Chapter 22: The Wall before her eyes
Flygon was already in the sky. Lucian, Marie and Beatrice were all sitting on its back as it flew high above trees and neared the clouds. The wind blew on the three human's faces, but Flygon was flying slow enough so that they wouldn't be blinded. If Flygon were to fly faster- he could risk having them fall off his back, after all. Pichu wasn't standing on Marie's shoulder at this time- the poor electric type hated heights.
"You think we should tell Rebecca about what's going on?" Marie asked while staring straight ahead. Lucian's eyes widened.
"Oh no- oh goodness- We should, shouldn't we…." Lucian said. He lowered his head.
"Why are you saying, 'oh no'? Who's Rebecca?" Beatrice asked. "And why is Lucian sulking?"
"Rebecca is Lucian's wife," Marie said. "And he's sulking because once she finds out that Lucia was in danger, and she wasn't told about it… Yeah."
Lucian groaned.
"We should call her, right?" Beatrice asked. "We don't know where the enemy is. For all we know, we could be racing to get to Quinton first. So, the sooner we get to him the better, right?"
"Good idea," Marie said. "We'll call her. How does that sound, Lucian?"
"She's going to kill me…" Lucian said.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Rebecca shouted through Lucian's phone, which was on speaker, so Marie and Beatrice could hear her as well. Rebecca was on a video call with Lucian, so Marie and Beatrice could see the angry mother's face.
Beatrice's eyes widened in shock as Marie giggled to herself.
"I'm sorry!" Lucian cried.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME IMMEDIATELY?!" Rebecca cried.
"I wasn't thinking- I just wanted to save-"
"THAT WAS OUR LITTLE GIRL, AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME SHE WAS IN DANGER SOONER!? I COULD HAVE ASKED FOR PALKIA, YOU DUNCE!"
"P-Palkia!?" Beatrice cried.
"Sometimes Palkia doesn't answer you!" Lucian cried. "I couldn't-"
"IF I SAY IT'S AN EMERGENCY, THEN PALKIA WOULD COME! IT AND I ARE FRIENDS!"
"Wait- hold on-?" Beatrice asked. Rebecca's eyes glanced over to Beatrice.
"Who's that?" She asked. The older woman gasped suddenly. "She's pretty!" Rebecca said. Beatrice's eyes flashed before she started to blush.
"I- Um.." Beatrice's eyes glanced away in embarrassment.
"She has very lovely red hair!" Rebecca continued. "You remind me of someone I knew- Wait. WAIT- Is- is she his daughter..!?"
"We can explain everything!" Marie cried. "We'll start from the beginning."
"Who's going to win!?" Anastasia cheerfully cried.
"I'm going to win!" Lucia said. The two girls were bouncing energetically together on the sidewalk of Mauville city. The white haired girl's energy was contagious, Lucia thought. She couldn't stop smiling as Anastasia started bobbing her head and shuffling her feet like she was dancing to a song. Lucia's eyes flickered once she realized that Anastasia had earbuds on. She could hear the music coming out of them.
"You look like you're in a good mood," Lucia said.
"I'm doing this so you can be pumped and ready for your gym battle!"
Anastasia started snapping her fingers and tapping her feet and hummed even louder. She stepped in front of Lucia and twirled, unplugging her headphones and offering her hand in one fell swoop. The music from her phone started blaring, it was pop music with a fast but catchy beat. Anastasia wordlessly tapped her heels to the beat of the song as she waited for Lucia to take her hand. Lucia looked rather confused, then smiled.
"Aw what the heck," Lucia said. She grabbed her hand, and Anastasia pulled her in. Anastasia and Lucia started dancing together, making up their own moves as they danced along to the beat. Anastasia knew the song better than Lucia- she clapped at every beat. As they danced, they inched closer to the Mauville city gym.
The girls reached the gym entrance and kept dancing together. Suddenly, Anastasia stepped back and started pumping her fist. "Go Lucia!" Anastasia cried. Lucia started dancing even faster as the beat of the song became faster. "Go Lucia! Go Lucia! Go Lucia!" Anastasia said as Lucia danced like a machine. She kept dancing until she backed up toward the entrance, then immediately felt someone bump into her back. Lucia's eyes widened as she swung around and saw The Gym Leader Wattson with a giant grin on his face. Lucia nearly gasped in sheer panic as she hurriedly stepped away.
Wattson started laughing heartily. "You two seem to be having a blast!" He said.
"Hi Mr. Wattson!" Anastasia said happily. Lucia tried leveling her breathing- she nearly had a heart attack.
