This story was co-developed by Titan127 and beta read by ShonnaRose.
Disclaimer: Pokémon is a registered property of Nintendo, the Pokémon Company, and GameFreak. This work respectfully uses the world and characters of the Pokémon series, with no intent of harm on the original creators. Please support the official releases of the Pokémon franchise.
Chapter 4: Nonstop Service (8,726 words)
𒅆𒊒𒍪𒅆,
Only after disaster can you truly separate the weak from the strong. The weak will spend their time in mourning, in solidarity, remembering what came before. Perhaps the strong may as well, but they quickly look to a new path forged forward.
Unfortunately, strength does not discriminate between good and evil. Those of evil strength use the chaos to further their ambition. Those of good strength try to carry the weak with them as they push onward.
Years ago, I didn't believe those of evil strength existed. A naïve and emotional child I was. Yet, those of evil strength shine the brightest, and the true test is resisting their tainted light.
𒁾,
𒍪𒅆
"You didn't find anything? How is that possible?" Ciel asked.
The nurse's scrub dress pulled tight as she bartered a deep bow for the services she couldn't provide. He wasn't exactly angry. More so completely mystified. She said, "That's just it. There's nothing physically wrong with your Pokémon."
"Aren't you guys the best veterinary center in Sinnoh? Canalave referred me to you." Ciel scratched the back of his head, vaguely aware of the rudeness of his words.
He looked around the Pokémon Center, which definitely looked the part. Clean panel walls, state-of-the-art digital indicators, including a holographic vital display projected onto the window of the patient room. Yet with all this technology, and undoubtedly the human talent to back it, they couldn't determine what was wrong with Raven.
"Unfortunately, Absol are relatively rare, especially outside of Hoenn. What we can diagnose is bound by the limits of current study," she said.
Ciel followed a motion of her arm through the window, where Raven's dreams were wracked not by nightmares but the physical convulsions beneath her fur. They kept the lights low, something akin to her natural cave habitat, in the hopes it would help her stay comfortable.
"Even knowing that something is disturbing her," continued the nurse, "there isn't much more that we can do aside from assuring you that it's probably not fatal."
"Probably?" His brow creased.
"Probably," she repeated.
His mind took a walk. With that book closed, all he had was a suspicion. A wild one, but it was the only thing he could think of. Absol were known for an uncanny ability, simultaneously well-documented but unsupported by scientific evidence.
They could predict disaster.
It was the timing of her first spasms with the news on the radio that tipped him off. That said, he couldn't rely on anecdotal evidence. It really could just be a freak coincidence that his living problem sensor got sick the moment the world learned of the greatest tragedy of the century. A note for later was all it was. He scratched it in a journal and left it be.
Ciel thanked the nurse for her help—minimal as it was—and answered some questions so she could verify the release paperwork. She told him to wait a few moments for her to get everything notarized, so he slowly pushed open the patient room door to slip inside.
"Ciel!" said Laina, who split herself from Raven after having been fused since morning. She looked to her brother for the good news.
He gave a shake of the head and an offer to leave. Laina slumped over and brushed past him towards the doorway. All that remained in the room was a suffering Raven and the gentle crackling flames trying to comfort her.
Arden stood bedside as well, curled above his teammate. His mentor. His friend. He arched over her like a burning shield, and evidently, his radiating life found its way to her. The convulsions lessened, and though they didn't disappear, but Ciel felt at least some relief in watching her descend to a gentle rumble. Though he wanted to turn tail from the Pokémon Center, he spared a few moments to mirror his Typhlosion by the bed.
Ciel looked at the wicked scar across Arden's abdomen. Though he wasn't big on superstition, it was one reason he'd come to believe in his Raven's ability. If he had listened to her sense then, the scar wouldn't be there to remind him.
Arden pleaded with him to ward away the problem. Ciel had enough heart not to shake his head, but not enough to lie. "You're doing more for her than I am right about now."
He took in the scene before him. The defensive posture, the low growl he gave in response, the refusal to leave his friend's side. It was exactly like Crystal once described. Arden returned a debt he owed from the Pokémon Center in Olivine, but Ciel knew it wasn't about getting even.
They were family.
"Do you want to get going?" he asked.
Arden's determined non-answer, unfortunately, put Ciel on the podium. Taking undemocratic control hurt him, but he couldn't see any benefit to keeping Raven in this sterile prison any longer. She was healthy. She was suffering. And that wasn't changing for a while.
Ciel raised two capsules and pressed their buttons. The patient room was red, and then it was empty.
Ciel immortalized his steps in the fresh snow of Jubilife, and Laina duplicated each by stepping in his larger prints. They weren't the only ones on the sidewalk, but still they plowed a new path through empty wonderland.
Every single window of the building above them burst with light, and he heard a news report on a waylaid radio about a massive surge in employees calling in sick. It was so massive, said the newscaster, that the Sinnoh League's Department of Economics was predicting a shock with lasting consequences. The Region was hurting. Ciel thought about what that man had said, the one with the brick, about just feeling like throwing. So far, it seemed most didn't feel like doing anything at all.
The buildings, a sleek black metal. Veins of ashen particles spidered through the white, winter covering, falling like meteors from clouds above. Ciel had read up on the city since he first prepared for the trip six months ago, so he knew it was coal dust. What was most worrying was the matching color of his breath leaving his lungs. On cue, he hacked something up.
