Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or its characters.
Author Notes: After a few events in my life, I got really interested in Pokémon Oras and a few of its characters, so I decided to try and make a story for this game that really got me by surprise.
I hope you guys enjoy the pilot chapter and the beginning of this new tale.
It's already late afternoon, but he cannot leave. The Pokémon champion of Hoenn has a duty to fulfill. After receiving a notice that a new challenger is making his way through the elite four, Brendan is patiently sitting on his marble seat on the center of his giant room, he is watching the young teenager battle against the veterans that stands on his way, a genuine curiosity coming alive inside of him.
"He shows a lot of promise." Brendan smiled after watching the challenger finally beat Sidney on a fierce battle. "You think he will make all the way to us?" He looked to a small Pokémon sitting beside his white throne.
The little Whismur let out a happy cry, she stood on her feet and jumped a few times excited.
"It has been some long days since someone challenged us. Right, Aster?"
The pink little ball of a Pokémon let out another happy cry as an answer. She jumped upwards to Brendan's lap, watching the little screen on his hands with the same intensity that he is.
As the stranger entered the next room, Phoebe started his next challenge with hers Banette, for which the teenager boy responded with his Scrafty. The one-sided battle between the two Pokémon lasted for more than the boy expected, this fact being very clear on his expression that is very annoyed even if his Scrafty got out as the victor.
Phoebe called out her next Pokémon, a fast Drifblim. The Ghost-type trainer is enjoying the battle with the large grin she always carry on her lips.
The poor Scrafty stood no chance, even if the damage from his last battle was not severe, it was enough to make him vulnerable to Drifblim's Acrobatics move. A series of nimbly flying strikes exploded on the orange Pokémon, knocking him out in a moment.
'No way, Scrafty!' From the cameras, Brendan watched the challenger cry out after his Pokémon hit the ground. 'How did you lose so fast…?' The boy called his Scrafty back to his Poke ball, clenching the ball fiercely.
Brendan frowned at the scene, he has a good feeling about the newcomer, but… "Does he not get it?" The champion glared a bit disappointed at the ongoing battle.
"Mur?" Aster felt his restlessness and cry out to him, raising her face upwards to face her friend.
"Hm?! Oh don't worry Aster. I'm just thinking out loud." He petted his Pokémon friend's head, as his fingers ran on its soft pink fur, Aster made a few happy sounds.
"You are still so clingy to that little Whismur." A cool voice sounded from behind the champion's throne. "It has been what, nine years since you found her?"
"Eight and a half." Brendan tapped Aster on her back making her jump to the ground, then he stood up from his seat, turning to look at the other man. "How have you been, Steven?"
The man with light steel blue hair walked closer to his friend, a bright smile showing on his lips. "Very busy, but, I'm doing great. I have to say, I missed exploring the world more than I imagined." Steven took out a shining green stone from one of his pockets and started to show his new trinket to Brendan. "And you, how are you faring?"
Brendan stared at Steven, an awkward smile on his lips. "You know, doing great! Just great… In a way like only the champion can. You know how it is."
"Brendan… On what have you expending your spare time on?" Steven asked with a serious voice, his steel blue eyes glaring at his friend's form.
"Ah… Training or just doing nothing on the sky." The champion averted his eyes away, already sensing what his friend is about to say.
"What… You have been doing that for two years?" Steven asked incredulous, to which Brendan only nodded a response. "That is just sad, you need a hobby or something. What about your friends?"
"The champion is a busy person, you know. Not a lot of free time to go on out there." Brendan said in a very unsure voice.
"You're not that busy, don't forget that I was the champion before you." Steven took one hand to his chin, closing his eyes as the wandered on his thoughts. "Oh yeah, what about that girlfriend of yours? Shouldn't you expend some time with her?"
"I don't have one, you should check your memory." Brendan let out a fake laugh, trying to shove this topic away.
"No, I am pretty sure that you have. I remember seeing you two all the time." Steven stared at Brendan, feeling a bit confused. "What was her name again? May?"