"Y-You should have said something!" Lucia said.
"You were having such a good time that I didn't want to stop your fun!" Wattson said before laughing heartily once again. "Are you here to challenge my gym?"
"Y-Yeah.. I am." Lucia said with a heavy breath.
"What's your name?" Wattson asked.
"Lucia."
"Lucia!" Wattson said. "Brawly called about you. He said you'd be here with a buddy. So, you must be Beatrice?" Wattson turned to Anastasia. Anastasia's eyebrows rose as she shook her head.
"N-No! No! Uh, due to some complications, Beatrice isn't here." Anastasia said.
"Ahhh! I see!" Wattson said. "I was told Beatrice was a red-haired girl. I was wondering if you dyed your hair before coming!" The old man laughed heartily. "If you're planning on challenging me, come on in!"
"I- I will!" Lucia said. The three of them walked inside.
"Will your friend Anastasia join you for this fight?" Wattson asked, walking ahead of the two girls as they reached the arena. It was as large as a football field.
"N-No. It'll be just me.." Lucia said. She sighed.
"What's wrong?" Wattson asked.
"This will be my first time challenging a gym all by myself.." Lucia said. "I'm a little nervous."
"I see!" Wattson said. He spun around as the two girls stopped walking. "Don't worry too much! Do your best like always!" Wattson laughed cheerfully. Despite Wattson's hearty and uplifting laughter, Lucia felt tense- and Anastasia could see it. The purple-haired girl balled her fists. Anastasia instinctively reached for Lucia's hand, but stopped herself short. She then reached for her shoulder and patted it.
"You're going to be fine." She said. Lucia turned her head to Anastasia and nodded.
"Y-Yeah," She said. Lucia turned back to Wattson, and nodded at the old man.
"Come with me." Wattson said. She and the old man walked side by side, staring each other in the eye as they walked to the middle of the arena together.
"You've got fire in your eyes," Wattson said.
"O-Of course I do." Lucia said.
"You're determined to win, are you?"
"O-Of course I am."
"You don't sound like it."
"Wh-Why don't you just- mind your own business, old man..!?"
Wattson chuckled.
"I guess I will!" He cried. "You do remember how one on one invoker battles work, yes?"
"We use only one Pokémon each. Whoever is defeated first, wins." Lucia said. "There's no switch-ins allowed."
The two trainers continued to walk side by side as they both brandished their Pokéballs. They stopped walking and turned to face each other. Wattson never stopped grinning despite the growing tension.
"I'm going to fight with everything I've got from the start!" Wattson said.
In Lucia's hand was her Marshtomp's Pokéball.. Other than that fight with that other old guy- Lucia had never fought with Marshtomp before. It seemed like the right choice, Marshtomp was a water and ground type, and since the two would synchronize, Electric-type moves would be ineffective against them both. So even if Lucia had little to no experience with fighting alongside Marshtomp, Wattson would be at a severe disadvantage.
Lucia threw her Pokéball in front of her, and Marshtomp came out from the ball with a battle cry.
Wattson chuckled loudly. "A ground type, I see!" He cried. He began chuckling even louder.
"Of course! This is an Electric-type gym!" Lucia felt herself become more scared as she pointed at Wattson. "So there's no possible way you can win…!"
Wattson's laughter ended with a sigh. He shook his head.
"A gym leader knows better not to rely too much on their gym-typing. I've fought against thousands of trainers who brought ground types.- And they've still lost! So don't assume you've won already!" Wattson threw his Pokeball into the air. "Come out, Ampharos!"
Ampharos bellowed a cry after it landed on the ground.
"A-Aren't you going to put on your Armor now!?" Lucia cried.
"Not just yet." Wattson said.
Lucia's eyes widened.
"Ampharos. Use Charge!" Intense electricity gathered around Ampharos's body. Electricity started raging out from its body violently. "Now he's supercharged...!" Wattson said.
"S-So what?" Lucia said.
"Ampharos, use charge again!" Wattson said. More electricity rose around the Ampharos."Now we've ascended past being super charged..!" Wattson said.
"M…Marshtomp…" Marshtomp looked afraid.
"We're fine, Marshtomp," Lucia said. "You're a ground type, remember? It doesn't matter how much electricity they charge. It means nothing, as long as-"
"And this..!" Wattson pulled his wrist to his chest, revealing his invoker bracelet, and another bracelet that held a keystone for Mega evolution. "Is to go…EVEN FURTHER BEYOND..!" Wattson slammed his hand onto the invoker, and immediately, Ampharos's body was encased in a purple shell. The sphere began to slowly crack and break apart, and then, with a violent roar, Mega Ampharos emerged, with its long, waving majestic hair and tail.
