Chapter 12: Let the Flags Fly and All Hell Break Loose
A/N: So…. Hope to find a routine for writing in my new life now, probably on weekends. Side note, written much after the rest of this AN. I've put my other two stories on hold to work on this, and after this I hope to get a chapter out every week or every other week. 100K Words! LET'S CELEBRATE! R & R folks.
Alfa19
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Ethan's eyes snapped open all of a sudden, giving him a view of the room, wide awake. Sunlight was streaming through the window, and like the previous day, Blake was asleep on her bed. He glanced at the plain silver watch on his wrist with its exposed gears. The time read six in the morning. Ethan looked around the room once more, making sure nothing was out of place, trying to figure out what woke him up. Then he felt it. There was a small needle in his watch, which was set at any fixed time, so that when the gears pushed past it, they activated a vibrating alarm without jarring him.
Ethan sat up, wondering why on earth he had set his alarm for six in the morning, and then it hit him like a brick. He scrambled out of bed as quietly as he could and rushed to get dressed. He managed to fit in a quick shower and get to the cafeteria for a bit to eat. He found himself a seat, which wasn't hard considering there was only one other person awake, and shoveled the meager breakfast he had taken down his throat, his mind drifting off to the day before. He had walked out of the gym doors, physically drained, having decided to work in the gym a bit while his Pokemon went about their training, checking on them periodically.
Chuck had put Riolu through its paces before he began the real training, having Riolu train with his Hitmonlee and his Hitmonchan to use its limbs effectively in battle. It was rigorous, but Ethan could already see changes and improvements in Riolu's fighting style when he walked over at the end of the day.
"Be back here at around six tomorrow. You won't leave before the end of the day unless it's to eat. That my friend, is one thing I understand." Chuck had laughed, patting his hard stomach.
Ethan placed his tray and silverware on a rack and dashed out of the cafeteria, drawing stares from the workers. Sprinting the whole way from the Pokemon center to the gym, he made it there by six fifteen, walking in the glass doors not a minute later. The gym had one trainer working on the stone ledges, and then there was Chuck standing under his waterfall.
Ethan pulled a repeat of the day before, climbing up the ledges to pull the cogs and change the water flow. It took him another five minutes, but by the end of it, the water wasn't flowing onto Chuck anymore, and he had dropped his massive barbell, having noticed Ethan.
"Good! You're here!" His booming voice filled the gym as he climbed down the pathways to the ground, followed shortly by Ethan. "Bring out your Pokemon and get on with your own training while I work with that Riolu of yours. It's a mighty quick learner for sure!"
"Yes sir." Ethan reached for his belt and released Riolu first, motioning to Chuck, who was waiting for the fighting type so that he could begin training.
Ethan watched Chuck walk off to the battlefield with Riolu, releasing his own Pokemon, Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee, in order to help him train the little cub. He turned to his left, facing the empty training area and began walking. The area was treated so that attacks did little to nothing to it unless they were fairly powerful, allowing trainers to train as hard as they wanted in the place. The floor was covered in mats of some substance which was solid enough to walk on, but when damaged reformed and set itself so that there was no wound. On top of that, after asking Chuck the previous night, he had also learnt that they somehow passed healing serum into a Pokémon's body when they stood on the mat, or were in contact with the mat, therefore making it so that Pokemon could spar or train for much longer in the training area.
He reached the partition and stepped over the foot high wall surrounding the training area, feeling the slight tugging on his navel that he had been told came from a psychic barrier designed to prevent attacks from getting through, but to let anything else through. He stepped off onto the other side, reaching for his belt. He released Typhlosion first, scratching the fire type on its back where it couldn't reach for a minute before he continued.
He released Feraligatr next, then Specter, Scyther and Gliscor. One of people at the gym had been very helpful the previous day, aiding him in teaching Typhlosion Brick Break. Now he was working on another move with Typhlosion, which he had been given guidelines for: Focus Blast. It would be invaluable against Pokemon like Houndoom, against which fire was useless, and against rock and ground types. He was once again taking advantage of being in a fighting type gym, mere feet away from a fighting type master, and was teaching Gliscor Drain Punch before he moved onto Earth Power, partially because using earth power would burn through the mats from below and he didn't know if they could come back from that. Scyther and Specter were as they had been previously, sparring to work improve their own abilities.
"Okay guys, same drill as yesterday for the most part. Gliscor, we're working on Drain Punch today instead of Drill Run. I think we got that down last night. Typhlosion, we'll move on to Focus Blast. It's ranged contact force, which gives you a better chance using it against Steel, Rock or Ground types which have strong defenses for physical attacks. We'll set about this and then I'll go to the gym section and work out, because I may as well. Like yesterday, I'll come back to check on you guys periodically so that I know how we're doing." Ethan explained.
Scyther nodded and moved off to one side, waiting for Specter, and Feraligatr took its own place to practice or rather learn Dragon Tail. Ethan took Gliscor and Typhlosion off to one side, where there were dummies that were designed to act like batteries, for the sake of learning moves like drain punch.
"Okay, so focus blast. You recall the fighting type contact force the man yesterday helped you harness right? You need to channel pure contact force into a concentrated sphere which you launch at something. You've seen Riolu use it, you should have some idea." Ethan told Typhlosion, turning to Gliscor.
"You on the other hand have never done this before…. Hmm… Let's see…. Okay, how about this… You know how to use thunder punch, fire punch and ice punch. Let's think of this as those with a different energy first. Get some help from Typhlosion in harnessing the fighting type contact force, and then first just go for the punch part. We can always work on drain later." Ethan suggested, leaving them to it.
He walked across the gym by the sides of the battlefield, stopping to watch Chuck and Riolu. They were going through their exercises first, moving to align themselves to different forms, and lashing out at thin air. Keeping an eye on them, he continued on to the gym section of the building, where there was one man using a chest press. He picked up a set of gym clothes from the bench where they were stacked and went to the changing room, quickly getting dressed. He walked out, his clothes in a locker, wearing a sleeveless jersey and sweatpants that he had to tie tight because they were a tad loose.
Seeing a mirror, he stopped by it and examined himself in it, taking in how traveling had changed his body for the first time since Goldenrod. He had talked to his mother the previous night.
"Eat properly! Traveling takes a lot out of you! I bet that when you come back you'll be two or three inches taller, have no excess fat and probably have a beard!" She had chided him over the phone, leading Ethan to wonder just how much he had changed.
Traveling had indeed stripped all of the excess fat from his body, leaving his jawline clearly defined and his muscles visible to anyone despite the fact that they weren't really big. He was fit, but he wasn't a weight lifter or a boxer or anything. He played basketball at school, which had however done wonders for his stamina, which in turn explained why he wasn't sore the first night of his journey. His arms weren't as thin as some people he had seen, and he had a decent amount of muscle. His arms, his legs and his chest had toughened up over the past couple of weeks as well. He didn't however have a beard, and what stubble did grow, he shaved. He turned around, wondering for a second whether Megan would like his new physique. His cheeks heated up at the thought and he pushed it out of his head, making for the machines lined up against the wall to start off.
By lunch when he checked on his Pokemon, they had made considerable progress. Typhlosion was able to charge up a Focus Blast, albeit a small one, and slowly at that. And Gliscor was getting closer to getting the hang of punching using fighting type contact force. Ethan had decided to sit down and watch his Pokemon after lunch, until he was able to go use the machines again. He had been about to return to the gym section, having taken an hour and a half after he had eaten, when Chuck dropped by.
"I noticed you're doing some physical conditioning of your own kid." He remarked, looming over him.
"That I have sir." Ethan replied, standing up.
"Well then. Show me what you've got. By which I mean run as fast as you can, for as many laps around the gym field. If you're fit enough, I'll teach you how to fight." Chuck stood back, giving Ethan space to get started on his laps around the battlefield.
