Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the song "Lose Yourself" by Eminem. I didn't write it. All credit goes to Eminem. Seriously, people should know this by now.
I soon realized that whenever I stopped by home, it was never for too long, and it made me feel bad. It's not like I was trying to avoid home, don't get me wrong, I missed home like hell. But my focus was mainly on eradicating evil in the world, starting with evil demons and monsters, and eventually Elementia himself.
Thinking about what Dad told me about the Mythical Pokémon, I knew of a few places to look: Spear Pillar on Mt. Coronet, and each of the three lakes. I remember the fourth lake, the Sendoff Spring, but I remember already catching Giratina, so that was out. Then that reminded me, I had caught Giratina. If I had caught it (wasn't too sure of its gender, like the other Mythical Pokémon), then I couldn't draw any or as much power from it. I decided that I would release it, unsure that that would restore its power again. I also had no idea about the other Mythical Pokémon, but I figured I would find out about it as I went along. I went home first; told Mom I was going out for a while.
"That's fine, as long as you're back for dinner. I'm making pork bone stew for dinner, so you should be back by then," she noted.
"Awesome! Alright, I'll be back later. What time?"
"Around 7:00 is when I think it'll be done. Oh, that reminds me! Hold on, I need to get something." Mom then hurried upstairs and returned a few seconds later with a little box.
"Open it!" she exclaimed. I opened up the flaps of the cardboard box to find another little box, white, sitting at the bottom. I took the box out and opened it up to find a screen peering out.
"Happy early birthday, sweetie! I got this for your birthday yesterday. You were sleeping, so I went to Jubilife to a store that opened up a year ago and got you this phone! It's the latest phone, IGear, a step up from the Pokégear they mass-produced in Johto. Engineers at Silph Co. in Kanto created the IGear as a smartphone for trainers, adults, kids, anyone. I haven't gotten one yet, but I got this for you."
Turning the phone on with a button on the side, the screen lit up and it read "Hello" on the screen. "Thanks Mom. I bet it wasn't cheap, so thank you."
Leaving the house, I called Fearow who had been sleeping outside. Hey, don't look at me as some bad trainer, he chose to sleep outside. Fearow got up and stretched a little, and I told him to fly us to Jubilife City.
"I'll replace your Pokéball today! You can finally stop bugging and patronizing me about it!" I called. Fearow simply rolled his eyes as we landed in front of the Pokémon Center. I entered and went for the PC. I started to withdraw Giratina from my PC, but I noticed and realized that not only did I catch Giratina, but also Ho-oh and Lugia. Thank god I didn't catch any other Mythical Pokémon, otherwise I would've had a harder time.
Which was only what I thought.
I took Ho-oh, Lugia, and Giratina up to Route 204 and released them. They were confused as to why they had suddenly been summoned, but I told them I was setting them free. Taking me into consideration, they shook their heads and refused to go anywhere. I withdrew them again, confused beyond reason. What the hell was I supposed to do?
The only thing to do was to see the great Pokémon Professor, Professor Oak.
xxxx
Fearow landed in Pallet Town in front of Oak's lab, and we entered to see Elm and Oak talking, presumably about sciency shit.
"Oh! Can it be? It's you! Vinny!" exclaimed Oak who came up to me, Elm beside him.
"Good to see you again, Vincent!" greeted Elm, his hand outstretched to which I accepted.
"Oak, I have something I need to talk about," I addressed.
Oak considered this. "Well, great seeing you again, Elm. Hope we can meet up again, continue our studies! Goodbye now!" Oak waved goodbye to Elm who had exited the lab in rather a hurry. Oak turned back to me. "What did you want to talk about?"
"It's about the Mythical Pokémon I've caught three, of which they are Giratina, Ho-oh, and Lugia." As I spoke, I Summoned the Pokéballs in order as I named them.
"Wow! What's this? I've never seen anything quite like this in a Pokémon! I didn't know that Psychic types could do that. Then again, I don't know that you're a Psychic type... How did you do that?" he said, noting my Dimension Magic.
"It's Magic." I said genuinely.
"No, seriously." I'd forgotten he didn't understand what Magic was.
"Have you heard of the continents of the west? There is a continent called Earthland. I traveled to the west to grow stronger, and I was exposed to something called Magic Energy. Have you not heard of this?" I explained.
