(AN: Hello readers! Honestly if you made it this far and had read every chapter up to this point, I want you to know I'm VERY grateful for your support! My editor, Rafe Izayoi by the way, did a great job touching this one up for me, so many thanks to him especially! Still looking for Red? Well guess what! He's in this chapter! Starting last chapter I decided to include the story from his POV within a little short at the end of each chapter for all you Red fans. Now grab your jackets readers, this one's about to get chilly!)
Pokemon Veral Region Chronicles
Chapter 7: The Phantom Freeze
Nox Town- Year 2079
"What the hell…" Farron sighed, waking up in his PokeCenter room.
"I don't know what happened either, but we might as well get going!" Ren called to Farron on the other side of the door.
Farron took a quick shower and went downstairs to eat some food before he set out with Acacia and Ren.
"Might as well move on to the next big town. It's called Galice Town. It's a ways up north from here. There should be a train station on the outskirts of Nox, if we hurry up we could catch the 11:45!" Acacia informed them.
Ren and Farron looked at each other and quickly tossed out their Pokemon, Lucario and Swellow. Lucario snatched up Farron and took off towards the station.
"Hop on!" Ren called down to Acacia "Swellow! Use Fly!"
The three made it to the station in 2 minutes flat, record time I'd say. They boarded the train, which was a newer bullet model, it was so fast that it was advertised to only take an hour to reach the Galice Town at this point.
"Any info on the next gym leader, Acacia?" Farron asked.
"None at all, really. Guess it'll be a surprise! You know they say that the town can experience flash freezes and such. Unexplained flash freezes, that is. Maybe the gym leader's an ice type trainer!" Acacia guessed.
"Should be no match for your Blaziken, eh Ren?" Farron chuckled.
"Actually… I was thinking…" Ren thought, remembering the mysterious words coming from Rayn's house at Nox "I think I'm going to hold off on the Pokemon League and support you, Farron."
"WHAAAT?" Acacia and Farron said shockingly "YOU! GIVING UP ON THE LEAGUE?"
"What happened to 'World Champion' or 'My name will be famous'" Farron questioned.
"Farron. I don't wanna hold you back. Let's get you through the Elite Four, so one day I can challenge you as champion!" Ren suggested.
"Well I think it's very noble of you, Ren" Acacia said, getting comfortable with him.
"Get a room…" Farron sighed before a voice chimed in over the intercom as the train slowed to a stop.
Attention! The train has stopped just outside of Galice Town because the tracks have been frozen over with ice! Sorry for the inconvenience!
"Shouldn't be a problem. We're close enough to walk anyways!" Acacia announced as they stepped down from the train, other passengers preferring to wait in the warmth of the train rather than step outside.
The three walked towards the town, careful not to slip on the icy pathways and frozen grass. The odd part about the area was that it was rather warm and sunny, yet the ice did not seem to melt. The trees were not frozen over, only the earth below their feet. Clearly, this phenomena was inexplicable, unless it was caused by a Pokemon….
Galice Town, Zero-Degree Earth
Gym Leader: Kai
Pokemon Centers: 2
"Kai. That's the gym leader. I think I'll try to challenge him right away!" Farron said eagerly.
Farron reached the Pokemon Center towards the south side of the town with his companions to make a quick swap.
Victreebel –swap- Probopass
"Alright! Let's do this!" Farron said, parading towards the gym. Ren and Acaia following closely behind. They stopped when they got to the gym due to the sign on the front door.
"CLOSED!?" the three shouted out.
"That's right!" the Gym Host said, walking towards the group "Kai is out, once again, investigating the frost. He's out in Winter Cave, just barely north of here. You should be able to find him in the heart, the center. That's where he usually investigates. Some say that a legendary Hoenn region Pokemon is the cause of the problem. He never seemed to find it though."
"Alright then. Guess we're off to the cave." Ren said, as he motioned to the other two to follow.
Winter Cave stood out immediately as the three emerged from trees barricading the north side of Galice. It was a large mound covered in a perfect body of clear, bright blue icicles. The opening was obviously carved out and the trainers had to practically crawl through the opening, as the ice spikes were hanging low above their heads. Red specks of heavy liquid tinted the ice, which was probably blood considering how sharp the icicles were. After emerging from the initial crawlspace, an archway led into a room layered with snow and a ladder tunneling through the middle of the floor.
"Kai is probably down there… I'll go first" Farron offered
"OUCH!" Acacia yelped suddenly while walking towards the ladder.
"What the hell? Are you alright?" Ren asked, rushing to her side.
