Chapter 13: Champions and Their Ways
A/N: Review replies below:
ThalTair: Thank you. That whole outbreak of war was something I've had planned since I conceived the idea of this story, and I was so overjoyed when I finally got to this pivotal point in the story. And secondly, I sincerely hope you meant "who is Ethan's dad?", which is a question which will be answered along the course of the story.
Anyway, enjoy. Alfa19
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Steven stopped for a moment, his eyes glazing over. "If I had just been stronger, maybe I could have saved him."
Ethan stopped moving, not a sound forming in his throat as he stared at Steven, unable to process what he had just said. His gold eyes fixed themselves onto a point on Steven's head, his gaze focused enough to bore a hole through it. Steven himself stood with his hands down on the table, his head hanging.
"What did they tell you about how he lost his life?" Steven asked after a few minutes passed like this.
"They told us that he was hit in the chest with a Drapion's poison sting in the Battle at Mount Silver." Ethan clenched his jaws as Steven looked him in the eyes.
"Well at least they didn't lie." He sighed. "Right now, I'm going to give you the short version, then there's something we need to take care of before I give you every detail. I was in his unit, under his tutelage at the time. The rest of the unit was either gone or unable to fight. We were fighting on a plateau near the middle of the mountain, and it was myself and your father against two others. Just us four left. The fight was dragging on, and it was going to end soon. But while I was running to his side, he got hit in the chest by Drapion's tail. I got Aggron to tangle with Drapion while I kept the other two at bay. Aggron and I weren't strong enough. I tried to take the hit for him. I still have the scar. With his last breath he called upon a Pokemon I didn't even know he had. It slaughtered them while I lost consciousness from taking some of the poison. Then it disappeared." Steven summed up, staring Ethan in the eyes. "It still haunts me to this day."
Ethan stared blankly at him, ready to break down beneath the calm as memories flooded into his mind of the time he had spent with his father. Finally, chokingly, he managed to utter the thought that had formed in his head.
"It's not your fault." With it a light weight lifted off of Ethan's chest, Steven staring at him.
"I've a lot to tell you. But first there are things that need to be done." He stepped away from the counter and pulled a bulky phone out of the wall, sending a message through the ship's system.
"Follow me to my room Ethan, I think its best we get this done quickly. We'll be in New Bark in forty-five minutes." Steven gestured towards the hallway, leading Ethan out and down the corridor to a door on the left side the way they were walking, near the bridge. He pressed his thumb into the pad by the door and it slid into the wall, its contours matching perfectly.
The room itself was nice, if lacking a personal touch. There was a massive curved window making up the outside wall, and Ethan could see a panel right above it which undoubtedly slid down and sealed it when Steven wanted it to be sealed. A low, head or foot-board less bed was parked against the right wall, the door touching the corner of the left one. Right next to them the wall's inward curve was reflected once more, with a desk built into it. The theme of the room was grey, the carpets, the desk, the bed with some white thrown in. Mounted opposite the bed was a black rimmed TV, with bookshelves built into the walls on both sides and a console below it.
Steven walked around to the desk, opening the computer with its large screen in the wall and logged on. He ran through a complex series of locks before he opened a simple program for video calling. Pressing a contact with his mother's name on it, he waited. Ethan stood next to him, watching as a ringer appeared and ticked for a few seconds. All of a sudden, his mother's face filled the screen, against a backdrop of the living room couch and a wall covered in photos.
"Steven, it's a bit early to check in on us again isn't it?" She asked pleasantly, then she saw Ethan. "What's going on?"
"Why I'm with Ethan in the first place is a different story, but first the grave things. Melissa I say this, and I am serious: Kalos has declared war. Olivine city is under attack. I'm on my way out in my submarine to New Bark with Ethan and a friend of his who's headed to Hoenn."
"Indigo is no longer safe. It's in a state of war. Lucy is in Unova, and it's on the way to Hoenn. I'll in New Bark soon, in forty minutes. Get Lily and start packing. I need to get you out of here. I'll explain properly once we're on route." Steven summed up, leaving Ethan's mother in a state of shock.
"I… I… I'll get to it." She managed to get out, nodding quickly at Steven after a minute.
"Pack everything you want to pack. Just shove it in boxes and bags if you need too. It's a war. We don't know how long it's going to last. We have more than enough space." Steven urged, cutting the call only once she had nodded in agreement again.
"I want to know everything. Get my mother's permission to tell me if you need to but I want to know everything." Ethan stated, speaking up once more when the line was out. Steven turned to him and looked at him, trying to find his wits for a moment.
"I will. I promise I will. It might be easier to do it after we've dropped your family in Unova, which is less than a day's journey away. By the time we reach Hoenn, you'll know everything, and I'll have educated you in other relevant details." Steven branched off. "And don't think that my offer to train you isn't valid anymore. I want you to come to Hoenn with me. Travel when I'm busy and train with me when I'm not."
Ethan stopped right outside the doorway, staring at Steven, who had noticed after walking a dozen feet.
"Something the matter?" He inquired, a bead of sweat on his forehead the only indication that he was anything but calm.
"It didn't really register that I was to go to Hoenn with you and still do the whole apprentice thing. I figured when we were plotting course that I would stay in Unova with my family." Ethan remarked quietly, walking once more and following Steven as they walked back to the bridge.
"That is, if you want to. You've got maybe fourteen and a half hours once we leave New Bark to decide." Steven told him, walking through the glass doors to the bridge again, where Megan was standing near Blake in her pilot's chair.