"This is something beyond my studies, something I've never gotten into. Pokémon have their own typings, and they have certain qualities to them that help them adapt and survive. While I have heard of the western countries, I've never heard of any Pokémon in those continents. Anything past the Great Pokémon Sea, I have no knowledge of."
"But back to the subject, you must have knowledge on releasing Pokémon , right?"
Oak nodded his head. "Yes, releasing Pokémon is nothing too complicated, all you have to do is either destroy the Pokéball to free them, or release them through a PC system at a Pokémon Center. I also happen to have one here, because it's a part of my studies."
Remembering Fearow's Pokéball was thrown down the ravine, I decided to bring up the subject. "What would happen if the Pokéball was destroyed? With or without the Pokémon inside?"
"With or without the Pokémon inside the ball differs. With the Pokémon inside, it doesn't harm the Pokémon , just simply sets them free with no recollection of their trainer or anything that happened within the time of them being caught. With the Pokémon outside the Pokéball, they may experience memory loss, nothing too major, but they are freed. The difference is that the Pokémon will forget their trainer entirely if the Pokéball is destroyed while still containing the Pokémon . The other has a chance of memeory loss, but it depends on the Pokémon ."
This got me thinking. "Fearow, you didn't have any memory loss when the Pokéball fell in the ravine, did you?" I asked Fearow, who was picking at his feathers.
"Fear... Fearow Fear. Fearow Fearow." Uh... I don't recall memory loss. I was fainted, I think.
"What did he say?" asked Oak, intrigued.
"He doesn't recall any memory loss. Pretty ironic. I don't think Fearow's ball was completely destroyed even after a fall from a ravine edge, because Pokéballs are pretty sturdy. That means that his ball still exists, but I really don't wanna go down into the ravine," I formulated. "That begs the question, however. Are you able to replace a Pokéball? What would happen if he inhabited a new Pokéball?"
"Nothing. He simply moves into a new Pokéball and that's it. But considering the other Pokéball may still be intact, whatever you did with it, this may be a lot harder than it needs to be. Transferring the Pokémon over will nullify the other Pokéball and render it useless, but your Fearow may risk losing all of his memories of you and of his pre-evolution state. I can do it, but it will be difficult. Fearow may not obey you after this. I ask you, do you accept this fact?" asked Professor Oak very seriously.
Risk losing Fearow? My buddy, the very first Pokémon I ever caught? I didn't want to lose Fearow and have him revert back to before he knew me, all the battles, the years of Pokémon training, my other Pokémon whom he had become best friends with? I also didn't want to search for the other Pokéball, and I didn't want Fearow to not have a Pokéball to rest in. Even Fearow told me that it was cozy and more comfortable than resting ouside of the Pokéball, and could even save him from dying. I had heard of a heal ball that specialized in healing a Pokémon once withdrawn, but all Fearow needed was a simple Pokéball. I wanted this for Fearow, for his benefit.
"Yes. I accept." Oak nodded his head slowly.
"Very well. Follow me, over here." He led me to a healing table, like the ones they have at Pokémon Centers and worked with something on his computer that activated the table, which lit up and made some sounds.
"Do you have a different Pokéball?" asked Professor Oak. I shook my head. "I don't have any here, either."
"I'll fly over to Viridian real quick and get one. I'll be back. C'mon, Fearow!" Fearow followed as I ran out of the lab, and with completely unintentional style, Fearow swooped in underneath me, catching me by surprise but yet I didn't topple over. I swear it was totally unintended, hence my surprise.
As we flew, I spoke quietly to Fearow.
"Fearow. I'm worried." Fearow didn't respond, but I knew he understood based on a small, slow nod. He was worried that he'd forget me too, and why wouldn't he?
Heading back to the lab with a new Pokéball filled me with, not just sadness, but a great emptiness. Then, I suddenly realized that it was the same kind of emptiness I felt after becoming the Pokémon Champion, after that one day years ago when Jupiter of Galactic asked me that question, "What good would avenging your father do you?" and most recently during my training. I didn't know what this feeling meant, why I had felt it so many times. Maybe it was some adventure I was seeking, but that didn't seem right, as I had plenty of adventure while training. Still, that thought stuck with me; I'm becoming stronger, but like I'm missing something. What could that be?
