Ch 34: Crossroads
While Tropius was blazing through the night air on voyage to rush us back to Naporia City in time to register, I was visualizing in my head how I'd battle against the strongest pokemon I'd spotted the Elite 3 using when they gave me and a crowd of fans a showcase at the Festival of the Elite in Wintervale. There was the bespectacled bald one - Bob - he had that stampeding Mega Tyranitar that knocked out that trainer's Whimsicott in one hit. Passimian and Lapras could fare well against that, as well as Tropius if he could dodge those incoming rocks, but dodging wasn't Tropius' strong suit. There was the gorgeous dark-skinned exotic beauty Tyra and her Mega Gardevoir. Drapion and Gengar should be fine against her, I thought to myself, remembering how quickly she brought down her opponent's Luxray and figuring it might be smart to add a sixth pokemon to the team soon. Then there was the young and beloved Kristopher, the fan favorite of the Elite among Ilragorns populace, who ruled over the remaining members with his longtime partner Mega Manectric, answering only to Ava the Champion. I had 0 electric switch ins on my team, or steel for that matter, meaning that Manectric and Metagross could definitely pose big problems to my team if I didn't make some adjustments.
I felt Tropius' stomach give a heavy rumble beneath me even being all the way atop his shoulders that snapped me out of my daydreaming, and Tropius gave a pitiful little whine of hunger, but didn't slow down.
"The moment you get me to the Colosseum and I sign up for the league I will buy you as much food as you can eat and then more, and you can eat until your stomach hurts, okay, buddy?" I coaxed while stroking the back of Tropius' neck affectionately. Tropius made a pleased whinny sound and rolled his head back in excited, stupid laughter over his eventual night of gluttony. I couldn't help but but join him because of how ridiculous Tropius looked just flying through the air with his head curled back like a hook. My positive vibes and renewed energy for conquering the world was contagious it seemed, and the two of us just ended up laughing together as I allowed myself to feel the rush of adrenaline and endorphins throughout my body over finally completing the set of gym badges I'd been aiming to snatch for what seemed like years. I had no choice but to join Tropius in his carefree laughter as we breezed over Fuji Jungle, feeling incredibly thankful toward Tropius for being able to Fly me right over it, bypassing all that time.
But those good times were soon to come to an end because while Tropius was laughing his face literally all the way back towards his ass, an incoming trainer on their own flying pokemon had appeared out of the dark from a different direction and he was on an incoming path that would lead him and his own flyer crashing right into Tropius at the incredible speed this guy's pokemon was flapping through the skies. It had to be able to move at least as fast as my Gengar could whip himself through the air, and I could count on two hands how many mons I'd encountered that could outspeed my Gengar.
"Tropius, look out! Down, down!" I screamed in a panic, clutching onto the back of his neck and forcing all my weight down onto him to goad Tropius into descending even quicker, and I could hear the shouts from the opposing trainer on his own flying pokemon barking out orders to dodge as he apparently had also been too distracted in his own thoughts to be paying attention, and what ensued what a very narrow crash between two flying pokemon.
"Watch where the fuck you're going, bitch," a familiar voice oozed from above, and I looked above me. I followed the long, spindly legs and the brown coat of bristled feathers belonging to a three-headed, angry Dodrio dangling in the air, and then finally realized that the trainer who almost ran into me was my dickhead brother Evan, who was probably the last person I wanted to deal with right now as well as the last person I expected to see.
"Evan?" I asked in disbelief.
"What is your dumb ass doing here?" Evan returned the tone as I saw a shift in his eyes from anger to something else as he realized it was me. Still, being the prick he was, I would never expect him to greet me warmly even after so long even without us nearly crashing into each other. His Dodrio gave my Tropius about the same greeting, roaring in Tropius' face in an enraged shriek, clearly blaming Tropius for the almost-accident and looking like it wanted to lash at Tropius with its sharp, chipped beak that looked like it had gone through a lot of use.
