So I realize I've been typing a little faster than my "One every two weeks" limit I set myself, so the new schedule is that it updates whenever I have time. I figured that would keep me happy with myself, allowing for it to be written and looked over. Thanks to Sleeping Dreamer4 for all their help again. Anyway, I'm excited to write this part, as it's not really Pokemon centric. Which is a pleasant distraction and buffer for Damien's contest, which will be… a challenge I'll say. Anyway, let's get to it! I do not own Pokemon.
The drive into Opelucid was interesting for Damien. The last time he'd been here had been for challenging Drayden at the gym three years ago, when he was thirteen. He'd tossed himself at the battle over thirty times, never once getting the win, but getting so close by the end. The city wasn't the largest, that belonged to Castellia, but it wasn't small either. Jacob actually drove past the Opelucid Gym, and Damien could see some people walking inside it. He hoped they were prepared. Drayden did not go easy on anyone. The thought of the gym made him remember the Village of Dragons, and how he met Bagon.
He was walking down the dusty road into the town Drayden had told him to go to. The Village of Dragons. Damien had no idea what to expect, but he was surprised to see that it was pretty small and spaced out. He went to the hut that Drayden had specified, preparing himself for an aggressive elder and rigorous training.
But when he went inside, he only saw a small old woman. "Ah, you must be Damien." she said.
"Yeah, that's me." Damien said. "Drayden said you could help me?"
"Indeed he did." the woman said. "But it's up to you whether or not you accept the help. Drayden said he admired your determination. He'd never had a challenger try as often as you did, even after losing so many times. That perseverance is commendable."
"So, what do I need to do?" Damien asked. "Run a marathon? Battle against a pseudo legendary?"
"Neither." The elder said. "You have only one assignment, but it is crucial that you complete it if you wish to become stronger."
Damien widened his eyes. One assignment? What could it possibly be? How could one assignment make him stronger?
"You are to take a walk around the forest, and come back to me with what you learned." The elder said.
Damien was silent. "You're serious? Just take a walk?"
"Just take a walk." The woman said. "Go on now. You'd best get going as soon as possible. Oh, and for you, I'd recommend going down the cliffside path as well." Damien stood up, and walked out of the hut. Clearly this woman wasn't going to offer any more help. While Damien was angry, his hands were actually clenched tight, he realized that it would probably be best if he listened. Besides, the walk could help clear his head. Damien turned to the direction of the forest, and started walking.
Damien couldn't help but smile. The elder had been right. Taking a walk had been good for him. But that wasn't what he thought of when he thought of that place.
Damien had started walking down the cliffside path, nothing of interest having happened in the forest. He walked for a bit before looking right. He could see the entirety of the Village of Dragons, and the sun that was beginning to set. He wasn't angry anymore, instead being curious. Why had the village elder recommended this path? For the view? Was there something he was supposed to see?
His thoughts were interrupted by something crashing down on his head. "Ow…" he said, clutching his head. He looked over to see a small blue bipedal pokemon, with a yellow stomach and a gray head. He pulled out his Poekedex to analyze it.
"Bagon, the Rock Head Pokemon. Dreaming of one day flying, it practices by leaping off cliffs every day."
What a bizarre habit, Damien thought. He watched as the Bagon climbed all the way up the cliff, only to once more throw itself off. Damien moved out of the way, and watched as it climbed up once again. This time, when it hurled itself off, Damien caught it. The Dragon-type started squirming in his arms. "Hey, hey, calm down!" Damien said, but the Bagon started squirming even more. Blasting an Ember into Damien's face, causing him to drop it. Bagon then ran back up the cliff, and Damien followed. When Bagon was about to jump off the cliff again, Damien dropped his bag, ran over, and grabbed him. The pokemon started squirming again. "Hang on, hang on!" Damien said. "Let me help you!" The Bagon calmed down and looked at him. "You'll never fly if you keep crashing your head on the dirt. So why don't we work on your jumping ability, hmm? Jumping is the next best thing if you can't fly or glide. Come on." Damien set Bagon down and went over to one of the large rocks jutting out of the ground, and climbed on top of it. Bagon followed him, climbing up next to him. "Now, what we're going to do is jump from rock to rock, got it?" Damien said. Bagon nodded. Damien started jumping, and Bagon did too.
