TEEN: The Journey to Mend Broken Things

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 8: Duality of Thoughts​

Once entering Black City, the stench of the smog already entered the noses of Arti and Mary. While this could phase Arti, he is more concerned at what is happening in front of him and Mary: a crowd of people gathered a few yards in front of the transition gate he exited from, yelling at another, more distant crowd. Worst of all, both crowds seem to reach their breaking point and are ready to go at each other.

Nothing but dark skyscrapers make the wall around while concrete and asphalt are the only materials that make up the ground, even the sun doesn't seem to make this place much brighter, no sign of plant life as far as the eye can see. Arti and Mary make their way through the crowd to a spot where there are fewer people standing.

"Yikes, I didn't think it would be that bad!" Arti says, surprised at how much the situation escalated before he got here. "Now where should we start with this?" he asks.

"We should probably book a hotel room, maybe four nights should be enough for now." Mary offers.

"That sounds good, I'll stay here and figure out a way to get these people's attention." Arti responds.

Mary walked to a hotel close to the store at the center of the city, before she arrived, she noticed two Ralts trying to hide away behind the wall of the hotel. Mary leaves them alone for now since she figures they might be afraid of people at this time. She enters the hotel, the lobby is mostly empty save for a brochure stand by the entrance, a few tall plants by the windows and of course, the counter with a lady behind it. Mary makes her way to her to book a room.

"How may I help you?" the lady behind the counter asks Mary.

"I would like to stay for four nights please." Mary answers.

"Okay, here's the key card." the lady gives a card to Mary labeled '103'

"Thank you!" Mary responds as she pays the lady and takes the card.

Meanwhile, Arti walks to the center where the crowds see each other. Hoping to quell some of the anger, he tries to speak with them.

"Everybody, calm down!" he tries to make his voice heard, but unfortunately, it gets drowned out by the yelling even when his lungs work to make him as loud as he can.

With no use in raising his voice, he decides to go to one of the crowds. He asks a skinny man at the front.

"Can you try to find a quiet moment? I have something to say!" Arti tries to make sure he can be heard.

"We can't quiet down yet when they are still having the upper ground, maybe if you ask them and we see that they find a quiet moment, we might consider doing it as well." the man answers.

"Alright then, I will ask the other crowd to do the same, because I want to know what can be done in this situation." Arti agrees to see the other crowd.

After running across, Arti manages to reach the opposite crowd, where he asks a chubby lady in front of the crowd.

"I have something to say, so I would like some quiet moment." Arti requests.

"Fine, but don't take too long to start, we still need to be louder than the rival group." the lady accepts.

"I won't take too long, don't worry." Arti says as he runs toward the middle, now glad that both crowds became silent. "There's no need to fight like this, I know one side wants to keep Black City the way it is while the other wants a major change. However, we can perhaps try to find a middle ground. In fact, I'm willing to listen to individuals." he begins.

"Get to the point, kid!" a member of one of the crowds shouts impatiently.

"We can dedicate a few days where I listen to each person of your groups, then help you come up with a compromise. Today, I'm going to try to talk to the people who want to keep Black City as it is while tomorrow, I will try to talk to those who want to change it." Arti finishes his explanation.

"Okay, we can do that." The two crowds seem to be in an agreement toward Arti's idea.

Arti is relieved to have prevented another mess. However, he has to be careful and not strike a nerve, because the voice of one can quickly become the voice of thousands.

"So, the people who want to keep Black City as it is, can you meet me in two hours so we can break down the request into individual parts?" he asks.

The people he asked seemed to agree, a few saying:

"We have time," "I'm curious to hear what he wants to say." and even "If it's going to help us, then yes, we can listen."

With some agreements done, Arti takes some time to meet up with Mary back at the hotel, being only a walking distance away. However, he sees the Ralts running to hide from people. He doesn't take long to get to the hotel and enter it to meet up with Mary. Once inside, Arti and Mary look for room 103. It doesn't take long to find it since it's on the first floor, Mary uses the key card to open the door. The room has a small bathroom, two queen-sized beds a table close to a TV, and other necessities that hotels usually have. They take this time to set their supplies down.

"Have you seen some Ralts on your way here?" Arti asks.

"Yes, I did see them. Maybe we should let them join us in our journey." Mary replies.

"We don't know if they are willing to join us, after all, they look like that they are scared of people." Arti explains.

"We'll see if they want to." Mary responds.

The two decide to see if they can give the Ralts a chance to venture beyond the enclosed darkness, so they leave their room and go outside the hotel to look for them, but not before Arti picks up the pen and notepad just in case he is outside for the full two-hour duration. Exploring the rest of the city, it doesn't take long for them to spot the Pokemon. The Ralts seem to be very shy, they take careful steps toward Arti and Mary. They somehow feel different about the duo, sensing an emotion that's not anger or any other negative feeling.

"They are coming closer to us, this might work after all." Arti whispers.

"Once they trust us, I can care for them while you're busy." Mary whispers back.

After 5 minutes, the Ralts got close enough to Arti and Mary. They seem to become less shy as they inch their way closer to the duo. This is when Mary decided to pat one of them on the head. Arti seemed to draw the attention of the other, it senses his determination. The unexpected happens, when Arti and Mary start taking steps toward a different direction, the Ralts seem to follow.

"I think they took a liking to us." Arti says.

"That's great! Maybe they can join our current Pokemon." Mary responds excitedly.

As Arti and Mary talked, the two Ralts talked to each other.

"Raalts alts ral."

"Ra ral alts!"

Arti and Mary did not understand what the Ralts are saying, Arti wished he could send out Kyurem in order for it to translate. But at the current moment, he can't send it out because Black City is still filled with people. Arti hasn't realized how much time has passed between talking to the people and now.

"Oh shoot, I gotta get ready to have a meeting with the Black City crowd!" Arti realizes.

"Don't worry about the Ralts, I'll keep them safe in the hotel room." Mary responds.

With that, Arti parted ways with the group and headed to the same place where he encountered both crowds, except that this time, only one the Black City crowd showed up.

"So how do you want to do this, start from the back and work your way to the front?" Arti asks the crowd.

It took a minute for the decision to go through, but the crowd agrees to do it this way.

"Yes, we can do that." a woman in the back said.

Getting out the pen and notepad, Arti waits for the people in the crowd to speak individually.

"Okay, now you can start telling your specific reasons. But remember, one at a time so I will be able to help you without the confusion." Arti allows.

The first reasons he heard were:

"The city took the longest to develop all of these buildings." to "We can't tear down buildings, they are sacred to us!" to even "I have a good life here."

As the general reason was being broken down more and more, Arti noted down everything. Since it was a big crowd of about a thousand people, it could have taken 30 minutes or more as the sky wasn't as blue as it had been in the morning. Arti wasn't keeping track of time when he's focused on noting down everything he can use to help. By the time he was done noting down everything the crowd had to say, he notices the sky taking on an orange tint. There was some pain on his feet, probably for standing in one place for too long.

"Anything else?" he asks before calling it a day.

"Nothing else that needs to be said." a man in the middle answers.

"If true, then we made good progress." Arti says as he notices the notepad having about half of its pages filled out.

The crowd separates as they talk amongst themselves. Feeling tired, Arti goes back to the hotel to room 103 and knocks on the door. Mary opens the door and her eyes widen.

"How long were you out there?" Mary asks with concern.

"For a really long time, apparently." Arti answers.

Arti enters the room, being greeted by the Ralts that he befriended puts a smile on his face.

"Ralts ral!" the Ralts excitedly yells.

"So, how did it go for you?" Mary is curious.

"It went smoothly a lot of progress has been made as I took so many notes." Arti responds. "How have you been doing with the Ralts?"

"I'm doing great, they are happy to be out of danger." Mary tells her side. "I discovered something interesting about Ralts. Female Ralts have slightly longer hair than male Ralts do. It looks like you befriended the male Ralts."

"That's cool, I remember finding out that the male Ralts's final evolution does not have to be Gardevoir and can instead be Gallade. I have seen some wild Pokemon using False Swipe to stop the rival from fainting otherwise so the rival would have the common sense to leave the territory. Gallade is one of those Pokemon who can learn the move without the need of a TM if I'm not mistaken." Arti tells Mary what he had heard about Ralts.

Arti sets his backpack down on the floor and the pen and the notepad on the table, then he sits on the left bed to his legs after a long day of standing up. Mary decides to sit beside him because of how much time she didn't see him during the daytime. They decide to watch some TV and relax for the day, watching a program about what parts make up a Poke Ball.

Later at night, the two go to sleep, letting the Ralts sleep on the recliners close to the window. Arti has a strange, confusing dream: he is in a void with cyan-colored lightning bolts hitting the ground around him as it screams, he hears a deep male voice speak:

"Your ideals will be tested." the voice says before quieting down for the rest of the dream.

In the next morning, Arti and Mary went to go get breakfast for them and the Ralts. Arti has been thinking about the dream he had last night, what it all meant.

"Did you ever have a dream where a voice tells something to you, but you don't understand it?" Arti asks.

"Not really, I did have dreams about somebody talking to me, but I always understood completely on what they say." Mary responds, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I had this dream where I was in a void, and lightning was struck all around me, then I heard this deep voice talking about how my ideals will be tested, afterward the voice went quiet before saying anything else. It was weird to me since I have never had a dream like that." Arti explains, "What does it all mean?"

"Raalts al." one of the Ralts say.

"Who had that voice? Was it raspy like Kyurem's?" Mary wonders.

"I don't know who had it, as it wasn't raspy like Kyurem's voice. Currently, there isn't a way to find out and I doubt I'm going to have that dream again." Arti responds.

After breakfast, Arti got the necessary things like the notepad and pen before going outside, he was surprised that shadows dominated Black City even in the morning. He feels as if he took a long afternoon nap rather than waking up in the morning. Either way, he has to meet the White Forest crowd so he can iron out the details before coming to a decision that will satisfy both. He goes to the usual meeting spot again, waiting for the members to show up.

Meanwhile, Mary is taking both Ralts to Route 14 so they can see the world beyond Black City. The Ralts are amazed at the difference that they become speechless at what they see, a much lusher environment than the cement and concrete darkness that they are used to.

After ten minutes pass, the White Forest crowd appears before Arti like a colony of Durant. He gets out the pen and notepad to be ready to know all of the specifics.

"Hello everybody, I'm glad we met up here as we planned. So can you tell me your specific reasons why you want Black City to be changed?" Arti asks the crowd "We can start from the back and work our way to the front."

Just like the other crowd, this crowd agreed that this would be a good idea.

"If this will get us somewhere quicker, we'll do it." a man in the middle answers.

"Okay, start telling me your specific reasons." Arti gives the cue to start.

The first reasons he hears are:

"The smog is toxic!" to "Too much concrete and cement is unhealthy for a city." to even "It's dangerous to have all this concrete in places they aren't needed."

It took the rest of the morning and a good chunk of the afternoon for Arti to note down everything the crowd said. Much like the previous crowd, this crowd was made up of about a thousand people or more, which contributed to the amount of time taken to hear them and noting everything down.

"Tell me anything else you have in mind." Arti offers.

The crowd seems to have said everything they had in mind.

"Nothing more, we're good!" a young man in the middle says.

"Alright then, meet me and the other crowd here tomorrow night so we can figure out a middle-ground." Arti explains

With that, the crowd dissipated and Arti took the rest of the day off to spend more time with Mary and the Ralts. As he was heading back to Route 14 to meet up with them, a slight headache made its way to him. For a split second, his mind gave off a vision of a forest where he has never seen or have ever been to before.

"That was weird." talking to himself, "First that confusing dream and now that image of a forest I never even have seen anywhere. I have to get to the bottom of this before I become insane." he adds.

Arti passed through the transition gate to Route 14, he saw Mary trying to keep the Ralts from going too far into it.

"Hi!" Mary excitedly greeted Arti.

"Hi!" Arti is just as excited as Mary.

Both Ralts were also excited to see Arti:

"Ralts rals!"

"Ralls rals!"

"So, how did the meeting go?" Mary asks.

"It went as expected." Arti answers then asks, "Have you ever had a slight headache followed by a quick-thought of a place you never have seen anywhere before?"

"Not really." Mary responds, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it happened to me, after helping the crowd, I felt a slight headache, then for a split second, a vision of a forest I have never seen anywhere before come into my mind." Arti explains, "Maybe I should ask Kyurem what is going on because I have been having strange experiences."

"Good idea, we should introduce our Pokemon to the Ralts!" Mary adds.

It was then that both Arti and Mary sent out their Pokemon, a bright light shone and disappeared followed by Golurk and Kyurem standing before them. The Ralts seem to be scared of these two Pokemon, though.

"Ralts..." one of Ralts says as it hides behind Arti while the other hides behind Mary.

"No need to be afraid, these Pokemon are our friends." Arti says to both Ralts.