"Steven, that's enough." Brendan said out loud, his eyes glaring angrily to the side. "Just leave this be." The champion went back to his seat, his attention going back to the little screen on his hands. Aster stared at him, she cried sadly after noticing his pained expression.
"Sorry If I have been insensitive, it was not my intention." Steven watched Brendan's back, and noticed his friend nod at his apology. "I will let you go back to your duty now, but I will come see you later. Maybe we can go somewhere fun to take your mind off things, how about it?"
"I will be looking forward to it." Brendan raised one hand and waved to Steven.
And suddenly Steven disappeared behind a door, going away as fast as he appeared. With his friend gone, Brendan put his whole attention back to the battles happening right outside on the Elite Four halls. However to his surprise, the challenger is far past the point where Brendan has last seen him.
"Hoh, Boy you really have a spark of power on you." Drake raised the tip of his hat and wiped the sweat on his forehead. "Let me test your outmost limit with this. Come forth Salamence!" With a shout, Drake released his last Pokémon able to combat.
The azure dragon emerged from its Poké ball and with the command of his master, Salamence transformed into its Mega form, darting across the room with an amazing speed.
The confident challenger raised his arm up, holding in his hand a black and yellow ball of one of his two Pokémon. "Let's finish this, Tyrantrum!" He then threw the ball in front of him, making a powerful blue and silver Rock/Dragon Pokémon appear.
The blue beast unleashed a deafening scream, glaring menacingly at the flying Mega Salamence.
"Salamence, use Dragon Rush!" Drake ordered, throwing his left arm in a sweeping motion.
The blue dragon flew down at Drake's command, going into a head first tackle against the Shiny Tyrantrum.
"Tyrantrum, use Head Smash!" The young trainer yelled out in response.
In a contest of pure raw power, the two dragons clashed against one another sending shockwaves all around the room. After the first impact, Tyrantrum was the one to push its opponent away, making an even greater effort to run forward, dragging the Mega Salamence with him, and then smashing his opponent against the wall.
With a powerful roar, Salamence pushed the other Pokémon away, and with mighty swing of his wings, the blue dragon began to soar around the room once again.
Drake flinched at the sight of Tyrantrum's power. He took two steps forward and raised both arms. "Salamence, use Crunch!" He said with a stern gaze at his Pokémon partner.
Salamence roared once more and flew downwards in a spiral, aiming his jaws at Tyrantrum's back.
"Tyrantrum, use Iron Tail!" The trainer commanded his dragon. To which Tyrantrum rapidly followed, turning his body in an arc and bringing his tail back just enough to throw it upwards in full force.
"Now!" Drake yelled loudly.
Salamence made an absurd pause in mid-air and turned sideways changing course at the last moment. With this movement, the blue dragon posed himself right on top of Tyrantrum's blind spot, with a flap of his wings Mega Salamence flew down on top of the blue dragon and crunched with his teeth the back side of the Shiny blue beast.
Tyrantrum fell to the ground with the impact, a cry of confusion and surprise escaping the Pokemon's mouth.
"Dammit..." The youngster bit his lips in exasperation. "Tyrantrum push him away."
"Salamence, use Zen Headbutt!" Drake commanded, raising one arm up.
Salamence gave no room for Tyratrum to escape, instead he unleashed a powerful Psychic energy wave onto the blue dinosaur's back, crushing him even more onto the ground.
"TYRANTRUM!" The challenger trainer yelled in desperation. "I will not lose, I will not let you lose. Tyrantrum, use Outrage!"
With a raging screech, Tyrantrum began to trash around, swinging his entire body in a fit of uncontrollable anger. His movements got so intense that forced Salamence backwards, giving the free space needed for the shiny Pokémon to jump out of its place and landed a few feet away from his master.
"Go for it." The trainer pointed his finger forward, making his Pokemon get even more wild.
"Salamence, watch out! Use, Dragon Rush!" Drake said with a worried expression.
