Disclaimer: Owning Pokemon? I don't own it, you guys know that, right?
52. Victory Road
I stood in a brightly lit place, it was also warm. The sun looked like it was shining down on me.
The place I stood in had broken pillars, like Greek columns. They were cream and cracked in places as if they were going to break any second.
A huge wall the same colour as the pillars surrounded me on all sides, like I was in a room that was twice the size of a house. Imagine the bottom floor of your house was one room, then extend it by two side by side and four in length, that's where I felt like I was. It was massive. The walls looked a little crumbled, but otherwise they were fine. There was a metre-wide path going around the sides of the room, the place I was standing was about a foot up and the only access was a small stairway far behind me. The path and place I was standing was all the same colour, nothing could catch your eye, it was all boring, being the same colour.
What caught my eye as I walked forward was a man. I had seen that hair colour only three times before, but now I knew who it was. The hair colour was abnormal, I had never seen anyone with the same colour hair, only this man.
'Have you come to stop me Jordan?' He asked as if I was friend who was trying to stop another friend from doing something stupid.
I couldn't talk, for some reason my dream self was incapable of producing speech.
I looked behind me and hesitated when I saw all my friends had ignored what I had told them to do and they stood just entering the large room with their mouths open in shock, they were looking at the size of the room.
I admit I thought the same as I entered it.
The man held up an orb above his head and the room shook a little.
I woke up.
That was another aura dream, I thought those were over.
I remember having those dreams, but not what they were about. They felt kind of like the same, but the dreams I had before this one, the event that occurred through the dreams I had has occurred, but I remember none of that either.
I slowly got up and made my way to the Pokemon centres lobby.
Today my friends and I would tackle Victory road. I remembered what Liam said about it yesterday, how it was the hardest thing to conquer besides the Pokemon league, apparently, it was even that harder than all they gyms, it could make you go insane. You could also get lost in it.
As I sat down I saw I was the only one up, but it wasn't that dark outside.
The sun was just rising, maybe nurse Joy hadn't got up yet.
Pikachu came out a few seconds before Nurse Joy did.
'Pika?' He asked jumping onto the table in front of me.
'Another aura dream.' I told him. 'It wasn't a bad one.' I reassured him.
Pikachu still looked concerned.
I shot him a smile to show him I was fine.
I knew he wouldn't give up that easily, but he let it slide for now.
Nurse Joy gave me a reassuring smile as she came up to me on the opposite side of the table. I never saw her out from the counter.
'Are you tackling Victory road today?' She asked.
I nodded.
'You've had quite the journey. I remember the first day you entered here, you and your friend was so shy, but you battled together great and got rid of those crooks. You were both inexperienced, both tackling something you truly believed in.' Nurse Joy started. 'You both now radiate with confidence, I have seen the difference in you, every time you enter the Pokemon centre here in Viridian you look like a different person.' Nurse Joy said.
She went to stand behind her counter after that with Chansey.
The next person to come out was Rachel.
'Morning Jordan?' She greeted me.
'Aura?' She asked when she saw my expression drop after I smiled in response.
'Is it that obvious?' I asked.
'You are up earlier.' She replied.
'So, why are you?' I asked.
She sat down before she replied.
'I'm worried.' She replied.
This was not normally how Rachel was, she hasn't been worried for ages not since she first started her journey when she wasn't all that confident.
'Why's that?' I asked.
'It's about what you told me yesterday.' She replied.
What did I tell Rachel yesterday? I couldn't remember, I only remember helping Camilla, before that I knew I was talking to these guys, but I couldn't remember.
'About the Battle Château.' She reminded me. 'What if I made the wrong choice.' She said.
'Just because I talked to you about it yesterday, doesn't mean you should rethink it, I think it's great that you are staying here and showing Kanto that you are a great trainer, a powerful Chatelaine.' I told Rachel.
'It wasn't that you talked to me yesterday, it's about the journey. I will never explore more places like I have this year, instead I'll be stuck in one region, looking at the same places I've already seen.' Rachel told me.
