Dear Grandma,
I've made it to Cinnabar now, I did call but only Farfetch'd answered, I think he was trying to say you had taken Mom to the hospital, hope everything is okay. If there any issue let me know.
Blaine has set up a treasure hunt for the junior challenge so I have to complete it before I can battle him, I start today so hopefully I can win and get to Viridian quickly. The junior competition is only 6 weeks away now.
Love you both and I'll make sure to do you proud
Love Dustin
I take a big sigh as I finish writing the letter, I place the pen down on the table along with the letter. When there had been no answer at home when I called I had gotten concerned, I made a call to Ryan who reassured me that he would find out and let me know. He called me later that day to say it was nothing to worry about but Mom would be staying over a few nights in the hospital
"AND THERE IT IS, PROGRESSING TO THE FINAL ROUND OF THE JUNIOR COORDINATOR FESTIVAL IS LOUISE!"
I turn and look over to the big screen in the Pokecentre. There shows Louise dressed all up in her festival attire with her Butterfree floating deftly next to her. She smile and waves up at the crowd as the announcer continues
"Wow she did it, I'll text her later" I mumble to myself as I gather up my things
I collect my Pokemon from Nurse Joy and ask her to post my letter before setting off from the centre. When signing up for the treasure hunt I had been told to report to the spa. It was a short walk as much of the island is taken up by the volcano. I finally found the first outpost, its a small counter and a young man stands behind it, I greet him warmly and he passed me a small letter. I slip it open and take out the first clue
A mixing of hot and cold is your target
Look for the legend as fast as a rocket
"A fast legend?" I say to myself
I move into the spa area and look around. I spot a few other on the treasure hunt looking for answers, they all congregate around the mixed spas which are essentially warm baths as they take on cold filtered sea water and hot water from the springs. I begin to look around and as expected most are all crowding around the bath which water spout is a Moltres
"I swear they said the shape would be obvious to see" one of the boys shout
"Just keep looking" another answers
I move my way down, the guide had said it was very obvious the shape we had to show to get the next clue so I moved my way down. I spot a few more baths, one with a Charizard spout, Magmar spout before I come to the last one
"Arcanine" I say to myself as I stop
"Well none of them are legends so it must be the Moltres, maybe its a case of looking towards the city or something" I think to myself
I pull up my phone and get the Pokedex app live, I scroll to Moltres and look at its stats.
"It not particular fast either, what's the other Pokemons speed"
I scroll through and click on Arcanine first and it hits men
"The legendary Pokemon, that's Arcanines description" I say to myself
"Good eyes young man!" comes a call
A short old man with long blonde hair wanders up and dips himself into the spa bath. I smile to him and nod. I look to the other group and quickly tiptoe up to the spout, only a certain amount of trainers can battle Blaine in a day and the clues change every day so I had to work fast. I quickly circle the spout and find the shape an odd sphere and quickly snap a picture on my phone. I zip out of the spa without notice and make my way to the counter
"Is this it?" I question holding my phone up
The man nods and hands me another small envelope
"Thank you sir"
I slip it open to reveal the next clue
The volcano looms over the island
Look for the grass powered band
"The grass powered band?" I think to myself as I spin around
I see a small board and decide to look up on it, there some postings for the local battle club, a wanted poster for some Pokejobs but at the bottom is an advert for a local theatre, there a few headliners but one catches my eye
"The Tangela Whips? That must be it!" I say as I pull out Dodrios ball
"Do! Quick I need to head down here" I shout as I just to his back
It squawks as we take off down the road. There's not much going on in the town, nowadays most people left on Cinnabar are the older generations. Lots have moved to main land due to much more job opportunities and infrastructure. Ever since the volcano had erupted even the tourism had fallen lower. The damaged to the south side of the island was catastrophic, main of the grasslands and rice fields had been completely wipe out, if not for Articuno and Moltres the whole island may have been destroyed. When the lava begin to move toward the major town, the two legendary birds appeared, Moltres block the way absorbing the heat while Articuno barraged the volcano and magma with cold winds causing it to harden and fall into the sea. We come up on the theatre and spot a few people all stationed outside, I spot the girl from the poster that was up on the billboard
