Pride of Your Soul
Chapter 18: We All Fall Down
AN: This is probably the fastest I've done in a while. Well a lot's faster than over a year I suppose. Although I'm excited for this chapter and what's to come :D
But first, an announcement. So last time I have asked you guys whether you would prefer to me to focus on PoYS or continue juggling this along with Fidelity and Platinum Witch. The majority of you all prefer that I just finish PoYS off, so that's what I'm gonna do. This does mean, unfortunately, that both Fidelity and Platinum Witch will be on hiatus until PoYS is done. I'm terribly sorry to everyone who follows and were looking forward to those stories, but I do hope you understand, and will enjoy PoYS regardless.
And now, for the reviews. All questions that were specified for the QnA I mentioned last chapter will be answered there:
FantasyLover88: I wish you the best of luck with your story! :D And oooh you're in for a treat for this chapter then.
Anonymous Trainer: I wasn't sure if your question in particular was directed at the QnA or if it was just a general question, so I just answered it over there since it met with the time range I specified. But regardless, it's good to be back. Yeah after not updating this story for so long, re-reading through the story would be a good idea to refresh the memory.
Emperor Menthos: Ayye I'm still alive :D Thank you for the compliment and feedback though.
NarutoK: Thank you! College was quite possibly the biggest hurdle in my life. I answered your questions in the QnA so check your answers there. Also...you said to check my inbox for a PM, but I never ended up getting it.
Tony Anderson: Thank you! I aim to please.
TheDarkMaster4000: That was actually intentional actually. I have seen several writers styling speech like that to break up rather long speeches from characters without having to jumble it into one quotation, and overall makes it look more cleanly and not jumbled up. And thank you for your extensive feedback! Yeah I will probably put up an update for those chapters.
SereneNacho: Well I'm glad you're ecstatic by the return of this story :)
AZ: Lol
SamTheRapper: Sorry bout that. At least this one didn't take 6+ months though.
Knight of Wings: Wow it's been a while since I've heard from you. I dunno, I figured it made sense in context with the plot in regards to Hugh's additions, or rather his method of obtaining them. And thank you! Glad to be back.
X-keeper 13: Thank you for the kind words!
Guest (Jun 5): Thank you! I'm glad you like the changes to the canon protagonist trio. And hopefully you'll be happy to hear that your question did in fact make it into the QnA.
Whiterin: Well hello there Kirsch, or should I call you Whiterin now. Things are...unfortunately complicated for Nate. It's never that simple and straightforward for him. Enough hate and rage can do that to someone.
I M Poik: Hi there! Yeah it's at this point where Nate can't escape hiding his bullshit and is suffering from the consequences. And I wasn't sure if you wanted your questions in the QnA, but unfortunately they were way late to the deadline, so sorry if you wanted them in the QnA. They will be answered here though.
If I finished the three stories, then I actually plan to do Alola. And since I would do Alola, I would kinda do a mix of both SM and USUM, but ultimately the plot would be more similar to USUM. Of course I will be doing my own personal changes. I have so many ideas I want to do with this one, so hopefully I can make them a reality one day.
the willyrex: Well hi there! No worries, as long as you're enjoying the ride; that's the important part.
In regards to the new Pokemon games (Let's Go Pikachu/Let's Go Eevee). Honestly, I'm okay with them. LGPE will be a great way to integrate the more casual Pokemon GO community into the mainline series, and hopefully bring the two communities together more. And since TPCI (iirc) announced that the more traditional mainline entry that we're all used to would come next year, we can enjoy the game for what it is, and look forward to what is most likely going to be Gen 8 next year. One last tidbit, while I'm happy that people are happy that we're going back to Kanto with many QoL updates and Pokemon GO integration, I'm honestly neutral about going back to Kanto. Probably because I did not actually start with Kanto (I started with Hoenn actually, became much more invested with Sinnoh). What can I do.
Alright, on with the drama.
Roughly half an hour earlier
Marshal glanced at the grey skies that hovered above Twist Mountain. Such weather seemed fitting for the deathtrap that Twist Mountain had become. For some strange reason, strong wild Pokémon have been appearing here and there within the mountain, and have been aggressively attacking travelers who wished to pass the mountain to make it to Iccirus City and Opelucid City. As such, the Pokémon League under the leadership of their current champion has tasked Marshal to deal with the issue and see why the wild Pokémon suddenly became stronger and more aggressive.
Although how Marshal would deal with it was in the air at the moment. Surely the reason lied within the mountain itself, but he had no idea where to begin looking. There was information of a cave hidden within the deepest catacombs of the mountain which used to house a powerful and terrifying monstrosity of a Pokémon, but that had already been dealt with, so Marshal doubted that was the cause. Perhaps there was something else that lied within the cave that might be influencing the wild Pokémon to be aggressive.
Regardless, simply thinking about what could possibly be the cause would get Marshal nowhere. He would have to go inside the mountain and investigate himself. As a member of the Elite Four of the Unovan Pokémon League, and as the former pupil of Alder, he had a duty to protect the safety of the people of Unova.
...However, it seemed that there were other matters to attend to. Marshal glanced in front of him, where a boy suddenly shot out from it and landed near the staircase that led up to said precipice.
"Oh...rather impressive physical prowess you have there, boy," Marshal commented as the boy glared at Marshal murderously.
"...You're Marshal..." the boy grumbled.
"Indeed, I am Marshal of the Elite Four," Marshal introduced himself. "Can I help you?"
"I heard there's a little pest problem, and the pests are getting out of control," the boy said. "Mind if I help?"
"...That's one way to put it," Marshal muttered. "Regardless, I do appreciate the offer, but I will have to decline. The wild Pokémon are far too strong for the general public. I would rather not risk the safety of random bystanders."
The boy's eyes widened ever so slightly, as if the boy wished to kill him on the spot. Marshal could sense something was off about him.
"So if I prove to you that I'm strong enough, then you'd let me in on this deal?" the boy asked as he took out two pokéballs.
Ah, so that was it. The boy was currently consumed by his own rage and desperation. At the very least, that was how it felt to Marshal. While he would like to have a fair fight with the boy, he would not allow him to get involved and potentially get hurt. Marshal would rather not have to resort to this rather, underhanded, trick, but what must be done, must be done.
"Very well then," Marshal said as he released his own sawk into the field. "I was trying to be nice, but it would seem that you need to be taught a lesson. This isn't a place for brats like you who are over their heads."
"...You bastard..." the boy snarled as he released an electivire and a braviary. "I'll make you eat those words!"
'Good, he fell for the taunt,' Marshal thought. He had no idea just how good of a trainer this boy was. If he was currently drunk on his own fervent emotions, eliminating the odds of the boy being able to strategise was rather easy to do. "KIAI!"
Present time
Nate honestly thought he could take him. Or at the very least, he could show Marshal that he was capable enough of entering the mountain. Even if he could not beat Marshal, at the very least the battle itself should have been proof enough.
Instead, he was completely and utterly outmatched.
The man's sawk–that damned sawk–singlehandedly took out the entirety of Nate's team. Nate was aware how vulnerable his team was to opposing Fighting-types; his only real answer was Brav; but in the end, that did not matter.
It was a two versus one, then a three versus one, and then finally Nate just threw everything he had at the damn thing. The sawk was able to overcome and destroy each and every member Nate had in his party. The only one that seemed to survive was Nite, who managed to evolve into an emboar and FINALLY deal some actual damage to the sawk. For a split moment, Nate had a sliver of hope. A rather pathetic and unlikely one, but a sliver of hope that he could somehow pull a comeback and his desperations would be fulfilled.
The sliver of hope was, in the end, pathetic and unlikely, as Marshal was wise enough to send out another damn Fighting-type; a conkeldurr; which was a more suitable opponent for the newly-evolved Nite. The conkeldurr made quick work of Nite as if he was a fragile Normal-type. And just like that, Nate's pathetic and unlikely sliver of hope was mercilessly dashed in quite possibly Nate's worst and most humiliating loss ever, clocking in at a violent and unforgiving party wipe, where Nate could not beat even a single Pokémon from Marshal's side.
