Chapter Four: Skyridge
Without a doubt, Sinnoh was probably her favorite region in the entire world. It had everything, the ocean, rolling hills, frozen wonderlands, treacherous mountains, and of course some of the best vertical views a woman could ask for.
[17:36 P.M.] Pokémon League Summit, Sinnoh Region
Cynthia ran this thought in her mind as she paced around in her residential quarters on the mountain plateau of the Sinnoh League. As Sinnoh Champion, she had to be close to headquarters, thus, her home was only a walk away. Everything in the region was close to her, her work, her family, her friends—Sinnoh was her home, and she would do anything to protect it.
Usually she was out in the field doing training, researching ancient Sinnoh legends, or eating ice cream, but today it was crucial that she would be in a fixed location. After all, most of the places she went, like Mt. Coronet, couldn't receive any cell phone service due to the remoteness of the setting, so she couldn't be alerted of any news unless she was close to a landline.
Cynthia paced some more and ran over the plan she had perfectly laid out several days ago. She couldn't afford any mess-ups with so many lives at stake. All she had to do was to wait for the phone call from Flint, and then carry everything out as she planned.
The Sinnoh Pokémon League was perched on a mountain on an island north of Sunyshore City but south of Stark Mountain. The range was naturally smaller because the island developed later and rose up into the sky to roughly two thousand meters into the air. The Pokémon league stood just short of the very top, on a plateau of the mountain just behind a large lake spring. The elevation caused the spring lake to overflow and generate an impressive waterfall, which was instantly sighted by any who passed through the Victory Road cave.
Cynthia's house was just out of sight of the league, roughly five minutes of brisk walking across the mountain terrain. Her house was a wooden cabin, admittedly unfitting for an impressively paid elite champion, but suiting her very modest and cozy lifestyle. On her wooden door lay a typical "Welcome Home" sign, and beside the doorstep in front of the wall lay several potted flowers.
Inside, her whole house lay inside of her living room with only a single wall and corner walkway separating it from her bedroom. Upon entering through her door, her coat and bag hanger lay to her upper right while on her left held the kitchen and dining bar. The front held the living room with a circular red and blue embossed carpet spanning the entire wooden panel floor, a modest TV and stand in the corner, a videophone right next to it, and three plush couches in the center. Cynthia made good use of the carpet, especially in times like this.
She wasn't the only one in the living room. Elite Four member Lucian Gutenberg was quietly sitting in one of the small sofas reading Homer's The Odyssey in its original ancient Greek, acquired at a very exotic auction. He was a very intellectual guy, resourceful, and an incredible mentor. Once, he confronted the trio of Pokémon trainers Ash, Brock, and Dawn, and helped Dawn's Buizel to realize certain things he needed to adapt, and likewise with Dawn how she should respond to her knew Pokémon. He had long, purple hair that flowed down to his shoulders and large crystal clear glasses. He wore dark red dress pants, shoes, and a red suit with a purple hued feather in the outer pocket. At a mere thirty years old, he dressed to impress, and his battling skills backed it all up. Lucian was usually calm during hours of anticipation such this, but nonetheless he couldn't help but feel the importance of success with this endeavor.
"Excuse me, Cynthia?" he asked his superior.
"What's up, Lucian?" Cynthia continued to walk up and down the fuzzy carpet hanging her head and using her hands to articulate to herself what she thought.
"It's really unnecessary to pace like that in nervousness. I don't think you're doing yourself any good that way."
"I apologize, you're right, but I cannot help but feel the need to make sure I hadn't left anything out," Cynthia stopped and turner her head toward him.
"I doubt you've left anything out," Lucian quietly closed his book and flicked a smile up at Cynthia. "We are dealing with the biggest crime syndicate in all of Sinnoh so I'm sure you've thought everything out as thoroughly as possible. You have been known for your impressive strategies and decision making on and off the battlefield."
"I know," Cynthia said. "And I appreciate your praise. But, still, I am starting to worry that perhaps Flint didn't—"
RINGRINGRING! PHONECALLPHONECALL!