'It shouldn't be about the journey Rachel, it should be about showing people the potential you have, show them how powerful you've become after a year.' I told her.
'This year was about a journey.' Rachel replied.
'Yes, but this was the only journey you've been on, if you didn't go on a journey, you wouldn't have found out about the Battle Château, you wouldn't have competed in it, you wouldn't have earned the title of Grand Duchess, the first Grand duchess, the first one to conquer the Battle Chateau, you wouldn't have had the honour to battle the Chatelaines, let alone win against all four of them. On top of that, you also were given the opportunity to become a Chatelaine. I think that's awesome. Rachel, it's only the wrong choice if you think of any regrets that might haunt you.' I told her. 'You'll become so much more powerful if you become a Chatelaine, also, you don't have to think about it now, the Pokemon league starts in a few days, so you can start worrying about it after it starts.' I finished.
'Thanks Jordan.'
I nodded. Anything for my friends.
'I think you're really strong, stronger than me, and not just as in your Pokemon, I mean as in a person, if any of us have trouble you look to help us out. And every time you ease the situation or solve our problem.' Rachel replied. 'How can I leave?' Rachel asked.
I chuckled in embarrassment.
'Because you are stronger than you realise.' I told her. 'Who beat Camilla…twice?' I asked.
'Way to bring me down Jordan, that was a nice pep talk last night and now you're going to make me feel sad.' Camilla said walking towards us with Brock on her heels.
'I did.' Rachel replied.
'And which one of us drew against her?' I asked as Camilla took her usual place next to me.
'You.' Rachel replied.
'Exactly. You are strong Rachel, stop doubting yourself.' I replied.
'Jordan is right. If you overthink it, it'll only make it worse.' Brock said sliding in next to Rachel.
Rachel nodded looking down.
I took my PokéNav plus out, something I hadn't done in ages, as looked at Victory road.
'A road that tests Trainers aiming at the Pokemon league.'
I remembered what Liam had told me a few days ago, this was apparently true. Victory road was apparently the hardest place to venture through, some people had actually gotten lost in there, some had even lost their minds, I was doubting myself. I didn't know if I was ready to venture through this part of my journey.
'I'm worried.' I said out loud looking at nothing in particular, while putting away my PokéNav.
I heard Camilla and Rachel chuckle.
'You gave a speech to Rachel for doubting herself and now you're worried?' Camilla asked.
She made it sound so simple, but she was right.
Rachel had succeeded completing her dream and now I had not even reached my goal yet. I had to get through victory road before I could think about what was next if I won the Pokemon league against the current champion.
'You've never been worried before.' Brock stated. 'You have doubted yourself, but you've never been worried?' Brock reminded me.
Brock was right. I had doubted myself many times, but this was different, I was worried, but it wasn't just about Victory road what I was worried about.
I was worried about my dream. Victory road. The Pokemon league. My pre Pokemon league battles and what happened after the Pokemon league finished no matter the outcome.
'You have nothing to worry about.' Camilla started. 'We will be you the whole way through until the Pokemon league has finished and maybe even after that.' Camilla said. 'Just like we have been since you met us.' She replied.
Camilla was right. With my friends, I had overcome every obstacle, something I never thought I could. If I hadn't travelled with any of my friends I would have probably stopped trying to obtain badges after the second one. I was doubted myself against Lt. Surge. Maybe that was when I doubted myself properly, the first time I had thought about quitting.
Pikachu shook my arm and I came back to reality.
'You're right.' I said blinking coming back into focus to my surroundings.
I stood up.
'Thanks guys, that talk helped.' I replied. 'Loads.' I added.
My friends followed me towards Victory roads entrance.
I remembered it exactly as it was yesterday, but I had no idea how it would look inside.
I was the first to enter my friends not a second behind me. I paused as I looked around.
We were inside the biggest cave you had ever seen. It looked so much bigger than Mt. Moon, but I guess that was because Mt. Moon had more than one chamber, but this wasn't a chamber it was more like a cavern. It was definitely dark, but around the sides on the walls were fire torches. I wondered how long it would take for those to run out of fuel or how long it would take them to burn out.
