Last time on Tony's Journey...
A fierce battle in the edge of the Pinwheel Forest came to an end: Lenora, the Gym Leader of Nacrene City and her husband Hawes saved up and coming Pokemon Trainer and title-character Tony Miller and Burgh, Bug-type Gym Leader of Castelia City, and defeated a group of Team Plasma grunts and their leader, the emotionally unstable clown-like Plasma Knight, Sir Mystico. During the fight, Gorm, a Sage of Team Plasma, revealed that Team Plasma's goal was to revive a legendery Pokemon called Reshiram - something that Tony has never heard of before. Lenora, Hawes and Burgh are all skeptical of Team Plasma's true motives, and all believe that Reshiram is nothing more than a myth. The Plasmas naturally disagree and beat a hasty retreat, vanishing with the help of Mystico's Ghost-types before our heroes could stop them. Having retrieved the stolen Dragonite Skull, the group headed back to Nacrene City, Team Plasma's escape and threats still on their minds...
What will happen next? Find out now!
"Boy, are you crazy?"
Tony gave a nod. "You know, sometimes I think I might be."
"Stop tryin' to be funny," Lenora ordered.
Tony looked up at the Normal-type user. "I'm not," he said. "I might really be crazy. I mean, I saw a dangerous situation and I just... jumped right into it!" He sighed. "I almost got killed, like, three seperate times today."
"Yeah..." Lenora agreed. "Don't let it happen again, y'hear? Your aunt was bawling her eyes out when she found out you went after those creeps. You deserved the earful she gave ya, you know."
Tony nodded with a wince. The moment he was out of danger he made the difficult choice to call his Aunt Sally and tell her just what had happened, leaving out no small detail, and naturally got an earful for his recklessness. He had run into a dangerously thick forest, gone after a group of dangerous criminals, almost got himself killed by a Litwick, almost got himself killed by a group of Sawk and Throh, almost got himself killed by a clown in a jump-suit with a top-hat and carrying a sword, and then he actually had the gall to catch a new Pokemon while he was there! Just who did he think he was?! Needless to say, Uncle Brad had made Sally hang up so that he could calm her down.
Of course, while Tony wasn't getting scolded by Sally, Lenora seemed more than willing to fill in for her - she'd make a good mother someday. She hadn't let up on him ever since they started down the long, tiring road through the Pinwheel Forest back to Nacrene City. Thankfully, she decided to have some sort of mercy and let up on him, giving him credit where credit was due.
"Still..." the Nacrene Gym Leader admitted. "Your heart was in the right place, and you did go out of your way to help Hawes and me - so thanks. I owe you one."
Tony rubbed the back of his head. "No, no..." he insisted. "I owe you guys. I mean, if you hadn't come along, that freak would've finished us off."
Burgh nodded. "We came all this way to help you, Hawes," he told the scientist, "but in the end you saved us. Well," he sighed, "I feel thoroughly pathetic." He hung his head with a groan.
"That's not true," Hawes reassured the two Bug-type enthusiasts. "Sure, you didn't actually save me, but if you hadn't interfered with the Plasmas, they would have gotten away with our Dragonite Skull." He gave the fossil in his arms a pat, as if to make sure it was actually there. "While it would have been worthless to their plans, I still doubt that they would have sent it back to us. You saved us one very expensive piece of bone, so I thank you."
"So do I," Lenora agreed with a grin. "You did really great - I guess that;s what we should expect from a Gym Leader and..."
"Juniper's protegee, I know," Tony said, just managing to feign a smile. He really, really wished that he would be known as something other than "that kid Juniper thinks might have some skills" to the Gym Leaders he had encountered so far.
"Wait a minute..." Burgh murmured. "You're Juniper's new protegee?"
Wish granted!
"Y-yeah, I am," Tony admitted.
"Don't be so modest!" Lenora scolded. "Of course he is, Burgh, who else would he be? Didn't you get Juniper's call?"
