When we arrived in the city, I stocked up on more specialised healing items, due to having quite the money built up from battling. Brycen was an Ice-typed leader no doubt due to the theme of the Gym being ice everywhere, but also due to the various Cubchoo and ice cream Pokémon that inhabited the area. But this cold was nothing. We'd gone through Sinnoh Winters during the heaviest of blizzards, using Pokémon to guide us where no Human would dare venture out.
Heji had experienced Sinnoh winters before he was even a Luxray so it was no problem for him either. Especially since he was able to use Ice Fang, Fire Fang, and Thunder Fang. I knew we wouldn't be facing Brycen's real team, but since it was the seventh Gym, it made sense that it would be getting pretty close to matching their actual strength. We'd used the Blizzards of Sinnoh to train ourselves for the harshest winters, and it was hard to imagine that we'd have a major disadvantage here, unless he had some secret ground type moves.
Brycen made a dramatic entrance, perhaps he was trying to imitate some of his home region's martial artists. Or he could possibly be one of those martial artists. He let out a kiai and greeted us. "Welcome challenger! I am Brycen, the Ice-Master! Are you up to the challenge?"
"Well, that's what we're about to find out. I've come all the way from Hoenn. I look forward to meeting your challenge." I gave a bow, before bringing out Heji's Luxury Ball and opening it.
"The match between Gym Leader Brycen will be a three versus three battle. Only the challenger is allowed to substitute Pokémon." The announcer's familiar speech had long since been droned out, and the only way I knew when to speak and say I accept, was when the voice stopped.
With that out of the way, Brycen hopped down to the field, and sent out his first Pokemon with a spinning flourish. The ball opened and revealed the form of a Vanillish, which was the evolved stage of the first ice cream cone. I was surprised that he only had the first evolution, instead of the final form, considering that this was the seventh gym, but perhaps that was just the average strength level of the competitors of this league.
"Battle, Start!"
"Alright Heji, I think you should go half strength, and let's see just how strong his first is." It was also an intimidation tactic, as well as an attempt to throw the opponent off guard based on a perceived cockiness. Brycen appeared to have fallen for the tactic, and while doing so ignored Heji's flaming charge that was headed for his Pokémon stopping mid lecture when he realised. As he ran, the footsteps left puddles in their wake, making it almost as if there was not even any ice laid down on the battlefield. With such little time to react to Heji's charge, he did only what he could in that span of time, which was to attempt to relegate some of the damage.
"Liquefy!" Came the order. I couldn't help but chuckle, which gave away a bit of my intentions, but I don't think he was too focused on that. This was absolutely hilarious. I basically just witnessed an ice cream cone being told to melt as a defensive move, which was definitely not something that I can say I ever expected to come across in my journey.
The move was too late, however, as Heji's Fire Fang, combined with his Nitro Charge made it so that the hit connected with a massive amount of steam. The chuckling stopped almost immediately though, due to the fact that what emerged from the steam cloud… was something that resembled the Pokemon, but if what was being seen was blood instead of water, many children might have been emotionally scarred by what they just saw.
Even Heji himself was shocked by the damage. Immediately it fell to the floor, That was enough for Brycen to immediately pause the match to attend to his Pokémon. I rushed over as well, something that surprised him, considering the way I'd acted before, which was understandable.
"Is it alright? I've literally never dealt with these Pokémon before, and that looks really fucking bad." The concern was clearly there, and he could tell I was being genuine. With an obvious time out called, he healed his Pokémon to the best of medical ability on the spot triage could. At the very least, he stabilised it, and returned it to its ball in hibernation mode, so it wouldn't be feeling the pain for long. Could they even feel pain? Now was obviously not the time to ask that so the previous question was the one asked.
Brycen spoke. "I've never seen anyone do that before. But, for the first time… I'm going to forfeit this match. It's your choice, but I'll award you the badge if you choose to accept it." It was clear that using Heji for this Gym was a bad idea. However, I still NEEDED the badge to take on N at the Pokémon League.
