Whoo, I've gotten a bunch of Favorites and Follows! Thanks, guys!
And I've been neglecting this...if I owned Pokemon, the Bank would still have the free trial right now...maybe. And I'd find a way to amp up attention for the new Hoenn games coming out, too. But I don't own Pokemon, so I can't. :(
Chapter 35 - A Plan is Set in Motion
"Ray, does Cresselia have any sisters?"
"Of course she does," Ray responded as the two of them arrived in Khrista's training cavern. "Corza and the others are my siblings, remember?"
Khrista nodded, recalling meeting the three Rayquaza the night before. "Do you know how many sisters she has?"
Ray frowned as he floated in the center of the cavern, which was empty except for the two of them. "I believe there are a total of six in the Cresselia family, but they're always adding more from somewhere. There are probably other 'families' of my species, too, but I've never run into them myself."
"I guess that makes sense," Khrista remarked. "Back at home, someone had a whole team of Rayquaza." She smirked. "So, how are we going to tackle this?"
"First, just to be certain, your Dragon-Type must be active."
Khrista looked down at her shirt, which had reverted to royal blue as soon as she had woken up from her contact with Cresselia. "Yup." She looked back up at Ray. "So, how are we going to go about this?"
"First, I want you to clear your head of any thoughts of anything else that might be going on at the moment. Nothing about Cresselia or teams of Rayquaza, except what I'm going to teach you." Ray waggled a claw. "I don't want any distractions."
Khrista frowned, closing her eyes as she concentrated, storing away thoughts of what Joshua might be doing or what why she was capable of conversing with Pokemon in her dreamscape. She then focused on the animation sequences the games had shown of the Ultimate Dragon move, causing gamers to look on in awe and horror as the move crashed into its target.
Rayquaza took note of the smile that appeared on Khrista's face and nodded in approval. "Good, good. Now, begin to gather your dragon power within your chest. Don't rely on your eyes to know it's working - feel it in your heart. In the very fibers of your being."
Khrista nodded absently, then lifted her arms to her chest and held them there almost like she were holding a sphere. At first, she felt no change concerning power, but after about half a minute of doing almost nothing but imagining that her Dragon power was climbing in her chests she felt something - whether it was what Ray wanted it not, she couldn't quite tell. She could sense that there was some sort of pressure that was increasing to the point of bursting her chest open, however.
"Release it now! Force it upward!"
Khrista's arms straightened out above her head, palms facing upward. The teen could feel the power moving from her chest to her arms, then shooting up out of her body.
As the power left Khrista, her curiosity got the better of her, and she looked up so that she could see what she was doing.
The bright orange ball of energy above her instantly exploded like a firework, raining down on the ground around Khrista in a protective sphere-like shape.
Ray frowned. "I haven't seen anything like that for some time," he noted. "The last Pokemon who used an attack like that was Jirachi."
"Because he isn't a Dragon-Type?" Khrista guessed.
"Yes, but also because he's a Legendary. All Legendaries can learn the Ultimate Dragon move - most just choose not to. If we're going to have you learn the true Dragon-Type variation, we're going to need more time."
"Time we don't have," the teen responded. "They're expecting me to go back tomorrow - tonight, even." Khrista let out a sigh. "It seems as though we're going to have to cut this lesson short. And I was really looking forward to spending more time with you, too."
Ray lowered his head to look Khrista in the eye with one of his own. "You will, when all of this is over and done with. Trust me, everything we have taught you only scratches the surface. It would take a few months to train you properly, and that would be with Aurora's help." The Dragon/Flying-Type looked Khrista over. "In fact, you seem to be exhibiting the abilities of a Mew."
Khrista frowned. "Me? A Mew? I find that rather hard to believe."
"It would make the most sense. You have access to every Type, and you can access every - well, almost every - move in existence. When this whole thing blows over, she's going to be integral in your training."
Khrista's eyes widened. "Yeah, you're right about that. It's pretty weird how that turned out." Her eyes went over to the scorch mark on the cave wall from her practice with Psycho Cut. "Then again, it does make sense - Elaine told me sometime ago that she wasn't able to do as much with her abilities as I can with mine."