Acacia's arm was blue and patches of ice were scattered throughout it. She could barely move her limb without feeling a sting of cold.
"Something hit me! I swear! Ugh… soooo cold…" Acacia grew weak.
"Hold on. Someone's climbing up the ladder" Farron noticed.
"Hello? Is there someone in here?" a voice said, raspy but loud enough to be heard.
"Yes! We have someone injured here! Can you help us?" Ren called down.
The man emerged from the ladder. His hair was a pale purple and very long. His face was quite pointy and he wore an icy blue ski jacket and ski pants. A long scarf matched his hair color that rolled down his back. An odd shaped key that looked like two pointed icicles separated by a rod of metal hung around his neck. The handle was fastened with a decent sized stone, in fact, all of the trainers knew this was a mega stone by now and had figured out that the man is the gym leader called Kai.
"You must be Kai. I'm Farron, a trainer who hopes to challenge you. We were given word that you would be here investigating a legendary ice Pokemon." Farron introduced himself.
"Indeed I am Kai, the Deep Freeze. Let me take care of this gal first." Kai said as he pulled out an Ice Heal item "Some items can work on people too, you know?"
"Wow! Thank you!" Acacia smiled, waving her arm around, shocked that her feeling had returned so quickly and had introduced herself to Kai.
"Well, if you're curious about my findings, I welcome you to follow me down here." Kai motioned towards the ladder as the rest of the trainers followed him down.
At the bottom of the cave were multiple paths of ice with one straight shot of stone, probably built by Kai to reach his point of investigation easier, which led to a wall of engravings.
"No way! That's braille writing. I've seen this in the Hoenn Region!" Ren's eyes lit up.
"It's very similar to the engravings that led to the discovery of Regice back in the Hoenn Region. The Pokemon may have migrated and could be causing these freezes." Kai thought out loud "Can anyone read braille?"
"I used to be able to translate, but I'm a little rusty here. If I were to attempt it I may leave more questions than answers unfortunately." Ren said, disappointedly.
"That's alright. Our town is not entirely concerned about the cold ground, really. It's been the norm for quite a while. I'm just curious at this point. Now if the freezes begin to disrupt crop growth and such… well then I'd know the source. Say, Acacia, how'd your arm freeze up like that?" Kai questioned.
"I'm honestly not sure! I hit something in the air that was really cold. I couldn't quite see it…" Acacia tried to recall.
"Ah… a ghost perhaps then?" Kai wondered.
"Uhhhh… a GHOST?" Acacia jumped into Ren's arms.
"Haha! Don't worry about it. Let's head back to the gym now. I'll worry about it later" Kai started back when all of the sudden… "SHIT! What was that?! Go! Froslass!"
Froslass appeared at Kai's side and he ordered her to breathe ice into the air. At that moment, the ice began to float. In fact, about 20 floating pieces of ice surrounded them.
"Huh? There really is a ghost? A Pokemon perhaps? Froslass, reveal these Pokemon!" Kai ordered.
"Frooooooss" cried the Froslass.
"Frooooooss" the creatures cried back.
"Wow… they're all Froslass! It all makes sense now! We can't see what's causing the freezes because they're ghosts! The whole time it was a group of Froslass!" Farron realized.
"Not quite. This truly does leave more questions than answers. Something is causing these Froslass to cover the town in ice. Oh well… one step closer to the truth I guess. They truly are shy Pokemon, I'll keep my Froslass out to help us avoid another body freeze" Kai said as he healed his ice burn.
"Wait! I think I'd like to catch one!" Acacia shouted out.
"Ah. Well. I'll be back at the gym then. Whenever you're ready, I'll be waiting." Kai said as he climbed out of the cave.
"Do you really want to catch one of these, Acacia?" Ren asked.
"Yeah! I need another Pokemon for my party! After all, you were the ones to convince me to start training right?" Acacia reminded them "Alright! Eevee! Go for it!"
"Eeeeeev!" Eevee squealed, readying for a fight with a lone Froslass that trailed behind Acacia this whole time.
"Eevee! Blind her! Toss a Sand Attack at the Froslass! Then slam her with a Shadow Ball!" Acacia ordered her Pokemon.
The Sand Attack hit Froslass head on, but when Eevee tried to combo with a Shadow Ball, the Froslass was able to see through the sand and shot an ice beam right at Eevee.
"Eevee! Dash out of the way!" Acacia warned and Eevee then bounded into the air, barely skimmed by the Ice Beam that froze one of her paws.
