I am back peeps! XD I told you I'd update on Monday and I did, even though it's hard to make a schedule with my shitty computer... Still, here it is, the FINAL CHAPTER OF PROMISE ME! Now since its been so long since I updated the last chapter, I forgot that I was waiting for more reviews or PMs asking me whether people wanted some 'In-Story' battles. And that includes King vs Iris. So yeah, that came back. Remember peeps, 15 reviews/private messages for each battle and I'll do them! ;) Other than that, lets get down to business and enjoy this last chapter, shall we?
(Also, I'd still highly appreciate it if people create fanart of King for me XD Like I said before, just picture Mega Charizard X's body and colors mixed with Y's ragged wings and spiked tail! If someone makes some fanart, I'll link it on my page for everyone to see!)
Now let's get down to it!
"So, this is it then?" - Human Speech
'Wow, I expected something... more.' - Human Thoughts
"Ready for the worst mistake of your life?" - Pokémon Speech
'I'm itching for a fight you little shit!' - Pokémon Thoughts
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, except my Mega OC!
Chapter 9: Hello Again
A year had finally passed since Iris had left.
But the days hadn't gone as smooth after Iris had gotten her eighth gym badge.
The village Elder had passed away.
At first, King hadn't been told of anything and simply remained in his cave, awaiting her arrival to talk about news regarding Iris' progress.
Until someone new entered his cave.
Drayden, a bearded white haired man. He was a Gym Leader in Opelucid City, a person who learned of King's secret from Sophia herself. The man had told King the news about Sophia's passing just when King was about to fly by the village to check up on her.
Apparently it was age that took her.
Sophia, being one of the oldest people in the Village of Dragons, had been affected by the laws of time. Her body had grown weak to the point where she couldn't travel to King's cave and soon enough, she was left bedridden in a weakened state. And during that time, Sophia had elected Drayden as the new elder before passing in her sleep a few days later.
The conversation with Drayden had left King in a depressed state, along with the remaining villagers.
And it has been said that Iris had been informed as well.
The news urged Iris to return home and the reunion wasn't the one King hoped for.
She took it the hardest, after all.
Due to her long distance, Iris had been unable to come back until weeks after the funeral, leaving her and King to grieve at Sophia's tombstone.
She wasn't able to control the tears that day and King had spent the next few days comforting her in their cave, trying time and time again to calm her down.
Only to fail.
Eventually, Iris came to accept Sophia's passing and continued to stay with King for a while as a way to cope. But that didn't bring the cheery mood back to what it was before. The days were still spent grieving. Some spent talking about Iris' travels. Some used to battle out some stress.
And then came the day Iris had cheered up enough to resume her journey.
She told King that she had her final gym badge and was able to challenge the Pokémon League at any time.
That was something King used to send encouraging letters whenever he got the chance.
And with Drayden's help, that chance was very frequent.
King felt it as his duty as a father to maintain a healthy connection with his daughter, making sure her travels were safe and to help her whenever she needed advice. He had to.
He was the only one left.
If not him, who else would give her the drive to push forward?
King had been given enough time to himself. Enough time to return to his former self, the old King who grew to accept solitude as a normal thing.
It's been years, six to be exact, since the last time he saw Iris.
Although the reunion wasn't as happy as he'd hoped, it wasn't too bad either.
Iris had finally returned home after challenging the Pokémon League.
After grieving over Sophia's death and resuming her travels, Iris had spent another 3 months training her team for the upcoming League. She needed time to build stronger bonds, to sharpen up skills that could be considered weak-points, to gain more experience as a trainer herself before the real challenge was presented in front of her.
However, things didn't go exactly as plan.
Iris had indeed won the tournament part of the league, giving her a chance to battle the Elite Four before challenging the champion Alder.
But she failed to beat the third challenger out of the Elite Four.
Her first match was against Grimsley, the Dark Type Elite Four member. It ended with her as the victor. Next came the second challenger, a long-haired brunette by the name of Caitlin, the Psychic Type trainer. It was her match that nearly ended in defeat if it weren't for Iris' fully evolved Hydreigon. But then her luck ran out when she encountered the Fighting Type trainer, Marshal.
It was his strictly trained Pokémon that ended Iris' victory streak before even facing Shauntal, the Ghost Type trainer.
That was her first attempt at Unova's League.
But she didn't give up.