"I will accept it. I need it for reasons related to taking on Team Plasma. But we'll be battling again, after the Pokémon League, with your real team. Then I'll have earned it." That sparked yet another reaction. He was starting to piece together the fact that this wasn't my first rodeo after all, as Clay would say. The action that spawned the other reaction was the mention of Team Plasma. Clay'd mentioned that there was some sort of Gym leader meeting, so the reaction wasn't too surprising.
Brycen went to retrieve the Gym badge, presenting it, but without the ceremony due to the circumstances. I put it in my badge case, and he was rather impressed that I'd kept the badges as shiny as the day I first got them, but then began his conversation. "So, you say you're going after Team Plasma eh? Well, we could use a guy like you then. I can tell from that attack just now that your Luxray is very strong. I highly doubt they'll be able to contend with that."
I gave him what information I had, on what their grunts had stupidly blurted out, and so we were both determined to reach Dragonspiral Tower as soon as possible. However it looked like our plans were going to be interrupted in some way. But, I had no idea how, or why, but there was something familiar about it.
This Pondering was interrupted when three familiar faces showed up to greet me upon exiting the Gym. Based on experience they were likely told that a Gym Battle was already in progress ,which was true at the time that they likely arrived. Since it'd have to be Brycen that clears the new challengers, that would mean that they would have been waiting for as long as we had been talking. Immediately upon exiting I was greeted with the smiling face of Bianca, the downtrodden face of Cheren, and the somewhat positive but deeply nervous looking face of Cilan.
Cheren clearly had a lot on his mind. His tone of voice was off from his usual, and he seemed to be more in doubt than when he'd talked with Alder those few hours ago. "Kynexn, I've been talking with Bianca, and I'm wondering... Since we left Nuvema Town, has something about me...changed? Thinking about what I want to do... Thinking about what I should do... Have I really become stronger? Or is it just my Pokémon that have? I don't know anymore! What you said in the mountain confused me!"
Bianca, tried to lighten the mood with her usual demeanor. "Hey, hey. Cheer up, Cheren... Isn't it nice to see everyone?!"
"You didn't even give me a chance to talk..." That looming feeling I had earlier while in the Gym was now severely magnified while being out of the Gym. I pretty much began tuning Bianca out, only able to catch part of what she was saying but, enough to be able to get the general gist of the conversation. Overall what she was saying wasn't really that important, since she was just trying to be a good friend and helping cheer Cheren up in his moment of doubt before his seventh Gym Battle.
"Kynexn! Know what? This time, I'll go to the Pokémon Fan Club. I'm still searching... for what I want to do and what I can do!" Pokémon Fan Club? Oh right, that was in Nimbasa City. Perhaps after this was all over he'd visit them as well, see what sort of fans they were, and if it was moreso a pet club rather than a fan club. Bianca was too naive to even consider this, but I blame her father for that, not her. Of course he'd be the type of person who'd want to protect his daughter from dangerous animals, but at the same time, he'd opened up after the meeting with Elesa, and subsequently, my promise to help her out in whatever way I could. That was it! I knew where I'd recognised the feeling from now.
I didn't care if it was apparent that I wasn't paying attention to Bianca or Cheren at that point, but this was a matter of business. Something that I didn't want to get them directly involved in, just yet. "...Bianca, Cheren, Cilan, move aside now." I said, with a serious tone. There was no warmth in my voice, and they could immediately detect that my tone had changed when my eyes were shifting to places that seemingly had nothing there.
"Kynexn... what is it? You're acting strange..." I did not reply. This only further concerned them due to the seriousness that I was showing now that I'd never shown with them before. With one hand in my overcoat, I was prepared for that exact moment. They'd never seen what I carried around with me, and it was better that way, but if now was going to be the time, they needed to know that what was going on right now was dead serious, and not a small manner in the slightest.
Brycen, sensing what I sensed, but not knowing who they were announced their arrival rather ambiguously. Since the three of them were the only ones in front of us, it was understandable that they thought that he was talking to them. "Who are you?"
"We're Bianca and Cheren..." Cheren said, still not understanding what was going on.
"I know you are there! Why don't you show yourselves?"
"You can't hide from us. You were clumsy this time." I said,plain and simple.
All three of them appeared at once, and the one to my right let out a sigh, before speaking.
