A young noibat was just waking up, having slept most of the day away as nocturnal pokémon usually do. Noibat liked this cave. It was peaceful here; not many trainers passed by, especially at this time of the year. He'd heard it was something to do with some big contest a ways away or something, but the zigzagoon that had told him about it hadn't been very specific. Or focused for that matter, distracted by the many shiny lights and glittering crystals around. Those were common in the Cave of Mirrors.
Shaking his head to help wake himself up, Noibat looked out of the little hole in the rock wall he used to get in and out of his cave. It was nearing dusk, and the little bat took a second to admire the view. Sunsets, even ones that were just starting, were amazing to look at, with the gorgeous purple and orange hues melding together. And the light reflecting off patches of still-damp grass from yesterday's rain shone just like the crystals that his cave was known for. As he was about to take off, the purple bat picked up some strange noises with his sensitive ears. Settling down to watch, the bat was soon able to see the noise-makers. Surprisingly, it was a group of humans, who were walking towards the main entrance to the Cave of Mirrors. Children, from the looks of them, though the dragon and flying type wasn't all that knowledgeable on the species.
The first, and loudest, of the bunch was a young man with a yellow rodent on his shoulder, a Pikachu if he remembered right, and messy, raven-black hair kept in check under a red hat. He also wore a blue and white jacket, with black fingerless gloves and blue jeans rounding out his outfit. Right behind him were two females. The first one looked about the young man's age with honey-blonde hair hidden under a dark-pink hat. She also wore a white and red dress and skirt combination with a small blue bow on the front. The other female was younger and smaller, with a small ponytail of hair the color of Amphorus fur, a brown shirt and a white skirt. She also had a small bag hanging by her side with a dozing dedenne inside of it. Trailing behind them was another young man, with the same yellow hair as the younger female. He wore a light blue jumpsuit with yellow stripes on the legs, along with a large metal-looking backpack. 'No wonder he's behind the others, the noibat thought, that thing must weigh a ton!'
After another moment of watching them, the young dragon decided to remain in his little nest for the night. While they didn't look particularly threatening, he had no desire to be caught. He had a supply of Yache berries kept in a cool alcove to keep them fresh, so he would have some food for the night. He should probably eat them before a rattata got to them anyway.
XxXxX
"Come on guys, we're almost there!" Ash shouted, looking back at the forms of his friends. "I want to explore a little bit before the sun goes down!"
Behind him, Serena gave him a slightly exasperated smile, obviously amused at his excitement. Beside her, Bonnie gave a giggle, evidently just as amused. She turned herself around, walking backwards for a moment, only long enough to call out to her struggling brother, "Come ooonnn, Clemont, hurry up before Ash leaves you behind!" before turning back around, her hand in front of her mouth trying to hold in her laughter.
Ash paused as he got a look at Clemont, slowing down long enough for Serena and Bonnie to catch up with him. It was obvious that the young inventor was struggling to keep up. A sheen of sweat could be seen covering his forehead, even from a distance, and his breathing was slightly ragged.
"Maybe we should start looking for a campsite for the night?" asked Serena, obviously noting Clemont's exhausted state as well. While he really wanted to keep going, Ash knew that his friend was probably right. The sun was already starting to set, drowning out the sea of blue sky with a cascade of red and orange fire. Nodding his head in agreement, the small group waited for a moment for their friend to catch up.
After a few moments, Clemont stumbled to a stop next to his friends, immediately bending at the waist with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. "You doing alright?" Ash asked, a slight frown crossing his face. Clemont wasn't usually this slow.
Eventually the yellow-haired boy straitened up, a look of mareepishness on his face. "Yes, I'm fine. I recently made some modifications to my pack, and I forgot to take into account their added weight."
"What kind of modifications?" asked Serena, looking curious, while Bonnie merely shook her head in exasperation. Though he didn't voice it, Ash was curious as well. Clemonts inventions were always interesting and useful, even if they had a habit of exploding in their faces. On the other hand, his backpack and Aipom-arm were almost always reliable, so it should be safe. He decided to take a step back just in case.
