Pokѐmon Journey II: Gwyn's Passage
Chapter 21: The Victory Road
Gwyn's Point of View:
I sighed for the utmost time as I stood outside of Aaron's house and debated if I should go inside or not. It's been almost a week or two since my battle with Clair and my acceptance into her clan along with receiving my final gym badge. I'd been training all this time and trying to sort out my feelings on the matter with Aaron, as much as I hated to admit it, I did want him back in my life, but nothing more then a friend.
Aaron and I were always the best of friends, he was so easy to talk to and he used to be so protective and brave when we were little and out in the woods with wild pokemon around that could really hurt us. I guessed that was why Aaron always had a protective instinct over me; he viewed me as the girl he always looked after. He was a bit selfish in sharing me with others through, even with my own mother and father, when he was still around. Aaron always had been extremely selfish in sharing myself, he wanted me all to himself, that most likely brought his protective and possessive factor into play.
But things were different now. I didn't need him watching my back every second when we're out there on the road. I was a trainer now and I had my own team to protect me. He also couldn't have me all to himself anymore, he should have known that from the very beginning that if I left our home town, I'd make new friends and I wouldn't be around for just solely him anymore. I had an entire team, a new family that I had to look out for, it's not just him and our parents and the tiny town of New Bark where we were miraculously the only two children around the same as each other at the time.
I saw all of his pokemon were outside, they were watching me intently as they saw me standing outside their trainer's door. I looked at all of them in the eye, and they all looked ashamed. The only one who could actually look at me was Meganium, and it in itself was looking at me with pleading eyes to forgive its trainer.
I suddenly pulled out all my pokeballs and released all my pokemon. They all sat around me as I took care of their pokeballs and turned around to face them. "I'm heading inside you guys."
Immediately I was faced with a thousand protests all from a small group of six pokemon.
"Calm down!" Silence hit. "Look you guys, I know what's happened, but I need to settle things in there with Aaron and we need to close this chapter in our lives, I can't keep avoiding him." I shook my head. "I still need him in my life."
"Sion, sion!" Cynder cried out.
"No Cynder, I need to do this on my own, I want you all to stay out here while I deal with this, I promise I'll be okay. But if anything goes wrong, you have my permission to do anything to him should it mean stopping him, okay?"
Needless to say all of my pokemon weren't exactly happy with this turn of events, but never the less, they agreed, so long as they were allowed to stick around outside the house in case anything went wrong. With all of my pokemon grumbling about, I took a final deep breath before I knocked on the door.
I felt the world all go silent in the three seconds it took for me to wait for a response.
"Come in!" I slowly twisted the knob on the door and pushed it open. As soon as I entered the home, I saw that each room had been redecorated while Aaron and I had been gone. I saw the kitchen was a bright red color while the living room was a bluish teal color and the wood surrounding the windows were white, leaving them to stand out among the perfectly chosen furniture that went with the new coloring in the home.
"Oh Gwyn! It's so good to see you!" Aaron's very perky mother Clarissa then appeared in my vision from the kitchen area where she was making some lunch. Much like her son, she had the trait of sleek black hair that was straight and somewhat spiky; it only came down to her shoulders in length. Her eyes matched his with their rich brown color and she was dressed in a basic shirt and jeans in her bare feet. "How have you been?"
"Alright, I've gotten in a lot of training since I left Blackthorn a couple weeks ago. What about yourself?"
"Oh I've kept myself busy with remodeling the house with some nice new colors I've seen over at the stores in Goldenrod City!" She pointed out to all the colors and furniture around us. "What do you think of the colors? I even re-did all of our bedrooms and bathrooms and got entirely new appliances!"
"It looks lovely, I wish I could do something like this in my own home, but Mom still has another few payments left on the house before we can even think about doing something like you're doing." I sighed. "I hate to cut this short, it's been so long since I've talked with you… but I need to talk with Aaron. Is he home?"
The woman sighed. "Oh yes, yes he is." She looked up to the stairs in the back of the living room. "He's been home since before you came back, and he's been either up there or out in the woods. He's hardly talked or even eaten when I'm around, but I'm sure he's been taking food when I haven't been looking."
"He's really been that bad?"
"Oh at least!" His mother groaned and sat back on the couch. "I hate seeing my son like this! Not to mention that he won't talk to either of us about what's bothering him! All that he's told us is that he ruined things with you." She shook her head and looked up at me with her glossy eyes. "Gwyn, what did he do?"