Drake's orders were of no use, as Mega Salamence tried to fly upwards into the room, Tyrantrum jumped even higher clashing on top of the blue dragon, dragging Salamence all the way to the ground. With a series of headbutts, Tyrantrum pinned his opponent into the ground smashing away with reckless abandon. After this last attack, Salamence was left out of combat.
Drake called out his Salamence back to its Poké ball and then the old trainer and final member of the Elite Four began to claps his hands in congratulations. "Well done boy, I didn't expect you to beat me, but you did it anyway."
"Thanks." The youngster smiled with an embarrassed grin, he took his right hand to the back of his head and began to mess with his dark black hair.
"You probably know it already, but my name is Drake. Mind if ask your name?" Drake asked.
"It's Axel, My name is Axel." The teenager replied with a warm grin.
The young trainer, is a teenager that appears to be fifteen years old. He is short and has dark green eyes. His hair is straight and short with a dark black color to it. His set of clothes are: a short sleeved grey shirt and long blue pants, with a pair of dark grey shoes. And lastly he has a large backpack on his back.
Drake nodded and smiled back. "I could see your fierce spirit Axel, and no one can deny the strength of you team, that is an incredible combination." The dragon trainer said, much to Axel's appreciation. "As a reward for our amazing battle, I will give you one free advice. Through this door lies the very best of Hoenn and may come as exaggeration, but he is the closest thing you can imagine as an unbeatable trainer." Drake stared at Axel's, now afraid, eyes. "You will need more than just power to beat him."
"W-What do you mean?" Axel asked curious and terrified.
"Hah, I said one advice." Drake let out a sonorous laugh. "The rest is up to you. Give you best boy." The dragon master walked to the side, opening the big door behind him.
Axel stepped outside Drake's room, entering a giant white hallway. The ominous vibe he is getting from this place is almost making his legs give up. "Let's go, just one more and I'm the winner. Just one more opponent and I will be the champion." Axel laughed nervously. "Just the current unbeatable champion left."
He continued to walk along the seamlessly unending path, his breath getting faster with each step. As Axel approached the stairway, the two massive white doors began to slowly open away, revealing a dark room.
"This is it!" Axel healed all of his injured Pokémon, and then practicality jumped the steps, entering the room in one swift action.
A set of lights turned on, revealing half of the room to him. Right at the edge where the lighted path ends, Axel can see a big white marble throne, then his body froze as his eyes landed on a shadows sitting on the imposing throne.
"You battled your way through the victory road." A voice called out to the young boy. "You wreaked havoc on the halls of the Elite Four, and now you are standing on the last step before the top."
All the lights on the room flashed on, revealing everything else to the newcomer. The person sitting on the throne is a man of grey fierce eyes and large brown hair. He is using dark black short sleeved shirt, with a few lines of red color in a straight design. A pair of black/grey pants, together with a pair of grey/ red shoes. He has a white ragged bandana wrapped on his left arm. And a detail that almost escaped Axel's eyes, is a little pink Pokémon standing proudly beside the throne.
"My name is Brendan, I am the Pokémon Champion of Hoenn." Brendan stood up from his seat, taking a few steps forward. "Your last challenge on this road."
Axel felt his entire body fire up. "Let's do this, come out Altaria." In his excitement he went ahead and called out his first Pokémon. 'This is it, the end of the road.'
Brendan could not hide the smirk on his lips. "Come, Naito." The champion threw an ultra-ball far high into the air and then an imposing and beautiful Honckrow came out.
"A nickname?" Axel let his surprise out loud, without really meaning it.
"Yes, I name every Pokémon that fight with me." Brendan responded with a smile. "How could I call him my friend without giving him a name first?"
The young challenger snapped out of his surprise and looked to his dragon/flying Pokémon. "Altaria let's knock that crow out of the air. Use Moonblast!"
"Naito, use Sucker Punch!" Brendan raised his right hand, and pointed forward.
The Honchkrow flew like a rocket towards Altaria, knocking the blue/white bird out of the air.
"Altaria, fly higher. Use Sky Attack!" Axel said loudly.