He didn't need to worry however, as Clemont started explaining his invention, as opposed to demonstrating it. "Well, last time we came to this cave, Ash got Pikachu and himself stuck in a parallel world, right?" he asked, looking at said trainer and Pokémon. Ash gave an embarrassed chuckle, while on his shoulder, Pikachu did the same.
"Yeah, that was…interesting," he replied. In truth it hadn't actually been all that bad. You know, aside from almost getting trapped and falling into the void between the two worlds. Really, just another Monday for him.
"Well, we obviously want to avoid that happening again while we're here. Luckily, I was able to pick up some energy readings on my scanner while we were here the first time. Using that data, I was able to build a device that will warn us if those same dimensional energies show up!" Clemont continued, an excited gleam in his eye. Ash knew he loved talking about his inventions, just as he himself got excited talking about pokémon.
"That's a really good idea Clemont," Serena said, giving the budding inventor a smile. Ash knew that even if Clemont's device ended up exploding in their faces, she would still compliment him on it. That's just who she was; Kind and encouraging.
"So, what's it called?" Bonnie asked, looking up at her brother. Clemont grinned, pushing his glasses up a little bit with his finger before replying, "I call it, the Scanner of Dimensional Energy so That we Don't Get Trapped!" Bonnie immediately lowered her head, a look of exasperation on her face. "And another terrible name," she sighed, shaking her head back and forth.
Ash smiled and chuckled to himself as the siblings began bickering with each other. While it was entertaining, he knew that they had to get going if they wanted to set up camp anytime soon. The sooner they finished, the sooner they could have some dinner!
"How about we start looking for a campsite?" he asked, gaining the attention of his traveling companions. Placing one hand on his growling stomach and using the other to rub the back of his head, he continued sheepishly, "I'm kind of hungry!"
The sound of giggling caught his attention, and Ash looked over at Serena. She had her eyes closed, and one of her hands covering her mouth, trying to hold back her laughter. "Sorry Ash," she said between snickers, "but aren't you always hungry?"
The comment led to Bonnie and Clemont beginning to laugh as well, much to Ash's displeasure. "Oh, come on guys, I'm not that bad! Right, Pikachu?" Ash asked, turning his head to look at his best friend. Who was currently trying not to fall off of his shoulder from laughing so much. "Traitor…" he muttered but couldn't keep a straight face. Within moments, he was laughing alongside his friends. It was moments like these that he loved the most about traveling.
Finally, everybody settled down, and they began looking for a good campsite as a group. The best spots were usually a little ways off from the trail. Far enough away to not be disturbed by-or get in the way of-any other travelers that happened to be passing through. However, it also needed to be close enough that they could find their way back to the trail easily, as well as to avoid territorial pokémon. Most pokémon knew that trainers used the trails, and would steer far away from them if they didn't want to interact with humans.
Finally, Ash and his friends came upon what looked like a good spot. It was a clearing in the middle of a small grove of trees off to the side of the trail. As Ash looked around, he spotted a few things that made this seem like an ideal campsite.
The clearing was covered in a thick carpet of grass, dotted here and there with patches of red and white flowers. The ground was level, so they wouldn't be sleeping on an incline, and berry trees lined the perimeter of the clearing. A faint breeze swept through the clearing, carrying the sweet smell of Oran berries on it. Ash could hear the faint sound of a stream somewhere beyond the clearing, so they would have a source of fresh water. In the middle was what looked like an old campfire. A ring of stones with a small area around it cleared of grass and other flammables, with the cold remains of a dead fire in the middle.
"Alright, this looks like a good spot." Clemont stated, mirroring Ash's opinion, and begain taking off his backpack and setting it down with a sigh of relief.
"Yep, it looks good," Ash replied, also setting his pack down. Turning towards his friends, Ash continued, "Alright, Clemont, I'm assuming that you're going to be cooking?" Ash asked, his mouth watering slightly at the thought of dinner. Clemont wasn't quite as good as Brock, or anywhere close to his mother in terms of cooking skill, but he was still far better than Ash was. Serena was about as good at cooking as Clemont, but she was better at baking treats, Pokepuffs and the like. That, and she had cooked yesterday.
