Guardian Solaris
Ages:
Ash-17
Max- 13
May- 15
Brock- 22
Dawn- 13
Serena (OC) – 9
Drew- 17
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"Speech"
'Thoughts'
(Authors' notes)
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Chapter 6- You lose a lot.
The news reporter looked into the cameras with a solemn face. "Breaking news." He began, "We have just had reports that that the volcano on Cinnabar Island in the Kanto region has exploded. We have some pictures." He said as the screen was filled with images of an island completely levelled over. Stumps of trees, the foundations of houses without the roof anywhere to be seen, and an island that was once filled with life was now a skeleton of what it once was.
"It is said that about half of the population has managed to escape, whilst the other half, at an estimate of Thirty thousand people had been caught in the blast, amongst those saved was the Gym leader of Cinnabar Island, Blaine. The surviving population will be relocated to the Seafoam islands. We have a phone number for any relatives of people who lived on the island; if you call it you will be able to find if any of your relatives had managed to survive the blast." He said with a cough.
"Of course there have been two recent threats to the island, one seven years ago when the volcano was successfully blocked up by the Islands gym leader and a group of Pokémon trainers in order to protect the local inhabitants, and one more three years ago when scientists used the same strategy as the gym leader to block up the volcano once more. Of course the current leading theory is that this strategy by the islanders had done nothing but build up pressure within the volcano until the explosion tore up the blocks put up against it. Of course the shock wave was said to be heard all the way in Johto. The whole eastern side of the island is said to have been taken off of the map." He reported, pausing for a few seconds.
"Of course Cinnabar Island was a known tourism and technological centre and the effects of its demise to the rest of Kanto are currently unknown, but reports say that Kanto will possibly be going through some hard times in the near future."
This was where things truly began.
"Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the deceased."
This is when the world began to break to my will.
----
The crowd was buzzing in Hoenn, everyone was excited by the grand festival, the faces of the co-ordinators, with the exception of one were on the front of every magazine, and every news paper was abuzz with who would win. The streets were filled with vendors selling anything and everything to the tourists, children and parents all coming to watch the Grand festival.
When the time came those who had tickets all rushed into the place where they would be able to watch the matches in person whilst those who were not able to watch it crowded around large screens that showed them what was happening.
The stadium was abuzz, talking between the crowds merging each random conversation until it sounded like a low grumble in the distance as the judges sat down into their positions, and then the MC came out as all the spectators broke out of their conversations and began clapping. "Hey guys!" Lillian cried into her microphone as the crowd let out a set of screams in agreement.
She smiled when she received the red light, to see that this was being broadcast and she began her speech. "Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to the semi finals of the Hoenn grand festival!" she cried happily, "This is one of the best festivals that I've been to so far, and we have our last four contestants from a hundred, do you want to see them?" she asked as the audience roared happily in approval. "Well here they are!" she cried into the microphone.
"The Princess of Hoenn- May Maple!" she roared as May ran out onto the field waving her hands to the audience, a bright smile on her face, as they all cheered at her. Some waving signs to ask May to marry them, others clapping out of politeness because they wanted Drew to win. She ran out to MC Lillian as the MC gave the younger co-ordinator a hug and instructed for May to stay behind her.
"Let's welcome: The Valliant Rose- Drew LaRousse!" she cried as Drew walked coolly into the stadium, hands in his pockets as he walked to the screams in the crowd, and people squealing as he hugged MC Lillian, kissing either one of her cheeks, and walking to his place without any prompting. He saw May and gave her the best smile that he could give, seeing her turn away in embarrassment; Drew's smile grew larger as he stood besides the brunette girl in silence, wondering if she was as shocked at his appearance as he was by hers.
Right, and our next contestant The Princess of Sinnoh- Dawn Berlitz!" she shouted as the crowd let out a smaller applause at the arrival of Dawn who went in a similar fashion to May, and to her place, giving a brief smile to her companion.
"And finally, the Mystery Man of this competition, Red!" she said with a more restrained voice as the boy walked out to a more exhausted applause. The three co-ordinators immediately eyed the last person, May looking straight at the Pikachu, feeling a slight twinge of nostalgia hit her. The feeling that this person was too familiar, but in order to look at the new comer she had to look at Drew who took the signal that was given as one of her curiosity in him, as he let out a slight sigh of relief. He didn't turn back to May but instead continued to look at his challenger, satisfied in the knowledge that he had done something satisfactory to ensure a nice win against this trainer.
