Chapter 10 – Chrome and Fairies
As soon as Cyrus gave the order to begin, his skarmory dove down towards his foes, his metallic wings spread and poised to strike. Thorn and Koyomi were both ready for him though, each of them diving off to each side to avoid the steel wing attack, but Thorn had the misfortune to leap directly into the mawile's path and he rammed into her hard, gleaming from his iron head attack, and throwing her onto her side. Koyomi responded quickly, landing and blasting Mawile back with a torrent of water. Meanwhile, Skarmory dove in for a second attack, aiming at Thorn, who was still down.
Alex cursed under his breath as he realized something that he overlooked during his choosing of his pokémon, despite seeing what Cyrus was using before choosing his own. He had been so focused on whether or not Diamond would work with a partner that he had overlooked his own pokémon's weaknesses; specifically, Thorn's weakness to flying-type moves. It was too late now, though. He had no choice but to sit back and hope Thorn could tough it out.
Thorn managed to roll out of the way as Skarmory's beak jabbed into ground just where she had been previously. Koyomi took aim at the temporarily grounded bird but before she could fire, the mawile suddenly appeared in a flash of dark energy and smacked her with a perfectly executed sucker punch. She staggered back as the mawile struck her again and knocked her off balance. As Skarmory returned to the air, Thorn took the chance to tie up Mawile with her vines and tossed him at his teammate. Skarmory hovered and took the attack rather than let his partner be flung across the field and crash land on the other side.
Alex was beginning to worry again. During the week of training, he hadn't prepared his team at all for a doubles match, and now in the chaos they were even forgetting their individual training too. Meanwhile, Mawile and Skarmory were performing team attacks and covering for each other as though they had been battling together for a long time (which they probably had). He considered giving up and trying again in a few days. Thorn and Koyomi were having a rushed conversation down below while mawile and skarmory prepared another offensive. Feeling guilty, Alex thought back to his previous battle and was reminded of something Cyrus said. Thorn and Koyomi still seemed capable of battling, and were at least trying, so maybe it was too early to give up.
"Come on you guys, teamwork!" he called to his pokémon. "Skarmory and Mawile are supporting each other, you've gotta do the same!"
His pokémon didn't have time to respond, as Skarmory suddenly shot towards them, Mawile riding on his back in some sort of combination attack. Thorn and Koyomi turned their attention back to their opponents and Thorn lashed out with her vines. Koyomi shot out a water gun that Skarmory easily dodged, though Mawile struggled to stay standing on his back. One of Thorn's vines smacked the bird as he avoided the staryu's attack and knocked him off course. The second vine then struck as well, sending Mawile toppling over and falling to the ground.
Skarmory pulled up to regain control, then dove down and caught mawile in his claws before the other steel-type hit the ground. Thorn let out a squeal and Koyomi blasted another torrent of water, this time knocking the skarmory out of the sky. Both steel-types crashed to the ground in a heap.
"That's what I'm talkin' about!" Alex called down to his pokémon. "Nice shot, Koyomi! Keep it up, guys!"
As the chikorita and staryu looked back happily, Mawile managed to stand. Skarmory, meanwhile, had somehow bent his left wing upon crashing and was having trouble getting upright again. Mawile took a defensive position in front of his teammate as the steel bird tried to right himself. Koyomi launched yet another blast of water at the two steel pokémon, but Mawile stood his ground and took the attack, protecting the defenseless skarmory, while he finally got himself on his feet and attempted to fly.
Koyomi turned up the pressure as Skarmory took off clumsily, but the bird screeched at his partner and Mawile finally leapt out of the path of the water. He then immediately lunged at Koyomi, fists glowing for another sucker punch. Thorn dove into his path and created a pale yellow reflect barrier around both herself and the staryu to block the attack, staggering only slightly as she took Mawile's punch.
Skarmory dove down once again, this time spinning rapidly, aiming a drill peck attack at Koyomi. Thorn again jumped in the way, however, and took the full force of the hit, sending her flying. Koyomi shot the retreating skarmory out of the air with another blast of water before turning her offense on the still-nearby mawile, who had shifted his attention to his grounded partner.
Thorn took her chance to perform a synthesis, glowing a faint green as she healed the bloody cut she suffered from the super-effective hit. (Why does she keep bleeding? Alex thought vaguely to himself.) Koyomi, meanwhile, refused to let up on the offense, flinging herself like a boomerang at her fallen opponents to keep them busy while her teammate recovered. Skarmory managed to lift a wing and beat her away as she approached, though she was able to land upright easily thanks to Thorn's barrier absorbing most of the hit.