"Ciel, honey, are you okay?" asked his mother through the Poké GEAR. She was still in her Gym attire, evidently not yet settled in for the weekend. They were hours behind them, so it was sometime in the evening in Johto.
"I'm fine, fine. Just trying to keep moving so we can get to the airport."
"Why not hail a taxi?" she asked.
"I would," he said, "but I'm already going to be paying for two plane tickets. I don't want to burn through all the Showdown money so quickly."
"Ciel, we said that we could cover this. The whole purpose of this was for you to take on the Gym Challenge, so I'm not about to leave you on your own." Ciel tried to parse the curved, yet still razor-thin edge of her tone. Maybe his mother was just restless about him being so far away. Even when he was traveling in Johto, he was close enough that she could fly out if worse came to worst, but half a world away, there wasn't much she could do to insure him. At least she hadn't gone "full parent" yet.
Ciel's sigh transformed into a blackened wisp. "I put away my tournament earnings specifically for this. I didn't come out here to leech off you," he said.
That being true, he withheld saying his mind about the plan. Even if he booked airfare, even if he gained audience with the Sinnoh League, even if he explained his plight to the Viceroy or whoever, he had no reservations about what might happen. It's doubtful he was the first person to try, and the Pokémon League wasn't the most cooperative establishment. His dad had the sobriety medallions to prove it.
He and Laina passed under a building sporting a wide jumbotron on its facade. It displayed a silent memorial to Cynthia and Lance, their faces looming large over the city.
His father cut into the call, voice raised somewhere offscreen. "Any problems on the trip so far?"
"Aside from Raven and the tunnel? Nope." Ciel grabbed the lapels of his outer jacket, open above a second, zipped jacket underneath. "You were right when you said it'd keep me warm."
His father stuck himself in frame, wearing an apron and mixing something in a saucepan. It looked like some type of beef broth, and Ciel could see vegetables leaping about the mixture. He could smell it all the way from Sinnoh.
"No problems with wild Pokémon? No traffic?" he asked.
Ciel shook his head. "Nope. We had to ward away some Stantler and I got a massive headache, but no hordes of birds or anything, thankfully. It's been pretty easy after Canalave."
His mother's face inverted. Oh. Oh no. She cleared her throat. "What happened in Canalave?"
Ciel looked at his sister to keep from meeting her eye. She shrugged. Unfortunately, it may have just made him seem even more suspicious. "Uhh, not much! There was just a little... event downtown."
"A riot," said Laina. "It's called a riot. A guy had a knife."
Ciel slammed a finger against his lips and shushed her all the way to tomorrow, but it was too late. An unholy maternal fury ripped apart the chains that had held it dormant, and it reached through the Poké GEAR screen to grab him by the throat. He felt his breath leave his body.
"How could you get involved in a riot!?" she shouted. The words bubbled like her husband's boiling pain. "You're supposed to stay out of trouble, not find it!"
"I stopped the guy! Threw him on the concrete and everything!"
His father said, "We know he can defend himself."
"It's not about him! It's about Laina! How could you put her in danger like that? And someone had a knife?" his mom shouted.
Ciel looked frantically between his parents. His mother steamed like the broth in his father's pan. The man seemed to get an idea in his head and disappeared from the frame, leaving Ciel to take the full brunt of the unleashed rage. She ranted about how she was calling them back, sending Pryce to haul them out of Sinnoh since he was retired and obviously had nothing better to do. Her words slurred together until he could understand her even less than the Sinnohan he'd been surrounded by since he got here.
A few seconds from detonation, a soup cup was shoved to her mouth. Her father held it there, pumping it down her throat until she finally relaxed. A demon dove into the soup, then a slightly less agitated demon surfaced.
His father asked, "Like it?"
"I always like your cooking," she said, wiping a trail of broth sliding down her chin. "What's your point?"
"The condition we sent them on was that Ciel could protect her. Then, something bad happened, and he protected her," his father said.
"Yeah, and it was kinda cool. It was like watching Brycen Man in real life," Laina added, exaggerating some karate motions.
His mother narrowed her eyes at him. Then, after a moment, she snatched the soup from him and turned away, leaving him in control of the camera. The cracked screen flashed black until Ciel tapped it with his fingers. When it returned, all he saw was his father's tight-muscled face.
"Anyway, I'm glad you're both okay. But your mother's right. You need to stay out of trouble the best you can, and… knowing what's happened, be more careful than usual."
"Is… are people acting crazy at home?" Ciel asked.
"From what I hear, not as much as in Sinnoh, but we've definitely had some trouble. Someone here in Mahogany had a breakdown." The man aimed his gaze downward and crossed his arms. "It's hitting people hard."
"Well, uhh, you can count on me," said Ciel. "No matter what happens I'll, what's the phrase, keep my eyes on the prize?"
"I know you will. And when you do get your Sinnoh Challenge Sigil, I expect another battle from you. See if I can't win my badge back."
Now that put a smirk on Ciel's face. "You got it, Dad."
"Well, I have to finish preparing dinner for us and the Pokémon. Call us when you get to the Sinnoh League so we know you're safe," he said. He cut the call before Ciel's mother could wind up to shout again, cutting her off mid-sentence.
Ciel let out another smoke breath. That went about as well as expected. For someone who was so gung-ho about letting him adventure away from home, she certainly had her objections with the process. Laina just shrugged.
"Can we hurry? I'm cold," she said.
"We can, but you should probably try getting used to the temperature," he replied.
"Hmph. Yeah, right."
