Chapter 42: The Long Road
I sat on one of the many bridges on the upper level of Sunnyshore, staring out into the ocean. The sun was beginning to set behind me, painting a pretty wonderful view as the stars and moon began to appear on the horizon, and the sky slowly turned from rust to black. I grabbed one of my pokeballs and activated it, adding a brief flash of red to the scene. Rose stretched as she materialized, having not been released in a while. "I had a feeling you would be somewhere like this." she muttered half-jokingly, plopping down next to me on the edge. We sat in silence for a while, just watching the scenery. Eventually she had to break it. "Who died?" she asked softly. I almost wanted to be mad at her for forcing me to talk about it, but wasn't that the reason I had let her out in the first place?
"Lola." I answered, my voice thick and hoarse from lack of use.
Rose nodded solemnly, acknowledging the loss of one of our greatest friends. "How's the kid?"
"Kamina? He'll make it. He's made of tougher stuff than most, and he managed to get a final farewell in before she...before she left." I sighed heavily. "I'm tired of this Rose."
"Of what exactly?" she asked. "Of death? Of this challenge? Of being a trainer?"
"All of the above I guess." I said. "I don't think I've mentioned it before, but there's more to this challenge than beating the Elite Four. I have to gather items from four different regions. Four! I'm close to the end of one and already I've seen so many friends die. I...I don't think I can make it through this. Not the way I have been."
Again, silence fell on the two of us. By now the sun had fell back behind the cliff that ran along Sunnyshores west side, plunging the city into darkness, save for the street lights like the one above us that had flickered on a while ago. The sound of the waves crashing into the rocks below was calming. I had always liked the ocean, ever since I had first seen it as a kid. It had a weird effect on me. Like it was calling me to an adventure, to make a name for myself, to be a part of history, yet reminding me that in the end, I am just a small part of the world.
Rose finally spoke. "If you didn't think you could go on than you would have quit the moment Franklin died all the way back in Eterna" she said. "You made a choice there. That you would keep moving on, that you would finish this not for yourself, but for everyone who died."
"I know that, and I have no intention of going back on that promise." I replied. "But, to move on to another region, to start it all over again from step one..." I let the thought die, not wanting to finish it.
Rose placed a hand on mine, the petals that formed her limbs soft. "When you win this, and I do mean when, not if, whoever is still there in the end, we will help you through." I was about to speak when she held up a hand. "Don't interrupt me." she snapped. "I know what you're going to say, and like I've told you before, you need to snap out of whatever daze you're in. It's the Elite Four Nick, the most powerful group of trainers in the region. Not all of us are going to make it out alive. But we don't have to make it easy for them." She got up, brushing imaginary dirt off of her coattails. "Come on, it's getting cold out." she said, starting off towards the PokeCenter. I chuckled a bit before following, deciding that for better or worse, she was right.
The next day, I woke up as early as I could while getting enough sleep to get through the day. It was going to be a long one, and I needed all the time I could get. I gathered my stuff and checked out, grabbing Rebecca from the PC before I left. As I was walking through the streets, heading to the north coast, I spotted something in a shop window that reminded me of someone. Immediately I went in and bought it, along with a few other things needed to make it perfect. I chuckled warmly, excited to see the look on his face when I gave it to him.
By the time we had reached the coast, the tide had rolled out, revealing a large chunk of sand and leaving behind seaweed and shells and other things. The only other person on the beach was a woman, dressed modestly in a white sundress. Her hair was a light brown and long, reaching down almost to her waist. Two short clumps were held up with some kind of round hairpin. She was staring out at the ocean, just as I had been last night. As I moved closer to the water, I released Rebecca, and the flash of red light seemed to catch the womans attention.
"Oh. Are you going to the Pokemon League?" she asked, her voice so soft I almost couldn't hear it over the waves.
"What? Oh, yeah, I am." I answered, her question catching me off guard. "I just beat Volkner yesterday, and wanted to get there as soon as I could."
"So you're the one that restored Volkners passion for battling." she exclaimed, smiling sweetly. "In that case, I have to thank you. I'm Jasmine, his girlfriend. I'm a gym leader from Johto, so I don't get to visit often. But the way he's been lately, I had to come try to cheer him up. Imagine my surprise when I get here and he's already back to his old self! Oh, excuse me, I'm rambling. Here." She suddenly produced a HM from what seemed like nowhere, handing it to me. "This is Waterfall. You're going to need it to get the Victory Road. Thanks again!" she cheered, walking back up the beach towards the city.
