Chapter 18: Knight & Day
A/N: I broke my left arm badly, and also messed up my right hand pretty bad, so let's just say typing properly was out of the question for a while (Early Sep 2018). I kind of wound up playing catch up for the next month and a half and working on my recovery, with a hailstorm of other personal stuff coming up along the way that just hasn't been helpful.
Edit (Aug 2020) I did recover and come out of it fine, but not without time and effort and care. So yeah. It's been tough. Writing is cathartic for me, and honestly if even one person were reading this, I'd be happy. It's awesome that this has so many views right now, and reviews are always fun, whatever they may contain. So, to everyone reading this, for however long you've been reading this, thank you. Without further ado, the eighteenth installment of Tale of a Legend – Alfa19
|\/|~^-_-_-^-_-_-^~|\/|
I rolled over and almost fell out of the small bunk in my room at the weather institute, panicking for a second as the clock in front of me shone a bright 45 minutes past the hour. I squinted at it for a second, trying to make sense of what had happened. There hasn't once been a time where my alarm hasn't woken me up since fifth grade.
"Six forty-five. That's why." I sighed, turning off the alarm set to ring in fifteen minutes and getting up to stretch. Clipping my pokeballs onto my belt, I slipped into training gear; namely a navy sleeveless shirt and light, black sweats. I walked out of the room to the lounge where Cassian had debriefed me the previous night, downing a bottle of milk on my way.
Despite the early hour the institute looked exactly as it had yesterday. I peeked around the walls and tried to see how the scientists were dealing with the early hours when I noticed it. About half or more of the desks were empty, and several the workstations which had been abandoned had been staffed with new faces, working away at a normal pace. I looked over to see the same receptionist as yesterday, yawning by the coffee maker in the corner.
"Hey, do you mind if I ask what's up with the working hours here?" I asked here, walking a bit closer.
"Oh, sure." She covered a yawn with an outstretched arm, walking back to the front desk. "The way we organize things here is that as long as you're clocking your hours they can be whenever you want. We ask that our researchers stay organized with their teams and with teams working on related projects. Everything goes onto our personal cloud in real-time, so it's pretty easy to manage. You'll have the guys working with tides and other lunar things here at all odd hours, the solar guys will pull three-day stints sometimes, other times they'll be here in patches of three hours at a time. It works, and it keeps everyone happy."
"Thanks." I nodded in her direction and made for the lounge again, sitting down in front of the table and waiting for Cassian to show up. Quarter past seven on the dot he was in doorway, geared to train.
"I already told you how the Pokémon are going to be working. I'll be training you. First half of the day is brute force, correcting sloppy execution of moves, learning new ones, straight up endurance training. We'll put it all together later in the day. I have three days to fix as much as I can and build it up, so there won't be many breaks." He stared dead at me, amber eyes meeting my own gold.
"Alright." I stood, following him out the door and into the open. It was one of those rare moments where it wasn't raining, but the wind was blowing, and in the coldest part of Hoenn, it felt sharp against my skin. I reached for my pokeballs, taking three in each hand between my fingers, maximizing them as I tossed them in the air. Six Pokémon appeared on ground in front of me as I snatched the shrinking pokeballs out of the air, clipping them back onto my belt one after the other.
Cassian picked his off his belt one by one, the black gauntlet and glove on his arm blending in with the plain black and grey pokeballs as he tossed them into the air. I watched the first one arc high up into the air, releasing his flygon, the rest following quickly, although each was aimed differently, releasing the Pokémon into their ideal terrain. The second a pokeball had released its Pokémon, it would cut a straight path back to his right hand, from where he deftly passed them to his left hand, clipping them onto his belt one after another.
"Nifty trick." I remarked, staring at it.
"Nylon plates woven with carbon fiber and some electromagnetics of my own making in the palm. It only works on these six pokeballs. It's pretty useful but I haven't had a real situation where I've needed to use it yet." He remarked, moving both his wrists around.
"Alright. Flygon, take Dragonair. Train peripherals as well, on watch duty. Blastoise, take Samurott. Infernape, take Scizor and Lucario. Blaziken, rotate between Gengar, Typhlosion and with Infernape. Camerupt, rotate between Typhlosion and Gengar. Magmortar, rotate between Gengar, Typhlosion and with Infernape." Cassian's Pokémon eyed mine for a minute before gesturing for them to split up in their determined pairings.
"Test them, figure out what they can improve with what they already know and work on it. Teach them new things second, spar cycle. You know the drill. Take it away." Cassian gestured to the wild, "We're back in our playground."
I stood silently as the Pokémon dispersed amongst the surrounding area, all within our view. The Ace trainer turned towards me, a smile forming on his pale face, somewhere between grim and feral.
"We're going rock climbing." I followed his outstretched arm to the rock face behind the institute, extending to the other side of the waterfall. I dutifully followed him to the sheer rise in a quick sprint. As he neared the wall he leaped up, grabbing a hold and starting his climb.
"No harnesses?" I asked, getting ready to climb with hesitance.
"Periphery training means that Flygon and Dragonair are doing the same thing as everyone else." Cassian stopped mid climb, twisting to face me, holding on with one hand and both feet. "But it also means they have to keep an eye on us. Now get up here. A quick start, be it running or jumping, will help."
Staring at the clifflike climb I swallowed once and grabbed a hold, pulling myself as far up as I could with the one hold before reaching for the next. I planted a foot on a protruding stone, starting my rise upwards. The face itself had to be a good forty or fifty feet tall.
I felt my foot slip beneath me and held on tighter, finding a new foothold for it and slowly resuming my climb up. I looked up to see that in the time it had taken me to settle into the wall, Cassian was more than halfway up, and he wasn't slowing down. I kept climbing, slowly creeping closer to the top with a few small slips, but every time I managed to keep myself on the wall. I pulled myself over the top of the wall, panting lightly as I clambered onto the ground. Cassian stood there with his arms crossed, staring at me with an expression I couldn't quite explain.
"Well, at least you can climb." He looked at the cliff face below us, examining the expanse. "This is what we'll be doing. You're going to run down the path to the bottom and keep climbing up this section of the wall until you're somewhat comfortable with climbing. I'm going to be climbing up and down. When you're sort of comfortable stop at the top and I'll direct you. I don't want this path burned into your muscle memory. Find every path you can within this range of…. Eight feet." He gestured to the section I had just climbed up, directing me around it.
"Okay." I turned and headed for the path, breaking out into a run all the way to the bottom of the slope and back around to the cliff face. I started on my way up, trying to be more cognizant of the rock face. By my standards it was a better run than the first, but I had no idea how Cassian was going to judge me, nor how he would push. I really didn't have a clue. I made it up the second time, sprinting back down for the third, starting on a high.