He pulled up a map application on his Poké GEAR, loaded with data for the Sinnoh Region before his trip. With a few clicks and search terms, a path was carved straight to the airfield on the southwest side of town, nearby a large international communication center. Not a long walk at all.
Unless he collapsed from black lung or lost some fingers on the way, they were all set. Their next stop was Jubilife International Airport.
He knew he should have purchased first class.
Ciel and Laina crammed themselves into the two seats closest to the window, out of eleven total in the row. They really wanted to pack passengers like a Remoraid can. Laina stuck out her tongue, reveling that her smaller body letting her fit more comfortably in the limited space.
"Passasjerer, velkommen ombord på League Airlines Flight SC009, direkteflyvning til Lily of the Valley internasjonale flyplass," came a voice over the intercom, and the language threw him for a loop. "Ombordstigning er nesten fullført og vi drar om femten minutter kl. 11:50."
The siblings shared a lost expression, but they were saved by a subsequent announcement in Unovan. "Passengers, welcome aboard League Airlines Flight SC009, nonstop service to Lily of the Valley International Airport. Boarding is proceeding smoothly, and we will be departing in fifteen minutes at our scheduled departure time of 11:50."
Already impatient to get off the ground, Laina dug a pamphlet out of the seat pocket. She ripped it wide open until it spilled over into both Ciel's seat and the poor sap sitting by the aisle.
"Ooooooh. Did you know about this place? A town with flowers all year like magic," she said.
"Sure. Like magic," he repeated.
"Floaroma," said the spectacled man in the aisle seat. Both Ciel and his sister turned to him. "I live there, actually, and it really does flower year-round. It's a beautiful place to visit, but it's never done wonders for my allergies."
Laina seemed satisfied with the explanation and continued flipping through the pamphlet. It covered a variety of travel destinations around the world, though every other page showed an expected favoritism towards Sinnoh.
"Isn't this your first time flying? You don't seem very nervous," said Ciel.
"Umm, I went to Hoenn with you and Mom and Dad."
He blinked thrice. That's right, she was on that trip. He could barely remember at this point, aside from it being where he met Raven. And got lost in a cave. And almost got eaten by a Seviper.
"What about you, Ciel." Laina wiggled her eyebrows. "Aren't you scared?"
"I've hugged the back of a flying Dragonite for five hours. In a saddle mind you, but still, an air-conditioned cabin is a massive upgrade."
Another bilingual announcement buzzed around the plane, and this time he waited patiently for the dumb foreigner reprise. "Attention passengers. Boarding has completed and we will be taking off shortly. Please direct your attention to the video demonstration on the monitors in front of you and review the safety protocols pamphlet."
Ciel placed his chin in his palm and made company with the window. The dark tarmac cleaved through snow-laden fields, monochrome just like the city proper. The aircraft lurched beneath them, the engines powering up, and it taxied towards its takeoff destination.
Habitually, he grabbed at his boots, only to find his capsule clips empty. His three active Poké Balls were disabled somewhere in the cargo hold below. It had been strange, really, not having Raven with him for so long. He never kept her in stasis more than a few hours each week, but it was his only option for the time being.
"So, what is the Grand Axis anyway?" Laina asked, pointing at the pamphlet. It was a two-page spread of the archipelago. "You said you wanna head there."
"I read into it over the summer," he explained. "Basically, the first CEO of the Pokémon League built a vacation home on some islands in the middle of nowhere. He was mostly undisturbed until one of his corporate rivals caught on and then created his own vacation house. And then another person followed, and another, and… you get the idea. It became the hottest vacation destination on Kibra early in the 20th century."
Ciel tried to recall as much as he could, only to realize that he jotted some notes down about it somewhere. There weren't many books that he didn't spare a few scribbles for. He eyeballed the collection in his backpack, but he was interrupted by the sudden acceleration of the plane. He gripped his seat tight as they blasted down the runway and the ground escaped beneath them.
After reaching back into his backpack, he picked one out—about April was when he read that Grand Axis history, so he chose his April-May journal—and eventually found some diagonal writings on the corner of a page. "Ooh, here it is. Artus Terminus, also the family of Kaioma Yarrito, two of the original founders of Silph Co, they all took up homes there. More people eventually followed when they figured out the most powerful economic leaders in the world were gathering, and a city sprung up out of nowhere. Nowadays, it's basically the center of the world. Most major companies are headquartered there, all international shipping stops and starts from there, and it's the home of the World Trial."
"And that's where you wanna be?" she asked.
"Well, yeah. If I want to speak to the world, it's like a stage that always has the curtains drawn and that everyone's always watching."
"So why do you need a Challenge thingy?"
"Actual residence there is... I guess the best way to describe it is 'impossibly difficult'. For one, we can't afford it. For two, you need to provide proof of contribution to society, some real classist thing," he said. "The World Trial is one of the most surefire ways to prove to the Pokémon League that you need to be there. And if I'm not famous enough after battling in the greatest tournament on the planet, then I'll already be in the best place I could be."
He turned back to his sister, realizing he'd begun to talk more to himself than to her. A sly look took over her face. "You've done a lot of nerd research."
"Hey!" he exclaimed. She was technically right. He'd outlined this plan he'd gone over more than ten times to his parents and his notebooks. Returning to the journal, he skimmed through the remaining things that five-months-ago-Ciel had thought were important.
"The only other people living there were indigenous peoples who, oh. Uhh..." Ciel trailed off, not sure how much of this was appropriate to say to say to a twelve-year-old.
