-Chapter 4
My head is throbbing. My body is sore. I slowly open my eyes and I see blurs. I repeatedly blink to make my vision focus. I realize I'm in a dark room. My hands and ankles are bound together by cold chains. Chains tightly restrict me to a chair. When my vision finally clears, I find that my vest, capture styler, and belt are gone. In front of me are silhouettes of metal bars with a soft light seeping through the gaps. I look to the side and find Typhlosion in a glass container with a muzzle over his mouth and his body chained and bound to the walls of the container. With his heavy breathing I can tell he has tried to escape the container, but it's been futile.
I look to the other side and find a soldier staring at me. From the soft light that hits the soldier's uniform, I can see a thin stature. I groan as I try to move my body which caught the attention of the soldier. They move towards me and say, "Don't try anything funny." The voice was a woman's, light and pretty cute too.
"I don't think I have much of a choice now do I?" I reply with a smirk. I get a look at her face and it's the same soldier that caught my attention while I tried to fight them off. Her lips are full and her eyes are shadowed with light make up. I couldn't see before, but her eyes are a soothing color that is similar to the color of a dawning sky. On closer inspection, her eyes have a feline-like quality.
"Smart ass," I hear her murmur. She takes a few steps away from me.
I hear a purr behind me. The purr could only be from a Pokémon. I can sense the Pokémon walking towards me and into the soft light. A Liepard, a shiny one actually; instead of the usual purple fur that most Liepards have, this one has dark brown and cream. Liepards are sneaks, my kind of Pokémon, and they're pretty elegant too. It moves lithely towards the soldier, making sure to purr.
I put two and two together, saying, "I'm assuming that feline is yours?"
"Yeah, Liepard is a good friend of mine. I've had her ever since she was a Purrloin," her gloved hands gently rub between the Liepard's ears. If I'm not mistaken, I see a small smile form at the edge of her mouth.
"How'd you get her?" I ask. I'm actually, genuinely interested to hear the story since I don't have anything else to do.
She shoots a look at me, and asks, "Why do you want to know?"
"Just making conversation. Silence between two people is pretty dull," I remark, trying to shrug my shoulders, but the chains restrict me from doing that.
She sighed and began her story, "I grew up in Accumula Town, Unova. When I was seven I went into the woods without my parents and a group of Patrats were chasing me. Purrloin came to my rescue, using her cute façade to trick the Patrats just so she can attack them. After beating the Patrats she went back into the trees. I kept going back to the woods just so I can find that Purrloin. For weeks I did this and each of those days I never saw it. Then one night, when my dad was coming home from work he said he found Purrloin in front of our door. It was hurt so my mom decided to take it to the Pokémon center. I followed, of course. After it was nursed back to health by Nurse Joy, it took a liking to me and decided to stay with me. Since then, it's been my friend and partner. My only friend." Before I could ask about the last part of her story, she asked me, "How about you? How'd you get that fireball over there?"
I look at Typhlosion and he gave a grunt. I begin, "I grew up in Mahogany Town, Johto. Back in the days it was known as the home of the ninjas. Over the years it was taken over by Team Rocket, but a trainer came by and helped Lance, the Johto and Kanto Champion, defeat Team Rocket. When I was young, I was trained by some ninjas that still lived in the town."
"Ninjas?" she says, she slightly shook her head in disbelief. "Didn't think ninjas were real."
"Oh we're real. But there's just not as much of us anymore. Just don't get the wrong idea, it's not like I can do any magic or anything, I was just trained on how to use the shadows to my advantage, how to read my opponents, be stronger, be faster, and things like that. Anyways, as I grew up and was trained more and more intensely, I was rewarded with a Pokeball. Inside was Cyndaquil. Since then, he's been my friend. We grew up together and have been friends for so many years," I finish, taking a few deep breaths.
"And how did it get white fur? Don't most Typhlosions have blue?" she asks. From the way she leans forward to listen to me and how her eyes focus on me, I can tell that she's deeply interested.
"That's something I don't want to talk about. Sorry, it's just a personal thing," I say. It is personal and it is traumatizing. Typhlosion doesn't like the story, and I don't either.
She nods and says, "Okay then. How about telling me how you got your other Pokémon? I saw all of those other Pokeballs you have in your pouch. You should have more than just Typhlosion."
