Chapter 17: Gold
A/N: I can't properly explain what happened. Time became an unavailable resource for a while. I'm disappointed that I lost my touch with writing, but I can't say I regret it for the journey I've gone on. It's been insane. I was planning to get back on track. I took courses in writing fiction amongst other things for your benefit (I hope). Sorry for the prolonged absence, but I'm back, and I hope I never leave at least not before the dozen or so ideas in my folder and the active stories are finished.
Yours Truly,
Alfa19
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"I suppose I should restart the generator, shouldn't I?" I asked, looking over my shoulder towards the dimly lit staircase.
"I believe we will need to go down there to restart it. Considering how far underground it goes, I couldn't build a remote to it, and I'd rather not have a physical connection to the systems down there anyway. Let's head down. I might as well run my monthly diagnostic early. You can recount the full story to me while we get down there. I might just award you the dynamo badge for making it there on your own with your Pokemon if you're a six badge. Seven badges cannot be given their badges for displays of strength, valor, or service of any sort, as sad as it is. Otherwise I could routinely send trainers down here and tinker away in my gym." Watson laughed, rubbing his hands together as he shut the gates without locking them.
"I'm going to assume you have the code to the elevator." I asked hopefully, looking at the man. As much as he seemed to know what he was doing, I wasn't particularly reassured.
"That I do. If I didn't, I wouldn't have as much excess baggage around the waist." He chuckled, pulling a multi tool and a torn apart contraption the size of a video game from his pocket and started tinkering with it once we were in the elevator.
It took us a while but eventually we reached the basement level and were let out into the generator room through a sliding panel in the wall. Watson walked through the room up to the red button and hopped onto it, letting it sink into the ground as the generator whirred back to life, its green lighting flickering on. With a satisfied grunt he hopped of, pulling his phone out of his pocket and connecting it to a small port in the base of the generator.
I stood there awkwardly as Watson hummed, running through checks on the generator as it came up clean. The old man walked back, smiling all the while as we approached the elevator together. Stepping inside together with the eccentric old fellow, I absentmindedly reached for the sliding door panel to close it.
"Ho-oh's flaming tail feathers!" I swore as a large shock coursed through my arm and down my foot into the ground. My body reeled backwards in shock, colliding with the back wall as the lights in the generator room failed.
He looked out to the space in front of them. Prowling about the cavernous space was, once more, Raikou. I silently started praying as I kept my eyes on the legendary beast turning to face us. We locked eyes for a fleeting moment and images of wild, yet focused thunder stormed my mind, havoc being wreaked, in seemingly random places all linked by something I couldn't quite fathom. The moment passed and Raikou roared, filling the room with electricity before vanishing to a thunderclap.
I stepped out of the elevator tentatively, able to feel the energy permeating through the room in waves, literally impeding my progress to the point where Raikou was. I stopped dead in my tracks as silver sparks began to fly and a ring formed in the air in front of me, similar to the one through which Dewott had been brought to me, floating in the air, in the middle of a wooded area. I immediately sprinted as fast as possible back to the elevator and grabbed a hold of a rod in the metal framework surrounding the platform, kicking at Watson to do the same.
It took two kicks in the shin to get the old gym leader to copy me, just in time, as I felt a tug on my body, towards the sparking portal. I tightened my grip on the rod, wrapping my legs around its lower half as the air behind us started to pour into the portal audibly, louder and louder until it finally stopped, the ring closing behind it. Releasing my breath, I let go of the rod and stared at the empty space with a frown, Watson looking on with wonder for a few moments.
Snapping out of his stupor, the man pulled a device out of his belt and held it up, sucking in a sample of the air before walking back into the lift to return to the surface wordlessly.
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I stared straight into the gym, looking at the maze of sparkling blue and purple walls. It almost hurt to look at the electricity flowing between the coils around pillars situated in the room. Walls of electricity. I'd of course heard of Lieutenant Surge's gym in Vermillion City over in Kanto, where the man had Vander Graff generators on each wall and on pylons in the room where the gym leader waited for challengers. Electricity connected them, looking quite like shining blue ropes, albeit ropes that were sparking and cracking all around. The switches were hidden in floorless trash cans, and if you didn't hit both within thirty seconds, they would reset and be shuffled around by a system of belts under the floor.
This however, seemed to be different. From what I could see there was what I guessed was a switch in shape of an S sunken into the floor in front of me, blending well with the yellow tiles. I couldn't see of any way to release it from its position and started looking around instead. A few others were scattered around, all of them raised up half a foot. I grinned as it clicked that it was like New Mauville, only it was more complex. Each switch most likely triggered a different combination of walls, and I had to find a way to get through them to Watson.
"He sure knows how to amuse himself." I said to myself, noticing a man without a shirt hooking up an electric guitar behind one of the walls. I frowned for a second, wondering how it was possible to safely connect a wire to a literal wall of electricity when he saw each pylon had a couple of sockets in the base of it.
Breaking the rhythm of guitars and sparks in the gym, my phone started ringing. Frowning, I pulled it out of my pocket to check the caller ID.
"Hey Steven. What's going on?" I asked, leaning against a wall.
"Ethan, I have a slight change of plans for you. Where have you reached so far?" his voice was slightly muffled, like he was on speaker and trying to deal with something else at the same time.
"About to start Watson's gate puzzle in the Mauville Gym."