Grinning, Ethan stood up and checked the laces on his shoes, making sure they were tied before he took off. He managed to run for a good amount of time before he stopped at the edge of the field, where Chuck had stood the entire time, shouting out orders to his Pokemon on the battlefield.
"Impressive. What did you do at school? Track and field? Athletics?" Chuck asked, sizing him up.
"Basketball sir." Ethan replied, catching his breath.
"Well then… Let's get to the gym and put you up against a punching bag. You shouldn't have too many problems learning to knock out an opponent if you ever need to."
Ethan nodded, following the massive man down to the gym, where he spent the remainder of the day, learning to fight. Chuck watched over him and the Pokemon on the battlefield at the same time, shouting orders that occasionally got mixed up between the two of them.
By the time Ethan left the gym that evening, he was battered and bruised, having fought three rounds against another of Chuck's trainees. He had lost the first two, but managed to spar with the other man until Chuck called time on it and they called it quits for the day. His Pokemon had made progress as well. From what he could infer through Riolu, Specter was able to reform at least one more time than he could have previously, and Scyther had gotten much better at finding seemingly random patterns in movement to attack based off of. Gliscor had managed by the end of the day to get far with plain fighting type punches. Typhlosion was still working on the size of the Focus blast though. Feraligatr however, had had nearly zero luck. It was still producing a meager number of blue sparks at most.
Ethan stepped out the glass doors for the last time, into the fresh air of the evening. It was around seven thirty, and the first place he headed was down to the docks to the Loan Vessel. The ship was bobbing gently in the tide, a long dark form lurking around it in the ocean. The crew were sitting on the deck, eating something. Ethan walked up the gangplank, knocking on the small gate at the end.
Callie looked over, and seeing him, came to unlock the gate.
"Good evening lad. What can I do you for?" McAllister asked, putting down a sandwich.
"I'd like to leave tomorrow. How much for two passengers?" Ethan asked, crossing his arms.
"Eighty dollars a head after what happened last time. Fifteen hours to Olivine." The captain shrugged, standing up. "And I will not take more than that."
"Eighty dollars a head it is. If its fifteen hours… I'll be here around seven or eight in the morning then." Ethan nodded at the captain, pulling eighty dollars out of his wallet and handing them over. "My down payment. I'll see you tomorrow then."
With that, Ethan disembarked the boat and walked back to the Pokemon center, enjoying the light breeze. The city was abuzz with people roaming about the lantern lit streets, enjoying the night or simply returning home. He went straight down the road to the Pokemon center, entering the building quickly as a light drizzle started up. Once inside, he walked over to the nurses' counter, where Blake was on duty.
"Hi. Can you check these guys up?" Ethan handed over all of his pokeballs and his ID, waiting as the brunette registered them. "I set sail tomorrow, around seven or eight. Captain's saying eighty dollars a head."
"Where on earth did you get a boat to Olivine for eighty dollars a head?" Blake inquired, handing back his ID card.
"It's a small boat… And there was some mishap last time near the Whirl Islands. Long story short, the captain's refusing to take more than eighty a head. I'll see you in the morning." Ethan took his ID and walked to the room, getting a change of clothes first, so that he could shower and then go to bed.
He walked into the communal bathrooms, finding himself a stall so that he could shower quickly. He ducked inside, undressing quickly and locking the door. Once the shower was on and the hot water was streaming down his back, he relaxed, allowing himself to simply let go after a tiring day. He would set sail for Olivine city in the morning, and be there when Megan arrived. She would probably be in Olivine for a day or two, resting before she went to New Bark to get her things. He also hoped that this time he would fare better against Jasmine. He recalled her team, her Skarmory, the Magnemite, and of course, Rusty the Steelix who was in no way rusty.
Ethan mused about which Pokemon he would use in his battle against her this time as he washed up. Definitely Typhlosion, probably Feraligatr and maybe Riolu or Gliscor. Then again, it depended on whether it was still a three on three battle now that he had five badges instead of four. He picked up his clothes and got dressed once he was done, vacating the stall.
He made it to the room without any trouble and made for the bed he was using, collapsing on it. Lying down under the sheets, he set his alarm on his watch for six and turned over, slowly drifting off to sleep.
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The next morning…
Ethan woke up to the familiar vibrations on his wrist. He reached for his watch and reset the alarm ticker and then looked around the room. Sunlight was streaming in through the window, pale and bleak. It had probably rained a lot the previous night. Ethan sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Blake was lying on her bed, hair covering her face.
He stood up and walked to the door, where a sticky note had been secured with tape.
'Wake me up when you get up to leave. Blake.' It read. Ethan looked over at her, and sighing, walked over to her. He moved next to her and shook her gently through the thick sheets, stepping back as she woke up. She was clutching the pillow tightly and squinting at him in the morning sun.
"Why'd you wake me up?" She mumbled, glaring at him.
"So that you could get ready so that we could leave and reach Olivine by tonight." Ethan retorted, crossing his arms. "I'm going to go take a shower and have breakfast. I'll meet you in the lobby at seven."
With that he headed off for the showers, freshened up and went to the cafeteria. This time there was no one there except a bored looking worker behind the serving line. Ethan took a generous helping of sausages and a few pancakes and sat down, digging into the meal. He devoured everything on his plate and washed it all down with a glass of water before he headed back to the room.
Blake was nowhere to be found, so he sat down and packed up his things, ranging from his clothes to the few odd things he had removed from his bag. Checking his watch, he decided to go restock on supplies since he had plenty of time. He walked out to the pokemart, restocking on supplies, and then into the wilderness store, which had caught his eye.
It was a small building with a glass front wall made up of floor to roof panes about a meter wide joined together by some black rubbery substance to make a wall. The doors were whitewashed wood around the edges, framing a white paper screen, and the walls as far as he could see were eggshell white. The roof was thin, black and seemed to be made up of carbon fiber panels, and tilted off of the building a little bit, providing about a foot's shelter from rain. He walked inside the door, a little bell ringing as he entered.
The walls were lined with all sorts of equipment and a rack of bikes stood at the back, reminding Ethan of his own folding bike. He examined the rows of things, ranging from grappling hooks and industrial strength cable to tents and fishing rods. Picking up a bunch of cable, a grappling hook and a few other things, Ethan made his way to the counter, where a clerk scanned his items one by one.
"Good morning sir. That'll be fifty six seventy four." He smiled, fixing his glasses.
Ethan handed over the money, counting the change so that he gave the precise amount required, and took his items. Holding his bags in hand, he went to the Pokemon center and added the things to his pack. It was around five minutes to seven at the time. He gave the room a cursory glance to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything and then went out to the nurses' counter where he collected his Pokemon.
Blake entered the lobby, wearing a navy tank top and grey shorts, with a backpack slung over her shoulder. She had tied her blonde hair back in a ponytail and her eyes were sparkling.
"Now that I'm actually awake, good morning and lead the way." She gestured towards the door, checking her pockets with her other hand.
"Good morning to you too." Ethan replied shortly, leading her out the door and through the streets to the docks. The loan Vessel was at this point the only boat docked in section C, and looked ready to depart, despite how cloudy the sky was.
Ethan climbed up the gangplank and knocked on the gate, seeing Blake behind him out of the corner of his eye. A few moments later Wesley came out to open the gate, unlocking it and letting them through.
"Captain's in the bridge. You can go leave your things in the bunks below deck." He grunted, heading off to the far side of the small boat to check something.
"Welcome aboard the Loan Vessel. That's Wesley." Ethan gestured towards the deckhand as he led Blake through the sitting area down to the bunks and ditched his pack and bag on a bunk.
"Not bad." She replied following suite and then going up with him to the bridge.
Ethan slid open the glass door between the sitting area and the bridge, walking in. Callie and McAllister were examining a map on of the table screens as the windshield displayed a bunch of diagnostics being run.