"Impressive, Gym Leader of Icirrrus City, and you, the one Ghetsis is watching. We, the Shadow Triad, are beings of the shadows... and not easily noticed." Despite saying they were impressed, there was clearly no emotion in their voices, and their facial expressions were covered by a mask, which left them as a blank slate, loyal to only Ghetsis and N.
"You made the mistake of allowing me to see you once, which was a fatal one." They were very well aware of the fact that I had posed myself to be able to strike them with my sword. It did not phase them however, nor did i care if it did either.
The member on our left spoke up finally. There was clearly no deviation from just laying out the clear and presented facts. No retort, no hint of acknowledgement. "Our mission was to speak only with you, but so be it. Ghetsis has a message for you: come to Dragonspiral Tower."
The one in front of us finished for them. "It is there that our lord N waits for you. ...Now our mission is complete."
Brycen still had no idea what was going. , "Dragonspiral Tower?! What's going on? Hey! Tell me..." he was both confused, and furious. It seemed as if he was trying to figure out what the hell had just happened, having never met the Shadow Triad before. So far he'd been the first Gym Leader along my journey to actually see the Shadow Triad in person. I wonder if perhaps that meant that they'd target him later. I didn't think they would do so on their own, but if N or Ghetsis ordered it, I knew they'd carry it out without hesitation or remorse.
"Ghetsis wants to show me his dragon." Bianca, Cheren, Cilan, and Brycen all gave me a strange look.
"His Dragon-TYPE. Zekrom!" I closed my eyes, let out a sigh and shook my head. Sure the way I'd said it was a bit odd, but why the hell were their minds in the gutter over that? Clearly the conversation beforehand should have put some context into that, but clearly I was mistaken.
Once again, I was reminded that unlike in the other two regions I was familiar with, Gym Leaders here were not glued to their Gyms near all the time. . "Now, hang on. Young man, if you're here for a Gym challenge, hang on for a bit. I've got to hea to Dragonspiral Tower!"
Cheren, upon analysing the situation, decided to essentially abandon his Gym Challenge temporarily, to follow us to the tower. I wasn't surprised either though, especially since I had basically laid out for him that if he came with us, he's likely be seeing a Legendary Pokemon of the Region, a being woven into the very culture of the region itself. "I'm going too. Dragonspiral Tower is to the north of here, right?"
"Cheren... you're starting to grow up.. I'm not going to try and stop you then, with that determination. It looks like you might have found out what you want to do with yourself, and that's amazing.." We headed off to Dragonspiral tower together, with a determination that would make those who stood against us tremble in our wake. Cheren was a good Trainer. His lack of confidence in himself seemed to disappear upon hearing me say those words he was like a completely different person. Did I really have that much influence over him? Did he even realise it himself? If that was the case then I had to be careful.
We ran into Cedric, right at the entrance of the tower. After a brief introduction to Bianca, she wondered what was so important about Dragonspiral Tower.
Cedric was incredibly glad to be able to tell the story again, answered her. "Ha! I guess you would be curious. Well, I'll explain briefly. Dragonspiral Tower has stood tall since long before Unova was founded. On the top floor, the legendary Dragon-type Pokémon waits for a person pursuing ideals to appear... That's what it said. It's admirable of you to join the fight against Team Plasma, but it's risky, too."
"No it's not. But thanks for your concern anyway." i was not just confident in myself, but I was also confident in my Pokémon as well.
Not even beginning to move into the tower, and the entire thing shook. So, Zekrom was awakening. This should be interesting anyway. I climbed up a ridiculous amount of stairs to find a group of several members of Team Plasma, of which they were clearly there to try and prevent entry by any others than myself. .
"We'll hold them off here. There's not going to be any escaping through this entrance. They'll have to fly out from the top of the tower if they want to escape us." It was surprising to see Brycen take on a supporting role, but after what happened in the Gym Battle, it wasn't too much of a surprise considering how strong Heji was. Speaking of, the mere electrical presence in the air was enough to set his fur on end, in several different ways. I could only imagine it would have been like that first time in Chargestone cave, but magnified several times.
I proceeded up the stairs, into a more exposed area of the tower, when a huge roar rang out.
"Damn if I can hear it from all the way down here... he must be pretty powerful, even in his weakened state."