Rocks seemed to stick out a bit more, and I climbed with more confidence, cracking out into a weary grin by the time I reached the midway point. I kept pushing, reaching for another hold with my hand and missing. I felt the rock face slip under my shoes as the defined lines in front of me blurred into a haze. Instinctively I reached out, grabbing a pair of holds before I accelerated too much, coming to a halt ten feet below where I started. I turned my head to see Knight perched four feet below me, ready to catch me.
"Thanks buddy. Keep training. I'll be more careful." I smiled weakly and turned to the rock face again. I took a deep breath, focusing on the rock and climbing up the wall, exploring the paths and the feelings of the holds beneath my fingers and feet, climbing to the top and coming to a rest on one knee, hands planted on the ground.
"Good." Cassian followed me up a moment later, looking at my quizzical expression. "That's a good start. Take a few minutes to let the burn die out. What you're going to do now, is keep climbing the wall, but different sections. Climb different eight-foot sections on this side of the waterfall, all the way up, each once, until you reach the falls."
"Can I ask if this is meant to accomplish anything other than physical conditioning?" I asked, pushing myself to my feet.
"What's going to happen here is that you're going to become better at processing the environment quickly and use it instead of relying on the field being the same every time. I don't necessarily mean the physical environment. Assessing the situation quickly and acting accordingly, whether in battle or otherwise, is a valuable skill." Cassian explained, crossing his arms across his grey shirt.
"This isn't going to be like some movie, where we do this exercise all day and during an end of day battle suddenly everything is clearer to you. Not at all. It's going to be in the back of your head, it'll take a lot more honing as well, but today will make some difference. I promise you won't notice. If the goal is achieved your focus will be on the battle and to some extent your peripheries. I'll tell you now to keep practicing things like this to keep honing your processing."
"Yes sir." I mock saluted him, running to the bottom.
Near the bottom I stopped for a moment to look and see what the Pokémon were up to. From where I was standing, I could only really see Knight and Flygon. The two dragons darted in and out of the grey clouds, Flygon's rapidly moving eyes darting to the cliff face every so often without breaking its form. Samurott and Blastoise seemed to be underwater, and the others were all over. Specter would flash into existence for a second before a blast of fire would chase it almost instantaneously.
I turned back towards the cliff face and got back to my own climbing, making my way up a different section of the wall. Immediately the difference was tangible. There may have been repetitive patterns in the rock face, but they might be so spread out that it wouldn't have helped me to have burned the last path into my memory.
Hauling myself up I started climbing, making my way up as I evaluated the best path for me to take, watching Cassian pull of all sorts of random movements all around. He was moving side to side, deliberately sliding down the wall and changing grips if he felt it was necessary and climbing at an incredible pace. I kept up my climb, forcing myself to move higher and higher, almost losing my grip a few times as I progressed upwards.
A decent chunk of the morning went on in such a repetitive manner. I'd reach the top, and somehow Cassian would be there every single time, waiting for me, irrespective of which way he had been moving the last time I had seen him. I pulled myself up to the top again, looking to my left.
"One more stretch." I murmured to myself, getting up and jogging down to the bottom of the wall, right by the falls. I ran a hand over the jagged protrusions. Dry. The waterfall itself was set into the wall and there wasn't much spray outside even if the roar was loud enough to drown out most other sounds.
I reached for a hold, grabbing on and pulling myself up, pushing myself to keep climbing up the wall towards where Cassian would undoubtedly be waiting. Instinctively I winced as my muscles burned, complaining about the constant climbing. Gritting my teeth, I turned to look and see what my Pokémon were up to, my feet dug into a solid hold and my hands clamped tight around two rocks.
Knight was snaking in and out of the clouds, delving out for a longer period followed by Flygon. The Dragonair twisted in the air, firing off a dragon pulse and shooting off after it. I watched for a second as Flygon managed to twist out of the way and turn on a whim just as fast as Knight.
'Is Knight going to be able to do that as a Dragonite?' I shook my head, turning back to the wall. 'I'll think about that when I get to the top.'
I kept on climbing, progressing another ten feet when my hand tried to close around a loose wet surface. The rock in my hand came clean out of the wall and my weight shifted, my foot slipping off its hold as once again the cliff in front of me started to accelerate upwards. I reached out to grab a hold but this time I was too far to grab a rock. The slight tilt of my back as I'd fallen had put the wall out of reach.
Air rushed around my ears as the ground neared me, the upper edge of the cliff shrinking quickly in the distance. A crooning roar sounded, and I felt a thick coil wrap around my body, plucking me out of my fall and hoisting me up into the air some twelve feet off the ground.
"Thanks Knight. I don't know what I'd do without you." I grinned as the Pokémon set me up on the wall, darting back off to Flygon the second I had a good grip and kept up climbing.
My muscles still burned, but this time I would make it. I would make it to the top of the damn wall. I was being trained, tested, and I couldn't mess this up. I pushed, going a bit more carefully this time, and slowly but surely, the green lip of the cliff neared, and I pulled myself up, standing up the second I was there.
"Good. Rest for a bit. I imagine your arms are giving you hell." Cassian gave me the same smile as he had when we started, somewhere between grim and feral.
"You would be right." I turned to face the ground below the cliff, looking for my Pokémon. Knight and Flygon were still at it up in the air, darting about in swift complicated maneuvers. Lucario was on the ground, sparring with Blaziken. The fire type wasn't giving Lucario any room to breathe, correcting forms mid fight and snapping orders at the aura Pokémon. It radiated discipline, the kind that Infernape surely had, but less visibly.
Infernape was taking on Scizor, it's arcing forms and constant shifting deliberate to throw off Scizor and to train the steel type to defend against blows with unpredictable timing and intensity. Samurott and Blastoise were still underwater, but I could make out the latter, firing its massive canons in the river, disrupting the flow and forcing Samurott to recoup. Camerupt was off to one side, training Typhlosion in Eruption.
'Typhlosion is probably the most disciplined. It kind of makes sense that he'd be the one to rehash all the old stuff the quickest.' I placed a hand under my chin, turning to see look elsewhere. 'I wonder how Specter's dealing with this kind of a regimen. I imagine he doesn't – what?"
Magmortar was standing in the middle of an open space, a wide grin on its face as it looked around. Every time Specter appeared or charged, or even tried to attack from a distance, an arm canon would be up and firing almost immediately.
"Do you know what exactly Magmortar's doing?" I turned to ask Cassian, one eyebrow raised as he glanced over and laughed.