My train of thought was interrupted as I walked into the lab. Oak waited patiently, computer system at the ready. He insturcted me to encapsulate Fearow in the ball, to which Fearow hesitated.
"Fearow... Fearow Fear Fearow?" Vincent, what'll happen if I forget you? He tried to fight back tears, not that I even knew he could cry.
"I... don't know. All I can say is, you've been brilliant. Although not perfect, you've certainly strived for it. Your memories... even if there's a slight chance that you'll retain your memories, the risk is still too great, but you can't go without a Pokéball. Fearow... if you forget me, just know that it's been great training with you."
Now tears were actually streaming down his beak. "Fear Fearow Fearow," he spoke bravely. As it has been with you too. We stood kind of awkwardly for a second, but we eventually closed into a bro-hug, knowing that we might not know each other very soon. But Fearow, with one last cry, "Fearoow!" (I'm ready) he pecked the Pokéball and disappeared in a ray of white light. I picked up the ball and set it into a spot in the table, and Oak started the machine.
"First, I must locate the original Pokéball. That way, the Pokéball will become null and unusable. I need your trainer ID so I can access your PC." I gave him a set of numbers that he typed into the computer. "Good. Now I need to find the Pokéball in the system used to catch Fearow, and cancel it. Then I need to use this machine to 'assign' Fearow to the current ball, and this is where the memory loss part comes in. Fearow is turned into data, and despite being a living creature, while he is within the Pokéball, the Pokéball can label him as data and send him through the machine."
"Will he be okay though?" I asked worriedly.
"He will come out Okay, but remember that there is the high chance of memory loss at stake. One miscalculation will not kill him, but rid him of his memories. That's why I will need immense concentration. If this works, and your Fearow retains his memories, then this will be a major breakthrough in Pokémon research. This has never been done before, so if this succeeds, this will be something major."
Oak started typing, going through my PC info, doing all that he described. Then the table began to glow in the area containing Fearow's Pokéball, then a strip of light shot out from the Pokéball and ran through the table up to the computer. Oak began typing madly fast, constantly looking down and up at the keyboard and the screen. Text scrolled across the screen very quickly, and Oak's fingers became a blur, surprising for his age. I honestly had no idea how old he was. I didn't ccare about that at the moment, though, because every ounce of me was focused and worried about Fearow and his outcome. What would become of him?
Then suddenly, the strip of light shot back through the table and into the Pokéball again, Oak backed off from the computer breathing heavily, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead.
"It is finished," he gasped, drawing in slow, heavy breaths of air. I took the ball from the table and held it tight in my hand, praying that he would still be okay. I tossed the ball onto the floor, causing it to roll around until it was straight up, then a brilliant white light emitted from the opened Pokéball, taking shape, the form of Fearow. I don't care how lame it may have been to have such a common Pokémon as a starter, he was my first Pokémon ever, the one who grew with me the most through all the years, the one who guided me, trained me, the one I trained the most, was risked with losing all his memories of himself, of me, of all my Pokémon .
But there he stood, looking around like a regular bird, with a confused look, the emptiest eyes I had ever seen.
"No..." I whispered, almost convinced that he was gone.
He cocked his head two ways. "...Fearow!" This I didn't understand. A chill ran through my body, and I knew that he was gone. The shivers turned to my stomach which churned in a way that you're about to cry. The hidden tears I covered with my hand that made me look exasperated, but my mouth trembled with the worst kind of sadness, my teeth clenched, as if I had witnessed my father's death.
"God dammit..." was all I could mutter at the moment.
"I-I- there couldn't have been a miscalculation! I was confident I got it right! No... this can't be!" doubted Oak.
"Well, you still messed up, didn't you?!" was what I wanted to yell, but I couldn't say that to him, let alone find words to speak.
When I could finally speak, I let out a broken sigh that you could hear the tears in. "Fearow... I... even though you don't know me, or know what I'm saying, I want you to know that you're brilliant. You're the greatest Fearow ever. Even if we have to start over from the beginning, know that we're still best buds, no matter what." I looked over at him, and he had his beak underneath his wing, cleaning himself like a regular old bird, not even listening to a word I said... wait, it didn't look like he was cleaning himself. It looked like a few days ago when we were laughing our asses off from being unserious, when he tried hiding his laughter.
