Hey again! This was by far one of the funnest chapters to write in the story (I think I wrote it in something like three days…) So enjoy!
Warning: A certain bearded, Dragon-Type gym leader is VERY OOC in this chapter… Yeah, I know he's supposed to be all posh and proper, but I thought that was too boring… So I made him like my teachers… and I have some very weird teachers…
Xx
Chapter Eleven- Zilch
-Cheren's PoV-
"Is this the place, Cheren?" White turned to ask me, her puzzled sapphire eyes glistening in the rays of the Opelucid morning sun as the petite teen stood before a ginormous wooden door, her usual perky self absent as a result of the long ride we'd endured on the backs of our pokemon since the crack of dawn this morning in order to reach this strange city.
Why was she asking me? Before this whole trip, I'd never been further than Accumula, why did she think I'd suddenly have a knowledge of where the Opelucid Gym Leader lived? I shrugged half-heartedly in response to her stupid question, staring out onto the desolate streets of Opelucid and watching a lone Purrloin saunter across the street in the distance, it's cream and purple fur gleaming in the early-morning sun.
"Not helping, Cheren…" she moaned, peering more closely at the ginormous building towering before us and trying to figure out if the Dragon-Type Leader could possibly be living here.
"Well is this the place Lenora said to go, because I honestly don't know, White. Stop pestering me…"
"I'm not pestering you!" she responded, swinging her hands onto her hips. "I asked a simple question!"
"Well, don't, because I don't know…" I grumbled crabbily, contankerous following a night of barely any sleep over worrying about the current dilemma that faced us. I hadn't been the only one, it seemed, as when we'd woken at six to head off to Opelucid, we'd had to practically pry Black and Bianca out of their beds, and even when we did eventually manage to get them up and onto their pokemon, they'd headed straight for the nearest Pokemon Center to sleep some more the moment we'd touched down in Opelucid.
White groaned, reaching her fist upwards carefully to knock against the giant door. "I guess I'll find out on my own then…" she groused, pausing and waiting for many moments for a response.
Several minutes passed, and still no signs of life emerged from the other side of the door. White disappointedly bit her lip, and began to descend from the steps leading up to the doorway, scratching the top of her puffy brunette head in puzzlement, before the door abruptly flung open, and an older, grumpy-looking man with serious bags under his dark eyes appeared, his silver hair poking up in all directions.
"I told you we don't want no damned cookies!" he bellowed fiercly, his unkempt beard muffling his speech as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes. He blinked rapidly as he noticed the two of us standing before him, then looked us up and down, examining the loose sweatpants and hoodies we'd thrown on this morning and grunting.
"You ain't no girl scouts…" he pointed out, scrunching up his nose before turning his attention solely to me. "But you there boy might wanna think about getting' that silly hair a yer's sheared, 'fore you start lookin' like one a them hippies."
White chuckled, amused at my insulted state, as I shot the man a death glare. I didn't care how much older this guy was then me- mock the hair and it's an instant dislike on his half.
"Are you Drayden?" White asked him, causing him to stop leering suspiciously at me and stare into her instead.
"And what if I am? And just who might you be, now, chicken?"
"I'm White, this is Cheren," she informed him, to which he simply stared, the names not ringing any bells. "We're here because we need your help. Lenora sent us, because she said you know about dragons. Please, sir, this is very important. It involves Team Plasma."
Drayden raised an eyebrow at the mention of their name, before opening his front door wider and allowing for us to enter. "Team Plasma, ya' say? Well, you kids sure don't have much sense of timing, but I guess yez' better come in…"
White and I nodded to each other, before following him in procession as he lead us down his hallway and into a very modern and swanky kitchen, where he headed straight for the kettle sitting on a worktop, filling it with water and flicking it on as the two of us seated ourselves at his table.
"What can I get yez? We got tea, coffee, them lattes and smelly herbal crap me daughter buys. Nasty stuff it is, but I guess you kids nowadays will do any feckin' thing just to look 'cool' in front of yer friends."