I'd arrived just in time to hear the middle of a conversation. One of the sages, whom was dressed in a rusty red, was addressing a group of grunts. "It's finally time. Our lord N will become the hero!"
"And you do still remember that there are two heroes right?" I chimed in, from behind, since he was so distracted, as were they, that they didn't notice Heji and I coming up behind them.
"What?! Someone made it clear up here?! Now! Stop that Trainer! For our lord N! Everyone who isn't Team Plasma is an enemy! Use all your powers to take them out!"
"I don't think so. Heji, use Discharge now!" I stood back behind Heji, and then he let out a gigantic burst of electricity, paralysing all of the members before they even got a chance to take out their Poké Balls. For these grunts were not too much of a concern, but the old man, Heji's attack might have caused him to have a heart attack. Even though it was one of Heji's so called weaker attacks, he was the most risky of all.
The sage went down without saying anything, which caused the concern in the first place. Of course he chose to squander that concern by single mindedly focusing on N. At this point it was apparent that Ghetsis was an absolutely charismatic, but also severely exploitative person. So many members of Team Plasma seemed to have blind loyalty, which meant he likely was promising majorly grandiose things. Finally though, with a shaky voice, he spoke. "The…hero will… open up the way to a new world! Which means… you Trainers can all prepare to lose your Pokémon!"
"You're right about one thing... the hero will open the way to a new world... What you got wrong is which hero that will be. I will defeat N. By the way, Heji. Give him another zap for me." What small sympathy he'd earned was quickly squandered due to his blind loyalty.
"Oh absolutely." There was a great big lion smirk as Heji moved ever so casually over to the fallen sage, placed a moved on to the top of the sage, placed a paw the Sage's throat, and with no effort at all let out a surgical electric strike to both the sage's vocal cords, which effectively neutered his voice. With that out of the way, we climbed to the top of Dragonspiral Tower, where N was waiting for me, with Zekrom towering over him. The black form had more than half of N's full form over him, leading to quite the contrast. We were similar heights but even that did nothing to stop the dragon from towering over me. In addition there was what I could only describe as a jet turbine shaped tail that extended nearly as far back from him aa he was tall. I could only imagine how strong it would have been at the peak of its power.
Heji however, was ready and on guard. It didn't matter if this Pokémon was legendary or not, it was just a strong electric type that also happened to be a dragon of legend. Which meant that with his Ice Tail, he'd be able to do significant damage to it as well as resist its electric attacks.
N stood in a grandiose fashion, likely also getting that from Ghetsis as well. "What do you think, Kynexn? How do you like the powerful form of the Pokémon who appears before and fights beside the hero that will lead the way to a new world?"
"He's not that impressive actually. I hope you realise that millenia of sleep have made him weak." If his goal was to intimidate me, there was no way it was going to succeed.
"Tch. Kynexn, you never cease to amaze me. This is Zekrom! Don't you understand what this means?"
"All it means is that you've got a black dragon, nothing special. I don't even need Reshiram to prove to you anything. However, knowing you, I must acquire the light stone, and upon doing so, awaken Reshiram."
"That's right! Now, Zekrom and I will head to the Pokémon League and defeat the Champion! This will be the last of the Pokémon battles that hurt Pokémon so. A world for Pokémon alone It's finally going to be a reality. When Zekrom's counterpart, Reshiram, recognizes you, we will finally be even, and then you can try to stop us!"
"You think that you're on par with me at all? N you don't understand me at all... I thought you did." I wasn't going to go into detail with him as to why and I doubt he was going to hear it anyway.
"Well, what will you do? My prediction… If the future that I see is true, you will meet Reshiram. The Pokémon with you believe in you so strongly Will you be the one who interferes with my formula for changing the world? If you want to protect the bonds between Pokémon and people, you must search for Reshiram! I'm sure it is waiting for you in the form of the Light Stone."
"Like I said N, I don't need Reshiram to defeat you. You seem to want me to release Reshiram from stone form. I'll do it, but not because of some future predicted by you." N then took off on Zekrom's back, saddling bareback on his tail, from Dragonspiral Tower. Cheren, Cilan and Brycen apparently finished dealing with the other Team Plasma members and made their way up to the part of the tower where I was.