"Fearow? Wait..."
"Gwahahahaha! Feeheerohohoho!" Fearow had fallen to the floor, dying in great peals of laughter, slapping his wing against his chest.
"Fearow Fear, Fearow Fearow!" You should've seen yourself, crying like a little baby! With that, he exploded into another fit of laughter, laughing until I thought his lungs would burst.
"So you were just faking it? You're memory isn't gone?"
"Fear, Fearow." Nope, just kidding, it's gone.
I tried keeping a straight face, but I didn't know whether to be pissed or happy and laughing with him.
I failed at keeping a straight face.
"I hate you," I joked, cracking up as well, which soon tuned into me laughing so hard that tears poured out of my eyes, tears of both laughing and happiness. Oak chuckled at our childlike behavior, and once we were done with our laughing fit, I thanked Professor Oak and we left. With the knowledge I currently had, all hope of gaining energy from the Mythical Pokémon I caught was not lost.
xxxx
Fearow and I had flown over to Ecruteak City to the Pokemon Center. In the Pokémon Center, I had withdrawn Lugia and Ho-oh again. Not wanting to be seen in the public's eye, I flew up to the top of Tin Tower and once there, I crushed Ho-oh's Pokéball in my fist which was easier than I had originally thought. Ho-oh flew out of a ray of white light and circled around the spire. It sensed my prescence and possibly the amount of energy within me, and released a blue orb of energy, much like the ones I obtained from defeating monsters, except this one was much smaller. I thanked Ho-oh, and then it flew off into oblivion, becoming but a legend once again.
Our next destination was Whirl Islands. Not wanting to go into the caves, I stood outside, crushing Lugia's Pokéball much like I had with Ho-oh's. Lugia sensed my energy, granting me an orb and then performing a loop in the air, diving into the water with style. Energy and a show! Bravo!
Checking my phone, I saw that it was 6:43. Lucky I thought to check the time, otherwise I would've completely forgotten about dinner. Or my stomach would've reminded me. I tried to Dimension Switch back home, but then I realized that the only location I had set it to was my house back in Magnolia.
"C'mon, Fearow! We gotta get home!" I called out Fearow, who flew around and caught me in the air as I jumped. Using my fire, I boosted our flight speed making us fly faster, and before we knew it, we had reached home right on time. As if on cue, mom had brought a steaming pot over to the table, placing bowls in each of our places and plates of hot white rice.
"Thanks for the food!" I exclaimed as I sat down. Mom lifted up the pot lid, releasing an explosion of steam and the spicy aroma of pork stew. Mom dished out soup to each of our bowls and sat down to eat.
"So how was today, sweetie? What'd you do?" asked Mom.
"I traveled to Kanto today. I spoke with Professor Oak about replacing Pokéballs."
"Wow, Kanto? That's pretty far. Last time I was in Kanto was years ago-" She paused midsentence with a horrified look on her face, then her cheeks began to tremble as her face slowly morphed into loneliness mixed with sadness trying to outmatch each other as salty tears ran down her face into a puddle on the table.
I had no idea what had come over her, why just thinking about Kanto would make her spontaneously break down. A mixture of short sobs and wails escaped her mouth covered by her hands as she continued to weep uncontrollably. I stood up and moved to her side of the table, embracing her comfortingly in my arms as I tried to figure out why she began crying at the mention of Kanto.
Then it hit me; I've never known her to cry, only once before. That one time was 7 years ago when she told me the truth of dad's death. Could it be that she was crying at the moment because of him? I didn't want to ask why to avoid hurting her even more, but I wanted to help her, so I saw no other option.
"Mom, are you okay? Why did you start crying all of a sudden?" I asked calmly.
"I can't help it...! Whenever I think of Kanto, all I remember is them! I get these sudden flashbacks of them hunting us down, your father and I, and the only thing I can think of is your father's tortured screams as they slowly murdered him. The memories haunt me to this day...!" The bawling grew more intense as she cried into her sleeve, and I couldn't help but shed a tear as well. This was my father we were talking about, the one I was trying to avenge, to gain justice for. No one kills my father and gets away with it.
