threw a poke ball onto the ground, releasing his Squiro. The fire lizard yawned as he stretched and prepared for battle.

"Very well. Go Fenpup", Cloud said as he released the blue wolf pup. The blue wolf stood on all fours and growled at his opponent, attempting to unnerve him. Squiro wasn't fazed, he didn't even blink.

"This out to be interesting", Leon said as he stared at cloud, his eyes fixed on his opponent.

_

The black and yellow poke ball continued to shift from side to side until after a few minutes; Articuno having lost his will to fight.

"Mwahahaha. Yes, I've captured Articuno, the legendary bird of ice", Apollo cackled in the excitement of his success. "The boss out to be proud." The commander then pulled a black and silver P.I.H. out of his pocket, and the image of the sinister figure appeared on the screen.

"Did you capture it?" he snarled.

"Of course, it was easy as pie. Now for my reward…"

"What reward? You haven't completed the task! I still need plenty of more Pokémon. Next I need you to capture the other two legendary birds, otherwise known as Zapdos and Moltres. Unless of course you'd rather deal with Amonja."

Apollo pondered for a moment until he heard the roars of the powerful enforcer. "I'll do as you command, sir."

"Good."