Juliet leaned against a large boulder. Her figure popped as she did so and Virgil's eyes ran across her body again. She dressed sportily and casually, another thing that had thrown him for a loop. In contrast to the elegant and more than likely affluence of her contest dress, she wore a denim vest over a white blouse with a pair of jeans.
"She was supposed to be the typical socialite…" Virgil cursed his luck then. She had seemed to have a nervous habit of running her fingers through her hair which made his head swim all the more. He needed to change the subject.
"What do you want to talk about?" Her voice jarred him for a moment. He was supposed to be the one asking the questions and he had found himself being distracted. He stifled the laugh that came up.
"Who are you?" Juliet leveled Virgil with an intrigued expression.
"What kind of question is that?"
"It's one of mine, and it's one you should answer." Juliet frowned at that, opting to stay silent. It was Virgil's turn to give her an intrigued look. Juliet held his gaze but her one of her fingers began to wind itself into her hair again. Virgil scratched his head then. Things had gotten awkward. She must've seen it because she had given him her sweet smile.
"You already know my name." Virgil felt irritability make its way into his voice.
"Tell me. I've already said it and I'll say it again: It's not quite often I find some riches like you who know how to handle themselves. Besides, I know you feel the need to explain. I can see it."
"You can..?" Virgil nodded and Juliet had figured that he must've read her in some miraculous manner. She was well adept at being vague. She sighed. "Well…"
"Well what?" There was a bellow from one of the Charizard as it tossed one its opponent directly toward Juliet. The Charizard caught itself and swept back up into the air, sharply turning back toward its opponent. Virgil turned back to Juliet, who gave a sigh of relief. Virgil went to say something but a Charizard, donning a ribbon, grounded itself next to them. A young woman descended from the Charizard's back. Her hair was wild, some of it tied back in a radical looking tail. Her uniform was sharp and what Virgil saw as somewhat revealing, being nothing but an intricate red top and matching shorts. Liza looked to Juliet.
"Are you ready for your challenge?" Virgil found his eyes moving back between the both of them, more so to gauge Juliet and perhaps get whatever feel he could for the girl. She had made a point stating that she was vague more times than not. He made a subtle grin to himself. That approach would've been so much more effective if her eyes weren't literally a window to her heart. He nearly jumped when Liza turned her attention to him.
"Virgil, I'll have to ask you to wait outside the proving grounds."
"And where would that be?" Liza pointed in the general direction from where they came. Virgil shrugged and turned heel. He stopped when he heard the two girls hush into a quick exchange of words. He heard Liza sigh and she gave an arch of her brow to Virgil. Juliet had said something to make the woman concede so Virgil turned back, taking a spot next to Juliet.
"What'd you guys even talk about," he muttered inquisitively.
"Oh, just girl stuff." Virgil only grunted.
"You're not off the hook. After this, you're gonna tell me everything."
Liza lead Juliet into an opening and Virgil followed, leading them to a clearing Elevated pieces of land, all different heights, surrounded the opening. Virgil felt his pulse quicken slightly. The place was crawling with the fire lizards. Each one of them looked into the battle clearing as if to judge a newcomer's performance. It was a few seconds later that Virgil realized that that's exactly what they were doing.
They all observed as Juliet released her Charizard; the Pokemon scratched his neck casually before noticing that he was under the watchful eye of Charicific Valley. Virgil watched astounded as the lizard brought himself to formal attention, standing straight with a strange look that resembled nervousness. It was strange to see the same Pokemon that dealt them so much trouble cut down to size. Juliet stepped back.
"All right Casanova, now's your chance to get into the valley. Make it count." The lizard nodded and stomped once in challenge. Liza nodded her head slowly as she assessed the Pokemon.
"Not bad at all. I think I got just the one…" Liza looked to the crowd of Charizard and beckoned one of them. It glided down into the arena, landing with a solid thump. Virgil thought the ground had broken open a little ways. The opposing Charizard towered at what was at least a foot over his 5'11 frame. Looking to Juliet, he saw that her expression was staid.
