-Chapter 4-

Dragon Rage

First things first. He wanted answers as to why Drago was neglected. He had the address to QR Construction, and a name. Mr. Daté...he hoped there was a good explanation why his Gyarados was dead. He began to walk down the roads of Mariner City. Those gym structures towered over the buildings. They were advanced technologically, impressive structures. Those who wished to challenge one could take an elevator up to battle the Pokemon at the top of the tower. Marleon stopped and watched this happen, there were monitors beneath the gym where those around could watch the battle take place. This was a member of Team Instinct taking on one of the Team Valor gyms. Of course those around were cheering on the Valor Pokemon in the gym, but after a few moments, the gym's colors faded to grey, and then went yellow. The gym had been defeated and claimed for Team Instinct, and the trainer emerged from the elevator and walked away. Marleon, however, watched as a few trainers approached the newly changed Instinct Gym, and each took the elevator up. Three trainers took the Instinct's Vaporeon down within seconds, and the gym was back to being red. Marleon crossed his arms. The new system was pretty confusing to him.

He went on, seeing more odd structures in the streets. These weren't towers, but interesting disc-shaped machines. He watched a Team Mystic trainer approach and hold her Pokedex up to the machine. It whirred and the disc spun, and a chute next to it produced a few Pokeballs and a potion. The trainer took them and began to walk away, but Marleon approached her, "Excuse me...", he spoke, "I'm new to all of this. Mind telling me what this is?" The Mystic smiled, "Oh, that's a Pokestop. Put your Pokedex up to it and it'll give you some items.", she explained. Marleon did just that, holding his Pokedex up, and similarly the disc on the machine spun, and a Pokeball and two potions rolled out of the chute. "Huh! That's pretty useful!", he tried it again, but the machine didn't respond. "Hmm? So it's not unlimited then...", he asked. The Mystic trainer chuckled, "It is, sort of. But it only works in five-minute intervals. Try it again in five minutes. You can also find these at the gyms too.", she explained. "Hey thanks, I honestly had no idea.", Marleon nodded and took his items. As they departed, he carried on his way, turning a corner. Things were much different in Mariner City than he remembered. The buildings were the same, but with all the Team Valor flair on them, it didn't seem as much like the home he grew up in. He was a bit out of place wearing his Team Instinct hat, and even heard scoffs and mumbles from a few people that he passed by. One older man even purposefully bumped into him and then turned around and spoke, "Hey, watch where you're going, 'In-stink!'" Marleon didn't respond, only giving him a glare before he kept walking.

Eventually he found the building for QR Construction, but when he walked up to the door, he found the door was closed. He peeked in through a window, lights were all off. But then he noticed a piece of paper taped to one of the windows, it had the address of the current construction project. It wasn't far, a few more blocks down the road. So Marleon kept on walking. He finally found the site, it was part of a new building structure being built. He started to walk in when someone shouted, "Hey! You can't go in there! Where's your PPE?" Marleon looked and saw a man wearing a hard hat, reflective vest, and other forms of "personal protective equipment". Marleon called back, "I'm looking for a Mr. Daté!" The worker responded, "The boss? Yeah lemme get him!", and he set some equipment down and walked into the site. Marleon noticed a few things while he was waiting. Several Conkeldurr were carrying concrete cylinders and girders around. There were signs all around with information and guidelines for staying safe on the job site. As he looked around, a short man walked up to him. He was wearing PPE, but his hard hat was covered in stickers that seemed to signify that he was the boss around here. Marleon noticed the Team Mystic logo on the side of his hard hat. "Can I help you?", the man asked. "Yes, I'm looking for Mr. Daté.", Marleon responded. The construction worker held his nametag up. Chris Daté. "That's me. What can I do for ya?" A few other construction workers started to gather around them, waiting to ask Mr. Daté some things. Marleon cleared his throat, "Can we speak in private?" The boss looked over to his workers, "Give me a few minutes, guys.", he said to them, and then escorted Marleon to a small trailer. Once the door closed behind them, Marleon asked at once, "You were the one who adopted my Gyarados, right? The one at the Rain Dance Gym." Chris set his hard hat down on a desk, then responded, "Yeah." "Tell me...why did I find her dying when I came back?", Marleon asked bluntly.

