Upon exiting the cave, we were greeted with a Pokémon Center! It seemed as if they knew right away that having a Pokémon Center just outside of the exit of the cave in which Trainers would have emerged, would be a great idea.
As we started to walk though, another encounter happened to us that led us quite in shock.
A bearded man who knew my name came up to me. He was accompanied by a rather... interestingly dressed woman."Oh! Hey! Kynexn, right? Let me see your Pokédex for a moment." I immediately froze, and began to interrogate him. Though something about him seemed familiar.
"What... why? And which one?"
"You have more than one? I want to see them all!" I supposed it wouldn't hurt. It's not like he could steal them and sell them anyway, and I'm not one for judging one by their cover, even Team Plasma grunts.
I showed him the various Pokédexes that I had collected over the years, and he was stunned!
"Amazing! Simply amazing, astounding! You've seen over 200 Pokémon!"
"Staggering! You've seen a Klink too!" It was right then and there that I knew who he was and why he seemed so familiar. Those excited mannerisms, the fascination with Klink...
"Ehr... Excuse me! I was so excited and I forgot my manners."
"My name is-" I interrupted him, because I now knew who he was.
"You're Professor Juniper's father, the other Professor Juniper." It was simple enough. He sounded like her more than slightly, not just in voice, but in mannerism, and appearance too.
"That's right! Cedric Juniper, pleased to finally meet you. My daughter has told me so much about you. In honor of our meeting I'll upgrade your Pokédex so you can transfer the data from the previous ones!"
The woman who was with him spoke up, finally. "Professor, who's that Trainer?"
Cedric let out a hearty chuckle and spoke with that same cheerful tone. "Oh! I forgot my introductions! Skyla, this is a friend of my daughter's. Kynexn is traveling around Unova, collecting badges and I'm sure many other amazing feats." So this was Skyla. The Gym Leader of the city. With all of the themes related to transportation and especially the airport, it was no surprise to say that this Gym would be of the Flying-type.
Skyla's eyes lit up upon realization that I was going to be a challenger. "Oh, I see! So that means you'll be challenging the Gym! Oh boy! I'm looking forward to it!"
"You won't be so happy once you're grounded by my Pokémon. But we'll certainly enjoy it!"
"That's right, Kynexn. You should challenge this Gym! If nothing else, this Gym is really out there! See you, Skyla. If something comes up again, I'll let you know!"
Skyla, let out a heavy sigh. "Professor, my plane is a cargo plane! It carries cargo, not people! And you're talking as if place like Kanto and Sinnoh are right around the corner!"
I didn't really give what he said much thought, but I'd still come across quite the few exotic people. After encountering N, I was ready for anything this region had to offer, at the very least. "Aww, Skyla. If you keep frowning, your face might freeze like that, and that'd be a shame. People and Pokémon, we all have to help each other out! See you later!"
Skyla, gave out a similar hearty chuckle. "Sheesh! It's hard to believe a happy-go-lucky guy like that could be a world-renowned Pokémon professor. Heads-up, Kynexn. As a Gym Leader, I'd be happy to have you challenge the Gym, but there's something I need to take care of first. Just now, as I was flying the cargo plane, I saw something on top of the Celestial Tower. I'm sure that it is a sick Pokémon! If it is, I can't just leave it there! I have to look into this right away. I'm leaving for Route 7's Celestial Tower. You can come along if you want." With that, she departed off to the tower that was clearly visible in the distance. It certainly would take a long time to climb that tower, but we'd climbed Mount Pyre, we'd climbed Mount Coronet, a little tower like that would be nothing, and would be easy.
But, again my thoughts drifted back to how Burgh ran away from his Gym again. Despite the annoyance of not having Gym Leaders practically glued to their Gym to be able to accept many challengers, I also found it slightly refreshing in the sense that if I were to become a Gym Leader, I'd be most at home with my travels here. Hell, even the Champion wandered around the region.
We wasted no time in following Skyla, since there was really no point in waiting, especially since I would have no idea what her schedule would be like, and if the rest of the region was anything to go by, an opportunity to immediately challenge a Gym Leader here was a rare occurrence and one that practically screamed to be utilized.
When we arrived at Route 7, and I was surprised to see such tall grass on a normal travelling route after such a long while, but we were used to tall grass due to having experienced it back in Hoenn, and in Sinnoh. The one main difference, that surprise us, was that there were raised platforms that went through and around the tall grass.
