Chapter 23: Victini

After we reached the Liberty Garden the next day, I was immediately " thrown out" from the party by the filming crew from " BW agency". I'll bet money that neither White nor Black knew about that, so they wouldn't take any action about it. To think about it, I don't really have the right to gain any special privileges... Therefore I had a whole day or even a week to spend my time on Liberty Garden. Unfortunately, there was no great Statue of Liberty and the only interesting place was an old, abandoned lighthouse.

And the lighthouse had no entrance and only someone with a bomb could enter.

I have no plans to become a terrorist from an alien universe.

I bought a takeaway and laid out pokemon food for the pokemon and Faolan. (Faolan accepted pokemon food on the first time he tried it. Thank the Heavens) I observed the surroundings as I absentmindedly chomped down my food. There were houses here and there and a few people milling around. Maybe more tourists will come in the afternoon?

I wonder if they have their own version of the Statue of Liberty. Maybe it's a gigantic statue of a pokemon?, I thought. Eating time was one of those times where I liked to think. It was a different story for my pokemon and Faolan. They were wolfing down their food and in minutes, they were licking empty bowls.

" Looks like I have to buy more food before we continue our journey," I told them. Still, I had to be thrifty when it came down to spending money, because Professor Juniper was the one giving me my allowance.

" Sorry, I couldn't stop myself. I like to eat…" Gible apologized.

Rufflet's response was , " Is there anymore food?"

Servine said nothing while Faolan stretched.

" I have a Oran berry here. You can eat it," I handed Rufflet the blue-colored berry. I had planned to eat it myself as I wanted to know how it tasted like, but your pokemon comes first, right?

The little eaglet pokemon promptly plucked the berry out of my palm and swallowed it hole. Looks like I have two pokemon with big appetite here.

" Don't choke on it," I prayed as I started keeping my stuff. Just then, a familiar voice whispered in my head, Hello, my dear student. Have you been doing your homework?

Cadvan! I thought back as I turned to face my teacher. The old man laughed, " I have to congratulate you on getting your third gym badge. And congratulations to you too, Snivy. You've evolved into a very fine Servine."

" It was nothing," Servine said smugly. The other two pokemon stared at him enviously. I should teach Servine how to be humble, that kind of attitude might get him into trouble. A pokemon gang fight, maybe?

" Of course they have to. They'll evolve into great pokemon, " I added hastily. Then I asked, " Hey, Cadvan, why are you here, and how did you get here? I didn't see you on the boat."

Cadvan chuckled, " You forgot how I pop around already? I thought you weren't the kind with short-term memory." ( And now I remember)

Cadvan turned to gaze at the lighthouse. " I've been here many times," he sighed. " People come here to see the lighthouse, and the pokemon that is said to live there. Of course, no one has seen it before, not even me. Sorry to disappoint you, young lady, but there's no awesome statue here."

The lighthouse? I stared at the pokemon world version of the "Statue of Liberty" : the lighthouse.

" So, if this is a parallel dimension to my world, then…is this called the " Lighthouse of Liberty?"

Cadvan smirked at my joke. " Find that out yourself. I'm not going to spoon-feed you."

Something about the lighthouse felt special, not because it was a tourist destination or something. However, all I could see was plain old lighthouse. " Uh, teacher, can you tell me the history of this lighthouse?"

"All right then," Cadvan agreed. " This whole place was once owned by a very wealthy man about 200 years ago. It is also said that he had the legendary victory pokemon with him. The pokemon's name was Victini."

" Victini," I repeated.

" Don't open your mouth like a Basculin, girl! Now, Victini was supposed to have lived in the lighthouse. But, the lighthouse is sealed, with no entrance, so no one can pop in and try to find the Victory pokemon…yet."

Something about Cadvan's voice told me that he had an idea—a-not-so-welcome new development.

Cadvan told me that particular idea through telepathy, You can enter the lighthouse.

No! I refused. I'm not going to bomb a historical site!

No, silly girl. Look at the bigger picture. You can use your capabilities to increase the vibration of the molecules of the walls, and then you'll be able to walk right through—without leaving a mark, unless you're careless.

Despite absolutely disagreeing with that idea (as I had a scary image of myself of being fused to a wall) part of me agreed. I could see a legendary pokemon, right here, right now. This offer was difficult to refuse.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance!

Okay…I'll just take a look, I relented. A big grin spread across Cadvan's old wrinkled face.

Good! However, you have to be careful. There are people sent to spy on you—personally. They aren't ordinary people. I believe I've told you about them before.

I felt a chill run down my spine, Yes.

In fact, they are spying on us now. To be more specific, only you and Faolan. As much as I want to see the victory pokemon myself, Cadvan's face darkened. Don't let anyone capture Victini, or you.

This time, I didn't reply. I kept my belongings and stood up to leave, but not before turning to Cadvan and saying, " See you later."