Chris looked surprised, turning to him, "What do you mean? She was still there?", he asked. "She was nearly dead in the pool. I took her to the Pokemon Center. She didn't make it.", Marleon explained. "What? Damn it, why didn't they-?", Chris balled his hand up into a fist, "Listen, I did everything I could to take care of her. Five whole years of it." Marleon blinked, "Tell me, what happened?" Chris sighed, slumping into a worn leather chair. He rubbed his head, then began to explain, "Drago didn't want to leave the gym. I tried, but she refused...she was waiting for you to come back. I think she...I think she was trying to protect the gym." Marleon closed his eyes. "I see...I think I know why.", he remembered the last words he spoke to Drago. "'Keep an eye on the place while I'm gone.', I said that to her before I disappeared. She waited for me the whole time." Chris nodded, "That explains it. But I don't know why they didn't take her out of there after they closed the gym. I went by there every day to feed her, because it's close to my home. But one day...about a year ago, they had boarded up the door.", he explained. "Who do you mean by 'they'?", Marleon asked. Chris looked him in the eye, "The city, they deemed the building to be too dangerous to go into. I think it was planned to be demolished in a month or two."

Marleon had his answer. "Well, sorry to bother you. And thank you...for everything you did for her. She was a good friend.", Marleon stood. "Wait.", Chris said, standing as well, "Is there anything I can do for you, to make up for-?" Marleon shook his head, "You took care of her for five years. How could I ask for anything else from you?", but he hesitated, "Well, there's one thing. Any chance you can help me get power back at the Rain Dance Gym?" Chris nodded, "We work directly with Manectric Electric. I'll get them to power the gym for ya." Marleon smiled, "That would be fantastic, thank you."

He left the job site, and scratched off Chris' name from the list. He looked around, still seeing all the Team Valor things in Mariner City. He looked down at the list. Dragonite was at the Team Valor location, and he had a name – Ms. Selene. He began to head in the direction of the headquarters, eventually making it to a large building. There were torches that led up to the door, and just above the door was a large Team Valor logo, the symbol of Moltres itself backlit in red. The building seemed pretty modern, and Marleon mumbled, "This used to be a souvenir mall...I guess the shops went out of business.", before he approached the door. There wasn't a handle on the door, but he saw a key card slot, as well as a comm system. He pressed the button for service, and was met with a response. "Hello? Can we help you?", someone asked through the speaker. Marleon spoke back, "Hi, I'm looking for a Ms. Selene. Is she here?" There was a brief moment of silence, before the person on the other side spoke, "One moment.", and then the door slid open. "Go on in. But you might want to take that hat off." Again Marleon completely forgot he was wearing a Team Instinct hat. He kept it on though, and stepped into the building. The place was completely covered in red, statues of various fire-type Pokemon lined the opening hallway, where he walked to be met at a front desk. The place opened up to reveal a great room, where he could see several chambers all around. Each space had trainers and Pokemon practicing attacks, running on stamina machines, and some even were sparring with one another. "Ahem...", the receptionist cleared her throat. "Ah...this is pretty impressive. Reminds me a lot of my friend Charstar's place on Lavatic Island.", he said. The receptionist smiled, "You'd be correct. This building is a collaboration with both Charstar and our leader, Candela.", she said, "Ms. Selene will be here in just a few moments."

Marleon continued to admire the building when he heard footsteps approach. Then, a voice he remembered from the last battle he had at the Rain Dance Gym, "Gyarados?!" He turned and was met face to face with Rose, who without warning ran and gave him a hug! "Grk!", Marleon wasn't expecting the embrace. "Holy cow, it's so good to see you! They said you had come back, and I had to see it for myself! And...", she noticed the hat, "You went with Instinct?!" She backed off, a bit surprised at the sudden change of emotion. "Why didn't you pick Valor? You would have been awesome here!", she questioned. Marleon shrugged, "I just picked a team, I don't really care about-", but Rose shouted, "Don't really care?! What's wrong with you!" Marleon grimaced. He finally got a good look at her. She was still wearing a hat with roses in it like he remembered six years ago, but her clothes were different, they looked more like sparring clothes. Leather in a dark shade of red. There was a Team Valor logo embroidered in the front. "I was only given a minute or so to pick. Honestly, if I knew more about the teams, I would have planned it better.", Marleon explained. Rose huffed, "I'm ashamed for you. Mariner City completely has our backs, and your old gym is here too. We could have totally dominated this island! I mean, we are...we have been for the past few years. But if we can establish a foothold for Team Valor here..."