Red passed talking to Lillian and went straight to standing besides Dawn as she looked onto him with the same curiosity that a child has when looking at a new person.
"Now are you ready!" the MC roared but her words did not go noticed by Dawn as she continued to look towards the person. "Hey." Dawn whispered to him whilst Lillian was babbling about this or that, "What you did with Pikachu was kind of amazing." She complemented but received no response at all, "You mind telling me how you managed to do that?" she asked but found that there was still no response, as she gave a sigh in frustration, wondering just exactly who was this Red and why didn't he talk.
"Now." MC Lillian said, "The matches will be Red vs. Drew LaRousse, and May Maple vs. Dawn Berlitz." Suddenly the MC had the attention of Dawn, wondering if she had just missed anything important. Lillian turned around with a smile to the contestants, "Now May, Dawn could you sit on the benches over there, and Drew you're on the left side Red's on the right end." She asked as they all moved to where they needed to be. Dawn just remembering that she was in a competition and that there was not much room to think about other things, whilst May was thinking something along the same lines.
The two sat down, briefly exchanging a smile before May asked, "He your special man?" which left Dawn bemused for a second as she had never really thought of Red as anything like that.
"Yeah, but not like that." She said playfully, "It's just weird, it's like trying to solve a mystery." Dawn explained, sighing when she thought that May wouldn't understand it at all.
"I know." She admitted to Dawn's shock, "It's like I've seen him before or something." She said to herself in concentration, a sense of melancholy behind her words. But the Princess of Hoenn brushed those thoughts away as she tried her best to bring a bright smile on her face, "But we got to think about our battle hey?" she said cheerfully, but got a perplexed look from Dawn, as May's mask fell and a look of exhaustion appeared on her face.
"You alright May?" Dawn asked having seen May do this many times. She remembered when she used to do the same thing, when she had been on her losing streak in Sinnoh, and was surprised that no one else had noticed. But then again no one had really noticed when she was in that state apart from people who had gone through it themselves.
"May looked to Dawn and said, "I'll be fine" she sighed, "Let's watch this." and Dawn nodded making a note to talk about things later.
On the battlefield Drew threw two Pokéball's as his two Pokémon materialised out of them, one of them a Flygon, a bright green Dragonfly like Pokémon with deep red eyes, and alongside it a Roserade that stood alert in front of their master. Ready for just about anything that their opponent would ready to do to them.
"Pikachu, Typhlosion." Ash whispered as the Pokémon on his shoulder jumped down and ran to the field whilst his blue and white Typhlosion materialised out of its Pokéball and stood tall in front of his trainer.
"So it's Roserade and Flygon vs. Pikachu and Typhlosion!" MC Lillian said enthusiastically, "Now let's get busy!"
Immediately Drew shouted, "Roserade Petal dance, Flygon power it up with gust!" he shouted, taking the same quick fire route that Harley took, as the petals flew at blinding speeds towards their opponents.
"Typhlosion, stop it." Ash ordered as Typhlosion let lose a flamethrower, incinerating all of the petals as their ashes littered the battlefield.
"Flygon, fly up and then hyper beam!" Drew ordered as His Flygon began to ascend, readying a ball of energy at its mouth, aiming it towards the pair that stood on the opposite side of the field.
"Shoot it down." Ash ordered as Pikachu let loose a bolt of lightning to Flygon, striking the Pokémon in the wings as it lost balance, twisting to the side as its hyper beam veered off course, digging a harmless line into the dirt.
"Now Roserade, Magical leaf!" Drew ordered as the Grass type launched a Magical leaf attack across the field striking both of Ash's distracted Pokémon with its attack as both contestants' points reached the three quarter mark.
"Now Flygon are you ready to fight?" Drew asked his Pokémon, checking if it was over the Thunderbolt that Pikachu had given and Flygon nodded. "Then use air cutter!" he ordered as Flygon attacked both of Red's Pokémon, they ducked clumsily to avoid the attack. But when they rose back up they found Roserade in front of them using Magical leaf once more, which struck both Pokémon, as Drew looked onto his opponent confidently.
"Is that all you have?" Drew asked, not deterred by the lack of answer that he received as he continued to talk to his opponent, "I was right about your Pikachu." The co-ordinator said with a smile wondering if his opponent recalled their prior meeting during the appeal rounds.
