Chapter 9
Mach 1
Alfa woke up on the day of the first match of the rank league. He remembered he had fallen down the stairs the day before and had been unconscious until dinner, seven thirty to be precise. It was four in the morning. He hadn't been able to sleep, he had gotten more than enough the day before. The sun was rising so he changed his clothes and headed out to the garden. Sicilia, Ice and Alexis were all still asleep. He crept down the stairs and made his way out of the castle.
The sun was rising from behind a glacier, and the orange light phased and refracted through the ice, creating a truly breathtaking scene. And in the center of the multi colored phasing light, was a jet maybe, flying at what he guessed was Mach 1. The jet turned around and headed straight for Alfa. He realized that it wasn't a jet. Jets couldn't stop that fast and turn that quickly in such a tight turn. He focused on the object, realizing that it was Latios. But Latios had never been able to fly that fast before.
All off a sudden, Latios was right in front of him, coming to stop. Latios stopped in a single second, about a foot away from Alfa. A second later, there followed a loud blast noise. The effect of being faster than sound.
'What woke you up?' thought Alfa.
'The sun. I was sleeping in one of the towers and I forgot to close the curtains.' Replied Latios, settling down on the ground to rest its wings. 'What about you?'
'You know I can't sleep because I was out for twelve hours yesterday.' Answered Alfa. 'How long have you been flying that fast for?'
'About an hour now.' Replied Latios, getting up from the ground. 'We missed out on practice yesterday. Do you want to go to the union now and catch up? I'm pretty sure you do.'
'You know me too well.' Thought Alfa with a smile. 'I'll just be a minute. I have to grab my styler and leave Ice a note.' Latios nodded in reply as Alfa turned and went back to the castle. He was in his ranger uniform, so he packed his team uniform, his styler, a bottle of water, and a few other things. He turned to thee messaging board in his room. Each of the bed and guest room had a messaging board. It was a touch screen board with a metal frame and a blue back grounded screen. You took a stylus, wrote the registration of a room's board and wrote a message. In this case, Alfa wrote Ice as the registration.
He wrote out a message, and ran down to the kitchen, grabbing a cold turkey and mozzarella sandwich on his way out. He pulled a pair of goggles out of his bag and approached Latios.
'I'm leaving the car behind, we only need one today. I've told Ice where we'll be. Let's go at top speed and dive into the Almia River to muffle the blast at the dock, k?' thought Alfa.
'K.' replied Latios. Alfa climbed aboard Latios and wore the goggles, knowing he would need them to see at that speed. All of a sudden Latios set of, just as Alfa had put the sandwich in a plastic box and stored it in his bag. Latios was flying at speeds that most plane engineers were still trying to reach. It was crazy. They crossed the Crysta Cave from the inside to try maneuvering at that speed. They made it through, but Alfa nearly hit a stalactite once or twice. It was a crazy experience, but Alfa loved every second of it. He could tell Latios did too. They made it out of the cave and Latios flew along the surface of the water, and as soon as the dock was in sight, the duo held their breath and took the flight underwater. The blast followed them, and sent all the water in that part of the river flying. It muffled the sound well, and it was a good way to water the plants. The stopped flying as they climbed over the dock. Alfa went straight up to the training center, knowing it was empty and that the walls were soundproof, as ranger training usually created a lot of a ruckus.
He showed his styler to unlock the room and crept inside, turning the lights on. He and Latios were alone in the practice area. Latios headed over to the keeping net and set the program for Pokémon. Alfa headed over to his own station and set the program as well. He would have breakfast later, after training, or he would just throw up. He got the ball ready, knowing he would have to work his backside off if he wanted to be in good enough playing form for the match. To not have their captain with them on their first match, not something Alfa wanted to put his teammates through. He positioned the ball for a penalty kick and sent it flying towards the goal.
Three and a half hours later, at Almia Castle
Ice woke up confused. He had had the craziest dream. He had been running from a gigantic ice cream cone which was yelling; "I'm going to make you slip as well!" he rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed. The first thing he noticed was a message on the messaging board opposite his bed. He read the message;
'Ice, I've gone to the union to practice for the match, I woke up at four by the way! Anyways, I'm going on Latios. We only need one car today for the four of us. I took one of last night's sandwiches for breakfast. I'm at the union, you have to bring Sicilia and Alexis, their tickets let them watch all our matches from the bench. See you at the union. Alfa.'
He smiled to himself. He had known Alfa wouldn't be able to sleep and would go to practice. He glanced at the wall clock. It was seven thirty-five. H got out of bed and got ready. He left his rom and went to wake up Sicilia. He knocked on her door and entered. She was awake, looking like she too had just woken up.