"Now, that I can tell you," I say. I hear her giggle lightly. Hmm, didn't think she's the giggling type. I start talking, "With Murkrow, I encountered her in Lyra Forest back in Fiore. I saved it from being attacked by a Honchkrow and it began to follow me everywhere while I was in Fiore. When I was transferred to go to Hoenn, it even flew across the ocean just to get to me. I helped Gligar defend itself against a group of Gligars and Gliscors. I'm pretty sure Gligar was being bullied because for a male Gligar, at the time, it had a smaller stinger. As a Gliscor now, it has a stinger that's larger than most Gliscors. Scyther was abandoned by its former trainer in Saffron City. I adopted it and it agreed to come along with me. Chinchou was won during a fishing competition, she may not be first place material, but she sure knows how to battle. Lastly, Larvitar was stuck in an avalanche on Mount Silver. Since I grew up near the mountains, when it snowed I would snowboard on the mountain. I heard Larvitar's cries and with Quilava's help, we rescued Larvitar. Anything else you want to know?" Throughout the entirety of my quick story, I could see her nodding her head and focusing on me. She smiles a couple times, held her hand to her heart a few, and she even laughs at parts that I didn't even think was funny.
"Actually there is something I want to know," she says with concern.
"And that would be…"
She hesitates to talk, but she finally says what's on her mind, "I haven't been given that much information about you. Just that you're a top wanted by the Ranger Union. But someone like you. I can't really imagine you doing anything bad. So how did you lose your ranger status?"
Someone like me? Guess someone is warming up to me. "Well this story is going to take a while, so make sure you're ready to sit through it," I warn. I take a deep sigh and I see her shifting her position to be more comfortable. Even her Liepard rests close to her and wants to hear the story. "Ready?"
She giggles and says, "Ready." It's strange how just a few minutes ago she was all in my face, but now she's interested in what I say. Then again, I'll never understand how women work.
I take a deep breath and start remembering. Losing my ranger rank is a pretty harsh subject and story, but to hide something like that isn't really worth it. Hell, the story might even make her feel sorry for me. "I was fourteen and appointed as a Top Ranger by Professor Hastings, who's pretty much the head honcho of the rangers. It took me four years of hard work and dedication to become a Top Ranger. Being appointed Top Ranger is a big thing, you're among the best, you take missions that you want to take, and all of those fun perks. Sadly, the first mission I decided to take as a Top Ranger was my last."
"So quick? I'm sure you would've done wonders as a Top Ranger," she compliments. Her sudden niceness is freaking me out now.
I chuckle and with a smile I say, "Yeah, maybe. But I'll never get the chance now. Anyways, my mission was on an isolated island a good few miles away from the Oblivia region. I was informed that a mother Pokémon and its child were being attacked by poachers and so—"
Interrupting me was the static voice that came from one of her radios. It exclaimed, "We have level five intruders! All units secure the area!"
My temporary listener had a very displeased look on her face, she wanted to hear the interesting part of my story but she won't get the chance. "Sorry, I have to go," she stands and immediately moves the bar door.
"What's your name?" I ask her. Throughout the entirety of our conversations, I didn't even know.
"Why? You're not going to see me again," she comments with a hint of sadness in her eyes.
"It'd just be nice to know the name of the woman who listened," I say, trying to shrug again. Damn chains.
She laughs lightly and opens the door. The Liepard squeezes its way between two bars and is ready to follow its trainer. "My name is Diei. If you ever see me again just call me Dee," she replies and leaves before the conversation could continue.
And here I am, tied up and there's some action going on within this place. If only, I could see, or at least know, what's happening. Who are these intruders? And why this place? If I'm running on guesses, I'd have to guess that I'm in some jail cell. I'm most likely still inside Goldenrod, if they transported I probably would've woken up earlier.
"Hey Ty, you getting tired?" I say looking over at the volcano Pokémon.
He was sitting, restricted and irritated. He snarls and the small flame hits the muzzle. Typhlosion is a pretty patient Pokémon, but when he's in a confined space he becomes irritable. Hell, when he's even bound to something he's irritable. The guy loves his free space.
It feels like I've been tied up here for hours, even though it's probably only minutes. Somewhere in this facility there are infiltrators, for who knows what the reason is, and the army people here are stirred up. I really want to get out of here, but with how tight these chains are, I doubt I'll be getting out any time soon.
I hear footsteps echo down the hallway. Some yells and whispers travel with the footsteps. Then I hear a roar with an agonizing scream follow it. Shadows began to creep near the bars of the cell. Several of the shadows belong to humans, a long one belongs to a Pokémon. If my memory suits me correct, the long shadow looks like a Dragonair.
Silhouettes appear before my cell, I can't exactly distinguish the people, but I'm guessing their allies. One of them unlocks the door of my cell and quickly moves towards me. This guy has a flaming head of hair of crimson color, he's dressed in dark colors, and has a long, wavy cape. He moves behind me and I can hear him unlocking the chains. A Dragonair slithers into my cell and moves to Typhlosion's container. Dragonair knocks it over and the top of the container flips open. Dragonair bites off Typhlosion's muzzle and Typhlosion burns the chains off himself.