"Flygon, up in the air again." Drew ordered as Flygon flew high up into the air. Dangling above Pikachu and Typhlosion.
"Pikachu, start up." Ash said as Pikachu nodded and began to concentrate, looking as if it was striking a powerful electric attack but without a spark coming out of its body. Slowly Pikachu lifted itself off of the ground, gradually rising above the ground, and just as Drew realised what his opponent was up to Pikachu rocketed up into the sky like a bullet.
"Dodge it!" Drew shouted as Flygon dodged Pikachu causing it to fly past Flygon and up into the sky, slowing down as Pikachu looked down to the Pokémon underneath him.
Pikachu began to shout, "PikaPikaPika!" as a bright yellow shroud of electricity began to encapsulate it and he began to dive down to Flygon with a volt tackle.
"Flame wheel!" Ash ordered as Typhlosion began to charge towards Roserade.
Drew began to panic as he shouted, "Stop it with Magical leaf!" Forgetting Pikachu for a second as the electric Pokémon crashed into Flygon, and grabbed onto it tightly as Flygon fell out of the sky. Down on the ground Typhlosion continued to roll as Roserade's Magical leaf was incinerated by the flames that surrounded its opponent. Typhlosion crashed into the grass type, sending it flying back, just as a Pikachu jumped off of Flygon and onto Typhlosion's arms and the bug crashed into his partner with a bang.
Immediately the judges pressed their buzzers as Drew's Pokémon were officially knocked out, declaring Red the winner of the competition.
The stadium burst into applause as Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder and Typhlosion came in front of his trainer, both receiving a petting on the back of their heads as a reward for their performance. He looked up to see Drew walking out of the contest hall, gripping his two Pokéball's tightly as he left. Without thinking any further into the situation Ash began to walk out of the place himself. Taking a glance at the Nurse Joys, one in particular. He gave her a dark smile as she looked away in embarrassment.
On his way out he passed May, his body becoming stiff and more rigid as he tried his hardest not to show his unease in the way he moved. Then he passed Dawn who said, "That was a good match." But he continued walking, hearing her sigh when he walked past, getting ready to get out the moment he heard the MC begin her speech.
But before he got out Ash suddenly stopped, freezing before he could get out of the place. Pikachu asked "PikaPi?"
As Ash wondered why he had exactly stopped, he turned around, looking at the two getting ready for battle, standing on either side of the field as he whispered, "It won't do any harm to watch, will it?" moving to the place that May and Dawn had sat earlier.
On the field May had released her Blaziken and Espeon as they stood strong in front of her, Dawn in turn called out her Empoleon and Floatzel who stood vigilant in front of the Star of Sinnoh as the eyes of the two co-ordinators glittered in excitement, the crowd fell to a hush Lillian began to speak, "So it's Dawn's Empoleon and Floatzel against May's Espeon and Blaziken. Let's get Busy!"
"Blaziken Fire Blast!" May shouted.
"Empoleon Hydro Pump!" Dawn roared, as the two Pokémon's attacks struck each other in the centre of the field causing a large explosion, kicking up a plume of dust.
Once the dust settled and May saw her opponents she ordered, "Blaziken use Overheat, Espeon follow it up with Shadow ball." as the two Pokémon launched their attacks to Dawn's Pokémon.
Thinking quickly Dawn shouted, "Floatzel use water gun, Empoleon use metal claw and throw that Shadow ball back!" as Floatzel extinguished the Overheat, and Empoleon waited for the shadow ball to come to it, slowly charging its claw with a bright energy. It scooped the ball of energy, span around and threw it back at Espeon where it landed with a bang.
"Espeon are you alright?" May asked as her Pokémon got up and with a shake looked ready for battle, just as Floatzel came in with a aqua jet, knocking Espeon down once more, but due to its close proximity to Blaziken, "Use Mega punch!" May shouted as Blaziken landed a blow onto Floatzel's head, sending the smaller Pokémon into the dirt.
"Peck on Blaziken!" Dawn shouted to Empoleon as the water type began to charge into the fire type, its beak glowing.
"Dodge!" May shouted as Blaziken rolled out of the way, just in time. Stepping a few steps back from the water type who had a strong advantage against it.