"Okay, so I caught you in time. With the way things are looking, the four badges from Hoenn plan might become a bit redundant because Lance is pushing back against the Kaloasian forces hard. So, I'm reorganizing a bit. You'll make straight towards Fortree, skipping Watson's gym. You'll also skip the Mossdeep Gym. I'm having a member of the Ever-Grande Corps meet you at the Weather Institute along the way. He's a fire type specialist. His name's Cassian Byrne. He might not have a Typhlosion but he's a Rank 3, and you'll use as much of the extra time to train by the weather institute. It's always raining there so it should make it a bit harder. If, at Fortree, your Dragonair has evolved, you'll study flight a bit with Winona and work on Scizor's technique otherwise. Then you'll head to Sootopolis. There, you'll train under Wallace for a bit, challenge him, and then we'll train. Sound good? Oh, and what are you wearing?"
"Alright, and red jacket, grey trousers. I'll get on it." I stepped right back out of the gym, making for the Pokémon center to wrap up and check out. I'd gotten a room after finally making it to Mauville to clean up and rest a bit.
Adjusting my pack and checking that I did in fact have all six Pokéballs on my belt, I stepped out of the Pokémon center, heading east for Route 118 and 19, the famous wilderness populated by a single house and the weather institute, on the way to Fortree City. The city of Mauville's limits were just before the small sandy pocket of beach that marked the start of Route 118, mostly empty except for the odd fisherman who'd cast his line out as far as he could.
The issue now was that sitting ahead of me was a… river? Small lake? It was open on both ends, but the water wasn't exactly flowing. Whatever it was, it was in my way and I wasn't sure how I'd get across it this time. I sat down, unprepared for this kind of a thing. Even after the last lake. Looking around I tried to figure out a way across. Finally, I gave up, went over and tapped the fisherman on the shoulder.
"AHA! YOU WANT TO BATTLE!" the red suited man spun faster than humanly possible, springing to his feet and ignoring his fishing rod.
"No sir! I mean I can, I was just wondering if there was some way for me to get across the water." I asked hesitantly – and slightly creeped out, mind you – at seeing the downcast face turn up.
"Oh, there's a really easy way. I'll tell you if you battle me. HAHA!" The man shook his rod, yanking it out of the water.
"Dewott, let's do this." I sighed, reaching for Dewott's Pokéball wordlessly and releasing the water type onto the beach. At least Dewott would get some training.
"CARVANHA! LET'S GO!" the fisherman was jumping up and down in his spot as he released the Carvanha into the water.
"Oh. This is a water battle…. Well then. This is new. Dewott, to the water I guess!"
"Carvanha! Bite!" the fisherman shouted, watching as his Pokémon swam towards Dewott.
"Dodge and razor shell!" I called out, trying to keep track of the Pokémon as Dewott charged through the water after Carvanha.
That damned fish was too fast though. I watched the water as Dewott tried to attack five, six, seven, then eight times without landing a hit. Just how did this madman train his Carvanha.
"Try Water Pulse! Strong and wide!" The instructions reached Dewott as the water in front of Dewott started to pulse back and forth as though it were a sound wave, picking up frequency as the Dewott held the building pulse in front of its mouth. Looking all around, Dewott found Carvanha and fired off the blast, letting the mass of water all around carry the momentum of the attack and catch the Carvanha while it tried to escape.
"Fantastic! Keep it going with fury cutter! Keep attacking!"
Dewott swam after the Carvanha again, trying to take it down as the other water type evaded it's every effort.
"Something's not right." I murmured under my breath, watching Carvanha to try and figure out what was happening as the increasingly frustrating opponent continued to evade my newest Pokémon's efforts. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the water around Carvanha brighten ever so slightly as a red tint surrounded Carvanha, fading just as suddenly as it appeared.
"Speed boost. Damn it. The only way we're going to win this is by cornering it." I swore under my breath, looking at Dewott. A little bit of my heart melted right there as I saw the look in the otter's eyes. Raring to go, ready to fight, focused, happy – albeit frustrated - and wanting to do its part as a part of our family. "I'll be damned if I let the weird guy in a red tracksuit be my first loss in a while."
"Dewott! Drive it into a corner! Razor shell in both hands!" My Pokémon stopped momentarily to look at me as the Carvanha circled it fast, nodding with determination.
I watched as Dewott valiantly tried to back the other water type into a corner, swimming as fast as it could to try and corner Carvanha, whose speed seemed to have reached its limit at a bit faster than Dewott's. Dewott sprang out of the water suddenly, leaping with an almighty roar – something I didn't know Dewott could do.
Razor shell's glowing in both hands Dewott stopped at the top of its arc as the glow spread across the rest of its body, enveloping its form and swallowing it whole as the glow turned into a sphere.
A feral grin spread across my face, worrying the fisherman next to me as the glow slowly subsided underwater, Dewott's evolved form having plunged right back in. It swiveled and leaped out again, this time in its new form. Quad flippered with four teeth I wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of, Samurott was sleek and swift, but the most intimidating part of Samurott's new appearance had to be its spear. Part of the shell helmet atop its head was a long spear made of the same super-hard shell, sharp, with jagged protrusions in a few places, and above all, deadly.
"Samurott that was amazing! Take the small fry down buddy!" I shouted, ecstatic at the evolution.
Samurott roared again – this time I could believe it – and turned its gaze towards Carvanha. The Unovan Pokémon shot through the water like a bullet through air, cutting towards Carvanha and ramming into it with fury cutter twice in a row. The dark type went fly out of the water, landing on the sand five feet away from the fisherman, unconscious.
"You really just focused on speed, didn't you?" I turned towards the fisherman as he sighed, recalling his fainted Pokémon.
"Yeah," the man grinned sheepishly as he took his cap off and scratched the back of his balding head, "Any who, I mean you have a way across now."
