Chapter 68:
Phione Home
My mind was still trying to comprehend that the time had finally come. At long last, I was off to the Pokémon League, which was the destination on top of the waterfall across the sea.
I had brought Mantine with me in favour of Drifblim to help me get up the waterfall, though I will let Blissey take the backseat through Victory Road.
It was 9am by the time I was leaving. After all, I wanted to wish Barry luck as he went to take on the now very ecstatic Volkner. We met just outside the Gym.
"I'm not expecting an easy challenge, but I mean this is the last Badge I'm going for" Barry told me.
"Just try your best" I told him.
We shook hands.
"One more thing" Barry told me. "Don't forget that battle of ours!"
Of course I wouldn't. The League would be the location of our match.
It was time to look out to Route 223 one more time. It felt like the sun was shining down on me, as if it was wishing me luck.
I took a deep breath, sent out Empoleon and started using Surf.
Every inch we took across the waves seemed like an inch closer to my dream coming true. As Empoleon bobbed along the waves, I reminisced on my journey. From the moment that Barry walked in the tall grass to the point where I saved a Gym Leader from quitting, my progress was not to be underestimated.
"Empoleon, we will win" I told it stroking its flipper, just as I noticed something underwater. Due to the rippling water and the fact that whatever it was was blue, it was hard to make out exactly wat it was. To me it looked like Manaphy. I wasn't going to be body swapped again, so I decided to keep going. "Faster Empoleon." Empoleon started skimming across the waves a little quicker from DP speed to Platinum speed.
We didn't get far though; a boat got in the way. Empoleon stopped forcefully, almost knocking me off its back. "What's the big idea?!" I yelled at whoever was in the boat. "You can't just block our path!"
As Empoleon started steering around the boat, we saw a Scientist walk out of the cabin and onto the side of the bow. He peered over at me. "Huh? Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to get in your way." I was still mad at him. He had side windows and come on, he had front windows as well; he couldn't not see me. "Wait, are you Lucas Pratt?"
"Yeah, whatsittoya?" I answered, maybe a bit rudely. Usually that wouldn't be the intention, but in this case, it might as well have been.
"My name is Shaun. I've been studying Manaphy for two years and have made an extraordinary breakthrough. I'm hoping that what I have done has come over here."
He let down a ladder and I got on board. He seemed insistent, so I went up. It's not like there was a time limit on getting to the League. "I think I have seen a Manaphy from you before. It had a label with what might be your name on it. It used Heart Swap on me and my friend."
Shaun went into the helm and pulled open to a drawer. He got out a picture of a Pokémon that looked like Manaphy, but it had one antenna rather than two on top of a small bulb on its head and had one large red jewel on its belly.
"Allow me to explain what it is."
Phione
489
Water Type
Sea Drifter Pokémon
Region of origin: Sinnoh
1'04" (0.4 m)
6.8 lbs (3.1 kg)
It drifts in warm seas. It always returns to where it was born, no matter how far it may have drifted.
Legendary Pokémon
I was interested by the relation the two Pokémon may have. "What's the deal then?"
"Well. I found a Manaphy Egg in the Sinnoh region over two years ago. I brought it back to Hoenn, my home region, to study it. Sure enough, it hatched into a Manaphy and I started my experiments. I wanted to see the relationship it had with another Pokémon, and it seemed to really get on with Ditto. To my surprise, it bred with it! Legendary Pokémon are not known to do this! I decided that the Eggs that were laid needed to hatch in a good environment, so I brought them to Sinnoh and put them in the water here to let them hatch. One year later, I came here to check on them and they had hatched into a brand-new Pokémon! I named it Phione."
That was a wonderful story. The thrill of discovering a new Pokémon is too big for me to comprehend. I wanted to see the Phione!
"Brilliant!" Shaun shouted. "Then we have no time to waste!" He gave me breathing equipment for underwater. "I choose Seaking!" He sent out an orange, black and white aquatic Pokémon with a large horn on its head.