Laina slipped her pamphlet back into its place, gently, and sat back in her chair. Her fists clenched in her lap. "They hurt them, didn't they?"
Ciel nodded, wondering what she'd learned in school that led her to the correct assumption. His tone dropped low. "Well, uhh, most of the tribes on the Grand Axis had their territory taken. They got no support from the city government when most of their hunting lands were destroyed by the expansion. And… and a few other things."
His sister nodded and turned forward. Ciel gently clapped the book together and returned it to its home, and a silence hung between them.
The Grand Axis didn't represent any shining pillar of society to him. It was merely a tool. Once his name had infiltrated its back streets and was plastered on billboards the world over, he'd have the power to change anything about the world that he hated.
He didn't want people to suffer. He didn't want himself to suffer, or his family, or his friends, or his hometown, or his Region, or his world. No one deserved to look back on their life and regret the circumstances of their birth. Ciel, and everyone else, would walk forward.
But maybe that was presumptuous of him. He was just one measly Johtoan kid. Or one man, he reminded himself, still not feeling like an adult. But that same kid-man was going to walk right up to the Viceroy and force his Gym Challenge back on track.
As they rose higher and higher, Ciel felt the pressure leave his body. He surveyed the other passengers down the aisle.
Families. He could see two young kids and a tired-looking father at the far end, and a couple with their hands interlocked in the middle segment. And just as in the city, they were lifeless. The children tried to get their father's attention, but he couldn't seem to bring himself to smile, and the couple looked blankly away from each other.
A small commotion started. A scruffy Sinnohan man unbuckled himself and stumbled down the aisle, only to be stopped by a stewardess. Their exchange, though invisible to Ciel, appeared to escalate alongside their voices, until another man joined in counsel to help calm him down.
Ciel busied himself with his most recent notebook as they climbed higher and higher. He looked over some of his most recent pieces.
Need replacement substitute for Clovis. Didn't realize how strong mobility was until I left him with Brent, but I guess I wouldn't have beat Jasmine without him.
The more Arden pumps his flames, the more inaccurate he gets. Technically Fire Blast? According to some textbooks, but we can do better. Maybe we can get Blast Burn as a last resort move.
Hector's armor solidified on evolution. No more ripping plates for Rock Throw. Other range options? Rock Blast? Rock Slide?
Ciel considered the third set of scribbles for a moment, then crossed out "Rock Slide".
Nope, also needs material. Drill grows back quick, maybe can launch it. Do practice exercises to test.
There were a few more lines from his most recent training sessions, most of which were from weeks ago now because he had to prepare his trip. A lot of them had to do with Raven, her lack of success against specially oriented enemies, and her gradual increase in physical strength to the point where they've had to hold back against some wilds. Is this what Gym Leaders felt like? He added one more at the bottom.
Raven in bad condition since Sinnoh. Perfectly fine before getting here. Pokémon Center doesn't know. Talk to Mom to talk to Elm to talk to shorts guy in Hoenn. He might know? Worst case, if things go south, leave Sinnoh and see if she gets better.
By the time he'd finished rounding out his objectives for his next training session—whenever that was—they had reached cruising altitude. His sister sat uncharacteristically silent next to him with papers of her own in her lap. Ciel teetered a bit to get a better view of the content, what looked to be simple geometry with right triangles. And she attacked it feverishly. He witnessed her write an answer to her question, consider it for a moment, then scratch it out in frustration to start again. On one question she did this four times until she finally settled on a true, or at least acceptable, solution. Despite the tedium, she never seemed to grow discouraged. He waited until she got to the end of her worksheet to nudge her.
"Hey, I have to get up. Bathroom," he said. He also asked the same to the man on the aisle.
They squeezed in to let him pass, and he shuffled forward to the service area at the front of their section. From what he could remember, the bathroom was way more cramped than the international plane he flew as a kid. His feet threatened to slip from underneath him from the rattling of the craft.
Just as he finished up, washed hands, and reached for the handle, there came a scream.
His muscles chilled and seized. No. No no no no no no nonononono. He directed all his energy to his arm to throw the door open, but he gripped it tight to prevent it from slamming and making a sound. His legs melting below him, he sidled against the hall and peered down the cabin.
It was that same rowdy man, now up near the cockpit. He was shouting, perhaps obscenities, and there was a stewardess lying motionless on the floor. Standing between them was… a Pokémon. A smooth, teal creature on two legs, with wicked red claws extending from its arms and a churning red sac where its chin would be. Its entire body was moist, likely amphibious. How did he manage to sneak an active capsule aboard?
The man gave his demands in Unovan, to ensure the whole crew could understand him. "Give me your money! Or the pilots go!"
Ciel tapped into his battle mind. The woman on the ground was attacked, and she was writhing, just like Raven. Was she stabbed, or maybe something Psychic?
He couldn't see much blood, so those Pokémon's claws weren't slashing or stabbing implements. He narrowed his gaze at them. They were dripping. Venom.
The man ordered his Pokémon, which leveled its claws at another passenger. They quickly searched their person and removed a wad of Pokedollars, which the man snatched from their shaking hands. No one else made a move. Evidently angered, he vanished towards the cockpit and a scuffle rose from within. He returned with one of the co-pilots in his grasp and with another order, his creature pierced the struggling man's neck. His eyes rolled back into his head and he toppled over the other unconscious victim.
"Not much time before it kills them," he growled. "Give me everything!"