"Blake, how far are we from New Bark?" Steven asked, checking a set of clocks embedded in the walls.
"About ten minutes. I can set anchor south of Tohjo, but I can't take the Nautilus further than that. The inlet in New Bark isn't showing up as big enough on the map." She replied, handling the controls expertly as they sailed through the ocean, not so deep and able to see quite a bit of their surroundings.
"Well then…." He shifted slightly as he felt the ship slow down and come to a stop.
"So… You may have a few minutes more of a trek to New Bark. You're going to need to tell me when to surface when you're here with whatever it is that you're bringing on board." Blake laughed weakly as a massive cream-colored serpentine body wound around the front of the ship, flashing its rainbow scaled tail at them and disappearing again. "Don't panic. That's my Milotic."
"Let's get up there. The sooner we're on our way the better." Steven stated uneasily as the ship rose, breaching the water's surface. Once the hatch was above water level, not that it needed to be, it was just easier, Steven opened them both and clambered out, sealing it behind the trio. Ethan squinted in the light, smelling the ocean spray all around.
To their left, about fifty meters away, was the coastline with the forest's edge on it. Ethan couldn't see where the ocean turned in towards the little lake next to Mount Tohjo, but judging by the mountain's position he knew where they were.
"Can Metagross ferry you guys across the water? I can get us there faster if we can go straight down to the forest." Ethan suggested, pointing towards the trees.
"You guys go on Metagross's back, I'll ride Skarmory. If we can go above the trees that would be great." Steven remarked, releasing his Pokemon. The second Metagross was out, Steven's silver eyes began to glow for a second, and then the glow died out.
Ethan clambered onto Metagross's back, pointing in the direction they needed to go as Steven mounted Skarmory, his grey and white t-shirt blending in against Skarmory's back as he lay flat on the bird, chest down. It took them maybe two minutes at the rate they were moving to get all the way across the forest to the edge of New Bark. They were a minute's walk from his house.
Steven took the lead on Skarmory, guiding Metagross straight to the house over the heads of the gawking people of New Bark Town. The steel types set them down in Ethan's yard and were immediately recalled. Not bothering to knock, Ethan opened the front door, knowing it would be open. Stepping inside he looked around to see a good bit of the house already packed up, boxes of pictures and books, and other things that were to be taken already piled up in the lounge. Cupping his hands around his mouth he called out.
"MOM I'M HOME!" He hollered, hearing a hurried noise upstairs. A second later his mother and his little sister rushed downstairs, the former hugging him and the latter clutching his leg.
"Ethan! You need to tell us what's going on!" She chided him, letting go.
"I'll tell you once we're on our way. I'm going to go to professor elm to return something and then I'll help you pack up." He explained, wrapping his arms around her once more as Steven shifted in the background.
"Ok honey. Be safe!" She called out as he started jogging towards the large house turned into a lab in the North West corner of New Bark town, not too far from where his own house was. He ran through the mess of red leaves on the streets until he reached the whitewashed building, with its staircase around the side to the professor's residence.
Ethan walked up to the front door and knocking twice, walked in. The lab was in its usual state, the reception counter calm and quiet in the lobby and the actual lab space in chaos behind the open doors. Looking around at the room where he had stood so long ago to receive his first Pokemon, he went to the receptionist's desk and rang the little bell on the counter. A minute later a local girl a few years older than Ethan wearing a white blouse and navy skirt came to the desk, holding a pen and a notebook.
"How can I help you today?" She asked with a smile, having to look up at Ethan given her short stature.
"Can you tell Professor Elm that Ethan Photon's here to see him. It's urgent, about a Totodile." Ethan explained as the girl jotted it down in her notebook and scurried off to the lab space. A minute or two later she emerged with a balding, wiry man with brown hair and wire rimmed spectacles at her heels.
"Ethan! You didn't have to come all the way back to New Bark you know! You could have just transferred the Pokemon over to me." Elm fixed his glasses on his nose and crossed his arms.
"Let me say goodbye to him." Ethan said, choking slightly as he picked Feraligatr's ultra-ball off of his belt and released the Pokemon into the lobby.
An incandescent red beam left the pokeball without any direction and coalesced into the form of Feraligatr, leaving the scaly blue water type standing next to Ethan. Ethan wrapped his arms around Feraligatr's neck as high up as he could reach and pulled him close, the gesture reciprocated as well as Feraligatr could.
"Buddy… I just want to say thank you for being one of the best companions I could ask for. I'm going to miss you." Ethan fell silent, a few tears rolling down his cheeks slowly as Feraligatr let out a rumbling noise, patting Ethan on the back and letting go.
"Take good care of him Professor." Ethan spoke determinedly, tapping his ID to the ultra-ball and then activating the release sequence. "He's taken good care of me, don't let him be ill-treated. Goodbye buddy." Ethan patted Feraligatr on the back once more and then turned around to walk out of the building, tears streaming down his face. He stopped in the doorway, and without looking back, spoke once more.
"I thought I'd let you know in case the news hasn't already gotten around the region, or to you yet. Kaloasian ships laid siege to Olivine's harbor about an hour ago."
With that Ethan walked out, closing the door behind him.
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Ethan walked up to the pile of things lying by the house, a number of boxes and bags, organized by what was needed immediately and what was to go into storage. His mother stepped out of the house, locking the doors. He had pulled down all the shutters earlier and cleaned out the yard one more time while his mother checked to see if there was anything, they had left behind which they needed. Lily was clinging to his leg tightly, staring at the closed-up house. It was going to take a while to explain to her why they were leaving so suddenly, but she was content with visiting Lucy.