"He…" Should I tell her? Does she need to know? If Aaron hasn't told her then maybe I shouldn't either. I mean, I came to settle this anyway, so it'll be all water under the bridge…
"Gwyn? Sweetie?" I blinked as the woman looked worriedly over at me.
"Um… we had another argument that was really bad between us, so Aaorn left because he though I'd never forgive him after some of the things we said to each other." I flinched under her questioning gaze. "I came over today to see if we could try and settle this once and for all and put it all behind us."
"Oh… Aaron did it again did he?" I could see the livid fire in her eyes as she jumped up from the couch and clenched her fists. Fire could almost been seen coming out of the woman's mouth. "AARON!"
"WHAT?" I could hear the shouting from up on the second floor.
"GET DOWN HERE THIS ISTANT!" Suddenly I could hear footsteps making their way from the area above to where the stairs were.
"What the hell Mom?" Aaron began to make his way downstairs in only his jeans and socks with a towel around his neck. "Do ya have to yell?"
"Gwyn is here to see you." His mother was seething though all her teeth and just about ready to run his butt over with whatever I bet she could find on hand, and I'd rather not know with what.
"What? Gwyn-" he whipped his head around until his eyes landed on me and he just stopped talking entirely. It was silent as he watched me from the other side of the house. Our eyes met, but nothing could be read other then his eyes silent screams of 'I'm sorry'.
"Hey."
"Hello."
"Uh…" He rubbed the back of his head and motioned up the stairs. "Wanna come up?"
"Yeah, I'd like that." I passed by his mother, who was also frozen in shock, and followed Aaron up the stairs. He led me up into the lime green hallways before taking a detour into a room that was open and inside was walls of a golden color and a dresser and bed and a few other accessories.
"I really didn't think you'd come after what I did." Aaron sighed as he took a seat on his bed. "Do you want me to put a shirt on?"
"I don't care, it makes no difference, nor will it make things harder at all to talk about." I sighed and stepped over next to the front window and took a seat as his desk. "Aaron, we need to put what happened past us."
"What?" His eyes widened as he looked up at me in utter shock. "Are you sure? You can forgive me so easily?"
"Its not that I can forgive you so easily, because it's been a couple weeks or so since that incident took place, but it's because I know I can't live my life without you somewhere in it with me." I sighed and looked out the window, my pokemon were still standing out there and I suddenly caught Cynder's eyes. She was watching me carefully through the window, watching for any sign that meant I needed help.
I'm here on my own, I can do this. I sighed and looked back over at him. "You've always been there for me Aaron, after having you there all this time in my life, I can't just suddenly watch you fade from it all because of a misunderstanding we had. We've had so many in the past that it's a surprise that I waited this long to talk to you."
"But… I was horrible to you…"
"Correct, but I can understand why you did it as well, at least to a certain degree." I walked away from the window and came next to him on the bed, taking a seat and placing my hand on his. "But these past few weeks have been so hard on me without you there; I really missed my best friend and all his cheering me on and encouragement."
"How… how can you forgive me? I don't deserve it…"
"Maybe, maybe not, but you're my best friend and just like a brother to me Aaron. While I may not return the feelings you apparently developed for me over all this time, that doesn't mean that I don't care about you at all." I finally was able to feel my nervousness and shyness flow away from me and I kissed his cheek. "Just no more surprise kisses okay? I love you Aaron, but not in that way." I watched him pat his cheek in surprise. "Now give me a hug!"
He was quick to pull me into his arms and I happily melted into them while I could hear him sobbing over my shoulder. I patted his head through his hat and he slowly calmed down as the minutes ticked by. He lifted his head soon to look at me and bowed his head.
"Thank you so much… I know I don't deserve this…"
"I think you do, so stop talking like that, or are you not going to see me off? Or do you want to go with me?" Aaron looked back up at me in shock.
"What?"
"I'm heading out to the Indigo Plateau today, so I'll be traveling through the Victory Road as well. Tristan's planning on going with me all the way to the Pokѐmon League before he's going to stop and wait since he has no interest in becoming the champion. Mom, Professor Elm, Violet, Vince, Alex, and even some of the gym leaders I've faced before are coming to watch me battle, and I think some of the gym leaders from Violet's region too, to see how strong I am and to prepare to face me."
"What? Are you planning on taking on the Kanto gym leaders after the Pokѐmon League?" He snorted softly.
