Chapter 6: Take Flight

Roku's P.O.V.

Sprout Tower Spire

"Go, Luna! Use Quick Attack!"

My Pokémon dashed forward at immeasurable speed and struck the elder's Bellsprout, knocking it back.

"Lyra! Finish it with Ember!"

Reia's Vulpix sent out her fiery attack, knocking the opponent out.

Ok, there's one down, I thought to myself. Just a few more to go.

The elder sent out his next Pokémon, a Hoothoot. Reia decided to focus on the other Bellsprout while I dealt with the elder's Hoothoot.

"Luna! Nail it with Swift!"

Luna obliged, sending out multiple star rays to hit Hoothoot without fail. The attack was powerful, but it wasn't enough to knock it out.

"Now, Hoothoot! Use Hypnosis!"

The Hoothoot's eyes flared up with a mysterious aura. I knew right then and there what he was going for.

"Luna! Don't lock eyes with it! Look away from it!"

It was too late, however. Luna was still looking at the Hoothoot as it was using Hypnosis, and she crumpled to the ground, snoring softly.

"Aww, now's not the time to be taking a nap!" I groaned. "C'mon, Luna! Get up!"

Luna kicked her leg slightly, showing that she was dreaming and that she was pretty much dead to the outside world. I saw the sage's Bellsprout get knocked out, courtesy of Lyra's Ember, and the sage threw out another Bellsprout.

"Hoothoot! Tackle it!"

I looked back at the Hoothoot as it flew forward and knocked Luna back a few feet. The force of the blow should've been large enough to wake anyone up, but she was still snoozing away happily.

"Dammit…Come back, Luna!" I scoffed, returning the sleeping Eevee to her Poke Ball. "Go, Pidgey!"

I sent out my tiny bird Pokémon, knowing that until Luna woke up from her involuntary nap, he was my last defense.

"Let's do this, Master!" the Pidgey chirped eagerly. "I'm ready to win!"

Oh, yeah, I thought. This is his first time out of his Poke Ball. He doesn't even know my name yet.

"OK, first of all, the name's Roku," I clarified. "Second, I don't want you to think of me as your master. Think of me as a partner."

"OK! No problem, Roku!" Pidgey chirped. "Now let's win us a battle!"

I smiled. I couldn't help but love that little bird's optimism.

"Hoothoot, use Hypnosis!"

My mind snapped back to the battle. The Hoothoot was about to put another one of my Pokémon to sleep.

To Hell with that! I thought. "Pidgey, use Sand Attack!"

Pidgey threw some of the dist off of the floor at the Hoothoot's eyes, completely shutting down the attack.

"What the…" the elder gasped, flabbergasted.

"Now's our chance! Use Tackle!"

Pidgey launched himself forward and slammed into the Hoothoot, dealing enough damage to knock it out.

"No! Hoothoot!"

I looked at Reia to see her finish the sage's second Bellsprout off viciously with what also looked like Quick Attack. We had won.

"All right! We did it!" I cheered, Reia sharing in the victory by whooping excitedly. The elder walked up to us and handed us the TM that we'd fought so hard for.

"Well done, young Trainers," the elder spoke. "You seem to have very deep bonds with your Pokémon. Take this TM. You've earned it."

We thanked the elder and he handed each of us a TM for the move Flash. I was slightly disappointed, for Flash was only good for use as a flashlight, but I showed my appreciation and walked out of the tower.


Latias' P.O.V.

Route 37

Latias floated out onto Route 37, the desire for finding her friend burning bright in her heart. She could only imagine the shock on Roku's face once he met her again.

"OK, whoever's tailing me, you really aren't doing a good job of being quiet," she said loudly.

Latias heard a short rustling in the trees, and she turned around and readied her Mist Ball. Soon, a familiar face dropped down from the trees.

"Lance," she said in a dull voice. "Let me guess: Zuki put you up to looking out for me, didn't she?"