Cheren, "Kynexn, did you see what flew off just now?"
"Of course I did. That was Zekrom."
"How could this happen?" Bryce was in just as much shock as Cheren, but Cilan was stunned into silence. Here he was, coming all the way from Striaton City and a Pokémon he like only thought existed in stories and legends, just flew past him, and it wasn't a dream, because he was wide awake.
"Why? That was that guy N, right? Why was he with the legendary Pokémon? He couldn't really be the hero, could he?!" It was understandable considering his previous exposure to N. He just… didn't really know how to interact with Humans very well, if at all. He came seemingly out of nowhere, and he pretty much screamed at us about being able to understand our Pokémon again, while in the middle of our first battle. For all Cheren knew he could have been one of those people who CLAIMED to be able to understand them but was just like the rest.
"That's right Cheren, he is. But do you know what's even more interesting?"
"What?"
"N and I... are both part of the ancient legend supposedly. I am the other hero."
Cheren was completely shocked. He would never have expected this. "So he told you to search for the other legendary Pokémon?"
"Hold on hold on hold on, wait a minute! I need some time to process this. This is too much in one day!' In all fairness to Cilan, he has just now seen a Legendary Pokémon, learned the legend of the hero might not have been a legend so much after all, was soon going to be seeing a second Legendary being, found out that there were Trainers out there who were going to, in his view, CONTROL said legendary beings, all within the span of a month of catching up with one of the most interesting Gym Challengers he'd ever met, all this happening at once...
"Calm down! First, we go back! It's more important to decide what to do next than analyze what just happened." Brycen said. We went back down to where Cedric was, and I explained to him what happened.
"Team Plasma managed to resurrect Zekrom. He's going to be going to the Pokémon League and is going to defeat the Champion Alder as a show of power, where he'll then proclaim Trainers to release their Pokémon or something like that. I'm not really sure at this point if he's even sure what he wants. But for now, he happens to have been accepted by Zekrom, which means that his determination is incredibly fierce, to the point that he was able to befriend said Legendary dragon with his words alone."
"Astounding... I never would have imagined that the legendary Dragon-type Pokémon would return now..." Cedric seemed pretty impressed by N, but, this was also the same person who had no idea what some of the lower grunts of Team Plasma were doing. In fact, did Team Plasma even have any real structure?
"That guy called N... Team Plasma's boss apparently, reawakened the legendary Pokémon. He told Kynexn to look for the other legendary Pokémon then flew away..." Cheren also explained what he'd heard which wasn't the full conversation that I heard, but had enough relevant information.
"Huh? There are two legendary Dragon-type Pokémon?" After all of this is over, I'm going to sit Bianca down in Lenora's library, and forcing her to read up on the history of the region she lives in. Again, I blame her father for this moreso than her, but even still just shortly after she gained her individuality, she still seemed pretty much the same. I was about to explain the other dragon of the pair to the group, but we had an uninvited guest.
"Yes! Yes, there are!" The loud, cheerful but still annoying voice chimed down from above the cliffside where we were. How the hell did he even hear Bianca from up there? Whatever, he certainly had a habit of showing up at the strangest times.
Cilan, who had now seen the Shadow Triad, had become much more alert and attentive of his surroundings. The additional rustling of the grass above them, the very faint rustling of his clothes in the wind. I wouldn't be surprised if he became a better Gym Leader because of it. Bianca and Cheren were surprised however, while Cedric merely turned to him to greet him, "Why, if it isn't Alder! It's been a while, Have you been well?"
"No time for chitchat! Those violent flashes of lightning that shot from the tower... That Pokémon has the power to destroy the world! If it's on Team Plasma's side, and Team Plasma tells everyone to release their Pokémon... No matter whether it comes from fear or admiration... The world can't help but change. It will become a world where we are separated from Pokémon..."
Cedric furrowed his brow and raised his forehead. "Right... Moreover the boss of Team Plasma, N, who reawakened Zekrom, apparently said to look for the other Pokémon, Reshiram."
"If I remember the myth, Zekrom's powerful electricity, along with the other Pokémon, devastated ancient Unova in an instant."