Even if they're the strongest, most self righteous asshole in the world.
xxxx
We had finished dinner in silence that night, and for the rest of the evening, I tried to understand the whole picture, wondering why they had gone after Mom too. I didn't feel like it was appropriate to share the rest of the day's events, so I kept to myself and focused on comforting Mom instead.
Mom had told me that they named me Vincent because they wanted me to grow up to become strong and victorious, as my name means 'victory'. Really, it actually means a 'victorious leader', but who was I leading? I guess I was a leader of myself, that I was leading myself. It kinda makes sense in a way.
I woke up to a cold, snowy day, with ice crystals forming on the windows and white snowflakes drifting down from the stratosphere. It was a wild, white wonderland worth waking up to. I couldn't stay in bed for long, though, so I decided to go out for the day. With a quick goodbye hug from Mom, I was out the door into the cold climate. Even with above average body heat, I still had to zip up my jacket and Summon my scarf. It was pretty goddamn cold.
I remembered that I still had to release Giritina, who was in my PC, so that was first on my list. For the day, I decided to go visit the cities of my first journey, the cities and towns of Sinnoh still forever existing within my long-term memory. I decided I would go pay the fellow Gym Leaders all a visit and possibly the Elite Four as well, as it had been a long time since I had seen, well, anyone from home. At that thought, some of thee empty feeling went away. It was satisfying, but I didn't know why.
First, I stopped by the Pokémon Center in Jubilife to withdraw Giratina. I hesitated before destroying the Pokéball, realizing that it was a Master Ball, and probably very rare. But then I thought, Eh, who cares about a ball that can catch any Pokémon ? It's not like they lost the blueprints on how to make it, so why not make another one? And with that thought, I crushed the ball in my hand, releasing Giratina before me, completely wiped of its memories from the time I caught it. Sensing my energy much like Ho-oh and Lugia had, it granted me a blue energy orb, a blessing from a Mythical Pokémon . It nodded as if saying, "I want to help you too," then opened up a distorted portal to the Distortion World, disappearing before my eyes.
Afterwards, I traveled to the different cities, first Oreburgh. Roark didn't recognize me at first, but after reminding him of 7 years ago, he greeted me as an old friend and asked me how I've been. I asked him the same after responding, telling him how far I've come. I thanked him for giving me so much great advice, how it lead to me catching my first Pokémon , Fearow. It seemed like a challenger wanted to take on the gym, so I bid Roark farewell and headed on my way to Eterna.
I greeted Gardenia, refreshing her memory on when we had battled. We had a light conversation and a quick battle just to see the strength of my Pokémon , then she bade me farewell as Roark had done.
All the rest of my visits went much of the same, especially when I got to Volkner, once he knew it was me, he thanked me for lighting him up again, then we had another battle just for the fun of it.
Through revisiting the region, I was able to encounter some other Mythical Pokémon . At each of the lakes, (not counting Sendoff Spring) I met the beings of emotion, Azelf, Mespirit, and Uxie, which they granted me three energy orbs. Then in Canalave, I heard a tale of a boy down by the harbor area who had fallen into a deep sleep and could only be woken by a Lunar Wing, which could only be obtained by the Mythical Lunar Pokémon Cresselia. A sailor by the harbor knew the location of Cresselia, on a little island called Fullmoon Island. On the island, I was able to encounter Cresselia who granted me an energy orb and the Lunar Wing. Taking the wing back to the house, I was able to revive the boy, who told me in secret the the reason he fell asleep was because of the Mythical Darkness Pokémon , Darkrai. He told me there was something odd going on with the house behind the Pokémon Center and that I should go check it out. The boy was right, because if I wasn't able to open the door before, then it was as if the house was waiting for me. I entered the house, and an odd man stood inside, awaiting my arrival. I don't remember what happened after that, because I have a theory that he sedated or drugged me or something. When I woke up, it turned out that I was on an island opposite of Fullmoon Island, Newmoon Island. Within the island, I met Darkrai, who made me battle it first, then it granted me an energy orb. Damn, that Pokémon put up a fight.