"You're just going to let your Charizard fight this one alone?" Liza cut in before Juliet could respond.
"Her Charizard will have to win the battle on his own merits if he wants passage into the preserve." Liza turned back to Juliet with a nod, who took her spot back next to Virgil. In comparison, Juliet's Charizard was smaller, albeit not by much topping out near the base of his opponents neck. Each of them roared before clashing claws.
Arcanine grumbled lazily as Jaret called him over. He more than likely needed to go and warm Viola. The dog made a croon to himself. Her lips had been blue and even her skin had begun to change color! It was good that she was alive but still. Being a walking fireplace wasn't necessarily on his priorities. Arcanine assumed his normal area aside Viola's bed. She was sleeping again as per usual. Arcanine watched as his trainer sat not too far off, his face nearly obscured by a book. He was more than likely trying to find so sort of counter around their last opponent.
Arcanine yawned tiredly. He was bored with simply sitting at Viola's side. As far as he was concerned, he'd much rather be in one of the open fields with the rest of Jaret's Pokemon. While he was sitting inside making sure Viola didn't re-freeze. Dragonite was more than likely getting ahead of him in terms of battle.
"Arcanine," His ears twitched a bit at Jaret's voice and his eyes trailed to his trainer lazily.
"You must be really bored." The dog grumbled and Jaret chuckled.
"Well, if you're that bored, then why don't you go find the others?" Arcanine stood up a little too excitedly, bumping the side of Viola's bed. Jaret chuckled and stood to open the door. "Go ahead. You might want to go keep an eye on Eevee. Leavanny can only keep after her for so long." Arccanine gave a cheery bellow and was out the door.
Arcanine stepped outside with a powerful inhale. He exhaled slowly, a small smile tugging at the edges of his mouth. His nose twitched with the scent of the valley air. It smelled slightly of charcoal but was far too miniscule for any other non-canine dog to pick up the scent. Arcanine scanned his eyes over the open area. Patches of craggy rock face were present and there were different tunnels that led out to different parts of the valley. He had seen young Eevee sleeping up against a small rock; Leavanny wouldn't be too far off.
Arcanine looked to the sky then and almost immediately regretted it. The canine thought of Pidgeot then, who would normally be thick in the practice of flying, turning his own set of arcs and the like. The Charizard had been made sure that that wouldn't happen anytime recently. Almost immediately after, Arcanine turned his eyes on one of the numerous cliffs in the Valley. Arcanine grumbled as he found at the highest one was Dragonite.
The dragon only stood there with his arms folded in contemplation. He heard Arcanine bark and facing Arcanine, Dragonite landed before him. The two Pokemon sat there in silence for a long while, even bringing the attention of a worried Leavanny to them. Sensing her worry, both Pokemon turned away and Dragonite pointed to where he had been staring over the horizon. Arcanine nodded and Dragonite took the dog to the sight.
Arcanine's brow narrowed in some mix between awe and observation. Below them were whole scores of Charizard, some resting and sleeping but by no means lazily while others were locked into ferocious battles against one another. Arcanine watched as the lizards dueled, some of them spewing flames whose heat he was able to feel even at their distance. The dog grumbled and slumped down. These Pokemon were unreal and without a doubt stronger than the Charizard that put Pidgeot and Swellow out of commission. They strangely reminded him of the Salamence he and Dragonite had fought.
Arcanine felt his ears twitch with a presence behind him but kept his attention to the Charizard. He saw Lucario's form on the edge of his eye sight. Arcanine figured that he must've sensed the Charizard as well or perhaps it had been something else. Arcanine knew that Lucario could sense emotions of others, even more so than that of an ordinary Lucario. As he stared at the Charizard, he could feel Lucario's stare prodding or looking into him but the dog still kept his own gaze leveled toward the Charizard. Next to him, he could feel Dragonite shaking with what could've almost been indignation and Arcanine knew the feeling. They, among the strongest in Jaret's team had been matched spot on if not outright beaten. Arcanine clenched his eyes shut then. The canine felt rage and pressure as his trainer did. It was a strange feeling.