The Eevee then bit into the icy hide of Froslass before landing back onto the ground. Clearly in pain from gripping a below freezing Pokemon in her mouth, Eevee dropped the weakened Froslass and nearly fainted.
"She's weak! Go! Heal Ball!" Acacia sent the ball flying and it caught instantly "Yay! Eevee! You did it!"
"She's hurting, Let me use this Full Heal!" Ren rushed to Eevee's side and thawed the ice "There you are, good as new" Ren looked up at Acacia. She smiled.
"Oh… I'm sorry Eevee. Hop on my shoulder! Let's get outta here!" Acacia said before noticing Eevee bounding off in a different direction. "Eevee! Where are you going?" Acacia ended up chasing Eevee as the cute Pokemon ran up to a large icy rock about to place her paw on it, before she was scooped up by Acacia and led out of the cave, just before Eevee could interact with the stone. Eevee frowned for a moment, upset about not sating her curiosity.
When they arrived back at the town, the three grabbed lunch at a café near the gym before heading over for Farron's battle.
"That was very odd," Farron mentioned "Ya know, the Froslass thing?"
"Hey! I got one at least. But on another note, do you really think there's a Regice within that cave?" Acacia wondered
"If so then it'd be a very small chance. Regice was known to return to its slumber decades ago in the Hoenn region. Unless the legendary Pokemon was reawakened and had begun to migrate, there's nothing inside Winter Cave other than those Froslass." Ren replied.
"Well I'm ready for a challenge, the gym awaits!" Farron rose from his seat and began to walk towards the gym.
"Kai is expecting you, Farron" the gym host said as the three trainers walked in the door.
The gym floor wasn't covered in ice, like previous ice type gyms, but instead the trainers had to climb upon gigantic icicles with harnesses attached, in order to reach the elevator. Common Pokemon that Farron encountered were Piloswine and Dewgong, which were no match for his formidable team. He then ascended to the stadium floor, friends by his side, to challenge Kai. The doors opened revealing a purple and blue battlefield and as Farron stepped forward onto the challenger's plate, an icy mist formed around a large, descending icicle coming from the ceiling. The point bore into a slot in the ground and Kai hopped down from the top. He twisted his key with the mega stone into a pedestal causing the floor to cover over with a sheet of ice. His apparel was exactly the same as when he had left the Winter Cave.
"Ah Farron. Welcome. I've had enough of an introduction already, I think. Without further ado, I, Kai the Deep Freeze, accept your challenge! Go! Avalugg!" Kai sent out his first Pokemon.
"Let's go! Probopass!" Farron sent out the metal, mustached Pokemon.
"Alright Avalugg, harden up! Iron Defense! Then prepare to freeze the air!" Kai ordered his Pokemon.
"Probopass strike him while he's strengthening his resolve! Rock Slide onto Avalugg now! Then counter the hail with your Sandstorm!" Farron called out strategically.
Avalugg tucked in his head and was about to armor up when Probobass sent huge boulders down upon him, cancelling out the Iron Defense. Hail did not affect the steel-typed Probopass, but the opposing Sandstorm damaged Avalugg slightly. Avalugg was in danger.
"Ugh… Avalugg, Rest up! You need to heal!" the frustrated gym leader commanded.
"Perfect! Lock On him! Prepare for a Stone Edge while he's asleep! We've got this!" Farron said enthusiastically.
"Hehe…" Kai chuckled.
Probopass scanned Avalugg and targeted his weak spot. Farron's Pokemon readied to summon rocks from the ground when all of the sudden, Avalugg awoke!
"NOW! Earthquake!" Kai shouted to Avalugg.
"Probopass wait! Magnet Rise! Avoid the-" Farron was cut off.
Too late. The earth shook violently and Probopass was downed.
"Proooobo" Probopass fainted.
"Never underestimate your opponent, Farron!" Kai announced.
"Alright. Magmortar! Burn him down!" Farron sent out his magma cannon of a Pokemon.
"Ahah! I have a special trick for fire types! Water Pulse him! Then slam him with a Take Down!" Kai planned.
"Avoid the ring of water! Dodge to the left and sneak in a Fire Punch! GOOO" Farron exclaimed to Magmortar.
Avalugg shot a blast of water in Magmortar's direction, but Magmortar quickly dodged the hit and struck Avalugg in the left side. It was a critical hit.
"Avvvalugg" Avalugg was knocked out.
"Heh. Expected from a trainer of such strength! Next Pokemon! Cloyster!" Kai threw out another pokeball "Supersonic!"