I was on the verge of snorting out a laugh, but restrained myself. "Just a coffee, please."
"I don't need anything thank you, sir." White replied, brushing a strand of wavy brown hair that fell loosely around her face as opposed to its usual ponytail behind her ear. She sighed, examining the dramatic painting of a Haxorus hanging on the wall absent-mindedly.
Drayden shrugged, pouring the hot liquid into two cups and stirring in coffee. "Suit yourself," he muttered, grabbing a stack of biscuits out of a cupboard and tossing them onto the table, while carefully carrying the two mugs of coffee over and handing me one.
"I love me my coffee, so I do now. That and them there bloody chocolate-digestives. Arceus above, I could eat ten million of them without blinking!" he mused, dunking a biscuit into his mug and crunching down on it messily, sending crumbs flying everywhere. "Not the best for the ol' waistline, mind you, kids. But when yez' get to my age though, yez' can afford to let yerselves go a bit. Not young things like yerselves' going out hoppin' and boppin' at the discos and what not…"
White and I glanced at each other, resisting the urge to erupt into a chorus of laughter as he prattled on about 'them there calories' and 'stupid kids nowadays', at the same time attempting to get a word in about why we were actually here.
"Excuse me, sir, but we really do need to talk to you about something…" White interrupted him not a moment too soon, just as he was about to begin a tale of how 'when I was young we didn't have them fancy gizmos ye young 'uns have…'
Drayden took a giant slug of his coffee, then wiped away the excess liquid that sprayed across his mouth. "There's me getting all caught up in meself again, now. Fire away, chicken," he prattled, which we figured must have meant: 'go ahead and ask the question, young girl.'
White, an unnaturally pale shade of worry clouding up her sunken face, began to rummage through her shoulder bag, which dangled against the side of her chair. After several moments of rooting, she eventually produced the Light Stone, which was as dull and motionless as ever; still, lifeless, just a lump of rock. Wheezing out a tired breath, she cautiously placed the stone in front of her so Drayden, who had his head tilted in confusion as to why this girl had come into his house to put a stone on his kitchen table, could see.
"Erm… 'tis a nice rock ya got there…" he muttered, after staring at it for a few awkward seconds. "…any reason in particular yez brought it to me?"
White swallowed, casting a quick glance at me, before cupping the stone into her hands and exhaling. "Well… the reason we came to you, sir, is because we're in trouble and we need your help. You see, we're stuck in a battle with Team Plasma, and the only way we can stop them is if we awaken Reshiram, the legendary white dragon…"
Drayden scratched at his scraggy beard, glancing between her and the stone as she continued.
"…who is inside this stone…"
Many moments of sheer silence followed, an erratic athmosphere hanging in the air. Drayden's eyes were wide with perplexity and a stream of coffee was spilling out of his mouth and catching in his thick facial hair as he stared at the rock.
"Reshiram, ya say?" he questioned, poking the stone with his index finger. "That big, white thing from the legend? Are yez serious?"
The both of us nodded, biting our lips to prevent from chuckling as he randomly sniffed at the rock, his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he attempted to piece together a conclusion. "Well, I'll be… how did two young un's like yez' get a stone like this?"
"Long story short…" I began, chugging back a slug of coffee. "…my friends and I, well, mostly this lady here" –cue quick glance towards White- "got involved with this guy named N, who turned out to be the psycho leader of Team Plasma and somehow managed to reawaken Zekrom, Reshiram's counterpart. He told us to find Reshiram if we want to stop him taking over the world, which we did, sort of."
"We found the stone at Nacrene museum, and it accepted me as its hero…" White continued, her eyelids drooping as she lovingly stroked the smooth surface of the stone. "…but, thing is, we have no idea how we're going to actually awaken Reshiram so I can fight against N… that's why we need your help."