"Goll lurk!" Golurk finally speaks.

"Greetings!" Kyurem says, "Did you resolve Black City's issue yet?"

"Almost there, I just need to analyze everything I noted after meeting with those involved to come up with a solution." Arti responds. "Now I have something I need to ask you, did the previous heroes ever had these strange dreams where they are in a void surrounded by lightning strikes while a voice tells them something, but doesn't explain it? And what is that headache followed by some kind of vision of a place I never have seen before?"

"The previous heroes told me they had a dream like that." Kyurem explains, "The dream is a foretold prophecy of what you will encounter later in the journey. The vision shows the general place where the God Stone is located. Only when the visions get clearer will you have the ability to locate such a powerful artifact."

"So, why aren't they clear to me? Is there anything I'm doing wrong?" Arti begins to doubt himself.

"They are not clear to you because you aren't ready to encounter them yet, from what I remember with past heroes, they consistently told me that the voice said about putting ideals to the test. You still have much to learn, however, seeing how you are getting the prophecy related to ideals, you will encounter something major related to that sooner than anything major related to truths. But you must not worry about the distant future, that will come in time. For now, you must worry about your current task, only then will the future task become the current task." Kyurem explains.

"That reminds me, I need to come up with a solution to Black City's problem before tomorrow." Arti remembers.

"Golurk!" Golurk tells Kyurem something, possibly relating to befriending the Ralts.

"You are right, let's make them our allies, they can become powerful once they battle enough." Kyurem says to Golurk.

"Arti and I were thinking about training them so they could be able to defend themselves better. But they might be willing to help us." Mary responds.

Both Ralts seem to be less shy and more accepting of the other two Pokemon.

"Ralts rals?" the one behind Arti shyly asks.

"You will get your Dawn Stone in time." Kyurem answers.

"Rals?" the one behind Mary asks.

"No, Golurk and I are not going to eat you." Kyurem responds.

After the long talk within the group, they notice the sun sinking down on the horizon like a Pokemon using Dive and decide to head back to the hotel. Arti and Mary both retrieve the bigger Pokemon. Thinking about if the Ralts would be safer in Poke Balls, Mary takes an empty one out.

"What are you doing?" Arti asks Mary with a confused tone.

"I have been thinking, should the Ralts be safer in the Poke Balls? Seeing how we might encounter Pokenappers on the way, we should ensure their safety." Mary answers.

"Are you sure this is the best way to keep them safe? I know they trust us now, but are they ready to be placed in a Poke Ball?" Arti is still confused about Mary's decision. "We should at least let them choose whether they want to go in or not." he suggests.

"Okay, I was getting a bit ahead of myself there. You have a better idea: letting the Pokemon who trust us have a choice." Mary agrees, holding her empty Poke Ball close to the female Ralts.

The Ralts stood there for a little bit before making a decision, she touched the Poke Ball, making the capsule device open and slurp the Feeling Pokemon right in before closing.

"You are in good hands, I promise." Mary says to the Poke Ball that now contains Ralts.

"I do hope you keep that promise, a Pokemon's trust has to be taken seriously." Arti responds with a serious look. "Anyways, I'm going to head back to the hotel so I can figure Black City's situation out."

As Arti heads back to the hotel, the remaining Ralts follows him. In the hotel room, he pulls out all of the notes he had jotted down and examines the specific reasons. Knowing he will be very tired on the following day, Arti decides to dedicate the rest of this day and pull an all-nighter anyway. While he hears Mary coming into the door and smiles at her occasionally, he goes right back to the decision-making. By the time he was done, it was midnight and he looked like he heard a Pokemon using Sing, so he headed to bed for the remaining time.

In the morning, Arti slept in without realizing it. He noticed that Mary left the room. While he did feel rested when he woke up, he panicked a little bit before he remembered he was going to tell both crowds at night. After the relief, Arti got his things ready for the day while the Ralts followed him.

"Well, since I got some free time, maybe I can start training Ralts." Arti thought.

After stepping outside into the brighter light that what he was used to, he decided to look for Mary. Looking throughout the city, Arti eventually finds himself inside a shop where he notices Mary a bit surprised at the prices.

"What do you mean the Twisted Spoon is triple the price here?!" Mary asks the shopkeeper.

"What you think is reasonable is what we think of it being too little, either take it or leave it." The shopkeeper replies in a toxic manner.

"Wow, rude." Mary responds just quiet enough for the shopkeeper to not hear her and leaves the shop.

Arti follows her outside in an attempt to make her feel better. They stop in their tracks once they are out of the earshot from everyone in the shop.

"Are you okay?" Arti asks.

"I'm just a little bit upset about being in this city." Mary answers, "This toxicity is starting to get to me, how much longer do we have to stay here?"

"We will leave tomorrow, I promise you that." Arti responds. Arti knows Mary needs the support she can get considering how long he was forced to endure the harsh times he had back in Lacunosa Town, he does not want anyone else to go through the same kind of painful experience he went through.

Noticing the Ralts followed him outside, he decided to shield him from the psychological toxicity emitted by Black City. However, Arti gave Ralts a choice whether he wanted to go into a Poke Ball or not. Arti took an empty Poke Ball from his bag and held it close to Ralts.

"It's your choice if you want to go into a Poke Ball or not." He tells Ralts. "I'm okay with either choice. I can see why you're afraid of this city."

After a few minutes, the Feeling Pokemon touched the Poke Ball, which made the spherical device draw him in and close tightly. Arti then picked up the Poke Ball and looked at it.

"Don't worry, we will be out of here soon." Arti reassures.

They both decide to go to Route 14 again where the two decide to be with just each other. Standing just outside of the transition gate, they talk about what they are going to do after they leave Black City.

"What should we do once we leave?" Mary asks.

"We can train the Ralts considering they need to have some way to defend themselves." Arti answers.

As the two talked, Mary seemed to calm down and is now able to have comfort in Arti's words.

Time flew by them as they talked, laughed, and even playfully poked the tip of each other's noses. By the time they were done, the sun started to sink down into the horizon like a Drillbur using Dig.

"Well, it looks like I have to get ready to meet up with the crowds. Do you want to come with me?" Arti asks.

"I think I will stay here just a little bit longer if that's okay with you." Mary answers.

"That's totally okay with me, take as much time as you need to." Arti agrees with a smile before returning to Black City.

Arriving early, Arti went through a few options that might satisfy everyone, but he actually stuck to one that could be more likely to work. The only way for him to find out is when he will talk to them. His thoughts are interrupted by the chattering of both crowds who arrived from both sides. Readying to put an end to the toxic argument once and for all, he talks to the crowds.

"Hello everybody!" Arti greets.

"Hello!" the crowds greet back.

"After looking over every specific detail, I finally decided what the middle ground can be. That middle ground is planting some trees, I examined that sunlight does come through the top and that can overall help the trees grow and absorb the smog in this city without the need to tear down anything. As long as you can take really good care of the trees, they will bring a lot of positive changes." Arti explains. "So, what do you think of this solution?"

The crowds discuss amongst themselves to see if this is a good solution to their problems. Arti is bracing himself for the possible disagreement of one or the other, even possibly both. This is why he had some backup solutions just in case. The crowds reached their decisions, what they said surprised him.

"This is perfect!" said a man from the Black City crowd.

"Some plant life into this city is a great idea!" a woman from the White Forest crowd states.

Arti was genuinely surprised that they actually agreed on something.

"Then it's settled, I'm glad a positive change happened here. Now remember, trust is supposed to be taken seriously." Arti tells the crowds. "I bid you farewell."

Once the crowds dissipated, Arti headed back to the hotel, happy that he resolved an issue that has gone on for too long. Once at the hotel and standing in front of room 103, he knocks on the door, Mary opens with her smile being the first thing that Arti sees.

"You did it!" Mary excitedly says.

"Yes I did, I'm just glad this is all over. Like I promised, we will leave tomorrow." Arti replies.

As Arti and Mary spent their final night inside Black City, they begin to feel excited to go to Nimbasa City with their Pokemon.

 

[System Error]

- Really like the scene setting you do for Black City. It's simplistic yet conveys a lot.
- Wait is there free lodging at the hotel? She didn't need to pay or anything, it wasn't even brought up.
- Love how naive Arti is. It's realistic. Somehow it works though???
- The members of the crowds are pretty laughable in how they don't seem to know what they're arguing about and just want to be louder than the other. It's also somehow realistic in some ways.
- What I don't get is why two rival crowds of pissed of people just decide to listen to this random kid. He could've sent out Kyurem to make a statement or prove his worth, for example.
- "We have time.", <- Commas are kept inside the quotations, and are used in place of periods if at the end.
- Well they're quick to want to try to get the Ralts.
- Like how they state reasons good and bad for wanting to keep the city up.
- the sky wasn't as blue as the. <- The...what?
- Nice putting in nonstandard gender differences.
- Also like the worldbuilding with False Swipe's practical use in the wild. What's with using 'the rival' to describe intruders on their territory, though?
- Ideals shoutout! Could've been a longer scene, though.
- Meanwhile, White Forest's seem to come across more as ecological extremists rather than giving any concrete reasons.
- a forest where he has never seen <- 'where' is uneeded there.
- I like to interpret Arti as trying to ask Mary about all these things because he has no proper social experience and is thus asking them to the only person available.
- Mention of the God Stone again...
- Well the one Ralts is already very sure of what it wants to be and how.
- Arti sure seems to have a sudden serious interest in Pokemon trust.
- The toxicity of the people in the city suddenly gets brought up out of nowhere. Good way to bring it up out of nowhere though.
- Almost didn't hit me that the other Ralts didn't join Arti right away because it choosing not to do so went unmentioned.
- Well that was a quick and easy solution to the problem that everyone seemed to agree on fast.
- How did Mary, shut away in the hotel room, know what happened during it anyway? I assume people got there ahead and she overheard their talking.

Wasn't expecting this to take all of one chapter to resolve. Oh well. Progress.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Yikes, I left obvious typos. But I fixed them right away.

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

First chapter thoughts.

"Uh maybe I should be going."

Should be, "Uh, maybe I should be going."

Some of the dialogue seems off. Like,
"Ow, this is the worst possible time to get hurt!"
"No, I cannot be hurt right now." Or something similar.

Both characters' dialogue is in the same paragraph in later parts.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 9: Of Tremors and Training​

Light filters through the windows, reaching the eyes of everyone in the room. Arti is the first one to wake up, followed by Mary and finally the Ralts.

"Good morning everyone." Arti says.

"Good morning." Mary repeats.

"Ralts" both Ralts say almost in unison.

"What should we do today?" Mary asks.

"We are going to go through Route 15 since according to my map, Marvelous Bridge connects it to Route 16." Arti answers. "From what I have seen of Route 16, we should be able to arrive at Nimbasa City in one day, I'm not sure how long it's going to take for us to get to Marvelous Bridge since we're also going to train Ralts today."

After getting ready, they headed to the hotel lobby counter, where Mary paid Pokedollars for the number of nights spent and gave the keycard back. Once they headed outside, they noticed a difference: mainly some drilling equipment lying against the walls of several buildings and some saplings ready to be planted. Once they made their way over to the transition gate that takes them to Route 15, someone calls over to them.

"Hey, you!" the voice says.

Upon turning around, Arti sees a man sprinting towards the group. The Ralts are drawn back inside their Poke Ball for safety.

"Hi, is there anything you need me to do?" Arti asks the man.

"I just want to express my gratitude in the name of White Forest for setting the place to have a cleaner environment." the man answers while taking a Dawn Stone out of his pocket, "Take this Dawn Stone, naturally formed back in White Forest."

"I shouldn't take it, maybe you need this more than me." Arti tries to refuse the offer.

"I insist you take it, I have too many of these back home." the man insists.

"Okay, if you insist on giving it to me, then I accept this gift." Arti responds.

Without further notice, the man immediately places the Dawn Stone in Arti's hand and then leaves.

"Have a good day!" the man says as he leaves.

Arti opens his backpack and puts away the Dawn Stone before the duo enters the transition gate right before them. Upon making their way to the other entrance, they are met with a different landscape with two ways to reach Marvelous Bridge, the higher path on top of the sharp cliffs or the lower path through the tall grass.

In front of them lies the higher path: there is a staircase that leads to the sharp cliffs above, where there are two bridges, the first is a long bridge connecting the first cliff to the second cliff. On the second cliff, there is a laboratory responsible for bringing in Pokemon directly from the Kanto, Johto, and Sinnoh regions. After the laboratory, the second bridge connects the second cliff to the third, this bridge is shorter than the first bridge. The third cliff possesses a staircase that leads down to the way to Marvelous Bridge.

