Apollo landed on the jungle soil with a thump, and Alfgar the Wild and Gary Oak dismounted from the orange dragon. It had taken them five days to get from the desert to the secret base, and they stopped frequently to rest. Gary had no pokemon that could fly him long distances, and Alfgar only had Apollo. The charizard had already been tired from all the flying and fighting he had done earlier, and flying two people a great distance did him no favors. For that reason, the three of them had to rest a lot, and they also had to avoid any towns or cities.
But now they had finally arrived at the secret base, and Alfgar recalled Apollo after thanking him for his services. The charizard merely grunted, too tired to respond. Gary followed Alfgar as the dark-haired man walked over to a section of the cliff and tapped on it in a sort of pattern. Suddenly, a section of the cliff slid open and a short bald man emerged and greeted Alfgar.
"Alfgar! We'd thought you died. Who's that?" He asked, noticing Gary.
"That's Gary Oak," Alfgar replied, "he's here to help us."
The man nodded. "Oak. I know the name. Where's Johnny?"
"I'll explain in a minute. For now, gather everyone up. I have some announcements to make," Alfgar said as he strode into the base.
"Everyone's here," the short man replied. "Except Sven the Tribesman and Stoke the Viper. They're out scouting."
Alfgar nodded. "We'll fill them in later," he said as he made his way to the front of the room. As the rest of the Brothers noticed him, they stopped talking and looked. Gary leaned on a wall to the right of him. For once, Alfgar did not need to shout to get the men's attention.
"As you can see, I'm back," Alfgar started, "and I have this." He pulled out the Red Orb, and some of the Brothers started cheering.
"Where's Johnny?" Someone shouted.
"Johnny's dead." Alfgar's news elicited a chorus of curses and yells. Johnny had been the type of man who made friends with everyone, and he was well-liked by all of the Brothers. "We met a couple of Unovan agents. We had no idea they would be there."
"Why the hell is Unova sending agents after us? We're on their side, for the most part," the short man said.
"I don't know. To be honest, I don't think that they were after us at all. They were probably sent to recover the Orbs, and we got in their way."
A series of taps was then heard coming from outside the base, and the short man moved to open the door. Two men strolled into the base. One was a tall man with light skin and blond hair. He was shirtless and had body paint arranged in strange markings on his face and chest. The other man was muscular and bearded, and he wore a black bandana. He had cold gray eyes and wore the standard black combat shirt, vest, pants, and boots that most of the other Brothers wore.
Alfgar nodded towards them. "Sven, Stoke."
"I see you've returned to us, commander," the blond-haired man known as Sven said in his lazy drawl. "You wouldn't believe what we saw on TV," he continued, this time addressing the other men.
Stoke the Viper had the carcass of a sawsbuck slung over his back, and he threw the dead pokemon onto the large table in the middle of the base. A large, gray rhydon appeared behind him, and it carried the bodies of another sawsbuck and a small tropius. Sven also brought a few plastic bags with him, and he tossed them onto the table beside the sawsbuck. One job of the scouts was to bring back food for the base, and the other job was to learn as much as possible about current events and the happenings regarding the inevitable war.
"Stern's Shipyard had been attacked, as we planned," Sven said, looking at Alfgar, "but we also heard mention of some Unovan agents. They're saying that war could break out any minute now."
"I know, I've already told them about this," Alfgar said, slightly irritated that the two had interrupted him. "Is that all?"
"No. We also heard that Uldin Firelance has been killed, and that the authorities are looking for a tall suspect with black hair and dark eyes."
Alfgar smirked at that. "Really? That's the best description they could come up with? That could be anybody."
"I'm surprised you killed Uldin Firelance, commander," Sven said with an amused smile. "I don't remember that being part of your mission."
"Uldin Firelance had to die. He almost discovered the Red Orb," Alfgar said to the entire group. "But that doesn't matter. What matters is our next step. We're going after Rayquaza." This caused the group to begin murmuring again, but they stopped once Gary started talking.
"We need Rayquaza. Sure, we have the Red Orb, but Groudon's location is heavily guarded by the government, even more so now that they know we have the Red Orb. Rayquaza's location is not, and if we have him, getting the others will be so much easier."