Seaking
079
Water Type
Goldfish Pokémon
Region of origin: Kanto
4'03" (1.3 m)
86 lbs (39 kg)
It makes its nest by hollowing out boulders in streams with its horn. It defends its eggs with its life.
Goldeen -Lv 33- Seaking
"Ready Empoleon?" I told it. I got on its back then it ran to the side of the bow and we dove into the water.
This was the second time I was going underwater, and it didn't look much different to beforehand. It was still rocky and wet.
I couldn't really talk with the breathing device provided and I couldn't speak sign language, so I tried looking around to find a Phione. Sadly, there were none to be seen. There HAD to be one though. That figure I saw in the water might have been a Phione, or maybe just a Tentacool or another leftover Remoraid.
Empoleon swam down into a crevice. There was a somewhat threatening aura to swimming through. Phione wouldn't be down there unless they were hiding from something.
Empoleon swam through, rocks stretching up on either side of us. It felt surreal. I rubbed Empoleon's flipper, indicating it to be careful as anything could be hiding there. Be it in the many holes that dotted the trench or something deep below us that could pop us and make us seafood. I was not going to let that happen.
Just then, Empoleon stopped moving. I had a mix of concern and confusion and started looking around frantically for the reason why Empoleon wouldn't move. I saw it; its foot was stuck between two bits of rock. Empoleon started panicking, which was only causing me to panic. None of my other Pokémon could swim, so I didn't know how to get Empoleon out. Thankfully, I could still move so I told Empoleon to stay put. I needed to be quick though; Empoleon could only stay underwater for so long.
As I swam out, I noticed multiple shadows in the distance. Multiple small shadows. I adjusted my eyes a bit to see what they were. I wanted to get a closer look, but I noticed Shaun and Seaking swimming towards me. He shrugged his shoulders, confirming his failure to find Phione. That's when I pointed to the shadows; upon closer inspection we could see multiple Phione coming towards us! We cheered through our breathing devices as they swam up to us.
Remembering the situation, I started panicking and pointed down to the trench. Empoleon was slowly started to get tired as its breathing started to slow. I started crying; my tears melted into seawater. I didn't want my adventure to end like this, and the Phione understood.
Then, from among the group, appeared Manaphy. It came up to Shaun and stuck out its antennae. Shaun put his finger on the antennae as they floated in silence. All this whilst Empoleon was drowning.
Manaphy started making small yelps to all the Phione, and they swam down to Empoleon. They used Water Pulse on the rocks, and they were destroyed. Empoleon was free!
Me and Shaun cheered as Empoleon swam up to us. I got onto Empoleon's back as I noticed my air was starting to deplete. It used Aqua Jet to bolt us to the surface.
"That was close" I told Empoleon when we had got back on the boat, breathing heavily. "Let's not do that again for a little while."
Shaun returned to the boat shortly, laughing happily. "The Phione are still here! I can't believe it!" He ran around the boat in joy, but then slipped up onto his back.
"Shaun!" I yelled from concern. Shaun got up, still happy that his friends were fine. "Thanks for the adventure, and sorry for my rudeness."
Shaun shook my hand, apologising back for getting his boat in the way. "I bid you adieu" he told me. "Everything is fine. I just hope you win the Pokémon League. In fact, I'll happily sail to the waterfall to you. Come on!"
The boat pulled up to the waterfall. On top, Victory Road; the final big obstacle between us and the Pokémon League. I sent out Mantine and had it use Waterfall to scale the crashing water to reach the rocky top.
"Good luck again!" Shaun shouted.
There was a Pokémon Center at the Victory Road entrance. However, there was also an amazing view. We could see Sunyshore City, Veilstone City and of course Mt. Coronet along with Shaun's boat jetting off. Our journey was slowly coming to an end, but it was far from over at the same time.
Destiny awaits.