"Oh, that. For Magmortar it's kind of like whack-a-Drillbur. Your Gengar has to try and get close and tag or attack Magmortar someway. It's kind of temperament and strategy training since I can't really work on much for Ghost types. It'll sort its own imperfections out trying to even get close."
"Just to get close?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"If Magmortar is just to stand there and fire, knowing full well that is exactly what it's supposed to do, the ratio of it's firepower to reaction time is insane. Blaziken could react faster and probably deal more damage with a single stroke, but that wouldn't the sheer blanketing effect of firing a canon with our usual style. In a real battle I wouldn't have Magmortar do this except as a last stand, or for exhibitions."
I looked over again to see how it was going. Specter was flitting in and out of existence every other second, firing off shadow balls randomly. Every single one Magmortar met with a swift canon blast, stopping the attack before it even breached the boundary marked by a ring of scorched grass around the fire type. It was disheartening to see one of my most determined Pokémon unable to manage it, but intense frown/glare mixture on the ghost's face was too comical. It looked like it was about to start swearing like a sailor.
"What drove you to join the corps?" I turned back to Cassian, who was sitting on a nearby rock staring at the river.
"I suppose it was logical in my case. I wanted to be stronger, and I wanted a stable, dependable source of income." He said simply, without turning. "Why do you want to join the corps?"
"I suppose because my dad was in the corps. I want to be strong, I wanted to be the strongest in Johto someday." Memories of running around as a kid with mock pokeballs flooded my mind, bringing a smile to my face. "I suppose it's somewhat naïve, but I'll keep trying."
Cassian opened his mouth to speak, deciding against it and turning back to the water.
"Let's get back to training. We'll return to rock climbing again later. We're going to the institute. Recall your Pokémon."
I reached for my pokeballs as we walked down the path to the bottom together, whistling to catch the attention of each of my Pokémon. The six returned as Cassian's Pokémon were recalled one by one, coming to my side. I could see fatigue in some of them. Lucario was ready to get right back at it, the fighting training perhaps just as beneficial as the time with Chuck. Specter just looked dissatisfied, staring at me with an exaggerated frown.
"Oh, buzz off. We both know you're secretly enjoying this." I waved my arm in the air as the ghost type crossed its arms and turned its back towards me. Typhlosion snorted from the sidelines, stretching its legs. I could tell it was tired, but the fire in its eyes was unparalleled. Scizor stood silently by its side, my two oldest Pokémon also the closest to each other. Samurott was tired, but it seemed in a good mood. I suspected Blastoise was more invested in the only water type. He also seemed to be somewhat happy about keeping up with his teammates given he was the newest member. Knight had settled down by on ground, swaying its head slowly as it relaxed.
"You're all doing fantastic. Let's take a break and I'll get you guys some rest." I scratched Typhlosion's back, given he was the nearest to me, returning each of them and following Cassian in to the institute as clouds broke for a few moments, letting the warmth of the sun shine through onto my back.
Once inside Cassian lead me up to a clear workstation, one of the few where the wall displays were completely blank, not passively monitoring some system unlike most of the others. The ace trainer simply walked up to a desk and logged in, with…. A weather institute ID.
"I work as a field researcher sometimes." Cassian answered the question lingering in my mouth, pulling up countless files – recordings of interviews, conference matches, declassified mission logs, trainer profiles, a plethora of things.
"I'm porting all of this to the lounge displays. I want you to go over everything. I'm not going to give you anything specific to look for. Observe, understand, immerse yourself. We'll talk about it when you're done. Right now, it's more fruitful than training. Your Pokémon seem to have made good progress with correcting what they already knew and with understanding the rigor in perfecting something without mine to help them. Even your Gengar." He smiled for a moment, turning to the screen. "I'm going to get work done. Go do this. Find me when you're done."
I nodded to his back, heading down for the trainer lounge where the screen was waiting for me, the table interface up and running. I pulled up the first file, a clip from a battle of a tall blond trainer with a devilish grin and dark eyes. The stadium looked to be massive, most likely in Battle Frontier. The battleground was classic, dirt with white lines, one hundred percent smooth. Standing at the other end was a trainer with a different camera focused on them. The blond stood behind a slim white Pokémon with green highlights and blades for arms.
I hit play, letting the scene unfold before me. The trainer was down two Pokémon, but his opponent only had two left, the first of which was a roaring Arcanine. The magnificent beast roared, its feet periodically catching fire as it glared at the unknown Pokémon.
"Gallade! Psycho cut!" The trainer shouted, identifying the Pokémon as it leaned forward for a second, firing off six glowing purple blades in a dance like form.
'Why isn't he communicating telepathically? Gallade's a psychic type. Also, what was with the form on that Psycho cut. It's… fluid." I frowned for a moment, leaning forward and watching him take on the Arcanine.
"Air Bound!" Arcanine charged forward towards the blades coated in flames, bounding into the sky as though it had been shot out of a canon. The blades curved into the air, following and clashing with the flames, fizzling out after a fight.
"Stone edge!" Gallade reacted instantly, moving with the same fluid grace as an array of jagged stones struck Arcanine from beneath and from the left flank throwing it into the air.
"Focus Blast!"
"Extreme Speed!" the Arcanine vibrated in the air for a millisecond, a shimmering corona enveloping it as Gallade charged and fired the massive rust colored blast off from in front of its crossed blades.
All of a sudden Arcanine reappeared in another shimmering corona twenty feet to the left and on the ground, looking a bit worn.
'Damn. He managed to work up enough force to propel itself against air…. Its tiring, but letting it land would have been suicide.' I kept my eyes on the screen as a smirk covered the blonde trainers face.
"Psycho cut!" Gallade leaned forward and in its quick dance fired off four blades this time, in the direction of the focus blast. The glowing purple blade caught up to and enveloped the rust orb quickly, orbiting around it as it seemed to slow down for a second.
The other trainer seemed to be staring at it as Arcanine regained its breath, eyes widening as the conglomeration of attacks boomeranged sharply and crashed into Arcanine with a bang, throwing the canine against the flickering white energy barriers of the arena.
"ARCANINE IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!" The referee blew his whistle and the scene cut whilst Arcanine was being recalled, shifting to a post battle interview with the blond trainer, the trainer box raised to the press tier off the stands.
"Mr. Van Essen! One last question please!" A reporter called out from the stands, waving her arms madly.
"Of course. But it pains me to say I must leave after this one. After all my team and I must train to keep progressing in the conference." He bowed his head slightly with a devilish smile. "Ask away."
"What is your training strategy. We aren't trying to spill your secrets to your opposition, but can we get a peek into the mindset with such a talented battler such as yourself goes into training."
