Chapter 4: On the Horizon
"We could run away after that, and head to my old house in Hoenn-"
"Honey, you got a letter," my mom's voice interrupted yet another discussion going on about our travel plans.
"Not now, Mom," I replied, slightly annoyed that she had broken the conversation when we were on a roll.
"I think you'll want to see this," she pushed. "It's from the Battle Frontier."
"The Battle Frontier!" Gary exclaimed. Emily stayed silent, jaw dropped in awe.
"What's that?" I asked.
"You haven't heard of the Battle Frontier?" Emily burst out incredulously.
My mom sent the envelope down on a chair next to her. "I'll leave you guys to it," she said with a smile, sauntering out of the room.
Gary leaped at the envelope and literally tore it open. Grabbing the letter inside, he poured over it, Emily reading over his shoulder. After reading the letter through, he slumped back against the chair, sighing.
"What's so special about this place? Where is it?" I questioned.
"The Battle Frontier itself is a collection of places where you can go to battle Frontier Brains," Gary explained. "The reason everyone knows it-"
"Except you, apparently," Emily muttered under her breath.
"-is because of the Frontier Challenge. The Challenge is to beat all seven of the Frontier Brains. And before you ask, the Frontier Brains are really, really strong Trainers who live all across Kanto," he finished.
"You have to get an invitation to compete in the Frontier Challenge. They only choose the best Trainers. I don't see why you get to compete, but we don't," Emily whined.
I felt my cheeks getting hot. Gary and Emily had gotten second and third in the League, and they knew about the Battle Frontier when I didn't. It didn't seem fair for only me to compete in the challenge.
"Oh, stop it, Emily. You're just making her feel bad." At this my cheeks felt like they would burn a hole through my head. "Crystal's the one who got first in the Pokemon League. And you said yourself they only choose the best."
In an attempt to ignore the awkward silence that quickly filled the room, I shuffled over to my letter and read over it.
Dear Ms. Maypliskee,
Your recent victory in the Kanto Pokemon League has brought your skill to our attention. We have deemed you worthy to participate in the Battle Frontier Challenge. Please come to the Battle Frontier Headquarters located at 21st Main Street, Indigo Plateau at noon on June 26th or your spot will be taken away.
Sincerely,
Battle Frontier Headquarters
"Kind of direct, isn't it?" I chuckled, trying desperately to break the silence.
"That doesn't matter, they're from the Battle Frontier. And the Battle Frontier beats all," Emily said, her voice still sounding somewhat annoyed.
"June 26th… Hey isn't that tomorrow?" Gary asked suddenly.
"Yeah, you're right!" I cried, checking my watch. "I better get moving!"
Immediately, I knew I had said something wrong. "Who's 'I?'" Emily asked coldly. "And here I thought we were all traveling together."
"I thought that was the deal, Chris," Gary said, clearly bothered by my words as well. "You don't want us to come along?"
"No, no! I just thought — well — wouldn't you be bored just watching my going around battling? How about you guys?"
"I don't mind. It'll be cool to see how you battle and to research how the wild Pokemon react to the Frontier Brains," Gary chimed at once.
"How 'bout you, Emily?"
She stayed silent for a moment before reply. "I still want to study legendaries and learn from you, whether we're going to the Battle Frontier or not."
"Alright, then! We need to get packed!"
The rest of the day was spent in packing our and our Pokemons' stuff. By the time we finished it was dark outside, and we ended up ordering pizza as a going away celebration dinner. We then had a night of over-energetic sleep, and after a long goodbye to my family, we were off.
The Indigo Plateau was pretty far away from Cinnabar Island, so we ended up flying there on our Pokemon. I was atop my Salamence, Gary was on Emily's Dragonite (for some strange reason his Scizor could not fly him anywhere), and Emily was on her own Salamence.
Halfway there, just when we had started flying over the land, I was shaken out of my doze by a beam of ice flying straight at us. "What the heck?" I muttered, looking over Salamence's wing as he stopped mid-flight. No more attacks came our way, so we kept going.
Less than a minute later, another Ice Beam attack shot into the sky, this time nearly knocking us of our Pokemon. In mutual agreement, we flew back onto the ground to track down the person who were attacking us.
"Well, well, well, look who it is! I believe they call ya the Top Three," A man with a raspy voice and scowling expression looked at us, still on our Pokemon. A Cloyster stood next to him, no doubt the source of the attacks. "I'm gonna take care of ya all right now, so tha' ya won' cause any mistakes, as the legends' call it."
"Who the hell are you? And what do you want?" Emily asked in a rude tone, jumping off her Salamence to face the man. Gary and I both mimicked her action, though I nearly collapsed onto the ground after not walking for so long.
"Ya can call me… wai', no. Don' call me anything. Filth like yaselves don' deserve to know my name," he growled.
Gary and I exchanged looks. There was something seriously messed up about this guy. "Look, man," I started. "We're not looking for trouble."
"Oh, is tha' so? Your friend here certainly looks prepared to figh'," Smirking, he turned to Emily. "How 'bout a one on one battle? Tha'll pu' ya in yar place and teach ya not to mess with me or the legends'."
"Your on," Emily narrowed her eyes. "I can take you any day."
"Wait a second, Emily. Don't just start fighting," Gary said calmly. Facing the man, he continued, "You've mentioned legendaries a bunch of times. What do they have to do with anything?"
The man grinned in a twisted way. "Looks like ya've got some common sense, kid. But I ain' gonna tell ya anything."
"So you really want to take us in a battle? Knowing that we beat all those trainers in the Kanto League? Not exactly the wisest move, is it?" Gary shrugged. "Then again, we're fine with battling. It's not like it'll matter to us — we'll win if we battle, and you'll be the one running if we don't. You can either escape in one piece or not. Your choice."
"Er… I mean when ya put it like tha'… er…" He shifted uncomfortably. Finally, making up his mind, he spat, "Alrigh' lay off! I'll leave for now, but the legends' will get ya' good soon enough." Before we could say anything else, he returned his Cloyster and sprinted away.
I stared at Gary in amazement. He had just managed to get us out of a fight without a scratch on ourselves or our Pokemon. "How'd you do that?"
"Do what?" he asked back innocently.
"Never mind."
Before long we were back in the sky, soaring towards the Indigo League. We soon stopped for a quick lunch, and then continued our journey to the headquarters. After what felt like days (though I knew were more like hours), we finally saw the building.
"Look! The Headquarters!" Gary was the first one to see it.
"Where, where?" Emily questioned, looking around wildly to try and catch a glimpse of the famous building.
"There! On the horizon!" As soon as the words were out of Gary's mouth, I saw it. The building stood majestically in an open field, outlined by the pink and orange rays of the setting sun.
Looking at the Headquarters, I finally realized why Emily had kept going on about how amazing the Battle Frontier was. I mean, even the building looked awesome! As I kept staring at it (hey, it was hard not to), for the first time, I didn't think of my journey as over. I was still young, and even my Pokemon were all strong and fully evolved, the Battle Frontier seemed like it would be a difficult to beat. Challenges were still on the horizon after all.