It was nearly midnight when Damien and Bagon finished their training. Damien was exhausted, but Bagon was very happy. He kept jumping around after Damien sat down to rest. "Look, I'm going to set up camp here. You're welcome to join if you like." Damien said, getting his camping stuff out of his bag. He set up camp and let his Pokemon out of their pokeballs, and fed them dinner, giving a can of Pokemon food to Bagon, who sniffed it before accepting.
"Ivysaur?" Ivysaur asked.
"No, he's wild." Damien answered. "I'm just letting him stay for the night." Ivysaur nodded and continued eating. After they finished their food, his Pokemon went into their pokeballs and Damien went to bed. When he tucked himself into his sleeping bag, Bagon went in as well. "Do you want to sleep here? I imagine it's warmer than outside. Come on." Bagon snuggled close to Damien, and the two of them went to sleep.
When they woke up, Damien packed up the camp and started to head back to the Village of Dragons. But when he looked back, he saw Bagon following him.
"Ba?" Bagon asked.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I can take you." Damien said. He crouched down to pat the Dragon-type on the head. "It was fun being with you though." Damien turned around and started walking again.
"Bagon?" The Bagon asked, still following. Damien looked at Bagon again.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I can take you." Damien said.
Bagon started crying. "Bagon! Bagon Ba! Bagon Bagon Bagon Ba!"
"Hey, don't cry!" Damien said, picking up the Pokemon. "It's not that I don't want you, I don't think I'm allowed to take you."
"Bagon!" Bagon wailed. He thrust himself into Damien's chest. Damien just stood there, holding the crying Dragon-type.
"Look, I'll ask the village elder, okay?" Damien said. You can come with me as I ask if I can take you, alright?" Bagon stopped crying. He looked up at Damien with hopeful eyes.
"Yeah." Damien said, smiling softly. "Let's go."
When the two entered the tent of the village elder, it was already noon. "So what did you learn?" The elder said.
"I don't think I learned anything." Damien said.
"I think you did." she countered. "After all, you have a new friend. Tell me how you met."
"Oh, well, he's not mine." Damien said. "He's still wild. I met him on the cliffside. He was hurling himself off that cliff, trying to fly. I stopped him, and taught him to try jumping from rock to rock instead. We spent the night together, and he followed me here."
"I knew you would find him." The elder said. "That's why I sent you down that path. But why help him?"
"Because he could've hurt himself!" Damien said. "He was hurling himself off that cliff in some… vain attempt at flight! Trying over and over, never giving up but never seeing there was another way! Like…" Damien trailed. "Like me." he finished, realizing the connection.
"You and that Bagon are very alike." The elder said, smiling. "So I want you to take him with you. Go on and finish that gym. You've got what you need. After all, a Hoenn trainer deserves a Hoenn Pokemon."
"You know that I'm from Hoenn?" Damien asked.
"I could tell by your walk and mannerisms. They are almost perfectly Unovan, but there's an underlying sense of Hoenn in them." the elder said. "Now go. You've nothing left to learn here."
Damien was quiet. Then he looked at Bagon. "Well, wanna join?" He asked knowing the answer. Bagon nodded his head, and Damien pulled out a Great Ball and pressed it to Bagon's head. He disappeared inside it and the ball shook once. Twice. Three times. Clicked. And just like that, Damien had a new friend.
"Hey, Damien?" Pamira asked, waving her hand in front of his face. Damien blinked and looked at her. "We're here."
"Sorry." He said, unbuckling his seat belt. He returned Eevee to his Pokeball, and got out of the car.
The track meeting was taking place at Opelucid North High School, which was on the edge of the city. It was a larger school than the one Damien went to, Anville High, and consisted of three stories, whereas Anville High had two. The path they were supposed to walk to the field was lined with flags, so the three of them went down it.
"What were you thinking about?" Pamira asked.
"Meeting Bagon." Damien answered.
"How'd it happen?" she asked. Damien explained it to her.
"You've never explained any part of your journey to anyone but Karek." Pamira pointed out.