I took a few hesitant steps forward, but stopped again. I took a good look around, rocks jutted up from the ground in random places. A platform quite far in front of us was higher than we were. I wondered if that was the way to go.
I looked back at my friends, they were as in much awe as I was. It was astonishing this place.
Stalactites hung from the caverns ceiling, they looked like they mirrored the irregular shapes of the rocks jutting out from the floor.
As soon I was no longer in awe I started to follow the path which was-at the moment-set out for me. I didn't know if it would sometime break apart and go off in different directions forcing me to choose which path I would take. One may lead to a way out and the other may lead to a dead end.
No need to dread about that I wasn't at that part yet, it was a problem future me would have to figure out.
I saw Camilla fall in beside me.
'So…' she started. 'I had a dream...' She said leaving the sentence to hang.
I knew exactly what she meant.
'Like it was a future event.' I said not exactly asking, like I was answering the question "What kind of dream was it?"
'You have one too?' She asked in surprise. 'Where were you?' She asked.
These dreams were always in first person, so I saw from my perspective.
'In a large place with an open roof, it was kind of creamy with a strange man.
Camilla gasped.
'You too?' I asked looking at her briefly needing no answer.
One of us had to be wrong as I saw Camilla standing at the entrance to the place I was in, there was no way she could see the strange man who I saw.
'You woke up later than me though.' I added.
I woke up around two and needed to get back to sleep, somehow I managed it.' She replied.
That never happened to me, I never got to sleep after my dreams like that.
Maybe the reason was because my aura was still active and I couldn't get to sleep with it active.
'You guys okay?' Rachel asked from behind us.
'Just a dream.' I replied.
'Thought they were over.' Brock said.
'Yeah.' I replied 'Me too.' The last ones didn't mean much since none of the dreams scenes actually happened, but somehow these ones seem more real than the ones I had before. They felt like a big part of me was missing when I thought back to it, like there was a gap between now and then. This gap didn't feel like a few months, it felt like a few years.
If that was the case I shouldn't worry about it now, not for a while. I should just figure out how to get through Victory road.
We went down some steps into the lowest part of victory road, I felt it warm up a little, but it wasn't much.
We went around a corner and continued along moving around the rocks that appeared in our way.
This place was definitely testing us, although we had not ventured far I knew that we would have to travel really far to get to the exit of this place.
I saw some steps a little farther ahead and guessed this was the plat form from before, the one I saw ahead of us. I was going to count the steps, but it was quite high up, so I didn't bother.
Before we reached the top or could see it I heard a few voices. I froze.
I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I was unable to move.
'What?' Camilla asked.
'…this year.' A female voice said.
'You sure, he'll live up to Blues qualities?' a familiar voice asked.
'Look, newbie, you don't know him that much, he destroyed most of my most powerful team with one of his Pokemon.' A second male voice said. 'You're only here because Blue stepped down.' It continued.
'Who are they?' Camilla whispered.
The voices stopped an I heard gravel crunch.
I looked up as soon as it stopped.
I met the wide eyes of Koga.
'Jordan?' He exclaimed.
'Koga?' I asked in the same tone.
'You know its rude to eavesdrop?' A female voice asked.
She came into view and I saw she had blond hair, she was wearing a maid's outfit, but it was purple instead of black and it was like a dress and not tight. She also had a wooden cane.
I climbed up the last steps, two other people were standing near a wooden bridge.
One was a woman, she had red hair, just like Misty's but it was longer and straight. She was wearing red rimmed glasses. She had a black non-sleeved t-shirt and a violet skirt.
The last was a man. He had black hair that was tied into a ponytail and fell over his right shoulder. He flipped it so it was behind him. He had two black leather wristbands. He was wearing, grey tracksuit bottoms that were looked ripped at the bottom. He had a black karate belt wrapped around his waist. He was wearing no t-shirt, his body was muscled and toned, they were very clear and defined.