I flicked a stray strand of raven-black hair out of my eyes casually, blinking as the amber morning sun shone through the kitchen window. "And to make things worse, if White loses, N's gonna kidnap her. So yeah, that's the story…"
White shot me a death glare, annoyed that I'd added in that little detail when she'd lectured me specifically on the way here not to. Drayden looked at us like we were loonies, grinding his teeth as he thought for many moments.
"That's quite the pickle yez got yourselves caught up in…" he uttered eventually, taking the stone into his hands and examining it closer, his nose scrunched up in concentration as he did so.
"So… can you help us?" White queried as he eventually set the stone down, a downtrodden expression on his face.
"Sorry, chicken… while I can tell ya that that's definitely a pokemon, I've no idea how to wake it up, just like yez." He leaned back in his chair and the both of us sighed heavily, irritated having travelled all the way from Nacrene only to learn nothing new. "…however…" he began, rubbing his bristly chin and casting his eyes upwards as he thought. "…while I mightn't know much about awakening ancient pokemon and all that, me daughter's into all that stuff about legends, she just might know a thing or two…"
He sprung from his chair and swiftly made his way into the previous hallway, leaving the both of us behind in a confused daze.
"IRIS!" he bellowed, with enough force to wake up the entire city, while White and I carefully tiptoed into the hallway to catch him screeching up the staircase at someone above. "Iris! We need'cha for something!"
A rumbling sound of someone getting out of bed could be heard, followed by the abrupt flinging open of a door and the pattering of footsteps progressing.
"Dad, what the hell is wrng with you! It's Saturday for crying out loud!" A teenaged girl with puffy, dark-purple hair groaned, rubbing her eyes madly as she came into sight on the landing above. She was dressed in light-pink pajamas decorated with a black and white ribbon-pattern, and at her feet trailed a tiny, dazed Axew, which staggered abround exhaustedly, attempting to keep itself awake. When the girl caught sight of the two of us lingering behind Drayden, her face instantly flushed a bright crimson, and she attempted to smooth down her wild hair.
"Dad!" she barked, looking us up and down. "Who are they?"
Drayden yawned, swinging his thumb into the air at us. "That guy's a gobshite with a bad hair cut and that one's the green-headed loonie off the TV's girlfriend…" he muttered, making his way back into the kitchen with a tired shrug. "Come down here a minute, we need ya, Iris."
White and I both trailed him back into the kitchen with an exasperated sigh, and Iris, moaning, pounded down the stairs to follow us. When her chocolate-brown eyes caught sight of the Light Stone sitting on the table, her face lit up, and she dashed straight towards it, tossing it into her hands and laughing.
"Awesome!" she mused, playing with it between her hands as her Axew hopped up onto the table and began to laugh.
"Hey! Watch my Reshiram!" White threatened, dashing towards Iris and diving to catch the stone, just as Iris lost her grip.
"R-Reshiram?" she stuttered, her eyes twinkling with joy. "Are you serious? Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" White tucked the Light Stone closer to her as Iris neared and practically bounced around her in giddy circles, an impossibly ginormous smile stretching across her face.
"This is the Light Stone? The Light Stone?" she questioned as White staggered backwards awkwardly, stroking the rock's smooth surface.
"Um… yeah…" she uttered, as Iris suddenly burst forwards to stare upwards at her scrutinizingly, her eyes narrowed and her nose scrunched up in suspicion.
"What's someone like you doin' with this stone?" she interrogated, as a vein popped up on White's forehead, her teeth grinding together angrily. "Only the hero is supposed to have this, and frankly, you don't look much like the Light Hero…"
"For your information, I am the Light Hero!" White snapped, staring into the shorter girl furiously, who only grunted in response.
"Oh, please!" she laughed, folding her arms. "Why would Reshiram choose someone as pathetic as you as her Hero?"
White had a bit of a Black moment then, charging forwards in a heated rush to give Iris a piece of her mind, only to be caught instantly by the arm by me, like what was always necessary when her brother flipped out.
"Erm, I think what Iris was trying to say, White, was that she is in awe of your pokemon, and would like to help awaken it however she can..."