Burgh blushed. "Eh... Sorry. I've been camping out here for the last week, getting inspiration for my wondrous words of whimsical artwork, and getting to know my Sewaddle better. I must say, though..." He gave Tony a grin. "After you took her for a while, she seems much more agreeable! What did you do?"
Sewaddle was indeed much more agreeable at the moment - to be frank, the Sewaddle was shaking inside of her Pokeball, terrified of having two near-death experiences in one day. She had been born in these woods, but now she was starting to see how dangerous they really were. She was sticking with Burgh - he might be a weirdo, but he didn't want her dead.
Besides, that Venipede was giving her weird looks earlier. What was his deal?
Tony shrugged, completely amazed that a Pokemon like that Sewaddle could actually be behaving now. "I didn't really do anything..."
"I told you not to be so modest!" Lenora reminded him with a chuckle.
Tony sighed as Burgh joined in the praising. "You're really something if you're the Professor's protegee! It takes a lot of talent to catch the eye of someone with such high-standards!"
"She does?"
"Oh, yes," Burgh said. "It's also good to hear that she's finally chosen another protegee. The last one... didn't turn out so well."
"I see..." Tony murmured, not really listening.
Lenora noticed the thoughtful gaze in Tony's eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"I've been thinking..." Tony muttered. "About what that old guy said... something about Reshi... Uh... Reshi..."
"Reshiram," Hawes corrected.
"Yeah, that's it!" Tony exclaimed. "What is it?"
"Oh, it's part of a very old myth," Burgh explained, "an ancient story of the founding of the Unova Region."
Now Tony was definitely interested. "Really? The founding of the entire Region?"
"Don't get so excited, kid," Lenora scolded. "Like I told that Plasma, it's just a story."
"To be precise, it's an oral legend," Hawes agreed. "We've never discovered any sort of carvings, cave paintings, scrolls or anything of the sort to prove that it actually happened. As such, it's tattered lore, at best."
Tony looked down, disappointed. "Oh..." He looked up at Hawes, a little hope in his eyes. "Can you tell me the story?"
"Well..." Hawes admitted. "I suppose so... Ahem..." He cleared his throat and began. "About two-thousand five-hundreds years ago, there was no Unova Region. The entire land was a handful of small kingdoms and empires, always at war with one another. The war claimed hundreds of lives each year - the land became barren with no one to till it, and wild Pokemon began to vanish from the wilds as the demand for more of them for the war grew and grew. Victory seemed impossible for either side, but still each kingdom refused to surrender, too blinded by their own hatreds and prejudices.
"Undoubtedly, it was all of this horrible war that brought the Great Dragon down from the heavens. It was a Legendary Pokemon like no other, with the power to devastate the entire region faster and more brutally than any war could. However, instead it searched across the land in secret, eager to find a human worthy of its immense powers, who would bring order to the realm. Instead, he found two: twin brothers who had come to the mountains with their aging, widowed mother, to protect her from the war. The Great Dragon came to the brothers and offered them his powers. The brothers, while rivals with one another, agreed to work together. They flew down from the mountain on the back of the Great Dragon and down to the lands below.
"The brothers defeated any armies that rose against them, and forced their leaders, every king, queen, emperor and empress, prince and princess to meet with one another and discuss their differences to find a peaceful solution. None of them were willing to question the might of the Great Dragon, and the Twin Heroes, as they are often called, were declared the Kings of the Region, which they named Unova, which is an ancient word meaning "United." There would have been great peace... However..."
Tony sighed. "There's always a however."
"'Fraid so, kid," Lenora agreed.
"The Twin Heroes were as different as night and day. They only worked together for the sake of their mother, so when she died of old age... The younger brother wanted to use the Great Dragon to fly to distant lands, where wars were brewing and people were dying. He thought that they could use the Great Dragon to end all wars. However, though strong his ideals were, his brother disagreed. The elder brother preferred thinking to fighting, and believed that the Great Dragon was a blessing to them that would allow them to find out the truth to all things: enlightenment could be theirs' with the Dragon's help.