The passengers screamed. Almost everyone scrambled to throw bills and coins at him under threat of being assaulted themselves. Ciel threw his head back to his own section, where he knew Laina was no doubt scared out of her mind. Horrified whispers were radiating throughout the entire cabin.
A fear seized him, far unlike anything he'd ever faced. No, he's felt this once before. In a dark alley of Goldenrod, when that woman had held a knife to his throat and threatened both himself and his family. He'd never felt so terrified. But that Ciel wasn't the same one who stood today, and he wasn't going to let his racing heart pop.
He ripped open his Poké GEAR and sent a quick text to his sister. Get to the other bathrooms at the back of the plane and lock yourself in. It was all he could do at the momentwithout attracting attention, because even with his martial arts training, he couldn't risk fighting that creature without his own Pokémon.
There had to be some access to the cargo hold, right? If some material caught fire while they were far from an airport, they'd need to address it midflight. Ciel's eyes flicked across the empty service area. He yanked some of the colored drawers out of the walls, finding nothing but waste bins, food stores, and an oven, all dedicated to in-flight dining.
His foot caught on a laid rug. He kicked it away to reveal a metal-lined door hidden underneath. Ciel threw it open. Within, a small ladder descending into complete darkness below. He fired up his Poké GEAR and dropped inside, pulling it closed behind him.
When he leapt from the bottom of the ladder, he landed roughly on assorted belongings. His eyes attempted to dilate to adjust, but it was darker than night and he could only rely on the light of his Poké GEAR's screen.
Even if he found his bag and his capsules, they were still deactivated. The only persons that might be able to undo the locks were flight staff or PC admins. Maybe if he contacted the Pokémon League, but they'd turn him away or run him through loops or an automated answering whatever. But how could he—
Kris! She lived at the Pokémon League!
He scrolled through his contacts while dancing between the stored luggage, acutely aware that there were only a few centimeters between himself and the open sky. Desperate, he fumbled with the in-flight wireless and punched in his Trainer Card info, deducting a 1200 charge for the call. An automated voice stole that money and told him that it couldn't find service. He rang again to be sure. Still no answer. He hadn't been able to get in contact with her for over a week.
More screams echoed above him. He said, "Come on, please pick up." But he couldn't reach her.
The number flashed on his screen. He hovered his finger over the touchscreen, and after one more bout of hesitation, he deleted the last digit and replaced it with its lower neighbor. This time, the call only allowed itself two rings before the line opened.
He shouted into the device. "My name is Ciel Fauder, we met at the Goldenrod Showdown. I'm on a plane, there's someone attacking the passengers, and I need your help!"
Now he understood where exactly it was that his mother found her habits.
Inside the Grand Viceregal Library of the Sinnoh League, Sebastian Masuta emulated Cynthia Masuta's more… disorganized research methods. Hundreds of resources were laid out on the antique hardwood and the puzzle of tables he'd set together. Textbooks, papers, and anything else he could find related in subject to his mother's work. Dr. Cassius delivered more pieces to the library as he found them, and he'd received excellent help from the single, mousy cataloger he'd found wandering the dusty shelves. She'd thrown herself at the collection in a rush when he gave her a list of texts, probably glad to finally have something to do.
His Pokémon watched silently from the ledged above. Towering shelves raced to the ceilings, an elaborate pipe organ of the Region's greatest knowledge, and his Yanmega, Noivern, Gligar, and Archeops found perches atop the books. He would have let roam the larger Pokémon in his care if the cataloger hadn't glared at him when he tried.
Saber fought his way through the stacks of unpublished material, opening a tree of inquiry on each page and following each branch to the information sprouting at the end. How many hours had he spent surrounded by nothing but dry paper? The cataloguer came by every other while to inspect him beneath her round glasses, waiting for him to ask for her assistance, but aside from her, he was alone in the endless, empty halls.
Saber stood to let the blood flow to his legs and his brain. He paced down an aisle, glancing at the tall stories of faded rainbows and their elaborate titles. His mind logged all he'd read about the Unown language, and his mother's own thoughts about it. It was dissimilar to any modern language, a completely unique script with no extant relatives. Only a handful of full phrases had been translated. On record, at least. His mother undoubtedly knew a lot more than she let on, but he could only find scraps in her unpublished notes.
And he was getting nowhere! He'd even called Dr. Cassius for some suggestions, and though he offered a select few paths from recollection of past thesis, it wasn't enough to ignite a gunpowder trail to the explosive truth he needed to find.
His Poketch's ringtone disturbed the noiseless aisle. Snapping out of his thoughts, Saber returned to his seat and spied the unknown caller. He wasn't about to respond to spam calls, but who on Kibra would have access to his number?
He answered. The voice was a blaring whisper.
"My name is Ciel Fauder, we met at the Goldenrod Showdown. I'm on a plane, there's someone attacking the passengers, and I need your help!"
Saber had absolutely no idea how to respond. He asked, "Who is this?"
"I just told you! We've met before, you're Kris's brother," said the voice. At first, he thought no picture was coming through, and only after a close inspection could he see dark contours of a face, as if the caller was standing in a void.
"Couldn't you contact emergency services?"
"People were poisoned by a big amphibious thing with claws," he said, which Saber assumed meant Toxicroak or a subspecies. "I need to reactivate my Poké Balls and stop them now and I can't wait for whoever to fly up and intercept us."
"And how can I assume this isn't some prank? My family is no stranger to unwanted attention," Saber said through gritted teeth.