"Aye lad. We'll be ready to set sail in fifteen minutes, make yourself comfortable." The captain greeted him, supplemented by a small wave from Callie as she accepted the money Blake handed over.
"Let's go and sit then shall we." Ethan asked Blake, going back to the sitting area and settling down on one of the couches. "So just to make sure I haven't forgotten anything, you came from Hoenn with a friend and you're being sent back by the friend from Olivine's harbor."
"That's about right. What do you plan on doing next?" She replied, sitting down in an armchair, which was bolted to the floor.
"Meet a friend who's returning to Johto tomorrow and then take on Jasmine again. After that I'll see." Ethan shrugged, settling down on the couch. It was going to be a long fifteen hours. "I'll continue traveling though. Its midway through September, and I might be able to get all the badges in time to register for the conference in December. Pryce and Clair are supposed to be hell to fight though. Jasmine I think I can beat this time around."
"Well good luck with that. Now I'm going to go below deck and crash for a while, because I'm more than a bit tired today." Blake stated, heading for the ladder.
Ethan shrugged once more in response, settling down on the couch. He looked out the window as they approached a line of ten foot or larger boulders sticking out of the ocean. Two dark forms emerged from the water, sending up spray. Callie's Gyarados and the captain's both took up position near it, maws perpetually open. Ethan heard the captain shout once, then twice, and then a third time. The Gyarados must have heard him, because they reared, and fired off a hyper beam each, the white hot beams of energy hitting the massive boulder directly in front of the boat. The streams of energy carved of pieces of the rock, and crushed other pieces, and simply disintegrated much of it.
Ethan placed a hand over his eyes until the perpetual glow died down and looked again. Sure enough, there was nothing on the surface of the ocean where the boulder had been. However, the boat was still not moving. The Gyarados dove and started circling again, before they lit up the ocean with their hyper beams, this time safe to watch. Ethan marveled at the show. He could see hundreds of water type Pokemon crowding around the Gyarados, coral reefs occupied by Corsola, and other things, including the base of a massive boulder which was slowly disappearing. Ethan smiled as the Gyarados finally surfaced, sending up spray again, and settled down as the boat began to move once more, carefully passing through the gap in the boulders. Once it was on the other side, running in a hundred meters wide strait between two lines of rocks, it started to pick up speed. Lying down, he dozed off right there, deciding to pass the hours as such.
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Fourteen hours and fifty six minutes later….
Ethan stood on the prow of the ship, holding onto the railing as they docked, Blake standing next to him. By his feet were his pack and bag. Wesley picked up a massive coil of chain, one end of which was looped and tossed it around a post on the docks, where a dockhand wove it through multiple hooks to secure it and then gave them the thumbs up. Callie had done the same at the other end of the boat, and it gave one final shudder as the captain killed the engines. Ethan stepped up to the gangplank, Helping Wesley lower it, and then hefted his belongings over his shoulder.
"Thank you for the transport Captain." Ethan shook their hands one by one once the captain emerged from the bridge.
"No lad, thank you for the business." He responded, shaking his hand firmly.
"Have a safe career." Ethan bade as he walked down the gangplank, followed by Blake. "I guess this is goodbye."
"So long sucker." Blake responded jokingly, shaking his hand and then walking off, not in the direction of the Pokemon center.
Sighing, Ethan through the dead streets of the market and into city proper. He made his way up the winding, sloping streets, until a half hour later, he was standing in front of the Pokemon center. He walked in the automatic doors to an empty lobby. A half asleep nurse leaned on the counter, watching a news reel on a TV mounted up on a pillar. Ethan walked up to her tiredly, waving to get her attention.
"Good evening sir. How can I help you?" She asked, yawning.
"I need a room please." Ethan handed over his ID tag, waiting.
"207. Nobody else in there right now." She handed back the ID tag, turning to the TV once more. Ethan found his way to the room and unlocked the door, locking it once inside and then went straight to bed again. It was maybe midnight, and he could fit in some sleep before he woke up to meet Megan at the docks.
The night passed quickly and when morning came, he found himself in the Pokemon section of the cafeteria, getting his Pokemon fed. He had found a brush in the bottom of his bag that wasn't for him, and was using it to groom Typhlosion while the fire type devoured the food in front of it.
He brushed the fire type's sleek blackish navy back once more, smoothing it out, then he set the brush down, watching it eat. One of the breeders working there had helped him haul out food for his Pokemon, all of them except Specter, who didn't need to eat. Typhlosion lay down as the others continued to eat, Riolu finishing next, followed by Gliscor, and lastly Feraligatr. Ethan got up and recalled them one by one, going to get himself some food as well. After all, he needed to eat, didn't he?
He scarfed down three Oran berry muffins and an egg, topped off by a glass of juice. He headed out to the docks, checking his time. It was around seven forty by the time he got there. Seeing as he was early, he walked to the information bureau and got in line, waiting his turn. It took a few minutes thanks to the number of people looking to get boats. Due to the weather in Olivine, he was once more wearing his red hoodie over a grey black shirt and jeans.
"Excuse me, when does the SS Anne dock here?" Ethan asked as he reached the front of the line.
The man in the booth, a young man with a brown beard trimmed close and hair swept back, typed into the computer quickly and then answered him. "Last radio contact was thirty minutes ago; they should dock in ten minutes. Would you like to book a cabin?"
"No thanks, I'm meeting someone." Ethan replied, walking off to the docks. He made his way to the stretch where cruise liners and massive commercial ships were docked, which was nearly as long as the stretch for fishing boats due to the sheer size of the vehicles. He sat down on a bench with a clear view off of an empty docking spot.
Five minutes passed, and he could see a large ship approaching. It was white with silver patterns adorned on the hull and the sides. There were three stories of cabins and it was one of the longest ships Ethan had ever seen in his life. He crossed his arms and waited, capping the bottle of water he was carrying. His heartbeat picked up as the SS Anne, for it was the SS Anne, slowed down to a halt in the deep port, deck hands shouting down to the dock workers to secure the boat. Ethan walked as close as he could get and waited, his heart-rate picking up as the massive metal gangplank was lowered to the docks. Passengers started to disembark, and the first person came down the gangplank, wheeling a small red suitcase.
Ethan's heart almost stopped when he saw her. She was about five foot seven, and her pale, heart shaped face was framed by brown hair drawn into a messy ponytail, some of which fell over her shoulders. She was wearing a red sweater over a tank top, slid down a bit to show her left shoulder, and jeans. Her aqua blue eyes met Ethan's and a grin formed on his face as he walked forward to meet her. She had definitely grown taller since he had last seen her as well. She picked up her pace and walked over to him.
Ethan stood still, waiting for her to approach, his mind in turmoil about what to say when he met his best friend after such a long time. She walked up to him, and without a word, let go of her suitcase and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him as hard as she could. Ethan returned the gesture, albeit without all the strength he could muster, for fear of squeezing her too hard. He took a deep breath, registering that she was wearing the same cinnamon scent as always. A minute passed and then she let go, releasing him and punching him lightly in the chest.
"Oh my god, why did you have to hit me so hard!?" Ethan gasped, buckling over to feign injury.
"Hey you!" she replied, giving him another quick hug once he was standing straight.
"Hey you." Ethan repeated, grinning once more as he took hold of her suitcase so she wouldn't have to carry it.
"Let's go sit at a coffee shop or something before we start with the talking. And I need to leave my things at my uncle's house before that, not to mention meet him." Megan sighed, grabbing his arm and leading him up the streets to one of the residential districts of Olivine, a ten minute walk away.