"Well, it was actually Sayo, but, yeah," he replied. "Look, I know you refused my offer, but look at this as a bonding experience for the both of us."

Latias sighed angrily. Lance wanted her to be his partner, and he wouldn't stop bugging her about it, no matter how many times she refused.

"Listen, I already told you," Latias repeated. "I don't want to be your partner. I already have someone in mind. Now back off before I give you a reason to fight me!"

Lance narrowed his gaze.

"Get down," he said.

"What…? No," she refused.

"I said GET DOWN!" he shouted, pulling Latias behind him and sending out his trusted partner, Dragonite.

Now, the story behind the whole "two partners" thing is that every Legend Keeper had a Pokémon partner and a Legendary Pokémon partner, which was usually one of the lesser powerful Legendary Pokémon, such as Raikou, Tornadus, and of course, Latios or Latias.

Now, back to the story at hand…Dragonite let loose with a Dragon Pulse, lighting up the very terrifying figure of a Hydreigon.

"Jay," Lance growled. "You've got a lot of nerve to be hanging around here."

"Well, well, if it isn't Dragon Boy," Jay laughed. "Finally decide to come out of your cave, I see. I've come to retrieve a certain specimen that's in your possession."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lance said. "You must've heard a rumor or two."

"Oh, no, I'm not mistaken, Lance, old boy," Jay mocked. Then his expression changed. "Hand over Latias."

"You'll have to battle me for her," Lance challenged. "Unless you're too chicken, that is…"

"Hahaha! You're challenging ME?!" Jay laughed evilly. "Revenge is gonna be sooooo sweet! Get 'em, Hydreigon!"

The Hydreigon roared viciously, for it was so underdeveloped that it didn't even have a voice. Dragonite touched down onto the ground and went into a battle stance.

"Dragonite! Hyper Beam!"

Dragonite let loose with a massive pink and purple beam of energy. Hydreigon couldn't get out of the way fast enough and was blasted so harshly that he was smoking afterwards.

"C'mon, Hydreigon! Use Dark Pulse!" Jay ordered.

Hydreigon roared and sent a black energy beam careening towards Dragonite. He was hit dead-on and sent flying back.

Still being unable to move, Lance gave Dragonite a Hyper Potion to make up for the damage dealt to him.

"Thank you, Lance," Dragonite huffed. "This should help."

"Enough! Hydreigon, hit him with Dragon Rush!"

Dragonite turned to see Hydreigon flying at him at a high speed. Dragonite dodged to the side just in the nick of time to avoid damage.

"Now, Dragonite! Use Outrage!" Lance shouted.

Dragonite flared up with a mighty power and flew at Hydreigon, smashing him over and over until Hydreigon was down for the count.

"What?! Hydreigon!" Jay screeched.

Dragonite flew back to Lance, feeling joyous.

"We won! Well done, partner!" Lance commended him.

"All in a day's work!" Dragonite said confidently.

"Why?! Why does he keep WINNING?!" Jay shouted angrily. He returned the fainted Dragon-type Pokémon to his Poke Ball and left with these parting words: "Team Prime will harness the power of darkness to destroy you Legend Keepers! Just you wait!"

Once Jay was out of sight, Latias rang in with her opinion.

"'The power of darkness?'" she recited. "What is he talking about?"

"I don't know," Lance said grimly. "But I don't like the sound of it."


Roku's P.O.V.

Violet City Gym

Reia and I had taken a night's rest at the Pokémon Center, and were now standing in front of the Violet City Gym.

"Whoof…I've never challenged a Gym before…" I've gotta be honest, the tension's really getting to me."

"Yeah, I felt the same way with my first Gym challenge," Reia said in an attempt to lighten the load. "Of course, I was up against Bug-types, so that was no trouble, but still."

I nodded. I needed to focus. I looked over at Luna, who gave me an encouraging smile, and I walked into the Gym.

"Welcome to the Violet City Gym!" a slightly obese man said as we walked in. "Are you going to be challenging the Gym today?"