Clemont nodded in reply, already taking his cooking gear out of his pack. Ash then turned to Serena and Bonnie. "Alright then, Serena do you think that you could help me set up the tents?" the dark-haired boy continued, already getting his own tent out of his bag. Serena readily agreed; this was the usual way that they did things, but it never hurt to ask. And the sooner that they got done, the sooner they could eat.
"We're going to need some firewood, and some water," Clemont said, as he took a cutting board out of his pack, before putting it on the table. That he had also somehow pulled out of his backpack. Ash had no idea how they did it, but Brock, Cilan, and now Clemont had all somehow been able to store far more things in their packs than should have been physically possible.
"I can take care of that!" Bonnie exclaimed, eager to help as always. Ash nodded, taking out a collapsible bucket from a side pocket on his pack. However, before he could give it to her, Clemont cut in.
"I don't want you going out there alone," the inventor stated, a look of worry on his face. "We're in an area with some pretty territorial pokémon. We should be alright here, but water sources are popular gathering places for wild pokémon."
Ash knew that Clemont was right, but Bonnie seemed determined to go. "I won't be alone. I have Dedenne!" She exclaimed, pointing to the currently snoozing pokémon. Clemont raised an eyebrow, not even needing to speak to get his point across. Ash, however, had another idea.
"I can send one of mine with her," he suggested, holding up a pokeball.
Bonnie immediately jumped on the idea. "Yeah, I'd be safe with one of them! Ash's pokémon are all really strong!" she enthused, grabbing a hold of the lifeline Ash had cast out for her. Suddenly, and idea seemed to occur to her, judging by the excited look in her eyes. "Oohh, can it be one of the ones you picked up earlier?" she asked, eyes shining with hope.
Ash knew that she was talking about his pokémon that he had gotten from Prof. Oak's lab. Earlier in the day they had passed by a pokémon center, and he had traded out some of his Kalos pokémon for some older members of his family. While he would have liked to have called them out already, the time difference between Kalos and Kanto had meant that his pokémon had just fallen asleep. Tracy hadn't been too happy about being woken up himself, much to Ash's chagrin. He'd totally forgotten it was night time there.
As Ash looked at Bonnie, she hit him full force with her growlithe-pup eyes. He knew immediately he would never be able to say no, even if he had wanted to. "Yeah, sure!" Ash said, giving in to Bonnie's request. After spending all day in their pokeballs, he knew that they would be well rested now anyway. Serena looked up from where she was starting to set up her tent, interested in seeing whatever pokémon Ash was about to send out. Clemont, however, interrupted before Ash could push the release button.
"We should probably wait to meet your pokémon until after we get everything set up," he stated, as he started up his grill.
'Seriously,' Ash thought, 'where does he keep that stuff?!'
Bonnie, however, had a much different question on her mind.
"Aww, but why?" she whined, turning her pleading eyes towards her brother. Years of exposure, however, had given him a solid defense against them. "Because if we let them out now, you'll spend hours fawning over them, and then we'll never get our camp set up," he stated matter-of-factly.
Ash chuckled, realizing that Clemont was probably right. Bonnie reluctantly had to agree with his statement as well, though that didn't stop her from grumbling under her breath about 'mean big brothers.'
Ash laughed, before Pikachu spoke up from his shoulder. "Pi-pika, pikachu!" he stated, patting his chest with his paw. While Ash couldn't fully understand his starter, he usually was able to get the gist of what he was saying.
"Pikachu says that he'll keep her safe," he said, knowing that Clemont would likely agree with the plan. Pikachu was definitely one of his strongest pokémon, he'd be able to keep the yellow-haired girl safe easily.
Just like Ash thought, Clemont easily agreed to let Pikachu escort his sister. Ash's best friend leaped from in perch on his shoulder, and scurried over to Bonnie, beginning to lead her to the stream.
After watching his sister disappear into the woods following Pikachu, the budding inventor shifted his focus to the other female in their group, Serena. "Can you check what the weather is going to be like tonight?" he asked, as he began to chop up some vegetables for their meal. "I'd rather not get caught in a rainstorm unprepared again," he continued. It had happened once or twice on their journey, and it had led to some unpleasant awakenings. Last night, for example. He still needed to dry out some of the electronics in his pack.