Cynthia bolted over to the video phone and immediately picked it up. Lucian mildly turned his attention to the video phone right behind Cynthia. "I think our wait is over."
"Hello? Is that you Flint?"
Back at the Sunyshore Pokémon Center, Flint started up the video call and began talking, "Yo, Cynth! What's up? You wanted a call right? Here it is, at your service!"
"Well, I'm glad you remembered," Cynthia chuckled to herself and answered back. "So you did find Ash, Brock, and Dawn, right?"
"Yeah, I got all three of them!"
"Hey guys! It's great to see you all again! You too, Pikachu!" At that moment, Ash, Brock, Dawn, and Pikachu reached Flint's side. Cynthia looked up at the adolescent teens.
"Hi, Cynthia! Long time no see!" Ash said excitedly.
"Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder and onto the videophone desk.
"Hey, Cynthia! It's great to see you again!" Dawn waved.
Brock, once again feeling his hormones rev back up, rushed to the screen and spoke, "Oh, Cynthia! So many months it has been and my heart is sick with longing!"
"Hey Brock!" Cynthia chuckled at his antics, mentally grateful that he was phoning from miles away. "It's good to see you again as well!"
"Oh, Cynthia! Now that I have seen you again at last, could you cure my lovesick heart with your–ACK...! Not again…!" Brock fell down, paralyzed once again by his Croagunk. Cynthia and Brock's Croagunk chuckled in unison and Cynthia began addressing Flint.
"So, Flint, how did your battle go?"
"Well, hehe," Flint looked at Cynthia and spoke with a slight twitch in his eye. "You've got me beat, Cynth! I really got my afro handed to me with this one."
"Hah! I told you Flint! I TOLD YOU! Ash, congratulations!" Cynthia laughed with such immense satisfaction.
"HEY! It wasn't an official six on six battle, so I still have a chance to beat him you know!" Flint retorted in his defense.
Cynthia flew at the videophone's camera and jabbed a finger at the lens. "I! TOLD! YOU! SO! I totally knew it would happen! I probably should've put my salary on it! You would've lost so badly!"
"Jeez, Cynth! How was I supposed to know? Dude, next time, feel free to bet a million bucks on Ash and prepare to lose it! This only happened once!"
"Right, sure, we'll find out at the Sinnoh League when it counts for the record books," Cynthia rolled her eyes. "That million bucks is as good as mine! How about you, Ash? How do you feel about your battle against an Elite Four member?"
"It was really an awesome battle and I couldn't have asked for anything better!" Ash pumped up his fist as he spoke in reply. Then he looked down slightly and lowered his fist. "But now Buizel is in his ward resting up. He really gave it every last bit of energy he had."
"Wait Ash, did I hear correctly? You have Buizel?" Lucian asked, squeezing into the videophone. "I thought Buizel was Dawn's Pokémon."
"Hey, Lucian! How's it going? Yeah, long story short, Dawn and I did a trade," Ash stated.
"Really? Dawn, are you there? What did Ash trade for Buizel?" Lucian asked.
"Hey, Lucian! Ash traded me his Aipom," Dawn replied. "We figured that Aipom really liked contests, and I wasn't cut out to really work with Buizel's in regular battles, and it worked out really well!"
"Well, congratulations Dawn! In hindsight, I see you've made a great choice. I was hoping you would find out what Buizel truly wanted, and I'm glad to see that you did, even though it wasn't quite what I had in mind. I wasn't expecting a trade, but it seems like it worked out perfectly and I'm very glad to hear that! But to business, Cynthia, we'd better not keep these three waiting."
Cynthia then centered herself in the videophone camera. "Alright. Ash, I do believe Flint has mentioned the situation with Volkner and his Gym."
"Yeah, he mentioned. Flint said that I should get Volkner's spirit back with a Gym battle. But I will definitely challenge him. I probably was going to anyways."