"Uh excuse me?" I say quietly
"Kid if you are going to ask us for a shape you are out of luck its not us" Shes responds looking up through her brows from her phone
"Oh okay, I'm sorry to bother you" I respond
As I go to pull my phone out it begins to buzz, the name Louise appears up on the screen. I smile and swipe it on and her face pops up. She brimming with a smile from ear to ear
"Dustin! Did you see!" She screeches
"I did, you were great! You and Butterfree were really in sync"
"Kid who are you talking too?" The girl says as she jumps up and wanders over
"Oh uh my friend Louise" I say lowering my phone for her to see
"Well well Pipsqueak, you call this kid but don't answer my calls" She says sarcastically
"Bridget! I did try to call you back!" She screeches even more excited
"Don't sweat it" She says swiping her hand in the air
"You did great, Mom and me are heading up for the final so I'll see you soon" She says calmly before returning to her spot as the rest of her band fill the van with their equipment
"Daryl, Mason hey!" Louise shouts through the phone
They look up and smile as they wave back, they load up and begin the drive off
"Sorry about that! I haven't spoken to her in a while"
"Its okay, she your sister?"
"Yeah, she did the gym challenge a few years back and found she wanted to pursue music, she working her way up now"
"Oh cool"
"Where are you?" She questions as she starts to calm down a little
"Cinnabar Island, I'm in the middle of Blaines gym test"
"Oh isn't that where you have to do loads of riddles"
"Yeah, I'm stuck on the second one currently"
"What is it?"
"The volcano looms over the island, find the grass powered band"
"Grass powered band, oh and you went for the Tangela Whips, good idea!"
"I thought so but it wasn't correct"
"You know, here is the wax works on the island" she says eyes brightening
"The wax works?"
"yeah I remember going as a kid, they have loads of statues of different celebs, one of them is a band from Galar, I'm pretty sure they had a Rillaboom in it"
"Really!" I shout
"Uh huh, you should go look"
"I will thanks Louise and good luck for Friday, I'll make sure to watch and cheer you on"
She blushes and smiles
"Thank you, see you soon"
The call clicks off and I stuff my phone into my pocket
"Okay buddy, lets head towards the wax museum"
He squawks and we head off down the road, the wax museum is really close and looking at the volcano above the tip of the shadow it forms does actually fall upon the wax museum which make me feel like we are on to a winner. I get to the concession stand and the man who looks oddly familiar greets me
"Hi Sir, how much is it to get in"
"For challengers its free" He says with a wink
I jump down from Dodrio and return it
"Thank you" I say heading in
I zip my head around, I spot some trainers statues like Lance, Cynthia and Leon. I then turn and see the band, it consists of a Obstagoon, both type of Toxtricity and most importantly Rillaboom. I rush up and look up and down before finally finding the shape stuck to the drum, I snap a picture and rush out
"Thank you sir!" I shout as I pull Starmie out this time
"No problem young man!" He shouts as we speed off
We make our way back to the gatehouse and the younger man behind the counter smiles as we speed in
"Is this correct?" I shout showing him my phone
He nods and hands me another envelopes
I take it and rip it open reading the next riddle.
A legend submerge in icy water
One only stopped by gravel and mortar
"A legend submerged in icy water, maybe Articuno? It meant to roost on Seafoams islands when its young"
I pull out my phone and search up Articuno Cinnabar to see what emerges, the number one result is for a small museum that it built on the ground where the Pokemon Mansion used to stand
"Best to head there, lets go Star"
It calls out and we speed off, I see the group of boys from before all starting to crowd around the counter barking up at the man for hints to help their journey I smile as we head to the museum. I return Starmie and walk up to the counter.
"One admission please?" I say to the man who is strikingly familiar
"Of course, you are the first visitor of the day so admission is free! IF you have any question don't hesitate to ask" He calls out
"Oh okay, thank you, um do you have any pieces on Articuno?"