When I went to go greet Byron, it turned out that he wasn't there. The sailor by the harbor granted me access to Iron Island, where Byron went to train sometimes. I found him there, and he told me of a strange energy coming from within the island caverns. In the cave, I fought some trainers who also turned out to be workers mining for iron, but the energy was coming from deeper inside the cave. There lay an entrance to another room, where there was a statue with a certain dotted pattern on its face and some tiles on the floor. Matching the tiles to look like the statue's face, a Pokémon came out of the statue and faced me in a battle. When I had won, the Pokémon presented me with an energy orb and became one with the wall once again.
While traveling up north to Snowpoint City, I came across a room in the northern regions of Mt. Coronet much like the one I found on Iron Island. Matching the puzzle on the floor to the statue, another Pokémon came out of the statue, and after a quick battle the Pokémon gave me an energy orb and molded back into the wall. I flew up north to Snowpoint City, and the blizzard had subsided to a normal trickle of snow. Candice of Snowpont Gym educated me on the statue Pokémon I had encountered and told me there were three of them called Regice, Regirock, and Registeel. She had traveled to northern Snowpoint to that temple I was kicked out of, and saw an ancient Pokémon statue of legend, Regigigas, that could only be revived by the presence of energy of the three Pokémon . Telling her I had two of the statue Pokémon's energy, she instructed me to travel east of Snowpoint across the sea to an island called Battle Island, or commonly referred to as the Battle Zone. She said the third statue Pokémon resided there and once I had obtained its energy, I should head to the Snowpoint Temple and present the energy to the great statue Pokémon . Imagining all the battles I could have there, I set off for the Battle Zone. The sun had set hours ago, so it looks like I wasn't going home just yet, but with Fearow's great speed, we could get to places in less than a minute.
Less than a minute after leaving Snowpoint, we had reached the harbor of the battle zone. To my surprise, I met up with Barry again and who I assumed was his father. Barry didn't recognize me at first, but with a friendly conversation and a reminder of our past battles, he realized who I was. Apparently, he had also beaten the Elite Four and Cynthia, and he came to the Battle Zone which he found out about from his dad. I told him what I was here for, and he said that he was headed up north to a place called the Survival Area. I decided to head east to the Resort Area, not to relax, but to head to Route 228 where my real prize was.
A furious raging sandstorm accompanied Route 228, along with many eager trainers, who I got the pleasure of battling, gaining the great feeling of nostalgia of battling Pokémon . Further north of the route, I came to a ditch where a cave entrance was barely visible at the bottom. Entering the cave, I saw that it was practically identical to the previous caves I had visited. Following the pattern on the statue, the third statue Pokémon Regirock separated from the statue and fought me, very lazily. It fought me with an almost, tired, bored additude as if it were saying, "Ah, whatever. I don't feel like fighting, but y'know. Tradition." After the battle, it presented me with an energy orb and coalesced with the wall as it had been before.
I began traveling up north to Route 227 to the giant volcano that loomed ove all of Battle Island, Stark Mountain. On the mountain, I found a stray Galactic member, going about some suspicious business. I was tempted to push him into a nearby lava pool, but I let him live. The lava looked kind of inviting itself, like a pool would be to a normal person who wouldn't sink underwater and nearly die because they're too dense to stay afloat due to their bones being made of steel. I tentatively dipped my hand into a lava pool, nice and warm. I held myself back from doing a cannonball into the lava pool and headed inside Stark Mt. Inside, many trainers were about, doing, well, training! I took the opportunity to fight all of them, letting my Pokémon finally have a chance to battle other Pokémon . In the heart of Stark Mt, I found another ancient Pokémon which I later identified as Heatran. It was a Fire/Steel Type like myself, so I got pretty excited and tried battling it. I'll just say, it wasn't easy to beat Heatran since, well, I'm basically fighting fire with fire. I refrained from using Magic since the prescence of Magic Energy in the east was less than that of the west, so it determined the strength of my Magic.
Barry told me he had traveled to Stark Mt. prior to stop a guy named Buck from swiping the Magma Stone which would prevent the volcano from exploding, then asked me why I was covered in lava. As he asked that, the lava soaked into my body and I felt a small amount of fire energy rush within me.
I didn't know I could do that.