In the end, Nate could only admit defeat and leave, his last hopes of avoiding a one-way trip to the east crushed. As he recalled his Pokémon, he gave a rather depressed glance to Nite. It honestly pained him to see Nite failing, even after the Fire-type declared his undying loyalty to him in spite of Nite knowing next-to-nothing about him, and even evolving out of pure determination. Nite had the honor of being the sole member to do any lasting damage against Marshal. It pained Nate that Nite's endeavor was in the end for naught.
"-Boss...I...-" Nite mumbled in shame.
"It's alright," Nate assured the Fire-type. "You did your best Bo."
"-Bo...?-" Nite asked.
"Your new name," Nate said. "You evolved, so calling you Nite wouldn't be fitting anymore. From now on, you're 'Bo'."
The newly-christened 'Bo' simply nodded his head tiredly while allowing himself to be recalled into his pokéball by his trainer. Nate said nothing and made his leave, only recalling Luca from Rosa's grasp and largely ignoring his three companions in the process as he descended down the stairs in shame.
"Ah..." Rosa mumbled, but could not find any words to comfort the boy from the devastating loss.
"I do apologize," Marshal said to the three once Nate was out of earshot. "I was tasked to make sure no one gets into Twist Mountain. I had to use some rather...underhanded tactics...to mess with his emotions and make him a far easier opponent to face. And to ensure that I could best him in battle."
Marshal glanced at the staircase, which led back to Route 7. "This is one victory I cannot be proud to have claimed. The boy does have potential. And I do wish to fight him once again in a proper match. But now is not the time. Do support him so that he does not take the loss to heart."
Reluctantly nodding in affirmation, the three followed after Nate, leaving Marshal to his lonesome self.
"...Knowing Hilbert's younger brother, he is sure to bring about a battle that would make my fighting drive dance," Marshal nodded. "However..."
The Fighting-type expert set his gaze back at Twist Mountain. Enough time was wasted preventing anyone from lurking in. Actions must be made. With a new resolve, Marshal entered Twist Mountain, and proceeded to unleash his Fighting-type Pokémon against the onslaught of hostile wild Pokémon that were ready to greet him with certain demise.
"Thank you for waiting. We've restored your Pokémon to full health," the nurse told Nate as she handed him back his pokéballs.
"Thanks," Nate muttered as he accepted them back.
"We hope to see you again!" the nurse cheerfully replied, which Nate merely nodded and left.
The boy glanced back to the trio that was waiting for him.
"...So where's the professor and that redhead?" Nate asked, referring to Professor Juniper and Skyla.
The two adults had managed to catch them returning to the pokécenter. When they asked what had happened, Nate refused to talk about it, but he figured the other three would relay what happened to them anyways.
"Professor Juniper and Miss Skyla went ahead to the gym," Yancy explained. "Professor Juniper wanted to watch you guys fight in a gym battle."
"Right, the gym," Nate muttered with much less enthusiasm, before sighing. "Fine, let's get this over with."
"Are you still depressed over your loss against Marshal?" Rosa asked.
"No, I'm peachy," Nate shot back sarcastically as he went on ahead.
"...Really?" Hugh asked Rosa incredulously.
"What? I was just concerned for him," Rosa tried to defend herself.
Hugh simply rolled his eyes before going on ahead. As Yancy followed up, Rosa stopped the pinkette.
"Hey, quick question," Rosa said. "Did...Nate mention anything about Undella, by any chance?"
"Huh? No, why?" Yancy asked, confused.
"Oh, oh nothing really," Rosa muttered. 'So he didn't find out?'
"...Rosa?" Yancy asked, concerned. "Is everything alright? You don't look too well."
"Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine," Rosa insisted. 'I'll be fine when you're gone.'
"Uh...well okay then," Yancy said. "C'mon, we're gonna be left behind."
"Right," Rosa said as the two rushed ahead to catch up to Hugh. 'If he didn't find out...then why does he not want to go to the east? But then again, she could just be lying to me.'
The group quickly caught up to Nate, and proceeded to the reach Mistralton's gym. Inside lied a huge labyrinth of wind, decorated with huge fans that blew violent wind across the gym. Yancy, being a spectator and not actually challenging the gym, was escorted to the spectator's bench, next to Professor Juniper. The other three were left to try to make their way to Skyla while fighting the furious gusts of wind that pushed them back, forcing them to take shelter behind steel walls from time to time.
"Why couldn't this have been simple," Nate growled as they took cover against a steel wall, clearly agitated by the gym's gimmicks.
"I mean it fits the theme, I guess," Hugh shrugged as they waited for the winds to die down, before pointing to Skyla, who was nearby. "Look, we're almost there."
Nate sighed as he rolled his eyes. Rosa, meanwhile, glanced at Nate periodically, which the boy noticed.
"Something the matter now?" Nate asked, getting annoyed by Rosa's constant glances.
"Uh, not really," Rosa mumbled. 'I mean we're here waiting, so might as well see if he found out...'
"But...why didn't you want to go to the east that badly?"
"Really? You're really asking this now?" Hugh asked incredulously.
Nate glared at the bun-headed girl. "You really like sticking your nose into other people's shit, don't you?"
"C'mon, it can't be that bad," Rosa insisted.
"I have my reasons, alright?" Nate snarled.
"What happened to not keeping any secrets behind our backs?" Rosa demanded.
"There are things people shouldn't pry into," Nate shot back.
"Then how do I know you're not lying again?" Rosa pursued.
"GAH! Can we deal with this later!?" Nate yelled. "Honestly you're being fucking annoying right now!"
Before Rosa could make a response, the wind died down, allowing for them to head over to Skyla's arena. Without a second word, Nate emerged from the steel wall and approached Skyla, with the other two following from behind. From the spectator bench, Yancy and Professor Juniper were seated with a good view of the battle to come.
"Everyone! Good luck!" Yancy cheered from her seat.
"Now then, time to see just how far you've all come!" Juniper exclaimed excitedly.
Nate merely gave them a nod in acknowledgment as he faced Skyla, his annoyed expression still there.
"I take it you weren't a big fan of my gym's mechanics?" Skyla asked sheepishly.
"Y'know there could've been a better option," Nate drawled. "Just saying."
Skyla giggled sheepishly, before moving onto the main part.
"Alright then," Skyla said. "There's three of you and one of me. And we're also kinda tight on schedule since I have to get Professor Juniper over to the east... So! To settle this, I'll take you all on! You each use one Pokémon versus three of mine in three 1 v 1s. If you all managed to win your respective match, then you all win your badges!"
"So, just like Roxie's challenge," Hugh mumbled.
"So! Who wants to go first?" Skyla asked.
"I'll go!" Rosa volunteered.
"Alright then!" Skyla nodded as she got a pokéball ready. "I also got the memo from the other gym leaders, so you three want the Challenge selection. That means I need to go all out!"
With that response, Skyla sent out a large blue, bat-like Pokémon with fused, pointed ears that took flight into the air. For what seemed to be an eternity, Rosa took out her pokédex and scanned the bat.
"Swoobat, the Courting Pokémon. It shakes its tail vigorously when it emits ultrasonic waves strong enough to reduce concrete to rubble."
"You better not fuck this one up," Nate growled from the backline, clearly still annoyed with her from her earlier interrogation. "Unlike with Roxie, we all need to win."
"I got this...!" Rosa shot back as she sent out Nina, turning back to face Skyla. "I won't let you down again..."
"Swoobat, Air Slash!"
"Nina, dodge it!"
Swoobat immediately shot several blades of sharp air at Nina, who managed to dodge it with relative ease.
"Oh wow, this would've been trickier if I went with Ottavia..." Rosa mumbled. "Nina, Flamethrower!"
