I absentmindedly played with Eve's hair while her head was laid on my lap. She was lazily flipping through channels, and I could sense she was close to falling asleep. After the loss of Nathia earlier today, all of us had rented a big hotel room and planned to spend the next couple days recovering from the restless journey over the past three weeks. Eve was lying on top of me, watching TV. Luca was talking to Maylee, who had her head resting on his shoulder. Igneo was snoring softly on a chair. Mayva and Zekara were discussing who knows what at a table. Dakota and Jun were sitting, propped up on each other's backs. Dakota was reading a book, and Jun was polishing his katana. I could sense just about everyone in the room were close to falling asleep, and I could already here Eve start to snore. As I took the remote out of her hand and began to flip the channels, suddenly, there was a loud beeping from the TV that threw everyone up, followed by a woman's voice speaking loudly.
"We interrupt your regularly scheduled programs to bring you a breaking new alert. A group of Alphist extremists have bombed Shinesky City, killing over a hundred, and have taken four women hostage from across the region. Cassia Rhine, daughter of the Shinesky mayor, Jenna Lukas, a Team Corona officer in the government branch, Twiel Mays, a college student at the pristine Central City University, and Lillian Alma, a factory worker from Gearbreeze Town. If any informa-" I clicked the TV off and slammed the remote down, causing Maylee to jump.
"Alphist…?" Igneo asked, looking around. Dakota spoke.
"The Alphists are a group of people who worship the Pokemon Arceus, who they believe to be the creator of the universe. Several years ago, when Jun and I were very young, they waged a religious war against the Arkals, or those who worship the Pokemon Arkega, the deity of Islaa. They fought over who was the single true deity, and though the Arkals won, the Alphists were far from defeated, and instead, went into hiding. I guess they're back now, which means more trouble for us. We're going to have to take them on. You five stay here."
"Ahem?" I asked. "Lillian Alma? That's my mother. We're going with you." Luca nodded his head in agreement, and stood beside me.
"Very well. Jun, will you allow it?" Dakota looked at Jun, who nodded his head.
"I see no reason why they can't. Though, this will be incredibly dangerous, and I heavily suggest we pass on our weapons to them. All you three still carry yours, no?" he looked at Dakota, Zekara, and Mayva in turn, who all nodded. "Dakota, you give yours to Eve. Zekara, yours to Luca. Mayva, yours to Maylee." They each walked to their respective person, and Mayva was the first to speak.
"Maylee." she took, out of her purse, a dagger, and handed it to Maylee. "This dagger is filled with a deadly poison that secretes out of the tip when you press the small button on the side in. Even the lightest scratch can kill the strongest man five times over. The poison will, however, regenerate over time." Mayva passed the dagger to Maylee, who turned it over in her hands and practiced a few swipes. Then, Zekara reached into his bag and pulled out a slingshot and a pouch.
"These stones will not only damage an enemy, but will also provide a myriad of different effects, depending on the emotions in your body. For example, fear will cause paralysis, hatred will cause flames, and sadness will cause numbness. The stones are imbued with a magical power, and will return to the bag five minutes after being shot." Luca took the slingshot and pouch, and slid them into his pocket. Dakota walked up to Eve, with a pouch of her own, and handed it to Eve, who took it.
"Inside here are a weapon known as shuriken. They're small throwing stars that are sealed with the power of winter. Regularly, throwing them will cause no additional effects, but depending on the danger around you, they will increase in ice power, going from chilling the enemy to turning them completely to ice. Also, they'll feel colder when you touch them. Temperature has no effect on them." Finally, Jun walked up to me and slid his katana out of his wrap, and passed it to me. I took it by the hilt and looked at it. It was glowing with fire energy.
"This katana, as you know, has the power of fire sealed within it. The flames come forth with every slice and hit, dealing additional hurt and leaving burns. With a powerful enough attack, the katana can roast your enemy alive." I turned the katana over in my hand, and did an experimental swipe with it. The sword blazed with flames. In turn, the four looked back at us, and Jun continued to speak, addressing all of us. "These weapons, powerful as they may seem, will, with repeated use, start to drain your life energy, making you temporarily weaker. Light use, and you will see no change. Use them for anything and everything, you'll start to see signs. Now… let's go rescue those people." Dakota clicked off the TV, and following a "Great, break time's over," from Luca, we all filed out of the house and gathering in a circle.