After I separated from Barry, Fearow and I flew back to Snowpoint, headed for the temple. The lady ooutside who had previously told me that I wasn't allowed in now told me differently, saying that I was the 'chosen one' and I was allowed in the temple. The temple had many flights of stairs leading down, but in order to get to them, one would have to slide on ice to get there. Me, well, simply me just stepping on the ice melted it, so I ignored the puzzles and hoped that some Ice Pokémon would fix it. Once I reached the bottom floor, my prize: Regigigas. Before I could do anything, the three energy orbs morphed out of me, floating before the statue, spining faster and faster like my Flare Wheel, then enteriing the statue body. Lights on the statue lit up, then it began to move its limbs, exercising them after a long slumber. I moved into a battle stance and saw the statue form an energy orb, four times larger that a regular one, I assumed all three orbs I obtained from the three Statue Pokémon and Regigigas', combined into one. Remember, these orbs were small, about the size of a baseball. The ones I obtained from monsters were larger, a little smaller than a basketball.
I went to visit home that day, the afternoon of the third day. Mom and I went out to the store in Canalave (you used to only be able to get there by boat, but they built a walkway across the water a few years prior, much like the one on Route 32 in Johto) to buy stuff to make dinner with. I stayed at home for the rest of the day, helping Mom make dinner, spaghetti. Mom's spaghetti. I was nervous, but on the surface, I looked calm and ready to drop bombs, but I keep on forgetting what I wrote down-*ahem*-sorry, I sorta lost myself in the music, the moment, but I better never let it go, 'cuz I only got one shot, better not miss my chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime.
YOU BETTA LOSE YOURSELF-
Ahem. Anyway.
Rapping aside, I helped mom make the sauce for the spaghetti and she let it simmer for a few hours, going back to stir it occasionally. I took the time to sit down and tell her about all my adventures, how far I've come, not just in training but in life in general- okay, let's be real, training was my life up until that point, no point in denying it.
That's when the sudden realization of what I was missing came to me.
It hit me like a truck, that was what I was missing, one of the holes in the cheese was filled in so to speak. The thing I was missing was a life. Training basically was my life, and I was so focused on just training that I had no life at all. In other words, I was basically a sack of muscles with no actual connection with people whatsoever. My time becoming so powerful was overshadowing the time I could be using to actually get to know people, in this case, the members of my guild. That would all change though, because I realized; strength lies in numbers. As in a team. That team was Team Natsu, which I had joined when we went to go take on the 2,000,000 Jewel quest. I also remember asking Mira out, which I hadn't taken her out yet, since I was solely focused on goddamn training. The promise was not yet broken, so I had time.
That time would be used more efficiently from that point on.
xxxx
The rest of the week was a lot better after my sudden realization. I visited the other regions and got reacquainted with the Gym Leaders and Elite Four of each. I took some time to actually do some sightseeing as if I were a tourist, and well, I kinda was. My favorite region aside from Sinnoh was Kalos, because the sights to be seen, nature to soak in, was all gorgeous. I mentally kicked myself for not noticing all the sights when traveling through the region at first. The Gym Leader who introduced me to Mega Evolution, Korrina, I thanked and displayed my Mega and Giga Evolution. She was intrigued, and suggested that I visit Professor Sycamore's lab in Lumiose City. He had also witnessed my Giga Evolution and concluded that I had the blood of the ancient Charizard Legion. Kinda guessed that already, but I didn't wanna ruin the moment.
As for the Mythical Pokémon , well, I found more than just Pokémon . That trainer from the book, AZ, I encountered a few times. After some time, I got to know the ancient dude, and it turned out that he created the ultimate weapon because of the Great Pokémon War and his beloved deceased Pokémon . I was able to encounter more Mythical Pokémon throughout the regions and with it, more history began to unfold. It was a learning experience, not just training. It felt like I was taking a Pokémon History class. My energy level grew more and more as I obtained energy orbs. All the orbs would be the equivalent of about... I wanna say, at least 10 monster souls? I could've killed 10 monsters in less than an hour, but it was worth it because I got something special out of it, a special move that I couldn't learn otherwise: Flare Sword. I was able to make a long, double-edged blade made up completely of fire with a fancy, fiery cross guard. A grand longsword crafted from nothing but flames?
That. Is. Fucking. Cool!