Nina spewed a torrent of intense flames at Swoobat, but the bat nimbly evaded the fire gracefully in the air.
"Try to catch it with Extreme Speed!" Rosa yelled.
Nina nodded, before she made a huge sprint before leaping into the air with vehement speed, bulleting for Swoobat in the air.
"Crunch!"
Swoobat avoided Nina quickly, but Nina landed on a wall and immediately bulleted back to Swoobat from behind, before slamming down on the bat with her fangs sinking themselves into the bat. Nina then proceeded to pin down Swoobat as they both crashed into the ground.
"Now, Flamethrower!" Rosa yelled. 'C'mon, go down already!'
As Swoobat tried to break free from Nina's fangs, the fire dog used the opportunity to charge intense flames in her mouth, before unleashing them open the poor bat. The arena was flooded with fire briefly, before Nina ceased the attack. Nina let go of Swoobat, who revealed to have somehow withstood the onslaught.
"Quick, use Psychic!" Skyla commanded.
Before Nina could continue the assault, Swoobat's eyes glowed a bright blue, surrounding Nina with psychic energy. Nina felt herself being lifted up into the air from the psychic energy, before being slammed into one of the walls.
"Nina!" Rosa cried out.
"Air Slash!" Skyla ordered.
"Oh no you don't! Flamethrower!"
Despite being restrained by the psychic energy, Nina was able to blast another breath of intense fire at Swoobat, who shot a myriad of blades of air at the canine. The two Pokémon avoided the incoming attacks, before proceeding with their shooting contest.
Eventually the two attacks collided, resulting in a large explosion that caught everyone off guard. Swoobat had to shield itself from the explosion, which inadvertently dispelled the Psychic, and released Nina from the psychic restraints.
"Ah–Now Nina! Extreme Speed into Flare Blitz!" Rosa ordered, realizing the opening that was made for her.
Nina obliged as her body was covered in a raging inferno, before bulleting at Swoobat from through the dust. Swoobat tried to react to try and stop Nina, but the Fire-type was too fast and slammed herself into the bat, making another explosion. The impact of the attack sent Swoobat flying, while sending Nina flying back from the recoil. Swoobat dropped back onto the ground like a dead fly, unconscious and twitching.
"Yes!" Rosa quickly exclaimed, happy at the sight of the defeated swoobat.
While Rosa was in the middle of her war, Nate and Hugh were spectating from their side. Hugh glanced to Nate; his ever-so-cold glare still as icy as ever.
"Hey cut her some slack," Hugh said. "I'm sure she won't screw up."
Nate merely grunted in response. Hugh merely sighed, before deciding to test his luck.
"So you mind telling me why she's pissing you off?" Hugh asked. "Usually you'd just brush off Rosa's comments. I guess everything that happened so far has gotten you on edge?"
"Oh come on, not you too," Nate groaned.
"I'm not telling you to spill the beans on whatever it is you're planning behind our backs," Hugh shot back. "I mean I'm pretty sure you have other agendas, but I'm not gonna pry at them if you don't want me to."
Nate raised a brow at his blue-haired companion. He had honestly expected Hugh to try and get his secret out of him, albeit in a more discrete and tactful way. Especially considering Nate had Hugh spill out all of Hugh's own goals in the journey.
"You aren't even gonna attempt to try to find out?" Nate asked.
"I'd rather not try to piss off a psychopath with knives," Hugh retorted. "Speaking of, how did you convince Professor Cheren from calling the police on you that day?"
"Well the fucker apparently was smart and had two ghosts ready to shoot my head if I tried something," Nate drawled. "So essentially he was threatening me to comply and go with you two."
"...Really?" Hugh asked.
Nate grumbled as he recalled his interrogation from Cheren. While at the time it seemed that Nate had everything under control, Cheren could not have fooled Nate's keen sense of scent. While it was only a hint, there was a distinct scent within that damn room. Looking around might have gave it away, but Nate was certain there were at least two Ghost-types having erased their presence from the room and hidden away within striking distance; most likely a jellicent and chandelure, judging from what he saw Cheren and Bianca have on them. Even Nate was not sure at the time whether he could try to take out Cheren and react fast enough to prevent himself getting shot down by them.
"And what's stopping you from ditching or trying anything else afterwards?" Hugh asked.
Nate merely glared at his pokédex in his pocket. "Odds are they rigged my dex to make sure they could track me any time."
"So what's stopping you from throwing it away?" Hugh persisted.
"It'll be a dead giveaway," Nate commented. "And I'm ain't trying to see what happens if it detects that I ditched it, because I know they did something. Besides, this thing is useful. I'd be an idiot to simply toss it to the side."
"Well now," Hugh murmured. "...You sure seem to be comfortable with telling me this stuff. Sounds pretty crucial and critical if someone else found out. Takes a lot of trust–."
"Yeah, nice try," Nate snapped. "I may trust you enough to not stab me in the back, but that's as far as you go."
"...Worth a shot," Hugh muttered. "...Look, whatever it is you want to hide, you probably have a good reason for it. Forcing it out of you isn't the way to do it. If you feel like you can trust me enough, then I'm here."
"...And you're really not trying to play detective right now?" Nate inquired, somewhat perplexed.
"You snapped me out of my tunnel vision," Hugh replied, referring to the events that happened back in Route 6. "The least I can do is offer my help and advice, whether you want to hear it or not."
Nate stared at Hugh for a moment, before turning back to the battle. "Whatever..."
The moment the conversation ended, Nina dealt the finishing blow to the swoobat.
"Ah man..." Skyla mumbled. "Swoobat's pretty frail as it is anyways...but no moping about it now. Nice job!"
"Ah, thank you!" Rosa replied as Nina rushed over to her trainer and gave her an affectionate lick. "Haha! Nice job, Nina!"
"Alright, let's keep this going," Skyla insisted. "I'm getting excited to see what else you three have in store for me!"
Rosa quickly nodded and recalled Nina, before heading over back to Nate and Hugh.
"Nice job," Hugh complimented Rosa.
"Thanks," Rosa replied, before glancing over to Nate. The boy still had his glare with his usual dead-looking eyes, but the glare seemed to have lightened up ever so slightly.
"Good enough," Nate grumbled as he stepped forward without any prompt.
"Th-thanks," Rosa mumbled, absolutely delighted by what she interpreted to be a compliment.
While the remark was offhanded a best, it seemed to be enough to brighten Rosa's mood. Unnoticed to the star-struck Rosa, Hugh simply sighed and shook his head. It was an improvement from five minutes ago, but it was not by much. And it looked like Rosa did not even seem to notice the nature of the remark.
Nate merely glanced forward, where Skyla was ready with her next Pokémon.
"You ready?" Skyla asked.
"Yeah..." Nate muttered as he took out his pokéball.
Both opponents sent out their Pokémon at once. From Skyla's side came out a large bluish-purple scorpion-like Pokémon with yellow eyes and a long, barb-like tail. From Nate's side came out Vire. Vire glared at his opponent, who hovered over him with a rather dangerous smirk on its face.
As the match was about to begin, Professor Juniper had an equally large smirk on her face as she kept the excitement contained in her body.
"That was a great match, don't you think, Yancy?" Juniper asked Yancy, who was sitting next to her.
"Yeah," Yancy nodded. "As expected, Rosa's pretty strong."
"Indeed! The way her arcanine maneuvered around to nail such a fast airborne opponent...it was amazing!" Juniper said. "She must have trained her arcanine splendidly! But now is a much more different matchup! You can tell from the two Pokémon on the field, right Yancy?"
"Ah, yes," Yancy said as she glanced at them. "The Pokémon Miss Skyla sent out was a gliscor, right?"
"Correct!" Juniper smiled. "This gym and Skyla herself are dedicated to Flying-types. And while in that case Nate's electivire would be a prime choice, Gliscor is also part Ground-type, which grants it immunity to the otherwise-super effective Electric-type attacks. And knowing how skilled of a trainer Skyla is, her gliscor definitely has Earthquake ready to go to town on Nate's electivire!"