And now he stood with his sights transfixed upon Charizard whose Flamethrower attack could put his very own to shame despite how much Arcanine had done to perfect it. The dog felt Lucario reaching out to him, more than likely to calm him. But Lucario didn't understand. Not like Dragonite. To Arcanine, being the strongest meant having the ability to protect. How would he be able to protect Jaret or little Eevee if there was someone beyond himself?
Something in Arcanine snapped then.
The dog gave a trembling bellow before charging down in an outright challenge to the Charizard. He was, however, able to see that Dragonite followed close in toe with the same intentions.
Neither of them were aware of the woman off a small distance, expertly hiding herself among the rock surface.
"So that's what a well-built Arcanine looks like…" She averted her scouting eyes to the Eevee then and smirked. "Where I come from, Eevees are far too common." She went then to Leavanny, one of her eyebrows raised in a quizzical fashion. The Pokemon was a strange one, but again, nothing that wasn't uncommon from where she came. Victoria laughed to herself. "I think I'll stick to the big ones instead."
Viola's eyes fluttered open. She saw Jaret's form in a haze before it focused. His face was nearly entirely obscured by whatever text he was reading, occasionally jotting down notes into a spiral bound notebook. She let out a raspy chuckle.
"You're up." Viola only nodded but she still seemed shaken though she was smiling. "Are you okay?"
"How long were you sitting there with those notes?" Jaret scratched his head.
"Well to be honest, I have no idea. Why, what's so funny?" Viola went to stand. She wobbled a bit with rest. She saw Jaret's hands position themselves as if to catch her. She gave him a slight push.
"Oh stop. I can handle myself you know."
"Hey you can never be too careful." Viola gave a whimsical shrug.
"I suppose that'd make sense." Jaret grinned at that. "Are we still in the Charicific Valley?"
"That seems pretty spot-on to me," he said with a yawn. Viola gave him a slight elbow.
"That's what I should be doing. I'm the one that just woke up." Jaret grinned a second time, a chuckle of his own escaping. Viola then sat down with a deep breath. "But in all seriousness," The words caught Jaret's attention. "We should really speak with Virgil about all this." Jaret looked away as she said it.
"I don't think he'd like that. But I'm actually surprised that was the first thing on your mind after you wake up." Viola gave two light raps to her head.
"I'm pretty sharp." She sighed then. "We really need to piece this together…" Jaret caught wind of her abstract glances at the book.
"It's a text on the legends of Johto." There was a shadow of surprise across her face, though relatively detained. Her voice was flat, almost uninterested though he had seen the light in her eyes.
"Where did you get this?"
"I actually picked this up just before I had come to Johto. I never thought it'd come to be so useful…" Viola took the book, skimming through the pages, her fingers a bookmark. She had only been able to pick out small pieces of info: The Tin Tower in which Ho-oh perched and the Brass Tower from where Lugia stood as his opposite, the time traveler Celebi and the three beasts. It was all things she had read about before.
She continued to flip through the pages but Jaret's hand slipped in between the pages.
"Wait, go back. I think you missed something." Viola made some inquisitive noise and flipped back and her eyes widened.
"This…" Viola's hand sifted slowly over the page wide picture of landscape. There were homes from shanties to furnished buildings of relatively comfortable size and grandeur. Some of the homes were cast in flame whilst the picture depicted a bloody battle between two groups of humans and a strange, unrecognizable Pokemon. The illustrations of the insect looking Pokemon had been much more gruesome than the invading humans and many of them depicted the Pokemon as a devourer of human skin and flesh. She looked into the background, her sharp mind picking out the setting as she saw the craggy rock face drawn with some finesse to give the illusion that it had been gleaming.