On the left of them lies the lower path: there is a staircase that leads down the hill to where the first and biggest patch of tall grass has grown, with a few boulders scattered around it. Some ledges and a boulder block the direct way to the staircase at the end, with the second and smallest patch of tall grass just close enough to the ledge that leads to another staircase to Marvelous Bridge. South of the ledge lies the final patch of tall grass, leading to the aforementioned staircase.

"According to the map, both ways will lead us to Marvelous Bridge." Arti states as he takes a look at his map.

"So, which way should we choose? The higher path doesn't seem to have any wild Pokemon, but it sure looks like a long climb. The lower one has wild Pokemon, but after looking at some images, the climb back up won't be a long one." Mary is unsure which way to go.

"If the Ralts were to be able to defend themselves, they will need to get stronger. It's better to train them sooner rather than later if you ask me." Arti explains, "I think the lower path is the one we should take considering there are wild Pokemon."

The duo heads down the stairs to the lower path, being immediately greeted by the biggest patch of tall grass of the route, taking their first steps into it. As they carefully walk to not step on some uneven terrain, Arti notices a shadow circling over him and Mary, it slowly grows bigger. The duo walks through the grass as to go at least a little further before encountering the source of the shadow, starting to sprint through the foliage. Eventually, the source of the shadow revealed itself to be Gligar.

“Gliiigaaaar!” the Fly Scorpion Pokemon yelled as it started launching itself claw first toward Arti.

“Watch out!” Mary yells.

“Whoa!” Arti exclaimed as he jumped out of the way, throwing out the Poke Ball containing Ralts.

Shortly after, a bright light shined in the area around, dissipating and eventually reforming into Ralts.

“Ralts alts!” the Feeling Pokemon yells as he sees the Gligar attacking the group.

“Use Psychic!” Arti says to Ralts.

The Feeling Pokemon blasted an unseen force directed at Gligar, causing a headache on the Fly Scorpion Pokemon.

“Gaaar!” Gligar put both of its claws on its head. Then it responded by using Acrobatics.

The Fly Scorpion Pokemon flies toward Ralts at blinding speed, hitting the Feeling Pokemon multiple times.

“Raaalts!” Ralts yells in pain combined with a little bit of annoyance.

“I know you can win this Ralts, I believe in you!” Arti gives some pep talk to the Feeling Pokemon. “Use Psywave!”

Ralts launched a mind wave, causing an even greater headache to Gligar.

“Gligaaaar!!” the Fly Scorpion Pokemon cries out before fleeing, knowing it’s being at a disadvantage.

“Great job Ralts!” Arti congratulates Ralts on winning its first battle.

“Ralts alt alts!” the Feeling Pokemon yells in excitement, wanting to battle more.

“That was a close one!” Arti says as he retrieves Ralts back into the Poke Ball.

“That was scary, I hope we don’t encounter anymore flying Pokemon.” Mary looks at the sky.

Upon getting out of the biggest patch of the lush, green, and thin-bladed plants, Arti and Mary stop at a boulder in front of them.

“How much longer do we have until we reach Marvelous Bridge?” Mary asks, scared about another attack from a wild Pokemon.

“According to the map, we should be there relatively quickly once we jump down from a ledge.” Arti answers as he looks at his map.

After a quick break, they resume their trek to their destination. First by going to their right and then turning left to another patch of tall grass. They noticed that this one is significantly smaller than the first patch.

Mary would’ve hoped that she and Arti wouldn’t encounter another wild Pokemon, unfortunately, she saw a big lump in the soil that moved toward her at high speeds. A few seconds later, a Sandslash jumped out at her.

“Ahh!!” Mary yells in fear.

Falling to the ground, Mary frantically got one of her Poke Balls, not knowing whether she was going to send out Ralts or Golurk. After the bright light faded, the Pokemon being sent out ended up being Ralts.

“Raaaalts!!!” the Feeling Pokemon exclaims as she sees the group being attacked, ready to defend them.

“Okay Ralts, use Psychic!” Mary called out the command.

Hearing her partner, Ralts attacked Sandslash with a blasting, unseen force, giving Sandslash a headache.

“Sanndslaaash!!” the Mouse Pokemon roared out. As a response, Sandslash used Scratch, swiping its claws multiple times at Ralts, leaving scratches on the Feeling Pokemon.

“Ralalts!” Ralts yells in pain, but not ready to give up yet.

“We can do this!” Mary gives some pep talk to the Feeling Pokemon, “Use Draining Kiss!”

Ralts stood up and kissed Sandslash, leeching some life out of the Mouse Pokemon and weakening it further. The scratches on Ralts healed as soon as this move was used.

“Slaaash…” Sandslash whined as it retreated back underground.

“Good job Ralts!” Mary excitedly says to the Feeling Pokemon.

“Ral alts alts” Ralts giggles.

Mary draws Ralts back into her Poke Ball as she looks around for any other surprise attack from another wild Pokemon.

“How high is this ledge?” Mary asks Arti about the ledge leading to the final patch of tall grass.

“I’d say probably enough to jump down and be completely fine, otherwise, trainers wouldn’t be using it commonly.” Arti answers with an unknown estimate.

The duo continues their way forward, jumping down the aforementioned ledge in front of them. Arti lands first due to the weight of his backpack, barely on his feet. As he was about to stretch his arms, Mary falls right into them. They look at one another and start to blush.

“Um… uhh.” Arti nervously lets out.

“Y-you can set me down now if that’s okay with you.” Mary tells Arti, equally nervous.

Arti quickly obeys and allows space for Mary’s feet to reach the ground.

“Oh man, I hope this wasn’t too awkward for her. To be honest, I do hope that she would become my girlfriend one day.” Arti thinks to himself.

“I hope he didn’t think I was too demanding of him, I mean, I like him, but I just don’t know how to tell him properly.” Mary thought to herself.

“So, uh let’s check where we are.” Arti suggested in an attempt to stop the awkwardness.

“Is this finally the flight of stairs that will allow us to speed up to Nimbasa City?” Mary asks in an attempt to forget about the awkwardness.

“I hope it is since we still have a long trek to Nacrene City after that.” Arti looks at his map again.

“I just hope that no other wild Pokemon come out to attack us!” Mary starts looking around worriedly.

“Even if a wild Pokemon finds us, I’m sure we’re going to be fine.” Arti assures as he and Mary start walking through the final patch of tall grass in the route.

After turning to their right, they hear a rustle somewhere. As if on queue, their legs picked up speed as if to get away from something. Before they were able to get out of the grass, a wild Sawk jumped feet-first at them.

“Ahh!” Mary exclaimed as she saw the Karate Pokemon heading in her direction.

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Arti reassures Mary while throwing the Poke Ball that contained Ralts.

“Ral aalts!” The Feeling Pokemon yells as he sees Sawk attacking the group.

“Use Psychic!” Arti shouts to Ralts.

The Feeling Pokemon produced a mind wave that hit Sawk hard, disrupting the Karate Pokemon’s kick.

“Saawwk!” Sawk yells as it hits the ground and receiving a headache shortly after. The Karate Pokemon responded with a Brick Break after quickly getting behind Ralts.

“Raalts!” The Feeling Pokemon yells in pain as he gets struck on his back.

“You can win this!” Arti gives some encouragement. “Now use Psywave!”

Ralts turned around and launched another mind wave at the Karate Pokemon

“Saw aawk!” Sawk yelled as its headache got even worse, with no other choice, it retreated back into the tall grass.

“Great job Ralts! I knew you could do it.” Arti congratulates Ralts before drawing the Feeling Pokemon back into his Poke Ball.

Arti and Mary resume their way, finally reaching the staircase leading to a part with no wild Pokemon, allowing them to take a quick break. This is when the Poke Ball containing Kyurem started shaking.

“That’s weird, I didn’t have a Poke Ball shake while it’s in my pocket.” Arti says confusingly before throwing it in the air, releasing Kyurem.

“What’s up?” Arti asks the Boundary Pokemon, “Is there something that I need to be worried about?”

“Proceed with caution.” Kyurem says to Arti.

“Isn’t that common sense when crossing any bridge?” Arti asks, “No need to state the obvious.”

“The danger won’t be only falling off the bridge, it’s what would hit it with great force.” the Boundary Pokemon replies.

“What’s going to hit the bridge?” Mary asks in a worried tone.

“It’s related to the recent tremors felt in farther Routes, while those were harmless, I fear that this tremor will cause the bridge to move in unexpected ways. I, unfortunately, cannot say anything further on this matter as it’s unpredictable.” Kyurem explains. “Due to the tremors being common, you must make haste, but careful haste.”

“Okay, anything else? Is there some ghost girl on the bridge that I have to worry about or something?” Arti asks the Boundary Pokemon.

“Nothing else, just be careful out there.” Kyurem replies.

“Okay, I will send you out when the situation calls it.” Arti tells the Boundary Pokemon before drawing it back into its Poke Ball.

“I hope what we will encounter won’t be too bad.” Mary starts panicking a little.

“Well, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried. Kyurem seemed to be serious about the warning.” Arti replies. “We should keep going and see what happens. Danger or no danger, our goal is to reach Nimbasa City today.”

“Right!” Mary regains a bit of confidence.

The duo continues on towards a little bit of concrete that leads to an indoor elevator that goes up to the bridge. Upon heading inside the elevator, Mary presses the button to go up. It’s not too crowded, only having a few people including a girl who never seems to stop texting on her phone while her Emolga looks over, a boy who is holding his very excited Herdier and an old woman being accompanied by a Gothita.

When Arti and Mary reach the top, neither hesitate going outside to check the view.

The bridge itself has various arcs decorating above all the way to the outer edges while there is a thin line of light decorating the inside.

“Wow! This is beautiful!” Mary looks at the view on their left.

“This was totally worth the risk.” Arti replies as he looks in the same direction as Mary.

“So, did you notice anything different about Kyurem? It seemed more worried about you.” Mary creates small talk with Arti.

“Hmm, now that I think about it, Kyurem seemed to be concerned about me. I’m fine with that just as long as it won’t try to silence me like my dad always did.” Arti responds.

As other people and Pokemon cross the bridge behind them, a tremor picks up in their area.

“Uh, what is happening?” Mary asks worryingly.

“Yeah, what the heck was that?” Arti asks a similar question while he frantically looks around.

The tremor starts to have a greater force, rocking Marvelous Bridge back and forth. Many people and Pokemon on the bridge are screaming, trying to make sure they don’t fall off.

“This isn’t good!” Arti exclaims, “Forget keeping Kyurem a secret from others! These people and Pokemon need help!”

“I’ll be flying on Golurk to make sure you haven’t forgotten anybody.” Mary says as she sends out her Golurk and hops onto the Automaton Pokemon’s back.

“Gooluuuurk!” Golurk roars as it retracts its legs and propels itself upwards like a rocket before hovering in place.

“Okay, here comes the chance to prove whether or not I’m the hero that Kyurem chose.” Arti talks to himself as he sends out the Boundary Pokemon.

Despite seeing Kyurem, the people and Pokemon on the bridge are more concerned about not falling off.

“I told you to be careful, but I knew that sooner or later, the fate of many lives will be in your hands.” Kyurem tells Arti. “Now decide what to do very carefully. Your decisions will affect what happens to those who you are trying to save.”

Arti looks at the water below and then gets an idea on how to keep the bridge in place.

“Okay, you should freeze the water below until it forms an ice spire tall enough to hold the bridge in place. I will lead the people and Pokemon to a much more stable portion. Got it?” Arti tells his plan to Kyurem.

Kyurem uses Glaciate on the water below while trying to maintain balance, thick sheets of ice crawling up to the bridge while Arti looks at the pattern of how it rocks back and forth. He runs in a zigzag line toward the people and Pokemon.

“Everybody, I need you to run in zigzags, always toward the rising sides! Now get to whichever end of the bridge that’s closest to you!” Arti yells to the people and Pokemon closer to both sides after running from one end to the other.

It was hard at first, but once the ice spire reached, the sides of the bridge started to become frozen, forcing a more steady hold. This made it easier for everyone to move to the closest end. Arti was felt relieved to know everyone made it safely.

“You made the right decision.” Kyurem tells Arti, “Now we must heed that decision soon.”

“You’re right, I don’t think this ice will keep a steady hold for long.” Arti agrees, “Hey, do you mind if I climb onto your back?”

“Not at all.” Kyurem responds before lowering its torso just enough to allow Arti to climb on.

Arti rides on Kyurem to the end of Marvelous Bridge that leads to Route 16. The duo hurries before the ice breaks due to the pressure of the tremor going against the bridge. They barely make it as the ice holding the bridge in place finally gives up and breaks. Mary and Golurk were initially worried about Arti and Kyurem falling but were relieved when they made it. Golurk decides to land near them and sets Mary down.

“That would’ve been extremely bad if we didn’t hurry.” Arti breathes sighs of relief as he thinks about what other people will think of Kyurem. He didn’t have any choice as the hero chosen by Kyurem, and frankly, he doesn’t care about his reputation because he knows there are more important things than worrying about who thinks what about him or his Pokemon.

