Disclaimer: These characters belong to Game Freak, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company.
Sorry for the long wait was on a trip and when I came back I took like a week off as I was pretty busy on said trip.
May God bless you all.
Iono looked out at the city. Levicinia was busy but the way the city never slept and the skyline… yes some just saw another bustling metropolis, but it had its own beauty. Sure it was rather difficult to navigate and it had its share of crime, but all in all she was truly blessed to be the gym leader here.
Though were some downsides however. One of the biggest ones being that unlike most of the regions gym leaders only worked for about three months. Which was the dedicated time for the treasure hunt. For the other nine months of the year, their gyms were closed. Paldea was much more organized when it came to trainers in general. Most were from the academy which people of all ages could attend. There were some others, but even they had to wait for the months of the treasure hunt if they wanted to try their hand at a badge.
Iono sighed. This is why almost every gym leader also had their own job. Iono with her streaming, Katy and Kofu were chefs, Tulip was a model, Grushna… actually iono wasn't sure what she did when she wasn't leading her gym. In any case the treasure hunt had just officially ended and Iono would go back to basically full-time streaming. Perhaps, she could take a trip… her ionites might like that… she wondered how Mesagoza was…
"No!" She shouted. "Get that out of your head!" She had just caught herself thinking of Florian again.
She had actually kept up with his travels, and they chatted every now and again. He would be back at the academy most likely now that the treasure hunt was over.
"No!" She shouted again. "You can't… uggghh."
Iono fell face-first onto her bed. She groaned into the pillow. Ever since that night where she had gone in disguise… Yes, she loved streaming but sometimes it really took its toll. One of the major problems was that you never get much of a break. Sure she could tell her fans she'd be gone for a week and just not stream while she enjoyed a vacation, but the streaming market was very competitive. Taking more than a few days off could be dire to one's streaming career.
*Ding*
"Probably more fan mail." Iono said as she rolled over and got her phone off the nightstand.
She perked up as she realized it was a message from Florian. It was sent in… it actually wasn't a direct message it was sent in a rather large group… Iono remembered Florian had asked if she would like to be added to his "Treasure hunters of Paldea" group and she said yes, but she didn't go by her real name as she didn't need the added attention. The message read.
"Hey guys just saying, pray to God for our safety cause we are headed to AREA ZERO!"
"What!?" Iono shouted again before finishing the message. "Area Zero!? It's off limit… what is he thinkin…"
Iono paused again as electricity suddenly coursed through her body and made it's way to her head, powering an imaginary lightbulb that shone so brightly that it nearly blew.
"What is he thinking!" She said with more enthusiasm. Almost immediately she grabbed her phone and began a stream.
"Hey there Ionites." She said. "Just a quick update that your favorite streamer will be doing one of her most exciting streams soon."
She took a moment to let more people join and also for effect before finishing going on.
"Can any of you guys guess where I'm heading?" She asked.
All kinds of answers went through the chat, ranging from Kanto all the way to her favorite restaurant.
"Nope! None of those." She responded after about a minute of reading the chat.
"Levincinia's city's own gym leader will shortly be heading to the one the only AREA ZERO!"
"What!? Wait how? It's forbidden!" Was some of the many responses after she said those words.
"Yup! Pray for my safety and don't worry, I'll be bringing you all along for the journey." She said.
"Ciao and Bonjour!" She said with a smile as she ended the stream. Once that was over she immediately started packing…
…Before going back to her phone to…
…actually finish reading the message.
There it was. The Zero Gate. Sure he had flown over it and been to this area many times but he had never actually been this close to the gate...
...or really noticed it for that matter.
Which was weird given the sheer size of the thing. As he and his companion Arven walked inside, he wasn't sure what to expect. He knew Arven wasn't quite right but he didn't think that the large teenager really wanted to talk about it yet so he just let Arven mull over whatever was going through his head. They probably had a long journey in front of them anyway, and God willing would have time to talk before confronting Arven's parents.
"Access Granted" Said the A.I. as the two approached the entrance. The gate opened and the two walked inside.
Arven's parents had told them they would need more help. However as far as he knew it was just going to be him, his sister, Arven of course, Nemona and Pen...
Florian gasped as they got to what seemed to be the structure's command center. However, it wasn't the size or technology that caused his shock. It was the number of people waiting for them.
"Florian! Arven!" Shouted Juliana as she ran up to the two.
"Juliana? Where'd all these people come from?" He asked her.
"You tell me, most of them claim to be responding to a certain message you sent." She told him.
"I... never but... I didn't." Florian began to say.
"You didn't have to." Said Ms. Dendra. "When we heard two of our favorite students were about to embark on a dangerous journey, well we couldn't exactly just stay out of it now could we?" "Teachers have a responsibility to..."
"Oh, give it a rest Dendra, we just all are ready to see Area Zero now that we have access." Ms. Raifort butted it.
"You don't have to make it sound like we're just here to tag along." Ms. Dendra responded.