"Uh, yeah," I said. "I'm Roku, and this is Reia. Both of us will be challenging the Gym."

"OK! In that case, I'll tell Falkner that he will be choosing one of his apprentices to fight alongside him." The man pulled out his P*DA and said, "Falkner, we have two challengers who wish to take you on together. Choose a partner and report to the stadium."

"OK. I'm on my way," he replied.

Reia and I looked around. We didn't see any sign of anyone in the stadium. But then, the skylight opened up, and two Trainers on bird Pokémon came swooping down onto the field. One was on a Pidgeotto, and he had blue hair and slightly lighter blue robes. The other one was on a Noctowl, and was just a Bird Catcher.

"I am Falkner, the Violet City Gym Leader," the blue-haired guy introduced. "Are you my challengers?"

"Yes, we are!" I said eagerly. "My name is Roku, and this is my friend Reia."

"Wonderful," he smiled. "Let's get straight to it."

The four of us walked onto the field, the two of us taking opposite sides.

"This is a Violet City Double Battle challenge!" the fat guy boomed. "Each Trainer uses only a single Pokémon! The team that knocks out the opposing team first wins the battle!"

"They say that you can clip a bird's wings with a jolt of electricity," Falkner spoke. "I won't allow such insults to bird Pokémon!"

"We'll show you the true power of the magnificent bird Pokémon!" the Bird Catcher shouted.

"Humph! We'll just see about that!" I challenged. "Go, Luna!"

"Go, Lyra!" Reia shouted.

Our Pokémon jumped out onto the field, eager to win.

"Pidgeotto! Take flight!" Falkner shouted.

"Noctowl! Battle stance!" the Bird Catcher shouted.

I winced slightly. Those Pokémon pretty much dwarfed ours in size. But if Luna and Lyra were that easily scared, we wouldn't have come this far in the first place. We weren't backing down now.

"Battle Begin!" the man called out.

"Pidgeotto! Use Sand Attack!" Falkner shouted.

Pidgeotto launched a cloud of sand into Luna's eyes. She took it full-on in the face, but we weren't afraid. I smirked as I gave Luna the order to use Swift. She sent out her star rays and nailed Pidgeotto right in the beak and sent it reeling back.

"Lyra! Use Quick Attack!" shouted Reia, sensing an opening.

Lyra dashed forward and knocked Pidgeotto back even farther, dealing some considerable damage. Pidgeotto righted himself, although he was slightly reeling from those two hard hits.

"Noctowl! Use Foresight!" the Bird Catcher ordered.

I looked at Noctowl, who's eyes just gleamed. Right then, I knew that Noctowl had locked on to Lyra's movements. She wasn't going to be dodging any shot from Noctowl for a while.

"Reia!" I shouted. "Focus on Pidgeotto! I've got Noctowl!" Then I sent two fingers forward and winked.

We had went through a few strategies before we challenged the Gym. One of them was the "Double Strike" tactic in which we launch two Quick Attacks at the same time. The plan was to make sure that Noctowl was focused on any shots that Lyra would attack it with, then switch targets when we were close enough.

"Now! Quick Attack!" we shouted in unison.

Luna directed her attack at Pidgeotto, who had regained his ground, and Lyra had directed her attack at Noctowl, as was planned. Noctowl got low, preparing to dodge Lyra's strike.

Right once Noctowl jumped to the left…

"Switch targets! Go!"

Luna and Lyra jumped into each other's paths and continued. Luna struck Noctowl head-on, knowing that he was going to dodge at the last possible moment, and Lyra went on to hit Pidgeotto and knock it out.

"Pidgeotto is unable to battle!" the fat guy yelled.

I smiled and looked at Reia, now wiggling my fingers and sending them forward.