It was made of fire, but it was sturdy and kept its shape. It definitely was solid, but yet the embers flickered and licked like a real fire, Curious to see what would happen, I tried throwing the srod into some water. The instant it made contact with the surface, the sword exploded into a cloud of steam, fizzling out. I tried using it again, and a new sword formed in my hand, good as new.
Soon came the day before I was supposed to leave. I had returned from Hoenn that day, tired and ready to sleep. After saying goodnight to Mom and brushing my not as straight as a model teeth, I changed into a just boxers and a t-shirt and flopped down onto my bed. That's when I heard a familiar voice in my hea, the familiar deep voice of me father calling me from Lake Verity. I heard Mom coming upstairs at that moment, so I patiently waited until Mom's footsteps reached the top of the stairs and entered her bedroom, then snuck out of my room ever so quietly and ninjalike and started walking towards the lake.
I checked the time. 10:00 P.M. I assumed whatever Dad had to say was important, but I prayed that he wouldn't go on a rant this time.
"Good evening, Vincent," he spoke.
"Hey dad," I yawned.
"I see that you're tired, yes, but don't worry. I'll make this quick. First off, how's your week been for you?"
"Well, I did as you told me, and..." I formed Flare Sword in my hand as I spoke. "I gained this new power."
"Glad you listened! But! What I have to say must be dome quick, so listen closely." Dad rant mode activated. "Many years ago, Elementia obliterated the Charizard Legion, and he sent out his army of Team Skull, who had also formed an alliance with Team Rocket. The only teams that didn't exist back then were Team Magma and Aqua of Hoenn and Team Flare of Kalos. Well, Team Flare was formed out of the war, but that's another story for another day. Team Galactic also had some affiliation with Elementia and Team Skull, but it was mostly Team Skull and Rocket." So then all those guys I killed really deserved it, I thought. "They wiped out almost 100% of the Legion, they even killed some that weren't from the Legion, even with no affiliation whatsoever. Charizards didn't nearly go extinct, but the population of Charizards plummeted heavily. With help from allied forces like the Pokemon-Human Alliance, they were able to subdue Elementia. Not defeat him, because I sensed his power, but at least subdue him for a while. The mages put a spell on him, but it may be starting to wear of, and it's only a matter of time before he regains power and begins another war, another reign of destruction and terror. This is where you came in, because it's your destiny to defeat Elementia once and for all. However, you may need help. You remember how I said almost the whole Legion was broken apart? The Legion isn't finihed yet. Although small, some Charizards are still alive. There's only 7 left in the Legion, and they're elite Legion soldiers as well as masters of combat tactics and skills. If you find all of them, You can increase your power more and stand a chance against Elementia."
Oh, don't wory, I won't only stand a chance against him, I'll squah him like a bug, like a pest, I thought. "Thanks Dad. I will find them, inform them of what's going on. What do I do once I meet them though?"
"You tell them to go to a hiding spot. They know hiding spots like the back of their little hands." As he said that, I realized for the first time that his arms were just as long as a regular human's. I had never noticed it before that, but it was interesting. "You won't understand it, but tell them to rendezvous at Spot #2. Also, I just wanted you to know, Your uncle who you've also never known, he served in the Legion, and he's still alive. I consider it a miracle. He was elite like me, like my older brother Connor, who was caught before me. Your uncle's name is Uncle Eddy, he's the only one who has the recessive gene of long arms like me. I'll explian it another time, but for now, get some rest. You're heading back to Fiore soon, correct?"
"I'm leaving in the morning. I can get there quickly because of my Dimension Magic."
"Okay, good. Remember that I'm always with you. Do your best, strive to go beyond even your best. See you soon. Be good to your mother, okay?" With that, He drifetd away into the wind.
"I will Dad," I whispered.
xxxx
"Alright Mom, see you soon! I don't know how often I can come bck, but I'll try to come back as often as possible," I called as I stood at the door.
"Alright, take care of yourself! Love you sweetie!" she called after me. With one last wave goodbye, I stepped out into the cool morning air. Outside, I set a travel point to Switch to, then using Dimension Switch, I found myself back in Fiore, standing inside my house. I quickly exited my house and ran to the guild as quickly as possible to let everyone know that I was back, happy and quite eager to talk to my fellow guildmates again.
I wasn't gonna be happy with the news that was waiting for me.