"I'm flattered." Van Essen brushed back a lock of his longish blonde hair, meticulously styled, not unlike Siebold of the Kalos Elite Four. "Our training would be to develop and perfect responses to any situation. My team and I create responses and stitch them together, work to make them as close to infallible as possible. Ideally once we start, we cannot be stopped. That is how we train."
"Ladies and Gentlemen, a round of applause for Alexander Van Essen, the winner of Quarter Final A of The Sinnoh Pokémon League Conference!" a commentator's voice rang through the background, finally revealing the first name of this mysterious trainer as the camera panned. The final shot ended on his face, from a slight angle, but his eyes were still aimed knowingly at the camera, the devilish smirk sending chills down my spine. Wanting to move on, I opened the next tab in the sequence, a trainer file.
'I really should have expected that one.' I sighed, staring at the same smirk and blonde locks of hair in the picture
Alexander Van Essen
Hometown – Snowpoint City, SINNOH
D.O.B. – 12th August 1985
Sex - Male
Registered Pokémon – 8
*Abomasnow
*Bastiodon
*Dusknoir
*Electivire
*Floatzel
*Gallade
*Gliscor
*Vespiqueen
*Most Used Pokémon – Gallade
Competition Appearances
Sinnoh Pokémon League Conference 2005 (1st Place)
Pokémon World Tournament: Veteran Ace Trainers August 2013 (3rd Place)
Frontier League Conference 2014 (Top 64)
Competitive Record†
46 total appearances
38 wins
5 draws
3 losses
* Marked Data unavailable during ongoing competitions
† Inclusive of Gym Battles, Competitive Appearances and League Challenges
"Who the hell is this guy?" I stared at the record in front of me, my eyes periodically flicking to the picture on the trainer ID, trying to see what I could piece together. The first and most obvious thing was that he was from Sinnoh. The second was that he was in the Origin Corps, an Ace trainer in Sinnoh. The third was that he had to have progressed far in that group to make it to the Veteran Ace Trainers division of the Pokémon World Tournament. The name of the competition happens to be misleading. While the Pokémon world tournament attracted some of the most skilled trainers from across the globe, it was very frequent, the rankings were constantly shifting, and it was quite short, each iteration involving only thirty-two trainers. They would pick somewhere between sixteen and twenty-four trainers falling under a category, say gym leaders, and the remainder being the first people to register.
The final frontier for trainers, that's the Frontier League Conference. It's the ultimate goal, the holy grail for a trainer aiming for number 1. There are minimum qualifications to register of course. But there aren't any limits if you meet those benchmarks. Successful challengers of the Battle Frontiers of Hoenn and Sinnoh, people who placed in Conferences or other major competitive tournaments, Ace trainers, gym leaders, elite four members, champions even, active and inactive. The fame of the victors is unmatchable. More often than not you have champions winning, or Elite four members on occasion. Qualifying to register in and of itself is an achievement. Make it to the top sixty-four and you've made a name for yourself in the upper circuits even if you avoid making a public name for yourself. Those rare few winners who aren't champions are the stuff of legend.
I pulled up the next item, trying to get back on track with my assigned work and what I was supposed to be doing. Another train foreign to me, and to Hoenn. Staring back at me was an unsmiling face, but you could tell it wasn't a cold stare. Closer to a badly timed driver's license photo. Framed by messy black hair, his pale face was thin, reducing his presence. I made the mistake of thinking it would be someone completely obsessed with battling, a recluse. The second my eyes drifted to the electric blue pair staring back at me from the screen I realized how completely wrong I was. Intelligence, wit, humor, energy and pure charisma shone in his gaze, clouded by the lens of the camera but still visible. A shiver ran through my spine as I started to read.
Ben Wilton Sterling Day IX
Hometown – Mistralton City, UNOVA
D.O.B. – 14th February 1995
Sex - Male
Registered Pokémon – 6
*Blastoise
*Golurk
*Haxorus
*Hydreigon
*Samurott
*Volcarona
*Most Used Pokémon – Samurott
Competition Appearances
Unova Pokémon League Conference 2013 (1st Place)
Pokémon World Tournament: Gym Leader Challenge November 2012 (1st Place)
Frontier League Conference 2014 (Top 32)
Competitive Record†
53 total appearances
47 wins
2 draws
4 losses
* Marked Data unavailable during ongoing competitions
† Inclusive of Gym Battles, Competitive Appearances and League Challenges
'What are the differences between these two?' I stared at the screen, backtracking and pulling up earlier file. 'Van Essen won the Sinnoh conference in 2005, which is December, so at the age of 20.'
I double clicked the competitive record tab, opening it up in more detail. 'So, a clean track with eight gym leaders in Sinnoh, qualifying in the Sinnoh conference and winning it, so that's, eight, seven and seven. Twenty-two. The ace trainer World tournament would be five more battles, so twenty-seven, of which one was a loss. There's nineteen more here. Fifteen for frontier league qualifying, and then three more in the tournament itself. Forty-five, so his draws should come in there, and another loss for the knockout. And one Elite four challenge, ending in a loss. Forty-six battles. So, the veteran ace trainer conference was two years ago, at the age of twenty-eight, and the frontier league was last year, so at twenty-nine. He would have been in the corps for anywhere from five to eight years then.'
"And what's up with Day?" I murmured, flipping back to the second file.
"Fifty-two appearances, twelve battles with eleven gym leaders in Unova, and a straight rise to the top of the Unova Conference two years ago, at eighteen. Clean sweep in the gym leader challenge at the world tournament. Elite Four challenge where he… beat two of them… Damn. Two draws and a loss in Frontier League qualifying, one loss in the round of thirty-two at the age of nineteen…" I stopped, quietly moving on to the next item as I processed the insane capabilities of the trainer whose file sat in front of me.
"What the hell." I stared blankly at the screen, the files still fully settling into my head. "At least it's reassuring that I don't need a clean slate with gym leaders to make it to the Frontier League. I bet the next thing's a clip of him fighting."
Minimizing the previous tabs, I opened the next clip, one set in a stadium I recognized very well. One of the Frontier League Stadiums.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, today, September 4th, 2014 marks the opening knockout round of the Frontier League Conference! Across five stadiums, five battles are about to start, the first five battles of the knockout rounds. The order of matchups is posted, as is the rough time, but if battles are running over, we may have to delay matches. This is the ultimate frontier. There are no time limits." The announcer stared at the camera with a look of solemn respect and eager anticipation.
"Without further ado, welcome our contestants for this round!" The crowd burst into an uproar, cheering themselves hoarse even as two generic icons appeared on the screen for contestants.