"Who the fuck are you?" Someone shouted.
Gary looked annoyed and frowned. "I'm Gary motherfucking Oak, you idiot. Ever heard the name?"
"Go suck a dick!" Someone else shouted, and laughter erupted. Alfgar stepped in to stop things from getting worse.
"Gary's right. We need Rayquaza, and we need men to help us. Who's willing?" The men began yelling in anticipation.
"Don't take too many. We don't want to attract attention to ourselves, and I bet half of these chumps won't even last a second against Rayquaza," Gary said, a cocky grin splayed on his face. Some of the Brothers bristled and yelled curses at that, but none dared to actually challenge Gary. The silver pokeballs that gleamed at his belt acted as a deterrent to anyone foolish enough to oppose him.
Alfgar thought for a second. Who would be useful against an enormous and extremely powerful dragon God? "Ogdun and Spencer, we could use your help."
Ogdun nodded. Ogdun was a large, burly man from Icirrus City who had a pair of beartics that could be useful against Rayquaza, who had a severe weakness to ice attacks. Ogdun had snow white hair and a clean-shaven face, but his gray eyes and jaw were as hard as ice. He was a quiet man who seldom spoke.
Spencer was a tall, brown-haired man with tan skin and matching brown eyes. He was strikingly handsome, and he had attended the same intermediate school and trainer academy as Alfgar, though the two had never even spoken to each other before Operation Iridescent. Spencer had only one pokemon, but that one pokemon was a large and powerful gyarados. Alfgar figured that a gyarados would definitely be helpful against Rayquaza.
"When do we leave?" Spencer asked.
"As soon as possible. Hoenn is really beginning to go for the legendaries, especially now that the war is imminent," Gary replied.
Alfgar nodded in agreement. "We won't need disguises this time since we're only going to Lilycove and then the Sky Pillar, and we aren't doing anything illegal or sneaking about. Lock, you're in charge again."
"... Wha...? Oh. Yes, sure thing." The old soldier had clearly been asleep, and Alfgar wondered if he had even heard anything that he just said.
Alfgar went and changed back into his black military clothes and then gathered up some supplies into a small pack. After eating lunch with the Brothers, Alfgar, Gary, Spencer, and Ogdun were off.
Edwin emerged from the tall jungle grass and found himself in a clearing atop a hill. From the hill, Edwin could see Lilycove City only about a mile or two away. Shira was at his side and she barked as she noticed the large city.
"Finally. I'm sick and tired of the jungle." Shira barked in agreement. Edwin smiled. "Race you!" He bounded off and sprinted down the hill, and the mightyena followed closely behind.
Eventually the two reached the outskirts of the city, both of them panting and sweating profusely. Shira had beat him to the city, but only barely. She was still recovering from her rib injuries that she suffered at the Petalburg gym.
"Well, here we are," Edwin panted. Trainer and pokemon walked into the city together.
Lilycove was a beautiful city, but the day was cloudy and the sun only managed to poke a few of its golden fingers out from between the clouds. The smell of the sea was strong, and a light breeze drifted through the city. Lilycove was right next to the ocean, as so many of Hoenn's important cities were.
Lilycove was much more of a traditional city than Fortree, as it had tall, gleaming skyscrapers and other regular buildings and houses. Even though Lilycove was large, it was still calm and relatively quiet. There were only a few roads in the city, and large patches and parks of green grass were common. People preferred to walk and take in the seaside atmosphere rather than travel in a car, so the streets were not very busy either. Lilycove had a long shoreline, and Edwin could see many people and pokemon relaxing on the beach, even on a cloudy day.
The tallest building in the city was the Lilycove Department Store, the largest mall in Hoenn. People from all over the region came to Lilycove to shop there, and one could find almost anything in one of the many stores the building housed. Though Edwin wanted to visit, he knew that he should go to a pokemon center first and check in. His pokemon were mostly healthy, but he still decided to reserve a room.
The Lilycove pokemon center was larger than Fortree's, but otherwise it was exactly the same. However, as Edwin made a reservation for a room, he noticed two people sitting at a table.