"That'll be all. How many trips will it take?" She asked, slipping the keys into her bag.
"Just the one." Steven replied with a wry grin, the first time he had smiled since they had left Olivine. "Metagross!"
Ethan felt an odd sensation of weightlessness as Metagross lifted him into the air along with all the things so that his mother and Lily could sit on its back. Steven was already in the air, having mounted Skarmory a few minutes prior. He shot off towards the Nautilus, arriving ahead of them and opening the latch. It took just a few shorts minutes to get the things into the ship and down into the cargo hold, Lily and his mother staring at the inside of the ship in awe the whole while.
Once Steven was back with them and had sealed the latches and taken them to the bridge, the conversation broke out again.
"This is Blake, a close friend and my co-pilot for this journey. We'll be dropping you guys off in Nimbasa whilst we refuel. It's about 7200 miles from here to Mossdeep in Hoenn, which is our final destination, and 1000 to Nimbasa. Going at about fifty, that should take us under a day to get to Nimbasa, and five more to reach Hoenn." Steven explained, gesturing at Blake, who turned around to face them once they were cruising out into open waters and were on a relatively simple course to Unova.
"Nice to meet you Blake. I'm Melissa and this is my daughter Lily. I take it you've already met Ethan." She remarked dryly, turning to them.
"That I have." Blake confirmed, turning back to the control panel.
"Let's get you guys oriented with the ship." Steven suggested, steering them out and into the hallway, where he showed them the kitchen and the small lounge and library, and then their rooms. Ethan's things were already set aside in a room, and whilst there were six rooms, his mother had chosen to have Lily stay with her in the ship.
"Great, now I need to go get permission to dock in Nimbasa, so why don't you guys find something to do? Melissa you can come with me, for now, there are a few things that need to be mapped out anyway… The rest of the ship is open to you guys, though I wouldn't suggest going in the engine room. Feel free to whip up something in the kitchen or lounge about or whatnot. I'll open the bridge doors once all's clear." Steven stated, walking off in the direction of the bridge.
Ethan shrugged and turned to Lily, crouching down to her level.
"What do you want to do Lily? Do you want to play a game?" He asked, smiling for her.
"Yes. Let's get some cards and play go fish!" She smiled, grabbing his hand and walking towards the room where they his things had been set down and he dug around his bag until he found a pack of cards. He closed the door behind them, leading Lily to another room where they could sit and play, sighing as he wondered what was going to change.
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Meanwhile, in the bridge…
"Now that everything is done and settled, please tell me what's going on? Why's Ethan with you? I know that he ran into you in Goldenrod and you gave him one of his Pokemon but I don't know anything else." She crossed her arms and sat down in a chair to one side of the bridge.
"What he probably didn't mention then, because he hadn't made up his mind, is that I offered to take him under my wing, or train him. We were planning to circle back to New Bark anyway in a day or two, then travel in northern Johto, where the remaining two badges are for him anyway. Then Kaloasian ships attacked the harbor, and I grabbed the two of them and we fled. I can't let anything happen to him, not when I wasn't strong enough to protect Nicolas." Steven looked down at the floor.
"It wasn't your fault Steven." Melissa sighed, looking at him. "What do you have planned for him now then?"
"He's already expressed that he wishes to go down the same path Nicolas went, into the ranks of the ace trainers and hopefully further someday. I'm proposing that I take him with me to Hoenn and I train him there and let him travel when I'm tangled up with the mess that's bound to ensue. And I want to tell him everything." Steven added hesitantly, looking her in the eye.
A few minutes passed in silence, Melissa simply staring through the window into the dark depths off the ocean. Finally, with a sigh she replied.
"You have my leave to take him to Hoenn… And to tell him everything about Nicolas. He may as well have more pride in him than he already does." With that she crossed her arms and stood straight. "If that's all I'd like to retire to my room for a while now."
"Thank you." Steven replied with a small bow, opening the glass doors for her.
She walked down the corridor to Ethan's room from where some noise was coming, and opened the door, poking her head through it to see the two laughing happily and playing cards.
"I'm in my room if you need me. Steven's taken over the controls for now." She looked at each of them for a second and then ducked out of the room and retreated to her own chamber.
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20 hours later, Nimbasa Port, Unova…
Steven pushed open the latch once the light panel next to it turned to green and climbed out onto the spine of the Nautilus, all the things which needed to be taken out of the ship levitating behind him. Metagross, which Steven had released the moment he was out of the latch, was shifting the things over to Lucy where a few hired hands were carrying the things into her house. After a little bit of discussion with Nimbasa's port services, they managed to arrive at the conclusion that it would be legal to dock the Nautilus just off the edge of Lucy's dock.
Ethan clambered out behind him, scrunching his eyes up in the light, it being twelve in the afternoon in Nimbasa. He could smell the ocean spray, not to mentioned feel it on his arms, and he could see Lucy standing at the edge of the dock, waving at him. He raised an arm and waved back, his mind drifting to how he could have already gotten to the dock and met her if he still had Feraligatr.