I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms, staring at the man. "I'm sorry, how could you have known this would be the case?"
Shock took over the fisherman's face as he realized he'd implied he knew Dewott would evolve. "Oh! Sorry! I was going to tell you that those rocks over there are flat from the top. You could have walked across those."
I followed his gesture to the line of rocks at the north end of the water body, where a line of rocks almost as tall as in am bounded open waters. Nodding in thanks, I recalled Samurott to give it some rest anyway and headed towards the rocks, climbing onto the first one and following the evident path across to the eastern shore where another fisherman sat, minding his own business in the late morning.
It had been one week and two days since I departed from Petalburg, one week and five days since I had gotten to Mossdeep. From the details Steven had texted me, I had about three weeks and two days to make it to Sootopolis, finish whatever training I was to do under Wallace, defeat him, and maybe train on my own a bit. During that time, I would be stopping in Fortree, hopefully with an evolved Knight in tow to train with Winona for aerial combat and actual straight up flight. Only time would tell. And of course, as much training as I could cram into our time on the road to Fortree before I reached there.
"And so, the journey begins again." I forged ahead in the cold November air, making my East towards the famous Route 119 where I was to train.
I was curious. I'd met Ace Trainers, numerous Ace Trainers, but I'd never trained under them. Of course, I imagine training under Steven would be far beyond anything I'd have the privilege to experience up to that point, but still. Mentors made Masters. Drake and Lance, Alder and Marshall, Pryce and Lorelei, my father and Steven, Chuck and Blue. Oh yes. It was at this point public knowledge that one of the two trainers to have beaten Lance from Kanto had started out training under Chuck. It had created an influx of people in Cianwood City a while back, driving the creation of the Safari Zone just beyond to keep the tourism in the isolated part of our region high.
The other, Red, had supposedly turned down an offer to train with the Indigo Corps, shocking the world. A week later he disappeared. There was no missing persons report, and his friends and family in Pallet Town seemed to know where he was, as did Lance, but neither pushed to bring him back or persuade him to return. Lance claimed that Red hadn't wanted the responsibility of being a Champion, even if he was on par with Lance in strength. Blue had gone on to take the Vacant position of Viridian Gym Leader, close enough to home that he could return whenever he wanted.
Mindlessly droning onwards, I reached the start of Route 119 by afternoon, scarfing down something quick and taking out my Pokémon to feed them.
"Alright guys, so we're heading off towards Fortree City. On the way we'll stop at the weather institute to train for a bit with an Ace trainer who specializes in Fire types. Typhlosion, of course, will be on point there. Knight, I'd love to focus a bit more on this leg of the journey because if you've evolved by the time we reach Fortree, we stop there to train under Winona for aerial maneuvers. Otherwise we kind of would have to circle back or skip it." I grinned as Typhlosion puffed up his chest a bit and Knight circled around in place.
"But that doesn't mean the rest of you are getting any slack right now. The break comes when we get to Fortree. Now that we're done with lunch, let's head on. It's going to get rainy further down the road, so I'll keep most of you guys inside for now." I returned my Pokémon with that, foraying into the untamed tangles of grass almost as tall as myself. Pushing through the overgrowth I made my way North by continuing in the same direction.
Each time I pushed through to a clearing I reoriented myself, avoiding the straw hats of bug catchers who I could barely see over the edge of the grass when I jumped. The two days had to be the most monotonous of my life. Blades of grass were all I could see in every direction and I'd reached the consistent downpour that Route 119 was known for. Life was literally as exciting as watching grass grow. Probably had something to do with the fact that I was doing exactly that. I'd head north until I found a clearing for the night, or else I'd get Scizor to make one. We'd set up camp, get up in the morning and head off.
Finally, on the third day since I'd reached, I broke clear of the grass boundary to see the churning blue of the river ahead of me. Winding in from the north it cut the terrain, turning West a couple of yards ahead of me. Off to my right was a small lodge, I assumed for trainers to rest in before the went onwards. I could see the log bridge crossing the river in the distance, in front of a waterfall in the river. Making for the lodge I glanced through the window in with trepidation, uncertain that it really was a rest house from the audible racket through the walls.
Sometimes you really don't expect things. They can be amusing, confusing, horrifying, or some combination of the three. I had looked in the window of the lodge, uncertain of what I would see. Suffice it to say I was both amused and confused. A lone man in a purple-grey sweater sat at the table in the center of the one room, sipping something from a mug. He wasn't the only occupant of the room though. Twelve or so Wingull were flying about inside, each turn or flap of their wings a potential disaster. I winced as one of the birds' wings clipped a dish on display above the China cabinet and sent it crashing down on top of another Wingull. Luckily the plate didn't have the necessary speed to either hurt the Wingull or break on it as the man snatched it off the water type's back, returning to his drink.
I switched gears, sprinting off to the north of the lodge, starting the trek uphill. Steps were carved into the sides of the ledges at intervals, but some of it had to be conquered the old-fashioned way. I finally made it to the log bridge, crossing it to the west bank of the river and continuing my journey uphill and North. A large white and blue building was visible in the distance, and as I neared it, I could see the weather institute more clearly. I pushed on until I reached the glass doors of the multi-story building with its array of meteorological devices on the roof.
I opened one of the glass doors, walking into the institute. A couple of scientists scurried about in the work spaces further ahead, bounded by a plain white wall with an opening in it.
"Welcome to the Weather Institute at Route 119!" A cheery blond was standing behind a desk to my left, sorting through papers on her desk. "How can we help you today?"