"Thunderpunch now! Hit his face!" yelled Farron.
Magmortar tried the same strategy as he had acted onto Avalugg, but tricks only work once, unless of course your opponent was a complete moron, so Cloyster aimed the blast of sound towards Magmortar's jumping direction and it hit dead on. Magmortar still went in for the Thunderpunch while confused, but Kai was prepared.
"Withdraw!" Kai shouted.
Cloyster clamped down. Magmortar landed the punch, but on Cloyster's rock hard shell. Another punch was sent flying, but Kai's Cloyster used Withdraw again. Another punch. Another Withdraw. In the process, Magmortar was injuring himself, but Cloyster too had taken damage, it was just largely reduced. Then Kai told Cloyster to open up, while Magmortar snapped out of confusion and charged up about the fifth Thunderpunch.
"Now! HYDRO PUMP!" Kai ordered.
Cloyster pumped a blast of water straight at Magmortar mid-Thunderpunch, almost putting out Magmortar's flame.
"Oh shit… he's low. We have no choice! Full force now! FLARE BLITZ!" Farron called out a final gambit.
Magmortar rushed at Cloyster, in a fiery rage of inferno and even though Cloyster had a great deal of defense, Magmortar hit quite hard. In fact, Cloyster was knocked out instantly upon impact. The recoil that occurred from that attack was nearly devastating, but somehow, Magmortar was still standing.
"Yes! You got him!" Acacia happily jumped up from the sidelines.
"Look up. Sandstorm." Ren pointed out.
"Damn Sandstorm…" Farron mumbled as Magmortar fainted "Alright Braviary!"
"Froslass!" Kai sent out.
Braviary didn't stand much of a chance against the ice-typed Froslass, but she was knocked out later by Farron's Ampharos, who he chose not to mega evolve. Kai used a Glalie as his next Pokemon that was even so, not a match for Ampharos' Focus Blast, but severely damaged Ampharos with a Blizzard attack and sent a Hail flying from the sky. Ampharos was then taken down by Kai's fourth Pokemon….
"Nice job Mamoswine! Good Earthquake!" Kai congratulated his Pokemon.
"What to do…" Farron looked at his two, final pokeballs… Samurott and Lucario.
Then suddenly, Farron's second pokeball lit up and unleashed none other than, Lucario.
"Lucario? How did you-" Farron was cut off, for his mega glove activated without his command.
"Mamoswine! We can't let Lucario mega evolve! He's already too strong! Giga Impact! Don't hold back!" Kai commanded the mountain-sized swine.
Lucario then rushed at the incoming truck of a Pokemon, who charged at full speed towards the lanky fighter. With no intention of dodging, Lucario broke out of his Extremespeed right in front of Mamoswine mid-charge. Just then Lucario stuck out his palm and stared back at Farron, without bracing himself for the Giga Impact. It didn't matter. Lucario barely even broke into a skid when he slammed his hand on Mamoswine's snout. Not a scratch was suffered. Nothing. He held the weight of a semi on one hand. He awaited Farron to recite two words, before moving the enemy Pokemon.
"… Force Palm" Farron whispered.
Then the glove reacted instantly. Lucario transformed into Mega Lucario and shoved Mamoswine with such force, it obliterated the audience stands positioned on the left side of the building. The titanium walls were dented, the battle screen was destroyed, and Lucario smirked a bit, for his bond with Farron was so great, he countered a ridiculously strong attack and with a single move of his hand, sent the enemy onto the ground and back into its pokeball.
"No… way…" Kai stared at Lucario, his mouth wide open in awe.
"Holy hell! That was INCREDIBLE FARRON! YOU DID IT!" Acacia squealed on the non-damaged portion of the sidelines.
"Not yet. You still have another Pokemon, don't you?" Farron questioned.
"Heh. Only the best. ABOMASNOW!" Kai tossed out his last Pokemon, the icy pine, Abomasnow.
"AAABOMMMMMAAASSSNNNOOOOWWW" Abomasnow rose up and began to glow.
"Mega Cryo-Key, activate!" Kai held up his tiny, twin icicle key with the Abomasite on its end.
Abomasnow mega evolved and was ordered to send Avalanche attacks from all sides of the battlefield.
"Lucario! You need to get up to Abomasnow's body and break those crystals on its back! Extremespeed!" Farron strategized.
Lucario ducked and dodged as the chucks of ice crashed down around him. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. The blue flash weaved in and out and closed in on Abomasnow.
"Knock him down! Wood Hammer! Then freeze the ground around him to remove his balance!" Kai told the white giant.