“Are you two hurt?” Mary asks in a worried tone.

“We are fine, I’m glad you were able to get off the bridge before it started wobbling.” Arti answers as he hops down to the bridge.



The other people who have seen Kyurem had mixed reactions, ranging from curiosity to a little bit of fear of seeing a Pokemon that doesn’t have any pupils. Nevertheless, Arti was very surprised that the people weren’t as scared as the people from Lacunosa Town. Arti and Mary retracted Kyurem and Golurk back into their Poke Balls before rescue Braviary arrived to help everyone get down safely, some on Route 15 and others in Route 16.

Route 16 itself is very simple, with a large concrete path connecting Marvelous Bridge on the east to Nimbasa City on the west with a mostly fenced-off forest to the north of the path. The concrete path itself turns southward before going to the west or east again, then northward to finally going either east or west, depending on the location someone intends to reach.

Once in Route 16, Arti and Mary decide to take a break to think about what they will do in Nimbasa City in order to take their mind off the incident.

“There’s so much we can do in Nimbasa City, I don’t know where to start!” Mary gets excited.

“I heard they added a boxing stadium, maybe a physical fighting style can be a fun thing for Ralts to try out.” Arti continues on with the conversation.

Mary couldn’t contain her excitement anymore, got up and took Arti’s hand, forcing him to get up.

“Whoa there!” Arti exclaims.

“Come on! The fun isn’t going to come to us.” Mary says to Arti quickly.

The legs of the duo motorize themselves along the path, turning to their left and going west until turning right to briefly run north and turning to their left again. Arti and Mary don’t hesitate to go into the transition gate to Nimbasa City, excited about all the fun activities.

 

[System Error]

C9
- Oh, it's pay after you rest. That is strange and unusual.
- That feel when they have to recall the Ralts for safety reasons because of...some guy???
- How convenient. A Gallade evolution delivery service.
- They are met with a different landscape? How is it different?
- Guess the laboratory doesn't care about the Hoenn region.
- Man this Ralts already knows Psychic? Jeez. How much training it actually need?
- anymore flying Pokemon <- Typo, any more isn't compound in this context.
- Sandlash <- Typo
- Do like the concept of wild Pokemon fleeing when they get too weak rather than fainting. Makes a lot more sense that you can't catch them that way.
- The ship intensifies. Pretty creative way for that to happen too. Guess Arti is stronger than I thought if he was able to catch Mary, always got the impression he was this scrawny little kid.
- Heh, potshots taken at people who can't get off their phones.
- Not much to say on the rescue scene. Did wish there were some reactions from people shown though, like possible consequences/reactions from sending Kyurem out. It was kinda just glossed over.
- This dude. I can see Arti being slow enough to think they'd allow a Psychic type in a boxing gym.
- I'm a bit surprised they didn't go "wait we're holding hands" at the end there.
- Motorize themselves along the path? That is very strange wording to go with...

The chapters continue to roll and roll right along. This was obviously a transitional one with an event happening right in the middle of it to make the trip there not be as boring. Not really rushing along too fast, but are going fast, so good balance there.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 10: The Nimbasa Fun​

The sounds of cheers and laughter filled Nimbasa City as Arti and Mary emerged from the transition gate.

On the right of the duo is the flashy-looking Musical Theater where Pokemon perform, on top of the building are some random giant musical props with the sign featuring a pink Poke Ball with a musical note coming from its middle and a few stars on its left. The building next to it is a new Boxing Ring, it doubles as a gym for Pokemon to train generally for Fighting-type moves, the neon sign features two colliding boxing gloves with an explosion behind them for added effect.

The building to the side of the Boxing Ring is the Big Stadium, its walls are light gray with two dark gray stripes running horizontally with a dark blue base at the bottom, at the top of the walls is a steel beam with lights that shine down into the field whenever a sporting event is happening at night. The final building close to the transition gate on the opposite side is the Small Court, the walls are light gray with strips of dark gray segmenting it vertically with the base of the building having two light gray stripes with a dark gray strip running between them, both horizontally.

To the left of the duo are two separate bridges leading to the rest of the city, both the one closest to the Musical Theater and the one closest to the Big Stadium share the same features of light polls making an arc of light from left to right on both sides.

"Where should we go first? I don't know where to start! Maybe the Musical Theater, or the Battle Subway, wait let's see soccer matches!" Mary can't decide where to go first due to her excitement.

"I’m excited too, so I think we should take a look at what time do the sports events start. Maybe we should go to the Big Stadium first before checking into a hotel.” Arti suggests.

They head toward Big Stadium and go to the ticket booth.

“So, when is the next sporting event?” Arti asks the man behind the glass.

“A soccer match will start later afternoon.” The man answers.

“Two tickets please.” Arti requests, giving the man the amount of Poke Dollars needed to pay for the tickets.

Arti and Mary turn around to cross a bridge to see more of Nimbasa City, they are met with more buildings. To their right, there are two houses that are closer to the bridge they just crossed, with another house in front of the one further to the right and a Pokemon Center in front of the house closest to the bridge. On their left lies a fancy building known as the Battle Subway.

There are six light posts around it, three on the left and three on the right, all decorated with flags with a Poke Ball symbol. The Battle Subway itself sports a green roof, a staircase, and two pillars that support the entryway.

“We could go for a quick stop into Anville Town.” Mary suggests.

“That’s a good idea, I remember finding out they built a hotel there, maybe we can stay there for a few days.” Arti agrees. “But before we go there, I want to drop off Ralts at the Boxing Ring so it can train to use its limbs effectively.”

“I hope you check on it from time to time.” Mary says.

“Off course, I just want Ralts to become able to defend itself in any situation.” Arti responds. “I know! We can split up to look around the city and find what we can do right now, I will go see what is inside the Boxing Ring while you can see if any new rides have been added in the park.”

The duo splits up to cover more ground, Mary goes to the theme park while Arti goes back to the Boxing Ring. Arti enters the building, hoping Ralts is willing to learn some physical moves. Inside, the floor is marked the same way the neon sign presented: two colliding boxing gloves with an explosion behind them. There is a statue depicting a Sawk fighting a Throh in the middle of the room. There are restrooms on the right with a water fountain between the two doorways. Arti notices a Black Belt Pokemon trainer behind the counter, he approaches the counter to talk to him.

“Welcome to Nimbasa’s Boxing Ring!” the Black Belt says to Arti, “Are you here to see the next boxing match or leave your Pokemon to train like one of us?”

“I was hoping that my Ralts can train here. Don’t worry though, the one with me is male, so it has the possibility to become a Gallade in the future.” Arti explains to the Black Belt.

“What are you waiting for, send it out then!” the Black Belt commands.

Arti picks up one of his Poke Balls in his pocket and opens it. The light pours to the floor, reforming into the Feeling Pokemon.

“So, is it possible to train it without relying on special moves?” Arti asks.

The Black Belt takes a good look at Ralts and then decides.

“The Psychic-types who are destined to have a fighter’s spirit typically take longer to refrain themselves from using Psychic-type moves. If we can train Meditites to become fearsome Medichams, then you can bet we can train a Ralts to become a fearsome Gallade.” the Black Belt answers, then adds “But afterward, you will have to have to train it yourself when it’s in the Kirlia phase, that’s when Ralts can become easily distracted by the behavior of dancing. The only way to remove that distraction is the reminder for it to become a fighter and make its desire to practice its Fighting-type moves. One more thing, it’s a bad idea to immediately evolve Kirlia since you don’t want Gallade to be distracted, find the right time to expose Kirlia to the Dawn Stone so when it becomes a Gallade, it will have mastered fighting techniques properly.”

“I will do my best to keep Ralts focused on training, whatever it takes.” Arti responds.

“Ralts alts?” The Feeling Pokemon asks.

“I know it will be hard without me here, but I know you can do it without using Psychic-type moves. Promise me that you will behave. And I promise you that I will see you at the end of the day.” Arti says to Ralts.

After the conversation, the Black Belt Pokemon trainer guides Ralts to the training portion of the Boxing Ring, Arti catches a glimpse of various Pokemon who are ready to train in the back, including a few Riolu.

Meanwhile, Mary has been walking through the theme park. Looking for ways to spend time with Arti after a sporting event. She notices that the ferris wheel is not working, with a sign stating that it’s being fixed.

“That was probably broken by the tremor that happened back at the bridge.” she thinks to herself. Then she sends out her Ralts to spend some time with while she waits for Arti to meet her.

“Ralts aals!” The Feeling Pokemon exclaims.

“I know you’re as excited as I am, so we can ride a fast rollercoaster inside.” Mary tells Ralts, looking at the purple and neon blue building containing said ride.

They head inside, only to see it being out of order, Mary notices some of the glowing blue tracks bent, some even twisted out of shape. She asks the repairman, who is wearing an aqua green jumpsuit and has a Machop working with him.

“What happened here?” Mary asks the repairman.

“The recent tremors made this ride unsafe.” the repairman responds while his Machop unbends some of the track.

“Tremors? As in more than one?” Mary does a follow up to her previous question with confusion and worry.

“That is the case, unfortunately. Ever since a businessman who runs a corporation that goes by the name of Tectonic Inc. began building machines that can split and move the land, Nimbasa City has been experiencing tremors bi-weekly.” The repairman explains the city’s situation.

“Something should be done about this!” Mary exclaims.

“The only thing we can do is to shut all of Nimbasa City down and have the people moved to a safer city. Or if by some miracle those machines break down on their own. Otherwise, good luck dealing with that man’s guards, their Pokemon make Garchomp look like a Patrat. I saw someone try to stand up to him and before you know it, that trainer’s Blaziken was no longer standing.” the repairman says.

Later in the afternoon, Arti and Mary meet up in the Big Stadium, with three of the thousands of seats taken by them and Mary’s Ralts. Mary tells Arti about what the repairman told her.

“So he basically told me that Nimbasa City is experiencing these tremors every two weeks. He also mentioned a businessman being responsible for all of this, with what we heard, I bet that Colton is the one responsible.” Mary explains and gives a guess.

“A tremor happening every two weeks in the same place? That’s crazy! If Kyurem is right about me having a role in saving Unova, then I worry about the region as a whole. I worry that the tremors are going to reach more places. Is there anything else I need to know?” Arti asks after responding with unease.

“I remember the repairman telling me that there are machines that are making the tremors happen. And to top it all off, the guards apparently have Pokemon who are powerful beyond our comprehension.” Mary tells the rest of what she heard.

“Whatever it is, I will need to do something to stop those tremors before they destroy everything, even if I have to face some of the most dangerous trainers!” Arti replies with confidence.

As the conversation went on, the Big Stadium was filling with people and Pokemon, with all the seats taken. A little bit after, soccer players appeared on the field. The two teams are Castelia Heights and Nimbasa Thunder. Cheers and excitement soon fill the stadium, lasting the entire game.

Later in the day, the sun started setting like a Vaporeon using Dive, the game concludes with Nimbasa Thunder winning by one point. Mary retracts Ralts into her Poke Ball while she follows Arti outside the Big Stadium.

Outside, Arti and Mary wait for the crowd to clear. Meanwhile, Arti decides to make a quick trip to the Boxing Ring to fulfill the promise.

“I’m going into the Boxing Ring real quick. It’s not going to take long.” Arti promises before going into the said place.

Inside, he notices Ralts bursting through the backdoor, with a loud thud accompanying the collision of its fist and the door, finally running toward Arti, excited to see him.

“Hey there buddy, I see you learned a new move!” Arti tells the Feeling Pokemon with an exciting tone.

“Ralts alts rals alts ralts!” Ralts tries to tell Arti something, presumably about some physical moves that it wants to show off.

The Blackbelt Pokemon trainer suddenly comes through the now cracked backdoor.

“This little guy has a promising future ahead of him. He surprised me at how quick he is able to learn.” he says. “The moves that Ralts learned today are Mega Punch and Mega Kick, they are just the beginning for this future fighter. Train him so that he may be able to master the art of melee combat.”

“Will do! Have a good evening!” Arti replies with a promise before retracting Ralts back into his Poke Ball.

Back outside again, Arti meets up with Mary.

“I am back in record time!” Arti proudly keeps his promise. “So it’s almost night, do you want to ride the ferris wheel?” he asks, feeling slight drumming from the inside of his chest.

“Actually, I forgot to tell you.” Mary begins, “The ferris wheel is broken, but we can do some other things available in Nimbasa City. Not right now since we do need to check into the hotel pretty soon.” she finishes explaining. Although she also did feel slight drumming from the inside of her chest when she heard Arti ask her to ride the ferris wheel with him.

“That’s okay.” Arti responds, “Maybe next time, then?” he finishes with a tinge of hopefulness in his voice while trying to keep himself from getting too excited.