It was a portrait of the Battle of Silver Mountain.
There was a stab of chill before an image of Suicune danced in her mind. The beast reared up on its hind legs before disappearing. She shook her disorientation and looked to Jaret. A line of visible sweat was teeming just above his brow.
"You felt that too?" He nodded.
"I don't know why, but that's never happened before and I could've sworn I've looked through most of that book and never saw a picture like that. I don't think it has reason to bring images of any of the beasts though…" Viola realized then how hard she had been breathing and promptly slowed down. There was a strange pit feeling in her stomach as she thought of him.
"Jaret, there's something supernatural about Virgil." He gawked for a moment.
"Um…I know you're hardcore into studying and all but… don't you think that seems a little-"
"Farfetched? Hardly. Think about it; none of these things have ever happened before we met him. Not the visions, the dreams of the Johto beasts, none of it."
"Viola, I think you might need to lie down…"
"But you can't deny it!" Her voice had become boisterous now, and Jaret could hear a thin line of desperation within her voice. "You saw Raikou," she murmured as her head hung low.
He had forgotten about that.
" Raikou…"
"Yes…"Jaret was quiet but then took a deep breath as if awaiting some kind of pain.
"You're sharper than I am in the history books, but I'm still pretty good myself…" Jaret shifted almost nervously. "I want to tell you something I hadn't told you earlier." She picked her head back up. He had told her earlier how Virgil had been ranting about how he had seen the elder monk as another person named Marus before. She wondered what else he had kept to himself.
"I'm listening…" Jaret had gotten wind of her appearance just as he went to take another deep breath. Her flat straight hair was now disheveled with stress. Her gray eyes wore a sense of exhaustion. She was a woman of intelligence and some sense of practicality. Jaret could only imagine how shattering the discovery of substance to an old legend could be.
"Having an open mind can only prepare us so much…" He took another breath.
"Well, I didn't see what Virgil did, but I had gone to the Sprout Tower for a reason…" He swallowed air. "Anyway, the elder had done something that I still don't understand. He had only placed a finger to my forehead. The world warped around me and suddenly…" He paused, the feeling of awe and surprise catching him off guard before he was able to finish but effectively repressed them. "I had been battling the last of the Elite Four. I had fought Lance Dragonite to Dragonite…"
"And…?"
"I won…" He had said the words blissfully without meaning to. "I had become one of them...I had been a member of the Kanto Elite Four. I was ecstatic but Virgil managed to pull me out of that daydream... According to him, I just sat there looking dead and staring off into space.
"I take it you want to know if Li's strange ability has anything to do with what's going on?" Jaret casted his head down as he heard Viola sigh in exhaustion but picked it back up to see Viola's expression distant and lost in perplexity.
"Virgil…What are you…?"
Casanova heard Juliet cry after him with worry. His chest burned with pain. A few of the gashes were still fresh. They did little to slow him down but the constant bleeding was beginning to take its toll. Casanova looked to Juliet. Her face was wrenched with guilt. She was without a doubt regretting having ever brought him here. Casanova gave her a thumbs up but that only seemed to push her fears to the threshold and she bulleted forward to him only for her to be restrained by the male trainer standing by her.
Casanova turned back to his opponent. The Charizard was older and far more experienced. Casanova had heard Juliet throwing wild accusations at both Liza and Virgil, wildly thrashing to get to him. He heard the quickened stomps of his opponent before he felt Charizard's claw take hold of his neck, ripping him from where he stood. Casanova struggled for but a moment before releasing a powerful gale of flames at point blank range. The fires engulfed his opponent who, despite the attack, hadn't even slowed.
The familiar pang of pain shot through Casanova. Charizard had forced him into one of the rock surfaces as so to keep him there. Casanova resisted the urge to laugh. The Charicific Valley was far outside of his reach. He couldn't hope to possibly defeat any of them to get in. Why did he bother? He heard the slight conversation involving his trainer. He was barely able to see through the soreness that ached all around him.
