Rae POV:
"Thank you so much, Morty." I said with a smile at the Johto Ghost Gym Leader. "I'll miss Haunter, but I can't hold more than six Pokemon."
He nodded to me. "Understandable. Just call me up, dear, if you ever need help with Team Thunder. We'll get some swings in!" He said with a smile as he disconnected. I walked over to where Gary, Volkner and Ash sat in the Veilstone Gym with Maylene.
"Gary, have you heard from Professor Oak?" Ash asked a frown on his face. "I worry about him."
"Give me some faith, Ash!" An older man proclaimed as he walked through the door, an Arcanine trailing him carefully. "I brought Arcanine like you asked, Gary." He said as Gary walked up to give the man with grey hair wearing a lab coat over a purple shirt a hug.
"Gramps, this is Rae. Rae, this is Professor Oak." Gary said, motioning to me. I got up and shook hands with Oak and stood by his side as Gary exchanged Arcanine's Pokeball with Dodrio's.
"Nice to meet you, sir," Rae said, "I've always been impressed with your work."
He smiled. "Rae, I think knew your father." I could feel my smile fall off my face, and forced it back onto my face. "Do you have the same ability he had?" He questioned as we made our way to join the group.
"I do." I replied shortly as I sat down in between Maylene and Gary. Since I had met her, Maylene and I trained with each other whenever we had the chance, pushing each other to grow stronger. It had helped me especially with working with my late father's Pokemon, growing stronger.
He nodded, taking a second to think. "How much does everyone know about your power?"
"She can communicate with her Dragon Pokemon mentally." Volkner said monotonously, petting his Jolteon. He had taken his loss against Lucian harder than I had though he would; I shot him a caring smile as I turned to Professor Oak.
"I can't do that with my Espeon. Drake also said something about being able to call Arceus to me, which is why he is after me."
Professor Oak nodded. "I'm going to tell you the Legend of the Warriors." He paused, took a sip out of his travel cup, and began.
"Two hundred years ago, the regions were all in darkness. Unova had ruled over them all, until the people in Sinnoh, Johto, Kanto, and Hoenn teamed up and rebelled. Unova isolated itself from them and let them fend for themselves.
"After the war no one had any idea who was to be in charge, and a lot of different groups came in. Between the groups, fighting became abundant for twenty five years, until Arceus got sick of listening to the fighting and blessed 17 different trainers with the affinity for a certain type.
"These seventeen became to be known as the Warriors. The Dragon Warrior was the highest out of them all, because Arceus favored her most out of them all; he bestowed upon her the gift of calling him down when she or the warriors needed him. The Warrior gene is said to be inside every other generation, and the Dragon Warrior is always a girl out of respect to the first." Oak glanced over at me, interested. "With you no exception. Story has it that to call Arceus, you must chant a phrase, but he only comes when there is a dire emergency."
"So she can't just call him down if she's losing in a championship battle?" Ash asked Professor Oak.
"Exactly. The only report of Arceus being used was in the 1900s, someone had tracked down the Dragon Warrior of the time and murdered her, the last act she had was Arceus saving her child."
I stared off in the distance, fingering the silver bracelet that my father had given me when I was just starting off my journey. He told me it reflected the fierce Dragon within me. I only realized now the irony of his words. The silver bracelet was simple, with a Dragon Fang on it in the middle. I felt my stomach drop, thinking of all the times he had hinted at who I really was, without really noticing it. I hoped he was proud of me, proud of what I was doing.
"Rae?" Gary questioned, interrupting my thoughts with a concerned look. "Do you want to go walk around for a bit?"
"Sure." I stuttered my mind racing as I stood up and grabbed for my Pokemon. I followed Gary out the door and across the street to the Veilstone Park.
"You seemed really deep in thought back there." He stated, looking over at me with his concerned green eyes. I struggled not to think about how hot he looked today with his black jeans and shoes under a green tee shirt and a black bomber jacket. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. It's just… knowing all this reminds me of my dad and how he always hinted at this, but I never actually understood what he meant. And right now… I feel as though all of this is on me."
Gary grabbed my hand and led me to a bench. "Rae, no matter what happens from here on out, I will be there right beside you. Drake is not going to get you without going through me first." He paused for a second, then turned his head and looked in my eyes. "Rae, will you be my girlfriend?"
My heart raced. Ever since I met Gary, I had felt some strange connection to him, something I couldn't place until now. "Of course." I said with a smile as he leaned in to kiss me. As our lips touched it felt like a Pikachu had zapped my entire body. We broke apart and he pulled me into a hug, his scent calming me down, making me feel safer.
That's when we heard the claps.
"Bravo Gary, bravo. You did get the girl for once." Drake yelled, walking across the park towards Gary and I. He stopped about fifty feet away, smiling like an idiot. Gary had jumped up in front of me, holding onto a Pokeball, ready to throw. I grabbed for Dragonite's Pokeball, ready to step in as I stood up.
"Drake," I said disgustedly. "I guess I can never say it's a pleasure to see you." I tapped Gary on the back and he moved to the left so I could stand at his side.
"Ah, Dragon Warrior, have you agreed to come with us yet? Do not make me have to kill Gary, like I killed your father."
"You what?" I yelled, falling back against Gary. He released Arcanine from its Pokeball and it stood between Drake and me.
"Mommy never told you? She watched him die at the hands of my Kabutops." He said while releasing the said Pokemon.
All this time… she had known. "You bastard." I said while stepping in front of Gary. "You are not touching him, nor will you ever will."
Drake turned, seeing as Ash, Misty and Maylene were rushing towards us. "Today must not be the day for our battle, Dragon Warrior." He cackled as he studied me. "You grow stronger within the hour." He muttered as he threw a smoke ball to the floor, covering the park with zero visibility. Gary held onto me as I felt something slice at my arm, cutting a small cut on the bicep.
"Canine!" Arcanine yelled as it cleared the park with a Flamethrower attack, only to see the Kabutops directly in front of Gary and me.