Then I headed to the lighthouse with Faolan and my pokemon.

"All of you, its better to be inside your pokeballs for now," I told them as I recalled them into the capsules. After placing them into my pockets carefully, I gazed at the sturdy, grey wall which was about two hundred years old before me.

Faolan whined, You wish to do this?

Yes, I do. But I think I would be causing trouble unintentionally

I closed my eyes and quieted my mind, gathering all my focus on the stone wall that was over a dozen century old.

The wall began to ripple like the surface of water, and I stepped right into it.

-Shadows-

" They've went in."

"Do you see that? They walked into the wall as if it never existed."

" What do they plan to do?"

-Jiao-

Dark.

Dusty.

Old. With stale air.

These were my first impressions of the inside of the tower.

And think of it, it was a lonely place for one single pokemon to be.

Faolan gave an explosive doggy sneeze, shook his head, then barked, Hello?

Our answer was the echoes of a dog's bark.

"Victini?" I called out uncertainly. By now, my eyes had adjusted to the dark, and I could see walls leading to….nowhere?

There's someone else here, Faolan sniffed some more. He is curious.

Because Victini's has not seen anyone for 200 years? I thought back.

Faolan gave a warning bark in reply which sounded like—

"Victini!" A pokemon greeted me—before I found myself staring at a wall. Then someone, or something touched my shoulder, then Faolan's tail was pulled by an invisible creature and he was crashing around to find the culprit. After that Faolan was stepping on me chasing something after I tripped. There was one word to describe this situation: chaotic.

Eventually,both of us stopped. A pokemon floated in front of us. He had large blue eyes, large pointed ears, two tiny orange hands, two feet and a pair of cream-colored wings which were located at his legs. Amazingly, the wings do work, supporting the body which seemed larger than those tiny wings that seemed kind of misplaced.(After all, wings usually grow at the back of pokemon and animals)

"Victini? You are Victini?" I asked. Victini nodded his head vigorously. He asked, What are your names? Who are you?

Without thinking, I answered," Our names…oh, uh, my name is a kind of long, or that is what everyone here thinks…my friends call me Jiao.(Why do I find it so awkward to talk to people?) This is Faolan. He is, er, a dog and his my friend."

Victini's large eyes somehow found a way to be larger, Do you understand what I say?

Uh oh. Well, it should not be mush of a problem since Victini's a pokemon and I don't think pokemon would want world-domination. I told Victini the truth," Yes, I actually do. It's not some magic trick or something…," then I remembered about N claiming to understand pokemon speech. Oh no, if Victini meets someone who can communicate with pokemon, I would become a bounty hunter's target!

"Don't tell anyone that I can understand pokemon, Victini! Please! I might get taken away by people who are greedy for power!" I begged.

The Victory pokemon winked and smiled," I promise!"

Then Victini questioned me curiously, How did you get in here? I saw the wall vanishing and then you came through it, and the wall came back again. You do not smell human either, but you also smell like a human. And what is a dog?

Victini was an extremely clever pokemon, I realized. No, not really. All pokemon are clever, almost like humans. If Victini was so intelligent, and with his powers as a legendary pokemon, why couldn't he escape out of this light tower 200 years ago? Maybe there was more to this story. But for now, I'm supposed to spill the beans to Victini (no point lying).

" All right, I'll tell you about us. Just keep this a secret, promise?"

-Black-

" Black, if you meet the victory pokemon, its data will be automatically recorded into your pokedex," Professor Juniper said as she wiped sweat off her forehead, having just installed another whatever-it-is into his pokedex. Apparently, Professor Juniper knew a bit about machinery.

" Thanks, Prof Juniper!" Black hastily turned on his red and black pokedex. The pokedex still looked the same as before—all the boring numbers and tiny "cartoon" pokemon with question marks. Okay, Prof Juniper only installed something so that he could collect data on the legendary pokemon of liberty's garden lighthouse.

Assuming he could even get into the tower.

Then the pokedex spoke up so suddenly that it scared the soul out of him—"Victini. When it shares infinite energy it creates, that being's entire body will be overflowing with power—Beep"

"What just happened?" Black demanded. But the pokemon professor never had a chance to answer, because they were shoved aside by a group of three terrified Team Plasma grunts.

And then the ground which the grunts stepped on erupted in flame. One Team Plasma Grunt literally became paralyzed and he couldn't even scream as the fire burned him. Fortunately, the fire ceased just as fast as it had came to be.

And the other two kept running, not even sparing a thought for their comrade. Just the perfect description of bad guys who only cared for themselves.

The next person who came running was Jiao with Faolan bounding after her.

"Jiao! It's good to see you! Did those people hurt you?" Professor Juniper upon seeing the girl. Jiao's face was wet with water…Black them realized that Jiao was crying.

