-------------------------
Match day sees us all a touch nervous. We’ve prepared all we can for the normal gym battles, but anything beyond is still shrouded in mystery.
Zinnia scans across the room while swapping out the bandages around her abs, “Just stay in public view. Whatever is going on, Ourboro won’t mess around out in the open.”
“Do you really know that?” I can’t help but question, “You guys haven’t painted him as the picture of subtlety.”
She examines the gash to her side that’s already scabbed over, “Then run.” Her red eyed gaze shifts up to meet mine, “I’ll be in the stands. Just get out of the way before we start tallying up collateral damage.”
Is this chick berserk? “And here I was worried you didn’t have a plan. What if it’s not just him either?”
“Kurt,” Naomi cuts in before the dragon lady can bear her fangs, “Zapra is still perched on the spire top above the village.”
“See,” Zinnia snorts, “Just let Princess Sparkles here save your ass.”
A dozen biting words run through my head, but it’s time to go, “Just don’t fall out of the sky again.”
Her death glare hints that may have been the right dig at the dragon trainer. “I hope you challenge the elite four soon Kurt.”
“Why, expecting to get replaced soon?”
Citro tosses a new roll of bandages in front of Zinnia’s face, interrupting whatever she was about to say.
He walks for the exit, “It’s past time to go, and I’m first. Let’s not give the suspicious Gym Leader a reason to change the schedule.”
Zinnia holds my stare but drops the argument.
Heading out the rental room’s door, “Would that be so bad?” Turning to Naomi, “Why did you pick this gym anyway? Seems like you didn’t even want to talk to the guy.”
She brushes a blonde bang behind her ear and sighs, “Politics and popularity, Kurt. Hoenn viewers love Fallarbor Gym’s big pokemon. Defeating Ourboro shows a level of skill as a trainer.”
Citro looks back as he leads the way down to the lobby, “What politics?”
“Feudal,” she grunts, “The Wattson family and Mauville Holdings have zero intention of letting the league think they can assert more authority over the Mall. Ourboro has been a strong supporter of that sort of local leadership.”
Jane growls, “It’s not our problem, let's just knock out our matches and split.”
Glancing out a window, the rain feels especially uninviting. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out the note I found on my bedside table this morning.
“Bail out, Mr. Bodyguard.” - JR
Sneaky bastard…
“No matter what happens today,” I stop to look at the three kids, “Stick together, keep your head on a swivel, and get out.”
Naomi raises a brow, “What exactly are you expecting Kurt?”
There’s no denying I feel completely on edge, “The worst.”
“Whatever.” Jane leads the way out the front door.
In the dim light of the stormy skies, shadows are moving strangely. Rain cascades into little waterfalls in a river system of rooftop gutters. Off in an alley, a single red eye blinks.
The bell from the Pokecenter entrance chimes behind us as a couple more trainers exit. A visible ripple passes through the murky shadows. Just like that, everything is back to normal.
“Let's Go, Kurt!”
Breathing out a shaky breath, “Fuuuuck this.”
Walking along the wooden docks bordering the lake, people emerge from every alley and stairway. All head for the match in clothing so colorful you’d think it was a festival. The Kimonos are matched by the moving canopy of decorative umbrellas. In the distance I can hear traditional drums like the ones in Lavaridge.
Smiles and laughter fill the streets despite the downpour. It's like the people and the world are in two separate realities.
That’s the thing, though. I’m in a whole different reality than the one in my shattered memories. This is a world where pokemon can change everything in an instant by pure will.
“Hey,” Naomi pokes my side, her bright green eyes staring straight into mine, “Just go with what you feel Kurt.”
Wait, what?
My surprise must have been obvious because she just smirks, “We have the majority of the season still ahead of us Kurt. If we end up walking out today,” Citro’s groan of reluctance interrupts, “we have plenty of time to make up for it.”
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“Good,” that is actually a bit reassuring, “we’ll scope it out and then decide.”
By the time we’ve walked to the gym at the end of the valley, the rain has lightened to a drizzle. A gym trainer in a slate colored kimono waves us down and guides us to a bench on the side of the official gym field.
While the audience is taking their seats above us on stadium seating, I take in the arena. Old wooden posts lined with thick ropes covered in dripping moss surround a courtyard of dark stones. It has the vibe of a temple ground, slowly being overtaken by nature… and maybe it is. Grass and jungle flowers sprout from every crack in the paver stones. One section near the center looks to have collapsed into a murky pool, complete with vibrant water lilies.
Opposite the stands is the canyon wall. Water pours down its side, flowing around each outcropping. In the center, a massive cave veiled in the gentle downpour. The crowd cheers as a Tropius emerges from the cave. Palm frond wings lift to reveal a man with long white hair and a black kimono. His pokemon shields him from the water as he moves to his side of the field.
From somewhere in the stadium, a projector turns on against the cliff wall. A flashy slide visual brings up the profile images of Ourboro and Citro. Two smaller circles are grayed out under each trainer with question marks. A few camera operators from the league networks pan across the temple arena.
Citro takes the field opposite the gym leader who finally addresses the audience.
