Disclaimer's Note: Kyle Rainer belongs to Chaosblazer and Kiozi Miaxu belongs to HollisHawk. Thanks also goes out to both authors for helping out a bit in this update involving there OCs.
Reunions, Allies, and A New Team Member
The sounds of a dragon's roar filled the night as an icy full moon glowed in the star filled sky. A shimmering glitter of light seemed to trail from a feathery dragon-like figure that arched and stretched its head toward the moon's glow. Emeralds seemed to fall from this creature as it stretched out further in the moon light; revealing itself to be more like a human dressed in the feathery heap. A faint shimmer of gold was shown, revealing a mask over the being's face and the sharp glow of emerald eyes luster from the helmet's darkness…
0o0o0o0o0o0
Beka awoken from her spot on the boat, snapping out of her dream. She looked around to see that it was still nightfall and that the boat was still blazing across the ocean as tiny lights began to gleam out in the distance.
"Don't worry, landfall is coming up soon," spoke Star's voice as she stayed by the motor and steered the boat, "We'll be in a warm bed soon enough." Beka turned to Star, who didn't seem to be tired at all, as Mismagius gently draped on her shoulder. She then looked over to see Kate fast asleep with Ireland curled up and snuggling against her trainer for warmth. Star laughed softly. "Those two crashed soon after you did Beka."
"Are you not tired Star?" asked Beka as she gently rubbed her arms for warmth.
"Not really," Star shrugged, "I'm kind of a night person myself. After all, the spirits seem to also want to poke with my dreams as well when night falls, so I do most of my rest in the early morning hours up until mid-afternoon."
"Do you really hear spirits?" asked Beka curiously. Star shrugged again.
"It all depends, but most of the time I can tune them out unless something interesting comes up. Don't let it worry you," Star smiled, "nothing insane has happened to me yet nor had I not needed to stab my ears with a Q-Tip."
Beka giggled softly at this as Star slowed the boat down. The red haired trainer turned to see the harbor of Lilycove City was coming closer into view and that a Pokemon Center's room was beckoning her to rest within its warm and secure environment: a welcoming back to the modern-day world.
0o0o0o0o0o0
Morning soon arrived within Hoenn and after bidding farewell to her newly acquired friends Kate and Star; Beka left the Center and ventured into the bustling sea front city. 'It's been a long time,' thought Beka as she looked around at the city around her; remembering the time she confronted Team Aqua within the harbor, the kidnapping by Team Sky when she and her friends raided Team Aqua's hideout, her Feebas evolving into Milotic, and the memories of the time she had spend with Steven. Distant memories that still seemed to weigh heavy on her shoulders and cause her to sigh softly as she ventured more into the city. 'I can't let the past weigh me down,' she thought, 'I need to be a stronger and independent person…I don't need a man in my life to make it be…' Just then, a cry of joy seemed to fill the air and caused Beka to see something coming up to her rather quickly and happily. The creature looked like a small fox-like Pokemon with light blue fur, long pointed ears, dark blue patches of fur on its paws and back, and long blue fur that was shaped as hair on her head as she dashed up to greet Beka.
"A Glaceon?" asked Beka as she knelt down to make eye level with the Glaceon as she approached her. Beka grew surprised as the Glaceon leapt onto her legs and began to gently rub her head against her cheek. Beka smiled softly at the Pokemon's gesture and went to pet her back gently, feeling her very soft yet chilly fur through her fingers. "You're quite a nice Pokemon," said Beka softly.
"Glace!" said Glaceon as she seemed to smile at the comment and wagging her ribbon-like tail. Just then, another call came out from before Beka.
"Glaceon! Glaceon where are you?!" the voice yelled out as Beka perked to the familiar tone of the cry, followed by another call.
"Glaceon! Come on back, where did you go?!" a male's voice called out.