Seated at one of the center's tables was Faustina, and she was talking to none other than the Indigo Champion. Edwin hesitated, and wondered whether he should even bother to approach them. Now that he had seen that Faustina was not dead or injured, he knew that she had decided to abandon him. Also, he felt intimidated by the presence of Red, the Champion of Kanto and Johto.
Shira growled besides him, and Edwin knew that he had to confront them. Even if Faustina had decided that she didn't want to travel with him anymore, he had to know the reason why. As Edwin walked towards the table, Faustina turned her head and looked at him with her alluring violet eyes.
"Edwin? I was wondering when I'd see you here."
Edwin stood there for a moment, confused. "... What?" He said stupidly.
"I ran into some trouble back at Petalburg. I figured that you would go to Fortree and win the badge from there and then come here, so I've been waiting in Lilycove. It took you longer than I would have guessed, though." It was then that Edwin noticed that Faustina had a slight bruise under one of her violet eyes, and that she had a cut next to her lips.
"Oh," he said, unable to fully process everything. "Why didn't you respond to my messages?"
She looked at him in a confused manner for a second, then said, "On my phone? I'm afraid I lost it back at Petalburg. It completely slipped my mind that I should replace it."
"Oh," Edwin said again, relief flooding through him. "I should go. I didn't mean to intrude," he finished, glancing at Red. The Indigo Champion said nothing and just looked at him with his peculiar red eyes.
"Oh, you weren't interrupting anything. Please, sit," Faustina said gesturing to one of the empty chairs at the table. Edwin sat down, still unsure whether he should be here. He glanced at Red again, but the Champion still said nothing.
"Edwin, this is Red," Faustina introduced.
"I know. The Indigo League Champion, right?"
Red smiled and nodded. "Nice to meet you." His voice was quiet but strong.
"Red is here to for a conference," Faustina explained. "Apparently some Unovan spies attacked Slateport, and now Hoenn is itching for war. There are representatives here in Lilycove from four different regions, and Red is representing Kanto and Johto."
Red nodded. "I'm not looking forward to it."
"How do you two know each other?" Edwin asked as Shira walked over to Red and began sniffing him. The Indigo Champion leaned down and petted the mightyena with a smile.
"Red helped me back in Petalburg," Faustina said. "And now I'm helping him with the conference. We're trying to prevent war from breaking out, but we've got our work cut out for us."
"I see... So when is this conference?"
"Tomorrow. I have a feeling that it's going to be filled with warhawks and nationalists, so Red's going to need to do a really good job convincing them that war isn't the only option."
"Easier said than done," said Red. Shira was curled up on the ground between Edwin and Red, and it appeared that she had taken a liking to the Indigo Champion. "I should be going now, though. I've got statements to prepare." Red got up and stretched, and Shira lifted her head as the Champion leaned down to pet her. Faustina stood up as well, and Edwin followed her lead.
There was something Edwin was curious about, though. "Do you get recognized a lot? I mean, I expected you to be crowded with fans or accompanied by security, since you are the head of two entire regions."
Red smiled again, though this time it had a tint of sadness to it. "Nobody seems to remember who I am. Though I suppose my time meditating on Mount Silver had a lot to do with that."
Edwin had heard about how after Red had won the championship, he had gone up to Mount Silver for a long time, not seeing or talking to anyone except his pokemon.
"And for security, I've got these," Red said as he pointed to the five golden pokeballs on his belt. "But I really must be going. I'll see you after the conference, Faustina, and it was nice to meet you, Edwin."
After Red walked off, Edwin was still in a state of semi-confusion. So much had happened in a matter of minutes: he had found Faustina, met a Gold Champion, and learned that war was probably going to break out at any moment.
"So, are you off to Sootopolis now?" Faustina asked him, snapping him out of his shock.
"I guess," he said. "What about you?"
"I'm going to wait until after Red finishes with the conference, and then I'll decide what to do from there. You could stay too, you know. Lilycove is an amazing city, and Sootopolis won't be going anywhere."
Edwin nodded. "Sounds good to me."
"We should probably go to the Department Store. Since you reminded me, I do need a new phone."
The two of them set off for the famous Lilycove Department Store, and Edwin told Faustina about his gym battle with Winona on the way there. He also released the newly-evolved Poseidon, and the swampert croaked proudly when Edwin told Faustina how Poseidon had withstood the altaria's dragon breath for so long. The city was quiet and relatively empty. It had started to rain, so most of the people had gone indoors.