"That won't stop Nate!" Yancy argued.
"I'm not diminishing Nate and his electivire," Juniper replied. "Oh the contrary. I'm excited to see how Nate can pull through in this unexpected matchup!"
"R-Right..." Yancy mumbled, turning her gaze back at the fight. While Nate has not been having the best luck as of recently, he would definitely be able to win the fight before him; even if he was at a disadvantage. Although she did notice how Nate had suddenly become increasingly angrier and tense ever since they entered Chargestone Cave. Some rather unsavory secrets about the boy has started to come up into the light; secrets that she was not aware of. Everything seemed to have fallen apart when they got out of Chargestone Cave.
Yancy was hoping that everything would go back to normal soon, but even she was not naïve enough to believe that would be happening anytime soon. For now, she just focused back on Nate, the only person she could feel calm around, even if his recent outbursts proved otherwise.
"By the way," Juniper said, getting Yancy's attention. "You seem to be pretty focused on Nate ever since we got here."
"Huh? W-Was I?" Yancy asked.
"Do you perhaps...like him?" Juniper asked in a teasing manner. "And I mean like, like him like him?"
Understanding the underlined message, Yancy's face turned beet red in embarrassment.
"Wha–I–Uh, I–I–Uh ah..." Yancy blubbered.
"Your response just gave it all away," Juniper smirked. "Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret."
"T-Thanks...I guess..." Yancy mumbled.
"Although you might have some competition," Juniper said. "Rosa's been eyeing Nate rather intently for the most parts."
"Eh?" Yancy asked. This was news to her.
"Yep," Juniper nodded, pointing over to Rosa.
Yancy glanced over to Rosa. Indeed, she was staring at Nate intently. Although he was about to fight, so that was a given, if what Professor Juniper was saying is true, then that meant that she was gazing at Nate with the same intensity. While that could mean anything, Yancy did not exactly know how to feel about it. Could Rosa have feelings for Nate like her?
"I dunno..." Yancy mumbled, not sure about it.
"Flamethrower!"
Vire opened his mouth and spewed a hot, fiery breath at Gliscor, who hovered away to safety.
"So you use Fire-type attacks too," Skyla noted. "Well seeing that Gliscor is a Ground-type, that's to be expected, I suppose..."
Nate seemed unfazed as Vire kept firing away at Gliscor, who was forced into the defensive by evading the oncoming torrent of flame.
"Does he have anything to hurt Gliscor?" Skyla asked as Gliscor kept dodging. "Outside of Flamethrower, does he just have Electric-moves...?"
Gliscor kept flying to the right to avoid the Flamethrower attacks, which Vire noticed. Vire then proceeded to shoot a Flamethrower at the position where Gliscor would fly into, successfully catching the airborne scorpion with the smoldering fires.
"I don't want to find out though," Skyla muttered. "Gliscor! Earthquake!"
"Flamethrower at where Gliscor is gonna land!" Nate yelled out.
Gliscor dove down to the arena like a rock, where Vire shot another Flamethrower at where Gliscor would land. The flames manage to hit Gliscor, but not before Gliscor successfully slammed one of his pincers into the ground, causing a massive tremor to engulf the arena. Vire tensed up, before immediately taking something out of his fur and eating it before the earthquake could hit him. The arena chipped apart, with the faulting plates of the arena hitting at Vire. The earthquake died down after a solid thirty seconds, where Vire managed to pull himself together.
"Electivire managed to withstand that...?" Skyla gasped, before seeing the half-eaten berry in Vire's hand. "...A Shuca berry...!"
"Flamethrower!" Nate yelled relentlessly.
Vire did as commanded and spewed another Flamethrower at Gliscor, who hastily jumped back. It was not fast enough though, and he got caught in the Flamethrower. Gliscor flew back, but winced in pain as he looked at his pincer, which had a nasty burn mark on it.
"So that's what he was aiming for..." Skyla muttered, noting the burn mark. "Gliscor, Swords Dance!"
Gliscor roared as several blue swords of energy surrounded the scorpion, before they all circled around him swiftly. Vire glanced at Nate, who nodded at him, as the swords around Gliscor dissipated. Vire began to charge electricity around him, as it began to disperse into the ground.
"He's been around for too long...I have a bad feeling about this..." Skyla mumbled. "Gliscor! Let's finish this up! Earthquake!"
Gliscor nodded, before descending to the ground once more to finish off Vire.
"NOW!" Nate yelled.
Vire reacted instantly, slamming his fist into the ground and discharging all the electricity he had been charging throughout the match into it and letting it run throughout the arena. The electricity then surrounded Vire, propelling him off the ground to safety before Gliscor could unleash the earthquake.
"Wha–!?" Skyla gasped at the sight of a levitating Vire.
"Oh, not bad for a first try," Nate noted, pleased that his plan worked.
"You had this kind of trick up your sleeve, huh?" Skyla asked.
"This move was to originally give Vire aerial capabilities to make up for his lost speed upon evolving to help catch your Flying types," Nate decided to reply. "Then I see a gliscor, and the utility just suddenly doubled."
While it looked like Vire was floating in midair, the occasional electrical current that ran through Vire's fur and down back to the ground showed that the discharged electricity was propelling Vire up and keeping him away from the earth.
Skyla internally swore to herself. Thanks to this hat trick, her gliscor's most effective way to take out Vire was ineffective, as Vire was levitating in the air, and thus is immune to Earthquake as a result. She knew she should have ended the match quickly; now it looked like the match would fall into his favor.
"Stone Edge!" Skyla hastily yelled.
"Discharge! Ice Punch!" Nate yelled back.
Vire's fists encased in self-generated ice as Vire jumped at Gliscor thanks to the powers of the Magnet Rise. Gliscor flew back before shooting several jagged rocks at Vire, which Vire responded by discharging the electricity within him to break down the rocks shooting at him. The Discharge acted as a barrier that broke down every Stone Edge shot at Vire, where the electric gorilla was free to leap across the air at Gliscor. Before Gliscor could react properly, Vire tackled Gliscor, before leaping up and slamming one of his ice-coated fists into the scorpion's head. As Gliscor flinched from the Ice Punch, Vire slammed both fists onto Gliscor's back, slamming the Ground-type into the ground with a loud crash.
"Gliscor!" Skyla cried out. The dust cleared from the impact of the crash, and the scorpion was found unconscious.
With the match over, Vire dispersed the electricity, making him fall to the ground and land near Nate.
"Good job," Nate said to Vire.
"-Yeah,-" Vire replied. "-Sheesh, that felt weird floating in midair like that.-"
"At least it worked," Nate shrugged.
"You did great, Gliscor," Skyla comforted her fallen Pokémon before recalling it, and then facing Nate. "That was amazing! You managed to overcome the matchup beautifully!"
"Thanks," Nate muttered.
"Y'know, seeing you beat me in spite of a bad matchup," Skyla said. "It kinda reminds me of a trainer 2 years ago who beat me in a similar fashion."
"Huh?" Nate asked.
"Yep," Skyla nodded. "A boy came here and beat me in a gym battle; with the last matchup being his accelgor versus my strongest Pokémon, and still won. Y'know, you kinda look like him too."
"I see..." Nate muttered, having an idea of who she was talking about.
"Alright, there's one more battle," Skyla said. "Let's get a move on!"
Nate recalled Vire as he stepped off the arena, glancing at Hugh, who was getting ready.
"Don't screw this up," Nate muttered as he stepped next to him.
"I know," Hugh replied as he stepped up with a pokéball in hand.
"The field's kinda of a mess though," Skyla said sheepishly as Hugh stepped up. "Do you want me to fix it up before we begin?"
"I'm sure that won't be necessary," Hugh told her, making the gym leader tilt her head in confusion. "If you're a Flying-type expert, then surely you should recognize this."