"Well now... that certain is one solution. I suppose that the grass tops out at a certain height so they don't need to worry about having to cut it, and these platforms allow people to go around... If they can balance. But we know that that's not an issue for us now, is it?" I said with a chuckle. Balance training was a very important aspect of my whole training regimen because it could be applied to many different aspects of battle.
Once we made our way through Route 7 via the elevated walkways, we could see what I could only assume was Celestial Tower in the distance. When we got into the tower, I was quite surprised by what I saw. Inside, there were hundreds of graves, and that was just on the first floor. But what was even more surprising was seeing Pokémon scattered near the graves, sitting on the graves, nuzzling humans nearby. It became apparent after a while of observation that these Pokémon were not corporeally present.
When we eventually made it to the top, Skyla was indeed waiting for us.
"Oh, you came. Thank you! I was right. What I saw was a hurt Pokémon. Don't worry, though! It's fine now! I gave it a Super Potion, then it felt better and flew away! Hee hee! Don't I have great eyesight? No matter how far away things are, a Pilot's eyes can see them! Oh, that's right! Since you've come this far, why don't you ring the bell? Celestial Tower's bell is for soothing the spirits of Pokémon. Also, the character of the person ringing the bell is reflected in its sound."
"Come on, don't be shy!"
I was highly doubtful, but a lot of the people here believed it, and clearly Skyla believed it, so I might as well indulge. A bell was just a bell after all. The only things that could change the sound were the size and shape of the bell, and the clapper. With a great deal of my strength, I pulled the rope, and released it, and the bell rang out. I'll have to admit it was quite soothing. A very angelic sound. But... then something else happened... A Zigzagoon appeared. But it wasn't just an Zigzagoon, and I knew that this Zigzagoon was spiritual in nature. Then the realisation sunk in that this was my Zigzagoon. The same Zigzagoon that I let down back in Hoenn. But why was he here...? Things only got worse, because then a Wurmple appeared, followed by a Taillow. For the second time today, I collapsed to the ground, except this time... it was not in fear. It was with grief. I couldn't stop myself from crying. The tears stung my eyes just as much as the reminder of my failure did. I hadn't seen these Pokémon in seven years, and I'd never forgotten them. They were always a reminder of why I had to get improve myself and get stronger, and help my team get stronger as well.
"What a pretty sound. I've heard that bell thousands of times and I've never heard a sound like that. Kynexn, you are a kind and strong person. It's that kind of sound. I'd like to- hold on... is... is something wrong?" I didn't want to make a scene but it was just so overwhelming. Not even Tensa could help this time. The only thing that could possibly change it was something that would be outside of my control.
"They're all here... I thought I'd never see them again until I died but why are they here...?" It wasn't until I opened my eyes again and saw them smiling that everything changed. Instead of being in front of me, they were all now gather around me, and smiling. The Zigzagoon even curled up on my lap, almost as if he were still corporeal and able to be there with me.
Almost immediately, as if via a magic spell was cast on me, my tears stopped flowing and I smiled again. It was as if they were telling me it was alright. It made me feel better about it, to the point that I believe that I would be able to continue without always feeling such a heavy weight on my shoulder. "I'll still never forget you all..." I quietly muttered to the group, and waited there for as long as they were allowed to stay there with me.
Skyla grinned excitedly, at the fact that her cannons were put to use again. "Hee-hee! I've been waiting for you. Did you enjoy flying with the help of the Mistralton Gym cannons? They're my pride and joy! This time, let's try something else!"
"Hm, a Swoobat is it? No need to doubt that it's an evolution of Woobat, but is the final stage?" I pointed my Pokédex at it to gain move information about it. In the long run though, it wouldn't matter, as Heji was a definite unfair advantage in this case.
Initially the gauge of the power aspect between the two of them became rather apparent really quickly.
"I think that's enough, alright Heji, let's finish this off with your Spark." I said, and pointed to the Woobat. Heji then began to build electricity around himself, before he charged toward the Woobat.
For the next round, she sent out her Unfezant. Although you could probably tell that ultimately Hei was going to finish her off, for the time being, I sent Sally out so that she would be able to get some experience against another one of her own kind.