The area was a small housing community with three streets in it, off of the slopes of the city, with houses of all colors, including a black one, in the line. She led him to a small two story house with whitewashed walls and a sloping red tiled roof. The garden was decorated around the edges with flowers of all sorts and berry trees, and a path cut through it to the front door. Ethan walked up it behind Megan up to the frosted glass and chestnut door.
Megan reached up and rang the doorbell, waiting silently until a minute later a thin man with the same brown hair and rectangular wire framed glasses opened the door. He looked down his thin nose at Megan's face, registering who was at the door for a moment before a smile broke out on his face.
"Megan my dear! How are you? It's so good to see you back and healthy!" He hugged her, nodding at Ethan once he let go. "Ethan was it?"
"Yes sir. I was in the city and when Megan told me when she was arriving, I thought I'd go to meet her at the docks." Ethan replied.
"It's so good to be healthy Uncle Richard. I can finally go back to a normal life. Or as normal as it can be when I have to stay in Hoenn." She frowned a bit as she spoke the last sentence, but then her face lit up again as she walked inside behind her uncle, gesturing for Ethan to follow. He walked into the narrow hallway with stairs to one side and a door leading to a small dining room on the other, through the end of the corridor to an open lounge with a few embers crackling in the hearth.
"Let me just take your things upstairs." Richard said, taking the suitcase from Ethan and going out into the hall. Ethan could hear his footsteps as he marched up the steps and walked to another room upstairs.
"Let's sit here for a while and then maybe go get some coffee or something? What else were you going to do today?" Megan asked, sitting down and curling up in her chair.
"I plan on taking on Jasmine for a second time now that I have five badges, but that's about it. I just have to meet someone in a day or two, and then I'm back to roaming around Johto." Ethan replied, sitting down on a plain red couch opposite the fireplace. A few seconds later Richard came back down the stairs and sat down opposite Megan, leaning forward.
Ethan zoned out for a few moments, staring into the fire as family discussions and other things went on, waiting for it all to end.
"So, Ethan," Richard began, causing him to snap back to reality, "What brings you all the way from New Bark to Olivine?"
"Well sir, I'm taking on the gym circuit so that I can take on the Silver Conference at some point, hopefully this year." Ethan replied, sitting up a little bit.
"Wonderful. Traveling must be a great experience. Personally I never went on a journey, rather I chose to go on with my studies immediately." He sighed, sitting back.
"Uncle Richard, I was wondering if it would be okay if I could go out for a while and catch up with Ethan." Megan asked hesitantly, catching him completely off guard.
"Of course, but try and be back by lunch, your aunt's out with little Frank and Francie, getting groceries to make you a nice meal." He replied, standing up.
"I will. I was actually about to ask where they were anyway." Megan remarked, standing up. Ethan followed suite, getting up to leave. "I'll see you later."
Ethan nodded at her uncle, walking out behind her once more, onto the open streets of the little area known as The Flats, because it was one of the only parts of Olivine on entirely flat land apart from the beach and the top.
"So… Where do you want to go?" Ethan asked, putting his hands in his pockets.
"I don't really know. Let's just find any nice café." Megan shrugged gesturing forward.
"Follow me. There's a nice little one opposite the gym, but it's a little bit of a walk up there.
"Why not. You said you wanted to take on the gym again anyway, and I for one, would not mind watching." Megan remarked, wrapping her arm through his and walking with him up to the little café where he had had breakfast one day opposite the gym.
He walked into the little shop and sat down at a small table by the window, away from the chilly morning, and picked up the menu.
"This is on me. Whatever you want." Ethan stated, examining the menu slowly.
"Aww! Thank you!" Megan smiled, leaned forward and gave him a peck on the cheek, which led to his cheeks turning a fiery red.
A few minutes later they had their drinks in hand and a view of a rainy day out of the window.
"So, tell me what you've been up to while I've been gone." Megan leaned forward over the table, pushing a strand of her hair over her ear.
"In a nutshell, I began my journey in Violet City, courtesy of Lucy, and went around the region racking up badges. I just spent a few days in Cianwood, training after I beat Chuck, and now I intend to take on Jasmine once more in hopes of getting the Mineral Badge, I believe that's what it's called?" Ethan furrowed his brow.
"Oh come on, tell me everything, all the details, all the little hiccups in your journey! I've been sitting on a bed for way too long now!" Megan frowned, leaning back in her chair.
"As you please." Ethan shrugged, putting his cup to his mouth. "This may take a while though."
"I've got nothing to do." Megan retorted, smiling once more.
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Sometime later….
"That about wraps it up. I've got six Pokemon right now, soon to become five since I have to turn my Feraligatr over to Professor Elm at some point soon, and I plan on giving it one last good battle against Jasmine before I do so. Right now I've got on me Typhlosion, my first Pokemon, Scyther, my second, Feraligatr, Specter, my Gengar, Riolu and Gliscor." Ethan summed up, looking at how much space they had around them before he released Typhlosion next to his chair.
"Typhlosion, this is Megan, my other best friend. Megan meet Typhlosion."
"Aww, he looks so well taken care of, and I bet he's pretty strong if you have five badges already!" She scratched Typhlosion behind the ear and the fire type growled happily, warming up to her.
"That he is." Ethan replied, leaning back as Typhlosion lay down next to him. "So what do you want to do after this?" He asked, checking his watch. It was only ten.
"I, if you agree, want to watch you take on Jasmine." Ethan stopped the rocking motion he had going with the chair, caught off guard. Taking a moment to process it, he shrugged in reply.
"Okay."
"Wait really? You don't need to get ready or anything?" Megan sounded surprised, hands fixed to the table.
"Yeah, my Pokemon are all in top form right now, and I don't really see much point in wasting time before I battle Jasmine, so why don't you finish your muffin and we can go across the street and see if she's free."
In response, Megan scarfed down the little remainder of her muffin and stood up. Ethan picked up his copy of the receipt, having paid earlier, and walked out after her, across the street to the massive double doors that led into Jasmine's gym. Ethan wrapped his hand around the handle, smiling as he heard a small click, recalling what he had been told the last time about the door. Heaving forward, he pushed it open and walked in, holding it for Megan as she walked into the massive hall. Letting them swing shut he walked over to the receptionist's counter and pressed the little button on the bell.
The woman turned around to greet him, scrutinizing his face for a moment before she spoke.
"Hello how may I help you?" she asked, smiling faintly.
"Is Jasmine free right now or anytime soon for a battle?" Ethan asked, pulling his trainer ID out.
"She's in a battle right now, and she's free for a five badge battle right after this." The woman said, scanning his card. "Why don't you go and watch the last stretch over at the balcony. It's a seven badge battle, might be interesting."
"Thanks." Ethan replied, taking his card from her. With Megan by his side, he walked up to the balcony and stared down at the battle going on. A forty foot long Steelix, even longer than Rusty as he knew it, was coiled up on the battlefield, staring at a comparatively miniscule figure. The Machamp standing opposite it was battered and bruised, and looked extremely fatigued from where Ethan was watching.
With a start, it leaped forward, grabbing a hold of the Steelix's tail and swung it up. The ripple effect caused Steelix's entire body to rise piece by piece and then fall, creating a small earthquake, and by the time the ripple reached the section that was in the air, Steelix had its own reaction, using the momentum to complete a full twist and use that force to send Machamp flying into the wall.
"Better luck next time." Jasmine called out as the opponent, someone Ethan couldn't see very well, recalled his machamp. "Rusty, come back!"
Ethan's eyes widened as she recalled the massive serpent. Rusty couldn't have grown ten feet and to the caliber of a seven badge battle in a few days could it?
A young man with green hair and a thin red and black jumpsuit on came out of the elevator, Jasmine still standing at the bottom, with her phone in her hand.
"Ethan, if you could come down that would be great." Jasmine called up from the pit below, phone in her hand.