"First up, in the green corner, we have a Hoennian hometown hero!" The announcer grinned, his voice booming across the stadium. "Slateport City's Leanna Marson!" The shouting and cheering kept up as the blank icon under the green tab was replaced with a picture of a pretty blonde girl with a devious smile.
Sure enough, standing at one end of the stadium was a pretty blonde girl in an orange sundress who clearly wanted the crowd on her side, smiling and waving to the masses, holding two minimized pokeballs in with her waving hand and a handbag with the other. She angled her large sunhat, adjusting it for a better battling angle as the uproar died down, waiting for the next remaining blank slot.
"Our next contestant comes from the distant region of Unova, an up and coming trainer who blazed his way to first place in the Unova Pokémon League Conference a year and a half ago! In the red corner, hailing from the rainy locale of Mistralton City, Ben Day!" The announcer roared the name as one messy haired slim trainer, walked in. he was stronger than he had been when his picture was taken, and his confident grin radiated charisma. Standing there in just a Navy V-neck and light khaki pants his presence had caught the crowd up in a way you could tell miffed his opponent. The uproar for the Hoennian girl had been loud, even if the crowd was a complete mix, but the screaming and shouting for Day was deafening. It was like standing in front of an angry Exploud. I kept watching, muting it until the clip shifted back to the announcer. Clearly Cassian wanted me to see the effect this guy had on the crowd.
"The format of this battle will be four on four. Items may not be used. Pokémon may not be switched out except when the opposing Pokémon has been fainted, in which instance both trainers will release their chosen Pokémon at the same time. Recalling a Pokémon at any other time is considered forfeiting its eligibility to participate in the remainder of the battle. The terrain for this battle will be earth and water. Trainers, at ready." The announcer's voice took on harsh edge as the referee readied himself. "Release!"
The girl hurled one of her two pokeballs into the air, releasing a large blue, Pokémon with flippers and large tusks.
"And Marson opens with a favored Pokémon from qualifying, Walrein! This four-hundred-pound powerhouse is a threat to anyone and everyone!"
I looked up the ice type Pokémon in Brendan's expanding database as it splashed into one of the larger lakes in the arena, submerging itself for a moment before resurfacing. The picture flipped to the other side, deliberately lagging the video from the other cameras as Day released his Pokémon. A massive, 6-and-a-half-foot bipedal dragon type roared on the other side of the stadium. Heavy greenish scales coated its back and flanks, black across its chest and stomach. It was long, it's armored neck and tail were as thick as a Seviper. But the most impressive thing had to have been the massive, black and red, axe-blade like tusks protruding from either side of its maw.
"Day has chosen to go with Haxorus, a Pokémon we didn't see in his qualifying run. Without the ability to take to the air, Haxorus is stuck in the range of Walrein's deadly ice, but don't take the grounded dragon to be any weaker than its foreign cousins. Titan-like Pokémon such as this one can have terrifying ways of making up for what we see as weaknesses." The announcer riled the crowd up, spreading his arms. "Trainers ready to fight, on the referee's whistle."
Ben was poised and ready, his right hand almost raised to his face. The referee picked up his whistle and blew on it sharply, Haxorus leaning until its long body was almost flat. Almost instantly another, cleaner whistle rang through the stadium and Haxorus took off before Leanna could even issue a command to Walrein. Legs like tree trunks and a body made for aerodynamics propelled it across the earthy battle field unfathomably fast.
Walrein made the sensible choice and dove down instead of trying to attack the charging dragon head on. Leanna smiled wearily for a moment, sure that by diving into the water, Walrein had avoided Haxorus's Dragon Rush, even if it was by a hair's width.
That was where she was horribly wrong. Haxorus's body slowed to a halt almost as fast as it took off, but its neck stretched out. A look of horror dawned on Leanna's face as Haxorus's tusks caught Walrein's impossibly strong ones and it hurled the ice type into the air above it with a massive force. Time seemed to slow down for a moment as the indigo glow faded from Haxorus's tusks, replaced a metallic sheen on its head as it rammed it into Walrein, keeping it in the air for a few moments longer and rearing its head to continue the onslaught. A few moments were all it needed to charge and fire a Focus blast straight into Walrein from between its tusks, sending the ice type hurtling off to the other side of the field.
Walrein crashed into a boulder, falling into the lake below it and staying deep under. It's marker on the screen hadn't gone out yet, and I would be surprised had it. Day was skilled, that much was obvious, but this was the Frontier League, you had to be strong to make it out of qualifying.
"One more onslaught like that could take it out though."
"Walrein! Freeze the stadium over!" Leanna called out from one end. A blueish white light began to shine in the depths of the lake, casting a glow in the stadium as the sun set. Walrein burst of the placid lake, sending waves everywhere as it fired the ice attack just above the surface.
Haxorus ducked behind a boulder, curling almost into a ball as waves of snow and ice spread across the field, freezing all the boulders and the ground, everything except the largest lakes. The dragon type uncoiled with an angry roar and stared down its opponent. It stepped out hesitantly onto the thick, slippery ice, causing Leanna to smirk at her success.
"Ladies and gentlemen that onslaught of attacks was amazing, but it looks like Leanna has successfully eliminated Haxorus's incredible speed from the equation by freezing over the arena and given herself an advantage. Walrein in Shoal Cave hurtle across iced surfaces rapidly, guiding themselves with more ice, but the momentum behind such a Pokémon is hard to stop for something not rooted into the ground."
Ben looked at the ice for a moment, cocking his head to one side.
"Haxorus! Focus Head!" the dragon type charged a focus blast to full size in a second, firing it off at Walrein and tensing its legs.
"Ice Beam!" Walrein fired off the attack, focusing purely on fending off the devastating impact of another Focus Blast. I could tell it was wary after the first one. The two attacks collided with a massive explosion, sending fine ice crystals into the air in a cloud, hiding the nightmare of a scene from Leanna for a moment.
Either the operators got lucky or they picked up on that something was about to happen, shifting to a camera angle that almost exactly gave me Leanna's perspective, probably over her shoulder. The diamond haze settled onto the ground, sparkling against the ice in the stadium lights as a heavy crackling rhythm picked up in pace.
Through the dissipating cloud Haxorus emerged, charging just as fast as before. My eyes shot open and swiveled to its feet, seeing the talons gouge into the ice and propel it just as efficiently, if not quicker across the icy field. Walrein fired off another ice beam in a quick attempt to divert the dragon, the attack colliding with its shining silver head. it clearly hurt, but at that point it did little to slow it down, though it did kill the Iron Head.
Walrein tried to dive to the side slightly, but Haxorus kept up its charge, slamming a glowing silver tail into the ice types side and knocking it back onto open ground.