Knowing she was still too young to actually match against all Elite Four members and Alder himself, Iris came to the decision of traveling to other regions. It was her new plan to improve her skills. By challenging all Gym Leaders and winning minor tournaments, Iris had trained her team to the limit.
King was more than happy to back up her decision, knowing that she needed more experience to grow.
With Drayden's help, he hadn't been left out of the loop of Iris' travels. Although communication was strained from the distance.
Regardless, it felt like King had never left Iris' side.
*Crunch, crunch, crunch…*
King's eyes fluttered open from the sound. He lifted his head and squinted his eyes against the bright light known as the sun. "Drayden... Drayden, is that you?" The Mega Charizard called out tiredly, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.
The silhouette against the light wasn't of the same figure as the Drayden he knew.
In fact, neither were the other three large silhouettes behind the first one.
His tired brain finally registering the intrusion of 4 unknown guests, King had quickly pushed himself to his feet and felt the flame on his tail burn hotter. His eyes still haven't adjusted to the light, but King made out the shape of an arm pointing towards him.
Before he could react, he heard a shout of "Dragon Pulse, GO!"
One of the silhouettes behind the smallest figure stepped forward and King spotted a set of jaws open up. Growing between rows of razor sharp teeth was a glowing ball of purple, blue, white and even red energy.
Panic flooding his body, King's tail flame flared as did the fire in his mouth. "Flamethrower!" He roared out a thick pillar of blue fire just as the glowing ball of energy from the silhouette shot out like a beam.
It didn't take long before the two attacks collided, creating a shockwave that created cracks along the walls and even a crater underneath the meeting point.
As the two attacks pushed against each other for dominance, King's red eyes narrowed before he pushed enough fire out to cancel both of them without an accidental cave in. However, there was smoke building up between the two parties and clouded King's vision.
That only raised the caution levels.
"Whoever you are, you better have a good excuse for waking me up!" King snarled out in English, having cared little about his secret in situations such as these. "Or I swear I'll-"
"Hyper Voice!" This time it was a different shadow he spotted through the smoke, one that looked to be flying. And King dreaded the upcoming attack just as he saw a burst of condensed soundwaves shoot through the smoke. There was no way to dodge, being stuck in such a confined space, so King's only option was to endure the attack.
With great frustration.
The second the ear-splitting volumes hit him, King screamed out in pain and tried to cover his own ears in an attempt to block out the noise. It was a futile attempt.
"Now while he's distracted!" The voice called out again, the soundwaves having stopped and leaving King feeling dizzy with a throbbing headache. "Metal Claw!"
With a single crack-opened eye, King spotted a small shadow fly at him with a set of shiny silver claws.
Forcing himself to endure his new migraine, King's right hand was quickly enveloped in green energy known as Dragon Claw. And he didn't any time blocking the attack, just in time to see a single claw stop an inch from chest. With a grunt, King started to push back against his opponent and bared his fangs. "You picked the wrong Pokémon to mess with-" King's words stopped the second he took in his attacker's appearance.
It was a grinning Excadrill.
"What?"
"Hey pops." Excadrill snickered, pulling his hands away and deactivating Metal Claw. "Long time no see, eh?"
King blinked in confusion before he heard footsteps. Looking up, he noticed that the smoke had finally cleared out of the cave and allowed him to see the rest of his 'intruders'.
The biggest silhouette he saw before was a Haxorus. The horned dinosaur like Pokémon gave King a toothy grin as he waved a tail at him. Behind him was the second shadow, which was soon revealed to be a Hydreigon. And all three of his mouths were smiling at him.
And finally came the revealing of the trainer. Who King saw was a dark skinned female with large puffy pink hair tied up behind a tiara and a large pink dress.
King's Dragon Claws slowly dissolved from his hands as he looked at the female before him, taking notice of the sly smirk on her face. He wanted to speak, and honestly he tried, but he found it hard to form the right words.
As if sensing his inability to enact a basic form of speech, the female took the initiative and rushed towards him.
King felt two arms wrap around his frame and looked down, finding the hair blocking more of his view than he expected. He didn't even notice the amused faces of the three other Pokémon. He was so preoccupied with the woman hugging him that his mind would've shut down if it weren't for her backing away and looking him right in the eyes.
Gone was the sly smirk and was replaced with a genuine smile, with a quivering bottom lip. "Hey Papa." The female said with a slight hitch in her voice. "I'm home."