Looking up from the tent she had started to set up, Serena took out her Pokegear, and turned it on while replying with a distracted "Sure." Looking at the upcoming forecast, she looked back up with a smile, and relayed the weatherman's predictions. "Should be a pretty clear night, though it might get a bit cloudy tomorrow," she said, much to everyone's relief. No one liked waking up to a rainstorm. Well, maybe some water-types did, but that's beside the point.
"Oh hey, Serena, while you have that out can you check the news?" asked Ash, looking up from a tent stake that he was sticking in the ground.
"Sure," the honey-blond replied, swiping a few times on the devices screen. "Anything in particular that you're looking for?"
"News on the Kalos league!" the young man exclaimed, his eyes brightening at the thought. "I want to know if they've said anything on when it'll be, or if they are done with the renovations yet."
According to some news reports earlier in the month, the company hired to maintain and upkeep the league stadium had found some faults in its construction and were in the process of renovating it. They had also decided to perform some upgrades and enlarge it at the same time, as the last few years they had reached max capacity very quickly. More room, more people buying tickets, more money, or at least that's what Clemont had said.
Swiping a couple more times, Serena's eyes brightened when they found an article. "They do have something!" the performer exclaimed. All eyes turned to her as she read a little bit into it, trying to pinpoint the important information.
"Well?" Ash asked, eyes shining with excitement. He was glad of the chance to train his pokémon a little bit more, but he was eager to take on the league. With his pokémon family behind him, there was no way he could lose!
As Serena continued to skim the article, her eyes alighted on the projected timeline. Ash could see the excitement in her eyes dim, and be replaced with a look of chagrin, as she looked back up. "They found some structural damage to foundations and have to either fix or replace it altogether. The CEO of the company, a guy named Lysandre, said that they're looking at about a month and a half."
Ash groaned, severely disappointed with the news. He and his pokémon had worked so hard to get the required eight badges in time for the league, and now they had to wait even longer for the league to begin.
"Oh well," the raven-haired boy sighed, sounding resigned. There wasn't anything that he could do about it. Knowing his luck, if he stayed in Lumiose City there'd be a random Lengendary attack that leveled the city anyway. It wouldn't be the first time.
Eventually, the trio got their camp fully set up. The tents were pitched, with their sleeping bags already rolled out inside them. Clemont was nearly done cooking, and Bonnie had arrived back with a bucket of water, laughing as Pikachu ran circles around her.
As Pikachu broke off from Bonnie, who was just setting the water bucket down by the fire pit, Ash began a mental countdown 'Three…two…one…' Right on cue, the Lumiose city girl whirled around, her growlithe-pup eyes on once again. "Can I see your pokémon now? We're done setting up!" she asked, shooting a quick look at her brother, almost daring him to disagree
"Sure, unless Clemont has something else that needs to get done?" Ash's statement morphed into more of a question at the end, shooting a look towards said blonde. Clemont, seeing the look on his sisters face, quickly shook his head in the negative. "Nope, nothing!" he replied, perhaps a tad too fast, before gaining a considering look. "Actually, what types of food will we need for your pokémon? I don't know their types," he continued, starting to take even more ingredients from his seemingly-bottomless backpack. It was a good question, different types of pokémon liked different types of food. Fire-types preferred theirs extremely spicy, for example, while water-types liked theirs cool and damp.
Ash put his hand on his chin for a minute, considering, before giving a reply. "Let's see, we'll need some electric type food, of course, (a quick Pika! gave confirmation) and a couple of portions for fire types. Make one of them big, but set it aside for later. I'll also need water, grass, and dragon-type foods as well." As he spoke, Clemont began taking out the necessary ingredients.
"So, now that that's taken care of, can we see your pokémon? Pleeeaaaase?!" Bonnie pleaded, a glint that made Ash decidedly nervous appearing in her young eyes. Chuckling slightly nervously, he said "Alright, alright," before taking his pokeballs off of his belt. "Come on out guys!" he shouted, throwing them into the air.
