Chapter 13: The Coordinators
The rest of the journey through Mt. Coronet was uneventful. After facing down and beating twenty-four members of Team Cosmic, the group responsible for stealing Pokemon from people in Oreburgh City, only to end up in the humiliating grasp of their commander, Major Mathias, Lucas was happy that he didn't run into anyone else as he trekked through the caves of the massive mountain. The transition from artificial light to the bright sun almost left the teen Trainer blind, but when his eyes finally adjusted back to real light, he was greeted by a series of bridges and cliffs, and the soothing roar and sight of a massive waterfall.
Having more time to himself, he explored more of the functions of the Pokevice and learned more about the Sinnoh region. The officer from the previous city wasn't exaggerating when she described Mt. Coronet as huge, the mountain did take up most of the continent. And there were even several cities that were either in the foothills of, or directly on the mountain. Mt Coronet was the source of most of the continent's water, where all rivers eventually flowed into the ocean or the three large lakes that peppered the region. The huge mountain was also responsible for several large waterfalls, including the one that Lucas was looking at now. The teen took a few moments to enjoy the view before moving on. It would still be several hours before he would make it to Hearthome City, the location of the next Gym.
Lucas continued to admire his surroundings, but something else he learned about the mountain made him feel uneasy. One small comment from his Pokedevice mentioned that according to an old legend, Mt. Coronet was supposed to be the resting place of the creature who created not only the Sinnoh region, but also the universe. Team Cosmic's commander stated that stealing Pokemon from Trainers was only part of their operation, that they were looking for something in the mountain that would give them the power to change the world to their ideals: to subjugate and destroy the weak. As he moved more out of the mountains, his surroundings turning from rocky cliffs to open fields, he still couldn't get his mind off of the subject. It wasn't until he starting hearing desperate screaming that he finally focused on something else.
The first time he heard it he thought it was just his imagination, but with the second chorus of screams, louder than the first, that Lucas realized what he was hearing was real. Despite his exhaustion, the teen ran to the source of the shrill cries for help. A small group of Team Cosmic members, stragglers from the main operation inside the mountain, Lucas guessed, were surrounding four teen girls. The girls were cornered against a stony wall, one girl out in front protecting her friends with her body while the others shrieked and cowered in mortal fear.
"Listen you stupid bimbos, just hand over your Pokemon!" the main grunt snarled.
"No way! You're going to have to kill us first!" the leader girl snapped back.
"Don't think that's an option that's off the table!" the grunt sneered threateningly. As Lucas rushed to punish the Team Cosmic cronies who were trying their treachery once again, he tripped over a large rock in his way and landed face-first on the ground. He finally could see the leader girl in full detail and when saw her, her appearance startled him so much that he didn't look where he was going. To him, she was gorgeous: she had a heart-shaped face with big blue eyes, a small button nose and a small mouth. Her hair was light-brown and kept in a neat bob that only went down to her chin, and was held out of her graceful face with a headband. What drew the teen boy's attention the most, however, were her shapely legs that were fully visible under her skirt.
When the young man finally pulled himself up, all of Team Cosmic's attention was on him. Though momentarily disadvantaged, Lucas put himself back into power when he started striking the grunts with his hands and feet and cleared a way for the pretty girl and her friends to escape. The girl took the opportunity and ran with it, startling her fear-stunned friends into action and giving them the first chance to run towards the city and escape to safety. Rather than running away herself she caught up to Lucas and asked, "Are you a Trainer?"
"Y-yeah," Lucas stammered stupidly.
"Then team up with me, double-battle," she pulled out a Pokeball and waited for the teen boy's response.
"Right!" his senses momentarily back to him, he repeated the action and pulled off a Pokeball from his own belt, "Go Franky!"
"Go Whisp!" his new partner summoned a Ninetails and it stood next to the Gyrados, waiting for its first command. The Team Comic grunts took action and summoned their own Pokemon. Within a short time three were quickly defeated, and like their compatriots, as soon as they lost they ran for the mountains, hoping for safety in their commander's care. The next grunt was a little tougher. Summoning an Onix, the girl replied by taking her Ninetails back and summoning out a second Pokemon, "Your move, Rex!"
Lucas wasn't familiar with the Pokemon, but it appeared to be a very strong fighting-type. It looked something like a dog standing on its back legs with blue and black coloring. Whatever it was, it was incredibly strong. With just one hit the Onix was down. Just two more grunts to go, the assault was just moments from ending. The girl recalled her Pokemon again and sent out a third. This time her Pokemon was a rabbit-like creature with long legs and fluffy chest. Lucas followed suit and recalled Franky for Gizmo. The last two grunts were defeated quickly and as they ran for the hills they screamed, "This isn't the end! Team Cosmic forever!"
With a satisfied smile, the girl recalled her Pokemon and turned to Lucas, "You're really strong. And I don't just mean as a Trainer. It was really brave of you to fight against those crooks like that. We couldn't have gotten away without your help. Thank you from the bottom of my heart,"
"I, ah, I, ah," Lucas tried to think of something to reply with as Gizmo climbed back onto his Trainer's neck. Normally, the teen from Cherrygrove City was a loudmouthed, cocky punk who was never afraid to say anything to anybody. He was more likely to say something stupid without regret to someone he shouldn't have, instead of not knowing what to say. But there was a very large exception to his behavior, a personality trait the pierced, confident young man hated about himself. He could say anything to anyone, speak his mind and stand up for his beliefs—unless he was talking to someone he found attractive. At that point Lucas would go to pieces: his mind would go blank, his face would turn bright red and he'd be completely tongue-tied and shy. All his life, any of his relationships had had to be started by the other person because his ability to talked to be people he liked completely failed him. This case was so bad he couldn't even make basic conversation with someone even after a dangerous situation.
