Interlude 4

November 26th, 2022

Yui Oshima

Being the Champion has its perks. I silently mused to myself, looking down from the mountain that was considered the home of Tohoku’s Pokémon League. From the enormous transparent aluminum window I could see the very distant lights of the towns at the start of the Victory Road.

It’s the trip through the mountain that’s the longest leg of the journey.

I felt the gentle psychic prodding of Cell, their multifaceted mind bubbling with amusement, which tasted like a mix of bubblegum and party rock. Not that I understood what that meant.

“Goo!” I rolled my eyes, I know they were perfectly capable of human speech, but they loved to be deliberately enigmatic. Cell pressed forward with telepathy, and I shivered at the strange look at the inner machinations of their mind. I knew they were far, more intelligent than I was, it was a lack of Will and a powerful counterbalance of Emotion that protected us from their Knowledge.

Cell just smiled enigmatically, instead poking at my brain to inform me that I had a meeting to attend. They gripped my hand, gooey appendages sliding along the jewel that Burst with all my shared bonds. I nodded to myself, it wasn’t a good idea to get distracted.

It was hard enough remembering time is a concept that exists.

I tapped my desk and in a split second, a holographic screen was formed from hard light, and over the next several minutes I groaned as three, four, six… twelve screens loaded onto the holographic projection. At the least the Minor League were low enough on the totem pole so they were outside my purview and within that of the Elite Four and Major League.

Who would have thought all those years ago that a stupid uncontrollable ‘defective’ child would one day be the Champion?

So much had changed both because of the cities of Tohoku, and the work of the League… though at this point we were kind of one and the same for a lot of political poppycock I didn’t care about.

I looked over the names, and raised an eyebrow as names appeared in order from First to Eight with the Gyms, to First to Four with the Elite Four. Dorks.

First was of course little Liu, a respectful young man who had taken to Fire at the most fundamental level. He burned with passion, with drive and loyalty, with life and destruction. In another life, perhaps he’d be a trainer of Dragons, he had the drive and will at least, and the city of Irori was better for hosting him. Kozukata City’s Rei who was a bit… spirit-touched one could say? She’d drawn deep on the element of Water, that left a mark. Then came Nakagawa’s Mikron, a boy genius with an attitude problem.

He had more complaints than anyone else, only being kept in his position due to a lack of viable candidates. He was definitely not going to be here much longer, especially when I checked how often his pokémon were far too aggressive.

Thank the gods he didn’t have an issue with prey drives, worse I heard was that his eelektross liked to bite… chew really, but I did not need to have trainers complaining about their friends being chewed on outside of battle. And things were starting to line up for… someone more suitable. It was going to be very satisfying.

Next was Makiishi’s Rachel… She was something but far less problematic than a spoiled brat. Next came Taisen city’s Aubrey, who was a total jackass. Michinoku’s Vivian was cool, and we were friends I think? Hard to tell sometimes. Norma of Katayama was even more spirit-touched than Rei but far more personable, despite her tendency to see the dead and occasionally vanish into the dead planes. I never asked for details. Yoshi of Ushu was a former Elite Four member who retired after ousting the previous Champion, who had been a corrupt and vengeful man… to the point he had corrupted his kingambit into a Shadow pokémon through their bond.

I shivered.

The Elite Four enter one after the other in quick succession, Peter with his dirty blonde hair and multiple spinarak building a web behind him, Aggie of course had her porygon-Z, floating behind her erratically. Izumi had Lulu, and I smiled at the sight of my closest friend, warmth rising in my chest and face. Pamelia was of course surrounded by plants, I’m not sure what else I expected.

“So we’re all here then?” I called out with a polite grin.

“We are.” Norma replied with a faraway look. “The spirits have been quite restless, it’s been irritating.” I winced, angered ghosts were never easy to deal with… it was how people disappeared.

“Doesn’t help that Cipher is in town along with their shitstain friends,” Vivian added her own somewhat crude if accurate input. “Not just in Tohoku, I've been hearing rumors of something stirring in Unova, Oblivia, and Kalos, and weird stuff in Paldea.”

My aura lashed out at the thought, and Cell’s face twisted into a sneer, a disturbing look on his usually kind face. I had seen what they had done to colonies of their species, it was monstrous.