A wavering whistle rang out from Day's side and Haxorus slammed its tail into the ground with a crushing force, breaking through the ice and sending an earthquake through the arena. Spikes of ice shot up and stabbed Walrein's blubber even as the force of the ground type attack sent it spasming.
"Focus blast now!" Ben shouted, watching his dragon type roar and fire the devastatingly powerful attack into Walrein and sending it flying into the golden energy barrier that flared into visibility right where Walrein crashed into it, to the far left from Leanna.
"Walrein is unable to battle! Leanna Marson is down to three Pokémon! Will the opposition recall their Pokémon as well?" The announcer wasn't actually asking Ben, rather posing the question to the audience in anticipation of what would happen. Leanna recalled her collapsed Walrein, her eyes focused on Ben as he reached out and recalled Haxorus.
She narrowed her eyes, moving her hand. It had previously been deep within her handbag, presumably reaching for a pokeball, but instead she picked the second pokeball that she had been waving at the start of the match, maximizing it and holding it at the ready. Ben clipped Haxorus's pokeball and then reached for the one behind it one his belt, picking it off his belt and grinning as he maximized it.
"Trainers, prepare to release your Pokémon!" The announcer shouted into the mic, just before the referee blew his whistle in one short burst. Leanna released her second Pokémon, a lean, mean looking Sceptile ready to fight. Behind the grass type Leanna's mouth fell open for a moment before closing into a tight-lipped frown, eyes narrowing.
On the other side of the field, Ben had released his Pokémon, the massive green and black dragon roaring with fervor as it took it place on the field. Again. He had literally just rereleased his Haxorus, the other three pokeball symbols under his name on the screen still present.
I immediately paused the video, backtracking to where he had picked the pokeball off his belt and scrubbing through the frames slowly. He hadn't in fact clipped Haxorus's pokeball onto the empty slot on his belt. Instead he had very subtly moved the third pokeball to its place and clipped them into each other's slots simultaneously, pulling Haxorus's pokeball off a different clip and tricking everyone. Including me.
Haxorus was standing in place, slowly swaying from side to side, tail moving in a serpentine manner. Sceptile on the other side of the field had no clue why its trainer was mad, but it could most certainly pick up on it, shifting its stance accordingly.
"Sceptile, Crush Claw!" she shouted, the grass type leaping forward with speed to match Haxorus, blade and talons glowing.
Ben whistled in a new pattern, Haxorus responding immediately to the unspoken command. The dragon type met Sceptile's charge head one, stretching slightly to one side to try and trip up the grass type. Sceptile seemed to snort mid charge, leaping to the other side and up, expecting a ground sweep of Haxorus's tail. The dragon type leveled its body to the ground, avoiding the crush claw and slamming a dragon tail into Sceptile.
Instead of letting it fly off however, Haxorus had curled its tail around the grass type, trapping it with its powerful muscles.
"Incinerate." Ben uttered the word watching as for a moment Haxorus's entire body lit up with fire. In a flash the flames died, reappearing in a concentric, closing wave centered on Sceptile. The fire attack hit the grass type full on, not giving it a chance to evade or recover from it as Haxorus uncurled Sceptile, tossing it up into the air to stab with glowing purple tusks. Poison Jab.
It was awe inspiring. I watched as Sceptile was hurled across the stadium to slam into the glowing barrier, slumping to the ground. To its credit it stood up and rushed back at Haxorus with Dragon Claw, almost as if it shrugged off the onslaught. To the untrained eye it would seem so. With some level of battling experience, you could see the signs. The slower motions of one of the faster species of Pokémon. Sceptile's eyes showed its grit but the burn marks all over its body weren't surface level. It was acting intelligently, minimizing its movements as much as it could while still attacking.
The grass type's blades met a glowing Dragon Tail. Sceptile lashed out again in quick succession, reaching for the top of Haxorus's head with a blade and a jump, only to meet an iron head propelling it into the sky. The grass type swerved to avoid a flamethrower thrown its way, twisting in the air and plummeting back down with yet another dragon blade.
This one made impact, slamming into Haxorus's back as the massive beast roared with pain, slamming its tail sideways into Sceptile and tossing it clear. Furious but collecting its wits Haxorus reared and used flamethrower, spreading it a bit to catch Sceptile. I raised an eyebrow as the grass type weathered the attack, but just barely. It was standing there, and I could see what I thought was respect when the angle panned to Haxorus, before flicking back to Sceptile. It tried to take a step forward before collapsing from the poison injected from Haxorus's earlier attack, being recalled as the clip ended.
I opened the next tab in silence, just a note staring me in the face. Think about how he played the battle as opposed to Van Essen. I frowned, staring at the message and thinking. Van Essen had remarked about his training style, saying he wanted to have a move for every possible occasion. He was prepared. Day seemed somewhat similar. It was kind of like he was signaling with his whistling, but then there was also the trick with recalling Haxorus.
'He's not just calling on premade routines. He's got to have worked out some way to communicate with whistling, cause he's stringing together so many random things. He's playing the situation instead of preparing for it. I think. I guess I'll find out'.
For a while I continued to sift through tabs, observing battle strategies, tricks, reading accounts of battles and mission logs, some of Cassian's, some with names unknown to me, some with all specific data redacted. Admittedly, I was somewhat stumped on those. I couldn't learn much from them except that catastrophic events had occurred, and never fully died out.
I pulled up the last two files with a sigh, freezing the second I saw the first of them. The picture in the upper left corner depicted a man with a somewhat conceited smirk, his black eyes piercing, his pale face sharp, and his brown hair slicked back. A face that everyone in Indigo had learned to recognize twice. Once when he swept the Indigo Conference, and eventually became Kanto's most feared Gym Leader, and the second time when it was revealed that he was behind one of the most powerful criminal syndicates in the world. Known only by one name, but one name that everyone knew. The conceited smirk had eventually turned cruel, and the blackness of his eyes had only ever shown the darkness he hid.
Giovanni. The picture seemed to have been taken when he was appointed Gym Leader in Viridian City, right when he started Team Rocket, a portrait of a younger, slightly more naïve man with all the genius of a criminal mastermind locked away to be revealed later. That was also the time when the Viridian Gym's badge became harder to get. Very few would defeat Giovanni when they battled him. He was known for not battling anyone for anything less than a sixth or seventh badge, a mercy rule the League had allowed. His ruthlessness outstripped that of the infamous Lieutenant Surge, his cunning matched that of the Psychic Sabrina, and his skill with his Pokémon was only parred by Blaine of the other gym leaders.