"I knew you would be the man for the job, Ash. I know you won't disappoint us," Cynthia grinned. "By the way, just a little side note, when Volkner was at the height of his career he would always demand a four on four battle. Thought I'd give you a little heads up."
"Hey, thanks for the advice, Cynthia!"
"Oh yeah, one more thing. The two of us will be heading over to Sunyshore soon. I, for one, want to have the honor of seeing your last battle in the Sinnoh Gym circuit and your entry point to the Sinnoh League. And I think Lucian wouldn't want to miss out on that either."
"Ash, I didn't have the privilege of seeing your battle skills the last time we met," Lucian behind her nodded as she acknowledged his intentions. "I promised you a battle once you conquered the Sinnoh League, but I think I need to sample your battle skills in the meantime. You are a very promising contestant, if I do say so myself."
Ash was now grinning from ear to ear. "Hey, thanks both of you! I am so psyched about my battle tomorrow!"
"We'll be there in just twenty minutes or so. Don't go anywhere!"
"Alright, bye Cynthia!" Ash called out.
"Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu said.
"Bye, Cynthia!" Dawn waved goodbye.
"See you soon, Cynth," Flint said.
"Oh… ACK… Cynthia…!" Brock mustered while on the floor.
"Bye, Ash, Dawn, Pikachu, Flint, and Brock! See you soon!" Cynthia chuckled to herself and spoke again. She hung up and quickly hustled around.
Up in the Sinnoh League HQ, Lucian was under the impression they would depart immediately and had already pulled out his specific Poké Ball for the job.
"Cynthia, shouldn't we teleport right now?"
"Well, I still need to make one last phone call," She picked up her modest clasper, Poké Balls, black purse, and slung it around her shoulder before dialed one last number in to her videophone. After a few rings, the line connected through.
"Hello, Mom? Dad?"
Back in humble Celestic Town, two elderly citizens of Sinnoh picked up and saw their one and only Sinnoh Champion daughter smiling at them.
"Darling! It's so good to hear your voice once again!"
"Thanks, guys. It's so good to see you guys again! Hey mom, dad? Are you guys alright?"
"Hey, hey, your old folks can handle themselves," the champion's father replied. "We're fine, but things are starting to get tighter here. We've been keeping tabs on the museum."
"Has anything drastic happened with their re-investigation in the ruins?" Cynthia pressed onward.
"Nothing yet dear, thank God, but we've confirmed that they're using our museum as their base for now," her mother replied, clutching her heart as she did. "Last time they were here they simply made off with the two legendary orbs but now they must be back for something more."
"I was beginning to worry," Cynthia sighed a small relief. "I remember when that trio of admins destroyed the ruins, and thankfully nothing else was taken, but I'm still completely stumped about what they are trying to dig up. I'm coming back though. I have to protect you guys and my hometown."
"Well, it'll be tough. We are the only ones who know about the fact that they're back in Celestic Town," Cynthia's father cautioned. "Your mother and grandmother just went to the museum one day after a holiday weekend to find it was locked! No one else suspects a thing! I mean, they've taken the entire Jenny Police Department hostage, using their own henchmen as temporary Police, and are now using the museum as a base. Anyone who's tried to get inside has been caught and thrown into captivity like the police! We were the lucky ones. We saw them just as they were locking down the entire museum from the inside out. They've even tapped the phone lines of the Pokémon Center, and I don't even know whether they've done the same to the civilian houses!"
"Is it starting to get out of hand?" Cynthia with a burdened voice.
Cynthia's mother looked at her husband and then at her daughter and sighed, "Yes. Things are changing."
"So it'll only be a short amount of time before they finally control all of Celestic Town?"
"Yes," the Sinnoh Champion's parents glanced at each other with a reverberating reply.
A long and stagnant silence settled under the roofs of the champion's parents and over the roof of the champion herself.
Cynthia buried her eyes in her right hand while she held the receiver in her left. Lucian saw this and tenderly put his hand on her shoulder, "Cynthia, they're waiting. The sooner we can solve a small Gym crisis, the sooner we can end Celestic's."