"Well, that's a pretty dumb question. Probably the same as you and everyone else does when they come to Naporia. And actually, I'm not a dumbass. I'm the guy that just got his fourth badge and is on his way to go sign up for the League right now. From what I can remember, your dumb ass couldn't even beat the dark gym year after year, and I just soloed the gym with one pokemon on my first try. So, as much as it really pains me to have to cut catching up with you - I got places to be, Evan. Tropius - keep going."
I gently nudged Tropius to get his attention away from the glaring Dodrio and my older brother riding atop its back who was looking at me with an unreadable expression. He could have either been in complete surprise that I had the gall to talk back to him so candidly or impressed or maybe even hiding utter fury. It was impossible to tell with Evan sometimes, as he was always very good as masking his emotions.
Tropius started flying back toward Naporia City, which was just a blur of lights far off in the distance. Could probably get there in under twenty minutes if we just -
"Hold up a second," Evan's dead serious voice came from behind me, and even though Tropius had already begun flying away from the scene at a good speed, Dodrio had come from behind and above and within seconds the agile body of my brother's Dodrio was directly in Tropius' path toward the city, flapping blocking us off. Tropius stopped so as to prevent from crashing right into Dodrio, who cawed aggressively with all three snapping heads at my own flyer in an intimidation move.
"Evan, I really do not have time for your bullshit jokes or pranks or whatever the hell it is right now. I just told you I'm already late as it is -"
"Adam...what the fuck, dude? You don't see me for half a year - since before my birthday and this is the reaction I get? My little bitch brother thinks because he's out there winning easy battles against the goons on this island that he's grown the balls to think he can talk to me like I ain't shit?" Evan was clearly pressed. Good. I was done with him and realized a long time ago that he was a leech to my life. What do you do with a leech? You cut it off and never go near it again. Maybe even burn it.
"I'm just talking to you exactly the way you talk to me every single time we ever interact. So it's all fine and dandy that you can talk to me like I'm an idiot every breath out of your mouth, but if I do it you're going to escalate everything to a 12 when the situation only demands a 6 like you always do, and freak the fuck out and victimize yourself like I'm the one being the asshole when I already told you I'm running late and you're just holding me up! And it feels like you're holding me up intentionally just to fuck with my chances of getting into the League because you're jealous!" I shouted through the sky at him as he furrowed his brows at me and looked on like he wanted nothing more than to punch me right in the face.
Evan looked like he was bursting to retort with a million comebacks and shouts himself, but he settled for just simply smiling at me and shaking his head in the most condescending way, as if he were saying my conclusion could not be further from the truth, and his non-response was the most irritating thing he could have done.
"Alright then, little bro. Dodrio, move." Dodrio instantly swerved out of Tropius' way, clearing the path toward Naporia City. "You're really wasting your time with this shit, though. Like you need to grow the fuck up fast." Evan said in a flat voice as Tropius started pulling away from them again, this time with no Dodrio rudely stopping us.
"Tell Mom and Dad they can give my room up for sale," I said in the most casual voice I could muster to Evan, not even meeting his glance as Tropius began a course toward the city. "I'm not coming back." He just laughed at that in doubt at my words, and his laughter echoed in my ears long after we parted ways as Tropius continued on towards the bright blur in the distance that I knew to be Naporia City lighting up the horizon.
Holy Arceus, I hated Evan so much that the fact that I shared the same blood with him made me feel disgust even for my own skin as I tried to free my mind of the unpleasantness of dealing with my older brother even for just a few long minutes.
"Sorry about that, Tropius," I apologized, sensing Tropius still trembling slightly from his first encounter with my brother's highly aggressive Dodrio that he had captured as a Doduo years ago as one of his first pokemon when he first became a trainer. I remembered because the Doduo had actually been very shy and sweet when Evan had first caught it. He'd always had a way of infecting everything around him with his bad vibes.