"Iris…?" The Mega Charizard whispered, taking a step forward. She nodded. King could only stare in astonishment, looking over his daughter's new feathers. "It's been so long… I-I mean look at you." He felt his lips curl up into a smile. "You've gotten so big!" He had noticed her height when their hug nearly involved him with a mouthful of hair.
"I have." Iris giggled with an embarrassed blush, watching King give her new appearance a quick look-over.
Finally, Iris found herself engulfed in a hug courtesy of King himself. She laughed into his chest as the large dragon danced around in a circle, shooting praise after praise about how 'My little girl grew into a beautiful young woman'. It was such a comical show that it had Haxorus, Hydreigon and Excadrill laughing on the sidelines.
"Okay, okay, put me down!" Iris laughed out. "You'll break me in half if you keep this up!"
"Sorry," King quickly dropped Iris back to her feet. "But it's been six years since I last seen you! You've changed!"
"I didn't change that much, papa…" Iris retorted sheepishly, trying to wave his praise away with her hand. Then Iris jutted a thumb behind her and King looked back to the rest of them. "But I can't say the same for my teammates over here."
King wasted no time walking forward and personally giving each of them a hug. "Sweet Arceus, look at you guys!" He went from Excadrill to Hydreigon to Haxorus, who King actually had to look up to in terms of height. "Especially you! Are you really the same baby Axew I knew?" King teased. If it weren't for his scales, Haxorus would've been like Iris and blushed from King's teasing praises.
After giving out hugs to his children, King paused for a moment before looking at Iris with wide eyes. "Wait a minute. If you're back, then that must mean…"
"Yup. Papa, you're looking at the new Champion of Unova." Iris proudly declared with a puffed out chest. She pointed to the tiara atop of her head and King found himself staring in childlike excitement.
So the talk of the new champion being his daughter weren't just rumors after all.
That meant today was a day –
"You remembered your promise…" King whispered.
Iris nodded as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Of course I did. What kind of daughter would forget her dad's one and only promise?"
King turned to his three sons with an arched scaly brow. "That means you three are stronger than you look."
"Got that right, Pops." Excadrill snorted, sharpening his claws against each other.
"Yeah, we've all trained really hard. I think we're ready, Dad." Haxorus added with a nod.
"If you think we're bluffing, just remember who gave you a run for your money just a few minutes ago." Hydreigon reminded with snickers from each mouth, much to King's dismay. The Fire/Flying type still had a minor headache. He'd have to return the favor later…
"Looks like I need to teach you guys some manners on treating your elders with some respect." King couldn't stop the smirk on his face even if he tried. This was a fight he's been looking forward to for years, a challenge to finally test his strength against all of his daughter's progress. His tail flared in excitement and slowly moved to the sides, his wings opening and closing in a form of stretches. The dark colored dragon looked at each of his children in the eyes. "You guys ready for a 9-year long beat-down?"
"As if!" Iris scoffed a challenging set of eyes, a hand slowly going to a concealed belt of Pokéballs. "We've prepared ourselves for years and beat Gym Leaders all over the world, the Elite Four and finally Alder himself! You won't be so cocky when I beat you, Papa!"
"Follow me to the top of the mountain. That's where the fun will start." King suggested, taking Iris' challenge to heart. He pointed a claw to the cave entrance and blew out a small puff of fire into the air. "Then we can finally see if you held up your part of our deal."
"Alright." Iris agreed and began to strut past King with her chin held high, all three of her Pokémon following soon after. "But don't start crying when I win!" She turned around to give a teasing wink.
King chuckled to himself before he followed after his daughter. "You better win." He said to himself, too quiet for the others to hear. "After all…"
"You promised me."
CHEESY ENDING I KNOW! XD
But how was it guys!? Was it a bit rushed or was it just right? I tried to edit this as much as I could to make it seem better, but reviews would be appreciated. Other than that, I guess this sums up the end of Promise Me. It's been a fun journey making this short story, even though there wasn't much action... still, I am deeply grateful that people chose to read this story nonetheless. So... I THANK YOU!
But remember, if you guys still want to see more 'In-Story' battles, you have to leave Reviews/Private Messages asking for specific battles. 15 R/PM for King vs. Iris, 15 R/PMs for King vs. Zapdos, 15 R/PMs for King vs Lance, etc.
So I'll leave it here, guys. PEACE!
And remember, if anybody has found or made any type of fanart of King, please don't be afraid to tell me! I'd love to see it! (Mega Charizard X's black/blue colors and body mixed with Y's ragged wings and spiked tail!)