"Rose, where is my Dragonite?", Marleon interrupted her. She blinked, and crossed her arms, "Why? You gave him up fair and square! He's not yours any longer.", she scoffed, then continued, "You never told me about the scars. I always wondered how he got them. If...if it was something you did, or..." Marleon shook his head, and pulled his jacket and shirt down so she could see the identical scarring across his shoulder, "We both have them, from the battle with Mewtwo. I would never do anything to hurt him like that!", he was starting to get annoyed. Rose settled a bit, but then repeated, "You can't have him. I won't let you take Dragonite away from us!" "Why not? Rose, I've already lost Drago today, I don't want-"

"Because he's in love with my Tyranitar!", Rose shouted. Her voice reverberated through the building, causing those training to stop and look over. A small crowd gathered over the ledges above them to look down. Rose's fists were clenched, head down, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I can't...I can't separate them. Not now. Not after all the work we did.", she spoke. "Rose...", Marleon sighed. "At least...let me see him..." Some of the Valor trainers were now standing nearby, the commotion had turned into a scene. "Hey Rose, is this guy botherin' ya?", one of them asked. "Want us to kick him out of here?", asked another. "Ugh...damn 'In-stinks'!", a third muttered. Rose wiped her tears, and then looked around. "No, no I'm good. Back to work, all of you.", she spoke to her team. The trainers hesitantly went back to where they were, and then Rose was once again alone with Marleon. "I'll show you. Just so you know that he's been well taken care of. Come on.", she motioned, and began to walk down one of the halls. Marleon exhaled, and then followed. They went through a corridor where he could see several trainers and Pokemon doing synchronized movements. Stretches, punches, and poses. "Yoga...", Marleon spoke. "Yeah, and warm-ups for their routines. It gets them ready for the stresses of battle.", Rose responded. They continued until she stopped at a door, and flicking a keycard over a scanner, the door opened. She extended a hand for Marleon to enter, and he stepped inside. They were in a small viewing room with a few chairs. Marleon sat, Rose stood. Before them were several monitors, and Rose reached over and typed in a few coordinates for a particular chamber somewhere in the building. The screens all flicked to different angles of the same room, where Dragonite and Tyranitar were together. Targets would appear before them, and each Pokemon was using their own method to disperse them, including elemental punches, bites, tail whips, boulder throws...the two of them were moving at impressive speeds. Marleon watched silently as the two continued until all the targets were defeated. Both huffing, and then...Tyranitar leaned over to give Dragonite a kiss on the cheek. The big dragon smiled back, and the two held hands as they began to exit the room.

"Wow...they're incredible.", Marleon spoke. Rose nodded, "They've been inseparable since the adoption. Tyranitar was a challenge, but once we had Dragonite...and after I earned all the Fire Islands badges, she became much more obedient." "What happened after I left?", Marleon asked. Rose sighed. "I should have become the champion. I had just earned the last badge I needed to challenge for the title, when the league changed the rules on us. The commission adopted the new league system, and the former gyms were considered outdated. Soon, the new gyms were erected, and the three team leaders came to visit us. Candela saw my passion, especially after my victories over each of the gyms of the Fire Islands, so she appointed me to be a local leader for one of the islands. I chose to come here, and since then, we've been unstoppable." Marleon stood, "Alright, you took care of him, but...", though he didn't finish the sentence, Rose spoke over him, "Unfortunately they're in an area of the building that is above your clearance level. And I'd prefer the two of them to get their rest after their training."

She escorted Marleon out of the room and took him back to the front desk. "I'm glad to see you again, Gyarados. If only to thank you for Dragonite. I don't know where I'd be if he hadn't joined our team. But unfortunately, I'll have to ask you to leave, since this building is for Valor members.", Rose informed him. Marleon sighed, "I can't say I'm happy with this, especially since I didn't get to see him in person...", but Rose smiled, "Sometime soon we'll meet up, and you can see him again. And Gyarados?", she spoke. Marleon looked to her. "We've been on good terms with Team Instinct. I'm just glad you didn't pick Team Mystic. A bit of advice though...leave our red gyms alone. It's important that we keep our lead." She smiled after she said that, and turned to leave. Marleon was speechless, but he sighed, and saw himself out.