This seemed to deter the caller for a few moments, but then he said, "I was allowed access to the Dragon's Den in Blackthorn! Your mother confided in me about what happened in the Ruins of Alph! Please, stop wasting time!"
Saber drew in a breath. "You're the one that was mugged. And my sister provided you a sound beating."
"Yes! Glad we got that cleared up! Now I need you or someone else in the Pokémon League to help me save everyone!"
Saber shouted across the library for that cataloguer, who appeared not seconds after his voice rang out. She almost tripped on the scattered papers. He said, "Tell the guard outside to contact the police, there's been an incident aboard flight…"
"League Airlines Flight SC009!"
The woman leapt from his library nook to pass on his order, and Saber turned back to the incoming call. He said, "I need you to follow my instructions, Mr. Fauder."
"I need you to follow my instructions, Mr. Fauder."
Ciel, misplacing both his words and his footsteps, finally landed on his own luggage and tore through it with the light of his Poké GEAR. He snatched his capsules from within the bundle of clothing. He raised his voice to combat the roar of the engines. "Okay. I'm ready!"
"Report where you are," he said. The library background seemed to whirl around him, as if he was sprinting past the bookshelves.
"I'm in the cargo hold. Luggage. It's dark."
"That explains the low visibility." He didn't hesitate, and the commands coming out of his mouth sounded practiced. Legislative. "Regardless, you're where you should be. We need to locate a device to reactivate your Poké Balls."
"Okay, how?" Ciel asked.
"Make your advance towards the rear of the plane. Keep in mind that I've only seen this process once because I happen to fly private often, so I'll attempt to guide if I'm incorrect." he said.
"Uhh, which way is—" Ciel stared into the darkness, realizing he'd gotten disoriented. The direction of the craft wasn't exactly apparent to him, but he went with his gut and rotated himself until the engine roars aligned with his ears. He bounded across the luggage until his shoulder slammed into something. With his fingers extended, he probed the wall, trying desperately to use the dim backlight of his device to his advantage. "Your name's Saber, right? What am I looking for, Saber?"
"Along the back wall of the cargo hold should be a sealed chamber for crew equipment. Look for a handle." Saber's breaths sounded heavier through the call, and Ciel could see the world shift around him as he ran somewhere.
Ciel's fingers slipped into a niche in the wall. He tightened his fist. "I think I found it!"
"Pull," said Saber.
"Pull?"
"Pull!"
Ciel clenched his biceps until they ached, powered further by the commotion raging over his head. The longer he took, the more people were robbed, or poisoned, or hurt. He couldn't waste time. But whatever he was attempting to pull wasn't budging. Ciel hopped to slam both feet on the wall and give himself more leverage. Instead, his grip slipped, and he toppled over on the cargo strewn about the hold.
"Saber, it's not working! I think it's locked," said Ciel. He stared at the tall man through the screen.
"Obviously," he replied. "It requires clearance from the flight staff. But there's a zero percent chance of you getting clearance in time, so you have to pull it open anyway."
"Look, just because you and your sister can magically heal gut wounds doesn't mean that I'm a superhero!" shouted Ciel.
"Do you want to save everyone on the plane?"
"Of course I do!"
"Then, pull!" he ordered.
Ciel threw himself at the wall again and found the handle with his fingers, both hands this time. He stepped up on the panel again and tugged with everything he had. Everyone at the mercy of that crazed man was seizing with fear. As they saw the crew, the co-pilot, fall, the worst-case outcome would have raced through their heads. Laina was probably in the bathroom, hyperventilating as the screaming passengers echoed through the plane.
He had to protect them. And he needed to set an example! When he became who he wanted to be, the hero of the next crisis would ask themselves what Ciel Fauder would do. And then they'd rise up and do it.
With one final pull, the panel broke with a loud clang. Shattered parts flew past, leaving the panel door swinging loose and the contents on full display. Ciel held up the light of the Poké GEAR, revealing a tray-like device with six niches for storage-mode capsules.
"I got it!" he exclaimed. He quickly shoved his Poké Balls into the device, waiting for more instructions.
"Wait, you can't use it just yet." The world around Saber finally slowed. His arms moved deftly offscreen. He was typing on a keyboard.
"Just hurry!" said Ciel. His hands were sweating. Time was ticking.
Saber leveled at him. "Mr. Fauder, what's your trade authorization code?"
"Give it all! Give it to me!" the attacker shouted. Sauntering through the plane, he accosted each petrified passenger. Those that didn't cooperate, or took too long, or didn't have the money he wanted, or just didn't strike his fancy became examples littering the floor behind him. "Give me your fucking money! Only one pilot left!"
His Pokémon enjoyed the massacre. Each person it injected with poison earned another macabre smile.
With every flight attendant incapacitated, and the functioning co-pilot no doubt focusing on keeping the plane afloat, he was free to do whatever he pleased with the passengers. The man stepped past the first section of the plane, only for an arm to swing out and reshape his nose.
Ciel leapt from his hiding place and wrapped his arm around his neck. He thrashed in surprise, hilting an elbow deep into Ciel's gut, bit Ciel grit his teeth and squeezed tighter.
His voice choked in the struggle, the attacker called, "Toxicroak!"
The venomous Pokémon lunged at him, a blur in his peripheral vision. Rather than attempt to dodge, he tightened his hold and put his faith in his notes.
Whatever afflicted her only appeared upon their arrival to Sinnoh. Whether it was the shock of the Champions' deaths that seemed to have infected the entire Region's population or something else, the Region itself was his only lead on what's been happening. Fortunately, he was a bit far from the Sinnoh Region right now. About twelve-thousand meters.