Hugh then proceeded to let Tornadus out into the open. The Flying-type legendary Pokémon let out a mighty roar as he spread his wings out wide, causing a strong gust of wind to burst from him, before landing on a jagged rock.
"I-Is that Tornadus?!" Skyla gasped, left in shock and awe by the legendary Pokémon that graced her presence. "Where did you get such a powerful Pokémon?"
"Yeah," Hugh responded. "Just as we got here, actually."
"Incredible..." Skyla said, before snapping herself out of the awe of Tornadus. "No. I gotta focus and go all out here!"
As her final Pokémon, Skyla sent out her signature Swanna. The swan looked at her opponent and was sent in shock at the sight of it being Tornadus.
"Focus, Swanna! This one's gonna be a tough one!" Skyla told Swanna, who managed to regain her composure.
"This is gonna be our first battle," Hugh told Tornadus. "The opponent is strong. Don't let your guard down."
"-Just leave everything to me, boy,-" Tornadus cawed in reply, even though he knew Hugh could not understand him. "-Let me see just how good you are in command.-"
As the final battle was about to begin, Rosa could not help but glance over to Nate, who was standing next to her but watching the upcoming battle. His gaze had not changed at all from when he headed off into battle. It was still bitter cold. Eventually Nate decided to glance back at Rosa, having noticed her staring at him for a while.
"If you have anything to say, then say it already," Nate growled.
"Y-You noticed...?" Rosa asked.
"I can't exactly not notice you staring at me for a while," Nate rolled his eyes. "So? Out with it."
"I–uh..." Rosa mumbled. She did contemplate on trying again to see if Nate would tell her his secret, but even she was not foolish enough to believe it would go well this time.
"...Alright if you're not gonna say anything, then allow me to voice something," Nate said. "What's up with you?"
"Eh?" Rosa asked.
"Ever since Driftveil you've been acting weird. Weirder than usual," Nate said. "Like you're acting all soft and not your usual haughty ass self. Not to mention you're acting like you have a grudge against Yancy half of the time. You're like glaring at her for the most parts. What's up with that? She did something to piss you off or something?"
'Like steal you from me...' Rosa thought darkly, but did not say it. "Oh there's something wrong with me maturing?"
"You got that maturing shit half right, I guess," Nate said. "But mature people don't just glare at someone else who did absolutely nothing without a reason."
"And you're one to talk?" Rosa asked incredulously to defend herself.
"At least I have a reason to be pissed right now," Nate retorted. "So what's yours? There another thing you wanna chew me out on? You've been doing a good job doing that lately."
"...Alright then," Rosa said. "You mind telling me the reason why Yancy joined our group in the first place?"
"Keh! You decide to ask that now of all times?" Nate scoffed. "That's her own personal reasons. I would snitch, but even I'm not that much of a dick to disclose her own personal reasons."
"...Would those personal reasons be that she ran from home?" Rosa asked.
Nate's gaze suddenly turned to her. Rosa smirked. She knew she caught him.
"You wanna know where I disappeared to back in Driftveil?" Rosa asked. "I actually ran into Curtis. Apparently his little sister Yancy ran away from home, and he's been looking for her. You wouldn't think that the Yancy with us is the same one he's looking for, would you?"
"And what of it?" Nate asked.
"You're just helping her run away from home by letting her travel with us, aren't you?" Rosa accused.
"And what? That's what you're mad about?"
"She could simply be using us just to get away from home and you're okay with that?"
"Please, she's too soft to manipulate people," Nate scoffed incredulously.
"And how would you know that?" Rosa demanded. "What she's letting you have your way with her like a whore!?"
"HAH!?" Nate blurted, turning towards her. That statement was definitely not what he had expected to hear from her. "What the hell are you talking about?!"
"You heard me!" Rosa yelled. "I bet that sloozie gave you some sob story to try and convince you to let her hide, and when that didn't work, she just offered her body to you like a slut!"
"Okay you're actually going crazy right now. Calm the fuck down," Nate said. Rosa calling him out on hiding Yancy from her family was one thing. Now she was just going completely insane on baseless (and tactless) claims, and honestly Nate would rather that she just called him out on his bullshit than this.
"Why!? Why do you care about her that much?! Why do you treat her so much better than me!?" Rosa went on, having lost complete control over her composure and letting all the demons she had been storing away ever since Nimbasa out in an emotional tirade. "What, did you like doing it with her that much!? What, you love her or something because of it!? I was here first! I was with you longer than she was! WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME THE SAME WAY THEN!?"
"Alright bitch calm down, you're actually going insane right–," Nate continued to try to calm Rosa down, before catching onto that last part. "Wait what did you just say?"
"Eh?" Rosa snapped out of her emotional rampage, having realized what exactly she just blurted out. Her cheeks slowly became red as she could not help but stare helplessly at Nate, who only gave her a confused glare.
Fortunately for Rosa, the battle had already began with an explosive start right before she blurted that out, garnering everyone's attention towards the battle and away from Rosa's emotional spiel.
"Swanna, Ice Beam!" Skyla went on the offense immediately, knowing that Tornadus was an opponent that needed to be taken out as soon as possible.
Swanna immediately charged icy energy in her beak, before firing it off at Tornadus. The green muscular bird spread out his wings, before taking off into the sky within seconds, evading the Ice Beam with ease.
"Hurricane!" Hugh yelled out.
Tornadus instantly flew above Swanna, before firing off several blades of air. The blades swarmed on Swanna, before forming into one violent storm that threw the Water-type adversary all across the arena.
'Thankfully, Plasma was kind enough to give Tornadus a rather potent moveset,' Hugh thought to himself. 'Along with training up Tornadus. Let's put that to the test, shall we?'
Swanna was eventually set free from the Hurricane, but Tornadus was persistent. The legendary bird nose-dived to Swanna, ready to continue the onslaught.
"Swanna Surf!" Skyla quickly yelled.
Swanna barely avoided Tornadus' strike, before creating a blue orb and launching it behind her. The orb crashed into the ground, before forming into a giant tidal wave that charged towards Tornadus.
"Heat Wave!" Hugh yelled in retaliation.
Tornadus reeled his wings back, before flinging them violently and creating a huge gust of blisteringly hot wind aimed at the incoming wave. The Heat Wave collided with the Surf, which caused the water to mostly become steam and instantly weakening the attack. What was left of the Surf attack managed to power through and hit Tornadus, but he shrugged it off with ease.
"No way...!" Skyla gasped.
Before Swanna could react, Tornadus already shot towards her and grabbed her by the neck with his two claws.
"Slam it into the ground!" Hugh ordered.
Tornadus smirked, before performing a backflip while holding Swanna, before slamming her into the ground on the landing. Tornadus continued to do multiple more backflips while smashing Swanna into the ground, before hurling the bird straight back into the air.
"Hurricane!"
"Swanna you too! Hurricane back!"
Tornadus shot several blades of air at Swanna. Swanna, in response, managed to recover and shoot her own blades of air at Tornadus. The two attacks collided, causing a huge storm to invade the arena. Tornadus held his ground, refusing to let the Hurricane take ahold of him.
"Now, Ice Beam!" Skyla commanded, seeing an opening with Tornadus resisting the Hurricane.
"Meet it with Focus Blast!" Hugh retaliated
Swanna charged an Ice Beam from where she was and shot it straight at Tornadus. Tornadus saw it coming, and charged a light blue orb within his wings and hurled it at the incoming Ice Beam. The two attacks collided just like the Hurricanes, before exploding into a mass of energy.
"Acrobatics!"
Tornadus let go of the ground and charged into the storm at a blinding speed. Swanna braced for the impact, but Tornadus flew past her. Confused, Swanna looked around to find Tornadus, but was met with a claw struck into her back from behind. Tornadus flung her to the side, before speeding past Swanna and appearing in the direction where he flung her at. Tornadus then kicked Swanna into another direction, before speeding over to where she would reach, and repeating the process many times, kicking her around in the storm like a one-man soccer game.