"aBOM! aBOM!" Abomasnow swung and slammed onto Lucario until the fighter was on the ground… frozen to the floor.
"Ice Beam! Don't hold back!" Kai yelled.
"NO! LUCARIO!" Farron cried desperately.
Lucario was ready to take the Ice Beam. He held on and entered into his own mind, compiling the strength of Farron's own aura. Abomasnow hit Lucario directly in his face and Lucario stopped moving.
"What? Lucario should have fainted? He didn't use Endure…" Ren noticed.
There was no end for Lucario it seemed, because just then, Lucario woke up from his coma. He truly had fainted, but essentially froze his entire body by absorbing the ice from within.
"CLOSE COMBAT!" unleashed Farron with great vigor!
"luuuuuuCARIOOOOOOOOOOO" Lucario hit Abomasnow from all sides, dashing around in a circle hiting every major point on Abomasnow's body, crushing his ice crystals and subjecting him to the ground. Abomasnow, in a last ditch effort, swung his Wood Hammer at Lucario, but it wasn't enough. As a finisher Lucario unleashed a flurry of multiple Aura Spheres at the icy Pokemon, causing an enormous explosion.
"AHHHHH!" All four trainers screamed.
As the dust faded, two Pokemon were knocked out, fainted, on the floor. Lucario and Abomasnow. It seemed as if it ended in a draw between the two trainers... until Farron pulled out Samurott's pokeball. He had won.
"Unbelievable… that's a true bond between trainer and Pokemon. Battling should not be turn after turn. Trading attack after attack. There should be no pause, no wait for order. A cold trainer will feel an equally cold battle. Not an ounce of fire or passion. When a Pokemon knows what his trainer will do… there is no match for that. You have prevailed Farron. There is no doubt you will go far. Further than any other trainer to pass through here. With that being said, I, Kai the Deep Freeze, accepts defeat. I present you with the Sub-Zero badge. You know what to do with this by now. Best of luck to you all. I hope you find what you're looking for." Kai winked and sent them on their way.
Later that night, Farron had called up Elesa, to catch up on things.
"I miss you, ya know." Farron said sweetly.
"I'm coming over there soon, baby. I've got to go. Skyla is having this thing at her gym tonight. Gotta get dressed. I love you, Farron." Elesa smiled and blushed as she kissed the screen.
"Have a good night. I love you too…" Farron clicked off the PC "Where's Ren and Acacia now…?"
"Finally. Alone. Listen I'm just gonna go out and say it. No interruptions. I like you. A lot. I want to be with you!" Acacia blurted out.
"Uhhh… I… wasn't expecting that, but I, like you too…." Ren blushed and closed his eyes.
(C'mon! You knew this was coming!) Ren and Acacia shared a kiss… under the voluminous moon shining down upon Galice Town that night. Acacia's Eevee noticed her trainer show an immense amount of love, more than ever before. So it was set. A true measure of a trainer's bond with their Pokemon starts at the heart of the bond between trainer and trainer…. Acacia and Ren looked at each other, smiled and stood up to walk inside. Acacia's new partner was a deep onyx color with glowing blue rings circling its ears and set on its forehead.
"You look beautiful, Umbreon." Acacia noticed.
-Red's POV-
'I had to do it. I didn't need to think twice. Bell Tower, Whirl Islands, Spear Pillar… they were a home once again. So many unexpected occurrences at one time. I allowed Charizard to take me over, to the Veral Region. To the heart. The Pokemon League. I had a feeling, an intuition…'
"Charizard! There it is! Bring me around the back!" Red shouted.
"Charrr!" Charizard zipped around the golden dome, past the swords, the darkness, the mind-games, and the dragons.
"The champion is in there. Fly in closer- GAHHHHHH!" Red shouted as they were suddenly hit by an insane amount of pressure. "Charizard hold on!"
"chARRRRRRR!" Charizard tried to stay airborne, but dropped suddenly.
"Ugh… Gravity…." Red mumbled as they tumbled through the air towards the ground.
?
Chaos is running rampant across the six main Pokemon Regions. Sightings of legendary Pokemon that have been asleep for centuries are resurfacing. We now go to the Hoenn Weather Tower for more info-
The television was clicked off. A sword clattered to the ground as a man buried his face in his hands.
"Farron… hurry it up."
(Scizor grab my sword please. Thanks. OH! Thank you as well for reading this! I really do appreciate it! In fact, I'd love it if you left a review, favorite, or follow! That'd definitely make my day! Peace! -Fission)