"Please..." Replied the History Teacher. "...I finally get to explore this place. I don't care how I sound."
Florian could hardly believe his ears or eyes. Everyone there had a story. Either about him or Juliana.
Nurse Miriam, Said she was there in case they needed any medical attention. Grushna said something about Florian's talk about stepping stones really got to her. Professor Saguaro said he needed to make sure they stayed fed. It seemed like almost everyone had some sort of reason for participating. And then there was...
"Hey, Florian and Juliana!" Shouted the streamer. "Yup that's right we're here at the Famous Zero Gate!"
"Turn that off!" Shouted Mela. "No one agreed to be a part of your stream!"
"What are you talking about?" Iono said. "I'm just showing me and the two trainers here. Though your voice is now on the stream."
"I said turn it off!" She demanded as she got face to face... well she had to look down but she still got in her face in a way.
"Come on... chill..." Iono began to say, but suddenly a hand rested on each of their shoulders.
"Thank you... It means a lot that you came." He said. "...That all of you came." He added as he looked at everyone.
"Don't get all mushy on me." Said Mela as she walked off.
"Um... yeah of course, well like I would miss an opportunity to stream this." Iono quickly replied.
"Well then..." Said Grushna. "...Anyone know exactly how we're getting down to this Area Zero."
"I do." Said a voice from seemingly out of nowhere.
"Mom?" Asked Arven.
"Good to see you were able to get so many people to help." Professor Sada said. "Now if everyone would step outside."
"Outside?" Asked Juliana.
Suddenly the whirls of machinery could be heard, and Florian turned to see a sort of ramp opening. The air from outside came rushing in and the group shielded itself as the opening got larger and larger until finally the ramp came to and halt.
Florian walked ahead.
"Now, I wasn't expecting so many to come help you." Said Professor Sada. "While I am glad, this does present some sort of problem."
"What problem is that?" Asked Juliana.
"I wanted you to fly your Miraidon down there while your brother flew his Koraidon. However, they can only fit about five passengers at a time." Said the professor over the intercom.
"Oh, that's no problem." Said Ms. Dendra as she took a pokeball from her belt and threw it to the ground. The ball opened and revealed a Corviknight.
All of a sudden the others began to throw their own poke balls all opening and revealing some sort of flying Pokémon.
From Pigeot to Fearow, to even a Salamence from Mr. Hassel. They had more than enough flying pokemon to accommodate the group's journey to Area Zero's grounds.
"Oh, all right then." Said the professor. "Just head down until you hit the field I'll give you further instructions when you reach your first Relay Station."
With that, both Florian and Juliana released Koraidon and Miraidon respectively. Penny, Florian and Nemona got on Koraidon. While Arven joined Juliana on her pokemon. (The reason being the two girls being so small compared to Arven it just made sense for him to be the only one on there with Juliana).
Then suddenly all the trainers flew downwards like and Ariel battalion. The area was definitely windy at first but as they got lower it became more bearable. Florian felt a clutch. It was Nemona who sat just behind him. She was hanging on pretty tight but not out of fear as he heard her let out a holler as though she was enjoying the deal. More likely it was all the excitement. Still though if she grasped any tighter it he risked losing his lunch, and throwing up at this height in front of this many people would be anything but pretty.
God's blessings that she loosened her grip slightly as the ground below became visible.
"Land in the open field and make sure spread out!" Screamed Ms. Raifort as they neared the ground.
The group followed her orders and everyone separated before landing as to not accidentally bump into each other.
"Wow! Look at this place!" Nemona shouted as Koraidon landed.
"Yeah, didn't expect it to be so… Ack!" Penny said as they all suddenly landed on their behinds as Koraidon vanished back into his pokeball.
"What? Why would you recall him then?" Asked Nemona as they got up.
"I didn't… what… he won't come out." Florian answered as he attempted to recall his pokemon to no avail.
Looking to his right, he saw his sister and Arven were…
"You okay?" Asked Juliana completely oblivious of the awkwardness of the situation.
"MMmmm…" Was all that came from Arven's mouth as he lay underneath the body of the much smaller girl.
"That's good…" Juliana said as she got up and offered her hand.
Arven took it and shaking off the awkwardness, got back to the mission at hand.
"All right." He said though his voice still slightly high most likely due to the prior situation still affecting him somewhat.
"We better head down, you don't want to be caught out here at night, the pokemon are… strange." He pointed out to the group.
"Strange how?" Asked Ms Raifort.
"Just… you'll know when you see it." Came the answer.
Florian checked his six pokemon. In truth, they weren't all that versatile. He had one electric, water, two fire types, one leaf type, and one steal type. While some of those had secondary ones like fighting he still didn't feel as though he was necessarily prepared for every situation. Though he wasn't alone, and he was pretty sure whichever pokemon he missed his friends had.
Then again this was a pretty big area, and getting separated…
…wasn't completely out of the realm of possibilities.
Thank you all who made it to the end.
Arven and Juliana's moment inspired by darkgolddrawings A-Luzora-Moment
May God bless you all.