"End this Tornadus!" Hugh ordered.
"-Very well!-" Tornadus bellowed as he finally decided to end the kicking spree by slamming his tail onto the bird, sending her crashing back to the ground. The Hurricane began to die down, as Swanna struggled to get back up in spite of the pain she was feeling right now.
"Swanna...!" Skyla gasped.
As Swanna gagged in pain, Tornadus ruthlessly struck down and slammed one of his claws into the bird's face, forcing her into the ground while destroying the arena once more. The Hurricane eventually died down, leaving a rather unscathed Tornadus looming over a completely battered Swanna.
"Swanna!" Skyla cried out.
"...Maybe you went a little too far..." Hugh mumbled. He was aware of how strong Tornadus was, but that was just a massacre.
"-Keh! You really think a hardened veteran like me would hold back in battle?-" Tornadus scoffed as he got off of Swanna, allowing Skyla to go treat her of her injuries. "-Holding back will just get you killed. And especially against that bastard Thundurus; that's something I refuse to allow.-"
"...You know I can't understand you, right?" Hugh asked Tornadus. "But...I can get the gist of it from your tone..."
Skyla sprayed a hyper potion on Swanna, before recalling her into the safety of her pokéball. "You did really well out there. Take a nice long rest."
"Uh...I'm sorry..." Hugh muttered as he walked up to Skyla, feeling guilty over the one-sided battle.
"Ah–No, don't be!" Skyla assured Hugh. "You just played to the strengths of your Pokémon and went all out. There's nothing to be ashamed of from there. I knew what I was getting myself into the moment I saw Tornadus..."
Tornadus eyed the red-haired gym leader, before huffing in response, earning a groan from Hugh.
"Although...Tornadus listened to your commands flawlessly," Skyla said. "As expected from the trainer who caught him, but that's still a pretty good amount of trust, considering you caught him literally hours ago, I would assume."
Hugh perked up, before glancing up to Tornadus. The legendary bird glanced back at Hugh, before shrugging in response.
"I'd like to think that..." Hugh said.
"Regardless! That was an amazing battle!" Skyla said. "And per the gym rules, all three of you won your individual matches, which means all three of you have officially cleared the gym!"
Hugh smiled before turning back to Rosa and Nate, where his expression suddenly became confused. Rosa looked completely and obviously embarrassed, while Nate looked confused, but his glare was back to stone cold. Nate then noticed Hugh and Skyla, before punching Rosa in the arm to snap her out of her stupor, and heading over to the duo.
"Uh...what happened?" Hugh asked Nate.
"I don't fucking know anymore," Nate grumbled.
Hugh turned to Rosa, who refused to even spare a glance at him.
"Are you guys alright?" Skyla asked.
"Yeah. Just some...complications..." Nate managed to say. "Don't worry about it."
"...If you say so..." Skyla said, still skeptical of them, but moved on. "Anyways, congratulations you three! You're all fantastic trainers! My Pokémon and I are happy because for the first time in quite a while-about two years, I'd say-we could fight with our full strength! And as reward, here you go!"
Skyla took a case out of her pocket and opened it up, presenting the trio with three feather-like badges, along with a light blue disc underneath each of them.
"The Jet Badge! Along with TM no. 62, Acrobatics!" Skyla said, as they all took their prizes. "Although I couldn't use it as properly as I hoped during the challenge. I do hope they'll be of great use to you all!"
"Thanks," Hugh said on behalf of the group, seeing as how Nate and Rosa kept silent the whole time.
"From what Professor Juniper told me, this should be your sixth badge," Skyla said. "So that means the next gym should be in Opelucid! That reminds me..."
The group turned to see Professor Juniper rushing over with an excited grin on her face, along with Yancy trailing behind.
"That was AMAZING!" Juniper exclaimed to the trio. "You all showed such remarkable skills out there! Rosa for showcasing the expertise she clearly had in her Pokémon, Nate for managing to turn an unfavorable matchup over its head and Hugh for that breathtaking display of Tornadus! You three were amazing!"
"Thanks," Nate muttered.
"Uh Professor," Skyla said. "About that flight..."
"Oh yes! It's getting pretty late," Juniper said. "...How long would it take to go from here to Lentimas Town?"
"If we go on plane right now, we should be able to reach it by tomorrow morning," Skyla replied.
"Ah, excellent! That'll be just fine!" Juniper proclaimed. "How about it? Would you four like to come with?"
"We don't really have much of a choice, do we?" Hugh said.
"I guess," Juniper chuckled sheepishly. "Alright then, after a quick stop to the pokécenter, we'll get ready for an overnight flight!"
With that in agreement, everyone began to head out of the gym via a passageway that kept them safe from the violent gusts the gym made as an obstacle. With Juniper's words still stuck in her head, Yancy approached the trio.
"Good job out there you guys," Yancy said, before noticing a rather heavy mood among them. "Uh...is...is everything alright?"
"Ah?" Nate asked tiredly. The boy stared at Yancy, before glancing to Rosa, and then back to Yancy. "Don't worry about it. Let's just get out of here."
Nate quickly ended the conversation by going ahead. Confused, Yancy turned to Rosa for answers, but the bun-haired girl took one look at Yancy and scowled, before trying to catch up to Nate.
"What...?" Yancy asked, desperately confused.
"Believe me, I'm just as confused here too," Hugh sympathized with Yancy. "Let's just go."
Seeing no other option, Yancy complied, before the two of them caught up with Nate and Rosa. Hugh merely shook his head in exasperation. The good thing that came out of this experience? At the very least Nate openly admitted that he trusted Hugh at least to a varying degree. The bad thing? Not only did both he and Rosa fail to learn what exactly Nate was hiding, it seemed like whatever happened between them while Hugh was busy fighting not only failed to get answers, it also apparently made a heavily awkward aura between them.
"When the hell did I become the straight man in this," Hugh sighed. "To think I was probably way more bull-headed than Nate two months Nate was the one who had everything under control two months ago."
As if things were not already complicated to begin with.
After a quick trip to the pokécenter, the group had gathered around a rather impressive looking plane parked on the runway of Mistralton's National Airport's Cargo Service.
"Alright, is everyone good? Anything you need to do before he take off?" Skyla asked. "Ready to hop onto my plane?"
No one made any objections, which was enough of a signal for Skyla.
"Alright then! Then let's get ready to–."
"WAAAAAIT! WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!"
"The fuck?" Nate blurted.
They all turned to the sky, where it was none other than Bianca, riding on her own Swanna that was speeding towards them as fast as it could. Bianca's Swanna came to a halt once they were close, where Bianca herself fell off with an unimpressive landing, before getting off.
"Miss Bianca...?" Rosa asked.
"I...want to fly too..." Bianca panted. "Besides the point...how could you Professor Juniper...? You tell me to investigate Celestial Tower...and were about...to leave me behind...without telling me..."
All eyes then turned onto Professor Juniper, who had a guilty smile on her face.
"Ahaha...whoops..." Juniper nervously chuckled. "I knew I forgot something."
"That's kinda fucked up," Nate bluntly said.
"I'm really sorry Bianca! I just got caught up with everything..." Juniper apologized to her assistant.
"It's alright...At least I made it..." Bianca panted. "Oh wow I am out of shape..."
"Aaaanyway," Skyla said. "Pretty sure that counts as last minute preparations. Now let's go aboard the plane!"
The passengers began boarding the plane, while Skyla herself boarded the cockpit of the plane. The interior resembled that of a first-class pod, with many comfortable-looking seats large enough to become makeshift beds available for everyone. As everyone took their seat, Skyla made her preparations, before it was ready to take off.
"Alright, fasten your seatbelts! Cuz it's time for takeoff!"
Momentarily, the plane began to run across the runway, before taking off into the skies, leaving Mistralton and making its overnight trek to the east side of Unova.