The Department Store was located towards the back of the city. Lilycove was sandwiched between the sea and a great cliff, and the Department Store was built right up alongside the bluff. As the two trainers and Edwin's two pokemon neared the store, Edwin noticed a strange-looking gray structure atop a green hill less than a mile away from the building.
"What's that?"
Faustina turned to follow where Edwin was pointing. "Hmm... It looks like some sort of ancient building, a place of worship, maybe. Let's go have a look."
Edwin had no choice but to follow her. Faustina had a tendency to do whatever she pleased, and Edwin knew that she wasn't a fan of shopping. He probably shouldn't have distracted her by pointing out the strange structure, but he was slightly curious about it himself.
As the group climbed up the hill and towards the structure, Edwin noticed that it did indeed seem to be some ancient place of worship. The structure was made of stone and had a wooden door, and it had large holes in its roof. The front of the stone structure had a strange shape carved into it, a rune that slightly resembled the letter "A."
"Looks to be a Seafarer's church," Faustina said, her violet eyes dazzling in wonder.
Edwin had heard of the Seafarers and the Earth Children in history class. Thousands of years ago, before modern settlers arrived in Hoenn, the region was home to two enemy clans: the Seafarers and the Earth Children. The Earth Children lived in the jungles and deserts of Hoenn and were olive-skinned and dark of hair and eye. Seafarers lived near the coasts and had fair hair and eyes.
The two clans were constantly in conflict over the region, but both were mostly either wiped out or assimilated when the modern settlers arrived. The Earth Children worshipped Groudon and the Seafarers worshipped Kyogre, and only a few years ago, Team Magma and Team Aqua had revived this old conflict in their quest to control Hoenn. The criminal organizations had even taken the respective symbols of the two ancient clans as their emblems.
"We should go in," Faustina suggested as she traced her hand over the symbol etched into the stone wall.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Edwin replied. "Are we even allowed to be here? It looks like this place is deserted."
"Even better, we have the place to ourselves," she said as she pushed open the wooden door.
The interior of the building was made entirely of stone, and there were stone slabs carved out as benches. The benches faced towards the front of the room where there was a damaged stone pulpit and a chipped statue of Kyogre.
However, what caught Edwin's attention the most was the man and giant orange dragon standing in front of the pulpit.
The man was muscular and was dressed in all black, which matched with his wild black hair. He had deep brown eyes and had tan skin. He had been saying something to the charizard but had stopped mid-sentence when he noticed the group walk in. The charizard growled, and two tendrils of gray smoke slithered out of its nostrils. The man stood frozen, staring at Edwin and Faustina. Faustina finally broke the silence.
"... Alfgar?"
The man stepped back, his eyes filled with apprehension. "What are you doing here?" He demanded.
Faustina stood silent for a second, her purple eyes swirling with emotions. "I came here to look for you. Where have you been? And what the hell have you been doing?"
"It would take too long to explain my purposes to you, and you probably wouldn't believe me anyway. Who's the kid, and why'd you bring him here? Now I'm going to have to kill him."
Shira growled at that, and Poseidon reared to his full height. The charizard took that for a challenge and flapped its wings fiercely.
"No," Faustina said, stepping in front of Edwin protectively. "He doesn't know anything."
Alfgar looked annoyed. "You didn't need to come looking for me. I'm on an important mission, though I'm no longer working for anyone. I'm in Arceus' service now."
Faustina looked at him incredulously. "Arceus? What?"
"When we left on that mission, we all had a vision. We all dreamt that Arceus had spoken to us and told us to gather the legendaries to stop the world from destroying itself in the war."
"War? What war? And what vision are you talking about? Sometimes strong psychics can enter people's dreams. That would also explain while you're acting so strangely."
Alfgar frowned, and his charizard looked ready to attack at any moment. "I knew you wouldn't believe me. But that doesn't matter. I'm doing this for the good of the world, and I don't expect you to understand. I'll see you again, Faustina, hopefully soon. After all this is over." With that, Alfgar leapt atop his charizard and flew away through one of the holes in the ceiling.