Flaming hair, cape, dragon-type Pokémon? Either this guy is who I think he is or he's just some amazing double. Before I can even ask about the identification of this person, he says, "Finally found you, right after I unlock you, get your things ready and hurry and move out. We have to get out of here in five minutes, the place will blow."
"So extreme," I say, trying to gather the quick rush of information in my head. My body is relieved of the chains and one of the other men move to me. He had my vest, capture styler, belt, and chains on him. I quickly equip them and say, "What's next, Lance?"
"So you figured who I am," he replies, I see a smile that also shows his sharpened fangs that resembles a dragon tooth. "Follow me, we'll be out of here as soon as possible," he orders. He runs ahead with the other people that followed him here ahead of him.
"Come on Ty," I say and begin running with the volcano Pokémon quickly following behind.
So Lance, the Champion of the Indigo League and Dragon Master, came to save me. Quite an honor, since not many people have met Lance. Lance has been known to always be someone who works with secret missions and is always an agent. In the past, he's always been known as someone who has helped people for the greater good and risks himself just so he can help. He's practically the embodiment of justice. It's fitting for him.
I follow Lance down long hallways that seem to never end. Echoes of yells and roars continue to travel to my ears. I get a good look at the people who increasingly join me and Lance. They're all of different clothing, sizes, gender, and personalities. Honestly, they look like regular people to me. If this is some group that's to rescue me, they should at least have something that matches. Then again, they'd probably look like some Team Rocket or Go-Rock Squad wannabes.
Somehow throughout the craze, more people have added themselves onto the group. We manage to make it outside, it's dark and I can see the moon reflecting off of the dark, waving ocean, and I see many of them pulling out their Pokeballs. Flying-type Pokémon, that range from Pidgeots to Tropius to Unfezants, emerge from the white light. The flying-type Pokémon grab a hold of their trainers and fly off.
Right when I was about to reach into my pouch to get Honchkrow, I hear Lance tell me, "I got our ride." He whistles a five-pitched tune and I hear a melodic roar in the air. Quickly flying to us is a Dragonite, a Pokémon that looks gentle and passive, but can be pretty destructive if needed. This Dragonite isn't like the others, this Dragonite is Lance's Dragonite. Lance climbs onto his Dragonite's back and tells me, "Hurry and get on."
I comply and jump onto the dragon Pokémon. Dragonite quickly flies away at an alarming speed. Even the trainers that flew off before Lance and I did were beaten by the speed of the Dragonite. I hear the loud boom and look back to find a flare glowing within smoke and a building beginning to tumble down. I look around the smoke and building to find faint lights in the distance. I'm assuming that the lights belong to Goldenrod City.
"So where are we flying to?" I ask. I'm hoping my grip on Dragonite doesn't slip.
"We're flying to the Seafoam Islands. The rest will be branching throughout the Johto region," Lance replied, his tone his serious and low. His hair flutters violently in my face
"Seafoam Islands? Why there? And why just us?" I ask. I'm trying to understand why the Dragon Master rescued me and why he's taking me to the Seafoam Islands. Alright, what exactly is he going to do?
"Noxis, the ranger who followed his heart rather than authority. Stripped of his rank because he chose to do what was right rather than doing what was authorized. The Pokémon Association knows who you are, us Champions know who you are. You may think that you're not known, but you are quite popular among the Pokémon Association. We've been trying to contact you, but you move around so much, it's never easy," he explains.
"I'm assuming those people in the Goldenrod tunnel are part of whatever organization you're a part of?" I say.
"Yes, although they did approach you rather strangely," Lance replied.
"Alright," I let out, "so, why exactly does the Pokémon Association want me? And why are we going to the Seafoam Islands?"
"The Pokémon Association appointed each Pokémon Champion in each region to organize a resistance group against the army and Ranger Union," Lance began.
I quickly question, "Against the army and Ranger Union? What I'm getting at is that you guys are gonna go to war."
I see him nod and reply, "In a sense, yes we are. And you're the only person that we have recent records of, that has capabilities, history, and heart to do what's right."
"Could you guys get some Gym Leaders or Elite Four or something? I'm sure they'd do a better job than me," I reply. The last thing I want is to be in some war.
"The Elite Four and Gym Leaders are among our resistance. They act as the defenders of their respective regions. However, some of them travel around and help out too. We even have Agatha and Lorelei, former Elite Four members of the Indigo League, helping us too," he says. From the grin I can see, I'm guessing he's proud of getting the former members of the Elite Four to help.