Iris smirked, looking me up and down. "And just who might you be now, Mr gobshite with a bad haircut?" she laughed, causing Drayden to pat her on the back approvingly, as if he actually encouraged his daughter to take after him by insulting people.
I puffed out a heavy breath as a way of releasing the anger that was welling up inside me, a skill I had acquired having been around Black for seventeen years. "I'm Cheren," I explained to her calmly. "I'm a pokemon trainer who needs your knowledge of ancient legends to help us stop my friend here getting kidnapped by a deranged cult!"
The petite girl blinked rapidly, a mortified blush forming on her cheeks. "Oh," she mumbled, glancing at me. "Sorry 'bout that. I have a feeling there's a lot I don't know…"
Drayden, who was casually leaning against the kitchen counter, interrupted with another brilliant summing-up of the situation; "Well, basically, this young un' here got involved with the wrong kind of fella, that boss of Team Palma, or something, and now if she doesn't stop him by figurin' out how to wake up that big white thing from those old stories your always blatherin' on about, Unova's in big trouble."
Iris laughed heartily, examining White as her Axew crawled up onto her shoulder and into the sanctuary of her soft pillow of purple hair, disappearing from view as it nestled into the deepest part of its nest. "Why didn't you say so? I know tons about that legend, even more than-"
She was suddenly interrupted by the abrupt sound of something loud switching itself on in the next room, the shrill noises of very-loud, muffled speech ringing in our ears.
"What in Arceus name is goin' on at this hour?" Drayden muttered, flinging the glass door into what must have been a sitting room open. The four of us crowded into the room to find the TV had turned itself on as a result of an important news-flash, like what they did sometimes to warn people of hurricanes. On the TV screen was the face of a very panicked looking woman holding a microphone, seeming terrified as she listened to orders through her earpiece.
"We're just received very strict orders from the 'Team Plasma Group'" she announced into the microphone, her eyes widening with fear at their name. Beside me, White was tensing up, her teeth grinding together once more as she snarled angrily at the television.
"We've been sternly ordered to show this next clip," the woman continued, clasping her lips together in worry. The screen suddenly flickered with an array of black and white scribbles, before finally forming a picture of an older man with lime-green hair and an eyepiece, who smirked malevolently into the camera.
"Greetings, citizens of Unova," he began, a sly smile sneaking its way onto his face. Drayden and Iris swapped confused glances as he continued. "I wake you so suddenly on this fine, late-Autumn morning, to deliver a very impotant piece of news. In three days time, my son, King N, will do battle with a young girl named White, each one accompanied by a legendary pokemon, to decide the fate of Unova."
White was growling wrathfully now, her light-blue eyes flickering with a vengeful flame as she leered at the wicked man in the TV screen. "If young White wins, nothing will change, and Unovians will remain united with pokemon, but if N wins, however, Team Plasma will begin its plan to take over this region and separate humans and pokemon completely."
There was a simultaneous gasp from Iris and Drayden, who both glanced at White, realising exactly what she was up against. "You were really serious, huh?" Iris asked her, stroking Axew as it brushed against her, terrified of being separated from her. White nodded, continuing to stare furiously at Ghetsis.
"And so, this is that young girl's last warning. Precious White, if you're watching, which we're sure you are, then listen here and listen good: if you're really set on saving Unova, come to the Pokemon League, with Reshiram, in three days time, and battle the Elite Four. Afterwards, you'll do battle with N, your final battle we'll ask you to do. If you lose however, your life as you know it is as good as gone, and you'll belong completely and utterly to Team Plasma. It's your choice, sweetheart- fight and lose, or run while you still can. If your little heart is still set on being a hero though, come. We'll welcome you with open arms into the Harmonia family when you lose…"
White screeched viciously, pounding her foot against Drayden's wooden floor and wheezing out heavy, incensed breaths, as the picture of Ghetsis disappeared from the screen, in its place, the image of the petrified presenter frantically trying to piece her show back together.