Wordlessly, and slightly apprehensive, Ethan stepped into the waiting elevator, giving Megan a wave, and went down. The elevator took a few seconds, but it reached the bottom of the fifty foot pit and let him out, onto the barren dirt battlefield with its chalk lines.
"Good to see you again." She greeted him, starting the walk to the center of the field.
"Was that Rusty?" Ethan asked, still overwhelmed.
"Rusty the first. You've only met Junior before." Jasmine replied, causing him to let out a pent up breath.
"Good to know. Will this be the same as last time?" He asked, gesturing towards her belt of pokeballs.
"One different Pokemon on my part, but yes the rest is the same. Three on three, single battle." Jasmine stated, walking over to her platform. Ethan walked over to his platform and closed the gate, his legs tense as the platform rose until he was once more level with Megan.
"Challenger releases first, no changes unless your Pokemon faints." She called out, picking a pokeball off her belt.
"Feraligatr!" Ethan picked the water type's ultra-ball off his belt and released it onto the battlefield.
"Bronzong!" Jasmine called out, releasing a large blue Pokemon that looked like it was a flattened out bell with engravings all over it and red eyes.
"Surf!" Ethan shouted, not wasting any time. Feraligatr leaped into action, drawing cascades of water out of thing air to fill the floor of the arena quickly, and slam into Bronzong in waves. The psychic type, for it put up barriers which weren't actual moves, tried to defend itself, succeeding to some extent. The waves slammed into a ring of invisible barriers as Bronzong vibrated furiously, trying to keep up the shield, and it was working.
"All on one side Feraligatr!" Ethan called out after he noticed the distinctive glimmer of the shields, watching Jasmine smile.
"That won't work! Bronzong may seem to be struggling, but the shields are pretty powerful!"
"Not what I had in mind!" Ethan retorted as one massive wave slammed against the left side of the barriers, swelling up over it and surging into the hexagonal area. Ethan had noticed that there was no shield above it, and used it to his advantage. After all, shields were designed to keep things out, not in. The water cascaded into the barriers, filling it rapidly and injuring Bronzong, the levels increasing until the force of the waves from both inside and outside caused them to shatter.
Ethan wrapped his hands around the railing as Feraligatr swam swiftly through the two feet of water on the field to Bronzong, its red spikes cutting through the waterline. The psychic type saw it coming and cried out, sending a massive ripple through the water which Ethan suspected was some form of psychic attack.
The ripple went underwater and hit Feraligatr hard, dazing it and knocking it off balance. It took a moment, but Feraligatr came back up and fired off a few successive water guns at Bronzong, the last three of the six which were fire making contact.
"Crunch and Brick Break!" Ethan shouted, drawing Feraligatr's attention as the third water stream hit Bronzong in the eye. The water type swam over and clamped its glowing jaws onto Bronzong's lower body, and then slammed its right arm with a rust tint to it, into Bronzong's head. The steel type made noises that sounded like a creaky bell and retaliated as fast as it could by sending a shimmering silver ball right out of its chest and into Feraligatr's arm, causing it to lose its grip.
"Dive, repeat and dive!" Ethan called out, glancing back to Megan momentarily who was enraptured by the scene in front of her, and then to Feraligatr. The water type shot out of the water and slammed into Bronzong, then clamped its jaw down on it and slammed it deep into the water using its arm.
The two Pokemon disappeared under water for a while and the water level slowly began to rise, from two feet to three feet, four feet, and finally it stopped around five feet. Ethan frowned, trying to figure out what Feraligatr was doing by increasing the water level. The only thing that would do would increase the volume, which would in turn increase the pressure. Ethan grinned as realization dawned on him. Feraligatr would be fine underwater, but it was increasing the water pressure on Bronzong by slowly increasing the water level, and in turn making it harder for Bronzong to fight by thickening the layer of water between it and the floor, thereby taking more energy out of Bronzong simply for its levitation.
"Feraligatr, Ice Fang!" Ethan shouted, hoping Feraligatr would hear him through the water. Unfortunately, this time it didn't. However, a minute later, with the tension all pent up on the surface, it rose with a bang, flying back into the water after a minute as Bronzong unsteadily rose to the surface, levitating just above the water.
"Feraligatr! Once more, surf!" Ethan shouted, the command actually reaching Feraligatr this time. As a result of the five feet of water already occupying the field, this time when the waves came, they were massive ten foot tall once, enveloping and slamming into Bronzong repeatedly.
A blast of white light broke through one and hit Feraligatr square in the jaw, sending it careening and drifting in the water. Flash cannon.
"Feraligatr, Ice Beam!" Ethan called out, ready to set the stage for whichever Pokemon he happened to choose next. Feraligatr lashed out and shot an ice beam at Bronzong, narrowly missing and hitting the water. However, instead of cutting it off, Feraligatr put more into it and swung the beam a bit, cleverly freezing Bronzong's lower half, which was dipping into the water, in place.
Now that it had its target held in place, Feraligatr let loose with another ice beam, hitting it hard in the chest and freezing it over slowly until it was cut off by a wave of psychic energy. Bronzong broke free of the ice surrounding its lower body and sent another flash cannon in Feraligatr's direction, hitting it again.
"Feraligatr! Ice beam and Crunch!" Ethan shouted out, letting the gator freeze a good section of Bronzong's body and then Bite through the ice to multiply the pain, nearly knocking it out.
"Feraligatr! Freeze the field!" Ethan called out, letting Feraligatr speed away underwater and keep up a perpetual ice beam, freezing the water from below and then building up as Bronzong recovered its bearings. Feraligatr had frozen the last couple of inches of water right after Bronzong sent out its next attack, another narrow psychic wave like the very first one which hit Feraligatr hard, damaging its scales.
"Feraligatr! Finish this!" Ethan called, out, leaving it up to the water type. It raced across the ice towards the steel type, which was finally more at ease levitating over a solid surface, and slammed its water enveloped tail into it before it had a chance to react. The impact sent it flying across the field, right to the base of Jasmine's platform, where it lay on the ice unable to get up.
"Good job Bronzong! Return!" Jasmine called out, recalling her Pokemon.
"Feraligatr! Come back!" Ethan recalled his Pokemon waiting for Jasmine to release hers, his hand already on his next pokeball.
"Well, you've seen the one different Pokemon I have, and you can guess my next two and their order very easily, so let's see how you play with that. Skarmory!" She called out, releasing her avian onto the field.
Ethan grinned, pointing his pokeball skywards as well. It was just as he had guessed after he had seen Bronzong, Skarmory, and then undoubtedly, Rusty Junior.
"Gliscor! You're up!" He called out, staring a bit below where he was aiming the pokeball and watched as Gliscor formed in the air, diving into a glide immediately and circling the arena to get its bearings.
"Game time! Mud shot!" Ethan gestured at the wary metal bird flapping about the lower half of the arena on Jasmine's side.
Gliscor dove low, going near the surface of the arena's dirt floor. Skarmory took to the air immediately, going high up as Gliscor swooped near where it was, still moving without any particular direction or pattern. With the grace of an acrobat, Gliscor pivoted midair and changed direction like a boomerang, heading straight around Skarmory. The surprised steel type fluttered off to the opposite side, falling victim to the same tactic. Gliscor, once nearly level with Skarmory, pivoted again, and swung itself at the opposing Pokemon, firing its attack off at long last. The pressurized mud hit Skarmory hard in its thinly armored chest, pushing it back a dozen feet, nearly into the wall, and taking advantage of the situation, Gliscor continued on its current path and clamped its jaw around Skarmory's left wing. It sflaming fangs started to weaken the armor and piercer through it slowly as the two struggled to remain aloft whilst entangled with each other.
Gliscor picked up its tail and tried futilely to sting Skarmory in a few places with poison sting as neither trainer made any move. Then Jasmine spoke up.