I stared after her for a minute before looking down at the disc in my hand. "What the hell are the odds of that?" I asked Rebecca, who shrugged and snatched at the HM. "Hold on, hold on, I have to unlock it first." I chuckled, holding up and out of her reach. After teaching her the move, we set out across the mostly aquatic Route 223. The trip wasn't very long, but there were trainers all over. Since they were mostly water-type trainers, and Rose hadn't gotten much of a workout since Mt. Coronet, I decided to let her take the lead. She absolutely destroyed them, making excellent use of Magical Leaf and Giga Drain to take down opponents left and right. In no time at all, we arrived at a large island, a waterfall flowing down it. Rebecca swam up it with no issues at all, arriving in a decent sized pool of water that made me believe the waterfall was man-made. On the land nearby, a PokeCenter sat on the rocks. We moved towards it, climbing onto the shore.
"This must be it." I said, before kneeling down so I could see eye to eye with Rebecca. "Okay Rebecca, this is it. I'm not going to need any more HM's, at least not ones everyone else don't already know." She slumped a bit, looking put out. "Hold on, I'm not finished." I said. "I wanted to let you know that even though you haven't really battled, that all you've done is use HM moves, you're still an important part of the team. You beat Roark's Cranidos, helped me save Barry at Lake Aucity and climbed Mt. Coronet! I couldn't have gotten here without you. So I wanted to say, thanks. You'll be safe in the box, so rest easy." I held out a hand, but the large beaver pokemon lunged forward and pulled me into a hug. It caught me off guard, but I rolled with it, hugging her back. "I'll see you when I win." I said, returning her to her pokeball.
A quick visit to the center later, I had a full team again and one member in particular desperately needed to be trained. "You know what I love most about Victory Road?" I asked him as we stepped into the cave. Golbats flew in erratic patterns, Graveler and Steelix rolled around, carving pathways and all around there were trainers battling and training for the final challenge at the League. "All the flying and ground-types. Let's go Redwood."
"Quite so sir!" Redwood crowed, waddling behind me. "But I do say, I have no idea how to work this blasted contraption you've given me." Adding Redwood to the team was inspired by an old walkman I had spotted in a pawn shop. Remembering his record player, I had quickly snatched it up along with some classical music CDs and given it to the Snover at the first opportunity. However, he seemed to be entirely confused by the device and had no idea how to operate it. The headphones were on wrong, on barely hanging on to what I assumed was his ear and the other end near his mouth. He held the walkman upside down, completely ignoring the buttons. "Where's the needle?" he asked.
"There's no needle Redwood, here." I explained, adjusting the headphones so they sat right. Grabbing the player, I flipped it over. "Here's how you open it..." I explained, popping it open and revealing the CD inside. I spent the next few minutes showing him how the buttons work. "And this is the play button." I said finally, hitting it.
The effect was immediate. Classical music now spreading through his ears, Redwoods eyes grew wide, then relaxed as the sound washed over him. "Oho!" he crowed. "Marvelous, simply marvelous! Much richer sound than I could ever get out of the records! Oh, this is wonderful, thank you sir!" he exclaimed. I turned it off and took it back from him after a song or two.
"Alright Redwood, as much as I'd like to let you listen to that all day, we have to train." I said. "But like I said, there's plenty of pokemon with a disadvantage against you here, so I don't think we'll have a problem."
About ten seconds later we had a problem. A large group of Golbat had spotted us after we had picked off a few of them. Deciding that fighting one on one was going nowhere, they swarmed us. Redwood and I ran, hauling ass through the tough terrain. "Redwood! Is there any move you know that can help here!?" I shouted.
"One sir! But it has to be used at the precise time!" he replied, hurriedly hopping over a small boulder.
"Then do it, I can't keep running forever!" I yelled back. Redwood peeled off, a small chunk of the Golbats flying after him. The vast majority, however, were still locked on to me. Just fucking perfect I thought sourly. As it turned out, it was. Redwood appeared on the path ahead, having apparently defeated his own pursuers. He held out his hands, mist rising off of the thick trunks of wood. "Hurry sir!" he yelled as I heard a rumbling. I stepped up the pace, diving past Redwood just in time.