"Okay, team, we need to get to Shinesky. That's most likely where the women are being held, and I have a good idea of where they are. Mayva, you spent two years in Shinesky, right?" Mayva nodded, and Dakota continued speaking. "The fastest way there is to ride Latios and Latias back and forth, as at top speed, those two can finish the trip in a few minutes, whereas on foot it would take us hours." I looked at Latios, and he nodded approvingly. "All right. Let's get on with this." Eve and I mounted Latias and Latios respectively, and the pair took off into the sky. Hardly two minutes later, the two touched down in front of Shinesky. We sat down and waited while Latios and Latias brought the rest of the group over. Igneo was the last to arrive. Once everyone was here, I turned and looked at Shinesky and oh my Arceus that place is massive. Shinesky was absolutely huge- in the day, it must be a glittering metropolis. It's population was well over a hundred thousand, and it would be impossible to cover the entire city on foot, even if we ran. However… there was an eerie quiet to the city, one that didn't sit well with me. I drew my new katana, and pulled Searline's Pokeball from my belt, and looked at Mayva to lead us, which she did.
"Stay close to me. I'm almost positive I know where they are. I once went undercover on this sort of stuff." Mayva led us through alleys and dark streets, even darker in the late hours of the night. Eventually, we came to a small shack near the edge of town, deep in the rundown sector of the city. Mayva pulled a Pokeball from her purse, and slowly pulled the door open. The waved the rest of us in, then shut it behind her. I slashed my katana at the air, and as it burst into flames, it illuminated the room and allowed us to get a good look around. The walls were peeling and rotting, water dripped from the roof, and it didn't look like the place any human would want to set foot into. Dreading each step, Mayva lead us deeper underground. There was a stairway underground, and I heard it creak each time one of us placed our foot down. Eventually, we came to an opening, a large-ish room with two doors, one right in front and one to the left. As we all fell silent, I couldn't hear anything. Then, I heard some footsteps. Mayva and Luca each tested a door, and Luca's door, the one to the left, opened, whereas Mayva's was bolted shut. Growling, she turned and followed the rest of us through the open door, which Luca shut behind us.
"Everyone, keep close to me," Jun said, and we walked down the narrow hallway, where all light was gone. As we progressed deeper down the corridor, I could hear more noises. Men chanting, footsteps, a loud crying, and what sounded like the cracking of a whip. We came to a door, and I tried the lock. Nothing. The men's voices were louder now, and I could sense they were behind the door. I silently motioned for Jun to stand beside me, and together, we gave a massive shove, and the door cracked and slammed to the floor. Light flooded us, and the nine of us walked into the room, tense, Pokeballs at the ready.
"We have guests. Who are you, and why do you so rudely enter into our domain?" the man looked at me calmly, smiling a bit, which only enraged me more. "Do you have some business with us?"
"I want my mother back. Those four women you took… one of them was my mother." I lowered my katana hand, but kept Searline's Pokeball at the ready.
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," the man said, still with that same small smile that made me want to slice his head clean off. Just then, I heard another loud, feminine screech from another nearby room. "Oh, them. Right. Is that any of your business?"
"Yes, it is. I already told you, one of them's my mother. Give her back… now." I slowly raised my katana hand, and the man laughed a bit.
"Don't make threats you aren't prepared to back up, foolish boy. I don't care how many friends you have with you, I'll still have your head off in an hour's time if you interfere." he calmly stood up, and took a Pokeball from his waist. I looked over at Jun, who nodded as the other men in the room, wearing a similar gray-red uniform, stood up and each took Pokeballs from their waist. We were badly outnumbered, and even with the Elite Four here, this would still be difficult.
"Flight. It's time to fight. Let's begin." Jun threw a Pokeball at the ground, and engaged three opposing men with his Ninetales. All around me, battles began, and I found myself facing the leader. Chuckling darkly, the man threw a Pokeball at the ground, which opened up into the Pokemon Weavile. I flicked Searline's Pokeball at the floor, and he burst out of it, snarling. I already had a solid advantage, type-wise. As I watched the battles around me, I almost missed the man issuing a command to his Weavile.
"Weavile! Night Slash!" the move was a poor choice. Searline had a resistance to Dark-type moves. Despite being in pain, Searline shook the move off.
