{--Author's Note-----}
It's kind of weird to go back and add author's notes to chapters you've already written. I think one of the reasons I like Kyukon so much is because I actually managed to write long chapters laugh. Long for me anyway; I think chapters 2 and on averaged about 8 pages each. That's not as long as a lot of people do it, but I've found that chapters that are too long are annoying to read, especially on ff.net. Of course, the story needs good writing too, which is why I've been going back over these and tweaking a couple of things. Really though, I've realized how much better my writing is here than what I've done so far in Harry Potter and the Raven's Ring, even though this story is a year older. I must have lost my touch. I'll definitely try to bring up the standard in HPRR.
-Alanis
{--HIKARU KYUKON--- Destiny -----}
"The air pollution in district B-4 reached red alert level today, and officials advise citizens in that area to stay indoors as much as possible until gas masks can be distributed..." the old holovision wavered and buzzed.
Kyra's mother shook her head sadly and turned it off. "You better get going honey," she said as she gave her daughter a peck on the cheek. "Thank God we live D-3, away from those dreadful power plants..."
Kyra left and made her way cautiously on her way to Abe's house. They always walked to the Subhover together on their way to school; organized student transportation had long-since been abandoned. Abe lived in a more run-down area of Kyra's neighborhood, and soon she found herself waiting in front of an old and battered trailer.
Shouting could be heard from inside, and the sound of glass shattering. Moments later a disgruntled and angry looking Abe emerged, storming moodily down the front path. He stopped next to Kyra without meeting her eyes, and stood there for a moment staring at his feet. Kyra noticed a bruise under his left eye, but said nothing.
"Lets go." Abe whispered in a wavering voice.
For his sake, Kyra tried to be cheerful. "History at school today! That's your favorite subject isn't it?"
He nodded wordlessly.
Kyra tried again. "You know, Mr. Hendricks said you were his best student? Very on task -"
"Can we talk about something else?" Abe snapped.
"Why . . . of course." Kyra was taken aback. Sure Abe was always kind of moody, but he was usually polite. "What do you want to talk about?"
"I actually don't feel like talking at all."
They proceded in silence. Soon they were at the Subhover station, and Ray's faux smile awaited them. He was about to say something about the look on Abe's face, but stopped at a glance from Kyra.
"So, um, Kyra," Ray said, still smiling, "Have a good night? Mine was fine except for those blasted Oxyhovers flying about, couldn't fall asleep -"
"Just give it up!" Kyra burst out angrily, "You don't have to act so cheerful all the time, you know! Your life is just as bad as the rest of ours!"
"Geez, bad moods sure travel fast around here." he muttered to himself and turned to gaze out the window.
"Arriving at Station 17!" A robotic voice emitted out of the loudspeakers as the hovercraft came to a stop. The cabin doors slid open and the three kids got up to leave, pushing their way through boarding passengers.
"Damn city gets more and more crowded every day," Ray continued, unable to keep quiet for very long, "Well, there's Mauville Primary. See you guys later." He headed towards the right wing of an enormous building, and Kyra and Abe went left.
Ray, Sana, and Lance were in the tenth grade, while Kyra, Abe, and Kiri were in the ninth. Mauville Primary High was split between freshmen and sophomores, and Mauville Secondary High, which was a few blocks down, was for juniors and seniors. The only other difference was that Mauville Secondary was a gleaming new facility, whilst the Primary school was decades old and somewhat dilapidated.
"Did you hear the news today?" Kiri piped up as they walked through the squeaky automatic doors, "Dad almost forbade me to come to school today, rumour is it might spread to district B-5..." seeing neither of them wanted to talk, she shut her mouth.
Kiri and Kyra headed to their homeroom, and Abe trudged off towards his.
"When are you going to ask him?" Kiri questioned.
"Ask him what?" Kyra said, exasperated.
Kiri rolled her eyes. "You know what I'm talking about. You've been drooling over him for months yet still you deny it -"
"I have no clue what you're talking about!"
"Abe!! ASK HIM, for gosh sakes, Kyra, and quit moping around!!" Kiri shouted.
"Shuttup!" hissed Kyra, "Everyone's staring. I know, I'll ask him today, I promise, just leave me alone!"