"I was stupid! Stupid!" she wailed. "I should have done better than let those Team Plasma Grunts get Victini! It's all my fault!"

"Victini? They've actually got Victini?" Black gaped. The Victini from the lighthouse? " We've gotta save that pokemon! If those evil guys get their hands on Victini…" Black clenched his fist. He raced over to the Team Plasma Grunt who had been burned and shook him. " Where's Victini?" Black demanded," What do you want to do with it?"

The grunt couldn't even give a proper answer, " To…the ….boat….then..n"

Impatient Black released the grunt and sent out his pokemon. "War and Musha! I need your help!"

"Brav!" "Munni!"

The two pokemon burst out of their poke balls.

Black pointed at the other two fleeing grunts and commanded," Use Air Cutter and Psybeam to slow them down!"

"Gothitelle, Psywave!"

"Crustle, Rock Throw!"

Air Cutter met with Crustle's Rock Throw and the rock was sliced into huge chunks but the rock had done its job as a defence move. Psybeam and Psywave collided and exploded.

Two more grunts had appeared. One of them sighed dramatically," Jeez, why do you kids always think you're right and then try to mess with our business. Let me give you some advice. The pokemon that you're using to battle are hurting. So just liberate your pokemon and—"

" I'm not listening to any of that rubbish here!" Black retorted. " Stop spreading lies about pokemon hurting and all that stuff! War, use Aerial Ace on Gothitelle and Musha, use Imprison on Gothitelle too!"

War and Musha battled fiercely against the grunts pokemon and finally, emerged victorious. Black was just about to congratulate his pokemon and chase after the grunts who had Victini when he found out that there were more grunts on the island than he thought.

Now, a group of Team Plasma grunts blocked his way. One the grunts form the new group cast a sideways glance at the two defeated Plasma grunts. "seriously, both of you just got beaten by one kid? That's way too lame even for my standards."

The two gave the grunt dirty looks while the rest of them sniggered.

What a bunch of crazy people, Black thought scornfully. A bunch of crazy yet organized people. These Team Plasma Grunts were staying behind to allow their other friends who had Victini in their villainous clutches to escape. If Black battle every single one of them before finally allowed to save Victini…

…Then Victini would have already been shut in some laboratory as a test subject.

But there was no other choice. The only thing he could do now was to take down every single Plasma Grunt blocking hies way and hope that it wasn't too late to save the Victory pokemon.

"Alek, use Flamethrower!"

The grass caught fire and the surroundings became orange-red. The Plasma Grunts yelped and scattered, while Black stood rooted the ground, slack-jawed.

That's one really strong Flamethrower!

The jet of flames vanished, leaving plenty of smoke and burning patches of grass. The figure of the mysterious helper stepped out of the fog of smoke.

Black found himself staring at a very short old man who was dwarfed by the massive size of his Elektross.

One of the grunts coughed. "No way! A old dude who isn't at average height just burned us? That's totally uncool!"

He defeated all of you in an instant, stupid…Black thought.

The old man chuckled a bit. " Some people are always the same, even if they're from a different region. Aren't they, old friend?

"Lektross.." the Elektross made a sound which may have been pokemon laughter.

The old man turned to Black, "No need to worry, boy. My student finally got herself together and the Victory pokemon is safe with her. She is the perfect supporter for every occasion so all we have to do is to—"

" Over here! I've got Victini with me…" Jiao came sprinting over with a cylinder in her arms. Faolan barked in agreement.

" Victini's in here," Jiao said breathlessly," I don't have the key to this thing so I'll have to open it the other way…"

"Oh, alright," the old man said dismissively. " Black, just keep Jiao from those troublemakers for now, would you?"

You don't say… Black thought again. " War, Musha, are both of you ready?"

"War!"

"Munna!"

'Uh, Victini's free now…" Jiao interrupted.

Sure enough, a pokemon was hovering just beside Jiao. But before Black could take a good look at it, Victini had sped up into the sky in a flash of flame.

"What's happening?" Black somehow managed to choke the words out of his mouth.

Jiao's eyebrows knitted. " I don't know. Maybe he went to somewhere safe?"

"NO!" roared the old man. "We've got to get away from here—NOW!"

And Black found out that he somehow teleported away from the spot while an explosion of fire rocked the very earth of Liberty Garden as if a second sun had just erupted.

Once again thank you for taking your time to read this fanfic. Unfortunately, I'm going to have another delay in updating this fanfiction of mine again...I don't like "not updating" this fanfiction either as I know how frustrating it is to keep waiting for a fanfic to be updated when the updates are getting delayed. Anyway, thank you everyone and please review!

(To Gible)

Me: Don't worry, I'm not abandoning everyone.

Gible: Really?

(Claws glow with blue light, which is Dragon Claw, by the way)

Me: I'll keep my word, and please stop threatening me with Dragon Claw, it's annoying!