“We may be able to ride it one day.” Mary says.

“Then we should check into the hotel in Anville Town, shouldn’t take us long to get there.” Arti suggests what to do next.

“That’s a good idea!” Mary replies.

They head to the Battle Subway and enter the building. Inside of it, a long flight of stairs leads lower to the middle, 8 differently looking trains await riders while there are people and Pokemon in line to ride them, except for one, where people holding a train ticket are already inside waiting for it to depart. There are stands where brochures are placed, with the stands themselves near the walls and benches. Arti and Mary approach a man in a blue uniform who is also behind the counter inside enclosed walls with a backdoor and located right in the middle of the room.

“Good evening, sir and madam!” the man welcomes the duo.

“Hello!” Arti returns a greeting, “We would like two tickets to Anville Town please.” he says as he takes some Pokedollars from his pockets and gives them to the man.

“Very well.” the man replies as he gives one ticket to Arti and another to Mary. “The train to Anville Town is the one where there is no line waiting outside of it.” he explains to the duo.

“Thank you, have a good night.” Arti bids farewell before he and Mary leave for the train where there isn’t a line waiting.

After getting inside of the train Arti and Mary find an empty seat with enough space for two people and sit down, waiting for the train to depart.

“So, Mary, do you know anyone who has the same interests as you? I’m just asking off course.” Arti begins talking to Mary.

“Well, believe it or not, I personally know Lenora.” Mary responds.

“You mean the former Gym Leader? That’s so cool!” Arti replies.

“Yeah, she showed me the ropes of deciphering ancient texts, something I grew to enjoy.” Mary explained.

While they were talking, the train filled with people and now departed for Anville Town

“So, are you going there to see her?” Arti asks.

“Yes because she wants to check on my deciphering progress.” Mary answers. “I kind of volunteered to help her uncover all of Unova’s mystery and it would be great to have some help.”

As they continue to talk, the train’s windows now show a forest rather than a tunnel while the train itself starts to slow down. The duo looks into the darkness blanketed trees, the moon suspended far away, yet providing enough light for the surrounding to be visible like a dim lightbulb. The train hisses after it comes to a halt and its left doors open to let its passengers walk out onto the concrete platform surrounded by a handrail on three of its sides.

There is a staircase on the top left corner of the platform that leads to a stone and brick platform connected to a natural flatland at the same height. On that flatland, there are three houses in the middle portion and a hotel on the top right overlooking the rails leading to five separate tunnels.

Upon stepping out of the train, Arti and Mary begin walking toward the staircase, talking more about some possibilities.

“I have been thinking, what if the Abyssal Ruins contained one of the stones in which Reshiram or Zekrom is contained?” Arti asks.

“I dove three times and I haven’t seen either one, but then again, a torrent of water somehow kept pushing me out of the ruins before I could fully explore it. I think there are more to the ruins than what I have found.” Mary answers, hoping to convince Arti to help find more hidden secrets. “Besides, there might be more text found inside there to be deciphered, so maybe we can explore it together and maybe show you the way.”

“I think it will be great that both of us can make some progress on our own goals, so when we will get to it, I will be happy to explore the Abyssal Ruins with you.” Arti accepts, “But since it will be my first time exploring it, can you show me the routes that took you to the deepest part so far? Even if the ruins itself is composed of more than one story.”

The duo reaches the hotel, its windows, and the entrance doors shimmer and shine in the dark much like when an Ampharos’s tail glows, the sign near the entrance has ‘Munna Inn’ as pink letters bolted to it. The hotel itself isn’t fancy, but a good place for Arti and Mary to rest their heads only needed pillows anyway. They enter the front doors, light growing closer as they approached the main entrance and opened the doors.

The lobby has is only a simple waiting room, with a couch and a brochure stand next to it. Some of the brochures show a cruise ship on their cover.

“Do you mind that while we spend the night, I take a look at my progress?” Mary asks Arti.

“Not at all, I would also need to think about the connection of that dream to ideals, as the voice told me is what I will encounter.” Arti allows.

The two noticed the line shrank as they talked, Arti asked talked to the woman behind the counter.

“A room for the night, please.” Arti says it like a gentleman while giving the lady the amount of Pokedollas that cover one night.

“Here is the keycard to the room, which is 103, right down the hallway left of the stairs.” The woman replies as she gives Arti the keycard and directions to the room.

Arti and Mary make their way to room 103.

“You know, there is something about that dream that I can’t stop thinking about.” Arti talks about the dream again. “I remember that the lightning was cyan, I also remember Kyurem telling me that it was a prophetic dream, could Zekrom also speak the human language?” he asks.

“That is something interesting to think about, in the rare chance that I did see Zekrom, which was during only thunderstorm, if I heard its cry, I only heard it roaring in the distance but I’m not sure whether its appearance was a mirage or not, after all, clouds can take various shapes. That roar easily have come from another large Pokemon.” Mary replies.

The two arrive at the room, Arti inserts the keycard into the slot above the doorknob, a click is heard from the door, signifying that it is unlocked. Arti opens it and sees a simple room with only one queen-sized bed facing the TV as well as a desk on the right side of the TV stand, a chair is in front of the desk, a small bathroom at the back and a few night lamps on the nightstands near the bed.

“I’m going to check my progress with deciphering texts.” Mary says as she puts her backpack near the leg of the desk and sits on the chair in front of it.

“That’s okay with me.” Arti replies, turning on the TV and clicking onto the available channels, the news channel caught his eye.

“We are here at Marvelous Bridge where some eyewitnesses say they have seen a teenage boy with a previously unseen Pokemon! They say the Pokemon created the ice on this bridge.” the interviewer talks into his microphone, then goes over to one of the people who saw what happened and asks him, “Can you tell us what do you think of this whole situation?”

“It was crazy, the bridge began shaking and twisting like it was made of cloth!” the interviewee begins, “The boy sent out a Pokemon whom he called Kyurem and told it to freeze certain parts of the bridge. Despite the Pokemon itself looking a little scary, it actually helped save so many lives!” the interviewee finishes his answer.

The interviewer is seen alone on the screen again.

“There you have it, folks, despite tremors reportedly happening around Unova, there is still hope.” the interviewer concludes.

Arti switches to another channel to a channel about Pokemon behavior. At the same time, he is excited to have seen some positivity in this time of fear.

“Did you hear that?! Someone has proof that Kyurem did something good!” Arti excitedly tells Mary.

“Wait, really?!” Mary responds, being excited herself.

“Yes! Part of the journey was to make it so more people can trust Kyurem, I think this is the first step to make that happen.”

2 hours pass, Arti and Mary got into the only bed in the room. They feel pounding inside their chests and begin to feel a sense of awkwardness between them rise at the prospect of having to share a bed.

“So, uh.” Arti’s face suddenly has gotten a slight red hue, “I can sleep on the floor if you’d like.” he sheepishly suggests.

“No no, this is fine.” Mary responds, also sheepishly and with slightly red color on her face.

The two then wonder about how tomorrow will be like, their eyes closed like a Clamperl for the rest of the night.

 

[System Error]

Woo, been a while. Good to see this back though. Like this crazy little story, in spite of its flaws. Let's get right to it then, shall we?

- Random giant musical props are the best kind, but are the ones over the musical theater really random?
- Like the boxing ring concept for showing how the world might be evolving as things go along
- So is this soccer match like their first date? :3
- So uh do they completely forget about the tickets? The scene just kind of jumps to the next thought.
- Going to Anville Town though? What's wrong with staying here?
- Of all the things to point out, you picked the restrooms. I mean you gotta go, and it is something to describe and point out. Just stood out.
- I like the Black Belt's speech. It's fairly well-written for what it is.
- Though that said, as much as I like the not Dawn Stoning right away thing, Kirlia learns like no Fighting moves until it evolves.
- Aw, looking for ways to spend time with Arti. Those two are just way too cute.
- Oh right, the rollercoaster isn't the Gym anymore. Don't think I ever went there before since I only played in Japanese.
- Quake guy/Colton is coming across as a mustache twirling villain at this point, heh. Where'd he even get all the money to do this stuff with and hire so many goons with overpowered Pokemon?
- Yo, shoutouts to not naming the teams after Pokemon! That's stupid and mindless and I see way too many people do it and it makes no sense anyway since not all real life sports teams are named after animals.
- Was hoping to see the actual match though, if not a bit of ArtiXMary
- Had to look it up, and wow, Ralts really can learn Mega Punch and Mega Kick. Having like nothing for limbs doesn't impede it.
- So was that like a free service? Arty just got to leave it there and they helped with no questions asked?
- Only slight drumming in their chest???
- Oh yes, that Anville Town. I forgot that place even existed.
- off course <- Unless this is a Final Fantasy 7 reference, this is a typo.
- Ah, that explains why they're going there. Though the reason being brought up is kind of sudden.
- Well if the moon was suspended anywhere but far away, you'd have to seek out the four giants. Or maybe stop time and beat up some moon people.
- Ah, that ruins sidequest I didn't care about because of that dumb mechanic and not making any sense and just giving you money.
- Arty didn't specify what kind of room he'd want. I imagine there'd be several options.
- Like one that doesn't have only one bed.
- Shoutouts to the news.
- And closing on more shippy stuff that I wish there was a bit more detail on.

So this chapter mostly leaned on the character development and exposition side of things. Which is a good thing sometimes. Especially when it's those two and their cuteness. Can't all be action, need to have time to breathe between things and whatnot. Standing by to see what comes next!

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 11: To Battle or Not to Battle​

The sun pokes out of the horizon like a Drilbur poking it’s head out of the soil to watch out for danger. The window inside the hotel room that Arti and Mary are sleeping in has illuminated with a white glow.

Arti is the first to wake up, rising out of bed to get ready to start journeying to Castelia City: The busiest city of all Unova. His motions woke Mary up, prompting her to start getting ready as well.

“Good morning.” Arti says.

“Good morning.” Mary replies.

After the two got ready for the day, they headed out of the door and went downstairs where Arti handed the keycard to the person behind the counter in the lobby. After which they headed outside, which light blue sky has replaced the darkness above.

“So, where are we heading next?” Mary asks Arti.

Arti grabs his map from his backpack to take a look.

“To make it to Nacrene City, we will have to trek through Castelia City to make it to Skyarrow Bridge, so our priority today should be to at least make it make it to Castelia City.” Arti explains, pointing at the said locations on his map.

“That should be easy enough, we would just need to get through Join Avenue and Route 4, which aside from the sandstorm, it should be easy.” Mary responds, looking at Arti’s map.

The two head to the train heading back to Nimbasa City, its doors are open, waiting for passengers to enter. The duo enters the train, waiting for it to depart once enough people entered.

“So, did you have any weird dreams last night?” Mary asks Arti.

“I’m glad you asked, I actually had a similar dream to that one I had back in Black City. However, in this dream, I saw two red eyes staring back at me. I don’t know if that was another prophetic dream or what, but if I do have a third one similar to that, then chances are, I might just encounter Zekrom.” Arti replies with a long answer, then says “That would be awesome and terrifying at the same time, as I don’t think I’m ready to face a legendary Pokemon in battle but if caught, could be a great member of the team.”
“You have a legendary Pokemon by your side.” Mary comforts Arti.

“You’re right, I will have to encounter Zekrom at some point to help Kyurem regain the powers it lost.” Arti responds.

As they talked, the train has been filling up with people. The doors finally close and the train hisses as it takes off to the Battle Subway. Upon arrival, the doors open, letting Arti and Mary step out to the said subway and into Nimbasa City once more.

“Here we go, let’s go through Join Avenue. The only danger there really is that someone will try to convince you to just stand on the sides.” Arti says it as a joke.

Mary giggled at that.

As the duo headed south of the city, they encountered a transition gate that leads right into Join Avenue. They head inside.

Many people are seen walking through both from and to Nimbasa City, the sides are filled with stands that provide various services as well as people managing those stands. The floor is reflecting the ceiling only in looks but not physical functionality and the walls are decorative. Otherwise, the avenue itself is a very wide hallway. Arti and Mary manage to reach the other side without being distracted. Going through the door that leads to Route 4, where sandstorms are a common occurrence.

“We made it through.” Mary says, “Now this sandstorm might block our view.”

Aside from the storm, there is a diverging path that leads to the Desert Resort and some houses that are almost finished being built. On the path directly leading to Castelia City, the finished houses line the sides.

In amidst the grain-carrying wind, a human figure can be seen, the duo approaches this figure, to find out that this figure is wearing goggles and a diggers outfit. Upon even closer inspection, he seems to be holding a clipboard with a blueprint and map, the map has an X drawn on the left side. It’s then that they notice the nametag having the Tectonic Inc. logo, meaning he is an employee of the company.

The employee notices the duo.

“Very soon, no one but Tectonic Inc. will be allowed here, so scram!” he immediately demanded Arti and Mary to leave.