"He can't hear, you, White…" I sighed tiredly, a lame attempt to console her as she hung her head, her chest heaving up and down and her eyes clenched shut as she tried desperately to eradicate the chilling prospect of failure from her head.
Drayden, clearing his throat coarsely, stepped forward to pat her reassuringly on the the back, though I could tell this had little effect on White, who simply stood there shaking and building up strength, which I knew would erupt into an explosion of rage within seconds.
Iris was stood next to me, a forlorn expression spoiling her pretty feautures aand her knees turned in sheepishly. She really had no idea what to do in situations like this, and I couldn't blame her- one minute she was blissfully asleep on a cozy Saturday morning, and the next she was catapulted into the world of our ridiculously complicated predicaments, where mythical dragons I hadn't thought even existed before now were popping up all over the place and the world was in danger from a deluded green-haired psycho who thought he was a king. It was enough to drive anyone cuckoo, let alone a girl who considered herself a master of pokemon legends.
"I'll help however I can…" Iris offered gently, stroking her Axew as it nestled into her hair. "I-I know you must be scared of those people kidnapping you… and…"
"I'm not afraid of being kidnapped. I don't really care about that part, to be honest," White interrupted, causing us all to swap confused glances to one another, seeing as I'd thought the whole purpose of this trip was to prevent just that. "…what I'm afraid of is letting them take over. Everything is down to me, everything. If I can't awaken Reshiram, or if I let N win, then all of Unova will fall, all because of me."
Silence swept across the room, as White stood facing us, her face an expression I'd never seen on her before, like a mixture of pure hatred, crippling fear and also unexpected confidence, all glistening in her burning sapphire orbs. "So, information, Iris," she uttered, glancing at the shorter girl out of the corner eye. "I need information, and lots of it. Tell me absolutley everything you know about Reshiram."
Iris nodded, and in a swift flash, disappeared back out of the room and up the stairs, her light feet causing tremors as she thundered up the steps. The three of us crowded back into the kitchen, where she eventually returned to after several moments, an enormous textbook clutched between both her arms. With an exhausted huff, she plopped the heavy volume onto the kitchen table and quickly began to rifle through the hundred of pages, her eyes scanning past the countless illustrations of legendary pokemon, both native and foreign, until she eventually came to the page she was looking for.
"Reshiram…" she sighed, flicking open a page revealing a giant picture of a vast, snow-white creature standing proud with its amorphous wings stretched wide, wisps of silver mist floating all around it. Apart from the obvious difference in colour, it greatly resembled N's Zekrom, with two sturdy legs holding it upright, a muscular upper body and chiselled face complete with a pair of penetrating cerulean eyes. "The legendary dragon that leant its strength to the hero seeking truth. It is said that Reshiram and Zekrom were once the same pokemon, but were torn apart by conflict in Ancient Unova. As the legend says, there were two brothers who constantly battled long over how Unova should be ruled. Under this pressure, the mighty dragon split, and, siding with a hero each, eventually caused destruction all across Unova…"
White, her eyes wide and entranced, lovingly stroked the picture of Reshiram, longing for her destined pokemon to awaken so she could protect her world. "…but how did they become trapped in stones?" she whispered, her voice strained from shouting at the TV.
"Due to all this constant battling and the fact that Zekrom and Reshiram were one in the same, the two dragons eventually cancelled each other out, thus becoming extremely weak and being forced to take form into two stones and fall into slumber for thousands of years… and that's the legend…" Iris explained, having completed reading the paragraph of writing on the opposite page of the picture.
White, disbelief forming on her face, shook her head frantically, flicking over the next page, only to find a matching illustration, this one of Zekrom, and no further writing. "NO!" she barked, rifling defiantly through the next pages, her eyes narrowed in fury. "There has to be more! That can't be it, it didn't say anything about how to awaken Reshiram!"