The sounds of multiple pokeballs opening simultaneously filled the clearing, with four jets of light coming from the red-and-white spheres. The energy eventually coalesced into four distinct forms, each letting out a cry after being released.
The first to be released was a familiar sight to the Kalos natives. Greninja's form coalesced into existence, eyes quickly surveying the area before relaxing when no threat was detected. The rest of the newly-released pokémon weren't so familiar.
The first was a large, green, reptilian Pokémon with what looked like a branch from a palm tree acting as its tail. Twin pairs of leaves jutted out of its arms, and fierce yellow eyes looked around its new surroundings. Yellow seeds lined its back, and a small branch jutted from its jaw. The Kalos natives immediately recognized it as a sceptile, having seen sawyer's before.
The second Pokémon to materialize wasn't as recognizable. While bipedal like Sceptile and Greninja, that's where the similarities ended. Its simian body was covered in a reddish-brown fur, with patches of white fur on its feet, chest, and head. Several yellow markings could be seen on its shoulders, chest, and hands. A mane of fire covered the top of its head, flaring brightly upon release before settling back down.
Not recognizing the newly-released Pokémon, Serena scanned it with her pokedex. A mechanical voice filled the campsite as the device began speaking.
"Infernape: The Flame Pokémon. Its crown of fire is indicative of its fiery nature. Its is beaten by none in terms of quickness."
The final pokémon to be released was much smaller than the others. Looking almost like a small sharpedo with legs, it was mostly greyish-blue, with a red streak stretching from the bottom of is jaw to its underbelly. A sharp fin grew out of its skull, with a small notch on the end of it. Two appendages that resembled jet engines rested on either side of the fin. A massive mouth filled with sharp teeth yawned open, before closing again.
Once again, Serena pointed her dex towards the unfamiliar pokémon. Once again, a mechanical voice filled the campsite.
"Gible: The Land Shark Pokémon. It nests in horizontal holes warmed by geothermal heat Foes who get too close can expect to be pounced on and bitten.
"Wow! They're so cool!" an excited Bonnie exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement. Almost immediately upon being released, the new pokémon excitedly looked over to Ash before swarming him. The infernape started doing what looked like jumping jacks in his excitement, hopping up and down in front of his trainer. The sceptile was much calmer, walking over to stand beside ash, a smile on its reptilian face. The gible, on the other hand…
"Owww!" The gible had apparently decided that his trainers head looked delicious, and had promptly wrapped his jaws around Ash's skull.
"Ash!" Serena shouted, fear lacing her voice. The raven-haired trainer's laughter, however, turned that fear into confusion.
"It's alright, it's alright," Ash said, detaching the ground-type from his head before stroking Gible's fin. "That's just how he greets me. Has been since I met him in Sinnoh."
Serena couldn't help it. She put her hand to her mouth, trying to stifle the laugh, but it came out anyway. "Oh Ash," she giggled, a smile crossing her face.
Ash smiled back, a little sheepishly, before turning his attention to his other pokémon. "Hey Infernape, Sceptile. It's great to see you!" he said, grinning while greeting his old friends. "How's life been for you back at Oak's ranch?" he asked, his sheepish grin having transformed into an excited one.
"Nape! Infer-Nape!" the sinnoh starter exclaimed, having calmed down enough to stand still. Sceptile nodded, agreeing with his fellow pokémon. "Tile," he said simply, sharing a quick grin with his fellow starter. Ash began laughing again, exclaiming "That's great!" While he didn't understand them completely, he got the gist of it. His pokemon were happy there, but they were also happy to see him again.
"Pi-Pikachu!" At that moment, Pikachu made himself known, jumping on top of Sceptile's head before jumping back off and running around, calling out to his fellow pokémon. Infernape immediately ran off after him, Gible following as fast as his stubby legs could carry him.
"Looks like they want to play," Clemont said, as he finished up with the pokémon food he was preparing. Bonnie began laughing, and exclaimed "I want to play too!" before beginning to run off after the pokémon. A loud rumbling, however, stopped her. Everybody looked over at Ash, who had one hand on his stomach and the other rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Can we play after we eat?" he asked. "I'm starving!"