Aubrey rolled his shoulders, his arrogance almost oozing through the stream. “They are a bunch of brutes aren’t they, Rachel? Even the fey nobles of Ildathach are only their equal in cruelty.” I grimaced, rivaling the Faerie Court was not a good sign when it came to a criminal organization.

“The Minor League Gyms are still competing with one another to replace one of us,” Yoshi noted, rubbing his whiskery mustache with a bemused grin. “Not that it has done them much good.”

It took a great deal of work to become one of the ‘Big Eight’, it took determination, the ability to gather and manage resources in every way. It took gym trainers, employees, gathering the required amount of pokémon reserves, and you had to prove you were worthy of the greater benefits and perks of the League.

Many of them were good Gym Leaders… but many of them were either treacherous, foolish or terribly young. Some of them would grow into it… and a few of them already had heirs lined up to replace them before their stupidity ended up destroying a city.

“And we still have limited information outside a handful of their attacks and the Michinoku incident that left a half kilometer crater and a burst of psychic energy so powerful it was felt in Sinnoh.” Pamelia just tilted her head, her sharp green eyes hidden by a fringe of scarlet hair.

“The International Police, the EPG, and the Rangers all want their slice of the pie. Breaking international law, destroying the environment, poaching and illegal trafficking have made Cipher many enemies.” I added, pinching the bridge of my nose to force back a headache.

I noticed that Mikron was being quiet, almost contemplative. That was concerning.

“Is there anything you wanted to add?”

“Any of you got new idiot rising stars to watch out for? Because I’ve got two.” There was a hint of embarrassment, a deep flush on his neck.

Eyebrows furrowed. “Is it related to Cipher?”

“Yes.” He bluntly stated, and I looked back to a report from an Ace trainer on a remarkable trainer…

The Gym Leaders and my Elite Four became attentive.

“Two of them, a bit older than the usual sixteen to eighteen in Tohoku. Both of them are Lab Trainers, one of Laven’s projects.”

Rei’s gaze sharpened. “I know them, interesting challengers.” I leaned forward, it was rare that anyone gained the attention of Rei.

Mikron scoffed. “Scary is more like it, the first one was Brandy Red or something… she lost the first time and came back with twice as much energy. She came back with her buneary evolved, and defeated two of my pokémon with a fennekin. I… underestimated her, should have opted for a different team.”

Aggie let out a quiet sound. “Evolving a buneary is a difficult task, they have a hard time developing the trust and peace of mind to evolve.”

Mikron nodded. “Well the second time around, she tore my team apart with an interesting strategy. She seems to enjoy utility moves, but her fennekin displayed a keen understanding of physics. Fennekin deflected electric moves using fire to form a path, and used Fiery Terrain to manifest Fire Spin outside her body. She beat two thirds of my four-star team in a matter of a minute or two, and when she lost against Eelektross, Brandy’s lopunny punched a bolt of Thunder and then a Charge Beam before knocking my last pokémon out.”

I paused, that was… both ingenious and incredibly difficult. I know enough about Fire to know that at baseline it was an insulator, you needed either incredibly high voltages, high temperature or a conductive dopant to use it… to have any conduction to manipulate the path of lightning.

But then again… fire and lightning were kin.

“A lopunny punched a bolt of lightning?” Norma asked, eyebrows lifting to their highest point. There was intrigue in Rei’s eyes as well, and Mikron nodded.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“And the other promising Lab Trainer?” Izumi added with a knowing look.

Mikron coughed. “They fly now…” he sounded haunted, and I did not understand that at all.

“Hmm?” Yoshi raised an eyebrow.

“I went with a Thunderstorm team, Kaskade has some interesting innovations of their own.” He smirked, and I nodded. I remember my parent’s tales of the war, the armies of Kaskade were lethal, with the power of the storm at their back. “All three of my pokémon could fly or levitate, Emolga, Magneton and Kilowattrel. She tore them apart with one pokémon, her starter, a Tohokun pignite.”

“They’re a strong pokémon, being good at maneuvering in the air though…” Aggie rubbed her chin at the how.

“Seems Akari has some tricks up her sleeve that she developed with Brandy, again scary.” Mikron made a face I found hilarious but didn’t say it aloud. “She plays to her pokémon’s strengths, endurance, physical power, and refusing to stop. She used a combination move of Flame Charge and another fire move to fly.” I leaned back as he played a video on his screen.