"Violet thinks it'll do me good for keeping in shape with my pokemon and getting some more experience under my belt like she did with the gym leaders in this region." I chuckled and nervously placed with my hands. "I bet she even wants me to battle Alex and Vince at one point."
"Damn… you make it sound as if she wants you to follow in her footsteps, not to mention it seems like she's practically begging you to take the title of champion for the Johto region." Aaron sighed and shook his head.
"I think she really does want me to do that, after all, I want to join her on her travels, and the only way to do that is to make it to the top and prove myself to her."
"Awe man…" Aaron sighed and rose from his bed, quickly grabbing his shirt and jacket before turning back to me as he shrugged them on. "Might as well go with you then, if you don't mind, I gotta see your strength in person!"
"Alright then." I rose from his bed as well and nodded to him. "Get ready and meet me over on the fishing end of town by two, just after lunch."
HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch
"Are you sure you three will be alright?" My mother questioned the three of us for the utmost time and I was about ready to snap. We were just getting ready to head out and we were saying our temporary good-byes before we would meet up again at the Indigo Plateau to watch me face off against the Elite Four and the Johto Champion.
My mother at this time was too worried about how I'd be through the Victory Road and against all the trainers that were along the path before we'd all meet at the same destination by nightfall. It was bittersweet as my mother kept going through all my things and playing with my hair and fiddling with almost anything that included me around, or with me.
"Mom!" I snapped at the woman. "Stop it!"
"Sorry Honey, I'm just worried…"
"I know that, but this is even beyond that point!"
My mother was stressing me out with her persistence. I needed so badly to get out of town and get going with the boys before I lost my mind.
"We're all ready to go when you are Gwyn." I turned my head back to look at both of the boys, packed and ready to go on the road. I sighed. Finally…
"Alright then, let's get a move on!" I called out Scarlet and she roared as she sat in the shallow harbor, waiting. She lowered her head and we all climbed up onto her head (with the exception of some growling on her part at Aaron as a warning that if he ever pulled another stunt like what he did before that he'd be eaten alive by her) while we said our last good-byes to those that were watching us off and planned to meet us over at the Indigo Plateau before we'd rest for the night and then I'd prepare for my matches the next day.
"Sweetie! Be careful!" my mother cried out.
"You boys better not hassle Gwyn and help her whenever she needs it!" Alex demanded. "Good luck with the trainers out there! They can be pretty tough!" Vince grinned at us.
"I know you may be going to battle for the title, but be careful, and please take note of all the pokemon you see!" Professor Elm asked of me.
Violet was the only one who'd yet to speak. All she did was smile at me and give me a thumb up. All the others looked at her in question, but the two of us only smiled at each other. It was her silent answer to me, her silent "you don't need me to say it, because I know you can do it" reply.
"I got it Violet!" I grinned them with a light laugh with it. "I'm become the new Johto Champion and make you proud! And I'll prove to you that I'm strong enough to travel with you!"
"What? I was never told about this Miss Vilmos!" My mother was then hounding on Violet, but the Kanto Champion was only looking at me. With a final look at her and a wave to the others, we moved on and I had Scarlet start to head out to the ocean and travel along the edge of the bank.
All that time, I watched Violet only grin. She knew I'd do it…
HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch
"Alright Sunrise! Take them out with psychic! Ticky, you use ancient power!" A painful blast to the mind and magical rocks were hurled at the opposing trainer's pokemon that I faced before me on the road to the Victory Road, my final obstacle before I could make it to the Pokѐmon League. It was an average trainer, apparently most of them had already tried to face the league from what I could hear them muttering about when they faced me or talked to me during the battle, but they were all training to try again since now they weren't strong enough.
"Damn…" the other trainer muttered as he withdrew his two pokemon before he fled back into the forest to treat them with whatever healing items he had on him. I smiled at my pokemon and Sunrise jumped back onto my shoulders while Ticky flew into my arms.
"Great job you two, excellent with teamwork." Both of them were happy to hear the complements come from me. We continued on our way after that, the boys in toe that had been watching all my battles, and how we handled them with ease.
"Nice Gwyn!" Aaron grinned over at me with the usual energy that I was more used to him having. "Even with Shelly not liking to battle, you're doing an amazing job with all these trainers!"