"Hey May." Dawn said as the Pokémon regrouped with their partners, "How do you expect a fire type to beat a water type?"
May smirked, her eyes burning a bright fire that Dawn had not seen in them before, "Type isn't everything."
"But it helps." Dawn countered.
"But it's not everything."
"But you know what May?" Dawn asked.
"What?" she asked curiously.
"Floatzel use aqua jet!" she ordered as Floatzel surrounded itself in water and began to charge towards Mays Espeon, "Empoleon, use Ice beam on Floatzel!" she said as the penguin like Pokémon froze the water around its partner as Floatzel crashed into Espeon, with the sound of shattering ice, creating a sparkle of showers around the now standing Pokémon, as the judges pressed their buzzers and May recalled Espeon into its Pokéball.
"Don't get distracted." Dawn teased poking her tongue out, as May smiled in return.
"Blaziken, Mega punch." She said calmly as her Pokémon smashed its fist into Floatzel once more, sending the Pokémon into oblivion, as the judges pressed their buzzers and Dawn returned her Floatzel, with her smile gone off of her face.
"You know what Dawn, you were right." May said happily, "You shouldn't get distracted." as Dawn focused her attention to the battle at hand. Only Empoleon and Blaziken were left, and both were in rather good shape with both co-ordinators on equal points.
Both looked towards each other, the fire within them burning. Inside May the determination to win, and inside of Dawn the passion to reach this goal that had eluded the two of them for so long.
Their hearts pumping wildly; their breath at its edge. The excitement, the rush. This was living.
"Empoleon."
"Blaziken."
"Fire blast! /Water pulse!" the two commanded as the attacks flew to the centre of the field exploding with a bang, throwing dust around the field, but the co-ordinators did not hesitate, shouting, "Mega punch! /Iron claw!" as their Pokémon rushed into the dust unable to see anything, until their foe appeared at the last second and they attacked wildly, throwing both back. They got up and struck each other again, and again as the dust settled revealing the two on the ground, panting heavily.
"Blaziken! /Empoleon!" the two shouted, wondering how their Pokémon were doing, as they began to glow red and blue respectively.
"That's Blaziken's Blaze and Empoleon's Torrent ability." The MC shouted as the two Pokémon got up to their feet, ready for one last round. Causing the co-ordinators hopes to lift up.
"Hydro pump!" Dawn shouted as Blaziken was struck with a critical hit, causing it to collapse on the ground. The judges pressed their buzzers declaring Dawn as the winner of this match. May let out gasp in grief as all of her past failures came back to her. All of Harley's words rushing back. The thoughts, the feelings, all that she did; all that she wished she hadn't.
She took Blaziken back into its Pokéball, and walked away. Seeing Dawn celebrate and the audience not paying a shred of attention to her, she walked calmly to the exit, even if it was the wrong exit. The dark archway that led to somewhere that no one else was in, and once she was out of the eyes of everyone else, out of the eyes of everyone who would see her running. Her happy facade shattered, as she collapsed on the side of this dark hole, curled herself up hugging her legs and wept.
----
"You were brilliant!" Dawn squealed ecstatically, holding Empoleon tightly. There was never a moment before this where she was this relived in her life. She won, she won she repeated in her mind. Wanting to go for the next round and winning this competition. She was going to win. She was going to get through. She Will Win.
She sighed calming herself down, but a bright smile still plastered upon her face, "You were brilliant." She said to her Pokémon, recalling it into its Pokéball, as she looked to find May, but saw that she was gone.
"Whilst we clear the field for the finals there will be a Fifteen minute break." MC Lillian said as Dawn forgot about May altogether, thinking that she had simply gone out "in that time our contestants will go and heal their Pokémon in the Pokémon centre inside of the stadium. We'll be back in fifteen minutes." MC Lillian said as Dawn went the opposite way to May in order to heal her friends, and think about how exactly she was going to win, but if she was sure about one thing it was that she was going to win.
Who knew? Maybe she would be able to see that guy and find out why his identity seemed to irritate her so much.
----
May cried and cried and cried, a flow of tears rolling down her cheeks. Just wondering why, just why in the world was she so weak. Stupid weak May. Why in the world, how in the world she could lose. What did she do wrong? She was close friends with Blaziken and Espeon and they respected each other. Blaziken even stood up when everything looked as if it was lost.