That seemed to do the trick, because Kiri didn't bother Kyra for the rest of the day. The morning's periods passed by painfully boring and uneventful, and soon Kyra found herself in the last period of the day: History. It was the only class she shared with Abe.
"As we all know the Great Migration triggered a series of things: first of all, Johto and Kanto became deserted and barren, Hoenn's population more than doubled, pollution rose considerably..." their teacher, Mr. Hendricks droned on, "ending in 2052 - what was that, Absolom?"
The whole of the class turned to stare at Abe, who had his hand raised. Kyra didn't have to move, she'd already been looking at him. People hardly ever interrupted History class; they were to busy doodling, sleeping, or passing notes. Besides, Abe rarely talked to anyone, let alone teachers.
Abe stared hard into the center of his desk, and said, "I was wondering when w-we were going to learn about the - learn about the Great War."
Mr. Hendricks was obviously surprised by this question, and it took him a while to grasp an answer. Meanwhile other students turned to each other, sniggering and whispering. They stopped and listen when their teacher began to speak.
"Well, Absolom," he said in a voice as if Abe were a confused child, "we don't - usually teach about the War because... well, all the facts are not entirely certain -"
"Then why don't you teach us what you know?" Abe countered, his voice amazingly calm.
Students began whispering again, this time worriedly. Why was he trying to give them more work? Sure Abe had always seemed a little weird but he never expressed an interest in school, or anything else for that matter.
"Because," Mr. Hendricks continued, this time more firmly, "because it is not on our curriculum, and furthermore likely a bunch of nonsense; doubtless there was a war at one point but of that magnitude I am highly skeptical -"
"So it's a fairy tale!" Abe shouted angrily. Soon his calm was lost. "It's a bunch of shit, just like Pokémon! Well some people don't believe it and they know something is going to happen soon -"
"ABSOLOM!" Hendricks' face had turned beet-red, "I will NOT tolerate such language in my class, let alone talking back to your teacher, you may go to the principal at once, I will meet you there after class."
It was Abe's turn to redden, and his eerie eyes flashed angrily. "Fine! I don't see why I am here anyways, as I am learning nothing of any importance!" And with that, he stormed out of the room.
Kyra buried her head in her arms, trying to ignore the whispers and sniggering behind her. So much for asking him, she thought. She wondered if he would have detention and not be able to meet them at the subway station...
She drifted into the memory of when they had first met Abe. He was a transfer student, just moved in from Rustboro, one of the dirtiest and most populated cities in Hoenn. At first kids respected, perhaps feared him, because of his looks and the fact that he came from such a "dangerous" city. Pretty soon they found that he was just a shy, weird kid and so they always left him out. He had no friends, until Kiri, feeling sorry for him approached him one day and asked him if he would like to meet The Elementals in the abandoned subway station. They all discovered their interest in Pokémon, and it kind of went from there.
Abe never talked much at the meetings, but he did learn to trust his new friends. Sana had told Kyra that she thought he must have had a lot of broken relationships in the past, and they should be extra careful about how they treated him. Kyra didn't like that, though. She knew that if Abe ever thought they were nice to him out of pity he would leave then and there....
She snapped back to the present as the bell rang and she and her classmates were dismissed. She retrieved her belongings from her locker, and fought her way through the congested hallways until she emerged on the front steps, where Kiri, Sana, Ray, and Lance were waiting for her.
"Let's go," she muttered.
"What about Abe?" Sana questioned.
Kyra sighed and told them what had happened in history class. Ray shook his head.
"I knew it was coming, I knew it," he said, "He was bound to crack, always been interested in the War and stuff, he told me once...."
The others turned to listen to Ray. It was unusual for Abe to confide in anyone, and Ray was the last person they would have suspected to be his confidant.
"He said he was determined to learn as much about it as possible, wanted to learn the old Pokémon Master techniques, he'd been having dreams about an upcoming war...."
Kiri frowned. "I doubt it was anything to be worried about. Just a dream, most likely."
"I don't know," mused Sana, "Abe has always been... in tune, you might say, to things."
Lance rolled his eyes. "What kind of 'things'? You guys are worse than Ms. Fetters!" Ms. Fetters was their very superstitious science teacher, which made for very strange science classes.