"There you are!"
Khrista and Ray turned to look at the cavern's entrance, where a familiar teenager Champion stood with a Pikachu on his shoulder.
"Hey, Red," Khrista greeted as the Kanto Trainer approached. Despite all appearances, she was as jittery and excited as a Jigglypuff getting a new microphone at seeing the Trainer again. "What's up?"
"The Professors want you to start packing ASAP," Pika explained. "They're suggesting so much communication gear that you might as well be a Metagross."
Khrista, quickly remembering something, removed a small device from her left ear. "Well, Joshua made this to allow us to communicate while we were in the tower, but I doubt that it'll work properly down here." She handed the device to Red, who looked it over for a moment before giving it back.
"You should let Green have a look at that," the Champion remarked. "She could probably do something in order to upgrade it. As for what else you can bring along..." Catching sight of the look on Ray's face, Red stated, "Sorry, big guy, but Birch specifically said that she couldn't bring you along.
"Why not?" Ray asked, frowning and going back to his full height.
"Too big. Even if she did have your Master Ball, she wouldn't be able to let you out."
"Hmmmph. But she can take a Pokemon with her."
"So long as they behave," Pika amended. "They recommended you take some food along with, too."
Khrista nodded. "Okay. Let's see...definitely wouldn't be a good idea to go with a Legendary - the Professors are probably planning on using them for a frontal assault on the outer defenses." She looked at Red, who nodded in confirmation. "That means I have a choice from whatever Pokemon I've trained that aren't as big as a house." She looked at Ray. "What do you think?"
The Hoenn Legendary blinked in surprise at the sudden question. "Why not take Linoone and Raichu?" he finally suggested. "They've been begging for action lately."
Khrista frowned. "You think I can take them?"
"Please, do," Pika replied. "That Raichu has been causing too much trouble for her own good."
"And Professor Birch needs a break from your Linoone, as much as they spend time with each other," Red added.
The group made its way to another large cavern, where a large group of Trainers were working with their Pokemon in one-on-one skirmishes against each other. About a quarter of the Pokemon present had no Trainers with them, instead working on their abilities in pairs without human interaction.
Khrista's eyes scanned the crowd, searching for one of her Pokemon so that she could ask the whereabouts of Linoone and Raichu, who didn't seem to be present. Eventually, she caught sight of Swamp, who was working with a Youngster Trainer from Hoenn and a Mudkip.
"What are you guys working on?" Khrista asked as she approached the three.
"Muddy wanted some advice on moves," the Youngster explained.
"I really want to learn Mud Shot," the Mudkip explained.
"Well, Mud Shot is a move that a Marshtomp can learn, not a Mudkip," Khrista noted. "What moves do you know now?"
"Bide, Water Gun, Tackle, and Mud-Slap," Muddy listed. "I'm Level 16, now."
Khrista's gaze went to the Trainer, who had a confused look on his face. "Your Mudkip wants to evolve. Why haven't you let him?"
The Youngster seemed surprised, but then shook his head. "Muddy is my sister's, and she's insisted that he doesn't evolve unless she's nearby."
"And this girl's name is?" Swamp inquired.
"Maddie," Muddy stated. "I don't see what the problem is with her wanting to watch me evolve, though. She's watched it plenty of times before."
Khrista looked over at Swamp and realized the connection. "You and your sister came from my world, didn't you?"
"Your world?" the Youngster repeated, startled. "You mean, you're not from around here?"
Khrista shook her head. "I may as well be now, though. What's your name, kid?"
"James. I'm a Kanto and Jhoto Champion." The Youngster Trainer seemed proud of this achievement.
"Maddie's a Hoenn Trainer, but she's really more of a Coordinator," Muddy added.
"Uh-huh. How old is Maddie?" Khrista gave Swamp a glance that clearly said that she wanted to talk to him later.
"She's 11," James explained. "And she also got turned into a Torchic when we came over."
"There you guys are!"