He forced a guttural shout. "Raven!"
A flash. A clang. The furred, white body of his Absol rushed past him and swung her sickle, clashing against the Toxicroak's claw. She followed through with a powerful Night Slash, tearing into the leather of a seat and almost a terrified passenger when the opponent bounded out of range.
His partner's muscles rippled beneath her fur as she stood her ground. A twitch in her left hind leg threatened her balance, but she was present enough to snarl at the trial ahead.
"Raven, keep it occupied!" he shouted. "Everyone else, get to the back of the plane! Now!"
His partner dueled the Toxicroak, pushing it ever closer to the flight deck with each stroke of her sickle, though he noted that even successful hits appeared not to slow it down. Was it naturally resistant? Ciel wrestled with the attacker himself.
Panicked passengers scrambled down the aisles. Another elbow to his gut, and the motion of people forcing their way past the encounter, forced a cough up his gullet and his grip to slip. The man threw him against a seat and his back cracked on the jutting plastic armrest.
A fist was already flying by the time he recovered. The spark of recognition spurred the dynamo in his mind, recalling the months of grueling, one-on-one practice against a Wado-ryu master. Like lactic acid, the memories set his muscles ablaze.
Ciel threw up an arm to parry and drove a high-level strike to his chest, knocking the man off his balance and giving him a chance to regain his footing. He fell into as proper a stance as possible in the limited aisle space. Both arms up, right forward and high, left backward and low. Right leg strong forward, and light on both his feet.
The man threw another punch with power, but no technique. Ciel swatted it away and lunged, paying him back for the pain in his stomach with a powerful strike of his boot. The attacker crumpled, left curled on the floor and temporarily incapacitated.
Ciel quickly turned to the battle, where the exchange between Raven and the Toxicroak had dislodged seats from their bolted positions on the floor. As an attack flew forward—charged with energy, what he could assume was Poison Jab—he took command.
"Raven, Detect!" he ordered with an outstretched fist.
His partner vanished, only to reappear atop one of the seats. She leapt and bared down with her sickle.
Dark-type attacks weren't enough to put this thing down. However, it was likely Poison, meaning they could put to use what they'd practiced with his father's Inkay. "Use Psycho Cut!"
Rather than dark sparks, a rose-colored energy engulfed her sickle and refracted visible light around it. With a whip of her neck, the force slipped from the weapon and found its target. It pierced through. Ciel watched, horrified, as crimson fluid splattered on the floor below.
He backed away. "No! No, I didn't mean—"
He wasn't given any time to process. Two flashes matched the blood's color, and Ciel turned, wide-eyed, at two more Pokémon that entered the fray. One he recognized from his childhood venture to Hoenn, Seviper. An inflated sac circled the head of its similarly serpentine companion, who coiled its body into a tight spring.
The man coughed some orders in Sinnohan and both Pokémon slithered forward, bearing daggered jaws. Disoriented, the order Ciel attempted to give slipped at the top of his esophagus and plummeted back down his throat.
In its place, his wrist gave its own order. "Command: Vice Grip!"
A pinkish blur dashed from within the row of seats and clamped its pincers around the necks of both attackers. The small, lithe Pokémon had membranous wings hanging from its arms, and the stinger on its tail poised to strike. Though Seviper cried out in the vice grip, the restraint bounced off the inflated sack of the other, merely surprising it.
"Seviper got caught. The other is too big!" he said.
"What are we fighting?" demanded Saber at his wrist.
"Something tan-colored! It's coiled up!"
"Command: Poison Tail! Target: Lower body!"
The stinger flashed forward and impaled the creature's coiled, muscular tail. Ciel winced at the depth of injection, but finally managed his own order. This time, he'd use the one that couldn't bleed.
"Night Slash!" His voice cracked through the desperate order.
Raven's sickle appeared to double in size with the amount of Dark-type energy funneling through it. Normally a sickle, it became a full-sized scythe. She leapt from atop the seat and drove the attack clean through the Seviper's body. It left no trace and caused no injury, but it sapped the Seviper's strength to the point that its head hung limp within the pincer.
A hurricane of breaths blew through Ciel's body, erupting in short, panicked bursts. He angled a furious gaze at the man. All his Pokémon were disabled, and Ciel made it abundantly clear with his curled fist that there was only a single path forward. His path.
"Nothing matters now!" shouted the man. His mumbles burst out into unstable, manic laughter. "The Champion is dead!"
Ciel stomped his forward boot and bared his teeth. The attacker cowered. Raven threatened with fangs of her own by his side.
The man broke. He bolted down the aisle, only to immediately bash his skull on the armored Pokémon that stepped out from his hiding place in the service area. He fell to the floor one last time, and Hector loomed over his unconscious body.
Ciel joined him, unable to support himself further, and his head rang when it impacted the floor of the plane. He looked to the bleeding Toxicroak. The pool forming beneath it seeped its way towards him, filling his eyes with red.
Saber shouted at his wrist, asking what happened. People crowded above him, and he felt himself lifted up by countless arms. He was raised almost to a stand, his legs weak beneath him, and he raised his head.
It was Laina, standing in the aisle. Like the other passengers, her face was pale, but she took the initiative to step forward and grasp her arms around him. Her fingers dug painfully into him. She wouldn't let go.
"Passengers, prepare for an emergency landing at Fantina Utføre International Airport in Hearthome City."