Ethan stood there with his hands in his jeans' pockets, and waited. His red t-shirt was perfect for the weather in Nimbasa, and presumably for the tropical climate of Hoenn as well. His mother and Lily were still waiting in the little room the hatch opened into, unsure about standing on the spine of the ship for more than a few minutes. Once everything was across, they climbed out and onto the ship, where Metagross was waiting for them, it's back low. Lily and his mother got onto its back and were ferried across, leaving Steven who was waiting for Metagross to return rather than using Skarmory, and Ethan who reached towards his belt and released Gliscor into the air around him
"Come on Gliscor, I think a short flight should be fine. Let's go to the others." He mounted the flying type and it took off, carrying him slowly but surely to the other side, and then setting him down, a bit tired. Gliscor wasn't really much of a passenger flyer.
"Thanks." He smiled, recalling Gliscor after scratching it behind the ear and then he turned to Lucy. "It's good to see you!"
She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tight, letting go after a moment.
"It's nice to see you too little bro." She smiled and put her hands on her hips, looking around to see Steven arrive atop Metagross, sitting as though he was meditating, with his legs crossed and his arms resting on them. "What have you been up to?"
"Getting six badges and getting into a lot of messes." He replied wryly, scratching the back of his head.
"Well. You're going to have to tell me all about that while we have lunch." She smiled, picking Lily up and hugging her again, much to her amusement.
"Let's head out then. I have to ask though Lucy, if I may, is there anywhere quiet, or at least away from the public, nearby where my Pokemon can stretch a bit. It's going to be a few days till we get to Hoenn."
"We'll head on down to my workspace after this. We keep more than just a runway and seating there. A lot of us have Pokemon, so we made the runway and seating adjustable. Move it all away and you're standing on a battleground."
"Well that's pretty useful." Ethan whistled as they walked down the dock to the back of Lucy's house. It was a modern one-story house with the walls lined in wood treated to be water resistant on the outside and dark polished beams framing large windows. A cobbled path went by the side of a pool and down to the dock. The whole pool section was jutting out beyond any other piece of land and could only be reached from the house, and therefore Lucy had simply had a low, railing like fence around the edge of the property.
Ethan followed her inside through the familiar house until they reached the dining room, where she had set out some ordered food, and a pie she had made herself. Ethan took a seat in the room, the window right at the edge of the land behind him. Only once the meal was well underway did the conversation begin.
"So, Ethan, what kind of 'messes' did you get into pray tell?" Lucy asked, looking at him from the head of the table.
"Someone released a wild Tyranitar in the middle of Goldenrod City, I was in the burnt tower when it flooded, something to do with a bunch of Ariados in Ilex Forest, getting caught in a storm near the Whirl Islands and getting stranded there for a day or two, maybe more. That's about it. I think." Ethan added uncertainly, picking up his fork again.
"Well…. I can't really say much to that, now can I?" She replied, raising her eyebrows.
"Frankly there isn't much to say about it anyway. What's happened has happened, and there's not much ado about it." Ethan remarked, picking up his plate and walking off to the kitchen. It took another few minutes, but soon everyone was done and Lucy, Steven and Ethan were standing at the door. His mother and Lily had elected to stay back for now to unpack or to help unpack.
Lucy flipped a switch on her car keys and the garage door slid upwards, opening to reveal a sedan. Ethan climbed into the front seat, Lucy driving and Steven in the back, and they were on their way out. It took them barely five minutes to drive out of the house, down the road and to the pier, where Lucy parked the car and led them to what looked like a large, stylized warehouse.
Ethan had seen it before during a show, and knew that the front wall was latched on from all sides on the inside and was replaced before shows. He stepped through the open door onto a hard, concrete floored battlefield. Maybe a dozen other people were in the large space, ducking in and out of the doors to the back, and more than a few Pokemon were milling around the front.
"May I?" Ethan asked, looking at his sister, and acting once she nodded.
He reached for his belt and released his Pokemon one by one into the arena, first Typhlosion, then Scyther, then Gengar, Riolu and Gliscor.
"Hey guys. So…. A lot of stuff's happened, and we had to leave Johto. We're in Unova, which is where my sister lives, and we're going to leave to go to another region later. Hoenn. We'll train and travel there with Steven, who's insanely strong." Ethan gestured at the silver haired man, who was releasing his own Pokemon at the time.
"So. Because it's going to take a few days to get to Hoenn, while you guys can move around the ship or fit in it, you won't get to really stretch for another five days. So, we came here to let you guys do just that. You should meet Steven's Pokemon as well before we leave.
Each Pokemon acknowledged his statement, then Gliscor dashed off to one side of the arena where another Gliscor was flying around, shocking them all half to death with the suddenness.
"That was unexpected." Ethan remarked as his other Pokemon scattered a little bit, stretching and interacting a bit with Steven's mostly stoic Pokemon. There was his Metagross as usual, Aggron was standing near him, Skarmory was preening its steel feathers in preparation to take to the air, his Lucario was going through a series of stretches, and then there were two Pokemon he didn't recognize.
One was a large bulky black cylinder like body with a round flat head which had multiple eyes on each side and stub like arms levitating in the air and the other Pokemon was a humanoid figure with white feet which's tips it was standing on, red armor over its thighs and shoulders, and a red helmet with a golden crescent blade on it. Its arms were blades and its chest had two silver crescent blades protruding from it.
"These are Claydol and Bisharp." He gestured at them in turn and then looked at Ethan's Pokemon. "What happened to your Feraligatr?"