"I'm just meeting someone here." I replied politely, looking around.
"Oh, well in that case, the rest area for travelers is off to your left that way. We have access to the PC Storage System and a healing machine apart from the chairs and beds. Feel free to ask questions and explore the rest of the institute as long as you aren't actually disturbing people from their work." She smiled again, handing me two leaflets before turning back to the papers on the desk.
"Thank you." I made for the rest area, setting my Pokémon into the healing machine for a quick five seconds before the nonexistent injuries they had were healed and they were fully rested. Sitting down on one of the chairs, I started reading the leaflet while I waited.
The Hoenn Weather Institute – We at the Weather Institute have the goal of bringing a better understanding of weather phenomena to Hoenn's citizens, predicting events from Storms to Meteor Showers accurately and ahead of time for our people. We hope that our work in understanding Hoenn's climate and its effects on our environment and lives can help Hoenn as we progress. Amongst other goals of ours is mapping the stratosphere, the effects of human and Pokémon populations on the stratosphere, and vice versa.
"Huh. Maybe I'll look around. At worst I'll get a good view of the rest of the Route." I rose, leaving the leaflet on the chair and walking through the office space. Star charts, current patterns and storm movements dominated large screens on one of the walls, active work panels on the others. I climbed up the stairs the second floor, continuing my exploration. A large screen monitored the Route itself on the Southern Wall.
A massive storm cycle seemed to be fixed over the Route. Scrawled over the image in digital pen were notes and queries. The one next to it displayed numbers and charts I couldn't make too much sense off around a cross-sectional heat map of Mount Chimney. As best as I could guess, they were making sure it wasn't about to erupt.
"The status monitors catch your eye son?" I jumped, turning to see a man in a purple suit with rough grey hair standing next to me. His green eyes twinkled as he laughed, directing my view to the map of the route with a long aluminum rod.
"We still haven't figured out why it's persistently raining here. It's part of why we set up shop where we did. It gives us a good vantage point to observe and analyze the Route. Currently our best guess is that some mythical powerful Pokémon caused it to be this way, otherwise we should get at least twenty or thirty sunny days a year, probably twice that. Instead we have this marvelous phenomenon." He folded his hands behind his back, turning towards the window. "Anyway, I hope you enjoy your visit here. It's always nice to have trainers interested in our work. Good day to you."
"Thank you sir." I replied, not letting myself be caught off guard again as the man walked off to the office at the end of the room. I assumed he oversaw the operation. Stepping up to the window I looked out at the mystical scene. Rain poured down across the lush wildlife. To the east – my left – was another bridge, shorter, but purely across the river since this section, the widest section, was bounded by almost flat cliff walls. The waterfall behind it had to be twice the height of the one further down where I had come from.
A speck of green caught my eye as it grew larger, brighter than the plants and trees all around. The Pokémon soared towards the institute, cutting through the rain up high in the air like it was nothing. As it neared its form became clearer: strong hind legs on a long serpentine body, wide diamond shaped wings with a red border and short arms. Red lenses were part of its eyes, sticking out in what light there was out as the dragon soared neared. It banked hard and close to the ground near the building, its trainer leaping off it and rolling onto one knee as the dragon went straight up. The trainer let gravity cut down it's momentum before recalling it, standing up, brushing his tan pants off and walking into the institute.
"Cassian Byrne." I murmured to myself, guessing who the trainer was as I went back downstairs. The man had just finished a brief conversation with the lady at the front desk. His gaze shifted, meeting my eyes before briefly checking my attire
"Ethan Photon?" I walked over to him with an affirmative nod, meeting his crushing grip as much as I could as we shook hands. "Cassian Byrne."
Byrne was half an inch taller than I was, his brown hair had a few faded orange streaks in it, matching his eyes. His face was on the narrower and paler side compared to most people I'd seen in Hoenn, similar to my complexion or Steven's. Standing there in a grey armor weave t-shirt, a black leather jacket and tan trousers with his hair slightly wet, he looked every bit the Ace Trainer he was. I would learn later that his ability far outstripped my initial impression of him.
"So, you're the kid I'm to train for a couple of days. You have a Typhlosion?" He asked, checking what looked like a cross between a Pokédex and a phone. "Alright. We've got three days here. I'm meeting my squad right here then and I'll have to take off. Let's see how far I can push you in that time. Your Pokémon in good condition?"
"Yeah."
"Perfect. Let's fight." Cassian's eyes met mine, dead serious in that moment, a slight grin forming at the edge of his mouth.
"Alright." I walked out the door with him, into the light rain, walking over to the bridge next to the institute.
"This bridge became a famous site for battles back in the seventies. The Corps decided to restructure it, and have it treated to withstand battles instead of footing the bill and sending engineers to repair it every time some hotshots decided to battle and wrecked it." Cassian gestured towards the supports holding the bridge in place and the slight glimmer it had underneath it from the layers of protection added overtime. "I'm going to show you all of my Pokémon. Most of them are fire types, but they're used to the rain. I trained here for a good month myself. Your task is to take down as many of them as possible, using every trick in the book, every maneuver you've devised in battle, every type advantage, every iota of your energy will be focused on trying to take me down. A foreword, you might not actually get that far. Try, but don't get your hopes up."
I nodded determinedly, heading to the other end of the bridge and steadying my hand over my belt, ready to call out any one of my Pokémon. On the other side of the bridge, Cassian's picked his Pokéballs off his belt two by two, releasing his entire team by his side. His Flygon took to the air immediately, circling above us and zipping about below the bridge and in the sky. Immediately to his side was a Blastoise, the stocky Pokémon taking in its surroundings in a second before clambered down to the river below.