Lorelei, Ice Master. She passed her position as Elite Four to go back to her hometown, Floe Island, to protect the people there from any threats. She's known to be calculative and highly intelligent. I've seen her on television to and she's one good looking woman.
Agatha, Ghost Master. She also passed her position as Elite Four. Some say it's because she's aging and wanted to retire, others say she actually did die. No one knows exactly why she left, but if she's back in action then it has to be for a good reason. People are even saying that her and Sinnoh Elite Four member, Bertha, are related somehow because they look similar.
"That still doesn't really explain why you guys want me. If you guys have Agatha and Lorelei, other Champions, and all of these amazing trainers, why me?" I ask.
"Like I said, you're the only one that we have recent records of," he replies.
"What do you mean, 'only one'?"
"There have been several trainers in the past that have risen to Champion status, but chose to go on new journeys. I've encountered a few of them myself, but have failed to locate them. The other Champions have met some of these trainers and haven't seen them since. We would also ask some Top Rangers to help us, but as you know, they're on the opposing side. So you're the only one that we have," he explains.
"Glad to know I'm a backup for people you couldn't find," I say. I'm not really surprised I'm a last resort, considering who I am.
Lance shakes his head and replies with a gentle, sympathetic tone that kind of scares me, "You're not a backup. You're someone that is a great asset for the resistance."
"Right," I say sarcastically. "So what exactly are you guys resisting against?"
"The army, backed by the Ranger Union, is using Pokémon for warfare. In short, they're trying to make all trainers train their Pokémon as weapons. They're trying to get people to enlist into the army with their Pokémon so their Pokémon will become weapons. We're trying to resist that because Pokémon shouldn't be used as weapons because they're living creatures that bond with us. They're our friends, our family. For them to try to get us to use our Pokémon in such a dangerous way. It's horrible," he says. From the way he shakes his head to the bitter tone he has, I can tell he's truly passionate on saving Pokémon from becoming weapons.
Now I can see why they were looking for me. My history of saving Pokémon as a ranger, and my supposedly well-known mission that ruined my career as a ranger. All of that simply says that I fight for what's right and do what I think is right. My ideals are what they want.
"That's pretty bad," I let out, "and why are we going to the Seafoam Islands?"
"Blaine, the Gym Leader and renown scientist, has been researching the Dark Stone," he says.
"Dark Stone? Isn't that part of some myth in the Unova region?" I ask. Aside from Johto mythology of Ho-oh, the legendary beasts, and Brass Tower, I know little to nothing about mythology in the other regions.
Lance nods, replying, "In a way, yes. Do you know about the mythology there?"
"Not really," I answer.
"Before Unova was created, there were heroic twin brothers who had a single dragon Pokémon. The older brother sought out truth, the younger sought out ideals. Because of the difference between them, they began to argue and fight. In response to the tension between the brothers, the dragon Pokémon split into two, Reshiram and Zekrom. Reshiram sided with the older brother as Zekrom sided with the younger. The dragon Pokémon battled and fought each other, but neither of them could beat the other. The brothers eventually realized that no side was correct and set aside their differences. However, their sons fought each other and Reshiram and Zekrom destroyed the region. Reshiram and Zekrom disappeared in the aftermath, but many have been saying that they were transformed into stones. Which is why we have the Light and Dark Stones."
"And what does the Dark Stone have to do with all of this?" I ask him.
"Blaine has been trying to awaken the Pokémon inside the stone, but there hasn't been any luck. So he requested that several dragon trainers go to his lab and see if we can awaken it," he answers.
"These dragon trainers consist of..."
"Myself, my cousin Clair, Drake from Hoenn, and Drayden and Iris from Unova. Blaine believes that only dragon trainers can awaken the power and Pokémon of the stone," he says.
"Well, let's hope we get there as soon as possible."
Author's Note: To any of my readers, thank you by the way for reading my story, I'll be accepting OCs for my story. Reason for this is because I want to somehow get my readers involved with the story. Of course not all OCs will make a huge impact on the story, but they will be in the story from time to time. It's also possible that if I take a personal liking to your character, they'll be in the story a lot more. The more details and information you provide, the better I can write your character. So if you would like your OC in the story, please fill out the form I'll provide below and PM it to me. Thanks! =]
Name:
Age:
Description:
Personality:
Type: (Trainer, Ranger, Coordinator, etc.)
History:
Goals:
Pokémon: (Please include any specific details such as being a favorite for your character, certain moves the Pokémon likes to use, personality, and things of the sort.)