The Earth badge became a status symbol. For the first couple of months people still got it relatively regularly. By the end of the first year only exceptionally powerful trainers got it. by the second year he was in the gym less and less, and those few who caught him there fought for the lives to get a ticket to the Indigo League Conference.
Indigo League Criminal Database Entry 12-84: Giovanni
File - Inactive
Skin – pale | Hair – Brown | Eyes – Black | Height – 5'11
Leader of Team Rocket – Former Gym Leader at Viridian City.
Involvements
Celadon City Game Corner
Pokémon Theft and Trafficking (S.S. Anne)
Genetic Experimentation with Evolution Processes
Mt. Moon Internal Cave System Collapse
Silph Co. Takeover
REDACTED
Current Location – Unknown
*Team Rocket disbanded at the hands of Trainers, Red (Location Unknown, Status confirmed as Alive), Green (Location & Status Unknown), Blue Oak (Viridian City Gym Leader).
*No current indication of involvement in resurgence of Team Rocket in Johto.
I stared at the involvements section for a minute, trying to think if I could recall anything that might go under the redacted section. Nothing seemed to fit, but what interested me more was that there was no indication that he was calling the shots behind the resurgence of Team Rocket that had been making appearances in Johto before the war broke out.
I pulled up the final file, seeing nothing more in his brief file. I supposed that these were introductory briefings for the Ace Trainers as opposed to full files. I recalled tales of people who had entire folders under their names, entire cabinets of data that wasn't openly acknowledged. Giovanni seemed to be the kind of person who would have that amount of data.
The final clip was one of a gym battle in Viridian City, a year after Giovanni took over. The challenger's display showed a total of six badges up until then, everyone from Kanto except Sabrina's and Giovanni's. leaning forward, I hit play.
"This will be a five Pokémon battle. Challenger, please release your Pokémon." The trainer at the opposite end of the field from Giovanni picked a blue and red great ball off his belt, tossing it into the air and releasing a Kingdra.
"Scout, get ready to fight!" The trainer called out, eyeing Giovanni carefully.
"Rhydon." Giovanni called out without much aplomb, releasing the massive rock type onto the field. It roared to its opponent, stamping one of its feet against the floor as it waited for a command.
"Hydro Pump Scout!"
"Ice Beam." Rhydon fired off an ice beam from above its horn, directly into the Hydro Pump from the opposing water type. the whitish hue spread through the attack in an instant, freezing the water all the way to Kingdra's snout, making it crash to the ground under the weight of the massive, horizontal column of ice.
"Megahorn." Rhydon charged Kingdra, horn glowing green and slammed into it. had it not been a dragon with super-tough scales meant for the pressure of the ocean floor, it might have gored it. Instead Kingdra was sent flying into a statue by the edge of the field, crashing into the stone.
"Thunderbolt!" Just as quickly as it had prepared and unleashed the ice beam, Rhydon fired off a Thunderbolt, not giving Kingdra a chance to get up and knocking it out immediately.
"Scout! Return!" The trainer looked somewhere between worried and furious, debating his choices for a second before releasing a monstrous Blastoise, the water type preparing its canons to fight.
"I won't even use thunderbolt, or Megahorn this time." Giovanni called out with a haughty laugh. The trainer seemed somewhat relieved, but nonetheless narrowed his eyes.
"Blastoise, Flash Cannon!" He called out, opting for the safe route of not trusting Giovanni to avoid Thunderbolt. Blastoise's cannons lit up on the inside, preparing the steel type attack slower than they might have a Hydro Pump.
"Horn Drill."
Rhydon roared and charged dead on, horn crashing into Blastoise's shell before it could fully charge Flash Cannon. Silence reigned through the stadium for a moment before Blastoise's shell cracked and it collapsed on its back, Flash Cannon firing into the roof futilely as the clip ended.
My eyes remained fixated on the picture of the arrogant crime boss as the tab closed and it went back to his abbreviated profile. Staying there for another minute or two I went upstairs, returning to where Cassian was.
"I'm done." I crossed my arms, leaning against a wall near his desk.
"If you were dumb enough that I had to ask you what you learned you wouldn't be here right now, so instead I'll start talking at you again." The Ace trainer leaned back in his chair, eyes still glazing over a bit while he stared at his screen.
"Alexander Van Essen is a revered trainer in Sinnoh and feared in other parts of the world. He was in the Origin Corps for a good period of time before retiring as a Rank 3. He prepares for every eventuality so that he can take on whatever is thrown at him, but you already know that. It's also how he lives his life in general. He tends to be prepared for everything. It's unnerving, and it can trip him up." Cassian finally turned to me.
"This isn't a beatdown of him, don't get me wrong. I have nothing but respect for the man. I apprenticed under him as a rookie Ace trainer. It's just a fact."
I nodded, filing away that information. Almost everything Cassian gave me was relevant in some way or another. Van Essen was relevant because he had influenced Cassian in his early days.
"Especially when a trainer like Xander goes up against a trainer like Ben Day. Ben is known in some circles as the Chess Master, but it never stuck because it's not quite the right word. He's fluid. He reacts to everything as it happens, incredibly fast. It has something to do with the way he taught himself to understand what's happening around him. Overtime he's honed his perception and analytics to a fine point. He can guess what you're going to do with almost as much accuracy as an Alakazam and account for it in his actions. In fact, he'll even play with his opponents' heads. You must have noticed how he recalled a Pokémon and then simply rereleased it with some slight of hand instead of swapping out."
I simply nodded in response again, waiting for Cassian to continue.
"Understand that both ways of battling work effectively, extremely so, but it's up to you to determine how you will battle. Those are just some examples. Most of the other battles or files were for the same purpose. Watch what people do and see how it plays into your style. The last one I thought would be interesting for you to see, and to note the tail end of his file."
"What comes next?" I asked him, standing a bit straighter.
"What comes next is we go outside and see how much your Pokémon have picked up form mine in the span of a day. We'll be battling, but you aren't going to give your Pokémon commands. They'll go based off their own judgement. You've been with them long enough that they'll be fine." He explained, standing up and logging out of the computer system.
"Doing it this way, you kind of end up watching the battle as if you were watching over the shoulder of another trainer. You'll see where you need to improve, where you can help guide your Pokémon and improve upon the work your and your team have put in together."
"… Alright." I figured I didn't have much of a choice in the matter, given this was the training regimen Cassian was laying out.
"Back to the bridge."
I followed him out without comment, taking my place on one side of the bridge and releasing Typhlosion. I stumbled slightly as my oldest partner headbutted me lightly, growling a greeting.
"Hey pal. This is going to be an interesting kind of battle. It's up to you guys to do everything. I'm just going to be observing." I explained, scratching Typhlosion behind an ear.