"Go wake up Alexis. We have to leave at eight fifteen to not be late." Said Ice briefly as he went down to get sandwiches out for breakfast. Might as well finish them. There were four left. He put three on the table and put the fourth in a box, guessing that Alfa had only taken one, and knowing that after practicing as vigorously as he was probably practicing now, he would need another.
Soon everyone had eaten and Ice went up to get his bag ready. He packed his uniform and the sandwich along with a water bottle of his own. He went outside and called Articuno down.
"Girls, let's go. It's eight ten. Be at the car in five minutes." Yelled Ice. Five minutes later they were all seated in the car, ready to leave. They had just traversed the lake, but there was a herd of Piloswine in the way. There were so many that there was no way around or through them.
"Articuno, a little help here would be nice!" called Ice. Up in the sky, Articuno heard Ice call and swooped down. It spread its wings wide and gusted a blizzard at the herd driving them out of the way. When Articuno stopped, the herd was gone, but there was a pile of now in their way.
"You've got to be kidding me." Groaned Ice. He hit the Mercedes Beam and fired at the pile, within a minute, it had melted. He hit the accelerator and the rest of the way to the union was clear luckily. He parked the car in the union's lot and went inside, the two girls trailing slightly behind him. He stopped at the partner pen, bringing Alfa's four other Pokémon with him. He knew Aggron wasn't in the team but it would make a good defender, so he decided to try and persuade the professor. Its massive frame would block most attacks. The eight of them, Pokémon included, made their way to the training room, which Ice unlocked with his left iris. He walked in to find Alfa sitting down with a bottle of water and a towel around his neck. There was an empty plastic box next to him, which Ice assumed the first sandwich had been in. he opened his bag and tossed Alfa the second one.
"You're going to need that." Said Ice as Alfa opened the box.
"Thanks bro." replied Alfa before he began eating. In a matter of minutes he was finished.
"I'm thinking you want to convince the prof to put Aggron on defense. Luckily for him, Aggron has a place to fill, as Luxray injured its front paw yesterday when it and Sven fell into the Chroma ruins. It landed on all four feet, but a rock fell on its foreleg." Said Alfa once he was done.
"Good. Practice is at nine fifteen, but as always, we're supposed to be here at nine." Ice remarked, turning to Sicilia, "Sicilia, do you want to show Alexis around?"
"I would, but I've forgotten the way around here myself. I've only been here once before this." She replied.
"We've only got about five minutes before nine, so we'll show you around some other time, you're staying with us for around three weeks." Alfa said to Alexis. "Hey, Sven and Wendy are here."
Sven and Wendy walked through the door, Staraptor and a limping Luxray following them.
"Guys, we're one defender short for the second half. Luxray's leg isn't getting any better." Said Sven as he and Wendy walked in.
"Hence, Aggron." Said Alfa bluntly. All of a sudden, Kellyn and Keith walked in, followed by the rest of the team who lived at the union. Professor Hastings walked in impatiently.
"We have a problem. Luxray is injured. We need another defender." He announced to the team.
"Professor, we'd like to try Aggron for defense and move Luxray to substitute if it works out well enough." Said Ice.
"A brilliant idea. Training starts now we stop at ten fifteen, everybody changes into uniform then and we pile into the bus and head off for the stadium." He said. "Chop chop, move quickly now." Commanded the professor.
Everybody headed to their stations to practice as Alfa took Aggron to its new station and told it what to do.
"Aggron. Ronn, ron." It said as it nodded. Seeing this, Alfa smiled and headed off to his own station. Each station was against the walls with a divider between each one. The middle of the room empty. Alfa began training with receiving passes and as he ran for a far shot, he saw Sicilia and Alexis going from station to station, looking in on everybody to see what they were doing. He engaged himself in training, leaping in every direction to catch every pass the machine shot at him. Twenty minutes later, he was attacking the net when Sicilia and Alexis came to his station. He noticed them but continued with his training. Not saying anything, the duo just watched as Alfa shot countless goals into the net against a virtual keeper this time, the ball was holographic and he had motion sensors along his body so he didn't need a helmet to see it. The two girls moved on around ten minutes later to Ice.
Ice was blocking shots when they came by. The machine was firing footballs in every direction when the two came up behind him. And Ice was blocking every single one. Not a single shot did he let into the net. Each and every save was made with ease or brilliance or unimaginable grace. How Ice managed to stop all those shots Sicilia and Alexis couldn't understand.
Soon the training session was over and they all went to the restrooms in the union to get changed into uniform. Five to ten minutes later, the entire team was standing in a line in uniform. The girls had pants instead of shorts, Alfa had a crimson Armband on his shoulder, and Ice was wearing a full sleeved shirt with shorts; the keeper's uniform. Even the Pokémon had uniform. They had all been specially sewn by the union's seamstress. She had worked furiously to make Aggron's uniform while they were practicing. Some Pokémon just had shirts and some had shirts and shorts.