"Keep it together now," Cyrus called out with a grimace, speaking for the first time during battle. Alex suspected it was his turn to worry.
Thorn finished her synthesis, though her wound was not completely healed. It had stopped bleeding, at least. She then took the offensive herself, tossing a leech seed at her two opponents. Skarmory spread a wing and blocked the seed as he tried to take off again, with the vines now snaking themselves around him. He then set about attempting to cut the growing vines with his feathers. Meanwhile, this allowed Mawile to get back to his feet and charge at Koyomi with another iron head. Once again, Thorn leapt into his path and took the hit, growling and panting as her reflect barrier started to buckle. From behind her, Koyomi shot another water gun to push Mawile away and ease the pressure on Thorn.
"Oh, I think I see their strategy now!" Kimiko said from the stands, as the leech seed still wrapped around the flying skarmory began sending small bursts of red energy towards Thorn.
"Yeah," Alex replied. "Thorn's playing defense while Koyomi deals damage. Nice! Now that's how you do teamwork, guys!"
Alex's pokémon looked back at him for a second, happy for the temporary break in the fighting.
"Well, they've certainly improved," Cyrus commented. "But it looks like they're getting tired. Let's wrap this up, boys!"
"Your pokémon aren't looking so energetic anymore either," Alex answered with a small smirk. "You've got this, keep it up!"
Thorn cooed as she hurled another leech seed, this time at the mawile who was standing there with glowing fists, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Skarmory tried to create an opening by lunging at Koyomi, but Thorn bounded in the way and refreshed her team's reflect barrier instead. She was shaking from exhaustion now, having no time to try synthesis again, and appeared to only be still standing after the repeated direct hits due to the energy from her now two leech seeds.
Mawile's fists stopped glowing as he gave up on waiting for a sucker punch opportunity and charged forwards instead. Koyomi then shot him away with a quick blast of water. He avoided the attack, but it also halted his charge; he dodged to the side and remained there, panting. Skarmory countered by raining down stars from above, but Thorn covered Koyomi and took the whole attack even though the swift passed through her reflect. Skarmory crashed to the ground after releasing the attack, his wings finally getting tangled in the vines still growing around him.
"Enough!" Cyrus shouted suddenly. "Mawile, Skarmory, come back now. It's over." His steel-types looked back curiously, but obeyed and retreated to their trainer's box. Thorn and Koyomi both collapsed on the ground, grateful for the rest. "You two did a good job today," Cyrus told his pokémon. "You were right to try to focus on one opponent at a time. However, you focused on the wrong target. But we'll discuss it later. For now, take a rest." With that he pulled out their pokéballs and recalled them.
Meanwhile, Alex jumped from his box and sprinted to his team, who were both still laying down on the ground in exhaustion. "That was absolutely brilliant," he said as he knelt down beside them and put a hand on each of them. "Thorn, you're just too brave, you were amazing taking all those hits! And Koyomi, the way you mixed offense and defense was great! You two were completely amazing together." Thorn got to her feet and launched herself into Alex's arms happily. Koyomi simply flashed her core slowly in acknowledgement, too worn out to move.
Kimiko reached them and offered her congratulations as she leaned down and offered Alex an awkward hug. Cyrus then approached the small party and held out his hand. Alex set Thorn back on the floor and stood up, reaching to shake it, and trying hard not to stare into Cyrus' blindingly bright neon pink vest.
"Well, that was a long fight, but it seems even my double battle surprise wasn't enough to trip up your pokémon in the end. Whatever training you did with them since your first battle clearly paid off, and your words of encouragement during the battle had a clear impact on your pokémon's determination, both of them. Keep that up and you might actually have a shot at the championship." With a small smile, he held out his other hand. Resting in his palm was a chrome coin with silver ripples on the surface that reminded Alex of a potato chip. "For now, though, here is your proof of your victory. I present you with the official chrome badge."
"All right," the nurse said. "I'll have them rested and ready to go by tomorrow morning. For now, though, why don't you head over to the lobby? There's quite a buzz going on among the trainers in there today."
"Is there?" Alex asked. "What about?"
"Something about pixies or fairies or something," the nurse replied. "But trust me; you'll want to know about it." With a wink, the nurse walked off, carrying Thorn's, Koyomi's, and Radar's pokéballs to the back of the pokémon center for a healing and a rest.