"Indeed, Violet's right, I believe you'll do well when it comes to the Pokѐmon League. I'm excited to actually see how you fair against their very powerful pokemon," Tristan said with his normal average tone. He was smiling quite a bit though, to see us all back together in a group, I think.
"Thanks you guys, but we still have a ways to go." I looked up at the trail that still lay ahead of us on the woods path. We'd already gotten through a waterfall that we had no choice but to pass through since it was the only way to reach the path since none of us had large enough flying pokemon to carry us all up there and over the ragged cliffs that hung around the high up path.
"Don't worry, we'll get there alright, then all that will be left is the Victory Road, and then your challenge tomorrow at the Indigo Plateau." I felt Tristan's hand land on my shoulder and I couldn't help but blush at the contact. It felt warm, Tristan was always warm, just in general or because of all the warm clothing he wore. I smiled back at him and nodded.
"I know, so let's hit that final leg!"
HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch
"Wow…" we'd just reached a large building that was situated before the large mountain that stood in our way before the Pokѐmon League. We had entered the simple building that had three different paths, not including the way that we came from. One apparently led back into our region on the left, but there was a guard standing in the way that seemed to watch us carefully. A 'Do Not Pass' sign was on the edge of the hallway he guarded. Another sign below it 'Dangerous to All' was also placed there.
Another of the pathways to take apparently led in the region of Kanto, Violet's home region and the region that she was champion over. It was also blocked by a guard, but he was allowing some few people through that apparently had the proper paperwork on them or were people he recognized or knew could go through. There were no signs by his end, but that didn't mean he wasn't stopping people here and there.
The last of them was a path way with a machine next to a man at the desk as well as two standing guard over the tunnel. Beyond there seemed to be quite dark, it must have been the entrance to the Victory Road, and then to the Pokѐmon League.
I led the boys over to where the man at the desk was checking over the badges that everyone had gotten. To my relief, both of the boys had gotten a badge from Clair (how, I had no idea, but I wasn't about to ask at this given time, because it was probably stressful on them both.) When we got up to the man, he gave out his hand and I quickly got out my badges for him to check over. After scanning all of them, he gave them back to me along with some sort of pass that he said I'd have to turn in up at the gate registration for taking on the Pokѐmon League.
The boys went next and explained their situation and how neither of them were going to be battling with me in the Pokѐmon League, but did want to travel with me through the Victory Road. The man looked over their badges, and after confirming them, he gave them a sort of 'visitor's pass' for them to follow along with me on the challenge. With the three of us then taken care of, we then went over to the two men that were guarding the gate and they stood before the path way that led into the cave. We all showed the passes we'd received and with a nod, we were all let through.
Inside the cave was dark and almost all the rocks were extremely dark gray, if not black in color. A few white rocks seemed to stand out against the others in the dark and a few torches of fire were hung around the area to give off some light, but not enough, so it was up to the trainers that passed trough here to find their own way in the dark or make their own light.
"So… where do we want to start?" Aaron questioned as we made it inside.
"We first need a way to see better along this path. The darkness is a huge hindrance to us." Tristan looked over at me, or at least it seemed like it from the small amount of light that we had. "What do you want to do Gwyn?"
"Light, we'll need that in order to get through here. Cynder!" Out came my fire type and instantly she lit up the flames around her mane and she illuminated a large area, but that was only around us. She looked down at me and I patted her fur.
"Mind lighting the way for us girl?" She shook her head and I took that moment to start walking ahead with the boys and Cynder, with the exception of Ticky in my arms and Sunrise around the back of my neck.
"Let's try down this path then!" Aaron took the lead ahead of us and I could only chuckle at his behavior, happy to see that spirit and life back in his eyes.
HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch
"Hey! I think I see the light up ahead!" I blinked as I saw the bright light coming in from the tunnel up ahead. It'd been a couple hours of us being in here and going down many dead ends before we finally came this way and found the exit. It was good to see light again…
"Alright then, let's go then boys!" I started to walk ahead then, but for some strange reason, I didn't hear them walking behind me. I turned around to face them and both of their heads were down, looking at the ground and their hair covering their expressions and eyes. "Guys?"
"Gwyn, before we can let you go off ahead and take on the Pokѐmon League, we want you to face us." I blinked at Aaron's response as he pulled out his maganium. Tristan did the same with a pokeball of his own and it was his feraligatr.
"We want you to beat both of our starters with your own, and prove your own strength," Tristan said with a sigh escaping his lips. "If you can't beat us here, then don't expect us to let you go and face the Pokѐmon League."