“Welcome friends, to our beautiful village,” I can’t help but scoff, even as the local women show their abundant approval of the handsome town leader, “I’m pleased to share the courtyard today with the team from Mauville. The city that hosts the rest of the world in Hoenn’s name so that places like ours can live on in peace.”
He pats the plant dinosaur beside him while releasing another to the field. Even in height, yet with white flowers in place of palm frond wings. Meganium chirps out a sort of whale call/roar. The wind quickly spreads a fragrant aroma of vanilla within the stands.
Ourboro accepts a parasol from the pacing ref that takes the field.
The man in a grey kimono with a red haori raises a flag to our boy, “Trainer Citro, upon releasing your pokemon the match will begin.”
Citro raises a brow at the double, long necked grass types.
Here on the bench, my mind races with endless ‘What ifs?’ We don’t know what is going on in this village. The only thing we Can control, is maximizing our chances of getting away in the worst case scenario… Which means we’ll need all of our pokemon in top shape.
With that in mind, “Sorry girls.”
I stand and toss my own ball into the arena.
“Kurt what?!” Jane shouts only to be drowned out by the haunting howl of Miss Wick the Houndoom taking the field. Flames pour from the bone armored doberman’s fangs.
Citro stands awkwardly with his own pokeball over his head in mid throw.
The crowd is mostly silent, a few boos sound out while most are just baffled by what's goin on.
Ourboro raises a brow in my direction, judging my actions behind the veil of light rain falling from his green parasol, “Care to explain yourself Trainer Kurt?”
Naomi catches my eye and gives me a nod.
Stepping out onto the stone courtyard, “Ever since we stepped foot in this town, something’s felt rotten. Not counting the incredibly suspicious swamp filled with pokemon corpses behind the gym, or the swarms of very angry ghosts.”
The Gym leader gives a fake smile to the cameras in the crowd, “Every hidden village has centuries of tradition. One of ours includes burial in nature.”
I catch sight of Zinnia’s hooded figure in the crowd, “A simple burial ground wouldn’t explain the need for a member of the Elite Four to investigate.”
She stands, removing her cloak with a flair, dark hair fluttering in the breeze. Her one eyed scowl may be at me as much as the man across the field. “Gym Leader Ourboro of Fallarbor Village.”
He cuts her off with a smile and greeting, “Dragon Master Zinnia.”
Her expression darkens further, “I’ll give you one chance to supply a satisfactory explanation. No more lies, I’ll tolerate no more hidden bodies.”
The crowd is dead silent now, all waiting to hear their leader’s response. The Tropius and Meganium rumble growls towards her.
Oddly, his grin grows wider while he sighs, “In that case I should perhaps reveal the largest of them. Then maybe the league will learn not to interfere where it isn’t welcome.”
He withdraws a flute from his jacket, even from here I can tell it’s been crafted from charred bone. An eerie tone reverbs up the canyon walls… drums answer, and as one, the locals bow their heads.
“That’s not good.” Glancing towards Zinnia, there is a genuine trace of fear as her widened eye stares at the massive cave across the field. From within the darkness, black mist begins to spill past the increasing rainfall. A shiver runs down my spine. “That’s Really not good.”
Ourboro pauses to shout into the sky, “We do not hide in the shadows! The storm casts them across all the land!”
Black and yellow lightning rain down on the field of stones, I grab the stunned Citro and race to the cover of temple walls. The dueling lights blind anyone caught staring.
A flash of yellow signals the arrival of Naomi’s guardian Zapdos hovering just before the girls ahead of us. A hiss chills the air just before a dark cloud erupts from the cave! The head of a black serpent the size of a train lifts from the lingering shadows, purple markings down its side.
Lightning continues to dance in the arena, blocking us from joining the girls. Each lance of dark light that comes close to Naomi is parried by Zapdos’ own golden sparks.
Houndoom whines at my side, unsure what to do. Citro as well, “What is that?!”
I shout at Zapra, “Just take the girls and Go!”
Jane and Naomi look ready to protest but the big bird is on the same page as me.
She lets out a screech that makes the whole valley flinch, and in a final yellow flare, the young Zapdos and the girls are gone.
Zinnia tosses out a jade green pokeball with golden veins, in an emerald flash, a second giant serpent appears.
On opposite sides of a courtyard far too small, one emerald scaled Rayquaza faces down another, black and wreathed in shadows. Rain continues to pour. The crowd’s sense of self preservation finally kicks in before the titan serpents can begin their duel in earnest.
As the locals flee the stands, gym trainers block the exit from the arena floor ahead of Citro and I. Miss Wick growls as a man sized monkey with black fur drops from the temple roof. Green vines unfurl from its wrists as it bares fanged teeth at us.
Zinnia shouts over the storm, “You don’t know what you’re messing with you psycho!”
“You wish that were so!” Ourboro raises a pitted stone orb in his hand, “With this blessed key, our village shall lead Hoenn into the heavens!”
Black mists swirl around the field towards the stone, the Shadow Rayquaza roars in challenge as the purple marks along its body begin to light up even brighter!
“The King Tide rises! Let this storm wrought dawn cleanse the cowardice from our countrymen! We shall unite the powers of Sky, Land, Sea, and Depths! Let the rest of the world cower in our shadow!”
---------------