By the time Tropius arrived back into the city limits, my thoughts were refocused back onto what really mattered as Tropius and I had our eyes zeroed in on the massive Colosseum in the center of the city as he darted between the gargantuan skyscraper hotels housing the many out-of-towners who were down in the streets below for the final night before the League would officially begin tomorrow afternoon. On the balcony of one of the tallest hotel penthouses, a man and woman I just knew were a couple were drinking and watching the partiers below when they spotted me flying by on my whizzing green-and-brown blur of a ride, and I noticed that beside the couple was their own Tropius, just lying out flat on its stomach beside the happy looking young couple out on the balcony, taking in the last of the setting sun on its leafy wings. The couple waved at me in a way that's hard for me to explain - it was almost like a wave of camaraderie among old friends, saying nothing but at the same time saying so much. Like, 'yeah, we picked the Tropius while everyone else down there is running around with starter mons and offensive powerhouses - oh, you did, too? You're a cool guy' and I couldn't help but give them the exact same wave back, and I appreciated the young trainer couple for doing so much to lift my spirits up with just a wave of their hands.
As Tropius descended from the heights of the tallest penthouses of the city to find a place to land below near the colosseum, my eyes took note of the state of the front of the building and my heart sank. The entire front of Naporia Colosseum was jam packed with people blocking the main entrance, people filling the sidewalks, and people filling up the entirety of the street in front of it. And every single person was abuzz with excitement and energy and anxiousness for the League tomorrow. Many of them even had tents and open fires cooking up food to make the campout more comforting, but all of these mother fuckers were in my way because all I had to do was get right through those front doors and someone at the front reception desk was bound to be able to sign me up in a jiffy. It was just a matter of finding an open spot near the building to safely land without Tropius crushing anyone, forcing me to have to land way off to the side of the Colosseum, meaning I'd have to walk all the way around and through the horde of campers and tourists taking pictures of the aged Colosseum to get inside.
I thanked Tropius and reminded him that I didn't forget to engorge him with poke snacks (his favorite) later, then recalled him to his pokeball and clasped it back to my belt before beginning the long walk around the building to get inside.
Slugging through the sweaty mass of drunk and excited trainers and fans of battling may have been exciting under ordinary circumstances especially since everyone was just so hyped for the excitement of tomorrow, but there was still that vague, underlying bad feeling that something would go wrong as it so often did for me. I'd been able to skirt by a few close calls with some luck or skill or tact or a combination of the three but I knew I was really pushing it with my registration time with this one. Convincing the dark gym leader, Magenta, to work around standard gym policy for my case was one thing. The Ilragorn League was a whole other ballgame.
At long last, I reached the end of the packed crowd after nearly an hour of pushing through to get to the front, which was no easy feat. There was an impressive archway with several sets of double doors that were carved centuries ago from Moon Stones that glittered magnificently in the setting sun's light rays, almost like the colosseum was welcoming me into its entrance with the golden lights of heaven twinkling out from its entrance.
Then I saw the line of gruff, tough looking security trainers guarding the entrance doors to the colosseum and creating the last line of defense between the crowd of excited fans and the colosseum itself. Each guard already had a pokemon of theirs already out beside them, and every single one looked like they could hold their own against the strongest of the gym leaders mons. There was a Flygon twirling in the air in a protective pattern around the main entrance, over and over. There was a fat, shiny Bronzong that looked like it could barely levitate itself in the air to support its own huge mass of steel. A Breloom beside its partner was bopping its fists in mock fight through the air, keeping its hands and elbows loose and ready for any potential wild fans or pokemon attempting to storm the colosseum.
No one else in the crowd seemed intent on actually approaching the doors to enter the colosseum, just camping and hanging out front - only I would be standing out as the young man approaching the three severe looking, tough guards - all young men around my age in great physique. Despite my apprehension over possibly spooking one of them and ending up in a fight with one of the guards, I overcame my nerves and apologized my way through the front row of people in the crowd who were all admiring the guards pokemon, and approached the set of stone entrance doors and the three guards blocking it from the public.