I could see her parents had a reason for naming her after the Hero of Hisui, even if there were differences. The shade and shape of her eyes, the extra curls of her hair.

She posed, eyes narrowed into slits as Emolga took off into the air.

“Heat Rise.” I blinked as the young pignite was surrounded by a haze of heat, covered in the flaming aura of his fiery energy, feet and arms and hands sparking with propulsive fire. “Flame Charge into Smack Down.”

The flying electric pokémon didn’t stand a chance, and that old idiom about when pigs fly became terrifying reality.

“It seems Professor Laven chose well with her three slots,” Pamelia commented. “Reaching a four-star ranking in a little over two months is rather quick.”

I shook my head. “They’re not quite that prodigious, they became trainers a few months before the Circuit started.” Fast yes, but there was a record of one new trainer earning all their badges in 80 days. That had been over a decade ago.

“There’s a third trainer as well,” Rei added to the conversation. “Natsuo Reo, faced me for his third badge.” So he has likely earned his badge from a minor gym. “His coordination with his pokémon was excellent… though it’s clear it’s not his passion either.”

“So this is the connection with Cipher you know of?” I asked, and Mikron grimaced.

“Akari and Brandy have had two encounters with Cipher and their allies in the past, first they thwarted an assault against a town to gain vulpix… and the second had them attacked by the Pinchers.”

“I read the report, they faced Arley and a small army of his grunts.” I added, I wasn’t ignorant but I did want to hear what the rest of the League had to say on it.

Mikron nodded. “Brandy apparently tore off a chunk of his arm when he tried using her as a hostage, and her buneary evolved when he attempted to use their tech on her.”

Control gauntlets…

“I can see that giving her the motivation to tear through your gym!” Vivian laughed, and the younger gym leader grumbled.

“I hope they’re both okay.” Liu offered his concern for the trainers.

We spoke more over potential future elites, about the dangers of Team Cipher, we had League agents combing the region for the threat that they represented.

Once the meeting came to an end, screens popped out of existence, one by one until only Izumi was left.

“Izumi?” I asked, curious on what she had left unsaid. I had seen her look smug, the impression of ‘I know something you don’t’ written over her lovely face. “What do you know?”

“I met those kids once when I managed to hunt down the Angel of Azuma.” I actually winced, that… was an old ghost, old enough to remember when Sinnoh was still known as Hisui, old enough to remember the rise and fall of entire regions and nations. “That girl… Brandy was it? She’s screwed.”

“What?”

Izumi scowled. “She somehow caught the attention of a centuries old ghost, and I’ve read the incidents she’s involved in. First, the fact she’s a Faller… an Outsider,” she lifted a finger and I knew that much was true about the girl. “Second is the fact she keeps finding trouble without even trying, like Cipher, third an alpha heatmor almost murders her, fourth another encounter with Cipher in the form of their allies, and the fact a ghost of that level followed her for half a thousand kilometers.” She had a single finger left on one hand that she lifted up. “Fifth, she’s Gifted… I can feel the touch of whatever god found her in the void between realities. Her skill with aura is hers alone, but it’s a package I can’t consider a good sign.”

“That poor girl.” None of that added to a good thing, far, far too many children had been forced to step up to the plate against the evils of our world. Kanto and Johto had their respective heroes, Red and Blue had both faced Team Rocket, three trainers by the names of Chase, Elaine ,and Yellow had faced several former Kanto gym leaders who had destroyed Cinnabar island. Ethan, Lyra and Silver had faced the second Team Rocket.

Brendan and May of Hoenn… so many regions, too many regions.

They were at least older this time around but… it was never a good thing to be a hero, not really.

“Two half-trained guardians are just begging for trouble.” I admitted, remembering my childhood. “I’m guessing they’re both strong, or at least talented.”

“One is a child of Shirogane, and the other… well her potential is growing rapidly,” Izumi shook her head. “We’ll have to keep an eye on the rising stars of this season, whenever there’s trainers like this there are always more.”

She ended the call, and I sighed.

Well then, as Champion… I had my duties.

Even though there were so many dangers I couldn’t see.