"Uh not on Articuno specifically but if you check at the back there is a mural"
"Okay thank you!" I say as I chase off it to the museum
I look around and spot loads of different pieces throughout, there's a few pieces on fossil Pokemon, there's a huge skeleton of an Aerodactyl hanging up from the ceiling that was discovered on a nearby peninsula. There also an extract of a cave drawing taken from deep within Mt Moon depicting what's looks to be a dark black shadow chasing after a small brown Pokemon, the description indicates it my be the first accurate drawing of a ghost type Pokemon like Gastly or Haunter
"Wow, Ghost Pokemon have really been around that long?" I think to myself before continuing my search
I go up a floor to the second level and it is a gallery filled to the brim with art adorned beautifully on the wall. There are sketches of Pokemon in the wild, Lapras swimming gently in front of a sunset of n the ocean horizon, Pidgey and Pidgeotto soaring through the sky, Oddish and Paras huddling under trees to see out a storm. There are also some pieces by Burgh and Brassius littered throughout, most notably I spot what I came for. I chase up to see a huge mural, it depicts the three legendary birds engulfed by a bigger Lugia positioned behind them. I crouch down to read the description.
Donated by the Orange islands of Shamouti, in our darkest hour Lugia protected us, it is our hope that this statue will bring good fortune to your islands recovery
"Wow that's really cool" I say picking myself up
I look all over the statue, even grazing up into the open mouth of each bird and nothing can be seen in terms of a shape for the riddle
"I don't understand surely this has to be it"
I sigh as I take a seat at one of the benches, I take a water bottle from my bag and take a few sips before throwing my head back in frustration. Out of the corner of my eye I spot what looks to be some photographs of icy water which grabs my attention. I grab my bag and wander up, its a huge mural for some kind of boat. I wander up and there's lots of different pictures, it details an ice breaker ship that was used after an incident that effected lots of the orange islands where a lot of the ocean became frozen due to unusual natural occurrences.
"This ship ploughed through mile and miles of frozen sea to deliver shipments to the remotest of islands in their time of need. The ship was dubbed the Flying Kyurem for it mastery of the icy seas. The ship made its final voyage back towards the Kanto mainland but ran afoul and moored itself upon a peninsula just south west of Fushica City"
"The legend stop by gravel and mortar!" I shout as I quickly dart around looking for the last shape
Adorned on the back of the signpost for the exhibit is the shape, I quickly snap it and rush off back towards the entrance
"Thank you sir!" I shout as I run off
I finally make it back to the outpost and show the man the letter, he smiles and hold out the next letter
"This is the last one young man"
I nod and rip it open quickly reading the last clue
A familiar face
Adorned in blonde
The volcanos base
They are quite fond
"Familiar face?"
"You'll know it when you see it" The man says
I look up at him and he himself is familiar and blonde
"Hey weren't you in the spa?"
"What can I say, I like a dip"
"And the wax museum"
"A nice place to cool off after a dip"
"And the history museum!"
"Knowledge is key in devising these kind of riddles, you got them all quite quickly. So my last question is, who am I?"
"Well I'd say Blaine but I pretty sure he is bald" I say with confusion
"Grr! You ever heard of a wig!" He shouts before tearing off the hair piece and slamming it on the counter
"It is you!" I shout back
"Well kid, you did it then you got all the riddles. I'll open up the battlefield" He says hitting a button on the counter
The volcano behind begins to open up slowly to reveal a small tunnel, he gestures me to follow him. I do silently now starting to actually think about the battle at hand which I had almost forgotten about. Since the volcano eruption, the league had still allowed Blaine to battle inside it but it would now only be one on one battles. Blaine takes up his place across the field as I walk out into the open cavern. There is a moat of lava covered by perspex glass, it hot in the cavern but not overwhelming, almost like being slightly away from a bonfire.