The next two Pokémon to take his side were Sinnoh Pokémon, ones I'd seen when I watched the Sinnoh League Lily of the Valley Conference the year before. To one side was an Infernape, fists at the ready to fight. To the other was a Magmortar, a devilish grin decorating its face as its cannons opened and closed, getting a feel for the air. The last two were what I assumed were amongst his first Pokémon. A gargantuan quadruped Pokémon with two volcanic humps on it's back settled down, a slight tremor spreading through the earth as it sat down. I pulled my phone out to identify it as a Camerupt, a fire and ground type which's prior forms were native to the areas around Mount Chimney.
His last Pokémon was also another dual fire and fighting type, but this one seemed more disciplined in its manner. Taller than its trainer, the Blaziken crossed its arms as its wrists ignited, examining me. Most likely his starter Pokémon.
"Blaziken, you're up!" He called out, the called upon Pokémon taking its position on the bridge.
"Alright. Specter!" I called out my ghostly partner, watching it take in the scene with a gleeful cackle. "These guys are way out of our league. This is serious."
The Ghost type's grin turned into a grimace and then back as it swiveled around to face Blaziken again.
"Your move!" Cassian called down the bridge, his arms crossed, mirroring Blaziken.
"Shadow Ball Barrage!" The dark, purplish blobs popped into the air around Specter, out of sync, firing at random towards Blaziken. Each one of them flew towards the fighting type like a missile, trying to encapsulate it.
"Blaziken! Under the bridge!" The fire type ducked, sliding forward on the wet bridge and using a claw to swing itself under the bridge as the Shadow Balls crashed into the wood uselessly. "Thunder Punch!"
"Disappear and use Shadow Claw!" The Gengar dematerialized as Blaziken's fist would have plunged through it, reforming around it and raking at the fire type's chest with its attack. Instead of panicking at the way its hand was seemingly inside the Gengar, Blaziken suddenly pulled it back out through its body, the flames searing it as it retracted its fist, lashing out with the other one. This time Specter blew out of existence on impact, reforming a half a minute later twenty feet behind the fire type with a pained frown on it's face.
"Thunder Punch!" Cassian's voice rang out through the rain as his Pokémon took off in Specter's direction. I watched as the fire type hurtled towards Specter, fists alternatingly catching fire as it readied to attack.
"Night Shade!" Blaziken was too close to change its course, leaping in with it's flaming leg as a shining black corona enveloped both Pokémon, resulting in a small explosion.
"Hypnosis!" I shouted, watching as Specter reformed, having disappeared right before it took the hit from Blaziken to avoid the explosion. It reformed right in the fire type's face, sending it into a sleeping state. Black marks decorated Blaziken's body in a couple of places.
"Sucker Punch and Shadow Claw! Keep going!" I shouted, watching as Specter slammed its hands into Blaziken repeatedly, managing six blows before the fire type's eyes shot open, its hand reaching out to strike the Gengar with flames. Unable to avoid it at that close of a range Specter took the hit dead on, going high into the air.
"Night Slash!" I watched with trepidation as the fire type leapt forty feet into the air without losing any of its momentum, shooting just over Specter and throwing it down to the bridge with the final attack.
"Specter!" My first Pokémon was out. "Return! You did great. Samurott! Let's go! Water Pulse!"
My newest Pokémon took to the field, firing off the attack with a bark.
"Follow with Brine!" Ducking into a jet of water it created, Samurott followed the first attack towards Blaziken, redirecting its course when the fire type dodged the Water Pulse. Brine crashed into Blaziken, knocking it off its feet.
"Sky Uppercut!" Cassian instructed his Pokémon. I watched as it flew towards Samurott, having gotten back on its feet.
"Into the river!" Samurott leapt off the bridge in time to avoid the attack.
"Night slash back to back, don't let it get away!"
Samurott dove into the water, swimming downstream as Blaziken spotted it with its sharp eyes, leaping forward and opening gashes in the water with night slash where it's feet would land, closing in on Samurott.
"Brine!" Samurott turned around, charging straight for Blaziken and ramming into. As a consequence, it took a night slash to the side, flying out of the water.
"Finish it!" with a lightning fast Thunder Punch Samurott was sent flying towards me. I could see in the air that it had been knocked unconscious, so I caught it in the air with its Pokéball, returning it and clipping it back onto my belt.
"Knight! You wanted to fight, now you get a tough one." I summoned the Dragon Type to my side, readying myself for another dead loss against Cassian's Blaziken.
"Extreme Speed!" Knight disappeared, striking Blaziken less than a second later with an unavoidable blow. "Aqua Tail!"
"Thunder Punch." Cassian hadn't broken a sweat, his voice calm, and on some level, it was maddening. I wanted to make his eyes open wide, to make his expressionless mouth drop open in shock.
"Coil around it and catch it!" Knight avoided the close-range blow, taking full advantage of its serpentine body and the muscles it came with, constricting its tail around first one fist, then the other.
"Blaze Kick!"
"Extreme Speed!" Knight shot off, not letting Blaziken deliver the blow as it rocketed into the water fall to the right, crashing into the water and letting go of Blaziken. "Aqua Tail!"
"Blaziken, leap off the bridge!" the fire type took the hit as it tried to escape the water full, fully soaked as it hurtled towards the bridge, using its hands to catch the edge and throw itself into the air.
"Dragon Pulse!"
"Deflect with Sky Uppercut!" Blaziken swiveled in the air, slamming a leg glowing the color of rust into the dragon pulse, somehow redirecting it at its creator. Unable to get out of range in time, Knight took the blow to his side, careening off course as it rose back in the air.