However, Arti stood his ground this time, with prior knowledge of the potential destruction Unova would face if he did not stop Tectonic Inc. from causing earthquakes.

“No, you’re the one who will leave.” Arti responds in a serious manner. “You can’t just have tremors happening and think that everybody will be okay with it!”

“I tried to be merciful with you, boy. But now you give me no choice.” the employee picks up a Poke Ball from his right pocket, pressing the middle button to enlarge it. “Bring out your best Pokemon, I dare you.” he throws the Poke Ball, releasing a Krookodile.

“Well, then if I have to battle you, then yes I will bring out the strongest Pokemon I have.” Arti says as he throws out his own Poke Ball, releasing Kyurem.

“What Pokemon is that?!” the employee is taken by surprise but shrugs it off. “No matter, it will be pummeled into grains of sand anyways.”

“Enough talk, let's battle!” Arti responds snidely.

“Very well, Krookodile use Stone Edge.” he commanded the Intimidation Pokemon with a calm, yet threatening manner.

“Dile!” Krookodile conjures up sharp stones from the ground and launches them at Kyurem.

“What the heck!?” Arti exclaims, surprised at how sharper those stones are from the usual Stone Edge used by Pokemon of other trainers.

“Hahraaan!” the Boundary Pokemon yells as some wounds are now printed on its body, then it says to Arti “This hurt more than I thought it would.”

“Don’t worry Kyurem, you are powerful yourself, you can do this!” Arti gives encouragement while trying to fight through the fear, then says “Use Glaciate!”

Kyurem froze the air around Krookodile, then from all sides, strikes the Intimidation Pokemon on its torso, leaving frozen marks on it.

“Kroook!” the Intimidation Pokemon yells upward into the grainy air.

“What?! How is this possible?! I’m unstoppable!” the employee claims.

Both Pokemon are already weakened severely. Arti is surprised, he knew his opponent is strong, but he didn’t think Kyurem would be weakened this much after the first hit. Meanwhile, the employee is panicking as he never faced a trainer who had a Pokemon capable of inflicting so much damage in one hit. Moreover, the Glaciate somehow impeded his Krookodile’s speed.

“Krookodile, use Earthquake!” the employee commanded the Intimidation Pokemon in a panic.

“Kyurem, use Dragon Claw!” Arti immediately tells Kyurem to do so.

The Boundary Pokemon swings its claws at Krookodile before the Intimidation Pokemon can make its move, leaving a long scratch on the chest.

“Kodileeee!” the Intimidation Pokemon falls to the ground, it’s tail and jaw laying flat on the rough and gritty road, unable to battle. The employee begrudgingly draws Krookodile back into the Poke Ball.

“This isn’t the end, if you interfere with our operation again, we will make sure that you will be miserable for the rest of your life.” he says with a grudge “Stay out of our way.”, then walks toward Join Avenue and fades into the murky scenery.

“Kyurem, are you okay?” Arti runs to the Boundary Pokemon.

“I’m wounded, but still alive.” the Boundary Pokemon replies, with its voice having some cough sounds while it talked.

“I’m sorry I sent you to battle, I didn’t know that Krookodile had Stone Edge.” Arti responds with regrets, with sorrow starting to surface.

“You did what you needed to do, it’s not painless, but true heroes fight for what’s right, even if it wounds them.” Kyurem tells Arti, coughing in the middle of its sentence. “For now, you should be making your way to the next city. There is a Pokemon Center there that I can recover in. I’m proud of you, knowing the dangers of this and still fighting for what’s right.”

Arti draws the Boundary Pokemon back into its Poke Ball.

“Let’s keep going to Castelia City.” Arti reminds Mary while resuming his walk to the said city. Still feeling the regret of sending out Kyurem against a Pokemon that’s even stronger than any Pokemon owned by normal trainers.

“That was close, so that story about Tectonic Inc. being unstoppable ended up being true. Well, mostly true.” Mary says as she follows Arti.

The duo eventually arrives at another transition gate, they immediately head in. Upon reaching the exit, tall skyscrapers meet their sights.

“First, we go to the Pokemon Center, then we can explore what fun things we can do, okay?” Arti suggests, hoping that the Pokemon Center is the first place to visit.

“We can do that, a Pokemon’s health has priority.” Mary accepts.

They head south on the most right street: Castelia Street, trying to get through the crowd of people coming and going. Castelia City is sprawling with tall buildings and always have crowds of people trying to get to a destination.

After going through the crowd, the duo finally arrives at the Pokemon Center. They head in, Arti intends to make sure Kyurem is healed before doing anything else.

“Welcome to the Pokemon Center, I can heal your Pokemon for you.” the nurse behind the counter greets Arti.

“Thank you.” Arti breathes a sigh of relief as he hands Kyurem’s Poke Ball to the nurse.

She places the Poke Ball into the healing machine. The screen flashes green, giving the indication that Kyurem has been healed. She then gives the Poke Ball back to Arti.

“Your Pokemon is healed. Please come again!” the nurse says to him.

Meanwhile, Mary has been buying Super Potions to be ready to face wild Pokemon again. Arti goes to the counter to buy Super Potions and also some Great Balls to be ready for future battles as well.

The duo heads out of the Pokemon Center and notices that it’s barely noon. Instead of heading to Nacrene City right away, they decide to take some time to see what they can do while in Castelia City.

“So, um, do you want to go on the Royal Unova with me?” Arti asks, much calmer now, but now a little bit excited.

“Yes! I would love to go on the cruise ship with you.” Mary answers, also a little bit excited.

“Great then! I hear that they let you choose to battle inside it as well, this could be great training for both of our Ralts.” Arti adds, “So, to pass some time, we should go around to see what we can do for fun until then.”

“I remember passing by an art gallery that has a painter from another region who is willing to paint a picture of one of your Pokemon.” Mary suggests, “Could be great for Kyurem to be seen by the public without fear.”

“Good idea!” Arti accepts, then adds to the suggestion, “Maybe you can have Golurk be part of a painting as well. Could be beneficial to remind people that Golurk are protectors, not destroyers.”

“Yes, let’s go there right now!” Mary gets too excited to contain herself.

Arti grabs her hand before she has a chance to grab his hand and immediately head to Studio Castelia on Mode Street.

“Just so we don’t get lost amongst the crowd, I will hold your hand.” Arti tells Mary.

“O...okay” Mary responds a little bit shyly, with her face taking on a slight red hue.

The duo heads left and then turns to the right into Mode Street: the second street from the right, noticing an ice cream stand on the left, which sells ice cream, eponymously called Castelia Cone. The Studio Castelia is located to the right, where the said art gallery has painters usually coming from other regions to practice their painting while they look at real Pokemon.

“The line to get a Castelia Cone looks long.” Arti notices the line of people waiting at the stand. “We can grab one later, I think our Ralts would love to get one of those.”

“Plus we can watch the painting being made in person, which is exciting!” Mary adds.

The duo heads into the studio, a man wearing a paint-splattered apron greets them, speaking in a Galarian accent. The Castelia Studio has paintings hung on walls with their names on golden plaques below them. The art gallery itself is huge, capable of fitting three big Pokemon.

“Welcome, to the Castelia Studio, take a look around or I could make a spectacular painting of one of your Pokemon.” he speaks like a gentleman.

“Yes, I would like you to do a painting of one of my Pokemon.” Arti replied calmly.

“Splendid!” the painter responds, a little bit excited. “Which Pokemon shall I paint?”

“This is a mysterious Pokemon, only known by few.” Arti begins, “The Pokemon I ask you to paint today is Kyurem.”

Arti grabs the Poke Ball containing Kyurem and opens it, the Boundary Pokemon now stands beside him, the other visitors notice Kyurem with gasps filling the room.

“Oh my!” Kyurem’s appearance surprised the painter. “A Pokemon who looks fiercer than Steelix! It will be an honor to paint such a Pokemon.”

“Arti, what do you ask of me?” Kyurem asks, a little confused.

“I just need you to pose while the painter makes a painting of you.” Arti answers.

“Ahh, yes, I remember the painters 3000 years ago, I thought I would never see the day that I would be embodied in a painting again.” the Boundary Pokemon remembers the day when the king of Unova had an appearance in a painting with it when it was once whole.

Kyurem gets behind the painting and poses like it’s in a battle while the painter grabs his paintbrush and cups filled with paint except for one filled with water and starts painting the Boundary Pokemon.

“So, how long do you think this is going to take?” Mary whispers a question to Arti.

“I’d say 3 hours minimum, but could be longer.” Arti whispers back.

After an hour has passed, the painting had some of Kyurem’s basic features. Unlike what Arti predicted, the painting took around 4 hours and 30 minutes. Once that time came, the painting looked as if Kyurem was launching icicles at a threat not captured in the painting.

“Voila!” the painter proudly proclaimed, “ ‘The Frostbitten Battle’ is what I have named this masterpiece!”

“Excellent job!” Arti compliments the painter on the hard work.

“Thank you, I enjoyed the challenge to embody a Pokemon with asymmetrical features.” the painter takes the compliment.

Arti returns Kyurem to its Poke Ball.

“Can you make a painting of Golurk? I brought mine.” Mary asks the painter.

“I most certainly can.” the painter replies, “This will not take as long as the previous painting.” he predicts.

Mary sends out her Golurk, the room fills with gasps once more.

“Golurrr?” the Automaton Pokemon gets confused at the surroundings.

“Hey Mary, can you send out your Ralts too?” Arti asks as he sends out his own Ralts.

“Sure, where are you taking them?” Mary asks as she sends out her Ralts.

“I’m going to buy them some Castelia Cones across the street. Do you want one?” Arti responds then asks.

“No thank you, but have fun!” Mary accepts Arti’s request while declining the offer.

Arti heads out of Studio Castelia with both Ralts following him, heading to the ice cream stand across the entrance.

“Raallts!” both Ralts cheer.

Despite the line being longer than before, it’s moving quickly Even though Arti was at the back, he had the patience to wait until he can give Castelia Cones to the Ralts. His turn to buy the ice creams came surprisingly quicker than expected, the line still took long.

“Two Castelia Cones please.” Arti requested the man across him as he paid Poke Dollars to him.

“Here you go!” the man answers, giving Arti the Castelia Cones.

After leaving the line, Arti hands the Castelia Cones to the Ralts. The Ralts happily lick the ice creams.

Arti notices that the sun is almost touching the big blue horizon. He and the Ralts decide to go back to Studio Castelia to check on Mary. After heading in, Arti notices the painting being almost finished, with only a few brush strokes left to be made.

“How did it go?” Mary whispers a question to Arti.

“The line took long, but since we will reach Nacrene City tomorrow, I didn’t mind waiting.” Arti whispers back, still making sure the Ralts stay close to him and Mary.

“So what will happen to us once we get there?” Mary asks.

“I don’t know, but I’m hoping that we can keep journeying together.” Arti answers.

As they whispered to each other, the finishing touches were finally put into the painting.

“Voila! This masterpiece shall be named ‘The Protector’, a fitting name for a painting depicting Golurk. Wouldn’t you say?” the painter ends his excitement with a question.

“Definitely!” Mary agrees as she retracts Golurk back into its Poke Ball.

“Both paintings done today have the chance to be showcased tonight. It would be splendid if both of them could be showcased at once.”

“Thank you for having our Pokemon appear in paintings!” Mary says to the painter.

The duo and their Ralts leave Studio Castelia, noticing the sky having a yellow-orange hue as well as half of the sun being submerged into the horizon.

“I think we can ride the Royal Unova now.” Mary says.

“I think Ralts can finish their Castelia Cones inside the Poke Balls, so yes let’s ride the cruise ship!” Arti replies.

The duo returns their Ralts inside of their Poke Balls and starts heading toward the harbor, getting past the crowds moving both ways. The Ralts didn’t notice being sent into the Poke Balls as they had all of their attention on the Castelia Cones. Upon getting to the harbor, a woman wearing a uniform stands near the bridge connecting the harbor to the ship.

“Good evening!” the woman greets the duo as they approach her.

“Hello!” Mary returns the greeting as she gets her Poke Dollars ready to give to the woman.

“So you two will go together here?” the woman asks as she takes the Poke Dollars, enough to cover a trip for two people.

“Yes ma’am!” Arti answers.
“Okay, enjoy the ride!” she ends the conversation with a smile.

The duo head inside Royal Unova, noticing a crowd inside of it. The door behind them closes as the ship sounds its horn.

“So, what should we do first?” Mary asks.

“Well, from what I heard on TV, they allow you to have Pokemon battles inside.” Arti explains.

“I want to see the view of the ocean!” Mary decides what she wants to do.

“Maybe we can do a mix, we can battle a few trainers first, and then we can look at the view together.” Arti offers.

“Yes, let’s do that.” Mary accepts.