Hours later at the dead of night. Everyone was asleep in their seat/bed. Everyone except for Skyla, who obviously had to pilot the plane, and Nate, who stared through the window next to him. The night skies certainly looked beautiful; especially with a full moon glistening through the navy blue skies.
"...In the end, there was no escaping this, huh..." Nate mumbled. "...Tch..."
Nate was internally frustrated. Under no circumstances had he wanted to be on a one-way trip to East Unova. But at this point he had no options left. He certainly could not run away without leaving suspicions. And jumping off the plane was suicidal.
Having no choice but to accept his fate, Nate rummaged through his pocket, before taking out Luca's pokéball and staring at it. Housing it was the shiny lucario, sleeping inside of it. Nate's gaze was almost caring. There were few things the boy actually cared about, and Luca was one of them.
"...I won't let him take you back there..." Nate whispered to the ball. "...No matter what..."
Unbeknownst to Nate, Rosa had woken up, staring at Nate from her bed. The argument from the gym was still fresh in her mind. After that accidental confession, Nate immediately ended the conversation there. She could still remember what he said to forcibly shut her up.
"Look this is getting us nowhere. I've had enough of you for one day."
It did not seem like he rejected her, but he certainly did not accept her confession. Rosa berated herself for losing her temperance like that, and making things more awkward than they needed to be. But for now, there was one light at the end of the tunnel.
They were reaching Undella Town. And that was where Yancy's family was at, waiting for the return of their daughter. Soon. When the sun comes up, and they reach that beautiful and renowned beach resort, Rosa would be rid of Yancy for good, and Nate would be all hers.
Hidden under her blanket, Rosa took out her Xtransceiver, before opening up its instant messenger and starting a conversation with the recipient.
R: Curtis?
R: Is now a good time?
C: Oh Rosa! What's up?
R: I managed to get Yancy with me.
R: We'll reach Undella Town by noon at worst.
C: Great! I'll let Dad know!
C: I can't thank you enough.
C: Is Yancy safe?
R: Yeah, she's fine.
C: Phew...
C: I guess I'll see you and Yancy tomorrow then.
R: Yeah.
R: See ya tomorrow. Goodnight.
C: Goodnight.
The conversation ended there, where Rosa closed her Xtransceiver with a smile, a job well done on her part.
'I'll make you love me...' Rosa thought to herself as she drifted back to sleep. 'I'll give you everything she gave you and more...and then you'll love me...'
By morning, the plane arrived to the terracotta settlement of Lentimas Town. From what could be seen, several shops had beautiful porcelain and pottery on display. To the east, a large volcanic mountain could be seen. Everyone got off the plane, taking in the view of the town that was cradled next to the volcanic mountain.
"Alright we're here!" Juniper exclaimed, stretching her arms.
"So...why did you want to go to Opelucid to begin with?" Hugh decided to ask.
"Right, I should explain why I want to head to Opelucid," Juniper said. "As you all know, Team Plasma is still running rampant even though they were taken down two years ago. You're all familiar with the Plasma Raid incident?"
"Ah yes," Rosa responded. "Their leader, N, managed to have the legendary Pokémon Reshiram recognize him as a hero, and he planned to use Reshiram to conquer Unova, separating Pokémon from trainers in the process."
"Yes," Juniper nodded. "But they were stopped by Hilbert, who managed to be chosen by the legendary Pokémon Zekrom, who defeated N in battle, before doing the same to the true mastermind of Team Plasma, Ghetsis."
While the others were compelled by Juniper's ongoing history lesson, Bianca had a rather pained expression on her face. The memories of that incident at Team Plasma's castle was still vivid to her. She, along with Cheren and Hilda had helped Hilbert defeat Ghetsis, but the madman still did a number to them, including Hilbert losing an arm in the process. Bianca still wondered where the two disappeared to two years ago. Hilbert did say that there was some things they had to deal with, and that was the last thing she and Cheren had heard from him. She truly did wonder where the two had disappeared to, and sincerely wished that they were here now, knowing that Unova needs them now more than ever.
"With both Reshiram and Zekrom are with their respective trainers, and I highly doubt neither of them would even think of joining Team Plasma after that incident," Juniper said. "Team Plasma shouldn't be able to use either of them. So it makes me wonder, just what are they planning then? Perhaps is there another legendary Pokémon in Unova that rivals Reshiram and Zekrom that we have no idea about?"
'I can think of one,' Nate thought darkly to himself.
"There's still so much about the two dragons that we don't know about, anyways," Juniper went on. "And that's why I want to go to Opelucid to meet its mayor and current gym leader, Drayden. As an expert of Dragon-types of all history, I'm curious to hear his input on the matter."
"I see..." Rosa mumbled. "And you want us to go, don't you?"
"If it's alright with you guys," Juniper said apologetically. "There are many other areas where other legendary Pokémon are said to reside, and I want to go investigate them before heading over to Opelucid. And besides, Drayden is the gym leader, so I'm sure you three would want to challenge him for a gym badge."
"...I guess that makes sense," Hugh muttered. "It's not like we have any other lead."
"I'm really sorry for pushing this agenda on you guys when I'm the one who brought you all here!" Juniper said. "I'll meet up with you guys at Lacunosa Town as soon as I can! But for the meantime Bianca will help you on the way!"
"Okay!" Bianca nodded. "I wanted to investigate Reversal Mountain anyways."
"Thanks," Juniper smiled, before releasing an unfezant from her pokéball. "Alright then! I'll see you all then!"
Juniper grabbed the feet of her unfezant, which gracefully lifted her up into the air and flew to the south of their current location, leaving the quartet and Bianca.
"Alright then, I'm needed back at Mistralton," Skyla told the group. "If you guys need a ride back, then you can always contact me and I can arrange to pick you guys up!"
"Understandable," Yancy commented. "Thank you for flying us here."
Skyla smirked in response, before getting back on her plane and eventually taking off. Now it was only the quartet and Bianca left. With nothing else to do at the town, the group headed off to the volcanic Reversal Mountain.
The interior of the mountain was, predictably, extremely hot and humid. The walls oozed with magma, discouraging anyone from standing so much as 15 feet from it to try their best to stay as cool as humanly possible. Within the interior of the magma-filled dungeon, several trainers had claimed the area for training purposes. Yancy and Bianca watched as the trio accepted challenges from the trainers in the mountain and fought against them.
The training grounds proved to be useful for the three main trainers; among the fights, Hugh's Tirtouga managed to evolve into a Carracosta, further improving his dynamics. Rosa kept trying to get Nate's attention throughout the fights, but Nate ignored the girl, focusing on demolishing all the challenges that went his way. Perhaps it was due to their last argument that Nate wished to avoid Rosa. During the midst of it all, Rosa was able to beat her challengers with Eve alone. Unfortunately for her, Eve still refused to evolve. Rosa could not help but be frustrated by this, but she knew better than to vent it out on her beloved eevee. It was not her fault after all. They just needed to get better and stronger.
As they ventured throughout the volcano, Bianca got the group's attention as they reached a catacomb hidden within the interior, wishing to explore that particular room. Bianca led the group down into the room, where they were met with a somewhat small room with magma pouring down from holes in the walls like waterfalls, pouring into a pool of lava that surrounded the main floor.
"What is this place...?" Yancy asked.
"Reversal Mountain is known for still being an active volcano in Unova, having been known for huge volcanic eruptions ages ago," Bianca explained. "This very room, I hypothesize, is where Reversal Mountain started from–where it began, and where it formed from. I believe this is where Heatran once resided."
"Heatran?" Rosa asked.
"While a legendary Pokémon not native to Unova," Bianca went on. "Reversal Mountain is a perfect place for the Lava Dome Pokémon who literally bleeds magma, just like how the lava on the walls are almost bleeding out of the walls. And I believe this very room is where Heatran used to live and cooled off when necessary. Although I do have a good idea where this particular Heatran might be right now..."