"I'm here with Mr. Ciel Fauder, the man who stopped the attacker aboard League Airlines Flight SC009 and allowed the plane to make a safe emergency landing in Hearthome," said a journalist into a microphone.
He was standing between Ciel and the cameras, which flashed in an arc around him. Ciel pushed his back up against the window of the airport terminal, realizing he was trapped in this situation. To keep his mind occupied, and to calm his nerves, just a little, he fiddled with his Poké GEAR. He scrolled through his contacts, focusing on the newest one recorded. Saber.
Multiple other reporters spoke into their own cameras, each trying to capture what was no doubt the most exciting—from their perspective—story of the day. Ciel didn't personally think it was anything but terrifying. He hated this tasteless sensationalism, especially for how many people were up in his face.
A microphone was placed to his chin. A reporter said, "Mr. Fauder, are you willing to give a few words about what happened here today?"
Laina planted herself between interviewer and interviewee and crossed her arms. "Leave him alone."
Ciel's hand found her shoulder, and he gently pulled her down on the bench beside him. He shook his head. "What happened to the Tox— Toxicreak? What happened to the injured Pokémon?"
"Umm, I'm not sure we have an update on that."
"I'll answer your questions if you tell me what happened to it," said Ciel. He offered no negotiation.
The reporter turned to his colleagues, and the onlookers who gathered to witness the media inquiry at the airport, and shouted for someone to find that Pokémon. As he barked orders, more and more people raced to where they, apparently, needed to be.
The Pokémon must have had an additional weakness to Psychic. He didn't mean to hurt it, even if it was an enemy, and now it was in critical condition because of him. It was his duty as a Pokémon Trainer to keep not just his own Pokémon but all Pokémon safe from lasting injury, and to provide them a constructive environment to train their bodies and grow.
Laina squeezed his arm. "Come on. You don't gotta stay and put up with this."
"No," said Ciel. He motioned to the encirclement of cameras, standing on tripods, looking like a miniature city that sprung up from the solid tile. "Look at it."
"It's uncomfortable."
"It's an opportunity." He crossed his fingers in his lap, trying to work himself up after all that had happened. There wasn't much energy left for him to call upon. His knees were weak, and he was having trouble keeping his eyes open despite it being the middle of the day. "I should have taken it last time this happened at my first Showdown. I have to get my name out there somehow."
The message came in impressive time. A disheveled looking kid with a bag of camera supplies, an intern maybe, shoved his way back into the crowd after having vanished before. He pushed his way up to Ciel and kneeled to meet the sitting Trainer.
"I found the ambulance outside. They said the Toxicroak's gonna… survive, but it's gonna be in care for a while." His eyes shifted side to side, then his head, then his entire body. "Is that, uhh, that what you were looking for?"
Ciel stood to meet the cameras. Blinking with each flash, he acted as stalwart as possible.
The reporter adjusted his tie, cleared his throat, and tried his luck a second time. "Mr. Fauder, how did you manage to activate your Poké Balls to stop the attacker?"
"I found the machine they use to do it in the cargo hold. The flight staff, I mean. I sort of broke something. Uhh, sorry," he said.
The reporter continued his questioning without a moment of pause. "After demanding the passengers move away from the attacker, I'm told that you managed to correct the flight balance of the plane with a heavy Pokémon. Is this true?"
"I… didn't even know, actually." He allowed himself a laugh before falling back to a tired frown. He'd only placed Hector as a backup, not for some grand plan.
"Mr. Fauder, what inspired you to act?"
This was his chance. Whatever questions they had didn't matter, the details didn't matter, none of it made any difference. It was this one single question that he wanted the chance to debate.
"So I could," he paused, "so I could stand here."
"What do you mean, Mr. Fauder?" he asked.
"Some people think it's egotistical to share good deeds, but I don't care. I want people to see who I am."
This almost seemed to catch the reporter off guard. He asked, "Do you think you're a hero, Mr. Fauder?"
"No." Ciel shook his head, smiling at the ground in a way no one else could see. "I have a friend out there who's a hero. I'm just here to be famous." He pushed the reporter aside and planted himself in front of the lens, seeing the rounded warp in his face. It was as if he looked at a planet, and it reflected at him. "So, to everyone watching, make me the most famous person who ever lived."
The reporter, basking in his answer and furiously whispering to his cameraman colleague to adjust focus on Ciel's face, was silent. In fact, none of them could muster up further inquiry, or at least nothing substantial. It was all he needed to say. It was all he wanted to say.
One person managed a trivial question. "Where will you go next?"
Ciel looked to his sister, and when she gave him a confident glare, he took her hand.
"Where I wanted to go," he said. "To the Sinnoh League."
I was really excited for this chapter because I thought it'd be the most self-contained narrative across the entire story, and I do occasionally have a soft-spot for episodic adventures despite my seemingly innate avoidance of oneshots. It gave me an opportunity to expand some worldbuilding, add some banter, and give the first major action setpiece of the entire story. Good fun, I would say, especially since Ciel faces some monkey-fighting snakes on a Monday-to-Friday plane.
We finally put the protagonists together! This will continue into the next chapter, with Ciel arriving at the Pokémon League and putting the three leads together in one place. I love messing with how characters move individually and then work together for short periods, so expect more of that, but with more digital communication.
Thanks for being patient with me as published this chapter. I think I'll start erring my release dates towards three weeks since that's become more common than two.
Come back next time on April 30th for Chapter 5: Stand, Walk, Run. See you someday!