The duo splits up to find trainers who are looking for a battle. A few battles occur for both Arti and Mary, both using their Ralts. Mary’s Ralts is seen battling against a younger girl’s Hoennian Linoone.

“Okay Ralts, use Psychic!” Mary commands.

“Ralltss!” the Feeling Pokemon agrees and launches a mind wave at the Linoone.

“Linoooo!” the Rushing Pokemon yells out as it stops its Tackle on its tracks before collapsing to the ground, its brown and cream fur brushing the wooden floor and its sky blue eyes half-open before being retracted into a Poke Ball from the girl.

“We did it!” Mary celebrates.

However, Ralts didn’t initially celebrate, instead, it felt something inside, the feeling of growing.

“Ralts alts?” the Feeling Pokemon tugged at Mary’s dress, trying to get her attention.

“What’s wrong?” Mary asks.

This is when Ralts began glowing brightly, but not from being retracted into a Poke Ball. It’s silhouette grew taller and started changing its shape. Mary shields her eyes from the blinding light, with the people and Pokemon around her doing the same. Arti arrives just on time to see this happen.

After the light dissipated, Ralts was no longer at that spot, but instead, a Kirlia stood there.

“Kirlia!” the Emotion Pokemon excitedly yells as it looks at its reflection on the shiny wooden floor, now seeing itself as Kirlia rather than as Ralts.

Mary’s heart was beating like a drum solo, she was so excited to see her Pokemon evolve.

“Kirlia, you have evolved!” Mary can’t keep her excitement.

“Congratulations!” Arti says as he arrives with his own Ralts beside him, happy for Mary to have Pokemon who has evolved.

Meanwhile, Ralts looks at its most known partner who had changed not only in name but also in appearance.

“Ralts?” the Feeling Pokemon asks in confusion.

“Kir kirlia lia!” the Emotion Pokemon tries to clarify what happened.

“Well, I think this is enough battling for now.” Mary decides.

“Couldn’t agree more, Ralts needs to rest its limbs from using Mega Punch and Mega Kick in every battle.” Arti replies.

The duo heads to the bow of the ship to see the orange-tinted sky slowly fading into navy blue, retracting Ralts and Kirlia into their respective Poke Balls before heading there.

“This is beautiful!” Mary gasps at the scenery in front of her and Arti.

“I’m happy to have experienced this moment, my parents wouldn’t let me do it for the sheer fact of staying out when it gets dark.” Arti confesses his woe.

“What happened between you and them?” Mary asks.

“Well, it’s that every little thing that goes wrong back at Lacunosa Town, they blamed me for it. They act like it’s the end or something. Even when I arrive home at night like 1 minute late, they freak out. Not only that, they don’t take my side on anything, even when I hadn’t done wrong or haven't started anything. If it wasn’t for Kyurem choosing me back there, I wouldn’t have this chance to experience the great things on our journey together.” Arti explains.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that.” Mary turns to Arti and offers a hug.

“Honestly, I just wouldn’t wish this kind of life on anyone else, not even if they are the evilest person to walk the ground. No one deserves to go through what I have gone through with my parents.” Arti turns toward Mary, opening his arms to accept the hug.

The duo hug one another, this simultaneously makes them feel better and gives them the courage to do something they hadn’t had the courage to do before.

“You know, ever since we met, I always wanted to tell you something.” Mary says.

“At first, I didn’t know what it is that you wanted to tell me, but after Kyurem and Golurk figured it out, I discovered what I was really looking for is a person who is on my side.” Arti replies, then says. “Mary, it takes a lot of courage for me to confess this...”

“It also took me a lot of courage too.” Mary replies.

“I’m going to confess that… I love you!” Arti sums up the courage to say.

“I love you too!” Mary sums up her own courage.

After distancing from one another a little bit. Arti and Mary suddenly stare at one another silently, their lips inching closer to each other, while Mary has her hands on both of Arti’s shoulders while Arti has both of his hands on Mary’s waist. The only thing between them is the sun sinking lower into the horizon.

As the Royal Unova starts to return to its harbor, Arti’s lips finally connect with Mary’s lips as the duo, now a couple, kiss for the first time.

 

[System Error]

- Very strange metaphor. Makes it seem like the sun is afraid.
- This dude, casually talking about capturing legendaries in Poke Balls.
- You know I realize Quake Industries Inc. really was an Inc. company.
- I like how you kind of get generic grunts sort of right in that dialogue. Comes across as a bit goofy, when they're supposed to be.
- Haxing super Krookodile? Well, no match for the lego mania.
- Just spam potions. It's the best way to win!
- Heh, well Arti wastes no time moving in. Just up and asking if she wants to go on an effective date right out of the blue.
- Out hand-grabbed! :x
- That line right after has really awkward wording. Sort of okay though because Arti is a very awkward person. Who's making up a strange excuse.
- Like the little bit with talking about paintings from ages ago.
- "I think it'll take three hours." FOUR AND A HALF HOURS LATER...
- The guy just straight-up accepts Mary too? Isn't there like a line or others who are interested in it?
- There's something amusing to me about the line for a simple ice cream cone taking almost as long as a painting
- Hoennian is such an awkward term...
- both of his hands on Mary’s waste <- Eeesh. This nasty typo took me way out of this scene.
- But hey! Together now! Hopefully with no touching each other's waste. I uh, wasn't expecting it to happen so fast.

Interested in seeing where this goes from here. Nice to see romance as a stop along the way rather than the end goal, but writing a couple is a whole different ball game. Mostly a fluffy chapter that...sort of jumped to that at the very end. Eh. Well, as always, looking forward to what's next.

 

[Poke Dragon]

- Very strange metaphor. Makes it seem like the sun is afraid.
- This dude, casually talking about capturing legendaries in Poke Balls.
- You know I realize Quake Industries Inc. really was an Inc. company.
- I like how you kind of get generic grunts sort of right in that dialogue. Comes across as a bit goofy, when they're supposed to be.
- Haxing super Krookodile? Well, no match for the lego mania.
- Just spam potions. It's the best way to win!
- Heh, well Arti wastes no time moving in. Just up and asking if she wants to go on an effective date right out of the blue.
- Out hand-grabbed! :x
- That line right after has really awkward wording. Sort of okay though because Arti is a very awkward person. Who's making up a strange excuse.
- Like the little bit with talking about paintings from ages ago.
- "I think it'll take three hours." FOUR AND A HALF HOURS LATER...
- The guy just straight-up accepts Mary too? Isn't there like a line or others who are interested in it?
- There's something amusing to me about the line for a simple ice cream cone taking almost as long as a painting
- Hoennian is such an awkward term...
- both of his hands on Mary’s waste <- Eeesh. This nasty typo took me way out of this scene.
- But hey! Together now! Hopefully with no touching each other's waste. I uh, wasn't expecting it to happen so fast.

Interested in seeing where this goes from here. Nice to see romance as a stop along the way rather than the end goal, but writing a couple is a whole different ball game. Mostly a fluffy chapter that...sort of jumped to that at the very end. Eh. Well, as always, looking forward to what's next.

Nice catch on the typo, I fixed the typo.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 12: The City of Warehouses​

The Royal Unova docks as the sky now possess a moon rather than a sun, many windows in Castelia City shine, adding to the moonlight gently caressing the land and water below. Arti and Mary step off the ship and onto the stone brick harbor once more.

“That was fun, I hope we get more moments like this.” Mary admits, looking at the moon.

“Even though this journey does bring pressure on me with this hero stuff, having fun with this takes part of the pressure off.” Arti confesses, then gets an idea, “Hey, how about we try to go to Nacrene City now?”

“Right now?” Mary asks, confused at Arti’s idea.

“I think so. Sure Pinwheel Forest may be creepy at this time. But we have each other and powerful Pokemon at our side. Besides, I think it could be fun to camp out in a forest for once.” Arti explains.

“Now that I think about it, camping in the forest does sound fun, even though it’s creepy at night.” Mary cautiously agrees to the idea, then adds “But only as long as we keep all of our Pokemon outside of their Poke Balls.”

“We can do that for sure!” Arti accepts the request. “Whatever happens, I’ll do my best to protect you from wild Pokemon.”

“Aw, thank you.” Mary replies with a slightly warm feeling.

Arti and Mary head back to the city and then turn to their right, entering a transition gate and coming out of it through the opposite entryway. They find themselves on Skyarrow Bridge, which provides great views of its own.

Skyarrow Bridge has railings on its sides, metal spires connect the bridge all the way through, with a few arches along the way, pillars partly submerged in the water below the road under the bridge connect to the various arches of the bridge.

The couple starts making their way across the long, metal bridge. They talk about various topics to help keep their attention off the distance they have to walk.

“So, I haven’t heard the reason why you have a crush on me. Now that we are a couple, you can tell me.” Arti brings up the topic from that earlier day.

“Well…” Mary begins, “It’s that when I saw you for the first time, I felt my heart beating faster than normal. This only normally happens when I discover a secret hidden by the ancients. I’m not saying it was because you have the shell of the Original Dragon by your side. It’s hard to explain really, but maybe because I felt something special about you.” she tries to explain it but then adds. “Ever since I was a little girl, I was told that there was a specific person with whom I can share stories with. Just like discovering ancient ruins, that person can only be discovered if you are willing to explore outside of your familiar area.”

“When I was a little boy, I actually didn’t think I would even have the chance to explore outside of Lacunosa Town aside from maybe the Giant Chasm. I was told that I always went there on my own, but I just don’t remember those times that everyone keeps reminding me of.” Arti tries to recall something that people talked about, but he cannot remember. “I do remember the last time I did explore the Giant Chasm, I have met Kyurem. I’m not sure whether I have seen Kyurem before or not. But either way, I’m glad I went on this journey since I have met you.”

Arti and Mary finally reach the other side of the bridge, heading into the transition gate. They head down the stairs inside and out through the exit, finally turning to their left into a gap where trees stand on both sides.

The two find themselves in Pinwheel Forest, Arti grabs his flashlight and turns it on, shining a spotlight to stay on the road. Both he and Mary send out all of their Pokemon, their spot is temporarily illuminated by the Poke Balls releasing the Pokemon. Aside from Arti’s flashlight, the only other permanent light comes from Kyurem’s eyes and Golurk’s markings.

Ralts stays very close to Kirlia as both Pokemon follow Arti and Mary.

“What are you doing going into a forest at night? I’m glad you are taking a risk, but I’m curious at the reason.” the Boundary Pokemon asks.

“Well, I thought why not try to get the clue to one of the stones before another tremor happens?” Arti replies with another question.

“Goluur.” the Automaton Pokemon interjects, a little concerned.

“I know there are dangerous nocturnal Pokemon in this forest. I’m just trying to instill courage in a scary situation.” Kyurem replies to Golurk’s statement, a tiny bit annoyed.

“Don’t argue please, we just need to get through this forest.” Mary tries to calm down both Pokemon.

“Raaallls…” Ralts shivers from fear as it clings onto Kirlia for a sense of protection.

“Kirlia lia” the Emotion Pokemon tries to comfort the Feeling Pokemon.

The group of six make their way through the forest, following the path. They start hearing the tree branches rustle their leaves a little bit more aggressively. The light that’s shining on the path starts from Arti's flashlight starts shaking.

“M-maybe t-this isn’t a good idea.” Arti suddenly says.

“You cannot tell me that you are scared of things in the dark.” Kyurem tells Arti, looking at him with its glowing yellow eyes.

“Well, it’s just, what if we fall into a hole in the dark?” Arti asks.

“You have encountered worse things than just a hole that you can avoid.” Kyurem replies, then adds, “Besides, you are holding a source of light, so getting to Necrene City will not be as dangerous as you think it will be.

“You’re right.” Arti gathers some courage and keeps pressing forward.

Mary was just quiet from the fear of the night in the forest.

As the group keeps pressing on, they come across two stone bridges side by side, crossing the bridge on the right.

“Crow!!” a sound comes through the forest suddenly after the group crosses the bridge.

“Eeek!” Mary jumped at that sound, clinging to Arti’s arm for protection.

At that second, a Murkrow attacks the group. Ralts decide that it doesn’t want to be scared anymore so it lets go of Kirlia and charges toward Murkrow, throwing Mega Punch on the Darkness Pokemon.

“Muurrkroow!” Murkrow yells from the sudden attack and decides to retreat after seeing the other Pokemon accompanying the group.

“Well, that was fast.” Arti says, “Let’s keep going, shall we?”

“Golluur” Golurk tells the group.

They eventually come across a sharp turn to the left on the path, following this turn, they come across another gap in the group of trees.

“We are almost there!” Mary says as she notices more sources of light, still holding onto Arti’s arm.

“Aside from that Murkrow, this went surprisingly smooth.” Arti states, “I can’t believe I was actually scared.”

The group keeps going, now out of Pinwheel Forest itself and they gratefully find themselves in Nacrene City.

