The boy tiptoed around the empty house, eyes darting back and forth, but failing to detect any signs of life other than his own. He sneaked up to the large wooden door – the door he had always been forbidden to enter, and slowly turned the knob. The door squealed slightly as it opened, as poorly looked after as the rest of his home, and the boy jumped back at the sudden noise. However, even the loud echo wasn't enough to give away his location. He sneakily edged into the room, his trembling hands searching through the darkness for what he truly desired. After a short stumble, he found it – his father's wardrobe.
He did not have to worry about his father catching him in the act – he wasn't home, and wasn't likely to return anytime soon. As to where he went on his 'business trips', as his mother liked to refer to them, Trip did not have a clue. However, Trip could not pass up the change to get a glimpse at his father's possessions. His father had always been a secretive man, and a certain distance had come between the boy and his father, especially in the past few years. But one thing that Trip was sure of, and his mother often raved about it when she was in one of her better and more coherent moods, was that his father has an amazing Pokémon trainer. One of the best she'd ever seen, she would gloat. And she'd known her fair share of strong, masculine trainers…from every region around the globe, even. Trip would listen, wide-eyed, ignoring the rumours about his mother and the extensive list of trainers that seemed to circulate the town on a regular basis.
If Trip was expecting to find a huge cache of Pokeballs with amazing creatures from over the globe, he was to be disappointed. What he found was remarkably unremarkable – a cupboard full of clothes, not tattered and messy like Trip's, but typically plain nonetheless. There were no books, no magazines – his father was not a learned man – and not even any indication of where he could have been at that very moment, from what the boy could see. He was just about to slam the door shut in annoyance when one particular jacket, stuffed hurriedly into the back of the cupboard away from plain sight, caught his eye. Pulling it out, he examined it in great detail.
The stitching was fine, a clear cut above anything else that his father kept in the same locale. The jacket was nearly exclusively black, but with an odd silver collar that seemed to extend further than a collar normally would. The fabric felt unlike anything that Trip had felt before – something exotic from elsewhere in the Unova region, the boy suspected. Something that his father had picked up on his travels, perhaps? The boy's fingers and eyes both ran over the strange insignia on the jacket at the same time. The logo jutted out from the rest of the jacket and sat proudly on the blackened breast pocket – a shield, white and black, with a blue 'P' and what could have constituted for a lightning bolt behind it.
oOoOo
Trip, stomach full of an amazing vegetable broth that Cilan had concocted seemingly out of thin air for dinner, leaned against a tree in their camp spot for the night and stared up at the bright night sky. Since their encounter with Leo, Trip's mind had been buzzing with a million questions. Leo's theory that Team Plasma, a force that had been extinct for some years, could have been behind the attack on the Striaton Gym seemed ludicrous on face value. The two people, and one creature, that he had encountered in the hotel room simply hadn't sounded as professional and menacing as the gangsters that Cilan had recounted with Leo. Who they were exactly was unclear, but the boy couldn't shake the niggling feeling that he was forgetting something. Trip didn't like losing any battle, and a duel with his own memory was no exception, and the niggling feeling was quickly becoming a loud yelling in his head.
"They're amazing, aren't they?"
Trip had ceased feeling surprised when Iris managed to sneak up on him – she was as lithe as a cat, and wasn't shy of proving it at any chance she got. She plopped down next to him, landing on her back so skilfully from the tree branch above, as though she'd been doing it her whole life. As she probably has, the boy pondered.
Trip nodded his agreement. "You can't really blame Leo for wanting to leave this world behind…if that, up there, is what he would be reaching for."
Iris's eyes brightened with the endless possibilities another world could hold, to the point that they shone almost as bright as the stars themselves. "Back where I come from, we have this woman…we call her Elder, mainly because the children don't get told her real name until we become adults…and, well, she's real old…and she says that the stars are the eyes of Zekrom, Reshiram and Kyurem, all looking over us until the sun rises the next morning, and we are free to search the world for them again until nightfall."
"Zekrom, Reshiram and Kyurem…the legendary Dragon-types?" Trip enquired, intrigued. "Iris, where do you come from?"
Iris hesitated. Drayden didn't much like the Villagers to discuss their community with outsiders, nor did she think that he would approve of her passing on Elder's stories for the outside-Folk to treat with mockery and scorn. Trip isn't like the rest of them – he didn't laugh, and he knows about the legendary Dragon-types! Give him a chance!
"I come from a small village in the mountains…the Village of Dragons."
"The Village of Dragons?"
Trip leaned forward, fascinated. It wasn't often that he came across two sets of information that he was not already aware of in one day, but the Village of Dragons was a concept that was so foreign to his own existence. That, when coupled with his strong respect for Dragon-types and his strong…whatever they were…for Iris, had him hooked from the first word that left the girl's mouth.
"I live there with my mother. From the very first day we are born, we are surrounded by Dragon-types and the other Dragon-trainers of the Village. We learn to understand the way that they think, the way that they feel…that is why I've got such a strong bond with Axew."
Axew plopped out of the tree and landed on Iris's chest, cooing happily. She laughed, patted its head, and continued.
"And that is why I want to become the greatest Dragon master in Unova! The connection that I feel with Axew is only the start – I want to catch and train more Dragon-types and become unbeatable in battles, but also help all Dragon-types grow and become stronger, whether I own them or not."
Iris's steely gaze reminded Trip of his own when battling, and he felt his respect growing for the Dragon-girl by the minute. "After my year is done, I will return to the village with my trained Pokémon, challenge Drayden, and prove to everyone in the Village how strong I have become!"
Trip raised his eyebrows. "After your year is done? What does that mean?"