"C'mon, guys, lets go to the station. Abe is probably waiting for us there." Kyra headed off down the block.
"If Abe actually followed Hendricks' orders and went to the principal's office, I'm a Nosepass!" said Ray with a laugh.
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"There you are!" Kiri smiled when she saw Abe. The five kids had just climbed over the electric fence (Ray had a talent in working with electricity), walked down the broken escalator, and made their way with flashlights through a dark passage to the subway station.
It was a very old, dilapidated place, as subways had been replaced with subhovers ages ago. It was full of scuffed-up plastic waiting seats, broken change machines, and an ancient, rusting subway car stationary on the tracks. Lance had been able to force the door open when they first discovered the place.
Now they all sat in the dusty cushioned seats inside the subway car.
"How'd you get in, without disconnecting the electric fence?" Ray asked Abe incredulously.
Abe held up a pair of burned and bruised arms and smiled ruefully.
"I can't believe you did that in class, man!" said Lance admirably, "You really showed them, just walking out like that -"
"Yeah, but the second he walks into school tomorrow they'll give him detention for sure." Sana gave Abe a mixed look of disapproval and amusement.
"I'm not going to school tomorrow." The lean, tousle-haired boy said flatly. They all turned to stare at him.
Kiri looked worried. "What do you mean, not going to school? You have to, it's the law -"
"You think I care? I'm not learning anything, I need to be preparing for the war. You all should too."
"Abe, don't you think you're overreacting?" Kyra whined, "It was just a dream. . . ."
Abe gave her a stony glare. He opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it. "Can I see your wish tag?" he asked instead.
"Uh, sure," Kyra fished it out of her pocket and handed it to him. She was surprised she was still carrying it.
"You can't wish on it!" Ray said in a sing-songy voice. "It's not yours!"
"Here then. You make a wish." Abe handed the tag back to Kyra.
She laughed nervously. "Why?"
"Just do it."
"Yeah, Ky, just for the fun of it!" squealed Kiri.
Kyra rolled her eyes before closing them and sitting very still for a whole minute. Then she opened them. "There. Now are you happy?"
"Happy? You didn't tell us what you wished for!" Lance said in annoyance.
"Well you're not usually supposed to tell what you wished for, are you?" she smiled, "Because then it wont come true."
"Too right, too right." a strange voice said from behind.
The six teenagers whipped around to see where the voice had come from. There was nothing there.
"W-wha? What was that?" Ray hissed, trembling.
"It was me." This time the voice came from behind their turned heads. It sighed. "Oh, fine, I'll let you see me, since you're obviously scared out of your wits." It chuckled.
They turned around to see a small, yellow and white creature hovering five feet off the floor. It's body was white with a yellow circle on it's stomach, two long yellow wings on its back and a yellow star-shaped head with a white face. It's two, large blue eyes gazed at them serenely, and it's tiny mouth was curved upward in amusement. What drew their attention the most, however, were the three blue wish tags hanging from the points on it's head.
"It-it can't be!" Sana gasped.
The creature laughed. It was a sweet sound, like bells ringing. "You're not dreaming. I am Jirachi." he pointed at Kyra. "I came as an answer to her wish."
Lance turned to Kyra. "You wished for a Jirachi?"
"THE Jirachi," the Pokémon corrected. "And actually, she wished for Pokémon to still exist and the world to be as it was."
"Good wish." said Ray dryly.
"Erm, well, the thing is," Jirachi continued, "I can't grant it. Not directly."
"What?!" Kira shouted incredulously, "You are the Wish-granting Pokémon! What do you mean by not being able to grant my wish?!"
"Did I say it couldn't be done?" it was Jirachi's turn to look frustrated. "No, I said I couldn't do it directly. Geez, you humans are so thick. I'm here to unlock you inner powers -"
"How do we know you're real?" Abe, who had been silent all this time, looked skeptically into the creature's eyes.
Jirachi narrowed his eyes at him. "Why on earth would I be fake?"
"You could be a hologram or something!"
The Pokémon sighed. "Come here. Touch me."
The six kids each walked up to him, and touched him. Their hands did not go through.
"So you've got solidification mechanisms. Big deal," Ray retorted.