"Naito, use Night Slash!" Brendan responded.
Again the Honchkrow flew in with a speed that doubles the one of Altaria. Naito attacked again, sending the blue Pokémon to the floor once again.
"What?!" Axel cried out in frustration. "How are we losing in speed?" He glared at the scene. "Altaria, strike him down! Use Moonblast!"
Altaria flapped her wings gathering a concentrated wave of pink energy and fired it towards the flying Honchkrow. But with no effort, the dark-blue bird evaded the attack.
"Naito, use Brave Bird!" Brendan made a move with his left arm, commanding his Pokémon to fly down on to Altaria.
Naito followed the Champion's orders and flew than even fast then before. Yellow light engulfed him as she darted away towards the blue dragon. Like a destructive arrow, Naito clashed on top of Altaria, rendering the Pokémon completely unconscious.
"Altaria…" Axel called back his first Pokémon. He stared at the flying Honchkrow, a disappointed expression on his face. "Scrafty, come out." He tossed another Poké ball out, releasing the second member of his team. "Let's set this right! Scrafty, use High Jump Kick!"
The little orange fighter jumped so high that he almost reached the ceiling, then he began to fall down, aiming towards Naito.
"Naito, counter his move. Use Superpower!" Brendan shouted.
The fast Honchkrow changed direction and aimed upwards. The bird flew in aiming his attack at the Pokémon slowly falling towards him.
"Now Scrafty, use Ice Punch!" Axel yelled with all this might.
The orange fighter kicked the air, pushing himself a bit backwards, just enough to let Naito pass right in front of him. As the bird flew pass him, Scrafty's right fist turned to a bullet of Ice power and clashed onto the Honckrow's chest. Putting a lot of force on his arm, Scrafty shot the bird from the air, making him clash onto the white floor.
"Good job Naito, get some rest now." Brendan called his Pokémon back. He then turned to the side and looked to the little Whismur staring at him. "Come on Aster, let's do this."
"Mur, Mur!" Aster jumped excited and then walked towards the arena.
"What?" Axel stared at the little pink Pokémon in disbelief. "He is your second one?"
"She, Aster is an adorable girl." Brendan waved one finger in front of him. "Don't underestimate my little friend."
"So much for an unbeatable champion. Let's go Scrafty, just bash that little thing away." Axel laughed as he commanded his fighter forward.
Scrafty let out a grunt and prepared to fight again.
"Aster, use Double Team." Brendan said in a calm voice.
"Mur!" Aster began to jump sideways, going faster with each little jump. Then she stopped, felling at lot faster than before.
"Scrafty hold nothing back. Use High Jump Kick!" Axel said with a cocky grin.
The little fighter quickly jumped far high again, making the same movements that took out Naito.
Brendan could not help but frown, at the young trainer's sudden change of behavior. "Aster, use Echoed Voice!"
The little pink Whismur jumped to the side and let Scrafty fall onto the floor. Then she shot a soundwave against her opponent. Scrafty felt the impact like it was kick on his head, the orange Pokémon shook his head trying to gain his concentration again.
"Again Aster!" Brendan shouted.
"Mur!" Aster shot the soundwave once again on her opponent, now the attack becoming even stronger. Scrafty got pushed all the way to the wall with this sound explosion, his head getting heavy and his vision blurred.
"Don't let that little thing push you away. Go on Scrafty, use High Jump Kick!" Axel yelled in full frustration.
Scrafty shook his head again and jumped far high, preparing to fall with his powerful kick. But this time Aster didn't even wait for Brendan's voice, instead she shoot once again her Echoed Voice, the powerful wave that exploded out of her quickly reached the fighter knocking him out of the air and out of the fight.
"Dammit, how did Scrafty lose to a little Pokémon like that…"Axel pulled out another Poke ball from his pockets. "Ninetales, it's your time!" A beautiful light yellow fox appeared in front of the trainer. "Ninetales, use Flare Blitz!"
With a growl, the fox cloaked herself with fire and began to charge at full speed towards the little pink Pokémon.