That was the cue to use our most powerful strategy, called "Silver Fire". Using Sand Attack, Luna would coat herself in enough dust to cover her entire body in a thick layer of dirt. Then, Lyra would use Ember to ignite that dust, followed up with Luna using Quick Attack to make a makeshift Flame Charge. This method was risky, but would be very effective if it worked.

"Luna! Execute 'Silver Fire!' GO!"

Luna nodded and began covering herself with dirt until there was a thick coat of it all over her body.

"Light it up!" Luna shouted, confirming that she was ready. Lyra nodded and shot sparks at the layer of dust. In a furious flash, the dust flared and ignited into a furious blaze.

"Now! Quick Attack!"

Luna dashed forward at immeasurable speed, looking like a shooting star blazing across the battlefield. I should've christened this attack "Comet Dash", because Luna looked a lot like a meteorite entering the Earth's atmosphere. I saw the look of shock and horror on both Trainer and Pokémon as Luna slammed into Noctowl and sent it flying back so hard and fast that it smashed into the wall of the Gym and left a massive imprint.

"What the…?" Falkner said, starstruck.

"YES! We did it!" I shouted with joy. "Well done, everybody!"

"No…my dad's cherished bird Pokemon…" Falkner said silently.

"And that's it! Noctowl is unable to battle!" the large guy said. "Luna and Lyra are the winners! The victory goes to Roku and Reia!"

"Hahaha! Yeah!" We shouted, hugging each other excitedly. I couldn't even begin to express my feelings right then and there, all I could think about was the way we won our first Gym battle.

Reia and I noticed that we were hugging each other, and we let go, looking off to the side and blushing slightly.

"I gotta admit…I haven't seen anyone beat me like that," Falkner said as he walked up to us. "Pokémon League rules state that I must confer this Badge to you."

Falkner handed the both of us a Badge that looked like a pair of wings.

"That's the official Pokémon League Zephyr Badge," Falkner explained. "If I'm not mistaken, this is your first Gym Badge, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's correct," I confirmed.

"Then you should head for Azalea Town next," he suggested. "Oh, and I want you to take this as well."

Falkner produced two disks from his robes and handed one to each of us.

"That TM contains the move Roost," Falkner explained. "It lets the user rest its wings to regain health. Use it wisely."

"Thank you, Falkner," Reia said.

Showing our appreciation once again, me, Reia, and our partners headed out of the Gym and to the Pokémon Center to get some rest.

Right once we exited the Gym, I got a call on my P*DA. It was from Professor Elm.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Roku! It's Professor Elm!" he said. "I have something for you!"

"Really?" I said excitedly.

"The thing is…we want you to carry the Egg that Mr. Pokémon gave you!" he explained. "We found out that this Egg will only hatch if it is carried with Pokémon. And I thought to myself 'There's no better person to carry this Egg than Roku!"

"OK, got it. Where are you?"

"Actually, I've sent one of my assistants to Violet City to deliver it to you. You should go pick it up!"

"OK," I said. "I'll be there in a bit."

I hung up and motioned for Reia to follow.

Looks like we'll be getting a new addition to the team, I thought to myself.


Author's Note: First Gym conquered. I figured I'd make this interesting by adding what most Trainers are probably dreaming of: combining moves. The whole time I was writing the "Silver Fire" bit, the song "Light 'Em Up" was playing in my head. Just goes to show you how music can affect what you write. (Heh, I wrote this while listening to "Pain" by Three Days' Grace. Maybe next chapter I'll put in something emo. Mwahahaha.)

Anyway, this chapter was pretty easy to write. The battle between Lance and Jay was kinda tough, but it came out pretty nicely, at least, in my opinion. I'm trying my best to make this story different while keeping a little of the original storyline in there. Pretty tough, if you ask me.

Oh, and now I can update faster! You see, I have a machine at home, but the thing is so old that it can't read the data from the school's Microsoft Word. So I pretty much just plan to start the chapters at home and run it in Compatibility mode, since my home PC still runs Windows XP. So expect to see faster updates.

That's it for now. Strato Abyss signing out.