"Now young man, shall we begin!" He shouts grasping one of his Pokeballs
"Yes sir!" I shout back grabbing Wartortle's ball
We both throw them out at the same time. Wartortle slams down on the field as Blaine Pokemon is revealed
"Magmar!"
The daunting figure of Magmar touches down with an equal slam, it roars out with power.
"Be careful! Magmar is no joke!" I shout out as Wartortle sticks his hand up in acknowledgment
"A water type huh? You don't think we have ways to deal with that!" Blaine shouts
"Magmar Thunderpunch!"
Magmar arm glow yellow and crackles with electricity as it bursts forward, in almost no time to react Wartortle ducks into its shell to try and absorb some of the hit but it is thrust up into the air and it lands back down to ground with a thud
"Fire Blast!"
Magmar rears its head and fires of a star of fire, Wartorle tries to find its feet to dodge but it cannot quickly enough and is engulfed in the flames. It cries out in pain as the fire whips around it, it drops to its knees and gasps for breath as the flames fade away
"Are you okay?" I shout out as it pulls itself up
"Tor!" I shouts back
"Okay use Hydro Pump!"
It tucks its head in and fire off a huge stream of water, it speeds towards Magmar but it quickly side steps it
"Thunderpunch!"
Magmar speeds in arm glowing again
"Circle your head Wartortle!"
It winds it head in a circular motion still tuck in causing the stream to ship and spin around. As Magmar tries to hit the mark it is push back and slammed by the oncoming streams of water
"Nice work!" I shout out as the stream continue to slam Magmar
"Magmar Focus Blast!"
"Aura Sphere!"
Wartortle pops its head back out and summons a blue ball of energy in its hands as Magmar does the same, they both release them attacks, they spin and crackle before colliding head on causing a huge dust cloud to kick up
"Wartortle, stay alert!"
"Magmar Thunderpunch!"
As the dust begins to clear I can see the outline of Magmar who has it fist slamming into Wartortle's face
"No!"
The dust still continues to settle and as it does I can see clearly Magmar has hit the mark on Wartortle square on the cheek but miraculously Wartortle stands and growls back at Magmar. He begins to glow a dark blue and warps. His body change and grows huge and he form burst revealing his evolution
"Blast!"
"You evolved!" I shout out jumping up and down
Blastoise grabs Magmar to stop it running away
"Hydro Pump!"
With its new twin cannons it blast Magmar from point blank range with its new full power, he releases Magmar as it is slammed back into the wall, it slides down the rock face unable to go on. I chase out to Blastoise and jump on its back
"You did it! You did it!" I shout as Blastoise begins to jump up and down too
It pulls me round and hugs me tight
"Oh wow you're way more strong!"
"Congratulations young man"
I turn as Blastoise releases me and Blaine stands there with a smile on his face
"Oh thank you sir, that was a good battle"
He smile and looks up to Blastoise
"You took that Thunderpunch well, you'll go far" He says with a laugh
He take out the Volcano badge and hands it too me
"With this now you have gotten your seventh gym badge, the last badge on the junior competition is the Viridian gym. You're a lucky one, you will be one of the first trainers to take on the new gym leader"
"New gym leader? Who is it?"
"No clue, I've heard they are a stern fellow quite young too. I'm sure you will be fine though. You have done well to get this far"
"Thank you sir"
Venusaur (Lv49) Female
Attacks
Sludge Bomb
Leaf Storm
Solar Beam
Giga Drain
Ninetails (Lv49) Female
Attacks
Flamethrower
Quick Attack
Solar Beam
Extrasensory
Poliwrath (Lv45) Male
Attacks
Ice Punch
Earthquake
Waterfall
Drain Punch
Starmie (Lv48) Genderless
Flash Cannon
Psychic
Hydro Pump
Dazzling Gleam
Blastoise (Lv45) Male
Hydro Pump
Ice Beam
Dark Pulse
Aura Sphere
Jolteon (Lv45) Male
Hyper Voice
Shadow Ball
Thunderbolt
Quick Attack
Dodrio (Lv43) Female
Pounce
Thrash
Drill Peck
Swords Dance