'Oh, sorry, this is Agatha.' Koga said pointing to the woman with the cane. 'Lore…'
'Lorelei and Bruno.' I finished Koga's sentence.
I had read books that were from The Professors lab and in one of the books it stated who the elite four were at the moment, but Koga was new and had taken Lances place. So, Lance was no longer a member of the elite four, he had become champion.
There was something that confused me though, why were the elite four in Victory road? Why weren't they at the Indigo Plateau? I know it didn't start for a few days, but they should still wait where every trainer was waiting to battle them.
'Um,' I started. 'Not to sound rude, but what exactly are you doing here? Why aren't you at the Pokemon league?' I asked them.
'We come here every year just before it begins.' Lorelei started.
'We have a one on one battle with each other to see who will be placed where, so in other words who you will battle first and who will be your last obstacle between you and the Champion.' Koga finished.
'So, who will Jordan battle first?' Rachel asked.
'The Pokemon league forbids me to say, Grand Duchess.' Agatha replied, she slightly bowed to Rachel.
'Get used to that.' Camilla told Rachel.
'We will help you get through this place though.' Agatha continued. 'That way is the way out, but that way is somewhere you should explore first.' Agatha said, she pointed to behind where the other side of the bridge led to before pointing to a small opening.
'What's in there?' Brock asked.
'Why don't you find out?' Koga whispered to us.
They walked across the bridge and left us standing there, so now I had had a brief encounter with the elite four.
That was something that doesn't usually happen, I had met all five trainers that novice trainers had to take on to become the Champion of Kanto and achieve their dream of becoming a Pokemon master.
My friends and I followed Agatha's advice and walked through the small opening.
Inside was a large flat rock.
In the middle of the rock was definitely a sight to behold.
There was a Pokemon. I was sure of it.
It was primarily yellow and resembled a large bird. It had brown legs and four sharp talons, three were facing forward and the last one was at the back of its feet. It has a long neck, for a bird and a bulbous head. The beak was pointy long and an extremely light shade of brown. There was fire coming off of its wings, it had it had a crest of billowing fire as well as its tail. Its eyes were closed at the moment.
I took out my Pokédex and my friends followed suite.
'Moltres, the Flame Pokemon. Moltres is a legendary bird Pokemon that has the ability to control fire. If this Pokemon in injured, it is said to dip its body in the molten magma of a volcano to burn and head itself.'
So, this was the last legendary bird, the one I was going to meet last, but the second legendary bird's data to record in my Pokédex.
I did not have Zapdos in my Pokédex, but I was a lot less careless then, having Articuno and Zapdos was something that very few-if anybody-people had been able to accomplish in their journey around Kanto.
'Camilla Foster, Jordan Hale.' I heard a voice in my head.
I noticed Camilla wince at her last name, I really needed to ask her about that later.
I wondered if the voice in my head was like Mewtwo because I had aura or something.
'I didn't expect to see you.' The voice continued.
'Moltres?' I asked.
It opened its eyes and I saw they were triangular and brown.
'But, I am glad you found me.'
'Wh-wha-what…how can we hear you?' I asked completely astounded by how Moltres was communicating with us.
'You two are part of something big in the future. A prophecy has been written.' Moltres explained.
Moltres wasn't making sense, there was a prophecy that spoke of Camilla and myself? Why should I believe this Moltres? I had spoken to it aloud and that would mean that maybe I wasn't imagining it and Moltres was telling the truth. But I didn't know a Pokemon could speak through your mind.
'What is this prophecy?' Camilla asked.
So, I didn't imagine Moltres speaking in my head if Camilla heard it too.
'It's a prophecy about you both being the only ones who can save the world.' Moltres told me.
Why would we be important? Over everyone else we were the ones that were prophesised to save the world?
I didn't understand, what massive event would cause the world to be destroyed, when would this occur?
I had many questions racing through my head, but couldn't concentrate on one since this was a huge amount of information to process.
