Chapter Three
The water in the ocean was rushing uneasily. The current wasn't acting as predictable as it had always been. There was an evident restlessness on the islands scattered in the seas of Hoenn. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Far below the swells, something roused. As it twitched, the sand surrounding it clouded, muddying the water. It flicked its' tail menacingly, striking at a cavern wall. Rocks crumbled from the broken area, tumbling into the sand. All the creature could see was black. Just a bleak nothingness that had surrounded her since she had been imprisoned here.
It was cold. Not even the current would reach her here. All this lonely creature had for entertainment was harsh vigorous training, teamed with a constant ache in her heart from the betrayal of her fellow water-type beasts. They should have agreed with her, they should have joined her. Their lives would have been spared. But no, they deemed her revolutionary ideas too radical, too reckless. Her ideas were fanatical, not at all what the Aquatic Council had in mind.
But she would show them. She would show them just how marvellous the world could be for water pokémon if her revolutionary ideologies were put forward.
For the few hundred years that she had been entombed within the dark, murky depths of the Hoenn seas, Moana had been in solitary confinement, embracing the darkness that surrounded her, letting her heart grip the evil. Her mind festered over time, and ghoulish thoughts overcame her cognitive abilities.
And never once did she stop training.
As time flickered past, the serpentine beast grew stronger. And with her newfound strength came her overwhelming lust for power. She would stop at nothing this time.
She continued slapping the wall of the cavern again. And would continue to do so until she broke free.
The small city of Petalburg sparkled in the night, its lights twinkling. It was past 8 pm when Alice and her companions arrived in the small city. Their first destination was the Pokémon Centre, where the two pokémon would heal up, after an entire afternoon of training. Whilst training, Vanora managed to become strong enough to learn Confusion.
"Good evening!" smiled the pink-haired nurse that was stationed at the counter. "How may I help you?"
"I'd like to get these guys looked over and healed up, if that's no problem," Alice said as politely as she could muster.
"Of course it's no problem. That's why I'm here!" The nurse wouldn't stop smiling, even whilst talking.
Alice's pokémon were taken, and she went up to a room she had loaned for the night. Tonight, she wouldn't need to camp out, but this was probably a one-off thing. She knew she shouldn't get too used to this. Laying her bag on the bunk, she stretched her back and wondered what to do now. Her stomach rumbled, deciding for her.
Heading downstairs towards the cafeteria, something caught Alice's eye. It was a map of the oceanic route. Alice had never seen the ocean before, despite being geographically close, but the thick forest prevented any path to the water. Just the sight of a map of the ocean thrilled her to no end. Her finger grazed on the pier on route 104, just outside Petalburg city, and traced over the sea route, going over routes 105 and 106, passing tiny islands inhabited by washed up treasures and exotic pokémon.
Her finger dragged across the paper, over to Dewford Town, where a box on the side indicated that a gym inhabited this island, as well as Granite Cave, where numerous corporations had once mined, robbing the cave of its rich, natural source of granite. Now, it was an empty cave with no purpose. Not even pokémon inhabited the bare cavern.
From there, her finger traced over routes 107 to 109, an empty stretch of water, to the wide beach of Slateport. Past Slateport, her finger went, outlining the course towards Lilycove, and the hundreds of miles that separated the two cities, littered with islands, such as Mossdeep, Sootopolis and hundreds more. One portion of the map –between routes 127 and 128- was blacked out, with a note that read: "Area Undiscovered". Alice wondered what great treasures may be hidden there.
She snapped out of her daze when her stomach growled deeply and loudly. Blushing, she looked around to see if anyone had heard, then sighed in relief to discover she was the only one in the corridor.
In the cafeteria, she grabbed some hot food for dinner and sat herself down in an empty seat. While she ate, she thought back about the days events, and how surreal it all seemed to be. She already had two great friends accompanying her on this journey, and many more were surely bound to appear. The sights she would see, the people she would meet, the exotic fruits she would taste –the anticipation astounded her. What made her most excited was the idea of seeing the beauty of the ocean, and feeling the crisp wind with its salty tang.
After dinner, she went to collect her pokémon. They had already been fed, so she didn't have to worry about that chore at the moment. It was late already, time for bed.
And as Alice and her pokémon lay, with their eyes closed, they each pondered of their future, of how the entire course of their lives had changed because of this one day. And it was an amazing thought. One by one, they fell asleep with a smile on their face, due to the pleasant thoughts of what the future would hold for them.
Sun filtered through the small room through the tiny gaps in the blinds. A thin ray of sunlight seeped onto the floor, creating a pathway towards the bed. Alice sighed as she was awoken from her slumber, wiping away the stray brown hair that tickled her face.
Yawning, she pulled herself out of bed and gathered her things, getting ready for this new day. She was planning to book a gym battle for sometime in the afternoon, and train her pokémon up before that. Even if she lost, it wouldn't be too much of an issue, because it would provide plenty of experience for her pokémon, which would benefit her the next day, if she decided to have a rematch.
Her friends started waking up, and before long, they were sitting in the cafeteria of the Pokémon Centre, eating breakfast. Afterwards, Alice packed a lunch consisting of various sandwiches, fruit and candy bars. It would be enough for the rest of the day for the three of them.
Their first destination was the Petalburg Gym. As Alice walked inside the plain-looking building, the cool air surprised her. Despite being so early in the morning, it was already beginning to heat up. Besides, this part of Hoenn was known for its constant summer feel.
A man in a white uniform stood behind a desk. He looked up at Alice as she approached him.
"Hi, how can I help you?" he asked in a friendly tone.
"I'd like to book a gym battle for sometime this afternoon, if that's alright," Alice said, fidgeting slightly.
"Of course. Is 6.30 alright? It's the only time available in the afternoon. Unless you would prefer 8.30?..." the man's voice trailed off.
"Oh, no! 6.30 is just fine."
"May I have your Pokédex, so that I may determine the level range of your pokémon?"
Alice nodded and handed him the red machine.
The man fiddled with the buttons until it spoke: "Mudkip, Murdoch, level 9; Ralts, Vanora, level 8. Level range appropriate: 10-14." The machine whirred for a moment, then switched off. The man returned it to her, then typed something into a computer.
Alice, not knowing what had just happened, spoke up, "Excuse me, but what was that for?"
"Oh, well, since we get a wide variety of pokémon trainers here from all across the continent, our gym leader has to be able to cater for each trainer and their level range. It would be no use to pit a level 5 shroomish against a level 40 salamence!" The man chortled at this apparent humour. Alice's face twitched.
"What is this level system?" she asked, curious for more information. "How is it determined and calculated?"
The man's laughter stopped abruptly. Cringing, Alice knew that she was a master at making awkward situations. "Well, uh, I'm not 100% sure how it works, but it has something to do with their growth since they were obtained, and their strength. I think it's determined by the attacks they know, or something like that. Like, a ralts knows how to learn confusion at about the 6th level."
Alice nodded, pretending she knew what he was talking about. In reality, she was even more confused than when she asked the question.
She left without another word, and headed back to route 102 to train for the duration of the day. Maybe, she'd be lucky enough to come across a trainer, who'd be willing to battle her and assess her pokémons progress.
It was going to be a long and tiring day, Alice knew.