"You're right," Cynthia consented as she took her hand away from her face and talked again to her parents. "This means I'll just have to make Ash aware as quickly as humanly possible."
Her mother sat back upright and talked a slightly frustrated voice, "Cynthia please! I don't understand why you need him to help you! You said it yourself six weeks ago that he didn't come deliberately, you two just happened to meet up! Besides, for goodness sake Cynthia, he's just a boy!"
"Mom. Boy or not, I think Ash will be able to do more about this crisis than anyone can."
"Why?"
"Look, mom, I have my reasons."
"Well, honey, I hope you know what you're dealing with, trying to take all of them down and all, along with a sixteen year old boy, no less."
"It'll be fine! Besides, I think you'll like him pretty quickly. Grandma's already met him, he's a really great Pokémon Trainer, and he's such a great person. Come on mom, have I ever not known what I was dealing with?"
Cynthia's mother cracked a smile at the thought despite the foreboding air. It wasn't the first time she asked this question, and she knew it wouldn't be the last.
"Well, there was that one time…"
"Hey! That was when I was three! We don't need to go over all of this again, please? I just climbed a tree, slipped, and sorta fell on top of you. What's the big deal?" Both mother and daughter were laughing and massaged the backs of their neck where they landed as if it happened only yesterday.
Lucian off to the side smiled and cocked his right eyebrow up to his scalp thinking, Wow. I always thought she was weird, but this is pushing it!
"Well, I'll leave you to round up the boy and take care of your business, Cynthia Apologue."
"Thanks mom. I'll make sure to come back as soon as I can. Trust me. Things will turn out alright at the end of this. I promise!"
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Cynthia's mother and father glanced at each other and knew that what their daughter said was and will hold true. A promise was a promise, and there was no greater commitment than that.
"Alright, Cynth, you said so!" her mom said.
"Take care," her dad added.
"We love you!" the two said simultaneously.
"Bye mom! Bye dad! I will, and I love you!" At that, both parents and daughter hung up their receivers.
Lucian looked at the clock closest to him and saw that roughly fifteen minutes had passed during the phone call. Consequently, he withdrew the same Poké Ball out of his jacket coat, about to call out his Pokémon when he stopped and saw Cynthia rising from her videophone stool.
"Cynthia?"
"What, Lucian?" Cynthia said as she had just slung her handbag over her shoulder in a more comfortable position. "I thought you said we should go."
"I know, but I have just one question."
"Yeah, what's that?"
"Why do you want to take Ash along with us?" Lucian raised his eyebrow quizzically at the Champion. "I mean, Flint asked you and all you said was that he could hold his own in battle, and your parents even asked you and all you said was, 'I have my reasons'. There has to be something better up your sleeve that you're hiding."
Cynthia cracked a sly grin at her overly analytical comrade and said, "You'll know soon enough, as soon as we get over to Sunyshore City that is."
"Are you going to tell all of us then at the same time?" Lucian pushed the center button of the ball with his thumb as it made the satisfying click and continued talking to Cynthia.
"Yeah, of course. I have to," Cynthia replied as Lucian threw his Poké Ball into the air.
"Why?" Lucian pressed on as he watched the emitted white light shape into a humanoid figure.
"Well, because Ash is going to ask me the same question, and you know how I hate repeating myself twice."
"Alright, then. You ready to go, Alakazam?" Lucian paused as he watched his Alakazam appear right in front of him and conceded to the Sinnoh Champion.
Lucian's Alakazam replied with a sturdy, "Ala-kazam!" as he raised his psychic spoons up into the air.
"Alright, Cynthia. You know the drill, let your mind rely on mine," Lucian instructed as he closed his eyes in unshakeable concentration.
"Gotcha," Cynthia too closed her eyes and focused all of her mental attention to the man in the red blazer in front of her.
Lucian's Alakazam's eyes glowed a dark blue, signaling it's trainer to make the order.
"Alright then, Alakazam. Use teleport!"