"Uh, hi," I said, very lamely, realizing I hadn't thought of what to say to get through them and was rattling my brain in hyperdrive mode to think of something fast.
"The Ilragorn League doesn't start until tomorrow at noon," one of the guards said, barely glancing at me, looking tired and ready for his day to end soon. "Come back then."
"I'm actually just here to register," I replied, deciding honesty to be the best policy, not letting his dismissive attitude intimidate me into walking away from my dreams.
"At this hour?" one of the other guards chimed in, all three of their interests now piqued as they all focused in and surrounded me. That included the Breloom, the Bronzong, the skyborne Flygon, and the entire front row of people as I became the most interesting thing to view in the area. "You do realize it's 7 PM?"
"Yeah, I literally just got the badge I needed. See?" I showed off my backpack strap where the Normal, Ground, Bug, and Dark badges pinned to it all shined in proof. The three guards all shared a look with each other that I caught and knew to mean they had their own hesitations about accepting my excuse as good enough to allow me inside. "I know I'm cutting it close but the dark gym leader made extenuating circumstances for me and it would only take a second - I just got to talk to someone in the lobby at reception and if they can help me - great. If they can't - well, it'd be nice to know I tried to the very end. Please. I've come all the way from Lunaris Town. You have any idea how far that is? If I'm too late, oh well, at least I tried, just a quick 'no' and I'm on my way out the door. But just allow me the opportunity to just talk to a receptionist or secretary or anybody inside, please, and in the one minute it would take for me to explain my situation, I'm sure no one will be too inconvenienced or bothered if there's potential that I could fill an open slot in the league. If anything, I'm sure you three would only be praised if that came to be for making the critical decision of giving me that chance and making the Ilragorn League all the better for adding a serious contender. So...please, can I go in?"
There was a deadly pause and silence filled the air as the three guards let my plead hang in the air as they pondered their options. However, new voices weighed their own opinions in to the fold.
"Let the kid in! What's there to think about!?" a voice from the crowd chimed in.
"Let him in! He rode in on a fuckin' Tropius! Now that's swag!" a second voice added, making me blush and grin and remind myself to overfeed Tropius with far too many poke snacks when this was all done with.
What started as just a few singular voices morphed into cheers from far more than just the front row of the crowd as chants of 'Let him in!' were being driven like a wave through the crowd, and soon what sounded like basically the entire huge mob of people in front of Naporia Colosseum were chanting, 'LET HIM IN!', forcing their decision for them.
The guards weren't happy about it and my instincts told me if the crowd was not there, their cold hearts would not have been swayed by my case. Thanks mob of drunk pokemon fans. But the three of them moved out of my way, clearing those gorgeous moon stone doubles doors blocking me from stepping off the final brick of this long, chaotic yellow road I've been on. I pushed my way past the ice cold stone doors with my hands, and stepped into a high-ceilinged room with stone walls, but with several reception desks with computers pressed into the walls. The set-up was very similar to how this all looked in the dreams I occasionally had of this moment. At first I thought the room was void of people, but then I realized it was not a room, but more of a hallway that stretched around the entirety of the colosseum in its circular, hoop shape and had other rooms and chambers that veered off from it. But far along the wall, at one of the reception desks, a middle-aged woman was hurriedly typing away into her computer, looking back and forth between papers on her desk and her computer screen the whole time. I approached this woman realizing as my heartbeat intensified and my mouth became dry that this was going to be one of the most important conversations i'd ever have and wondered if this woman realized how much of an impact over my life she currently had.
"Hello," I greeted the woman as she caught my eye, still typing away into her computer with no slowdown, looking at me with indecisiveness, wondering if i was coming with good news or more stress.