I looked down, but before I could try and figure this out the ground beneath me moved rapidly.
Once I looked up I was in the place of where I dreamed. In front of me I saw a hole inside it was dark purple, black, midnight blue, many dark colours. It didn't seem inviting, but for some reason I felt the urge to walk through it.
'Jordan.' I heard Camilla say behind me. 'I'm coming with you.' She announced.
I shook my head in disagreement.
'No, Camilla, I need you to stay safe, stay here.' I said.
I knew she would ignore me, she had done that loads in the past few years, every time I had tried to keep her safe she had followed me into the same dangerous situation. I didn't know how to keep her from following me, one of these days she could get hurt, as much as that was a bad thing it seemed almost inevitable. I had almost been hurt multiple times. I didn't want one of these times to be unlucky and for Camilla to get hurt because of my carelessness. Sure, I had been hurt and in near-death experiences a few times, but apparently, I was supposed to save the world. I had done that on a few occasions also.
'If I ask you to stay here and stay safe, would you?' I asked looking into her eyes, holding onto her shoulders with my hands.
I saw no promise in her eyes, only worrying, I knew it was for me, but she should be used to this by now, right? I had put myself in danger multiple times, she should know that I would try to stop her. She had tried to stop me a few times, but eventually she just gave up, she knew I wouldn't listen to her, I should've known she wouldn't listen to me.
'I'll take care of her, make sure she stays safe here.' A boy I didn't recognize with mad blond hair came up behind her.
Thank goodness, I didn't have to worry about Camilla becoming in danger. Most of the time, when she was in danger, I had to go and save her, then I became in danger, but if I was in danger instead of Camilla I was glad. I didn't want to see her get hurt.
I jumped through the hole and my mind flashed as I landed on the ground the opposite side.
I blinked and found myself in front of an opening that had light shining through it.
'What happened?' I asked.
'I don't know, Camilla said behind me.
'Uh, you both walked here, like you were in a trance. After Moltres flew away, you just walked both here.' Rachel said.
'Rachel…we were afraid you would go off in different directions.' Brock said.
'Moltres spoke to us.' Camilla said.
'As soon as we recorded it in our Pokedexes it flew off. It didn't say anything and neither did you, for a second we thought that the sight of seeing Moltres was too much, until we thought that seeing Articuno and Zapdos didn't baffle you, so why would this, we found it weird and uncharacteristic of your trance-like behaviour.' Rachel explained.
'So, we just ended up here?' I asked.
'From walking?' Brock asked. 'Yes.' He replied.
I didn't understand this I was sure that both Camilla and I had talked to Moltres using my aura and whatever power Camilla had, we still had yet to find that out.
Two of my friends were telling me something that was completely different, something that I wouldn't normally do, I don't think I would ever be in a trance before so "uncharacteristic" was definitely the right word. My behaviour antics were not normally how Rachel described them. I would never walk as if I was in a trance, I know that Moltres talked to Camilla and myself, and I also know what I saw was definitely real and a glimpse of Camilla and I saving the world, but Moltres had not shown Brock and Rachel. Maybe he had made it seem different to them so they would understand. I didn't know if they would be able to comprehend the things I had just seen.
I couldn't think about this now.
I had to enter the Pokemon league. I had to show the Kanto region the reason I won all eight Kanto's gym badges, the reason I had made it this far. I was going to show the Kanto region that I was going to become the new champion.
I walked through the archway and was met with three large archways, they each had stone columns, to support the arches, on either side, each column had a stone Pokéball on top. The Arch itself was made of metal and had three green straight horizontal planks before a orangey red one above which was more definitely arched instead of completely horizontal.
Each archway was separated by a set of stairs.
I saw a few nice trees evenly spread out making the place look nice.
After the three archways, I saw a huge cave, it was taller than victory road, it also looked wider. Above the massive doorway there was a standard Pokéball with a vertical lightning bolt behind it that was transparent with a white outline. It was the official Pokemon league logo, it represented all the trainers that came and fought for the title of the region champion.