Jirachi snorted. "I take back what I said. You humans are so smart that you don't know when to believe in things that you can't understand. Look, I didn't want to have to do this, but you give me no choice."
Jirachi's hands began to glow, and he shut his eyes tight. Soon the same blue aura appeared around each of the kids, and they were lifted five feet of the ground before being dropped on the floor, only to be answered by several "Ow!"s and a few curses.
"What was that for?" Lance yelled angrily.
"Could a hologram do that?" Jirachi asked, dusting off his hands.
"No, they couldn't." Kiri replied, and looked straight into the Pokémon's big blue eyes. "I believe you."
Jirachi smiled. "That's what I always liked about you Kireihana. You're accepting of things you don't always understand."
"Her name's not Kireihana," said Sana, "it's Kiri. And how can you talk about her as if you've known her?"
"I've known all of you since the day you were born. Not all the Pokémon became extinct, you now. A select group managed to escape, and we've been keeping watch on you. Can't have the Chosen Ones die prematurely, can we?"
"What are you talking about?" asked Ray.
Jirachi sighed. "I can see I'm not going to get away without explaining everything to you, so I'll make it quick. The group of us that escaped death, we call ourselves the Legendary Pokémon Guild, or LPG. We had no trainers; we fought evil by ourselves. We did, however, have some very close allies with trainers who helped us quite a bit. Their names were Raibolt, Saanaito, Laguraaji, Absol, Kireihana, and Hikaru Kyukon.
"They were taken by the enemy, the Shadow Masters. It was a very complicated war, you see. Not just between Team Magma and Team Aqua. There was another force at bay, bent on pure destruction, promising their members power and riches. They had no clue they would end up destroying themselves and Pokémon combined.
"Those allies I mentioned, they and their trainers had a special bond. They were Pokémon Masters. And when they died together, they formed as one, and Mew put a spell on them so that their powers would be passed on to another person. Not reincarnation, mind you, but their powers would be inside a special person in the future. You, my friends, are those special people."
The teenagers were at a loss for words. They just stared at Jirachi wide eyed, beckoning him to continue. He did.
"Raibolt, Saanaito, Laguraaji, Absol, Kireihana, and Kyukon are Japanese names for the Pokémon Manectric, Gardevoir, Swampert, Bellossom, and Ninetales. Absol remained unchanged. They were of the original race of these creatures, that's why their names were in the original Japanese language.
"Ray is Raibolt, Sana is Saanaito, Lance is Laguraaji, Absolom is Absol, Kiri is Kireihana, and you, Kyra, are Hikaru Kyukon, The Shining Ninetales. Your names were chosen from birth. Kyukon was our greatest ally of all, she and her trainer were the most powerful Pokémon masters on the Planet. That is why the wish tag fell to you."
"So... what exactly does that mean?" Kyra asked in awe.
"I'll get to that," Jirachi said, "don't be impatient. I was destined to unlock your powers when you all came of age, so I could take you back in time to fight in the war. It was a Master Plan, you see. We always thought ahead. The original Pokémon Masters are dead. You all will arrive a week after their death. Now come here, and let me unlock your powers...."
They approached him and he sent waves of blue light surging through their bodies, energizing them, setting their senses afire. It was all over in a second.
"There." Jirachi smiled. "All done. Now we can leave."
"Wait!" shouted Ray, "What about our families? Can't we say goodbye?"
"Time will be stopped here while you are in the past," Jirachi explained, "when you return, and it may not be for a long while, things will resume as normal, and you all will be right here in this subway car. Are you all with me?"
"I'll do it." Abe was the first to step up. "I've been having dreams about this."
"Yes of course," nodded the Pokémon, "You are a Dark Type; they are the dreamers."
"I'm in." Kyra stood up bravely beside Abe.
"Me too!" piped Kiri.
Lance stood up, wordlessly, and soluted.
"I will go," said Sana.
They all turned to look at Ray, who was sitting on the floor looking very scared.
"Oh alright I'll do it!" he said, cracking a smile.
"Good," Jirachi nodded. "Here we go."
Suddenly the subway car disappeared, and was replaced with swirling flashes of light. The kids felt as if their stomachs were flip-flopping, and their hair was blown wildly around their faces. Then, just as quick as it had started, the swirling lights stopped, and they landed with a thud....