Juliet sagged defeated in their arms.
"Liza… you never told me that it was a battle for keeps like this…" Liza frowned.
"They aren't, but your Charizard just didn't know when to quit…" Charizard turned to Liza who gave him a nod. "I suppose you were too strong. Or perhaps you overdid it; it's hard to be certain." She pointed to Casanova's imprint in the rock face. "Go on. We'll at least allow him the honors of being buried here. Juliet clenched her teeth at the words. Virgil said nothing.
Charizard had only reappeared before Casanova but the lizard had moved quickly, striking out with a slash and grounding the Charizard. Juliet felt as though her heart had erupted. Casanova stood over his opponent, hurt but not down. Juliet felt a smile show and went a second time to go hug the lizard but was stopped by Liza yet again.
"His opponent is far from done." True to her words, the Charizard adorned a fresh scar reaching all along its neck. There was a howl of indignant rage and before Casanova was able to move, he was already flying through the sky, his opponent's claw lifting him before he was even able to react. Casanova opened his eyes to find Charizard above him, his snout twisted in disapproval and rage. Casanove went to veer away but was far too strained. Charizard parted his maw, enough for Casanova to see the flames dancing violently in Charizard's throat. The Fire Blast attack sliced forward and sent him back into the earth.
Virgil grimaced, then immediately kicked himself for doing so. Charizard, or Casanova as Juliet idiotically called him, was not his Pokemon or one of Jaret's or Viola's. What did he care if the Pokemon were cut down in a battle? Virgil grumbled at the thought. Was it possible that this Juliet girl had him around her finger and he didn't even know? Virgil shook his head, partially at his own foolishness as well as Juliet's Charizard's. Casanova shakily stood to his feet in stalwart refusal to back down.
Liza looked back up to the Charizard and felt a slight shiver. It was in the lizard's body language; he was poising himself to kill Casanova. But what could she do? She was simply given overseeing of the Charicific Valley and was in no way able to interfere with dueling Charizard. She looked over to Juliet, a slight tremble present in her balled fists.
"I can't do anything, and Juliet's being torn apart watching this…"
Charizard let loose a deafening roar then. Virgil felt Juliet cringe slightly, but Virgil only stared stupidly. Around the Charizard, it had seemed as though his fury had become tangible and clouds of red and black swirled around him. Pulses of blue lightning surged through them from time to time. From there on the ground, Charizard was a demon. Another roar had nearly knocked him from his feet and he stumbled to Liza, who only seemed to reflect his awe. He grabbed hold of her shoulder then. His nails dug deep into her which made her flinch somewhat.
"What the hell is he doing!?' Liza stared at him vacantly for a moment before she realized she was staring at Virgil and not Charizard. He shook her violently for a moment, his nails digging deeper. "If that Charizard kills-" Virgil ceased then. He had realized that he had nearly claimed Juliet. The weight of the thoughts alone, made him relax his hold and Liza pushed him away, rubbing where he had clutched onto her attentively.
"That's Dragon Dance…"
"Dragon…Dance…?" He was still dazed. "What on earth is that?" Liza didn't answer and only pointed to the Charizard.
"That's Dragon Dance…" Virgil's breath caught out of frustration but Charizard gave a gust of his wings and that knocked Virgil on his back. He rebounded back on his feet and his hand fell to his waist for Ampharos but stopped himself. This was Charizard's fight. Better yet, why did he even feel the need to help?
He hadn't known how many times he had asked himself that question, but he already knew the answer. Virgil watched as Charizard descended to deliver the final blow, his claw steeped in a scaly blue. It made Virgil think of Ryuu's Salamence.
"Dragon Claw…?" Casanova attempted in vain to move but the claw ran home and smashed into him, knocking him flat and face first into the dirt. Casanova lay unmoving but the Charizard was not finished. The Pokemon split the air with another roar and raised his foot to crush Casanova. Virgil swallowed nervously.
"This can't be all physical power…This has to be something like…" Like Outrage.