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Fennekin

I watched the night sky, soaking in the light of the moon, the reflected sunlight of the day star from the glimmering surface of the waxing crescent stellar body.

The Sun’s Lover, once upon a time.

I had never thought I would have a trainer again, not after him, not after being thrown away, abandoned, betrayed. It has always been like that, hasn't it?

But my new trainer, she was strange, awkward, stilted and strangely intense and lazy all at the same time. She loved knowledge and learning, loved learning about the world no matter how heartsick she was. It was obvious to me there were things she simply didn’t or couldn’t understand about humans, her tics and mannerisms and patterns of behavior were… odd. Not bad or negative, but then again my experience with humans was… limited. Who was I to say humans were all one way? This coming from the one who hates them?

She waved and flapped her hands when she was excited or stressed, her expression was dead, barely able to twist into soft timid smiles or other expressions, despite the roiling emotions simmering under her skin. Her attention wavered like the wind, focused on topics so intensely it was almost disconcerting. Crowds and people were her bane, yet she pushed forward, uncaring of tact and expectation, only realizing in hindsight. Her need not for order… but routine, habits and rituals and little actions establishing her order, her place in the world.

Touch was a sensitive subject with her, she didn’t despise it… but she needed her space, and had been careful with respecting our space. A lingering guilt she had said once, of failing to respect her brother’s wishes. Brandy was… human, painfully human, human as I had never seen before.

Not cruel, not perfect either… and that was better.

I watched my human, breathing in the otherworldly scent even now. Even the fey quality of Llayda didn't come close. I could feel her aura twisting and twining and weaving itself into many patterns and colors, a dance of her energies, of her life.

It was a strange thing. Her aura reached out with a ferocity greater than her little body, changing to Fire and Mind near myself, Water and Glamour around Llayda, to Unaligned with just a hint of Fighting Spirit tainting it around Mirko. Jericho was Poison, Earth simmering under his skin, waiting to break free. Brandy was all of them, painting them with all the colors of an alien sky, and when I felt her aura… I saw hints of her history through fire-images, that link binding us together as a trustis as that bond of clan and kin and lord had been called by my ancestors since the time of the Old King.

I could hear her speak with her most trusted confidant, telling her of that distant world she hailed from. Of how her ancestors had brought death and horrors to a thousand lands, brought down rival empires with guile and treachery and ways of war refined across a thousand years against their own kin and ancestral enemies.

The great empire of the Spanish, of the English and French and more, who had scythed through millions of lives with their conquests, growing fat and happy off the backs of their colonial domains. She spoke of centuries of Revolution, she spoke of the Nahuatl, of the Maya and Mixtec and Zapotec, a mixing of peoples both willingly… and not, how she did not know what kinship if any that she had with her distant ancestors conquered subjects.

She spoke of a nation called America, borne of the killing of entire peoples, who had overthrown the shackles of their overseers yet held a race in bondage until they snapped in two over it, she spoke of the gradual, slow, and bloody turning of the wheel towards progress, towards a better tomorrow, of great world wars that brought down empires and changed the order of the world, with weapons that could slay cities. Of how even now… her world was broken, with problems too big to fix for any one human.

“Her world… It is a very hurt world isn’t it?” I could hear Jericho’s rumble, deep as a rockslide. “I can see why she isn’t always eager to speak of it, and yet I can tell she misses it… ever so slightly.”

I sighed. “I can understand that… no matter how much that world has hurt her, a part of you will remember what good times there were, and she has said she’s a pessimistic soul.” I didn’t like thinking of him…

“Her family has hurt her though, not physically, no… but I can see it.” Llayda added her own perspective. “Her father… a scammer, a liar, a sorry excuse for a father and mate twice over, her mother… unable to release her grip on someone four years grown, they’ve crushed her under expectations she could never live up to as she was.” There was a hint of… disgust in her voice, that fey desire for vengeance. “Unintended perhaps, but to have a child unable to function as their own person, that is a failure on their part.”

Akari had helped her from I had seen, teaching her what her parents had not even if certain things would always evade her.

I could see now why our kind went to trainers, they burned so bright, showed us what we could be, to see how far we could yet go. I didn’t fully trust her yet… but I wanted to.

Brandy would have to work for it though.

I would accept nothing less as a lady.