"So all I have to do is beat your starters with Cynder?" I couldn't help but throw out a grin at that challenge. "Sounds like fun, you up for it Cynder?"
"Sion!" A blast of fire from the mane and mouth were my answer to that. Cynder stepped out before me with a wide, merciless grin on her face. She was going to fight with all she had…
"Let's see what you got Aaron! Tristan!" I threw out my hand before me at Cynder. "Flame wheel!"
Cynder leaped then into a large rolling ball of fire as she charged at the two pokemon. They had no idea what to do and looked to their trainers for help.
"Both of you split up!" The two pokemon dived for different sides of the battlefield and it forced Cynder to have to choose, or wait for me to decide for her.
"Head after Feraligatr!" Cynder took the turn and headed after the water type. Both boys were so surprised by my action that neither of them knew what to do other then watch as Cynder gained ground. She hurled herself at the water type and it just barely got its claws up in time for it to defend itself. Cynder's claws got stuck in its opponents and she jumped out of her flame wheel to test her strength against its.
"Good Feraligatr! Now put that fire pokemon out with hydro pump!" Tristan called out.
"Oh no you don't!" I cried out. "Cynder use flamethrower!" My fire pokemon was quicker on the draw and was able to blast the water type's face before she could get hit herself.
On the other side of the field, I suddenly heard a sound. I gasped as I watched the meganium charging up for a solar beam attack on Cynder, while it wouldn't do all that much damage, it still would hurt her from just being a powerful move.
"Cynder! Flame wheel and roll right over Feraligatr's body!" My pokemon jumped back into her roll and shoved the pokemon to the ground. It was then that the solar beam was fired off and Cynder just managed to make it out of the way in time before the beam hit where she was, and hit Feraligatr instead. It cried out in pain and in a fury, Tristan turned to Aaron.
"Watch where your pokemon is firing its attacks! You just hit my pokemon!"
"Well sorry! It's not my fault that Cynder moved out of the way before my attack hit! We're in the complete dark! How can Meganium gather up all the power it needs for the attack when the light is so dim here?"
"That's not the only thing that's dim…" I sighed as I watched them squabble and fight between each other. Cynder jumped out of her flame wheel next to me and she nodded sadly as the two trainers had practically abandoned the battle and left their pokemon to slowly get to their feet themselves. They worriedly looked back at their trainers before looking at me.
"Let's finish this Cynder, I want to go get something to eat and make sure I'm all set for the morning." My pokemon nodded her head and grinned. "Blast burn!"
The marks appeared, the glowing showed all over her skin, and soon, the white fire exploded from her mouth and I watched as the boys finally looked up from their fight between each other to see what was happening. I heard them both cry out along with their pokemon as the blast hit and they were engulfed in the white light.
I waited for them on the other side, Ticky in one arm, Sunrise sighing on my shoulders, Cynder returned to her pokeball, knowing the battle was done, and I with my other hand on my hip. I shook my head as I watched the burned bodies step out of the explosion sight and fall to the ground. All four of them were knocked out and covered in soot.
"Wow, I didn't think that blast was that powerful…" I sighed and walked over to them, grabbing the pokeballs of their pokemon and returning them. "Can you carry them with you psychic power Sunrise? We need to get someone to look at them… and make sure I didn't really hurt them..."
"Esp!" My psychic pokemon's eyes lit up with their lavender glow and the two bodies of my two close friends floated in the air while I stepped toward the illuminated end of the tunnel.
"So much for a good battle with them…"
Witch's Note:
Oh boy, either Gwyn's stronger then she realized, or the boys are weaker then we originally though! Oh I'm just kidding people! Gwyn's always been strong, but the boys really need to pay more attention to their battles instead of arguing with each other...
So now that chapter twenty-one done! Only eight more to go! Oh I'm so excited that I have no idea how to contain it! Not to mention that we've finally gotten to the Indigo Plateau! You know what that means! Extremely long chapter next time! The last Elite Four and Champion chapter was forty-five pages long! I don't think this one will be as long, but I think it still will be longer then my normal chapters. Maybe a good thirty or so…
Okay, I'll stop talking now and let you guys mull this chapter over before I get the next one up! I'll see you all next time with what I hope to be a very long chapter for you all to read! I'll see you guys next time! Love you all and remember to please Review and send in Questions!
Halloween Witch