"Blaze Kick, back to back!" Cassian shouted.
"Match with Aqua Tail!" Knight obeyed my command, trying his best to go blow for blow with Blaziken's every kick, but the weathered fire type's superior physical strength was overwhelming Knight. One block, two, three, four, fi-
"Thunder Punch!" Blaziken's fist flashed with sparks faster than Knight's Extreme Speed and slammed into his side, throwing the Dragonair back on the bridge towards me. Knocked out.
"Come on back Knight. You did a good job." I recalled my defeated third Pokémon, staring at Blaziken. My best guess was that it had about half it's fight left in it, but you could never be certain. Sure, I was fighting with my two oldest Pokémon, and one that had the combat skills and speed to better hold up against its opponent, but at the end of the day, two were weak to fire and fire itself didn't do much against more fire. And there was always Blaze. Blaziken's strength was terrifying, and with Blaze behind it, taking it out would become nightmarish.
"Scizor." Cassian's didn't seem to be surprised that I was calling out Scizor. I didn't know if he had guessed my strategy, but he could probably guess that I was out of advantages. "Don't let Blaziken hit you. Aerial Ace as many times as you can get in."
With a silent nod of affirmation, Scizor took a fighting stance, looking at it's opponent with a critical eye, trying to find the weak spots in the fighting type's style. After a second it took off without much flourish, pincers glowing as Blaziken didn't attack, simply going for an evasive pattern. Night Slashes and thunder punches were thrown into the mix to parry blows the fire type couldn't match, and the fight persisted as my hair stuck to my forehead, wet with the continuous rain.
A rare grunt from Blaziken sounded as Scizor landed a blow after minutes of uneventful parrying, shoving it back and leaping in for a second.
"Finish it."
My heart sank as Scizor was met with flaming kick to the chest, flung across the bridge and in the direction of the trees behind me as I recalled the fainted Pokémon. If Blaziken was to go down, it would have to go down in a somewhat fitting way. I took a Pokéball off my belt, tossing it up in the air as my youngest partner took a stance on the bridge, ready to give everything to take down Blaziken. One fighter versus another.
"Focus Blast!" Lucario readied the blast instantly, countless hours of grueling practice finally paying off as we caught Blaziken off guard, the fighting type attack slamming into its torso and throwing it back towards Cassian.
"Blaze kick!"
"Close Combat!" I prayed that the blow wouldn't take Lucario out with blaze active. Attack met attack in the air. I could hear my heart beating through the downpour as the rain picked up, every thumping pulse slow. The two Pokémon seemed to be moving at a Slowpoke's pace, Lucario reaching Blaziken's angled Blaze Kick. Weaving around the attack and landing momentary touches Lucario's barrage of attacks hit Blaziken, eliciting a cry of pain. Then suddenly it was moving at the original breakneck pace and Lucario's paws turned into a blur, Blaze Kick clipping Lucario's punch, throwing both away with a bang.
"Blaze Kick, again!"
"Drain Punch!" Lucario readied itself, sprinting for momentum as for the second time both fighting types shot towards each other, trying to land their attacks. Blaziken ducked left to miss the first Drain Punch, raising its leg over the low one Lucario had thrown with his other paw and slamming the flaming limb into the steel type.
"Return. Typhlosion, it's your time to fight." I hurled Typhlosion's Pokéball forward with a snap of my wrist, watching the fire type land on the field next to me.
My first Pokémon took the field, staring down Blaziken. Fire type starter to fire type starter, I could feel the silent acknowledgement between the two before a low, guttural roar sounded from Typhlosion's maw.
"Blaziken. Flare Blitz!"
"Brick Break into the river!" I shouted, thinking up one of the many uses of Brick break we'd come up with whilst training. This one had to be one of my favorites though.
Blaziken rocketed forward, fully ablaze, the fire cloaking it burning bright with Blaze. Once again time seemed to dilate as it neared Typhlosion, my Pokémon expertly taking a step out of the way and slamming a Brick Break into Blaziken's side, just avoiding the outstretched hand of the fire type by ducking. I blinked and Blaziken had crashed into a shallow bank of the river, the recoil from Flare Blitz and the brick break to the side dizzying it.
"Focus Blast!" I shouted, watching the orange blast form and fire from Typhlosion's mouth, striking Blaziken before it could get up with a massive explosion, smoke filling the air around it.
The rain made quick work of the smoke in the air, settling it to reveal an unconscious Blaziken lying in the bank of the river. Typhlosion roared from the bridge above, turning to look at Cassian with a glint in its eyes and a feral grin.
"Kudos to you. I didn't expect you to take down Blaziken. Especially not with a Pokémon still left." Cassian raised his hands and clapped thrice as the downpour strengthened, recalling Blaziken.
"Camerupt. It's your turn to fight." Cassian grinned, something I most definitely wasn't happy to see as he called his second Pokémon to the field. "Earthquake."
"Focus Blast on the ground!" Typhlosion followed the instructions diligently, throwing itself high in the air with a Focus Blast aimed directly at the bridge beneath it as the shockwave of Earthquake rippled across the logs, meeting the fire type Attack and rebounding towards Camerupt, throwing its balance off.
"Focus Blast again!" Typhlosion fired from the air, the slow Camerupt not even trying to avoid the attack.
The blast pushed Camerupt a foot back, the titanic Pokémon digging its massive feet into the ground to avoid any further shifting. A grin took over the ground type's mouth as it slammed its front legs into the ground. This time the ground beneath where Typhlosion stood blasted open, the debris and the force of the attack knocking it back towards me, unable to take the direct brunt of the overpowered ground type move.