[17:49 P.M.] Sunyshore City (Pokémon Center), Sinnoh Region
Back in the Pokémon Center in Sunyshore City, Ash Ketchum hung up the videophone and pondered why the Champion of all of Sinnoh was coming over to see a single Gym battle of a teenager. That was definitely unusual.
"Wow, I can't believe that Cynthia and Lucian are going to be watching my Gym battle tomorrow," Ash said astounded.
"You know I'll also be there," Flint nodded. "I want to see my old friend be brought back to his normal self. Yeah, that is a bit unusual, but you already know that Cynthia is a very outgoing person. Also, she does seem to take a liking to you. I guess it's because you hold a lot of promise."
"Yeah, well, Cynthia might like Ash, but Brock is still in denial about it," Dawn giggled.
"Oh man that was two jabs by Croagunk in a single day! I need a break from my love life," Brock got up from the floor and returned his Croagunk.
Ash, Dawn, and Flint laughed a little bit before Ash told the rest of the group, "Hey guys, since my Gym battle is tomorrow, I'm going outside to train a bit."
"Don't you remember that Cynthia will be coming in like twenty minutes or so?" Flint spoke up to remind Ash. "Cool down a bit. Chill, relax!"
Ash instead just ran out of the sliding doors of the Pokémon Center and yelled back, "Don't worry! It'll be short! Come on Pikachu!"
"Pika!" Pikachu jumped off the desk and ran after his trainer outside the Pokémon Center.
Flint was about to run after him before Brock spoke up, "Hey, Flint, why don't we just let Ash train a bit? He's probably not going to have any time to train once Cynthia and Lucian come anyways. Let's just freshen up and shower. I mean, I'm drenched in sweat after the battle the two of you had."
"Yeah, please, Flint? I feel so disgusting after days without a shower and then a melting battlefield!" Dawn pleaded.
"Yeah, why not? After all, Cynthia is coming," Flint laughed a bit and agreed. "I've got the Sinnoh Champion to look handsome for!"
Brock spoke back, "That makes two of us."
Dawn just rolled her eyes as she ran to the showers.
Ash stopped outside of the Pokémon Center and looked up at the sky, hoping to get some inspiration. Training was never concrete, more like a do-what-you-can process, make-it-up-as-you-go-along.
Hm, Ash thought. I think we might as well start training right here as soon as possible. I'll get the guys to have some fun today!
"Come on out! Monferno, Grotle, Staraptor, and Gliscor!" Ash yelled, tossing all of his Poké Balls out at once.
"Mon, monferno!" Ash's own Fire and Fighting type Monferno came out flared up and jumping up and down. Monferno was not originally Ash's own Pokémon like Buizel. Monferno was originally Ash's rival Paul's Pokémon as a lowly Chimchar and was treated very roughly without any real compassion or love. Paul, ruthless to all of his Pokémon, claimed that they wanted the treatment, and that if he cared for them at all, they would become spoiled. In the end, Chimchar was tossed aside as the weakest link in Paul's arsenal, endured the post-traumatic stress of a Zangoose attack, shouldered the emotional trauma of being treated like a tool, and suffered from lack of affection until Ash extended his hand to him and welcomed him to the fold. Oddly enough, his evolution was the result of a battle against his former master. He, like Buizel, eventually adjusted and has grown immensely powerful since.
"Gro —tle!" Grotle, a Grass type Pokémon, stood willing and sturdy for his trainer. Grotle was Ash's second Pokémon that he caught in the Sinnoh region. He originally stayed near an elderly woman as a Turtwig in the middle of the forest between Sangdem and Jubilife. An enormously sacrificial and altruistic soul, he stayed near the elderly woman because the forest was full of Pokémon bickering and picking fights amongst each other. Turtwig actually took it upon himself to keep the peace. One day, Ash came along and Turtwig, seeing how Ash protected all of his captured Pokémon as though they were his children, eagerly joined Ash's team, evolved, and partook in many of the most challenging battles Ash participated in.