Edwin stood in silence, unable to fully comprehend what had just happened. His pokemon, however, looked relieved that the charizard was gone. Was that the man Faustina had been looking for all this time?
Faustina seemed to be in shock as well, and she only snapped out of it after Edwin asked her if she was alright.
"I'm fine," she said, though she had a sullen look on her face and her eyes seemed to be a darker shade of purple than they normally were. "That was who I've been looking for."
"Who is he?" Edwin asked.
"He's a friend," Faustina replied, her expression still grim. "He disappeared a while back."
Edwin was still confused, but he felt like he shouldn't press the issue further. "Are you going after him?"
She shook her head. "He's probably long gone by now, him and his stupid charizard. Damn it, I shouldn't have froze up like that. Next time, I won't let him get away so easily." With that, Faustina turned around and stalked out of the stone church.
Edwin looked at his pokemon, who looked back at him cluelessly.
As Apollo neared Lilycove's pokemon center, Alfgar reflected upon his unexpected visitor. He had not known that she would even be in the region, let alone in the same city. He wondered how long she had been following him.
Apollo landed in front of the center, and Alfgar leapt off the charizard.
"I do not like running away from our opponents," Apollo growled, smoke drifting from his nostrils. "If you order me to flee again, I will roast you where you stand."
Alfgar returned the charizard without responding; he had no time for this right now. And once you face Rayquaza, you'll wish that you could run away.
Alfgar speed walked into the center and up to his room, only refraining from sprinting to avoid looking suspicious. He burst open the door to his room and found all three of his partners lazing around.
"We've been discovered," he said urgently. "Get your things. We need to leave."
"What are you talking about? Discovered by who?" Gary asked.
"Doesn't matter. All that matters is that we get out of here, and that we leave as soon as possible. Gary, you'll come with me. Spencer, you and Ogdun will fly on your gyarados."
"Are you insane? I can't release Khnum in the middle of the city. We'll definitely draw some looks if a giant gyarados appears out of nowhere," Spencer complained.
"So? We've already been discovered, it doesn't matter. Now hurry up," Alfgar said as he ran down the stairs and out of the pokemon center. He released Apollo, and luckily the charizard didn't complain about his abrupt return to his pokeball earlier.
Alfgar jumped on top of the charizard and waited impatiently as Gary and the others followed closely behind. As soon as Gary was seated behind him, Alfgar told Apollo to take off. After a few moments, he looked back and saw a long, blue, serpentine pokemon cutting through the air, indicating that Spencer was following. Alfgar had already talked to Apollo about the plan, so he didn't need to direct the charizard. The Sky Pillar was faintly visible in the distance, a gray finger jutting out of the serene blue waters.
Apollo landed at the foot of Sky Pillar, as Gary had doubted that the charizard could fly all the way to the top carrying two people. As Alfgar and Gary dismounted onto the slab of land that served as the base for Sky Pillar, the two looked up and saw that the structure reached all the way to the clouds. Commercial planes were forbidden to fly around this area, and the few that did encroach upon Rayquaza's territory were destroyed and sent tumbling into the ocean.
A few seconds later, Spencer and Ogdun arrived. Spencer recalled his gyarados and walked over to Alfgar and Gary.
"Charming place," he muttered as he too craned his neck to look up at the Sky Pillar.
Alfgar started towards the entrance and stopped when he noticed a small sign just outside the opening. Sky Pillar was open to trainers, but it was strongly discouraged that anyone actually go inside. The sign outside the entrance supported that, as it was a warning describing how many trainers were killed trying to explore the ancient tower.
"Scared?" Gary walked up to Alfgar and peered inside the entrance.
"No. Are you?"
Gary smirked. "Of course not. We're more than prepared for this, and most of the pokemon in here will probably stay out of our way once they sense how powerful we are."
Alfgar sighed. Gary Oak was the cockiest and most arrogant person he had ever met. "Let's just get this over with."
The group walked inside the tower. Sky Pillar had fifty floors, and each one had a few windows carved into the walls so that some light shined through. Despite this, darkness still covered most of the room. Each floor was wide, but rocks and other debris were strewn about, making it difficult to navigate.