"Oh," Iris quipped. "When you turn 14 in the Village, you are allowed to leave the boundaries for one whole year to travel the Unova region and become stronger. They call it Laconrummen. Elder gives you a young Dragon-type, like Axew, and you have to prove that you can train it in the year, but more importantly, develop a bond and gain its trust. Dragon-types don't always trust everyone, you know. You have to earn it."
Trip nodded, knowing a thing or two about gaining respect the hard way. "So…you do this thing alone?"
"Normally. There was another boy, Eurus, who was my age in the Village. He wanted to travel with me, so we could train together, but I told him I didn't want to, and we went on our separate paths."
"Why didn't you want to travel with him?"
Iris immediately went red, and Trip knew better than to pursue the question further. His next question came with a hint of desperation and worry. "So…after the year, you go back to the Village…what happens then?"
"Well…it depends. Most return to their families in the Village and continue their training in the Village. But it isn't like a Pokémon Centre, where you can just walk in and out…"
The girl frowned, and Trip thought he could see tears forming in her eyes. "…some choose never to return, and if they don't, Drayden banishes them from returning forever."
Trip leaned forward, putting his hand on Iris's shoulder as the more-knowing Axew nibbled at her left hand. "Iris? What's wrong?"
The girl looked at the boy, the distrust in the air fully evaporated by the care in his voice. "I had a friend…two years older than me. Her name was Arke…she left for her year when she was 14 and she swore that she would come back…but she never did. She left me all alone in the Village."
Iris looked at Axew with a frown. "She promised that the day that Elder gave me my first Dragon-type, she'd be there. She told me that when I took my first step out of the Village, that she would be right behind me to cheer me off. She said that she'd…that she would…but she never did…she never came back."
The girl put her head down and began to shudder, wet tears hitting the dirt below. Trip reached across and wiped the tears of her face – her cheeks were oddly warm, and not unpleasant to touch in spite of the circumstances.
"Arke can't have been the only trainer not to go back," Trip asked, seeking a distraction for Iris. "Tell me about the others. Did they ever try to return, years later?"
Iris sniffed, looking up to the stars for guidance. "One. Years ago, when I was just a kid, a trainer named Greor tried to return after three years away…Drayden battled him away from the gates, yelling that if he ever returned, that his Haxorus would tear him from limb to limb. I still remember Arke pulling me away, saying that Drayden scared her when he was in a mood…and that I was better off not seeing him like that. The rest, from what I can remember, had the sense to stay away forever. Arke did. Hecate, a boy who left one year before me, never showed…"
The bush behind the two suddenly shook and a low, miserable wailing emerged from it. Just as Trip was about to spring and send forth Snivy to whip the intruder into submission, Cilan came stumbling out, holding his heart, a guilty look painted over his face. Iris jumped up, furious at the intrusion.
"Cilan? Were you listening in on us?"
"Please, don't be angry…please," Cilan begged. "But…I have to tell you something. Something that Jenny and I should have told you before we left Striaton."
Trip smirked. I knew it.
oOoOo
Trip and Iris sat open-mouthed as the green haired young man explained to both of them the series of events after the bombing in Striation – discovering the boy's Pokeball in the ashes, uncovering the Pokémon inside as being an Axew, just like Iris's…and finally, Jenny calling on the XTransceiver to report that the boy who had attacked, or been used to attack, the Gym was named Hecate, hailing from the Village of Dragons itself. Trip had moved to comfort Iris at this news, but there seemed to be no need, as she took the death of her compatriot in her stride.
"I barely knew Hecate," Iris said calmly. Too calmly. "His family were never very close to others in the Village, and preferred to keep to themselves. His brother even chose to stay at home for a few years after he was allowed to leave, but nobody could ever really tell why."
"So what does it mean, Cilan?" Trip asked, keeping his hotel visit to himself for now. "Jenny thinks that the attack was aimed at Iris instead?"
"That is her…theory," Cilan replied. "A mere matter of conjecture at this stage. She fears that somebody is targeting children that have come from the Village of Dragons. And if that is the case, Iris is…"
"…who cares about me?" Iris spat, the fierce glint of determination back on the face that was full of sorrow just minutes before. "Don't you realise what this means? If somebody is trying to attack children from the Village, then it explains why Arke never came back."
Iris jumped to her feet, searching the clearing for her items. "I have to find her! She might be somewhere, hiding away, scared of being found! She was always clever like that, we'd play hide-and-seek down by the river and I'd never be able to find her, she was just too good."
"Iris, please," Cilan pleaded, standing up and grabbing her arm tenderly. "Your courage and obvious concern for your friend is admirable, but I don't think rushing off into the night is going to help anyone. If worse came to worse, you could even get yourself killed! Now is the time to follow your head, not your heart."
Iris frowned, staring at the Gym leader. As much as she hated to admit it, he had a point. "Well…what do you propose, Cilan? You can't expect me to just sit around and do nothing while Arke is out there…and Eurus! He walks with the biggest limp you've ever seen and shines like a star in the night sky! How can he be expected to protect himself if someone wants to hurt him?"
Trip joined the two, thoughts rushing through his head at a million miles an hour. "Cilan is right, Iris. We've got to be smart. Come with me to Nacrene City – the sooner we get there and push on to Castelia City, where we'll be safe around people, the better."
The fact that they hadn't been safe in Striaton did occur to Trip, but he chose to ignore that for now. All that mattered to him now was making sure that Iris stayed safe – and if her safety meant him challenging the Nacrene City Gym and becoming a stronger trainer, able to defend her to the hilt, then that was a risk that he would have to take.
oOoOo
Eurus remains somewhere in the Unova Region…Arke is unaccounted for…can they be saved? Can Trip gain his first Gym badge at long last? All of these questions and more answered as the story continued! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.