"Good job Typhlosion. You fought well." I whispered to its Pokéball as I recalled it, heading back towards Cassian.
"That was better than expected. We'll discuss the battle and a training plan inside. The institute also happens to be a rest house for trainers and a base for Ace Trainers. You'll be in 103. Clean up and meet me in the lounge in an hour." Cassian nodded in my direction, recalling the rest of his Pokémon and walking back towards the building.
I stood there in the rain, all my Pokémon fainted, the droplets on Cassian's leather jacket glistening in the few rays of sunlight which shone whilst the rain poured down. I hadn't just lost; I had been utterly destroyed. One hit from Blaziken was enough to take out some of my Pokémon, heck maybe all of them.
'This hasn't been enough. None of this. Not one bit of it has been enough. I'm still so far away. God, what am I going to do? How am I supposed to take the Indigo Conference? How am I supposed to get to the top?'
Wet soil shifted under my weight as I sank to my knees, sitting in the downpour as I stared at the roaring waterfall ahead of me.
'Why did I ever leave New Bark Town? Why did I think I have what it takes to make it to the top? I'm not even in Johto anymore. I'm in Hoenn. I'm so freaking far away from home. Hoenn. What in god's name am I even doing here? Training under Steven? God knows how that'll go like this. What are the chances I'll pull through? Should I just call it quits? And what's that damn sound? Oh. Right. My phone. That's what. I should probably pick up. In like a minute or something. The rain's kinda nice when you think about it. I should pick up. In case it's important or something.'
With that though I pulled my phone out of my pocket, still on my knees. Unknown number, but it was a Johtan line. I picked up, holding the phone to my ear and covering my other ear with my hand.
"Ethan Photon."
"Hey Gold, it's Lyra. How are you doing?" Lyra's voice came down the line, broken a bit by the rain and the signal quality for that long distance of a call.
"Lyra! Did you change your number? What's up?"
"Yeah, I did. Long story. I'll tell you some other time. Not much, I'm with my grandparents again. I thought I'd check up on you, see how your journey was going after that Ariados nest." She laughed mischievously from the other end of the line.
"Actually, I – wait, Gold?" I stopped my sentence, finally registering what she'd said.
"Yeah, I heard you'd blazed through a couple more gyms, even Brendan's dad! Living up to your old nickname I see."
"Remind me how we settled on that nickname again?" I prodded her, vaguely remembering some time in fourth grade when I had gotten the name.
"It was back when we were like eight, I think? You'd been dead set for years on going on your own Pokémon adventure. Then someone asked you what you wanted to do with your journey. Become a police officer, ranger, doctor, researcher, whatever. You were genuinely stumped. You took two days, just sat on the stump in the playground whenever you had time, and then you came back. You had this ridiculous grin on your face, and you looked us all dead in the eyes and you said you wanted to be number one. Everyone was around. None of us thought it was stupid, we all kinda felt like it was awesome, and we were all like yeah, a New Bark Town kid's gonna be Champion someday! I forgot when it was, but it came up at some point in class, and Miss Haley smiled and said we should call you Gold then."
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Nine years ago, …
I sat in my chair at my desk in the middle of the classroom as Miss Haley reached down and ruffled my hair, smiling.
"Maybe we should call you Gold then." She stood straight and continued her laps around the class as we all wrote our stories, trying to make the unrealistic realistic.
"Why Gold Miss Haley?" I asked, slightly confused, setting down the pencil I was writing with.
"Well first place get's the gold medal." She explained, stopping at Lyra's desk to peek at her story.
"That's a stretch for a nickname, don't you think Miss Haley?" I responded politely, scribbling down another line as I spoke.
"Well, your eyes are also gold. So that should work. Now then class, we've got ten more minutes for our stories, and then we'll move on to Math." Miss Haley returned to the front of the classroom, sitting down at her desk and shuffling through some papers.
"Alright," I replied to nobody in particular under my breath, "I'll be Gold."
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Present day…
"I remember now. Gold, for number one." I smiled weakly, shifting my weight and sitting down normally. "You know, I actually just lost pretty bad."
"Really? I didn't think that was possible." Lyra snickered, though I thought I could hear a bit of shock in her voice.
"Yeah, that has to have been the worst battle of my life. It took all my Pokémon to take his first one down, and I think he was holding back. His second Pokémon just swept me out."
"Damn! Who the hell was this person?" Lyra asked, genuinely shocked.
"An Ace Trainer to be fair. An experienced one at that. It's going to take me a while to get to the top." I smiled as I said it, my next words flowing out of my mouth with ease.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. It's going to take time, but I'm going to make New Bark Town proud."
"Attaboy!" I could hear Lyra smack her hand against her thigh to mimic the sound of clapping me on my back.
"Alright. It was great talking to you Lyra, but I've got to go now. Stay safe and keep in touch." I shut the line after I heard her say bye, slipping my phone back in my pocket and walking over to the Weather Institute.
Inside, I healed my Pokémon then made my way to the room I'd been assigned, showering and donning a fresh set of clothes. I brushed off my other ones and went over to the laundry room, chucking them in the dryer and popping a few coins in. once the machine had started up, I went off to the lounge to sit down and wait, watching some random reality show that was running.