Beka slowly stood up to the voices as she saw two teenagers heading her direction as Glaceon ran back toward them in happiness. One of them was a male that stood around five feet, ten inches tall with snow white hair falling around a green headband, brown eyes, and wore a black, orange, gray, and green Hoenn themed trainer's attire as the other teenager was a female that was around Beka's height with long brown hair split along the sides of her head, blue eyes, and wore an orange, black, and white Hoenn themed trainer attire as well. The girl smiled as she knelt to the Glaceon and hugged her in relief. "Oh Glaceon! I'm glad we found you!" she cheered.
"Glace!" Glaceon called out happily as her trainer hugged her.
The male smiled seeing the two, but when he looked back up and made eye contact with Beka, a shocked looked filled his face. "Beka…is that you?!" the guy asked as the girl looked up and gasped seeing her.
"Hi Brendan and May," said Beka as she pressed on a smile, "It's good to see you two again."
"Beka!" exclaimed May as she got up and ran to hug Beka, tears filling her eyes as they hugged, "I'm so glad to see you again!"
"Me too May," said Beka as she hugged May back. Brendan also came up as well and joined in to form a group hug.
"I'm so glad you're doing okay Beka," said Brendan with a smile, "It's been a long time."
"Yes, it has been," nodded Beka as she smiled back and wiped a few tears from her eyes.
0o0o0o0o0o0
"Where have you been all this time Beka?" asked May as the group finally settled down for breakfast at a nearby café, "Brendan and I have been trying to get a hold of you on your PokeNav for months with no response. We've been worried about you."
"Oh," said Beka, taken a bit by surprise, "Well, I've been training in an isolated area. The Nav reception was completely gone where I was at."
"I see," said Brendan as he began slicing away at his meal, "So where have you been training at, or is that secrecy as well?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that either Brendan," said Beka as she began to eat away at her breakfast; slowly at first, but grew ravenous each bite she took. A hot meal without the majority of the dish being made of tropical fruit would make any person dig away at this breakfast before them and Beka was doing just that. Brendan and May stared at her blankly for a moment before May spoke:
"Hey Beka, settle down. The hash browns aren't going to grow legs and run off you know."
Beka stopped, mouth full of hash browns, as she noticed the unwanted attention she was getting. She swallowed what she had and looked down a bit embarrassed. "Oh, sorry," she spoke softy.
Brendan sighed as he sipped from his glass of juice as May giggled innocently at Beka's gestures. "Yup, nothing's changed about you," joked May.
Beka added in a soft laugh to May's, but stopped when she noticed something from the corner of her eye. Turning toward a series of buildings, Beka thought she saw a familiar canine-like creature with black and orange fur, curved horns on his head to replace ears, gray patterning on his back, legs, and neck, and a long forked tail that adorned a leather collar around his neck. She stood up as the creature ran back into a darkened alley.
"Helios!" Beka exclaimed as she ran after the creature, causing Brendan and May to stand up in concern.
"Beka!" yelled May, "What's wrong?!"
"Come on, let's go after her," said Brendan as he threw down several dollar bills for their meal.
Meanwhile, Beka ran further down into the darkened alleyway, finding herself running after shadows as she saw the Houndoom named 'Helios' gone from her view and no trace of his leaving. She began looking around the unfamiliar alleyway, a strange feeling creeping down her spine that she wasn't alone: someone or something was watching her. "Helios?" asked Beka in a soft voice as her hazel eyes scanned around her. Nothing was in view as her steps lead her under a fire escape, but then suddenly; something dark dropped down from behind her and covered her mouth with its hand. Beka let out a muffled scream and began swatting her arms furiously toward the dark figure to try and swat the thing off of her. The figure holding her mouth used their other hand to block her blows from smacking them in the face and they spoke in a familiar, masculine voice: "My lady, please! I only wish to speak with you!"
Beka stopped at hearing the person's voice and turned to see a pair of red eyes burning into hers as slivers of black hair tickled against her face. "Muf-o-ee?" Beka spoke with the hand still over her mouth.