Ethan clenched his fists as he spoke. "Professor Elm gave him to me to monitor as a Totodile because while he went missing, he got covered in something green and professor Elm didn't know what happened. He thought something had happened to his natural coloration and wanted me to raise him and observe how it changed or see if I could figure out what happened. I gave him a bath and told the professor and the board recently told him to take it back from me. So, I had to go and give it to him while we were in New Bark." Ethan spoke with gritted teeth.
"Moving on to more pleasant topics," Steven nodded, "Your Scyther looks about ready to evolve. I have a few metal coats back at home, we can set him up with one."
"Really?" Ethan's eyes brightened as he looked at Scyther, who was honing its blades. "That would be amazing!"
"Consider it done. As long as Scyther wishes to evolve of course." Steven added, to a nod from Ethan.
What happened next however, was the largest surprise of the day. Gliscor flew down to him, with the other Gliscor tailing him and stopped on the point of its tail. The other Gliscor lightly shoved it and then took off, circling above them. Ethan stared at it, trying to guess at what it was trying to say when another familiar face appeared nearby: Lucy's Alakazam.
"Alakazam! Can you help me out! Gliscor's trying to tell me something but I have no idea what." Ethan asked, the psychic type turning to him.
"He wishes to ask if he may stay here, with the other Gliscor above." Alakazam replied, without turning towards Gliscor.
"Is that so buddy? You want to stay here?" Ethan asked, turning to Gliscor with a pang of sadness.
Gliscor nodded rapidly in succession a few times, its tongue hanging out of its mouth.
"I need to ask my sister if it's okay." He said, looking around for her. He silently thanked himself that if another Pokemon had to leave him it was this way rather than how Feraligatr had had to leave, and it wasn't one he had known for too long, even if he had spent a good bit of time with Gliscor.
"Lucy!" He called out, looking for her. He spotted her a second later, her thick black hair standing out amongst the other shades, and he started off towards her. She was standing in a half circle, or rather sitting, facing a Dragonair which had curled itself up on the ground and dozed off.
"Lucy…" He began, tapping her shoulder, "My Gliscor wants to stay here with that other Gliscor over there." He gestured towards the Pokemon it was flitting about with in the air at this point, and turned back to her. "Would you be willing to keep him?"
Lucy kept staring at the Dragonair for a moment before she turned to him.
"Only if you take Dragonair. It likes me, but it doesn't want anything to do with this life." She sighed, scratching the sleeping dragon's neck.
"So long as it doesn't hate me, I'm fine with that." Ethan shrugged. He picked Gliscor's ultra-ball of off his belt and handed it to Lucy before he whistled and waved for Gliscor to come down.
The indigo flyer began its descent a moment later, reaching Ethan and Lucy with the other Gliscor circling above them.
"You can stay here Gliscor, with Lucy." He sighed, patting it on the back.
Overjoyed, the flying type wrapped its tail around his waist loosely and shifted up and down slightly, waving its pincers about.
"Stay safe buddy." Ethan looked it in the eye and then turned away from it, to Lucy, once it flew off. "Now for the other one."
"Knight!" She called out, rousing the sleeping Dragonair. It slithered over to them on the ground, rather than flying, and stared lazily at the two of them.
"Okay Knight, I know you don't like this life, so how about a chance to travel, and to battle and get stronger?" Lucy asked, at which the dragon type's head perked up. "You get to go with Ethan. He's a strong trainer who's make you the best you can be."
Knight turned towards him and nuzzled him, giving him and once over and then looked at Alakazam.
"He wants to test your mettle." The psychic type projected without moving from its spot, staring at a blank wall.
"Well then. This is the first time someone else said that first. Let's do this. Typhlosion!" Ethan called out, drawing his first Pokemon over from where it was running around in the field. It rushed over to him, skidding to a stop and staring with its head cocked at the dragon type in front of them. "Game time."
"Everyone clear the field and go to the balconies! We're having a quick battle." Lucy called out, spreading murmurs about the field as whoever was present with the exceptions of Lucy and Steven made their way up to the balconies on either side of the warehouse like building. Ethan walked to one end of the field with Typhlosion by his side, crossing his arms and widening his stance slightly, Steven standing a dozen feet away, his own Pokemon standing in a line by his side.
Specter, Riolu and Scyther made their way to Ethan and the two Gliscors were nowhere to be seen. He examined the twelve-foot-long blue dragon sitting coiled up at the other end of the field, the blue pearl on its neck glowing slightly. Its thick muscular body was covered in tiny, glittering blue scales, and its underbelly was pale white.
All of a sudden, Knight leapt into the air and arced across the entire field in one flying leap, lunging at Typhlosion, who ducked out of the way and scampered to a safe distance before releasing a flamethrower at it. Knight managed to avoid the attack by twisting under and around the stream of fire and retaliating with and ice beam, straight down the middle. The whole thing turned into water and doused the fire continuously, resulting in Typhlosion abdicating the attack.
Ethan smiled and cracked his knuckles before he spoke up.
"Typhlosion, quick attack and brick break!" he instructed, folding his arms once more as Typhlosion took the fight to its adversary, lashing out with a quick attack and with a brick break, both of which were avoided, and then surprising Knight with another quick attack and brick break, landing solid hits on its flanks.
The dragon responded by wrapping its lengthy body around Typhlosion and charging a blue pulse in its mouth.
"Typhlosion! Flame Charge!" Ethan called out, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify the effect. Typhlosion lit its back up and spread the flames until its body was burning, but Knight held own, determined to show its grit. Typhlosion pushed the flames further, and Knight did let go, but just as it fired a Dragon Pulse into the charging form of Typhlosion. The fire type collided head on with the dragon, the dragon pulse hitting it square in the back, dampened by the flames around Typhlosion.