The girl seemed to overlook or simply didn't see Lucas' awkwardness, "My name is Ashley, it's very nice to meet you,"
"Lu-lu," the boy felt like he could punch himself. Now he couldn't even get something as basic as his name out.
"Lu lu?" Ashley asked curiously.
The boy commanded himself to pull it together, "Lucas. My name is Lucas. And this is my Eevee, Gizmo,"
"Is it safe yet?" One of the girls Ashley was protecting peeked out from behind a tree.
"Yeah, Team Cosmic is gone. And we have Lucas to thank for it," Ashley said cheerfully. The three girls came out of hiding to greet their savior. They eyed him slightly suspiciously but as Ashley stood confidentially they became more comfortable and thanked Lucas in turn.
It was a little easier to speak now that there were others around, "So where are you guys headed? There might be more Team Cosmic goons around, so you need to be careful,"
"All of us are headed for Hearthome City," Ashley explained.
"Hey, that's where I'm headed as well. Going to challenge the Gym?" Lucas asked over-eagerly.
"Actually no. We're Pokemon Coordinators, we're here to enter the Super Contest," one of the other girls explained.
"Contests? Coordinators? What are those?"
"You honestly don't know about Pokemon Contests?" Ashley's three companions gasped together.
"I'm from Johto. We don't have them there. At least I don't think so," Lucas admitted.
Ashley was the one to explain, "Pokemon Contests are competitions where Pokemon are judged on their appearance and health, their charisma and their grace. And Coordinators are the people who enter the Contests,"
"You mean it's basically a Pokemon beauty pageant. No offense, but that sounds kind of lame. Not every Pokemon is going to be pretty like a Butterfree or cute like a Pikachu. Pokemon shouldn't be judged on their looks," Lucas stated.
"Actually, we're very offended." Ashley said sharply. Lucas could feel his face turning bright red again. He didn't want to make her angry. Seeing his sheepishness, Ashley's anger softened, "It's not a beauty pageant. Appearance has to do with how well the Pokemon was raised, not how it looks." The Coordinator pulled out a box full of brightly colored ribbons as well as a small case full of what looked like candy, "There are five categories for Pokemon in a contest: Cute, Cool, Beauty, Tough and Smart. I typically enter in the Beauty and Tough categories. Then based off of a set of criteria, a Coordinator's Pokemon is judged on whether or not it was raised to reflect the standard. This actually requires just as much training as if you were entering a Pokemon League battle, including leveling your Pokemon up, and you have to watch everything they eat as well. Then their charisma is judged, this is to see if the Pokemon was treated well, how well it moves, if it has a healthy temperament. Then comes the hardest part, the grace part.
"Just like in a battle, there are type advantages and disadvantages as well as moves that work better than others. Use the wrong move at the wrong time, and it could cost you big. It requires a lot of strategy, because there are moves your opponent can use that completely sabotage you,"
"Sounds complex," Lucas admitted.
"It's very complex, but the four of us are the best," Ashley said proudly, "We're all Master Ranked in Hoenn, where we're originally from. So we've come here to increase our rank even more. My goal is to be the best Coordinator there ever was,"
Something about the way Ashley passionately described her goals that make her seem more beautiful to Lucas than before. Her eyes sparkled as she explained the Contests. None of the people Lucas was ever in a relationship with every had any interest in Pokemon. Most of his exes were members of his gang, and didn't care about the creatures or training at all. This was the first girl the teen had ever met that both shared his passion for Pokemon as well as find deeply attractive with her kind face and gorgeous legs. Even is she was so different than him, and so different from anyone he was ever with before, Lucas wanted nothing more than to be with her. He had to find a way to spend as much time with her as possible. Just then he got an idea, "Like I said, I'm going to Hearthome myself, so I'll escort you four and make sure nothing bad happens to any of you,"
"Oh Lucas, we couldn't ask you to that," Ashley stated, a slight flush on her own cheeks now appearing.
"I want to. Team Cosmic keeps trying to hurt Trainers and their Pokemon. And when you have such an important goal it makes me mad to see someone try to destroy it. So I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen. Someone like you deserves to be protected," Lucas looked away from her face, the only way to deliver that important information without his brain failing him.
Ashley walked right up to Lucas and placed her hand on his arm so that he would look at her. The Mohawk-bearing teen dared to glace at her, a deeply grateful smile on her pink lips. He could feel his face turn the same color as his hair, "Thank you Lucas, I hope one day I can find a way to thank you for your kindness,"
Lucas awkwardly took the front of the path towards Hearthome City. As he glanced back to make sure the four girls were following comfortably, Ashley smiled at him again. For a brief moment his hormonal male brain thought of something Ashley could do to thank him and, once again not paying attention, crashed headfirst into a tree. All Gizmo could do was sigh.