XxXxX
Dan wiped the back of his glove across his forehead as he stood, sweating from the exertion of maintaining the villages defenses. Deciding to take a small break, the man looked out across the village he was supposed to protect. Up on the hill, he spotted Lute speaking with Chief Omna. Though Dan couldn't see it, he was sure that there was a little velociprey somewhere up there. The child wouldn't be grinning so much if there wasn't.
As they did so often though, Dan found his eyes wandering to the monument just a little ways up from the Hall of Rites. There stood a small pillar of stone, carved with the names of everyone lost on that day. A sick feeling made itself known in the pit of his stomach. Though he knew that, logically, he wasn't to blame, the rider couldn't help the feeling of guilt that came over him whenever he thought about the attack.
Wanting to rid himself of such dark thoughts, Dan cast his eyes upward, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand. It was only mid-afternoon. The newest wall had just been completed. That left enough time for one more patrol.
"Lars! Goran!" The simple shout was enough to get the attention of said riders, who quickly made their way over to him. Lars and Goran were brothers. Twins, in fact. Both were heavy built, well-muscled, and tanned from long days in the sun. With their identical armor, both wearing a green variation of the traditional rider's gear, the only way to tell them apart was their weapons. Lars wielded an iron great sword, while his brother favored a large iron hammer.
"Yeah boss?" Lars grumbled, his voice sounding like rocks grinding together.
"We're going on patrol," Dan replied, gesturing over his shoulder towards the village gate. "Mount up and be ready to ride in five." Nodding, Lars and Goran turned and made their way towards their mounts, a pair of Azuros that, like the twins, looked completely identical. Nobody knew how the two brothers were able to tell them apart, but they did. Dan turned and made his way towards his own mount, a Yian Kut-ku that he had named Kuts.
Eventually, the small patrol group made their way out of the village, heading towards the valley. Some of the village riders had mentioned a cave close to the village that they suspected now housed a powerful monster. They didn't know what it was, but they had seen several kut-ku and bulldromes fleeing the cavern. Dan decided it was a good place to start.
XxXxX
"A secret base inside of a volcano, huh?" Lovrina muttered to herself as she began booting up one of her laptops. "A bit cliché, but useful. Plenty of power, anyway." Indeed, several grunts were setting up the small geothermal generators they had managed to snag from their previous hideout. They were normally powered by several captured fire-types, but the plethora of magma inside the volcano would work just as well.
Speaking of said base, Lovrina glanced over at its previous occupant. One Dr. Manegler- who was very pale, for some reason, despite the heat- was currently being questioned by Snattle. While the scientist in Lovrina was dying to learn more, she was needed to get the lab set up properly. Who knew what could have happened to their equipment? The pink-haired scientist looked over at the wall Team Cipher had come through. Well, more specifically, the now-shattered crystal that had once covered the wall. No reason to let Lance and his lackeys follow them, after all.
After checking that none of her data had been corrupted, the Cipher Admin closed her laptop before striding over to a group of grunts trying to set up one of her machines. Glancing over at another passing grunt, Lovrina snapped a command. "Clean up that mess, will you? It'll start to stink otherwise." The grunt saluted, before moving to dispose of the body of Manelger's assistant. When they had first come through, he had been mouthy and quite rude to the Cipher scientist. So, she had politely asked her shadowed Leavanny to remove him. Along with his head. The good doctor had been most cooperative after that little display.
Hmm, maybe that's why he was so pale?
A/N: Well, it took a little longer than a couple of weeks, but I finally got this thing up! Though it's probably the most-used excuse on this site, I can only offer up life as the reason that it's so late. I've hopefully worked things out so that I will be able to write more often, but things could just as quickly get complicated again.
For those of you who are wondering about things in the story, such as the attack that Dan mentioned, those will be covered in future chapters. As always, I love reviews, and can't wait to hear from you guys!
In other news, happy new years everyone! Until next time, peace out!
TheFauxWriter