I walked through, my friends following suit.
The place inside was Packed. It looked exactly like a Pokemon centre, but it was ten times as big, the tiles on the floor was exactly the same pattern. There were phones on the left side of the room, but instead of tables being on the right side of the room they were scattered everywhere and they were about twice the size of the ones in the Pokemon centre.
I saw three counters at the back of the room, each one had a nurse joy and Chansey, both looked like they were working tirelessly, but that didn't matter, my Pokemon were fine for now. I didn't need them to rest. I had no trouble since Viridian, none of us did.
I looked up, and saw the ceiling was like a cave ceiling it was really high, up, the walls were like in a Pokemon centre but they faded into looking like the inside of a cave. If you didn't look up, you could swear that this was a really large Pokemon centre.
Inside it didn't seem cold like I thought a cave would. But it didn't seem as cosy as a Pokemon centre would. I knew the accommodations were somewhere, but I couldn't worry about that at the moment.
Inside my head, I was going: "It's the Pokemon league. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. The Pokemon league!" Over and over. I was extremely ecstatic. I was finally here, I was where I dreamed I wanted to be since I was five years old, the same place my dad was when he was a little older than me.
Tomorrow this place would be jam packed, tomorrow marked the first of three days before the Pokemon league started. Families would be gathering in here as would people who loved to spectate, the millions of people that couldn't make it would be at home watching the battles on TV.
I knew I needed to sign up, but I was still taking in the spectacular sight, the spectacle of where the Pokemon league was being held.
I'm sure my friends were in as much awe as I was.
'Okay, compared to the Battle Château this place looks like a parade, whereas the Battle Château looks like the worst float in the parade.' Rachel commented.
I didn't want to drag her down, she felt so happy to become a Chatelaine and this just would put her off, maybe the Château would be grander next year, maybe with Rachel's help they could make it bigger, she would be the only Chatelaine to have visited the Pokemon league.
'We need to get you signed up, or you won't be able to enter.' Camilla said taking my arm and dragging me, weaving through the tables up to the middle counter.
'Hey!' An unfamiliar voice called behind me, but I knew I had heard it before.
I turned.
'Champion of Fuchsia's water tournament, where was our battle you promised in Viridian?' This boy asked.
He had scruffy brown hair and brown eyes that looked at me with pure, fierce determination. He had a blue jacket, roughed up blue jeans and red trainers, his jacket wasn't zipped up so it exposed his red shirt, on his shirt was an ultra-ball, the shirt red "Nothing I can't catch!" in black letters.
'Do you remember me, Jordan Hale, Champion of the Fuchsia water tournament, collector of eight badges, from pallet town?' He asked.
I chuckled. 'Not as much as you know me.' I said.
This boy obviously knew a lot about me.
'I am Jason Green. I challenged you to a battle in Viridian inside Fuchsia's Pokemon centre.' He told me. 'I vowed to become stronger and gain all eight badges so I could battle you and prove to you that collecting badges and becoming stronger is what I was meant to do.'
I suddenly remembered a boy a lot like this guy, he had the same name and looked the same, but the courage in this guy's voice was not the same as I heard in Fuchsia, in Fuchsia this guy seemed a little unsure of himself. Here he was with eight Gym badges showing me that he was ready to battle.
I knew he was going to be the first of my battle.
'I promise to battle you, Jason Green, but I really have to sign up.' I said being dragged away to the Pokemon centres counter by Camilla.
I knew she would be furious at me if I didn't sign up in time.
As soon as I signed up that was it. I had committed myself to showing the whole of Kanto that I would become their new Champion I would show them that I had what it takes to become a Pokemon master.
So, hey, this is the next chapter, hope you liked it. Jordan had a vison with Moltres, but how is Moltres tied into Jordan's dream? Next chapter a few familiar faces show up after a while of not seeing them. Also, next chapter will be Jordan's first unofficial battle before the Pokemon league starts. Hope to see you all next chapter.
Chapter Fifty-three: Practice Battle