"Naturally, with their beloved mother gone, neither brother had any desire to accept the point of view from the other. They began to fight with one another, and the Great Dragon was caught up in the middle. The Great Dragon couldn't chose between truth and ideals, and the conflict inside of it was so great that it tore him in half!"
"Augh!" Tony said, surprised. That little revealtion came out of nowhere, and was pretty dang grim. "J-just not being able to make up its mind split it in half?!"
"No, not like that!" Burgh said with a laugh. "The Great Dragon was split into two Dragons, one a Dragon of Truth, and the other a Dragon of Ideals!"
"Oh," Tony said, turning red. "Continue," he told Hawes.
Hawes did so: "The Great Dragon became two dragons: the Dragon of Ideals was the Black Dragon, Zekrom. The Dragon of Truth was the White Dragon..."
"Reshiram?" Tony asked.
Hawes nodded. "You catch on fast."
"According to the legends," Lenora continued for her husband, "both brothers saw what happened to the Great Dragon as sign that their argument split their Dragon in two, and if they were to truly battle it would split their newly created land in two. The brothers agreed that their goals shouldn't get in the way of their kingdom and the peace that they had created. So, they refused to seek either goal, and kept their Dragons with them to ensure peace throughout the land. However, one day the elder brother died, and the younger twin soon followed after, leaving their kingdom in the hands of their sons. The sons took after their fathers, including their rivalry."
Burgh nodded. "Legend says that neither son wanted to share the kingdom - and much like their fathers, one valued truth and the other ideals. They tried to use Zekrom and Reshiram to battle, but the two dragons became enraged by the ignorance of the sons, and in their rage they brought an end to the region that they had helped create."
Tony gaped. "You mean...?"
Lenora nodded. "That's right. Zekrom and Reshiram destroyed Unova with thunder and fire, bringing the gleaming metropolis to an end. Both dragons departed from the world, and lay in wait for the descendants of the heroes to come and bring Unova back into its golden age."
"Wow..." Tony murmured.
Lenora laughed. "That's exactly what I said when my dad told me when I was a girl. That's all it is, kid, a bed time story. There isn't any proof that it ever happened, and there probably never will be."
"The only thing that sort of counts as proof of the story being true is that the Relic Castle, which is in the desert north of Castelia City, is supposedly the castle of the Twin Heroes, and where they ruled Unova. But that's never been proven either," Hawes stated.
"Oh, look!" Burgh announced, pulling Tony out of the legend and back into the real world. "There's Nacrene City!"
Nacrene City indeed lay a short distance ahead of them, glowing brightly in the lights of street-lamps reflecting off of the snow, making the city and glow in the night. "Thank goodness..." Hawes murmured. "I'm exhausted."
"You and me both, hun," Lenora agreed. "Let's get home. We all need some rest."
"Yeah..." Burgh said.
Tony nodded absently, his mind still wrapped up on the fascinating ancient legends of Unova. Reshiram and Zekrom were burned into his mind, and he didn't stop thinking of them, even as they approached the Pokemon Center.
Author's Note:
Jeez, I love fictional history and legends. I find them so easy to write for for some reason. Kudos to the Game Freak writers for making such an epic legend behind Zekrom and Reshiram. It really feels epic to have such well put together mythology in a series of games that aren't exactly plot heavy.
Speaking of legendary Pokemon, which one do you prefer in Black and White? Reshiram, Zekrom or Kyurem? I like Zekrom out of the mascots the best, but Kyurem looks freaking nasty, so I like him a lot, too. Which one is your fave? Answer after you review!
Lenora: "Review, hun!"
Tony's Party:
1: Lucky, female Butterfree
Ability: Compound Eyes
Move Set: Bug Buzz, Confusion, Sleep Powder and Dream Eater.
2: Sunny, female Larvesta
Ability: Flame Body
Move Set: Ember, Flame Charge, Leech Life and Morning Sun
3: Lancelot, Male Karrablast
Ability: Swarm
Move Set: Fury Cutter, Peck, Endure, and X-Scissor.
4: Strike, male Venipede
Ability: Poison Point
Move Set: Rollout, Poison Sting, Screech and Pursuit.