The team piled into the union bus, and set off for the Puel town arena. Their match was home today. They arrived at the arena to find it empty save a janitor. A few minutes later, Gemstone arrived. They had come the day before and had stayed overnight in Pueltown. The two teams began practicing on either half of the field as the crows slowly began to pour in. when half the stadium was filled, both teams returned to the benches. The match was due to start at twelve, and soon the stadium was filled.
The two captains shook hands and the game began with Gemstone kicking off. Gemstone was wearing a white uniform, with a purple keepers' uniform. Volkner, Tate and Maylene struck hard at the Phantom defense, pressing against the defenders and keeping them on their toes. All of a sudden, Volkner pushed past Marcus and tried to net the ball, kicking it into one of the upper corners. Unfortunately for him, Ice was prepared, and caught the ball, throwing it straight out to Keith. Keith and Solana took the ball past the midfield line and through the Gemstones' midfielders to Kellyn. Kellyn took the ball as far as the defenders before passing it to Sven who was in the area. Norman raced forward, stopping Sven in his tracks, but couldn't steal the ball, which he sent to Lunick.
Lunick struck the ball at the net, but Brawly stretched his leg out and sent it flying to Roark. All of a sudden, Kellyn came out of nowhere, stopping the ball with his chest before it could reach Roark, speeding forward to the defensive line, passing it to Alfa, trusting him to get it past Byron. Alfa did manage to pull past Byron but was stopped by Norman, where he passed the ball back to Kellyn who kicked it at the goal again.
Brawly dove for it, and touched it with his fingertips, but the ball still flew into the net. They had scored! A few seconds later, after the opponents kicked off, Volkner struck hard at their defense again, being stopped this time by Ben. Ben took the ball from him and sent it flying across the stadium to a waiting Alfa. Receiving the ball, Alfa twisted a path through the defenders and shot at the goal as Liza decided to tackle him, but not until after he had kicked the ball did she collide with him and receive a yellow card.
The ball was going straight at Brawly, but he made his mistake there. He dove for the ball, but it passed under his horizontal body. Had he not dove for it, he could have stopped it. The score was two-one to Phantom Fury. Gemstone kicked off as the whistle for half time blew.
The second half started a half hour later, with the Phantom's Pokémon kicking off. Sceptile and Cranidos kicked off, taking the ball to the opposing half. Before a minute had passed, Blaziken had shot at the goal. It was a strong kick, but the opposing side's keeper, Hariyama, stopped it throwing it out to the defenders. Before the ball reached them, Cranidos struck out with its head, but Hariyama stopped the ball again, this time throwing it out to midfield. Medicham and Electivire carried it out to the Phantom defense barely making it past them, sending the ball to Lucario, who kicked it at the net. Latios stopped the ball with one outstretched arm and threw it back out, only to have it headed back by Lucario, this time, entering the goal.
Understanding that the Gemstone defense was too good, the phantom Pokémon kicked off, staying on the defensive now. They had brilliant defenders and an amazing keeper, they just needed to play according to the enemy's style. Aggron, Swampert and Infernape closed up the goal, with Articuno's help while the attackers tried to focus on increasing the lead. Blaziken, Sceptile and Cranidos, aided by Feraligator, tried to score multiple times, failing every time, mostly due to the defense. The Gemstone defense consisted of three bulky Pokémon to stop the ball and one Medicham to send it back out. They kept blocking the phantom attempts to score.
At the last attempt to score, Hariyama decided to use force palm and sent the ball all the way out to Electivire. All of a sudden, Electivire kicked the ball at the goal. Latios saw the ball coming and decided to try something crazy. It blasted in the ball's direction at Mach 1, stopping after a second. Everybody in the crowd gaped at it. A second later, the blast came back and sent the ball flying into the air.
Electivire pushed Medicham and Lucario into the air one by one, with Lucario jumping off Medicham in the air, sending towards the ball. Seeing this, Latios blasted off again, and caught the ball with its head, sending it to the gemstone goal. Hariyama stopped it and threw it low. Latios wasn't done yet though. It flew down and intercepted the shot right in front of Hariyama, heading it back into the goal. The whistle blew for time as the ball crashed into the net.
Everyone on the Phantom Bench started celebrating as the team gathered, but their joy was short lived. The stadium roof began to retract.
Standing above them, on a hover stand, was none other than Mr. Kincaid, the official of team dim sun who had posed as a teacher at the ranger school. He started laughing maniacally through a megaphone on his stand.
"None of you, will leave this stadium alive!" he exclaimed, a shadow looming over his head. Silently praying, Alfa looked further up to see which Pokémon Kincaid was controlling via miniremo;
Lugia.