"Did you just come in from the main entrance?" the secretary asked me, before returning her gaze back to a file on her desk that had incredibly tiny font, which explained why she had to keep looking closely at it so often. She had probably heard the front doors open and close, as the entrance was barely visible from her desk and she was so focused on her typing.
"Um, yes," I answered, hating that I said 'um'. It made me seem childish. "My story swayed the guards hearts and the crowd outside and I thought-"
"Story?" the secretary actually stopped typing and made a pained look in her face as though I had asked her to shower using Skuntank as a sponge. "I really don't have time for stories." She returned back to her typing, her long polished pink fingernails clacking along the keyboard at a rapid fire rate.
"That's fair," I said slowly, thinking hard, choosing each word very carefully, wanting this
woman to like me and at least hear me out. "So I'll cut to it. I know it starts tomorrow, I'm aware of that, but everything was out of my control and I literally got the last badge I needed like an hour ago-"
"This is turning into a story."
"I'm here to register for the Ilragorn League."
"That's not going to happen, honey."
My nerves and fidgeting leg and anxiety over this moment all came whooshing back to me in a cascade of emotions as I had been so fucking terrified of this exact thing happening that I had never even considered how to properly handle it. I just never wanted to think of not getting in as a possibility, because it couldn't be, right? That's how it's supposed to happen, that's how every trainer's dream is supposed to go - you're supposed to beat the badges and get into the league in just the nick of time and make all your opponents your bitch and take on the Elite 4 (or 3 I guess) and beat Ava get the prize money and use to to be able to leave Ilragorn and make a new life for myself...and Eliza, too, of course, if she wanted. I couldn't have 'not going to happen, honey' as my only option.
I tried playing on her sympathies using my run-ins with Team Anonymous but she wouldn't let me get more than a few words in if it was anything other than business-related, as she would start making her own loud, unintelligible shrieks in an immature way to drown out my talking, but it worked since I would stop to silence her squalking, and she still managed to type while she did it.
Visibly annoyed over my persistence, the secretary finally stopped typing and at last focused her full attention on me: "Listen, honey. I'm not your teacher and this isn't your homework. The sob stories don't matter, the excuses don't matter, this is grown up world now. Arceus Almighty, you've been out of school and out getting badges for how long and you still haven't learned the basics? The wheels of motion have already begun turning for all the registered contenders who registered on time, there's already entire matches scheduled with key performances planned in between some matches - you're just too late, honey. It's just a simple matter of better time management, honey, and that's it. If you missed the final registration period, which was several hours ago now at this point, that's on you. Just learn from it and make better use of your time next time, that's all I can tell you." She returned to her clacking along the keyboards, and they did not falter anymore, because I could tell her decision was decided before I ever entered the building.
I thanked her for her time and apologized for bothering her as I slunk back toward the entrance doors, feeling absolutely drained of all my energy and felt a droll, dead look settle over my eyes as my jaw clenched tightly shut to keep it from trembling so that I wouldn't look like a bitch, crying in front of the crowd of excited, drunk people still waiting out there who had been cheering me on to do the impossible, some of them probably knowing, the bastards.
My deflated shoulders and head facing the floors and general look of defeat made the guards chuckle in pleasure as they felt reassured in their doubts about me, but the crowd of fans gave me something even worse.
"Awww."
Ugh. I didn't want their pity, I hated their pity, and I had to walk through an entire crowd of people feeling sorry for the dumb sap who tried registering too late and got booted back to the streets after basically being told that I just wasted this entire year for nothing? Absolutely not. I wrenched Tropius free from his pokeball as my eyes started to get wet with embarrassment.
"Get me the fuck outta here," I moaned in Tropius' ear as the crowd begged for me to stay and have a beer and gave me useless platitudes. I hopped aboard Tropius' back and we took off together back toward the pokemon center while I bawled like a baby into his back. He just circled around in the air for a while since we got there relatively quickly, letting me have my moment of privacy up in the air while fans endlessly partied in the streets below for the last night before the Ilragorn League that I would not be a part of.