Casanova was all but beaten but his opponent was rampant with the rage of a true dragon. The power of Outrage had sent the lizard over the edge and now was seeking to completely destroy his opponent. Juliet's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"You can't kill him! He's my friend!" The last word made Virgil freeze as he thought of Jaret and Viola. They were his friends but he never would've thought of them as worth panicking over. They could each handle themselves. All in all, Virgil couldn't understand what made "friends" so important.
There was a distinct sound of impact then and Virgil looked away. He hadn't heard Juliet cry out nor had he heard Liza's somber tone. Instead, he had heard a collective gasp from the both of them. He looked back to find Casanova standing strong, a single claw holding back Charizard's foot. It had only been a split second later that the battle had ended. Casanova turned to each one of them. His eyes were the deepest color of fire. The lizard pressed back and Charizard shook loose and into the skies.
The Dragon Dance aura intensified and the Charizard rushed in a second time, but Casanova exploded with a rage of his own, a fiery aura roaring from him as though he were ablaze. The aura drew inward as Casanova affirmed his position with a stomp. The Charizard's claw had been only inches from Casanova when the lizard tilted is head back with a mighty bellow and a ring of fire burst forward. Charizard veered away cautiously, surveying Casanova before diving back in.
A second ring burst forward, faster and notably stronger than the first. Juliet stepped back and Virgil and Liza followed. Charizard pulled back again, holding his position in the sky above. He snarled and the red cloud pulsed with lightning again. He bulleted forward again, this time far too fast for Casanova to react.
Casanova found himself pressed back into the rock face and Charizard's claw pressing down upon his face. The flames from within Charizard were building up again. The orange crackled and flared, swallowing itself until its hue heightened to a pure white. There was a stab of pain from within Casanova before the white fire swallowed Casanova completely.
Virgil's mouth hung open and Liza noted Juliet's hands were still. In fact, they were shoved in the pockets of her jeans, as if she were waiting for Casanova's inevitable victory when she had just been at her wits end about how outclassed her Charizard had been.
"What a strange girl…" The white flames continued in an all-powerful torrent and showed no signs of stopping. For a solid half minute, Charizard's Overheat attack continued. Virgil watched as the last bit of the attack fizzled out. He stepped forward, but Juliet put a hand out to stop him. He looked to her incredulously.
"I thought you wanted to forfeit." Juliet put a hand through her hair.
"I suppose I had a weak moment. I'm alright now." Virgil only blinked.
"But…" Juliet pointed to the two Charizard, namely the seemingly victorious one. Virgil read his expression as overwhelming amazement. Virgil's eyes widened with understanding.
Casanova hadn't lost yet.
The pillar of rock in which Casanova had been lodged into shattered into fragments then as a third burst expanded outward from Casanova. It was the last level of Blast Burn yet again. The explosion picked up Charizard, carrying him to the opposite end of the dueling court and into the mountain and did not reemerge. The flames coiled around Casanova as though he had become a whirlpool of flames, the fires a cascading tide that threatened to swallow the entire dueling arena. It whittled down then, receding into the fiery aura before fading out of sight completely. Liza gave a gesture to the other Charizard, signaling that the testing trial had ended. Most were unimpressed with Casanova's victory, but they accepted him nonetheless.
Victoria let the binoculars hang around her neck. The Charicific Valley had visitors, legal visitors. It was strange to see as all of the poachers she had seen enter the valley, very few of them came out alive. Any of those who managed that feat were always empty handed, having turned tail when a powerful Charizard appeared before them. But unlike them, she was good about getting out of tight spots.
"The Charizard aren't too bad either… Maybe I'll just snag one of those…" She thought of the Arcanine and Dragonite she had seen contest with some of the native Charizard here. They were extraordinary for their species, Arcanine fighting his way to topple three Charizard while Dragonite had beaten five. There were so many choices to choose from. She snickered. She'd have to see which one was more valuable first.