"Why." She croaked out, just a weak little girl. Just someone who listened to people she shouldn't have .Did things she never should have. She tried to set things right but why, why wouldn't she ever be able to just have this little thing. Just this thing that she spent so long trying to get.
"Why." She wept once more, happy that no one would hear her. No one ever has, and maybe that was the way it was meant to be. Just meant to dwell in sorrow. To never just have someone to make her better. He said, they all said. They all were right.
Maybe it was better this way? Who was she to put all her troubles on other people? She had already done enough wrong, and was happy when she did it. Maybe she just deserved it. Maybe it was just better this way.
"Are you alright?" a voice asked, shocking May as she frantically wiped the tears on her eyes. Sniffling as she tried to say something, not looking at the person, not trying anything to find out who this person was. Just wiping her tears, because she didn't cry here, she didn't cry.
"It's alright." The person said in a soft voice. A calm soothing tone as he placed one of his hands on her shoulder, holding her firmly. "It's alright." He said in a tone that calmed her down yet at the same time rang with familiarity.
"I'm fine." She sniffled, "I'm- I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" he asked calmly as he held her firm, yet to too tight that he would have harmed her.
"I'm fine." She repeated. Looking towards him but seeing nothing. Just a silhouette of shadow. Blacked out by the bright lights of the stadium behind of him. Just an invisible man here to comfort her. His lack of identity was something that comforted her, and scared her at the same time. Happy that she wouldn't talk to someone that she could be hiding from, watch their face every time they saw her, yet terrified that he saw her...
"So, where are you going to go from here?" he asked soothingly, as May thought. Looking at every option, every road open to her. Somewhere that would lead her out of where she was right now. She just couldn't answer, but out of all of those choices there was one thing that May was certain of.
"I'm going to stop co-ordinating." She said with certainty, rubbing her eyes, hoping that he hadn't heard her weep. Even though the chances were slim, she could still hope.
"Really? Why?" he asked curiously, the calm side to his voice never leaving. No laughter, no amazement, nothing but a simple question.
"Because." She said with some certainty in her voice. "There's no point really. It- I'm going to lose. I've tried everything so far. I don't- Why should I carry on?" her own mind speaking out against her for telling these things to some stranger, this shadow that could be anyone. Just wondering why she was saying any of this when she hadn't told anyone else. Maybe because no one else had ever asked. Nobody had seen her like this. Without her mask, her false smile to protect her. Maybe because when someone did ask, they'd skip around the question, or leave the subject alone after one try. But the most likely reason would be that she hadn't needed anyone at any other moment, as much as she needed someone now.
"So you're going to stop this, because you didn't win." He confirmed,"Is that why you became a co-ordinator? For ribbons and trophies? I saw how happy you were when you were in your battle. I always thought you were a co-ordinator just because you loved being one."
May sighed, "I use to." Not going into any more detail, suddenly feeling as if she was saying too much. Not wanting to tell this stranger about how she fell. When she used to be happy at every turn, every time she was in a contest, all the friends that she made. All that was, all that she had left, and the pain that came when she burnt down all the bridges she had made. It was her fault, all her fault, why did she. "It's all my fault." She croaked, tears threatening to rush out once more, but she wouldn't. If there was one thing that she was certain of at this moment it was that she was not going to cry here, not in front of this shadow, not in front of anyone. "It's." She held her tongue, now she was putting her burden on someone else.
"I don't know what happened to you, and I'll probably not see you after today. But I saw you out there, and before you lost you were happy." He said with more familiarity in his voice the more he spoke, "instead of crying that you lost, think about why you lost, and how happy you were when you thought you were going to win." He said with advice that didn't really seem to mean anything to May. By this time she just wanted him to go, just to leave her to be on her own for a little longer, so that she could just let it all out. Yet at the same time she was grateful, thankful that someone was here to help her to stand again.
"I'll think about it." May conceded, as she could sense that he was smiling.
"Promise?" He asked
"I promise." She replied with a sniffle. "I'll think about it." and he stood up and walked away. His silhouette growing smaller until he left the darkness of this little hall way completely and into the stadium as something ran up to his shoulder.
It was at this moment that if May knew anything, it was that she was not sure about anything. She would think about it, and maybe just maybe she, like Dawn would be able to thank her mystery man, she would be able to thank hers. Not because he had solved all of her problems, but given her a kind word. As tears began to flow down her face once more.