"Let's go out for dinner tonight and celebrate our second victories!" Kimiko suggested as she took Alex's hand and they started towards the lobby. After Alex's win, Radar had managed to win his one-on-one battle against Cyrus's lairon by virtue of his speed; the mudkip was more interested in running away than fighting, but the aron was slow and weak to the water Radar used to keep him at bay.
"Are you sure you don't want to get going? We've already been here a lot longer than we planned to be. I know I want to get moving."
Kimiko frowned. "Yeah, I do too, but what's one more night? Besides, it means we get a bed for one more night instead of sleeping on the ground."
"Something tells me this camping thing isn't working out for you," Alex said.
"It's not what I'd hoped it would be," Kimiko admitted. "I liked camping when it was like a vacation… you know, going to a trail or something for a week. But this every-night camping in the rain and the cold and the dirt… it's not the most comfortable I've ever been."
Alex was interrupted as he was about to respond by the voices of other trainers in the lobby. The loudest came from a red-haired female sitting with a small group of others, all in a huddle looking down at her pokédex screen.
"Yeah, the champion herself called it the work of Arceus. I mean, I knew she was a true believer, but this is really the first time I've considered the possibility of her, you know… being right."
"What's that about Arceus?" Alex asked as the pair approached.
"Oh, you haven't heard?" the red-haired girl spoke up. "Some pokémon seem to be affected by changes in their elemental typing alignment over near the western coast."
"What do you mean?"
"There have been videos on the nets of certain pokémon that are immune to dragon attacks! It's been on the news for a while about a change way over in Kalos, but now it looks like it's spreading here! Look at this."
The girl reset the video that was paused on the screen and resumed it from the beginning; Alex and Kimiko leaned in to watch as some others in the group backed away to make space. The video showed slightly blurry image of a gardevoir's back battling a seviper. Things seemed to be going in the psychic-type's favor, until the poison snake managed to slip in close and slash it with a poison tail that knocked the gardevoir out cold in one shot. The video ended there.
"My friend posted this last night," the redhead exclaimed. "She wanted to catch that seviper but it beat her gardevoir, and the nurse she took him to say there were strange readings in her medical scans."
"It looked like a lucky shot to me," Alex frowned. "And it had nothing to do with dragons."
"Show him the champion's announcement," an older girl next to the redhead murmured, sounding frustrated. The redhead girl opened a new video and played it. Kirsten Hammond's face appeared, looking as though she were on a news broadcast. "This was aired on TV this morning," the older girl added in confirmation.
"I believe the change to certain pokémon was the awakening of the fairy-type energy within them," Kirsten was saying. "As we know, the fairy-type was previously only found in Kalos but had been slowly developing in other regions as well. Now, it appears to be showing signs of reaching us. I believe this change to be proof of the existence of Arceus. I do not know why He would make this change to his creations, or why He has allowed only Kalos to experience the fairy type in the past. But unlike the evolution of pokémon, a change of this magnitude could not just occur overnight if it were evolution, now would it?"
"Our champion is apparently very religious and believes in the Arceus," the older girl scoffed once the video ended. "I have a more likely theory, though."
"And that is…?" Kimiko asked when the girl went silent, obviously hoping someone would press for more.
"Another legendary pokémon," she replied, holding up her hand in a gesture to be silent. "Not a god, but still a legend. Xerneas. Think about it. Xerneas is the only known fairy-type legendary pokémon, and the only proof of its existence has only ever been found in Kalos. I think that's why Kalos has fairies. Also, the natural resistances to ghost- or dark-types that every other region's steel pokémon enjoy don't exist in Kalos. I think that's also part of xerneas' influence."
"But Ingrid, that makes no sense!" the redhead cried. "Even if it is a xerneas' influence, that's all in Kalos. What does that have to do with the rest of the world?"
"What if there's more than one xerneas?" the girl called Ingrid answered. "What if there's been a xerneas here in Vidiva, sleeping all this time? And what if now it's suddenly been awakened, and now that it is, it's affecting our pokémon the way the one in Kalos does?"
"And what about all the other regions? There have been reports from both Hoenn and Unova too. You can't tell me you think there's a xerneas in all of them!"
"Why not?" Ingrid said. "It makes sense to me. After Team Flare awakened the xerneas in Kalos, maybe that awakened the other xerneas around the world, too. Face it; there have been several examples of there being more than one legendary pokémon of the same species to exist."
"Well, this is all really interesting, but let's not get into any religious debates over it," Alex said, hands up in defeat.