Typhlosion scampered away and then circled back, already wearing a cloak of flames for safety's sake. In one fell swoop it unleashed a plethora of attacks, first a flamethrower, which was avoided, then a lava plume, a good bit of which hit, and using the light from all of the attacks and the perpetual flames, charged and released a solar beam quickly, clipping Knight near its head.
Changing things up however, Knight hit Typhlosion hard with an aqua tail when it came in to land the finishing touch with flame charge, and completely nullified the attack, sending Typhlosion flying to one end of the field. It landed on all fours and charged again, this time met head on by the dragon type cloaked in water, and rushed out of the way, hitting it with a focus blast.
With this Knight relented and retreated to Lucy's side, nuzzling her arm. Lucy recalled the Pokemon and took it over to a healing machine and put the ultra-ball in which it was contained inside.
"Where the hell did you find a Pokemon that strong?" Ethan asked, scratching the back of his head as he put Typhlosion in the machine as well.
"There's a forest not too far out from the city that's different from ordinary ones in a way I can't describe. I'll have to take you there when you next visit. It's called the Lostlorn Forest. Normally the Pokemon in there are decently developed, or not too strong, but I went deep in, climbing by a waterfall and passing through streams, and I found Knight in the deepest reaches of the forest, near the water. What's odd is that Dragonair aren't really found there. Come to think of it, no non-Unovian Dragon type is found anywhere outside of Dragonspiral Tower in the far Northwest." Lucy mused. "Anyway, you've certainly proved your worth. Both to myself and to Knight." She joked. "Seriously though, you've come really far from the kid who was battling everyone in New Bark."
"Thanks." Ethan smiled, and he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Steven behind him.
"This has given me a slight understanding of your style, but regardless, the first thing we need to do is have a battle when we get to Hoenn." He stated casually, raising both of Ethan's eyebrows.
"You and me?" Ethan questioned, gesturing at himself.
"I never said I expected you to do anything to my Pokemon." Steven laughed, letting go of him.
"Right…" Ethan frowned and pulled Typhlosion's ultra-ball out of the machine once the light turned green, releasing it onto the battlefield again. Lucy did the same, releasing Knight right next to them, the dragon gliding up to Ethan and nuzzling his neck. It made a soothing sound, an indescribable noise which calmed Ethan down.
"Well he definitely likes you. Knight, Ethan's your trainer now." She handed him a glass like pokeball with a dark grey lower half and a cardinal upper half.
"Typhlosion, Riolu, Specter, Scyther! Come over here!" He called out, drawing his Pokémon's attention. Each within a moment, standing in a line next to him. "Guys this is Knight. Gliscor wants to stay here, and Knight wants to come with us, so he's coming with us and Gliscor's staying here. Knight this is your new family. Typhlosion you've already met, that's Scyther, Riolu and Specter." Ethan gestured at his Pokemon one by one, Knight meeting each of them properly before it turned back towards him.
"How about we head back now. You two did say you needed to leave within an hour from now." Lucy suggested.
"That sounds good." Ethan nodded, looking to Steven, who reciprocated his gesture and recalled his Pokemon one by one.
Ethan recalled his Pokemon and they left the building, piling into the car and driving off to Lucy's house. It took them all of five minutes, once again, to reach the house. Ethan took a deep breath as he stepped out of the car, contemplating what to say as he entered the house. He walked through the corridor to the lounge, where his mother was sitting, drinking a cup of coffee at the counter across from him.
"Are you leaving?" she stood up. Lily was sitting on the couch watching cartoons.
"I suppose we are." Ethan replied somberly, hugging her.
"For Arceus's sake, stay in touch." She sighed, letting go of him. "And please, stay safe."
"I will. Bye Lily." He hugged her and turned to Lucy who had just come in the door. "See you sometime." He hugged her once and then stepped back, next to Steven.
"Goodbye." He stated quietly, looking each of them in the eye. "Thank you for understanding how imperative it was that we left Johto immediately. Has there been anything on the news?"
"Johto has gone into a full state of emergency, or rather the ports have. The rest is preparing for war. The Kaloasian ships managed to flee for the most part. Two were struck down by the Navy, one taken out by Jasmine before it got beyond her reach, and one by a slew of trainers who managed to circle a yacht around it for long enough to distract the crew before it tried to fire on the yacht." She replied, crossing her arms. "Unova's already issued their statement. The League and the Legion won't be intervening. They've declared that they're going to seal all ports of entry to armed vehicles, unless approved by the league, which are still to be greeted with whatever force is available, and all vehicles, persons and items entering the region are to be scanned for weapons."
"As I expected." Steven straightened his back once more and looked at each of them. "Farewell, and stay safe. I wish you all the best for any future endeavors."
With that Steven stepped back out of the lounge and proceeded out to the docks, followed by the others, Ethan right behind him and Lily walking with her mother at the tail end of the group. Waiting for them was the Nautilus, the hatch above sea level, the water lapping lightly against its moving form. Ethan jumped onto its spine behind Steven and walked down to the hatch, climbing down it and helping him seal it, with one final wave towards his family.
He walked down to the bridge, where Blake was resetting one of the numerous clocks on the wall. She put it at twelve on the dot and walked over to the dashboard, leaving it inactive. Clicking away at a few keys, she sat down in the pilot's seat and looked at Steven, having already turned the Nautilus around to face the right way.