The figure released her, still hanging upside down and revealing to be a male in his twenties with extremely long black hair pulled back in a binding ponytail, a black scarf covering most of his face, and adorn in a armored attire with silver plates of armor covering a black, silver, and red colored uniform that bore no emblem of Team Sky what so ever on it. Beka knew this was no other than Kiozi Miaxu: undercover assassin for Team Sky, but in reality the Guardian of The Chosen Ones and devoted servant to Arceus itself. She also knew he was staring at her with a totally serious look on his face. "Kiozi," asked Beka, "what's wrong?"
"Nothing, not yet at least," Kiozi spoke, "However, since you've left the protection of Southern Island, I've been ordered by Arceus to keep a close eye on you."
"I see," said Beka as she watched Kiozi climb up the fire escape ladder and looked down at her from the steel balcony.
"I must be going now," Kiozi spoke, "but don't worry. I'll always be watching you, even if you can't see me."
"Alright," said Beka with a nod, "I understand and thank you Kiozi."
Kiozi gave her another nod before vanishing back within the shadows wince he came from, followed by two yells that startled Beka from behind.
"Hey Beka! There you are!" called out May as she and Brendan approached her, "Why did you run off like that?!"
"I'm sorry," said Beka, "I thought I saw something familiar in this alley."
"You mean that 'Helios' character you were calling out to?" asked Brendan. Beka nodded as Brendan sighed. "Well we didn't see anything and there's nothing here, so we best be going now Beka. After all, I know we got some catching up to do," he ended with a smile as he and May took each of Beka's arms and they began to stroll down into town.
0o0o0o0o0o0
As morning progressed into the afternoon hours at Lilycove City, the trio spent the day hanging out within the local shops, down along the boardwalk, or anywhere that their hearts desired to. It was around near evening when Brendan was leaning against the side of a shop as he waited for May and Beka to come out after doing some shopping. Looking at his Nav, Brendan sighed when he saw it was quarter after five and his stomach was growing impatient of waiting for the girls. "What's taking them so long?" sighed Brendan, "I'm hungry…" At that time, the bell to the shop's door chimed and May came out with a bright smile on her face as Beka was carrying a large shopping bag in her arms.
"Okay! We're done!" said May as Brendan sweat dropped at the huge bag in Beka's arms.
"May, why is Beka carrying that huge bag?" asked Brendan.
"Oh, I offered to carry it," said Beka innocently with a soft smile as Brendan palmed his forehead.
"That's not what I meant Beka," he spoke, "I'm wondering what crazy, odd ball item did you purchase this time May."
"For your information Brendan," scolded May, "Beka and I took the liberty of buying new trainer attires for when we go on our adventure to Orre; as well as buying an outfit for you!"
Brendan and Beka looked at May, surprised at what she said. "You got me a new attire?!" asked Brendan.
"You guys are going to Orre with me?!" asked Beka.
"Of course we are silly," smiled May to Beka, "There's no way we're letting you escape to another region on our own again."
"May's got a point too Beka," said Brendan, "After all, Team Sky is going to find out where you are and they're going to be after you, no doubt."
"But…" spoke Beka, but May held up her hand to Beka to stop.
"Don't you try to convince us to back down Beka," May spoke, "We've made up our mind and we're tagging along with you."
Seeing being outnumber two to one, Beka let off a sigh of defeat, but then smiled softly. "Alright, that sounds good to me, and thank you…for everything guys."
"What are friends for Beka," said Brendan as he and May smiled, "Besides, we missed you and I know the company of friends is what you need to feel much more at ease." Beka nodded softly to Brendan's words, but then began to sweat drop as she saw May take the bag from her and shove it into Brendan's arms.
"ACK!" Brendan replied as he held onto the bag, "You're making me carry this now May?! It's heavy!"
"Oh quit your belly aching Brendan!" scolded May as she pushed him forward, "Let's get back to the Center so you can try on your new attire." Beka laughed softly as she watched the two go on; glad to see they were both doing well and that she was able to reunite with them so soon after her months of training at Southern Island.