"Star! Starrraptor!" The Flying and Normal type addition to Ash's team took to the skies from his Poké Ball. Staraptor evolved from the very first Pokémon that Ash had caught in the Sinnoh region. Originally, Starly was caught to do one job; find Pikachu after he was forcefully separated from Ash upon arriving at the Sinnoh region. Starly successfully completed his function back then and stuck with Ash to become the most powerful Pokémon he could be. Every once in a while, he was rejected from battles due to opponents posing severe type disadvantages like Roark, a rock type Gym Leader. Regardless, he has since re-asserted himself as a powerhouse in Ash's team, especially after evolving into his final stage after the Poké Ringer Competition. Now, Staraptor still finishes search and rescue missions like a pro and mastered many of the most advanced flying techniques a bird could possibly learn.
"Gli, gliscor, gli!" Lastly came Gliscor, the Flying and Ground variant on the team who happily bounced on her stinger tail eagerly waiting for her trainer's requests. Still the team clown, Gliscor had evolved from a Gligar once it had gained enough confidence in herself. Originally, Gligar was afraid of many things including heights, incoming attacks, stares of opponents, and even taunts from her own teammates. It had been an uphill battle for Ash to try and improve Gligar's self-esteem, but eventually the both of them pulled through, Gligar evolved into a two meter wingspan behemoth, and Gliscor had since risen to the uber-tier of Ash's roster, knowing moves like X-Scissor, Fire Fang, and Steel Wing.
"Pika, pikachu!" And of course, Pikachu was Ash's best friend in the entire world. No one, not even a human ever had a place in his heart like Pikachu had. They stuck together through thick and thin, better and worse, and even death. They were inseparable, and every day furthered their friendly bonds and love for each other like best friends and real blood brothers. Pikachu jumped back up on Ash's shoulder, and seeing all of his friends and brothers in arms before him, he sounded off.
"Alright guys, this is the final test, the finale to our Sinnoh Gym challenge. Let's win our last badge! Who's with me?" Ash was ready for some intense training to be done if he was going to win the final badge for his entry into the Sinnoh League.
In Pokémon tongue, everyone responded their excitement and affirmations with stomps of the feet, flaps of the wing, and punches in the air.
"Alright! And guess what, you guys? The champion of the Sinnoh region is coming to see this battle, so let's win this one!"
As soon as Ash had finished his pep talk, Gliscor, as always, became over excited and leapt up into the air, specifically to come pancake-ing down on Ash. "Gli! Gligo!"
"Wait Gliscor, wait, wait, no, no, no, NO! ACK! KAH!" Ash managed to cough out just as Gliscor flattened Ash.
Gliscor laughed merrily with her favorite game of Ash flattening, "Gli! Gli, gliscor!"
What am I going to do with you… Ash thought to himself.
Dear Readers,
I've decided upon using the metric system you motherfuckers. I may be American, but the customary system is terrible. NASA crashed a Mars probe because of that in 2000. Seriously. I can't calculate physics in customary or tell the temperature either. Metric system is just better, bam.
Lucian's name makes total sense considering that he loves books and apparently a guy named Gutenberg made the first printing press. I will also explain later how books written in regular world languages can be found in the Pokémon world.
You know it's funny. In my original Dear Readers back in 2008 I gave a shout out of thanks to guys like LuciferIX, katfairy, and EarthBorn0. It's strange to think that those people aren't even active anymore. Time flies man. DEFINITELY check out all of their work. It was EarthBorn0 who gave me the inspiration to write a fanfiction about Advanceshipping that doesn't suck. LOL.
As always, any rating or reviewing is always absolutely appreciated! Thanks to ALL!
Story Notes:
14 years ago – Lucian Gutenberg is born
Author's Notes:
Uploaded, 12/20/08
| two revisions/general plot decided, no egg device/large group dialogue challenge |
- beginning of no update period
RE: edit. 09/02/11
original title, "The Telephone Game"
RE: edit 10/29/12