"Nautilus time zero hours, 6200 miles to Hoenn, approximate arrival at time 124 hours, or Day 6 Hour 4. Permission to commence?" She continued to look at him, her hand's hovering over the dash in front of her.
"Commence. I'll take over in a little bit after I have a discussion with Ethan." Steven crossed his arms and stared out into the ocean just below the water level.
Blake's hands flew across the blank glass panel in front of her as she ran a sequence across it, causing the ship's engines to whir to life and make it accelerate, slowly at first. Ethan watched as the needles on the clock started ticking and Blake steered them out to sea, the vessel slowly going deeper as the ocean permitted it.
Steering him out of bridge once they were a fair distance from Nimbasa, Steven took him to the library/lounge, sitting him down on a black leather couch.
"How much do you know about Ace Trainers, league hierarchy and the internal workings of the league?" Steven asked, putting his hands together and bringing them up to his nose, his elbows on his knees.
"There's the Champion, the head of the Elite Four and the final authority, the Elite Four themselves, then there's the league's ace trainer force below them, in order of ranks, who are basically the region's fighting force." Ethan summed up, frowning.
"I'm going to take you deep into this, because you'll need to learn it for the path I'm going to take you down while I'm training you. You said at some point that this was what you wanted to do, and I'm going to give you a big push down the road." Steven stated, going to the TV and activating it. He picked a pen up from the console below it and activated the wall mounted screen's whiteboard, inking "Hierarchy and Workings" at the top in near calligraphic writing.
"In general, you were right. We'll start at the top, filling out each thing by how commonly known it is. I'll fill out the political relations alongside. In any case, at the very top is the League Champion, who isn't exactly the supreme authority. Their voice tends to be the leading one, and they are the leader, but when the elite four, alongside whom he or she will work, vote, including the champion, the champion's vote is also only worth one." Steven started his web at the top, looking at Ethan to make sure he had understood it. "So, every city or every district depending on population, has two senators, elected by the people, whom comprise the senate, work with the alongside the league as the Legislative branch. The Elite four and the champion make up the executive branch. The judiciary is for the most part the league, and while the senate can propose new laws and whatnot, they can be shot down entirely."
"That's the top of the chain. Below the elite four and the champion, and the senate, comes Ace Trainer Corps, which in most regions is simply referred to as say the Indigo Corps, or the Ever Grande Corps. Unova calls theirs the Legion. On the political parallel come the gym leaders, politically and morally sound people approved by the senate, and trainers strong enough to defend their cities, equal to some Ace Trainers, and validated by the League. They function as the city leaders, along with a city council of ten to thirty based off of population."
He took a deep breath and then continued. "So the League asks you to challenge the eight gyms and collect their badges to be able to participate in their annual conference, where the pick the strongest or most capable trainers, not necessarily ones who make it past the quarter finals even, depending on who they go up against, and recruit them as Ace Trainers. The Ace trainer block is the fighting force, and the peacekeeping force. There are five ranks. You enter as a rank 1, and if you do choose to enter after being recruited, you're obligated to at least four years of service. Considering the regions don't really go to war much, people either don't join the corps and settle, or stay far longer than four years. A rank one is a novice in the corps, but still a strong trainer in the rest of the world. Rank one's work in groups of four, with a Rank 3 or higher commanding them from base. Rank twos continue to work in groups for serious missions, but one of their own groups is their leader."
"Rank threes are seriously strong trainers, the ones who you see as the more powerful ace trainers around, and go about on their own, or if they so wish, in groups. At that point, you have a decent amount of respect in the corps. Rank fours are fewer and they're occasionally seen around the region, taking care of major issues. Rank five's… There are never many, and they're the commanders of the corps, after the Elite Four, so far. You rarely every see a rank five, because the scale of the missions they take on don't tend to occur in populated areas unless there's a crisis." Steven put down the pen and looked at Ethan. "That all make sense?"
"It's pretty straight forward, it's just a good bit to remember." He replied, leaning forward.
"That it is. But we're not done. There's one crucial little piece that only the senate, the league, and I believe, the rank fives, know about. Every region has their own prefix before it, but without it they would be known as the guard." Steven gestured at the gap he had left between the rank fives and the elite four.
"Yours is known as the Indigo Guard. The Elite Four and the Champion handpick from the rank fives, of whom there are maybe eight at a time, the Guard, to become invisible. They are those who bridge the still visible power gap between the Elite Four and the Rank fives. Their identities are only known by the league, the league from now on, being only the elite four and the champion. Only when I explicitly mention the corps do I mean the corps. Even in the previous lecture." Steven remarked, turning back to the board. "There are at every point in time, four active members of the guard. The rank fives know them as well. But that's about it. These four are in charge, of quadrants of the region, and simply reside in that quadrant, essentially being invisible and extremely powerful warriors. To give you an idea of how strong they are, whenever a member of the elite four passes or retires, the strongest member of the guard takes his or her place."
Steven looked back at Ethan after scrawling one last thing. "So, while the rank fives are the commanders, it is the guard who control the corps from the shadows. Another thing. Every rank 1 spends anywhere from six months to a year training under a rank 4 in another region right at the start of their tenure. Kanto doesn't count as another region for you, but for another region's rank ones, they get to choose between Kantonian and Johtan Ace Trainers to work under. In fact, the reason they have two conferences is so that people with eight badges can still win a conference, the silver conference. The Indigo League's requirements for recruitment apart from placement in the conference are all sixteen badges, to prove you've traveled and or know all of Indigo to be a member of the Indigo Corps. The only other exception is if you have a relative, first cousin or closer in terms of blood, of the requisite rank who's willing to take you into their unit, regardless of region."
