You get the routine by now, I rest for a few days after a big battle and then hit the road again. Yeah yeah I know, I was quite predictable back then but... what would you expect? I was a man on mission after all.
Anywho, as I headed south through 214 I opted to avoid maniac tunnel, for obvious reasons, and proceeded through the route's main pathway. Throughout the route I kept using Eevee in battle, both familiarizing it with battles in general and with my style.
Mixed results, some losses and victories but... how else would I be able to grow?
As I came ever closer to one of the great leaks of Sinnoh, Lake Valor, a certain pathway leading towards the east caught my eye. I... had never seen it before, and I got naturally curious.
With Grotle by my side we both ventured further through the path, till we came across one of the most beautiful springs I had ever seen... But I knew I had to leave. It... it wasn't meant for me, not yet. There was something too peaceful about the place, something so graceful that it unknowingly disturbed my restless mind. Yet as I left the springs I couldn't help but feel as if there was something familiar hidden within, deeper, but... perhaps I'm just imagining things.
With that small detour over with it took us only a few hours to get back on the main road, and only two more days before I made it to lake Valor, where I decided would be a nice place to camp.
With everyone helping we managed to set up my tent, get enough logs for the night, and gather enough berries for us all to have some food. As we were eating a few wild Pokemon came, having smelled the food. Obviously I have them some since we had an abundance of leftovers and uh. No easy way to put this but... I ended up catching my sixth pokemon!
Yeah... the sixth pokemon I caught in Sinnoh was entirely because of food.
How fitting.
Before I forget to write it down, it was a Meditite, the pokémon that had decided to join our team. In the future he'd prove himself to be a great sparring partner for both buizel and another future team member, he also, unlike everyone else, was calm by nature. His presence helped keep us balanced since... yeah he was the most responsible out of all of us, myself included.
Let's move on from this topic...
Since nightfall had already hit we wound up staying near our camp instead of exploring the lake, since none of us wanted to get lost. It was actually a really peaceful night, with the ground beneath us and the stars above us, I was able to rest alongside my team... I felt... so tired. From everything and I could finally get a chance to catch my breath...
I woke up the next dag to a- well-
I'd like to say it was surprising but... legends have kids lost their shock value at this point. In case it wasn't obvious I got visited by the lakesides guardian, Azelf, deity of willpower.
I had already returned everyone back to their capsules at that point so I was entirely alone as she/it flew around me. She... she spoke to me, through telepathy. She had recognized as Celebi's chosen human, but what had gotten her curious was my alleged miraculous willpower. As I would later find out although Azelf tried looking into my memories, Celebi, in an act of great foresight, had already taken the precaution to build some sort form of psychic barrier around my mind, preventing other psychics from peering in. Though that was more for there sake then mine.
For I had watched a world die. I had felt things no being was meant to feel. I had heard noises and screams and pitches that no one should ever have to endure. Azelf would have become overcome by raw fear if she had seen inside my head.
I... it comes with hindsight that I recognize that my unnatural willpower. What had peaked her curiosity. That fire within my soul was all that kept me alive.
Scary thoughts. Oh, and by the way, I swear that my mental state gets better throughout my journey and uhh... yeah this first portion of my new life is very uncomfortable to write about. Bad memories I guess.
After Azelf inevitably left, I had immediately realized my stupidity with letting her leave. She, along with the other two, were instrumental to Cyrus's plans and I literally let her walk away without even warning her. Goddamn it.
It only took another week and a half before I had traversed through all of route 214 / 213 and had finally arrived at Pastoria City, home of Crasher Wake.
I remember feeling a tad nervous, even though the team voted unanimously on challenging him upon arrival at the city. But, guts over fear, right?
As soon as I'd stated my name the man laughed and grew an eager look in his eye, apparently word had spread about some prodigy trainer wiping the floor with gum leaders that usually take years to defeat. He announced that my winning streak would end with him. It didn't.
His first choice was a fierce looking Floatzel while I decided that the very best choice possible would be it's pre-evolved form, Buizel.
Once again my otter friend continued to beat the odds and ,coupled with it's intense training and the heat of the battle, managed to evolve! Floatzel, with regained energy, slashed through it's counterpart, giving me the early lead. The wrestler didn't look fazed though, if anything he seemed excited. Apparently he hadn't changed either.
Even though Floatzel wasn't knocked out I recalled him and sent out Eevee, since it hadn't gotten to fight in an official gym battle yet. Crasher Wake decided to send out a Gyrados...
Anyways, after Eevee got one shot by a hyper beam I opted to play things a tad more safe by sending out my trusty new starter, Grotle. The battle between them was swift, with Gyrados simply outmatched in strength, strategy, and speed. Once again crasher Wake seemed only excited about the prospect of being at his last Pokemon and ,with a clear smile on his face, released his ace Pokemon. An Empoleon
Not to bore you with details though Grotle put up a good fight he was eventually defeated. Floatzel almost met the same fate, but due to his use of ice punch the otter Pokemon once again came out on top, almost single handedly bringing me the win!
To be honest, I actually had quite a bit of fun with that match. It... was alot closer then I had expected and... I can get why these battles normally take folk years to win. I'm lucky that I've been a trainer for a little over five years at this point, and a skilled one at that or I'd never have made it this far this quickly.
With a bear hug the giant known as Crasher Wake gifted me the Fen Badge, officially bringing my total to four. Half of what I needed in order to rally some sort of support from the league for when Cyrus makes his move.
As I sat in my rented room, waiting for my team to heal, I received another very interesting visitor...
it was Celebi. Of course it was Celebi. Who else would it be at this point?
After checking up on how'd I been doing she grew a tired and fearful look in her eye, as she informed me of a fellow legend that needed our help. A Cresselia was apparently being hunted down by one of team Galactic's admins... or, he would be attacking because apparently it had already happened.
Celebi, I'm order to save cresselia, just did her thing and went back in time by a week.
So... yeah, she basically told me that I had one week to finish up any lose ends on Sinnoh's mainland before she teleports us both to Cresselia's home,
Fullmoon Island.
1350 words