The Ace trainer walked in a couple of minutes later, his trousers dry and his jacket and shirt clean. He stood for a minute then sat down at the opposite end of the coffee table in the small lounge, tapping a random beat out on the wood framed marble top. My jaw almost fell as the marble pattern faded and a digital display lit up with an operating system's main page. Pulling a keyboard out, he started typing in a program. All my Pokémon were displayed on the screen, as well as the moves he had seen and the estimated statistics on the Silph Scale from the healing machine.
"There's another keyboard at your end. Fill in the details I don't know." He instructed me. Feeling around the underside of the table, I found the slot, pulling it open and getting to work. When I was finished, he sat back and examined the data for a minute before turning to me.
"You've got creativity, you've got the brains and the skills to do this, but you're sloppy. Some of your tactics and moves are wasteful. I will commend you for not trying to overpower me with fire like some newbie Ace Trainers have before. I'll teach you how to maximize Typhlosion's potential, how to fight with fire, and against it." He explained, a lopsided grin on his face.
"Here's the plan. Flygon will train your Dragonair. Blastoise will train your Samurott. Infernape and Blaziken will train your Lucario and your Scizor. Magmortar and Camerupt will train your Gengar. All the fire types will rotate with Typhlosion. This will be how it goes down. We'll maximize the efficiency of your actions and attacks. I'll tax you to come up with more strategies, maneuvers and little bits of creative thinking no one will expect. You'll perfect them, practice them and ingrain them into your repertoire so that you don't need to think of new things on the fly. We'll start tomorrow morning at six. Go get some rest." Cassian gave me a pat on the back, shifting the screen to something else entirely and sending me off to my room.
"It takes more than blood, sweat and tears to be one of the best of the best. Remember this. You have six Pokéballs on your belt. Six Pokémon. Together with them, you make your story. It's up to you how it gets written."
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I was standing at the base of the Bell Tower in Ecruteak. My feet started moving of my own accord as I walked into the first level, a monk nodding his head as I passed him and ascended to the upper levels of the tower. I caught a glimpse of myself in an old bronze engraving on a wall as my body continued its path up the tower. I was wearing the same rust and yellow robes as the Ecruteak Monks. Time passed as I tried to make sense of stories engraved on the walls in the forms of images pressed into bronze. The open air caught me by surprise as I arrived at the roof of the Bell Tower.
Johto was beautiful. From the top of the tower it was serene. Quiet. Nothing was wrong. People could go about their lives in peace as Autumn leaves drifted down from the trees and from the tower itself in some miracle to the ground and to the streets of the city.
"I'm in the wrong place, aren't I?" I murmured to myself, for some reason sure of it. I turned to my right, and had I been in control of anything other than my mouth in my current state I probably would have fallen off the tower at the sight of Entei. The legendary beast simply nodded in response to my question and I suddenly reappeared in the small theater in Ecruteak, where the Kimono girls were performing one of their tales for some people in the lounge like seating area. The dance of the two birds. The story of Lugia and Ho-oh.
"Something more is going on isn't it?" This time I really wasn't surprised to see Suicune to my left, standing in the back of the room. This time I seemed to be embodying a man in purplish trousers and a black shirt, nursing a Pina Colada. Suicune nodded again, and this time I was myself as we soared East through the air.
'Sometimes the pull from the tower drags the soul off course.' The thought wasn't mine, but it sounded in my head, deep and gravely, like the speaker was unwell.
I found myself on one of the lower roofs of the Silph Company building in Saffron City this time. I was wearing a navy suit, standing near the trash can. I could see the Mag-Lev Train's station and building from where I stood. I could see two blurry figures through one of the frosted windows, one tall, the other a bit shorter than I was. I could hear them though. I was certain it was them.
"I'm done with this. I quit." One of them said, vaguely familiar to my ears.
"You can't just walk out. We can't let you." the other voice said, deeper, almost angry, and once again familiar. I couldn't place either, but I knew I had met them before.
The first person snorted, waving his arms and walking towards the exit of the room presumably.
"Don't worry about the skeletons in your closet. They'll stay there. You have my word that I won't interfere with your operations in any way. All your secrets are safe. You can have them removed from my head before I leave. But I'm done. I joined for one reason. And it didn't work out."
My focus shifted back to where I was, and I remained silent for a moment, turning around to see Raikou behind me.
"You were never really here were you? any of you?" The electric type legend shook its head.
"And I needed to see these things? Something's going to happen, isn't it?" Raikou nodded its head twice in response, waiting for what I knew would be my last question.
"Do I have time? Before it all starts? Properly?" I waited as Raikou didn't respond. I turned back to the skyline as voice sounded in my head, different than the other one. More of a baritone, less calm.
'Yes.'
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I sat up in my bed, uncertain of what to make of this latest dream.
'Whatever it is. I have time. I need to get better.' I thought as I settled back down after checking the time: two in the morning. Cassian's words rang in my head as I lay on my pillow, drifting back off to sleep.
'It takes more than blood, sweat and tears to be one of the best of the best. Remember this. You have six Pokéballs on your belt. Six Pokémon. Together with them, you make your story. It's up to you how it gets written.'
I knew, even as I slipped into a dreamless sleep, just how I would write it then. I had a lot to see, a lot to do. There were badges to be won, battles to be fought, friends to be made and places to be seen. There were hidden plans to be stopped and lessons to be learned. There were challenges to be met and overcome. I'd have to keep working to maintain my goal, to stop some young upstart trainer from defeating me. I'd said it nine years ago to my friends, and the words were still true today. I would be number one. I would be Gold.
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A/N: I decided to try writing this in first person, so leave a review and let me know what you think of the switch (or don't, totally chill). I think I might keep writing it like this, but hey, I'm back, and I've got a great deal more planned for this story! Hope you liked it.