"ACHOO!"
Schwartzer sneezed, before gagging slightly as he took off his mask.
"Goddamn it..." the man muttered as he took a tissue out and wiped the snot that splattered all over the interior of his mask.
"Well that's out of character for you, oh Black Knight," Weiss commented teasingly. "Perhaps someone is talking about you?"
"Shut it,' Schwartzer grumbled as he put his mask back on and summoned his latios and rode on him. "C'mon, let's go."
"Yes Love," Weiss giggled as she sent out her latias and rode on her, where the two dragons took off to their masters' destination.
"Oh yeah," Nate muttered as they all agreed on what Bianca was alluding to.
"Regardless," Bianca got their attention. "I do wish to investigate this place further to see how much of an impact Heatran could have contributed in forming Reversal Mountain. It could also explain why a legendary Pokémon known to reside in Sinnoh is out here of all places."
After inspecting the room a little more, Bianca decided that it was enough time spent, before the entire group left the room.
"You're really well-informed Miss Bianca," Yancy told her.
"Why thank you," Bianca smiled, beaming at the compliment. "I'm not Professor Juniper's assistant for nothing, y'know!"
"Alright, so how much longer are we gonna be here?" Rosa asked. "Sorry, but I'm kinda working up a hell of a sweat right now."
They all looked at each other. Indeed, they were all sweaty, for a lack of better words. The intense heat of Reversal Mountain was mostly to blame. Hugh even had his jacket opened up from all the heat. Not even Nate was immune to the heat; the boy was working up quite a sweat.
"Thank Arceus the pokédexes are heatproof," Bianca commented. "Let's get out of here...Undella Town is close by."
Nate and Rosa shot their heads up at Bianca's statement as they all left the room and looked for the exit. Rosa's eyes were beaming. Her goal was within arm's reach. She only had to wait a few tens of minutes before she could get rid of Yancy! Nate, on the other hand, glared in response, clutching onto Luca's pokéball.
By the time the group managed to finally escape the volcanic dungeon, the sun was bright in the sky, indicating that it had become noon. They were greeted to a large, beautiful looking beach that spread out the horizon. That was the indication everyone needed to know that they have indeed reached Undella Town, one of Unova's two finest beach resorts. The thing that stood out to them as they entered the town was the gigantic, luxurious mansion that seemed to dwarf the other buildings and seem out-of-place in the town.
"This place is beautiful..." Bianca said in awe. "As expected of the beach resort of Unova."
"Yeah," Yancy said in awe. "What do you guys think?"
She glanced over to the trio. While Hugh looked indifferent about the beach resort, Rosa looked absolutely beaming with a rather devilish-looking smirk, while Nate had a rather cautious look, making himself look obscure, almost as if everyone around him was an enemy.
"Yeah, it's great alright," Rosa said, giving her a rather heated glance.
"Uh...okay..." Yancy mumbled, unnerved by Rosa's look, before glancing at Nate. "A-Are you alright?"
"Ah..." Nate muttered, not paying much attention to her.
Hugh eyed both his companions. There was something up; that was clear.
"Alright then," Bianca said, seemingly not noticing Nate and Rosa's change in attitude. "Let's get some rest at the pokécenter, and then we'll head on our way to Lacunosa Town."
As they made their way to the pokécenter, Rosa's eyes were darting around the area, looking for a certain someone.
'Come on, where is he?' Rosa thought to herself. 'He should be around here by now!'
"YANCY!"
As if on cue, Rosa's smile grew. Everyone turned around to see one lime-haired boy rushing up to them, with a pink-haired man, along with a rather plump, cynical-looking elderly man with two large men in black trailing behind.
"C-Curtis...?" Yancy stammered as Curtis embraced her in a large hug.
"You're alright!" Curtis exclaimed with joy.
"W-What're you doing here?" Yancy asked, all the color draining from her face.
"We were here for business," Curtis explained. "And we found out that you were in the area!"
"Wha–How–?" Yancy asked, before freezing up at the sight of the pink-haired man. "D-Dad..."
"Yancy," the man said; his expression the polar opposite of Curtis' expression of joy. "...You had us worried, you know."
"R-Right...Sorry..." Yancy mumble weakly.
"We'll talk about it later," he said sternly.
"Yes sir."
While Rosa found herself surprised and confused at how harsh her father was to his own daughter, it did not matter to Rosa at the moment. She finally did it! She managed to reunite Yancy with the family she was running away from this whole time! Now they would take that pink-haired vixen away and they would not have to deal with her anymore!
Now Nate was Rosa's! He was all hers now! Everything was PERFECT!
"That's him men."
Before anyone could realize it, the two men in black behind the elderly man suddenly lunged at Nate, who tried to escape but failed. The men slammed the boy to the ground, restraining him to make sure he could not do anything to resist.
"...Eh?" Rosa asked, as everyone's eyes were on the struggling Nate.
"Mayor Riches?" the man asked the elderly man, who walked over to the boy with a rather sadistic grin.
"We meet again, boy," the old man, Mayor Riches said with a snide tone.
The men forced Nate to look up to Mayor Riches, where the boy furiously glared at him.
"You...!" Nate snarled.
"He should still have her," Mayor Riches said. "Search him."
One of the black men forced his hand through Nate's coat and pockets, before finding one particular pokéball. The man took out a sort of tool and prodded at the ball, before a blue light shot out from it, releasing Luca out of the ball.
"No–!" Nate yelled.
"-Huh? Nate?-" Luca asked, looking around. "-What's going–?-"
Her eyes stopped at Mayor Riches and his infuriatingly slimy grin, before her eyes widened, and panic rose within her.
"-No...No no NONONONONOO!-" Luca screamed, backing off.
Luca tried to jump back, but a darmanitan shot out from nowhere and slammed her to the ground.
"LUCA!" Nate cried out.
From behind the darmanitan, the arrogant presence of Miles waltzed over, an equally arrogant smirk plastered on his face.
"There's no running away for you," Miles taunted Luca.
"Thank you Miles," Mayor Riches said, as he stepped up to Luca.
"Anytime, Grandfather," the boy replied.
The old man looked down on an uncharacteristically terrified Luca. "It's been ages. It's good to finally have you back."
"Wait what the heck is going on?!" Bianca yelled, finally breaking through the chaos as Luca tried to break free from Darmanitan's grip.
"Ah yes, I should properly introduce myself," Mayor Riches decided to explain. "I am Mayor Zillion Riches, mayor of Undella Town. And this rat..."
Mayor Riches pointed at Nate as he said that.
"This rat broke into my luxurious home three years ago and stole a shiny riolu from my possession."
To be continued
AN: There was a little more to the last segment, but honestly this cliffhanger was too good to not do. Call me evil sure, but this was too good to pass up.
And now we find out about one of Nate's darkest secrets: Luca was never originally his and he stole her from her original owner. But then again, there's probably more to the whole story than what's initially seen here. What happens now? Well that's for the next chapter.
Not gonna lie, I was kind of surprised no one bothered to ask how Nate even got Luca in the first place. I guess it wasn't that important of a question to ask I suppose, what with everything else going on. And now for team updates:
Nate: Bo (Emboar) / Vire (Electivire) / Brav (Braviary) / Deo (Keldeo) / Zoro (Zoroark)
Rosa: Eve (Eevee) / Ottavia (Dewott) / Nina (Arcanine) / Mandi (Mandibuzz) / Gustav (Amoonguss)
Hugh: Flygon / Servine / Magmortar / Carracosta / Heracross / Tornadus-Therian
Yancy: Audi (Audino) / Teddi (Ursaring) / Snor (Snorlax) / Toge (Togekiss)
This is probably the first time I had to remove someone from a roster. Goddamn.
And now we're done with this chapter. I'm really excited for the next chapter, since that one in particular is going to make one huge reveal that I'm sure everyone's been wanting to happen. And now, onto the QnA. If you're not interested in it, however, then I'll see you next time.