"Even knowing that, N is still wanting to awaken the other?!" They keep doing this, just, speaking as if they're discovering a new word for the first time and then use it nonstop for a week. With a hearty chuckle that could have had a competition with even Alder's, I began to delve slowly into a laughing fit, after which everyone stared at me with an incredulous look.
"Oh, you all are a riot. A little bit of electricity and you're getting scared? Try having space ripped out from under you, getting trapped in an alternate dimension with no way out, and before you're finally ready to go insane from the nothingness all around you, then, and only then are you allowed to escape! You all think a bit of electricity, from millenia weakened dragon, is going to be enough to take down the Pokémon League?!" The fury in my voice was clear, it had been building for a while, and I hadn't been letting it out in any way up to this point, but here they all were now, and I guess it's better late than never.
"Kynexn... I had no idea that you experienced something like that." Cheren was stunned, the look on his face a mix of incredulity, shock, but we still hadn't even gotten to the heart of the issue of where that outburst had come from.
"When... when did that happen to you?" He was clearly trying to be as sensitive as possible, and I appreciated it, so I made an effort to calm myself down enough to tell the abridged story. Alder had clearly noticed how upset I was, as he'd gone back into 'serious' mode, and didn't try to stop me from speaking due to a lack of time. It was enough at the very least for me to temper myself enough that I would be able to explain my outburst to them.
"It happened while I was in Sinnoh, two years ago. Tensa and I had just finished defeating a few remaining Team Galactic members, when what I described above happened. I became Palkia's plaything for that short while. Before I was released for the final time, it told me, 'You were stronger than the others, lasted much longer,' as if I was just a tiny plaything, A chess piece of a king, if you will. Maybe I'll meet Palkia again... and this time show it that I am not to be trifled with. It's the main the reason why I am the way I am today." My fist clenched, but I tossed that feeling aside, now redirecting it back towards Team Plasma. They were the current focus right now, not my past.
"You... you've met PALKIA?! As in the creator of space Palkia?!"
"Palkia showed me several realities that I never want to experience. Like I said, once you've met the so called creator of all space, it's kind of hard to trump that, unless you meet the one who created THAT creator. That is why Zekrom is just a dragon to me. I don't believe that there are such things as Pokémon gods." That was all that I was going to say on the manner for now, as evidenced by the shift in tone of voice as the end.
Bianca however, was still worried about it, it seemed. I wasn't trying to gain her pit or anything either, so I didn't particularly care that she didn't address what I said. "But Isn't it still dangerous to bring back a Pokémon that powerful?"
Alder spoke but yet again he was missing the point that I had just made. I have no idea how this person became the Champion of this region, with an attitude like this. "I don't know if other Pokémon will be able to stand up to it. Because, no matter what, it is a legendary being... I don't like the idea of taking orders from N, but searching for the dragon-the stone-might not be a bad plan. We certainly can't let Team Plasma reawaken both of them! Since I've traveled all over Unova, I have an idea of where it might be. Let's head to the Relic Castle. Kynexn, everyone, I'm going!" I already knew where the Light Stone was, and had since I was in Nacrene City, but if they wanted to keep ignoring me, that, was their prerogative, and I wasn't going to stop them.
"Fine, don't listen to me."
Cheren, at the very least, seemed to pay attention to what I said, albeit interpreting it differently that I meant it. "I think I understand better now. Being able to do something for Pokémon-for somebody at a time like this-is strength... I'm sure of it. And my strength is something given to me by my Pokémon."
"No Cheren, I've told you before. You both get your strength from each other. But that's certainly pretty similar I'd say. Go to Relic Castle with Alder, explore, bond with your Pokémon."
"OK, Alder!, Let's hurry!" I was more than a little surprised, Cheren had called Alder by his proper name instead of by his title. That to me, showed that he was changing as a person, enough to answer the question that he'd asked me outside of Icirrus Gym. Not too much far behind Alder, Cheren set off towards Relic Castle, with the understanding that he was going to be learning about himself, as well as getting some degree of tutelage from Alder, albeit likely with it having to be slightly 'corrected' later, but that was something I didn't mind at all.
"Cilan, come on, I know it's a lot to take in, but please, pick your jaw up off of the floor and come with me." For the first time, in a long while, I'd been able to genuinely laugh.