"Aster, Use Water Pulse!" Brendan said swinging one arm to the side.
From the white floor a giant blast of water suddenly appeared, the fast pulse quickly reached Ninetales consuming all the fire and knocking the fox on the ground. With the impact of both the attack and the hard white ground, Ninetales got dizzy and unable to move properly.
"No, don't give up yet. Ninetales, use Dark Pulse!" Axel ordered. But his words had no effect, as the fox stood in place still trying to get her bearings back.
"Aster finish this. Use Hyper Voice!" Brendan said with a stoic voice.
Aster let loose a terrifying echoing shout, making a massive soundwave that flew towards the confused Ninetales. As the wave reached the fox, the Pokémon was quickly knocked out of combat.
"Why… Why I'm losing?! I know that my Pokémon are stronger that a little Whismur…. So why?" Axel at this point is feeling all the pressure and anxiety that he could. He grabbed another Poke Ball from his pocket and threw out in to the air. "Go, Milotic! Let's show them our power."
'I see, so he really doesn't get it…" Brendan let out a heavy sigh. "Aster, come back." He called out his little pink friend.
"Mur?" Aster looked at him confused, but she did as he asked and jumped behind him.
"You did great, don't worry about it." Brendan said to his partner with a very bright smile on his lips. "Challenger, may I ask your name?" The champion turned his attention to Axel.
"Axel… My name is Axel." The boy said with hesitation.
"Axel, I watched your fights from before and I'm battling you right now. So I can tell that you are strong and you team is too, but…" Brendan closed his eyes, a serious expression appearing on his face. "Power is not everything, Pokémon are not tools or weapons. If you don't understand that, you will never surpass your own weakness."
"We reached the top, you said yourself. We did it with power." Axel said back. "And with our power we will defeat you!"
"Power is not everything… However if power is the only thing that you will understand." Brendan pulled out a Poke Ball from his pocket. "I will show you what real power is." With that the champion called out his next Pokémon. "Layla, come out."
An elegant and powerful Swellow flew out in the air, gliding around with a majestic grace.
'Another simple Pokémon…" Axel frowned after looking at the dark blue bird.
A snap of fingers sounded around the room, and with that sign the blue Swellow dove down on the air, flying at an unbelievable speed towards the Milotic. Before Axel could even react, his water Pokémon was locked in a barrage of attacks from the Swellow's Aerial Ace.
"Wha- WHAT?!" Axel yelled in shock, before he could order anything to his Milotic, his Pokémon was out of combat.
"This is Layla's power." Brendan said with a harsh voice, his eyes locked onto Axel. "She is my most trusted Pokémon. Let's see how your team fare against her."
"Grr… Tytrantrum come out!" Axel pulled his Milotic back and unleashed his shiny blue dragon. "Tyrantrum blow them away, use Head Smash!"
"Layla, go straight forward. Use Steel Wing!" Brendan said loudly.
Following her master's command, the Swellow flew in going head on towards the Tyrantrum's charge. To Axel that was simple insane, to throw a flying Pokémon against his Tyrantrum's rock type charge, but as he looked to Brendan he saw no hesitation or fear, instead a confident and honest smile is showing on the champion's lips.
Tyrantrum swung his head around as he reached his opponent, but found nothing on his path. Layla flew pass him and turn back around aiming her attack at Tyrantrum's back. An explosion of silver wings happened on blue dragon's back, making him fly all the way to the side wall, leaving him unable to fight.
"Impossible… How is that Swellow so strong?" Axel reached for his last Poke ball, his hands trembling without control. The young trainer threw out his Poke ball, calling out his Xatu.
"Don't avert your eyes!" Brendan said out loud. "And don't give up until the very end." He glared at the young trainer.
The champion's words flared up a new fire inside the young trainer. "Xatu, use Psychc!" Axel yelled out loudly, his Pokémon responded with the same enthusiasm.
Brendan smiled and nodded with his head. "Layla, show him the true power of the sky."