"Gliscor! Let go and fly away! Follow up with Drill Run and Ice fang!" He called out, unable to hear Jasmine's command. Skarmory dove low, using the momentum to rise high up into the arena again, to a height of nearly seventy feet from the floor of the arena, twenty feet above where Ethan and Jasmine were standing. Gliscor circled warily around the arena, its bright yellow eyes fixated on Skarmory.
"Mory now!" Jasmine shouted, pointing her finger forward.
Skarmory dashed down and Ethan clenched his fists and hoped, recognizing the attack. Endeavour dealt back all the damage that had been done to the user in one fell swoop, a very effective tool for Pokemon on the brink of collapse. Perplexingly however, Skarmory looked ok, a bit dinged up and annoyed, maybe a bit tired, but nowhere near where Pokemon usually used Endeavour.
Gliscor charged forward, ready to meet Skarmory in the air, spiraling faster and faster as it initiated Drill Run. Ethan watched the two Pokemon near each other, his heart beating rapidly, until they nearly collided head on. The persisting tornado enveloping Gliscor was keeping Skarmory half a foot from it, fixed in the air with its eerie blue glow surrounding it, each Pokemon trying to push the other back or break its attack.
Ethan watched as Skarmory dipped its head a little and his eyes widened, having watched what he guessed was the same tactic in a particularly brutal battle a year prior in the Silver Conference.
"Gliscor! Down!" Ethan shouted as loud as he could, hoping Gliscor's sharp ears could pick his voice up over the din of the wind. Skarmory did indeed dip lower, letting the slip stream flip it over until it was on top of Gliscor, and using its entire body it pushed down through the tornado, just as Gliscor relented and dove lower, allowing Skarmory to flip a full three sixty, something it hadn't intended to do. Just as the steel type was regaining its bearings, Gliscor bit it from behind with freezing jaws, right where the layers of metal folded over each other and left ice in between, letting go.
Gliscor dove low as with every single movement, Skarmory screeched from pain with the ice stuck between its armor. Ethan grinned, but then put his mind to thinking, knowing that the ice would melt very quickly now.
"Gliscor! Mud shot and drill run again!" He instructed, letting the ground type take stock of the situation and fire its attack off at a very slowly moving opponent, clipping its left wing and causing it to lose its balance.
In an instant, Gliscor charged, hitting it with drill run. Ethan's eyes widened as he noticed the blue glow around Skarmory again, and he cringed as it slammed its beak into the stationary ground type holding it against the wall.
Gliscor's pincers opened enough for Skarmory to squeeze out and flutter about the arena as the indigo flyer plummeted a few feet before it regained its balance. The two avians circled, Skarmory's wings strained by the weight of its metallic body in its current state of fatigue.
"Gliscor! End this with Drain Punch! You can do it!" Ethan shouted, praying silently that the move wouldn't backfire on him.
Gliscor dipped lower and circled beneath Skarmory, not bothering to keep its eye out above it, rather observing the shadows under it, cast by the massive lights embedded in the ceiling. Skarmory stayed up above, wary of what might come to be, but after a minute dove, knowing that one way or another, this matchup was going to end pretty quickly.
It plummeted gracelessly, looking more like a pile of scrap metal in the air than a bird of prey with its beak pointed towards Gliscor and its wings haphazardly shifting the dynamic of its fall. A white outline surrounded Skarmory's body this time, thin and tangible as it fixed its form, now a sleek silver needle. Gliscor rose to meet it, pincers at the ready, and in an instant, Skarmory's beak met Gliscor's pincer, and its tail went around Skarmory's neck, flinging it down to the ground after the attack had finished draining Skarmory of what little energy it had left.
"Mory! Return!" Jasmine called out, recalling her collapsed fighter. "That was one way to end it."
"Gliscor! You were amazing! Get some rest!" Ethan spoke, recalling his own Pokemon. "Consider Gliscor out. I'm not putting a Pokemon on the brink of collapse through more, especially when more is Rusty."
"A wise decision. I won't bother to introduce you two, since you seem to remember him very well." Jasmine called out, releasing her final companion onto the field.
Once more, just like the last time, a massive rush of air left the arena as Rusty formed on the field, a thirty foot long steel serpent capable of dealing a good bit of damage to its surroundings, if not destroying them. The gym itself was built to be Pokemon proof. After all, what good would a Pokemon gym which couldn't withstand a battle be?
"Just like last time. Come on out buddy! It's time for a rematch!" Ethan's lip stretched into a smile as he picked his oldest companion's pokeball off his belt and pointed it down towards the arena, pressing the button on the front. A thin beam of red light left the center of the ultra-ball, coalescing into Typhlosion's form. The fire type stood up, its greenish navy back towards Ethan.
"No time to waste! Start up with Flame Charge!" He ordered, watching confidently as Typhlosion sheathed itself in flames and then charged recklessly towards Rusty's coiled up body.
The steel type watched apprehensively, letting it approach for the sake of not burning itself by deterring Typhlosion. That was where its mistakes began. Typhlosion's flames were a bright, eye searing yellow, and while it was a smart decision to avoid burning itself by deterring it for Rusty, it wasn't a wise one, for it allowed Typhlosion a clear path to use that attack or simply switch to another more effective one.
"Typhlosion, all the way up to the head!" Ethan called out as with a great leap, Typhlosion avoided Rusty's swinging tail and hit its body, charging up it and letting its flames do the work for it as it rose higher and higher up onto Rusty's body.
"Rusty! Crush it!" Jasmine called out, and although in pain, Rusty coiled up its tail behind Typhlosion as quickly as it could with losing its balance to crush the fire type charging out of sight towards its head.
"Switch to lava plume and follow up by going back into Flame charge, with brick break!" Ethan shouted, stringing together the attacks so as to not give Jasmine time to react while he instructed Typhlosion. Ethan watched Typhlosion's flames go out and its momentum fall dramatically until lava spurted out of its back, serving the dual purpose of giving it a boost and of course landing all over and burning Rusty's body.
Typhlosion continued on with its path, keeping it start strong as it once more wreathed itself in flames and crashed into the hollow behind the Steelix's jaw, burning it as its own force let it stay there for a moment, before it slammed a paw into it and angled itself to land on its feet and retreat when it hit the ground.
Rusty reared in pain, evidently injured more than last time with one sequence, and severely irritated. Ethan's grin turned into a frown as Rusty uncoiled itself and reared, something it hadn't done last time.
"Rusty! Now!" Jasmine shouted, loud enough so that anyone anywhere in the gym could hear her. Ethan clutched his ringing ears for a second as Rusty leaped into the air of all things and then dove down, its winding body following it as it burrowed into the earth.
Ethan watched the dust settle nervously to see a large hole and no Rusty. Typhlosion was on all fours, as wary as he was and ready to run. Not a sound was heard throughout the entire arena until with a huge upset, Rusty burst forth from the ground and narrowly missed Typhlosion, who had scampered off to the left. Immediately Rusty returned to the ground and disappeared once more, leaving three holes in the ground.
"Typhlosion, lava plume, slow dry and quick dry!" Ethan shouted out, chewing on his lower lip as his eyes focused on his Pokemon, which was quickly pouring two types of lava down the holes, the first to injure Rusty and the second to seal of the holes to sound and light by cooling quickly. "Blind him with solar beam when he comes up!"
Jasmine's frown was visible from across the stadium as she cupped her hands and called out. "Rusty up now before it can attack!"
Moments passed and nothing happened, leaving the Maiden of Steel perplexed as her Pokemon stayed underground, planning its attack. Rusty was unaware of any commands, the stone having made it much harder for sound to get through, and Jasmine was unaware that of what Ethan had done, though he was willing to bet she would soon figure out.