Ingrid stood and crossed her arms. "Fine, I'm in no mood to argue. My case defends itself anyway, there's no need for me to do it." She then turned and ascended the stairs to the second floor, leaving the group.
"What does she mean by that?" Kimiko asked the remaining group at large.
"Well, like she said, there's more than one piece of evidence that multiple species of legendary pokémon exist," someone in the crowd replied.
"Ignore her," the redhead dismissed the other girl's exit with a wave of her hand.
"I actually think she could have a valid point," Alex replied. "I mean, who knows what's really going on, but at least it's a theory."
Later that night in their room in the pokémon center, Alex and Kimiko had settled down with a movie, enjoying their last night in the comfort of a bed before leaving the next day. A commercial began playing, followed by a repeat of Kirsten's announcement that morning. Following that was the announcement by elite four member Emily O'Connell that had been playing during every commercial break since Kirsten returned from her encounter in the Whispering Forest a couple weeks ago. Having seen it before and really not wanting to think about it right now, the pair turned their attention on each other and ignored the message playing in the background, complete with a note in the corner stating that the broadcast was no longer live:
"Attention, trainers of Vidiva! Um, I'm sure most of you know me but for those who don't, I am Emily O'Connell of the Vidiva region's elite four. Let me get right to the point. Again, as I'm sure most of you know there has been a large spike in trainer disappearances recently. I regret to have to add to this list the name of professor Spruce, our region's leading researcher and sendoff for new trainers. Currently, my colleague, elite four member Devin Sinclair, is watching over the professor's lab, so to those of you who have been keeping pokémon there, rest assured they will be in good hands. However, please understand that you will likely not have access to these pokémon for several days while we get everything sorted.
"I am here representing the champion and all of us at the Araka Stadium to inform and ensure you that we are looking for any information about these disappearances, and we will not rest until we have an answer and a solution. Furthermore, we suspect these disappearances are connected to the recent aggression of the ghost-type pokémon residing in the Whispering Forest. We are already looking into this matter as well. Both of these issues have been discussed with your region's gym leaders, who will be on alert in their respective towns and cities, and the areas around them. This means that the gym in Phantom Village is indeed still open, but the League, myself included, strongly advises caution if headed there.
"That means staying on the marked path, having plenty of light, always have at least one pokémon out by your side for protection, and try to travel with a partner if possible. And most importantly, use your brain. Pay close attention to yourself and your surroundings. Ghosts are tricky, clever, and unpredictable so be alert and never drop your guard.
"We will continue to look into these goings on and we ask for your cooperation in solving these mysteries. Please do not hesitate to bring reports of any incidents to your local gym leader or league representative. Finally, we ask that for your own safety, no one go off exploring on your own, and leave the actual investigation to us. We believe that, for now, it is in the best interest of everyone for all trainers to continue their daily activities.
"If you have any questions or information, please do not hesitate to bring them to your local league representative. Thank you for your time and your cooperation."
The movie resumed following the long announcement, but neither of the two trainers were paying any attention to the screen anymore, their eyes closed and lips pressed tight together.
"So, where's our next stop, anyway?" Kimiko called from the bathroom over the sound of the hairdryer the next morning.
Alex rolled his eyes and pulled on his shoes, remaining silent. Sure enough, Kimiko poked her head around the door frame and asked him again.
"I don't know," he replied. "Like you said, Neutron Town is the next stop traditionally.
"So there we go," she said, retreating back around the corner.
"I was thinking of heading for Phantom Village though," Alex called back, once again over the hairdryer.
"Why?"
"We haven't heard from Wyatt. Aren't you worried?" He swore he heard her laughing, and then said something he couldn't understand. He remained silent again until she finally finished her hair. "Okay, say that again?"
"I said, not really, no. I didn't know you even exchanged numbers. Anyway, why don't we just stick to the traditional route? It is the fastest."
"I don't know… I kind of want to know what's been going on too."
Kimiko stepped out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, and leaned against the door frame with a glare, arms crossed. "I am not going back into that forest," she said simply.
"We'll have to at some point, there's still a gym there," Alex reminded her.
Kimiko continued to glare at him for a few moments, then turned and stomped back into the bathroom. "Then go by yourself. I'm not going."
A/N: Previous note mentioned "11 months" since chapter 9, so while there's no date, at least that's a bit of time reference.
Credit to Starspejd for their idea on how they were dealing with the introduction of fairy-types. After speaking with a few other authors, his plan was the one that both made sense to me and still could be worked into this story in a way that made sense. Coincidentally, this theory also fits well with the second half of this story's plot, far, far down the line.