Layla cried out with a loud voice, the elegant Swellow flew so high that she touched the ceiling and then she descended upon the arena, a powerful and dazzling light engulfing her body. Layla's Brave Bird charge cut straight pass Xatu's psychic stream and like an arrow made of light, the Swellow hit the green bird Pokémon with an amazing speed, leaving the Xatu completely unable to fight.
As their battle come to an end, Axel fell to his knees. The overwhelming difference striking him like a truck.
Brendan walked closer to the young trainer and gave him a warm smile. "You have a lot of promise, I can tell that." He patted Axel's on his left shoulder. "Just remember that you have to trust on your team and they should trust you too. Treat them as precious ally and friends, they will do the same to you."
"I…" Axel looked down to the floor, holding a few tears back. "Yes sir, I will work extra hard to make up for our loss today." He looked back to Brendan, now smiling back to the champion.
"I will be looking forward to the day that you come back to challenge me again." With that, Brendan guided the defeated challenger back to the main hall of the Pokémon League.
After his tiring day on work, Brendan had finally took a free time for himself, he is now on his secret little spot on Ever Grande City, a small natural garden on top of the mountain. Like always he is enjoying the moonlight scenery with his friend Aster sitting at his side. The young man is holding his Pokénav plus on his hands, really hesitating if he should press the button.
"Mur!" Aster jumped on his arm.
"I know, I know… Here goes nothing." Brendan pressed the button and let out a sigh. "Hi Mom, Dad… I'm just calling to see how you guys are." He looked away from his device for a moment. "Just call me back when you two get this message, I... really miss you two." He closed his Pokénav and tossed it back on his backpack. "Maybe they will call me back this time."
"Mur,mur…" Aster walked slowly to her friend and nuzzled against his right arm. "Mur?!" She did a jump back, glaring at something behind some bushes.
"What's wrong?" Brendan looked to Aster with curious eyes.
"Mur!" Aster ran towards the high grass vanishing from his sight.
"Hey, Aster where are you doing?" Brendan jumped to his feet and began to run after the little Whismur.
"Muur!" He could only hear Aster cry out in the distance.
"Aster, wait." Brendan felt his heart getting heavy. "Aster!" He jumped out of the grass, reaching a clear area on the edge of the mountain. "Aster?" His entire body froze. "Come on out, this is not funny." His heart broke with the thought of losing his cute pink friend. He walked close to the edge and looked down to the huge cliff in front of him. "ASTER!" He shouted out in panic.
Then out of nowhere a giant flying Pokémon appeared on top of Brendan, snatching him with their powerful claws.
"Arhhhhhh! Holy shit, who are you?" Brendan looked upwards, just to see the lower body of a Salamence. He tried to reach for one of his Poke Balls, but before his hands could get near his pockets, the blue dragon dropped him on a small island close to Ever Grande City.
"Wow Salamence, you caught a big one today, hahah." A feminine voice said joking to the blue dragon.
"Who are you?!" Brendan jumped to his feet again, reaching to the first Poke Ball he could find. With a quick action he threw it in front of him, calling out a big Sceptile. 'Good, Ekkisu was the one that I found.' He smiled at the sight of his trusted grass type Pokémon.
"How cold, did you really forgot about me?" The woman said with a fake sad expression. This mysterious person, is a woman with a short black hair and wild red eyes; who wears a red/grey shirt with a red shorts with long grey socks going as high as pass her knees and simple white shoes. She has a point tooth standing out on her wide grin.
"Mur, Mum!" Aster jumped from behind the women, happily jumping in front of Brendan.
"Aster!" The champion of Hoenn ran towards Aster and embraced her on a firm hug. "Why did you ran away like that, you don't know how worried I got."
"Mur!" Asper cried out excited.
The woman smiled at the scene. "Call me surprised. You really become a loving father to my cute little girl."
"Your girl?" Brendan eyed the woman. "Zinnia?" His eyes grew wide at the realization.
"So you do remember me." She giggled putting one hand in front of her lips. "Ah… You still look so cute, even with a confused expression."