"Searline. Hit him with a Fire Fang," I commanded, and Searline leaped at Weavile, fastening his flaming fangs into Weavile before he screeched and threw Searline off, then prepared to strike.
"Allright, Weavile, Give him an Ice Punch." Weavile's fist froze as he slammed it into Searline with a powerful punch, but again, the move wasn't very effective, and Searline shook off the ice clinging to his fur, then stood back up.
"Searline, end it with another Fire Fang!" as I issued the command, Searline lunged at Weavile, sinking his teeth into Weavile and causing the creature to go limp. The man growled angrily, and sent Weavile back to his Pokeball, before grabbing the second one from his belt and throwing it down. My heart sank when I saw the Pokemon Hydregion, and knew there was absolutely no way Searline was coming out of this alive.
"Hydregion. Dragon Pulse." I winced as a shriek of pain came from Searline as he was slammed back into a wall, then falling to the floor, fainted. Luca tossed an angry glace at me, and I shrugged helplessly before pulling Riolu's Pokeball from my belt and tossing if out in front of me. I've got one chance to get this right…
"Riolu! Force Palm!" I crossed my fingers as the punch connected, and I grinned as I saw waves of paralysis spread over Hydregion's body, and seeing the massive dragon struggle against the paralysis, commanded Force Palm after Force Palm, striking Hydregion hard and fast until it roared in pain and fell to the ground, fainted. The man put his hands up, a panicked look on his face.
"I give up! You win! Just let us leave!" the man rapidly ushered the others dressed like him out the way our group had came in, and left the rest of us just standing there, looking around. I looked at Jun, and he shrugged.
"Well… let's go take a look around this place." Jun assembled three teams of three, and we each took one of the three doors. Maylee and Zekara were with me, and we pushed open the central door. There were shelves packed to the brim with all sorts of… I guess the only word for it was 'treasure', as well as piles of it on the floor.
"To the victors, go the spoils! Aha!" Zekara jumped over to one of the shelves and started stuffing his pockets with all sorts of gold and diamond things. I happily looted the shelves on the other side of the room, listening to Zekara counting coins and Maylee putting on all sorts of expensive jewelry. There were all sorts of items here… gold coins, jewelry, diamonds, gemstones… as well as three orbs that each glowed, blue, pink, and purple. I put them into my backpack, and continued looting. "Flight! Maylee! Look at all this! We're rich! We're set! I can finally afford to ask Mayva out to- crap, there went that secret..." Zekara nervously scratched his head and turned back to the shelves, cramming every pocket to the brim with diamonds, pearls, and rare items. However, at the far end of the room was a single chest, studded with emeralds, sapphires, and rubies. I walked over to the chest and pushed it open. Inside were several pieces of diamond jewelry, a Master Ball, a weird blue flute, a wristband that looked similar to my Moon Band, and… a book. A dusty, old book. I picked it up and looked at Zekara and Maylee.
"Flight, open it. Let's see what it says. It could be important," she said, and obediently, I cracked open the book, and read the words on the inside page.
My Life, Part Three, by Helio -
August 26, 208X
Today brings more troubles from the Elite Four. Not to mention… one of them has taken interest in a little samurai boy from Volcrux Town. That must be the boy who will be Nova's successor. As for Aurora… someone to carry on the Ice-type Elite Four title might be harder to come by. There's one thing I can relish. I'll soon get those two taken care of. The little girl who lives with the samurai boy… her name, Nathia. I'll kill her first… she's one of the weird ones. There's a new Gym leader, I believe he's in Eldrome. Can't recall his name. My wife has given birth to a child this afternoon. However, as is the tradition in my family, we couldn't think up a name for the future King of Team Corona. Going by the traditional names set forth, none of them have seemed to fit the future King. Her and I have tossed many ideas back and forth. Lance… no. He's that guy from Johto. Can't name the boy Lance. We're going to have to think of something else… hang on. There's a Talonflame taking flight out the window. The creature looks majestic, taking flight like that… there. There's the name. The infant baby boy… the future King, his name… will be Flight. Flight Lukas Alma.
Journal entry ends
I closed the book, a cold sweat breaking out, and Maylee looked at me, a look of pure, unfiltered terror in her eyes.
"You… you're the future King of Team Corona?!"