Sinnoh Stories

The Legend of Volkner

Intermission - Revelations

The smell of smoke and the heat of the flames were all that the boy knew. He knew other things in the deep recesses of his mind, of course, but at the time, these were the only things he could differentiate from the gray seas of semi-consciousness. He crawled, feeling the heat on his skin and inhaling the nauseating smell of smoke, coughing loudly. He felt liquid splatter onto his arm. Warm, sticky; blood.

He continued to crawl despite it. His muscles ached, his skin was agonizingly searing, and the world around him was full of chaos. But he couldn't tell a thing.

But he only knew he hated that blue-haired man riding on the head of the beast, because that blue-haired man was the controller of that beast and the beast had done this. He had done it all, and he wanted to make the blue-haired man pay.

He looked up to see white. A white dress. Brown hair. He assumed it was a girl because girls wore dresses... the girl grabbed him by the hand.

"Child, come with me!" she nearly screamed. The boy was unable to follow her wishes, though... he couldn't move on his own anymore. His body was writhing with the white-hot pain, the agony of damaged tissue and the acrid smell of smoking flesh.

The next thing he knew, he lay there on the ground, a small group of people gathered around him. He was numb. The white-dressed brown-hair girl knelt at his side, a hand on his own. Her touch was tender, soothing.

He opened his mouth to speak. He didn't know why he spoke these words, but it was almost as if his mouth was running off autopilot, demanding that he say them. A simple combination.

"... pick … me ..." he croaked, and then the blackness came as his life slipped away from him. The last thing he heard was a simple sigh.

Lisa let loose a small sigh, removing a finger from the forehead of the green leafy creature, listening to it utter a small, "Biii..." before it flew off.

"I understand. Thank you," she whispered. She leaped off the tree limb and landed on the ground with a soft thud. "Boy... yet another situation you'll require -me- to get you out of."

She kept a soft touch on the single Pokeball attached to her belt. She supposed she would use this little girl again... she pressed the silver release switch, and immediately grasped a small pink paw.

The creature buzzed around in the air, taking her with it. Lisa wasn't able to keep herself from smiling.

"Myuuu!~" the creature cooed. Lisa knew this was an understanding, "okay," and she closed her eyes to allow the creature to draw her off into the land of dreams.

She landed in the midst of a volcanic wasteland. The ground was dark and cracked, small pools of magma visibly flowing inside these cracks. She cautiously stepped around them, and searched across the landscape for the one she needed to speak to. The landscape was dotted with volcanoes, large brown masses of land with plumes of lava spitting out of their circular tops. In the middle of four, she spotted her man.

He was tall and handsome, though his hairstyle was a bit freaky. He reminded her of the boy.

"... A beautiful young lady," the man said. "In my land? It's dangerous out here, Miss – allow me to take you out."

Almost immediately, a Rapidash spontaneously appeared from nowhere, the man riding on top of it.

She lifted up a hand to show her disapproval.

"Flint," she said. "You're in a dream."

"Perhaps so; only in my dreams could I see a beautiful-"

"There is no perhaps. There is only so."

"... I see. And why do you tell me this?"

"Because it's the only way I can communicate with you. Call me Mana."

Flint raised an eyebrow. "I see. A pleasure, Mana."

"You're close to a friend of mine. He's gotten himself into a bit of trouble. I can't go myself: so I need you to save him."

"And why me, dear Mana?"

"You'll grow into a great man, Flint. He is currently trapped in the Solaceon Town Ruins. When you get to the town, head south immediately. You'll find two REAL damsels in distress, and an unconscious man. Save them, then go save the boy Volkner Denzi."

"That doesn't-"

"Goodbye, Flint."

Mana snapped her fingers and disappeared.

Flint awoke with a startled scream, and leaped up to his feet. He felt a sense of urgency. He picked up his supplies, threw them into his backpack and threw that over his shoulders, and finally he bolted off toward the south.

"Destination, Solaceon..." he found himself murmuring.

"Maggg, mar!" Mags, his Magmar, responded as it jogged happily beside him.