"And if I were to activate my Invoker now… and my invoker synchronizes with Mega Ampharos…" Wattson pressed his hand onto his invoker. In a flash of light, he was clad in armor. And then, the old man crossed his arms as electricity raged out from his body. Wattson roared an intense roar. Wild blasts of wind pushed against Lucia and Marshtomp.
The man's armor became golden. The electricity around the man gathered to his arms and legs and encased him in electricity. A flowing electric cape flew out from behind his back. His helmet transformed as well, taking the look of a knight's helm. The old man slowly began to levitate to the air as thunder gathered around him.
"Y-You..! You still can't hurt Marshtomp and me!" Lucia cried. "That transformation's flashy, but it's useless!" Mega Ampharos let out a battle cry, and in an instant, dragon type energy was pumped into the electricity. The yellow electricity that pulsated about the old man's body and cape turned azure blue.
Lucia's eyes widened in sheer horror.
"My thunder has Dragon type energy in it..!" Wattson cried. His voice echoed as he spoke. "Which means..!"
"It- It can hurt us.!" Lucia cried. She began to step back. "Oh no… He can hurt us..! He can- He-" Lucia spun to Marhstomp, who looked as panicked as she was.
"Lucia!" Anastasia shouted. Lucia heard her voice from the side lines. She turned her head to see Anastasia sitting on the bleachers on the wayside. "Don't give up! You can do this!"
Lucia nodded. "You're right..!" She turned to Wattson and glared. "All this does is make it a fair fight! BRING IT!"
"I see." Rebecca said. Lucian held the phone high so Rebecca could see Marie and Beatrice behind him. Rebecca had her arms crossed. "So now Beatrice wants to hear it from Quinton's mouth…"
"Yeah. We called you to let you know about this beforehand, so you can work on getting Palkia back."
"Okay- I really need an explanation here," Beatrice said. "What do you mean by Palkia? Does Rebecca have Palkia?"
"Well.. yes and no." Marie said. "Rebecca caught Palkia way back when, but ever since Rebecca retired as a trainer, she released it. While the two were together, She and Palkia developed a bond. The two became buddies, she can call for Palkia, and sometimes, Palkia may come to help."
"The way you worded it makes it sound like Palka isn't reliable." Beatrice said.
"Because it isn't.." Rebecca said. "It could be busy, so there's a chance it might not show up if I ask for it. But if we do get it, we can use its power with space to teleport all of us to Sinnoh."
"Really?" Beatrice cried. "That's incredible..!"
"So let's do this," Lucian said. "Flygon's going to keep flying us over to Sinnoh Meanwhile, you try to get Palkia. If you get Palkia before we make it to Sinnoh, I'll ask Flygon to land. Then you can teleport to us and get us to Sinnoh in one fell swoop."
Beatrice nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. Because no matter what, we're making progress toward our goal of getting to Quinton."
"I agree." Marie said.
"Awesome! Then that's that!" Lucian said. "All right babe, Talk to you later! By-"
Rebecca grumbled.
"Huh..?" Lucian asked.
"Hmph!" Rebecca said, turning away from
What's wrong?" Lucian said.
"You know what's wrong! I'm still mad at you," Rebecca said. Lucian sighed.
"I'm sorry for not calling you to tell you about Lucia sooner. Next time something happens, you'll be the first person I ask for help!"
"...You promise?"
"Yes! I love you, cupcake! I love you so much! So please forgive me!" Lucian made a kissy face. "Mwah!" The man said. "I love you!"
Rebecca sighed and cracked a smile. "I can't stay mad at you… I love you too, dummy. Just call me next time if something happens to our little girl." Rebecca blew a kiss at the phone, and Lucian did the same. "Bye, my little cotton candy haired teddy bear~" Rebecca said. "Mwah!"
"Mwah!" Lucian replied.
The phone went off. He turned to Marie and Beatrice. Beatrice had a blank expression. Marie looked like she was struggling to keep a straight face.
"PFFFF-" Marie suddenly burst into laughter.
"What!?" Lucian cried. "I love my wife!"
"COTTON CANDY TEDDY BEAR!? OH MY GOD I CAN'T- I CAN'T BREATHE!"
"It-It's because my hair's pink like cotton candy.." Lucian said.
Beatrice sighed deeply.