Iris took a wary step back then, biting her lip anxiously. "I'm afraid that's one thing I can't tell you… I don't how to wake Reshiram up, unfortunately… I'm really sorry, White…"
"No!" White screeched again, flicking through the next hundred pages quickly in disbelief, before eventually giving up altogether and slamming the book close. "Cheren, there's nothing in the book! What do we do?"
I shrugged, ashamed that my friend was having a panic attack and there was nothing I could say to reassure her everything would be okay, because I just didn't know anymore if it would. I'd always thought that good always trumped evil, but I just couldn't say for sure if that was true, especially considering Team Plasma was already exceedingly powerful and becoming stronger with every passing minute. "I don't know, White…" I muttered dispiritedly, unable to look at her properly.
She exhaled shakily, her eyes scanning once more over the cover of the book before turning away in shame that once again, we were back to square one. Reaching into her shoulder bag, where she'd placed the Light Stone during the news-flash on TV, she produced the rock, which was still 100% inanimate and dull. For many moments she simply stared longingly at the lifeless lump of stone, barely-visible tear-clouds glistening from the light of the sun in her eyes, as she attempted to think of a way, any way, to wake up the creature she needed so vitally at this moment.
Drayden, who stood against the kitchen wall rubbing his spiky beard in thought, sighed. "She'll wake up when you need her, chicken. She won't abandon you, you're her hero." His words caused White to glance upwards, despair and fury evident on her face as she gripped the stone closer to herself more tightly.
"But I need her now!" she cried, defiantly brushing stale tears off her face. "I need her now so I can stop them! Why can't she hear me!"
"She'll hear you eventually, you just have to keep believing she will," Drayden insisted, folding his arms across his pajama-clad chest and flashing another half-reassuring smile. "In the mean-time, start heading towards the Pokemon League. Of course, yez'll need the Opelucid City Gym Badge to get in, and I give a tough battle, so I suggest yez start training straight away!"
White and I nodded at each other, deciding between ourselves that this was our strategy for the time being, although I wasn't so sure if I, unlike White, would be able to train my team to 8th badge level in just three short days before she had to be at the League to face N…
"I'll help you train!" Iris chirped cheerfully, bouncing towards White and grinning widely. "I want a part in this, too, this is, like, history in the making!"
"It's settled then…" Drayden declared, smiling beneath his bristly facial hair. "The two of yez keep training, and…"
"There're four of us, actually…" I corrected, causing Drayden to groan in exasperation. "White, her brother Black, our friend Bianca, and I…"
"Fine, Mister I'm-So-Brilliant-Because-I-Know-Everything-And-Enjoy-Making-Poor-Auld'-Drayden-Look-Like-An-Eejit, the four of yez, especially you, White, keep training and come to defeat me when yez're ready. Don't expect me to go easy on ya though…if ya can't get past me then there's no way I'm letting a young 'un like you off to throw your life away getting trapped by that nutcase…"
"You're underestimating me, sir. I put up a hard battle, as you'll see…" White informed him, a cheeky smile sneaking it's away across her lips.
"We'll have to see about that now, so we will, chicken."
Abruptly, White let out a deafening yawn, covering her mouth as her eyes began to droop slowly. She was exhausted, and no wonder- she'd been going, and under enormous stress, too, since six this morning. And if she was tired, Arceus knew I was. "Thank you so much for your help…" she mumbled tiredly to Dayden and Iris, tucking her precious stone away into her bag one final time. "But we really must be going now… thank you so much again…"
"T'is no problem, you take care of yerself now, ya hear?" The four of us progressed back out into the hallway, where Iris politely opened the front door leading back out onto the street.
"Training starts at three..." she stated, winking at us as we slipped like ghosts out the door, our exhausted bodies seeming to float beneath us. "I'll meet you here. And bring those other two trainers, too!"
With a final wave goodbye, the both of us disappeared down the street headed towards the Pokemon Center, where we could catch up on our much-needed rest. Although in coming here we'd failed to learn anything about how the hell we were supposed to wake up Reshiram, at least now we had a plan in what to do next. Well, half a plan…
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