'I just hope our journey to Orre won't be too much of a burden onto them,' thought Beka as she slipped her hands into her pockets and looked up at the now evening sky, 'Yes, today was a good day of reuniting with them and relaxing with them a bit, but I just hope that they'll be prepared for the journey ahead. After all, tracking Chosen Ones isn't the easiest of tasks…'
Just then, Beka saw something with a pointed stone nose and red eyes come up and levitate before her face; causing her to release a surprised scream as it spoke: "Lun?" Beka's scream alerted something else to come into play as a blur from a nearby tree tackled the strange thing to the ground and pinned it down. Beka regained herself quickly to see that someone dressed in a ninja mask with a crystal colored scarf wrapped around their neck, black clothing with netting long sleeves for their arms, and dark brown boots was pinning down a Lunatone on the walkway. She heard the ninja speak with:
"This is what you get for stalking people…tickle torture!"
The Lunatone began to laugh as the ninja tickled the Rock/Psychic Element as Beka looked blankly at the two in confusion. Why was a ninja tickling a Lunatone? Beka stood ready as the ninja stood back up and turned to face her, his face concealed by his mask, but he had the most dazzling brown eyes of anyone she had ever met. They were hard, but held a deep gentleness deep within as he look at her and present a bow to her in apology. The Lunatone, now freed from the ninja's grip, levitated beside him and gave a bow of apology as well as the ninja spoke: "Sorry about that Miss. Emerald, my partner here wanders off a lot." Beka immediately tensed up to his words, hearing her other reference used by a stranger was a key give away that they were either of Team Sky or another organization in honing to target her, and went for her belt. The ninja quickly waved his hands in pause. "Whoa now!" he spoke, "Just because I know who you are doesn't mean I'm after ya, far from it."
"Then how do you know of my other reference?" asked Beka, her hand still wavering over her belt, "Answer me!" The ninja rubbed the back of his head, a bit confused on how to explain himself to her.
"Well," he spoke, "I come from a clan of dragon tamers that live inside the depths of Meteor Falls, and the winds carried the stories of you Miss. Emerald."
"How come I've never seen or heard of you before?" Beka spoke, her eyes narrowing, "I've been in Meteor Falls countless times before and I've never seen a single sign that there was a clan living in those caves!"
The ninja's eyes seemed to grow a bit hard and serious at her words, but he made no gesture to attack her. He simply raised his fingers to his nose and spoke: "There is more than your eyes can see Miss. Emerald; you of all should know that. After all, wind exists without a physical form to be seen."
Beka stopped there with her words, he had a point. "So there you're not of Team Sky or anything like that?" she asked.
"Are you kidding?" the ninja growled, "We hate Team Sky and out leader wants nothing more than for their destruction." He then began to turn and proceed to leave. "Well, I best be going. My master plans on preparing me before I head off on my next mission soon, so I best be off Miss. Emerald. It was nice meeting you."
As he was about to leave wit Lunatone, Beka stopped him. "Wait! I don't think I got your name. That is, if you're allowed to speak of it."
The ninja turned and seemed to smile at Beka as he spoke his name to her. "Of course, to you I will. My name is Kyle, Kyle Rainer."
"That sounds nice," said Beka with a soft smile, "It was nice meeting you."
Kyle nodded and prepared to go on, but was stopped once more as if he had forgotten something. "Oh, that's right. There is something I wish I ask of you Miss. Emerald."
"Sure, what is-" began Beka, but stopped when she saw Kyle began to pull out a piece of cloth and approach her with it. Beka began to back away a bit uneasy, "Um, Kyle?"
"Trust me, it's a surprise," Kyle spoke as he quickly got the blindfold over her eyes. Beka froze as she heard him speak, "Now just come with me to the beach over here and you'll see it."
"But…" spoke Beka as her voice began to grow in fear, but Kyle's gentle voice and his gentle touch to her hands and back began to make her feel calm; as if a divine force was relaxing her.