Typhlosion stood at the ready with a glowing white orb in its mouth, waiting. A few more moments passed, and then with a great upheaval, the dirt a few feet away from Typhlosion was torn up and tossed into the air as Rusty exited at a high speed to dive onto Typhlosion. The attack however, ended up a failure, as a result of Typhlosion pointing its solar beam right where the Steelix came up and blinding it. Rusty fell mid jump and collapsed onto its side from the blinding light, having just come out of the darkness of its freshly created, (Or old, he didn't really know) subterranean network.
"Now! Flamethrower, lava plume and Focus Blast!" Ethan called out, watching as Typhlosion mercilessly attacked the Steelix, dealing more and more damage to it with every blow. Flamethrower did a good number to it, as did Lava plume, but Focus Blast really unhinged it and tipped the scaled heavily in Typhlosion's favor.
Rusty slammed a glowing white tail into Typhlosion and sent the fire type flying into the wall, and in that Ethan saw one thing. Typhlosion could deal a lot of damage to and even take down Rusty, but Rusty was by far more powerful in terms of brute force, which was its main tool.
"Typhlosion! Flame charge and Focus Blast!" Ethan called out as it rose again. "Let's finish this!"
Typhlosion rose to its feet and charged towards Steelix, wreathed in completely white flames as Steelix opened its own maw, glowing white. Letting the flames burn it, Typhlosion fired off one last glowing brick red sphere at Steelix as the hyper beam left its mouth.
Ethan winced as each attack met its mark and both Pokemon collapsed, kicking up a lot of dust. Once it cleared, he recalled his Pokemon, watching Jasmine recall her own.
"I want to commend you Ethan! You've certainly improved a lot since you last fought me! You've earned victory this time, and the Mineral Badge! Come to the elevator and we'll go to the stamping and badge room together!" She called out, clapping for a second as her platform descended.
Ethan flipped the switch on his own platform, waiting patiently as it descended far slowly until it reached the ground, Jasmine only a dozen feet away, having reached first. He walked over to the glass elevator and stepped in, closing the door behind Jasmine. She reached out and pressed the button with one hand, the other fixing a loose braid in her hair. Another minute passed and they were at the top of the gym once more.
The door opened and Jasmine stepped out, finally tying her hair up once more with an orange band. Ethan had felt more than a little cramped in the elevator with Jasmine's arms flailing about behind her trying to fix the braid of honey-ish brown hair.
Ethan followed her out, taking a deep breath as Megan approached them. She walked up to him and punched him in the chest before she hugged him.
"Thanks." Ethan laughed, noting how Jasmine was watching amusedly.
"Come with me, I don't tend to keep the badges on my person since my dresses don't really have pockets and I can't keep the stamping machine down in the battlefield anyway." She explained, gesturing at the sky blue knee length dress she was wearing and her white jacket.
She led the two of them to another set of steel doors, similar to the entrance, except far smaller, and equipped with a fingerprint scanner. She pressed her entire hand into it and waited a moment until the doors unlocked. With a mighty heave, she swung them open and stepped into a well-lit room with a glass roof and walls, overlooking the meadows behind Olivine, maybe a hundred feet below them. Sitting against the back wall was a machine the size of a car, which he felt resembled a massive printer.
"Come on, let's get you decked out with a badge and an engraving, and put you down in our books. Can I see your card?" Jasmine asked, walking ahead of them.
Ethan pulled it out and tossed it over to Jasmine, the latter deftly snatching it out of the air as she approached the printer. Ethan picked up the pace, walking up to the machine with Megan by his side. Jasmine turned the machine on and fed his card into it, typing in a few things as the machine spurred to life. It looked like a printer, and it sounded like one too. A minute later, while it sounded like it was scanning a document and printing something at the same time, a little metal flap retracted, revealing a cavity where Ethan thought for a moment paper would come out. It was certainly wide enough.
Paper did come out. It turned out that the machine actually did print things, just not the things Ethan needed. Jasmine took the sheet and put it in an out tray next to the machine as the noise died down. A small tray opened up and pushed out of the side of the machine, containing Ethan's card and a small grey octagonal badge rimmed in silver.
Ethan picked up his card and the badge, taking in the look of the latter, and put them away in his pocket, a wide grin stretched across his face as he felt the cold metal through the pockets of his jeans.
"Have a good day Ethan, and I wish you success on the rest of-" Jasmine was cut off by a sharp beeping sound coming from her watch. She glanced at it and frowned, turning back to Ethan.
"If you could see yourself out that would be great. I was going to say I wish you success on the rest of your journey, but I got cut off. Something's come up. As I said, have a good day." Jasmine walked swiftly out of the room, leaving Ethan utterly perplexed.
Megan began walking out towards the exit, and startled, Ethan followed, unsure of how to react to Jasmine's abrupt cutoff, and wondering what could have the gym leader of one of the biggest cities in Johto worried. Once they were out of the doors and in the open air again, Megan spoke up.
"You were awesome! You really know how to work with your Pokemon well at this point don't you!" Megan smiled, wrapping one arm through his.
"Thanks. It's been a long road to get to this point, but looking back it seems like just yesterday I was in New Bark Town." Ethan sighed, glancing at the noon sky before turning back to Megan.
"My aunt and my cousins are home now, and they want me to have lunch with them, so why don't you come with me." Megan suggested as Ethan checked his phone for messages, finding one. He quickly scrolled through it after he checked the sender and then looked up again at Megan.
"Sorry, I have to meet someone, but I can meet up with you later if you want." He shrugged apologetically as Megan frowned momentarily, thinking about what to do.
"Okay, how about this, send me a message when you're done with anything that I can't be there for and then I'll come find you." She offered, crossing her arms.
"Frankly there's nothing you can't be there for. Just text me whenever you're free and I'll tell you where I am." Ethan proposed, raising an eyebrow.
"Sure. Walk me back home though will you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course. If I didn't that would just be outright rude." Ethan smiled, setting off with her.
|\/|~^-_-_-^-_-_-^~|\/|
An hour later…
Ethan walked back up to the café by the gym, having re-read Steven's message a few times. He looked around the open inside until he found Steven dressed in a grey and white T shirt and khaki shorts rather than his usual suit, and walked through the tables to him quickly, drawing out the chair and sitting down.
"Well how's your day been so far?" Ethan asked, leaning forward.
"I've been fine. But I something's about. There's a fleet of Kaloasian ships about a day away. Battleships. Things aren't working out well between Kalos and the Unified Territories, specifically Almia. Looks like they want to take it out on Indigo. I'd rather get out of town by tomorrow morning if you can." Steven was frowning. "I've talked it over with Lance, and while I'll lend my intellect to them, I can't join in the chaos which will undoubtedly unfold tomorrow. Lance was the one who put it up first, but I shouldn't drag Hoenn into this mess just yet."
"I can understand that… politically speaking." Ethan added, tapping his fingers along the rim of the table. "I'm done in Olivine City as it is, I have Jasmine's gym badge, and I'm ready to get going."
"That's good…. Let's switch to lighter topics shall we? I've a plan that since the fighting is about to ensue here, we take my underwater vessel, I don't really know If I can call it a submarine, to New Bark and travel north of Blackthorn from there." Steven pulled a map out of his pocket and traced the route out with his finger.
"That sounds good to me." Ethan shrugged. "My next destination would have been either Blackthorn or Mahogany town anyway. And I get to stop at home, something I meant to try and work into my schedule."
"Perfect. How about we go see the vessel, I think you'll find it… different… Then we can get some lunch." Steven suggested, standing up. "It's about a ten minute ride from here if you have a bike. If you don't rent one from the Pokemon center because I'm going to say leave your stuff in the vessel for now."
"I've got one, its at the Pokemon center, which is a street down. I'll meet you back here in five minutes." Ethan agreed, standing up and walking out.
It took him just that, five minutes, to get to the Pokemon center and ride back on his bike. He found Steven waiting outside the café perched on a sleek silver bike with a black decal.