"I met your father when I was a rank 1, about seven years ago. He was a rank five when I was put under him. I watched him rise to become one of the Indigo Guard. I knew who he was. My actions had pushed me up to a rank 3 by the time we were on the mountaintop together, how, I don't understand, but probably because of his tutelage."
"There we were, towards the end of the Sinnoh Wars. It ended up being a fight between a few of the Origin Guard, and your father and myself. I've already given you the short part of the battle. Now the tail end. Your father released a Pokemon only ever spoken off in legends, seen only a few times in history. I went back to Mount Silver later, when I had healed, and with the help of my Pokemon, after two days, managed to locate two cracked halves of what looked like a pokeball with no hinge. Polished, deep red metal on the upper half, and polished silver on the bottom half. It was cracked right between the two halves. I examined them, found a few runes in them and validated what he had done, but not how he had done it. Your father had a keystone of sorts, created by Raikou, the beast clapped in stone, to summon it. He release Raikou from its stone home, to defeat Sinnoh. Everywhere, lightning storms took the fighters by surprise, with how many bolts hit Sinnoh fighters. And from what happened in the tower, I'm assuming it returned to its position until it awoke recently." Steven finished, putting down the pen and looking Ethan in the eye. "I'll leave the hierarchy diagram on the screen until we get to Hoenn. Managed to absorb any of that?"
Ethan sat there for a moment, unable to speak, and then looked at Steven again.
"Yes. I know the truth about my father now…. And I'm so much more determined to follow in his footsteps now. I'll learn all this before we get to Hoenn. Anything else?" Ethan asked, looking up finally.
"There is one thing. Hoenn and Indigo recently signed a very cooperative, binding treaty. One of the ways of symbolizing that was by presenting the other region with a history of the elite four, champions, the rank fives and the guard. Essentially, they're books that contain sections for each past member of the four categories, and present for the rank fives, elite four and champion. Those who rose from one of those ranks to another are recorded in their highest rank of service. Disclosing even the names of the past guard members, who leave service in silence with huge compensations and medals inscribed with words that don't stick out to one who doesn't know what they're looking for, if a big thing. I have in this ship, the volume given to me by Lance. I want you to read through it. And after that I might give you Hoenn's. But this one is more important."
Steven walked up to one of the shelves and pulled a thick book bound in black leather with silver lettering down the spine reading Indigo, and the same on the front, and handed it to him. Ethan held it in his hands. In here was knowledge about the dynamics of the controllers of the regions, and about his father. He opened the first page, reading the tribute written down.
May the memories of those who dedicated themselves to the highest services of Indigo be forever etched into history.
"I want you to have read the whole thing by the time we make land in Hoenn." Steven crossed his arms and walked out of the room, leaving Ethan there.
Uneasily, he opened the contents, looking at the list of names by category and era. It was going to be a long read. He shifted the book in his lap and looked around. Finding the switch for the large reading lamp in a corner, he turned it on and curled up on the couch next to it, opening the first section. The Rank Fives.
The first page after the section heading was the first rank 5 trainer by appointment to the rank and alphabetical order within that time, dating more than six hundred years back, to the start of the current system of government, to the year 1407, approximately six hundred and eight years ago. The first name, or rather the first page, was dedicated man by the name of Stephen Stane, a tall man with piercing blue eyes, short, greying brown hair pushed up from the front In a sort of wave and a thin, trimmed beard and mustache, wearing a blue vest style coat with folds and layers over a blue shirt or as close to a t-shirt existed then. Ethan could tell that whosoever had been employed to make the original drawings was talented, because he felt like Stane's eyes were following him. Stane wasn't listed as a rank 5, but the first page was reserved for him as the first person from Indigo to take a place among the new ranks under the old elite four. Stane was rather listed as the first champion of the NEW indigo league, under the same symbol of the original founder.
Stane was a comparatively tall person, standing at about 6' 3", but wasn't stocky, or gangly. His image presented an air of authority, visible even through the portrait. His Pokemon and his feats were just as impressive. Ethan read the passage written about him quietly, poring over it.
Stephen Stane, (1385-1460) was born to Mark and Alexa Stane in Mahogany Town. Starting off his journey as a trainer in 1403, he traveled Indigo and ventured throughout the region, turning to one of two ancient brotherhoods in Johto in 1404, the guardians of the silver wing. Joining them, he trained as a disciple in every art known to them for two years. Joining the league forces in 1406 at the outbreak of the war, he rose to a position of power, coming to be known as the Bastion of Indigo after he singlehandedly crushed Kaloasian forces trying to take over the Indigo Plateau when the Elite Four and Champion were dispersed about the region, fighting in the front lines. During the two-day calm that followed, the league established the current system of government and appointed him the first Guard Member under the current League, and he soon rose to become the first champion of the new wave. To the current day, his descendants have been prominent in the corps, the guard and the league. Pokemon listed below (no particular order):
Arcanine
Electivire
Magmortar
Kingdra
Dragonite
Scizor
Dusknoir
Ethan took a deep breath and scanned the remaining information before he continued reading. He was to finish this before he reached Hoenn, and that was just what he'd do.