The fire type cocked its head and growled slightly before bounding up to its place on the field. Cassian smiled grimly, releasing Blaziken again. I tried to take a different perspective on the battle. Rather than focusing on what Typhlosion was doing, I watched how it was doing what it was doing.
Typhlosion's movements were finer than I had expected. It was a far cry from the playful Cyndaquil I had first brought home from the lab almost a year ago. The fire type strove to be powerful. Typhlosion liked messing around outside of training, but there was grit there. I suppose my goal of number one had leaked over to the rest of my friends as well.
With the fight between the two fire types, the main observation for me came down to where could I strategize, where would it be better to attack at a different angle, or switch gears. I smiled with pride behind Typhlosion's back, a surge of energy running through my body as I watched Typhlosion use everything it had learned to fight back against Typhlosion, holding out against the fresh unhurt fire type as long as it had held out against it when it had been worn down by my entire team.
"It's going to be a long three days."
|\/|~^-_-_-^-_-_-^~|\/|
I spun on my heel, running as quietly as I could away from the noise behind me. Spotting a tree, I quickly climbed up it, hiding amidst its branches and leaves, Lucario following suit on a nearby tree, focusing to mask its aura and mine. Specter had been tagging along in my shadow for a while now, watching my back and jumping from my shadows to the trees.
My eyes narrowed as the low buzz grew louder, until my predator shot out of the nearby trees, coming to a halt midair and scanning the trees around me. I knew from experience that it would find me, irrespective of how well I was hidden, unlike some of the others, so I placed on hand on my belt and readied myself.
'Lucario, Aura pulse, jump tree to tree.' I waited until Lucario shifted to do anything else, charging and firing the blast off in a second.
I released Knight, knowing that others would be on their way to the commotion faster than I could escape. "Extreme Speed." The great blue dragon crooned, disappearing as I quickly recalled Lucario. The attack blasted the large bug type off into the tree line, giving me the chance to run as fast as I could, Specter firing off the occasional shadow ball from random directions to throw off my tail as Knight slipped away into the trees.
I stopped for a moment to catch my breath, Knight silently approaching from another direction and rejoining me, bumping into my side lightly.
"Good job." I whispered quietly, watching where I planted my feet to avoid making noise. Apparently two words were all it needed. The foliage rumbled and out burst a long scaly bipedal dragon, its tusks bared as it stared me down, ready to charge. Its tail was swaying on the ground, brushing up leaves across the ground. From the trees behind it a pale, black haired trainer emerged, electric blue eyes focusing in on me immediately as he whistled.
"Damn Haxorus." I swore. "Knight, Dragon tail!"
My Dragonair swung its glowing blue tail at the other dragon, met with a matched attack, overpowering it and sending it to the ground. Haxorus flattened itself and charged, tusks glowing purple as it went for Knight with a roar. Knight crooned in response, wrapping its glowing navy tail around Haxorus's thick neck to hold it off. Roaring right back at it Haxorus copied it, trying to pull Knight closer with its tail. The struggle seemed to drag on forever, between a Pokémon that's entire body was one serpentine form, and another whose tail and trunk were rippling with thick muscles and heavy scales plating it, yet it wasn't even long enough for me to pick another pokeball.
My skin registered the explosion before my eyes as the burning airwave hit, stinging everywhere and leaving me with a few small cuts as Haxorus was blown off into the tree line, on its back. Knight reared up as though standing on the bulk of its body, just slightly in the air as a white sheen took over its body.
Every Pokémon evolution is amazing in its own way. Spectacular, miraculous, rare, and enrapturing, evolution differs from Pokémon to Pokémon and from stage to stage. Some evolutions are quick. Some are laborious and time consuming. Every evolution radiates power in a different way, some concentrating it inwards on the Pokémon so that the impact is felt less by the people around it and the difference is more visible in physical capability even if the form of a Pokémon hasn't changed much. Take Typhlosion for example. Watching one evolve from a Quilava is amazing, but the focus is inwards. You don't feel the gravity of the energy so much as you see it when the evolution is complete. Where a Quilava could pounce or sprint or bound, A Typhlosion's muscles will tense and it'll blast off like a bullet to attack whatever it's after. Others in contrast, inherent in the nature of the type and the maturity needed to reach evolution, or the involvement of external power sources, have more of an effect on everything else.
The noise in the surrounding area died down, Haxorus standing down and watching reverently as others quietly made their way to the source of the shine in the waning evening light. A Tropius or two appeared, Linoone herding young Zigzagoon around to see what was happening, scampering around to stay in front of them and keep them at a safe distance. The breeze died out, energy radiating in waves from Knight, making the trees in the clearing sway in and outwards lightly, but slowly. A few Oddish stuck their head out of the bushes, a Kecleon blurring into existence on a tree nearby. I felt as though my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I could have sworn I saw a pale cream serpentine form surface on the nearby lake.
I felt myself unable to move, my feet fixed to the ground as the white glow expanded against the purple sky, reshaping as the waves of power emanating from it surged, violently oscillating the trees and controlling the rhythm of my heartbeat. I could hear the pounding in my chest as blood flowed through my system in strong pulses, my legs tensing as the waves picked up in pace. The sheen grew too bright for my eyes and I squeezed them shut, holding my arms in front of my face as the air sucked inwards to the source of the light for what seemed like an eternity, holding for a moment before blasting outwards. I felt my heels dig into the ground as I was pushed a foot back, the glow dying against the night sky.
The world stayed quiet for a moment, silent with awe and reverence as the seven-and-a-half-foot beast in front of me took in its form. Thick, heavy orange scales covered its hide, shimmering in the dying light of the sun, its wings spreading open in front of me. They stayed semi curled naturally, until they were opened, unfurling to a massive wingspan and revealing their deep green undersides for a moment as they stretched backwards before the were flapped forward with a huge force, sending small stones and dirt hurtling off. Muscled legs held up its body, and its thick tail curled upwards, not lagging on the ground. Two thin white antennae protruded from its head, sensing the environment around it as sparks flew over its singular horn momentarily. It raised its thick arms, smashing them together. Regaining my wits, I scampered around to the side, watching with a grin as it roared, the vibrations shaking everything as the thick white bands of its underbelly stretched.
There are some evolutions that very few have the privilege to witness, ones that grip the world and radiate such power than the world stills for a few moments. I hadn't ever gotten my hopes up to see one, but now I had. The titan in front of me roared its dissent a the Unovan dragon, smashing its hands and claws together again in challenge. Dragonite.
With a roar to match the newly evolved dragon, the older titan charged, tusks glowing purple.
"Let's do this." I grinned. "Knight, Dragon Pulse!"