"Let's go." Steven pushed off, pedaling fast, and headed off towards the outskirts of the city, following a dirt path into the woods. Ethan kept up behind him the whole time, for about ten minutes, passing a ranger or two, until they came to a stop at an inlet large enough to be a small lake and too deep for Ethan to see the bottom. What he could see in it however, was a sleek black fighter plane like vehicle without wings in the water.
It looked like someone had taken two fuselages from a Lockheed Martin Blackbird, used one as a fuselage, cut the other one down the middle the long way and attached the two sides, shrunken a bit, to the main body, about five feet away. But it looked insane. The whole thing was about 60 feet long in total.
"This is the Nautilus. It's named after the one in the book. This is what I used to get here from Hoenn, and this isn't what I'll use to get back, mainly because I plan on sending it back from New Bark with its current pilot to test the auto pilot, because it goes pretty deep. In any case, it goes about fifty miles an hour at maximum cruising depth. What do you think?" Steven asked, turning to him with his arms crossed.
"It's amazing. Did you work on the design?" Ethan turned to him as he released Metagross to unscrew a massive hatch.
"That I did. Not too much, but I did do some of it." Steven replied. "Pass me the bags Metagross."
Ethan's bags rose into the air and glided over to the hatch, going down them and through another hatch Ethan could see before Steven climbed back out of the first hatch and secured them both, jumping the three feet to land once more. "Let's get going shall we?"
They set off for the main port after Ethan typed out a quick reply to Megan's texts, taking a leisurely ride through for a quarter of an hour until they reached the port. They biked down to the cobbled market street and pedaled slowly through the pedestrians back to the open front of the café where they had met, and sure enough Megan was sitting at table, waiting.
Ethan disembarked his bike and walked over to her, Steven walking behind him with a pleasant smile on his face. He pulled a chair out and sat down, picking up the menu and skimming through it.
"How was lunch?" Ethan asked, setting it down once more.
"Lunch was good. What have you been-" Megan stopped abruptly as the scraping of a chair against the floor drew her attention to Steven, who had pulled out the third chair at the small table. Her face paled for a moment and her eyes filled with recognition. Her mouth remained clamped shut for another minute before she finally spoke.
"You're-" She began.
"I am. I'd rather keep it quiet a bit right now for those who haven't recognized me and do have the courage to come up and interject in the midst of my own affairs." He responded with a small smile, raising his hand to call a waitress.
"How do you know Ethan? Or rather, Ethan, how do you know him!?" She asked, completely befuddled.
"That's my own story. I knew his father when I was serving a year here as part of every Ace Trainer's year abroad for training. Our paths crossed in Golden Rod City and I offered to polish his skills." Steven explained briefly, quickly ordering something to eat.
Ethan placed his own order, and Megan simply asked for a cup of coffee as the conversation went on.
"You've certainly been up to a lot." She remarked casually after a minute, taking it all in. "How rude of me! I'm Megan."
"Nice to meet you."
"That I have. I mean I did tell you everything that's happened since I left New Bark." Ethan shrugged and picked up a glass of water.
"Well then. Sorry Ethan, but I've got to head off, I have some things to take care off at home."
"Don't worry about it. I'll catch you later." he waved as she left, getting into a taxi and leaving. He and Steven sat in silence for a few minutes before Hoennian opened his mouth to resume the conversation
All of a sudden an earth shattering scream rang out from the port. Once, twice, thrice. Ethan stood up, rushing out the entrance of the café, Steven not far behind. A woman stood in the center of a shifting crowd, clearly the person who had screamed for she had her arm extended, pointing towards the ocean, and everyone was following her line of sight. The air was shimmering, a distortion fading out of existence to reveal what was actually happening.
Approaching the bay were maybe twenty massive warships lined with wood to look like sailing ships, but with their weapons in plain view. Men in white uniforms with gold and orange trimmings, naval officers Ethan presumed, stood near the prows of the ships. Flying at full mast in the light breeze were massive orange banners with a golden emblem on them, the shape of a region with a tower super imposed upon them, and words in a language Ethan vaguely recognized in a gold circle around them. The Kaloasian Flag.
Ethan saw the lips of the captain of the foremost and central ship open, and even though he couldn't hear him, he could have sworn he heard the word ringing in his head: Fire.
All hell broke loose as canons fired for the effect, and missiles were launched in the confusion from the empty canon blasts. Streams of fire spewed from the prow of each ship, licking the nearest vessels as the Pokemon came on deck to supplement the attack.
Ethan felt two arms tug on his own arms and he snapped back to reality, seeing Steven pulling him and the bikes. He clambered onto his bike and started pedaling as fast as he could as Steven kept up the rear. He heard him roar one word over the din of the shots: Nautilus. So he pedaled as fast as he could, all the way to the outskirts of the city and to the earlier entrance to the woods, where went to the Nautilus followed by Steven behind him. He could hear his heart beating, and he could hear every explosion, or every missile impact, and every canon shot, along with something along the lines of feedback in the background.
As they rode into the woods, everything quietened down, a few faint echoes of the noise in the city still audible, but to Ethan now only his racing heart and the leaves being crunched under his bike's tires were audible. It took them less time than before to reach the inlet, where they disembarked, Steven setting to work, reaching for his pokeballs and dialing someone on his phone.
Metagross was out in a flash and the hatches were unscrewed, and one by one, all three of them got in, and then it was sealed and Metagross was back in its pokeball. Steven was off the phone at this point and the Nautilus was already running, parts whirring to life, and seemingly running on their own.
The inside was amazing, a roof not too low, but not particularly high with lights embedded in it ran the length of the central corridor, with lockable retracting doors in the curved walls along the way. The corridor led all the way to the front of the ship, where it ended before what was the bridge. It was a room beyond double glass doors taking up the entire width of the front, all the way to the peaked nose, and large enough that it was fairly open, housing a massive control panel right below the window running from one end to the other, two computer control tables, one on each side, in sunken areas, and a central pilots seat, with a desk like dash in front of it, everything sunken slightly below its level.
The person sitting in the captain's seat, steering the Nautilus out of the inlet stood up once they were out and going straight on a few minutes later, shocking Ethan.
"What happened up there?" Blake demanded, crossing her arms as she addressed Steven.
"The Kaloasian navy used masking tactics to trick us into thinking they would get here tomorrow but they just attacked the port. We're leaving for New Bark, it's not safe in Olivine. My opinion, and most likely the final decision, is that you Ethan, will take a day to get your family and everything you want to take with you onboard and we'll leave for Hoenn. If there's someone anywhere along the way they can stay in, perhaps in Unova, which I know will stay neutral, we can drop them off there, and otherwise I can set them up in Hoenn." He summarized grimly.
"Wait, what?" Ethan started, standing straight as he looked at Steven in disbelief.
Sighing, the older man responded. "Indigo isn't safe anymore. Kalos attacked us because we sided with Almia and the league and the league already put it to a pass with the senate. They're declaring war. Things are worse than they seem." He sighed once more. "I'm going to draw up our route to Hoenn, see if there's anywhere along the way your family would rather stay."
"Nimbasa City. My sister lives there." Ethan put his finger on the map, looking at Steven.
"Then it's settled. We'll stop in Nimbasa for fueling and continue on to Mossdeep." Steven nodded to Blake.
"While I won't argue with you, I'm going to ask, isn't there any way we could stay in Indigo?" Ethan asked almost pleadingly.
"Frankly, there isn't. Besides. I'm not risking letting anything I can prevent happen to you. There are a few things I should probably tell you about your father, that can't really stay in the dark anymore. The first and foremost of them is that he wasn't just any ordinary solider. And the second is that I was with him in the battle where he…" Steven stopped for a moment, his eyes glazing over. "If I had just been stronger, maybe I could have saved him."