Alfgar thought he saw something moving about in the darkness, but nothing had attacked them yet. The ascent to the top would take a while, but the group had brought adequate supplies to last them the journey. Alfgar just hoped that he wouldn't get tired of climbing the endless staircases they were sure to encounter.
"We're going to have to climb all the way to the top of this fucking tower, aren't we?" Spencer whined, mirroring Alfgar's own thoughts.
"No, we'll just teleport to the top," Gary replied, sarcasm lacing his voice. "Let's get moving."
The staircase to the next floor was on the right side of the room, but as they climbed the stairs and reached the second floor they saw that the next staircase was on the right side, meaning that each time they got to a new floor they would have to cross the length of the room just to reach the next staircase.
As the group picked its way through then fallen rocks and other material, a pair of golbat came rushing at them. Gary released an umbreon and Alfgar sent out his luxray to fight the monster bats. Both umbreon and luxray could see clearly in dark environments, so they were perfect for fighting the golbats.
Spencer's gyarados and Ogdun's beartic wouldn't be very effective in the interior of Sky Pillar, so the two of them stood back as Luce and Gary's umbreon made short work of the golbat. The group continued on, and the umbreon's rings glowed brightly in the darkness.
"So, you guys actually think we can capture Rayquaza? I mean, he is known as the Sky God for a reason," Spencer said.
"Of course we can," Gary declared, his voice filled with arrogance. "I'm a Silver Champion, after all. With you three acting as my support, there's no way we can lose." With that, Gary walked ahead with his umbreon.
Spencer turned to Alfgar. "Is this guy as powerful as he says he is or is he just a cocky prick?"
"He's no doubt a cocky prick, but there's some truth to what he said. He is a Silver Champion, and he's one of the strongest trainers in both Kanto and Johto."
"Stronger than Rayquaza?"
Alfgar shrugged. "I don't know just how powerful Rayquaza is, but we'll find out soon enough." Alfgar watched as Luce's eyes flashed and he pounced at something in the darkness, knocking a golbat out of the air before it had even reached the group.
"It's about time Khnum got an opponent that would actually challenge him," Spencer said, smirking.
"You're starting to sound like Gary now. Don't get too cocky."
"Sure thing, commander." Spencer saluted him with a mocking smile and walked back towards Ogdun.
Now that Alfgar thought about it, Spencer and Gary were actually pretty similar. Both were overconfident, arrogant, and cared little about others. Spencer had slightly improved since Operation Iridescent, but he could still be pain in the ass if he wanted to.
Two or three hours had passed, and Alfgar had lost count of how many floors they had ascended. His legs were beginning to get weary, but since no one else was complaining he kept his thoughts to himself.
Suddenly, as the group was crossing one of the floors, a pair of red eyes appeared in the darkness. Luce began growling but made no move to attack the thing. Soon enough, the creature emerged from the darkness. It was large and made of some sort of bluish-gray metal, and it had a silver 'X' covering its face. It had four thick legs that branched out from its head, making it look like some sort of metal spider.
Gary turned and pulled out another pokeball. "Watch out, it's a metagross!"
"Hello," the metagross said through its telepathy. "And thank you for that astute observation, sir."
Dex entry #130: gyarados
"If you really want a gyarados, your only course of action is to catch a strong magikarp and spend an extreme amount of time and effort training it, hoping that it has the ability to evolve into a gyarados. Under no circumstances should you go out into the sea and hunt for gyarados. I repeat, do NOT go out looking for wild gyarados." - Excerpt from A Guide to Pokemon: Kanto Edition by Professor Samuel Oak
Gyarados are fearsome sea dragons that can potentially be found in oceans and seas across the world. Despite their wide range, gyarados are still very rare, as only the top one percent of magikarp even have the ability to evolve into a gyarados. The rarity of gyarados is a blessing to coastal villages and towns, as these pokemon have been known to completely destroy small settlements close to the water for no reason at all. Gyarados can also fly, though they luckily choose to remain in the water and seldom stray too far from the ocean. Gyarados are also capable of causing powerful waterspouts, and there have been cases of large battlecruisers being obliterated by a single gyarados. Even so, gyarados are revered as sacred in China, and elaborate festivals are held annually to commemorate them. Gyarados are considered a level four threat on the Pokemon Threat Scale.