"It's cool, don't worry," Kyle spoke, "I'm not taking you somewhere dangerous. I just want to surprise you with this question." Beka was still uncertain, but this strange feeling of calmness flowing through her body made her feel Kyle could be trusted and allowed him to lead her to their unknown destination. After a few moments, Beka could feel a salty breeze blast into her face as ocean spray filled her lungs, the sounds of Wingulls and Pelippers filled her ears as well as the feel of sand against her sneakers as she walked; with Kyle still escorting her carefully across the beach. He reached down to pick up a handful of the now cooling sand and let it hit Beka's hands gently. "See? Sand from Lilycove's shore," spoke Kyle in a cheerful manner, "We're here at the beach and where my surprise is at." Kyle had gotten Beka near the shoreline and stopped. "Here we are," he spoke and then let out a high pitched whistle out to the ocean. A distant cry could be heard before Beka, surprising her as Kyle spoke: "You can take it off now."
Beka quickly took off the cloth from around her eyes and squinted as her eyes adjusted to the new scenery. She nearly fainted at the sight before her: a majestic evening sky gently bathing the crystal blue waters of the ocean as the sun was beginning to set as something was coming toward her; riding the waves with grace. She saw that it was a majestic plesiosaur-like creature with smooth blue and cream colored skin, a small horn protruding from its forehead, curled appendages on the sides of its head, and a plated back was approaching her; causing her to blush at the Water/Ice Element Pokemon and one she seemed very fond of. "Oh my…a Lapras."
"Yeah, you see," said Kyle, "I've been trying to find a good home for this Lapras for quite sometime and after hearing your stories of being a dragon trainer, I thought she would make an excellent addition to your team since she'll be very immune to Ice Element attacks. What you say?"
Beka reached out to touch the Lapras' head and smiled as the Lapras happily dipped her head down to allow Beka to pet her snout. Beka then began to laugh as the Lapras started licking her face in affection. "I will!" exclaimed Beka as she hugged Lapras' head, "I will take care of her! Thank you Kyle!"
"You're welcome," spoke Kyle with a smile seeming to form from under his mask, "Enjoy her and she'll serve you well Beka." He then began to leave, but was stopped once more by Beka. "Yes?" Kyle asked.
"Hey, you called me Beka that time," she spoke and then smiled, "Thanks."
"You're welcome Beka, gotta go now," Kyle spoke once more and then blurred from sight with his Lunatone; leaving Beka alone on the beach with Lapras.
"What a strange person," said Beka, but then looked up at Lapras, "but I'm glad he's nice right?"
"Laaa!" Lapras called out and nudged against Beka again, making the trainer laugh and hugged Lapras once more. Beka then heard Brendan's and May's voices along the beach and saw them running toward her worried.
"There you are Beka!" exclaimed May, "We were wondering where you got to!"
"Whoa!" exclaimed Brendan, jumping back a bit at the aquatic Pokemon before them, "Did you catch a Lapras Beka?!"
"Yeah, right now," spoke Beka as she held out a unique blue Pokeball with waves on it to Lapras and allowed her to get inside the Ball. Lapras tapped the Dive Ball with her snout and allowed herself to be captured without struggle. Brendan's jaw was still hanging open from the easy captured as May sighed.
"I'm not going to even ask Beka," she spoke and then stated, "but anyway, we should be getting back to the Center. Dinner is calling to you and we need to rest up before the ferry to Orre leaves tomorrow."
"Right, let's go back," said Beka with a nod as she left with the others to return to the Center; quite a unique and fulfilling day it has been for our heroine before the real journey begins.
0o0o0o0o0o0
Coming up, the boat ride to Orre has allowed for the return of a scientist from Mossdeep as well as two of Team Sky's Elites as the group heads toward Gaton Port and they begin to see that all is not what it seems in Orre; as brand new rules of Pokemon training and battling are put to the test…