The maneuvers that were performed by them made me really proud of how quickly Sally had advanced in her training... which... was also of course a tiny bit of a pat on the back. She was holding her own against a bird that had been trained by a Gym Leader, likely a very long time, years even.
"Alright Sally, I think that should do it for now. I hope you've absorbed quite a bit of knowledge from this battle, and I hope you enjoyed yourself. Now... Heji it's time to take over again." I said, as Sally was 'returned' from the field, and took her place by my side, since I didn't put her back into the ball.
Heji went to the forefront of the field, and I told him to use Thunder Fang. Her Unfezant was already worn out from all of the air dueling that she had been doing with Sally, so it was quite the easy matter for him to be able to catch her with a jump to bite her in the air.
Next up... was Swanna. As was habit, I quickly collected the data from the Pokédex scan, and found that it was at a strength level of 35.
"Now, it's not really going to matter what you do, because I'm sure you've experienced Discharge many times before, but I'm interested in seeing how Swanna would work to avoid it." One of the unfortunate effects of being a Swanna in a battle with an Electric-type Pokémon was the fact that there was four times as much susceptibility to electricity.
Despite the fact that she so easily lost, Skyla was just as happy-go-lucky as Professor Juniper. "You're an amazing Pokémon Trainer. My Pokémon and I are happy, because for the first time in a while, we could fight with our full strength. This is an official League Gym Badge. I think it will look good on you." This also made me think about something, but my thoughts were interrupted by her bringing me back to reality.
"By the way, when I flew over Twist Mountain on the way to Icirrus City... Team Plasma-is that the name? Anyway, they were heading for the city. What kind of people are they?"
"That depends on who are are asking. Some people call them horrible Pokémon thieves. If you look at it from their perspective they are righteous. Freeing Pokémon from the evils of humanity. I personally don't care what they think. If they get the way of what I'm doing, I'll take them out." She looked on, amazed at my strong will and determination.
N for one reason or another was waiting for us outside of the Gym, probably knowing that I'd be there due to wanted to collect all the badges
N looks at me holding my badge case, because I didn't quite put it away yet. "They may say it is for understanding one another better, but what Trainers really use battles for is to compete... And they hurt each others' Pokémon! Am I the only one who finds this terribly painful? Whatever... I'm going to talk to your Pokémon. I've been living with Pokémon since I was born, so it's easier for me to talk with them than with people. ...Because Pokémon never tell lies."
"Hey, Tensa. Would you tell me what kind of Trainer Kynexn is?"
"Kynexn is a great friend, but he doesn't call himself a Trainer. He is great at what he does though. He found me long after his journey into the Hoenn region... and he captivated me as you know... we've been together now for six years."
For whatever reason, N repeated. Perhaps he was taking mental notes and saying it out loud made them more ingrained into his mind. "So, he's been with you for quite a while? If every person and Pokémon cared about one another like you two do, I could watch over the future of people and Pokémon without having to liberate Pokémon from people who just use them."
"Ghetsis is using Team Plasma to search for some special stones-the Light Stone and the Dark Stone... These stones hold the essence of two legendary Pokémon. It is said that when they lost their physical form, they fell into a slumber and were transformed. Now, they wait for the hero's arrival... I shall resurrect a legendary Dragon-type Pokémon from one of these stones, and become its friend. That will show the world that I am the new hero. Everyone will follow what I say!"
"N... don't you realise that if you are to become the new hero, that would make the responsibility fall on me to become the other hero?"
"I am aware of that. You even said it yourself, that together we will change this world."
"My vision is to change the world without using force. Trying to change the world by force will just make others resist. If people resist, the ones that will be hurt are the innocent Pokémon used by foolish Trainers. You understand. Pokémon are not just tools for people to use!"
"As a result... Pokémon and Trainers who care about one another, like you and your Pokémon, will be separated. And that does break my heart a little."
"N, you STILL don't get it. I'm going to stop you. So that will never happen. However you look at it, you're still going to be forcing things."
"We shall see, friend." N then disappears into the world again.
The Xtransceiver rang, but I pretended not to hear it. After all, I can't always answer my phone. Maybe I was in the middle of a battle, maybe I left it somewhere while I was sleeping somewhere else.
With that out of the way... we headed toward Twist Mountain, which lay on the other side of the view of Celestial Tower.