"To be fair, you haven't shared your journey either." Damien said.
"You never asked." Pamira shrugged.
"Neither did you." Damien said. They all walked through the gates to the track field, stopping to buy a ticket in Jacob's case. Pamira and Damien just showed their activity cards, which allowed them to get in for free after having bought it at the beginning of the school year.
"So," Damien said, "can I ask what you and Crystal were talking about yesterday?"
"It's…" Pamira trailed, "not exactly something I should share. It's her story to tell, not mine."
"That means there's something up." Damien said. "People always say that when there's something wrong but they don't want to say."
"Says who?" Pamira asked.
"Says almost all of T.V." Damien said. "If there's something wrong, I want to know."
"Because you like Crystal." Pamira said.
"I'd ask for all of my friends!" Damien said, blushing. "But that shouldn't matter anyway!"
"Well…" Pamira said, "she's having some… family issues. And since she's generally conflict averse, it's gotten pretty bad." They sat down.
"Like what?" Damien asked, concerned.
"Hey, you're here!" Karek said from behind them.
"Karek!" Damien said. "Shouldn't you be down there?" Pamira turned to talk to her brother.
"I'm not up for some time, so I'm hanging out up here. I'll go down when I'm needed, I promise." Karek said. He had changed out of his school clothes into a yellow and green shirt and shorts, with white sneakers. His hair was still up in the weird tube thing, but it had changed from red to green. He started running in place. "So don't worry!"
"Where's Blaziken? Don't the lead runners compete alongside their Pokemon?" Damien asked.
"Yep!" Karek said. "Blaziken's doing stretches right now. Don't want to pull a muscle."
"Shouldn't you be with him then?" Damien asked.
"I decided that I wanted to see you people." Karek said. "So excuse me." He stopped jogging.
"Karek, you know you can stay, come on, sit." Damien said, patting the seat next to him.
"No, you wanted me to leave." Karek said jokingly.
"Please?" Damien asked. "I'll tell you a secret if you do."
"Well, since you insist." Karek said before plopping himself down on the bench. "Now tell me."
"I'm doing contests." Damien said.
"Wait, you took my advice!" Karek asked, surprised.
"Oh don't be so dramatic, I listen to people all the time." Damien said.
"When is it?" Karek asked. "I have to be there for your first one! And as many subsequent ones as I can!"
"Well, it's tomorrow, in Nimbasa City." Damien explained. "I'm taking a train, and Mike said he'll be in as well, so that I have a rival to compete against."
"Well, looks like tomorrow's activities have been decided then." Karek said. "I'll just stay the night with you and we go together. I hope you can get a performance going."
"Mike said he'd help me with that." Damien said.
"You're just going to let your rival get a one-up on you like that?" Karek asked. "No no no, what's going to happen is you'll make one tonight and tomorrow morning, and then you'll listen to whatever he says to you, and combine the two! You have to make your own performance!"
"Okay, okay, I will." Damien said. "And shouldn't you be worrying about your own team here? I mean, Felix is up right now." Damien pointed to the track where Felix, along with runners from other schools, was lined up to start running.
"Alright, fine." Karek said and turned his attention to the track.
Alright, so that's done. I'm churning these out. Feels good to be able to do that. Anyway, next chapter we'll have the track meet, showing off Felix and Karek. That'll be fun. Already you can see the differences. Anyway, time for the next team to be shown.
Character: Felix
Team: Swampert, Darumaka, Joltik, Boldore
Swampert:
Level: 37
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Brave (Up Atk, Down Speed)
Moves: Muddy Water, Earthquake, Iron Tail, Ice Beam
Darumaka:
Level: 29
Ability: Hustle
Nature: Rash (Up SpAtk, Down SpDef)
Moves: Headbutt, Fire Fang, Rollout, Fire Punch
Joltik:
Level: 32
Ability: Compound Eyes
Nature: Gentle (Up SpDef, Down Def)
Moves: Slash, Bug Bite, Electro Ball, Electroweb
Boldore:
Level: 35
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Impish (Up Def, Down SpAtk)
Moves: Rock Slide, Headbutt, Iron Defense, Mud-Slap