A large column of snow fell from the ceiling, slamming into the Golbat flock. The sheer weight of the ice took out most of them, and the stragglers were staggered by the sudden drop in temperature. I stared, amazed at what he had managed to do. "Wow, was that an Avalanche attack? Badass!" I exclaimed, turning to Redwood and finding a mass of glowing light. He sprouted up and out, gaining mass at an incredible rate. His head flattened out, loosing its conical shape and becoming much more human-like. Four spikes protruded out of his back, and when the glow faded, revealed themselves to be icicles. On his face, to match his distinguished english accent, was what looked like a thick white mustache. Redwood had evolved into an Abomasnow.
"Dude! You evolved! Now we can really kick some ass!" I shouted gleefully.
"Indeed. I am feeling quite strong now." he agreed, flexing his new muscles. "Let us charge forward, young sir, and meet any challenge head-on!"
And so we did. As we went deeper into the cave, we encountered more and more trainers. Everyone got a chance to shine. Mufasa took down a Staraptor while Kamina dueled an Ambipom in a fierce double battle. Cerberus had an excellent time battling two Gengar and a Gardevoir that one trainer had, tearing into them with tooth and claw. Moka flew circles around a Machamps head, knocking it out with ease. Rose absolutely shredded an opponents Rhydon with a single Magical Leaf attack. And Redwood had a wonderful time tearing through a dragon tamers team of Gible and Gabite. We fought together as a team, as a family, protecting one another and compensating for each others weaknesses. In the end, Victory Road never stood a chance.
We arrived at the exit, the sun now high in the sky. Everyone was out of their pokeballs, and each had some exclamation of discomfort at the sudden change in lighting. But once our eyes adjusted, there was a sight to behold. The Pokemon League. It was nestled in a clearing on the rocky island, grass specially planted to make it nicer. The league itself was an immense cathedral, stained glass paintings, turrets and everything. The front and center piece of the glass was a depiction of Arceus, surrounded on three sides by Uxie, Azelf and Mesprit.
"Amazing!" Moka exclaimed.
"Truly an achievement in architecture." Redwood agreed.
"Tch. Some big building and some painted glass is all it takes to impress you? I'm more interested in what's inside." Cerberus growled.
"The Elite Four! I'm getting pumped up!" Kamina cheered.
"Keep your head out of the clouds, we can't afford any mistakes here." Rose chided.
"There will be none. Victory is here at last." Mufasa stated.
"We're not going." I said.
It took a few seconds for my words to sink in. Once it did, the reaction was simultaneous. "WHAT!?" they shouted at once.
I stuck a finger in my ear, wiggling it. "You guys want to do that again, I think I can still hear a little." I complained.
"What do you mean we're not going!? We've come this far, it's to late for you to back out now!" Rose barked.
"Don't be a pussy just because some people have died along the way. That's how this challenge goes, that's what you told us." Cerberus added.
"We all understand what's at risk." Kamina said quietly. "We're not afraid!"
"This is not a time for cowardice to come through. Bravery in the face of defeat!" Redwood announced.
"I'll never forgive you if you back out now." Moka sniffed.
Mufasa simply walked around, coming over to face me. "Why?" he asked, getting straight to the point.
"Because we're not ready." I replied. "We're strong, I know, the last few hours showed me that. But this is different. This is the League, the Elite Four. There can be no second guesses, no what ifs. If I'm going to do this, if I'm going to keep my sanity from doing this again and again, I'm going to need to be absolutely sure that we are prepared going in. Because once we're in there's no turning back." I turned to face the rest of the team. "So we'll train. And once we're ready, we'll come back, right to this spot, and face them. Agreed?" I asked, putting a hand out.
Kamina was the first to respond, putting his paw on top of mine. Mufasa and Rose followed shortly after, adding theirs to the mix. Redwood's large hand covered ours, and Moka landed on his shoulder, putting a wing in. Cerberus hesitated slightly. "Well I guess even if I'm strong enough to take them all on by myself right now it can't hurt to get a little stronger." he mused, putting his paw in.
"Then its settled." I said, looking back at the large castle. "We'll be back." I promised.