The groups' head's turned as the aforementioned Torchic ran up to them. "I've been looking all over for you two! The Luminous Spring has been open for about an hour! If we hurry, we might be able to make it before it closes again!"
Muddy let out a whoop. "What are we waiting for, then? Let's go!" He promptly dashed off, Maddie right behind him.
James let out a sigh. "Those two had better make sure they've dropped their lucky Everstones before doing that evolving thing."
Khrista gave him an odd look. "You sound older than you look," she noted.
James shrugged. "My Avatar in the games look like this, so I guess it affected my real appearance, too." He frowned. "Who are you, anyway?"
"The name's Khrista," Khrista responded coolly. "I'm a Champ in most of the regions. Do you happen to specialize in any specific Pokemon Types?"
"I like the Electric-Types, but the Dragons are pretty cool, too." James sent a look at Swamp. "I can't understand a lot of their language yet, but from what it sounds like, that Swampert's yours, isn't he?"
Swamp nodded in confirmation as Khrista clarified, "Swamp was my first Pokemon, and he's among my strongest. Ray's right up there with him, too."
Pika cleared his throat. "Khrista, we've got to find your Linoone and Raichu, remember?"
Khrista jumped at the sound of the Pikachu's voice. "Right. Sorry about that - I got a little sidetracked."
"You're looking for the trouble twins?" Swamp asked.
Khrista nodded. "I figured he might be of some help when I'm sent back up."
Swamp gave a nod. "Linoone has been staying at Birch's side ever since we got down here, and Raichu has been with Sparkler, Mist's Electric Mouse. It may be a bit...difficult, in order to get them to where you need to go."
Khrista let out a sigh of annoyance. "Great."
James frowned, then his eyes widened. "You're that Trainer who escaped from the Tower, aren't you?" Upon receiving a nod in return from the teen, the Youngster grinned. "Maybe you should arrange a bribe with your Pokemon or something - a compromise."
Pika smirked. "That could work, depending on the Trainer."
Khrista exchanged glances with Swamp, who seemed to know exactly what the teen was thinking.
"I think I know what I'm going to have to do in order to get those two to follow me us there," Khrista remarked, nodding. "I could probably ask around if anyone doesn't want to come along."
"And you're not asking me to come because..."
"I'm getting the feeling that you're going to be more useful down here than up there," Khrista replied, nodding to Swamp. "And, if they don't come, I'll probably end up bringing you along."
The Swampert inclined his head. "Very well."
"It's all for a good cause," Red stated, smirking. His eyes went over to James, who seemed to have noticed who was there with Knrista. "Have you tried to make it up Mt. Silver yet?"
"I was about to battle whoever was up there when Maddie and I were taken," James responded, blinking rapidly.
Khrista smirked. "James, meet Red, the official Kanto Champion, and the kid you found at the top of Mt. Silver."
James' eyes widened. "You have got to be kidding me."
"She isn't," Red replied. "If you want to fight me, though, you'll have to wait until after we've beaten the pulp out of Cyrus."
James nodded, a grin appearing on his face. "In that case, I'd better go train. Good luck finding that Electric-Type!"
With that, the Trainer took off into the crowd, searching for someone to battle.
Khrista looked over at Swamp. "Do you want to come along and look for them?"
Swamp shook his head."I should be helping Misty and the other Water Trainers, but Muddy pulled me to one side because of his evolution problem. Raichu and Linoone should be both very easy to find."
Khrista nodded. "All right, then." She grinned at Red. "Race ya to the Underground!"
"Oh, you're on," Red answered, a grin on his face, the two took off for the tunnels instantly, leaving Rayquaza and Swamp behind.
Well, looks like Khrista is getting ready to head back up to Cyrus' citadel, like Joshua knew she would. And...Khrista being part Mew? That's kind of unexpected, isn't it? Well, not to me - I wrote up her character, after all. ;)
Let me know what you guys think! eclipse2012 thinks that more people should be voicing their opinions about my story. So, review, PM, whatever - just send me a quick blurb about what you see in the story so far!