Every building in Nacrene City is a warehouse that was repurposed into a house or in one case, a cafe. The only buildings in the city which are not warehouses are the Pokemon Center and the Nacrene Museum. Brown tiles make up the ground around all warehouses except the cafe, the Pokemon Center sits right in the middle of the tiled ground. The concrete path leads right to the museum, which has stone bricks outlining its part of the sidewalk. The ground made of lighter gray stone bricks surrounds the cafe, with a porch area to the side of the cafe itself. South of some of the warehouses and Pokemon Center is an old, rusty train track, now unusable due to being worn down by time.

“I think we should camp out for the night.” Mary suggests.

“I agree, we need to rest after a long night stroll.” Arti agrees.

Arti and Mary take out their sleeping bags and tuck themselves inside said sleeping bags.

“Luurrk!” Golurk exclaims.

“You can’t be their bodyguard the whole night, if you insist on being their bodyguard for some of the night, then I’ll take first watch.” Kyurem convinces the Automaton Pokemon.

The two Pokemon took turns watching the surroundings in order to make sure the rest of the group is safe. By sunrise, the two have dozed off to sleep.

The sunlight touches Arti’s face, prompting him to wake up and yawn.

“Good morning everyone!” Arti gets up and announces to the group, excited to get the day started.

“Good morning!” Mary replies while getting up, also excited to get the day started.

The rest of the group gets up, curious about what to do for the day, except for Kyurem, who actually knows what should be done.

“It is time for you to head to the museum.” the Boundary Pokemon orders.

“Goluurr!” Golurk seems to agree.

Arti and Mary retract their Pokemon back inside the Poke Balls and head to the Nacrene Museum.

“We are finally going to do this.” Mary tells Arti.

“It took at least one week for us to get here, but we can finally find out what we need to do next.” Arti replies.

They now stand in front of the museum itself after turning to their left. They head inside to be greeted by the sight of a Dragonite skeleton in the middle. In the back and to the right, there are ancient tablets inside a case, glass separates them from the surrounding. Still at the back but to the left, there is a case that looks to be containing the Dark Stone. Up the stairs in the middle of the two cases lead into a library. More at the front, are some ancient clay figures on the left, one of them resembling a Baltoy. On the right is a meteorite, which somehow still radiates some kind of energy that’s usable by Deoxys.

Arti takes notice of the case containing the Dark Stone.

“I-is that the Dark Stone?!” Arti gets a little excited.

“It is, but also isn’t at the same time” Mary answers, “More specifically, that one is a replica of the real one.”

“Aw man. Oh well.” Arti shrugs off the disappointment.

“Let’s head into the library, I’m really excited to tell Lenora what I have discovered!” Mary redirects the attention to the library.

They head past the Dragonite skeleton and up the stairs, there are some seats by the door of the library. Upon heading inside, Arti is taken by surprise at how thousands of books are housed on the shelves lining the wall alone, with more on the four middle shelves.

“Wow, I have never seen a place like this!” Arti admits, amazed at the bookshelves that are chocked full of texts. “I wonder if there are more clues about how to return Kyurem to its original form.” he thinks to himself.

A woman wearing an archeologist outfit comes out of a secret stairwell under one of the middle shelves.

“Hello Mary, good to see you again!” the woman greets Mary.

“Hey Lenora! I came back with some huge discoveries!” Mary gets excited.

“Oh? Who is this boy that you brought with you?” Lenora asks.

“His name is Arti, he actually has a legendary Pokemon with him.” Mary responds.

“Hello Lenora, it’s great to meet a former Gym Leader in person.” Arti greets Lenora.

“It’’s nice to meet you Arti.” Lenora greets Arti back, then says “I would like to speak with you two privately since Mary said that you have a legendary Pokemon. I also want to hear what discoveries were made.”

Lenora leads Arti and Mary into the stairwell under the bookshelf, another library with fewer bookshelves is revealed under the museum. There is a desk at the back and two display cases further away. The desk itself has books and notes on top. A click is heard from the way to the secret place.

“Well, Mary, can you tell me about the new discoveries?” Lenora requests as she takes a notebook and a pencil from her desk.

“I have more of the ancient text from the Abyssal Ruins and the Relic Castle deciphered, after comparing both, they seem to be similar.” Mary starts explaining, “There is also the fact that Dragonspiral Tower actually used to be the home of the Original Dragon. Going back to the Abyssal Ruins, I saw some kind of steam bubbling at the very bottom, but unfortunately, the torrent forces me out of the ruins every time I get closer.”

“Well, you are still making progress on that, anything else?” Lenora asks.

“Arti can provide something for me to reveal the rest of the discoveries I have made so far.” Mary winks at Arti.

“Oh yeah, for sure!” Arti knows what Mary has been referring to, “We will need some more space for me to show you.”

After Lenora takes many steps away, Arti takes out one of the Poke Balls from his pockets and opens it, after a bright flash of light, Kyurem stands in that space.

“This is the legendary Pokemon?!” Lenora is surprised by Kyurem’s presence.

“I met Kyurem before my journey even had a chance to begin, but thanks to this Pokemon, I get to travel around Unova, it insisted on coming with me.” Arti tells his story. “Well, that’s an altered version of the story, what really happened was that it chose me back at Lacunosa Town when they had the centennial tradition in which a Dragon-type Pokemon choose their trainers, after which a tournament took place deciding which team of Pokemon and trainer gets to leave a week before the others.”, he finishes explaining.

“Well, that is quite a discovery!” Lenora responds.

“That’s not even the whole story, I concluded that Kyurem is the body of the Original Dragon, the similarity in names, how the concept of heat works. All of that just clicked in my mind for me to come to this conclusion.” Mary explained the rest.

“Is this conclusion true?” Lenora asks.

“It is true.” the Boundary Pokemon finally speaks, surprising Lenora.

“Did this Pokemon just talk?!” Lenora questions about what just happened.

“Yes, I can speak to humans. Now, to tell you the whole truth, Reshiram and Zekrom were once part of me, I had their powers and many of their features, we used to share this body.” Kyurem begins explaining, “When I ‘split’ as you humans say, I merely gave my powers to the brothers, and when I did, those powers manifested into Reshiram and Zekrom. I did this to prevent a war between the brothers, leaving me with nothing as a consequence. Looking back on it now, I regretted this decision since it caused more destruction than I thought, at least Reshiram and Zekrom were thankfully sealed in stones.”

“I didn’t think that so much would be uncovered today.” Lenora is happy with the findings.

“So, about the stones…” Arti begins, “Do you have the Dark Stone here?”

“I actually have the real Dark Stone, why do you ask? I hope you’re not looking to rule Unova!” Lenora begins to be protective.

“I’m not, I just want to prevent the potential destruction that might happen in the coming weeks. There is a group of people who plan to cause tremors in Unova, they work for a company called Tectonic Inc., and they have crazy powerful Pokemon!” Arti explains, “Kyurem wants to be restored and I think that it can help us stop those people from destroying Unova.”

“I have seen the destruction those people can cause, it was all over the news.” Lenora responds, “Okay, tell you what, I will give you the Dark Stone if you retrieve a special type of glass in the Desert Resort, that glass was formed by a bolt of cyan-colored lightning after we dug up the Dark Stone. If you bring me that glass unbroken, the Dark Stone will be yours.”

“Do we have to make a trek all the way back?” Arti asks, feeling like a lot of time was wasted.

“You can go with an archeological team I’m sending, their Pokemon should carry you there relatively quickly.” Lenora offers.

“Thank you.” Arti accepts.

“When do we go to the Desert Resort?” Mary asks.

“We leave in an hour, so take these goggles since a sandstorm is still raging.” Lenora gives two goggles to the duo, “These goggles are especially made to prevent grains of sand from getting into your eyes.”

“I can provide some protection to your team.” Kyurem suggests.

“You can go with them, just make sure to stay hidden within the sandstorm.” Lenora accepts with some changes.

Arti retracts Kyurem into its Poke Ball as he, Mary, and Lenora head upstairs.

Once outside of the secret room, Arti and Mary decide to head outside of the museum, but not before Mary asks Lenora where they will have to be for them to go with the archeological team.

“So, where should we be for them to pick us up?” Mary tries to make sure she and Arti don’t come late.

“In front of the museum, I hope you can make it on time.” Lenora gives the answer.

“Thank you!” Mary waves as she and Arti leave the museum and head toward the cafe.

Inside the cafe, they sit across each other to discuss what to do after obtaining the Dark Stone.

“So, I have been thinking. After getting the Dark Stone, we could go to Icirrus City to see Dragonspiral Tower.” Mary suggests, “Could be a fun place to visit, and not only that, but I discovered that’s where the stones typically activate.”

“I’m definitely on board, and to get there, we can actually go through the west side of Unova to see even more sights!” Arti suggests as he looks at his map, “You can uncover even more hidden truths about Unova left by ancient people.”

The conversation lasted 50 minutes after the initial plans, with only 10 minutes left to go to the Desert Resort. The duo gets up from their seats and heads back to the museum to wait. Upon leaving the cafe, they notice more archeologists waiting outside of the museum so some Flying-type Pokemon take them to the Desert Resort. After catching up with them, Arti and Mary wait for the remaining time as some Braviary wearing specialty-made goggles on their eyes arrive, with more following.

“So, how are we going to bring back that special glass without it breaking?” Arti asks, worried about the dangers of carrying something fragile, especially when high up in the air.

“From what I remember, they usually have something to carry bigger objects back without the danger of falling.” Mary draws from her memory of the last time she went on an archeological expedition with Lenora’s team.

Once all of the Braviary arrived, the Valiant Pokemon sat on the ground, waiting for people to ride them. All of the team sat on each one while Arti and Mary sat on the remaining two. Once all of the Braviary had a person riding them, they started flying toward the Desert Resort. After some time has passed, they are close to the sand-filled air of Route 4.

“Whoa!” Arti reacts to the sudden height, “Was this a common occurrence with you?” he asks.

“Pretty much, only that Golurk carries me instead.” Mary responds, looking toward the sandstorm that everyone is about to enter.

Everyone dons their goggles right before finding themselves above Route 4. Before long, they arrive to the sandy ‘Resort’ where the Braviary decided to land. Everyone got off of the Valiant Pokemon and went over to the archeological supplies that are ready to be used. Arti and Mary followed the team so they wouldn’t get lost.

“Alright, let’s find that lightning glass!” Arti gets excited, deciding to send Kyurem out so the team can be protected.

“This is the place to look?” the Boundary Pokemon asks, a little confused.

“This is the place where I think we will find what we are looking for.” Arti answers, then adds “Just make sure to protect the archeological team from any wild Pokemon.”

“That is very possible.” Kyurem replies while making icy lenses covering the entirety of its eyes by freezing the air close to the said eyes, hiding in the sandstorm afterward.

While the team is digging in a designated spot deeper in the sand, Arti and Mary decided to look for the glass while pushing a long sled. While looking toward another patch of deeper sand, they notice something that looks like a poorly-made ice sculpture, very rigid, rough, and even sharp at the top, not even a discernable shape. Before the duo could approach, they notice the sand around it move, then a lump in the sand appears.

“There is something in the sand!” Arti exclaims as he takes out the Poke Ball containing Ralts and releases the Feeling Pokemon.

Eventually, a long jaw with a single black stripe burrows its way out, along with two eyes peeking out of the sand followed by the rest of the body, which also have black stripes. Suddenly, this Pokemon reveals itself when it lunges toward Mary with its jaws wide open.

“Watch out for that Sandile!” Arti yells to Mary.

“Aah!!” Mary jumps out of the way and falls into the sand, but the Desert Croc Pokemon turns around to attempt a second bite.

“Ralts, use Mega Kick!” Arti commands the Feeling Pokemon.

Ralts launches itself toward Sandile feet first, striking it between the eyes, throwing the Desert Croc Pokemon off its balance.

“Kroook!” Sandile yells in frustration, now lunging toward Ralts.

Ralts keeps jumping away from every bite, then using Mega Punch without Arti’s command, this Mega Punch strikes Sandile’s back with full force, weakening the Desert Croc Pokemon.

“Great job Ralts!” Arti praises the Feeling Pokemon.

“Raallts!” Ralts accepts the praise but keeps its attention toward Sandile.

The Desert Croc Pokemon used Dig, burrowing into the sand, a few seconds later it burrowed out right from underneath the Feeling Pokemon.

“Raalllts!” Ralts was launched straight at a rocky wall.

“Don’t worry Ralts, you can do this!” Arti gives encouragement to the Feeling Pokemon, “Now use Mega Punch again!”

“Ralts alts!” Ralts become angry at Sandile, using Mega Punch right on its head.

“Diiile!” the Desert Croc Pokemon cries out, weakened from the battle.

It’s at this moment that Arti throws a Poke Ball at Sandile, encapsulating the Desert Croc Pokemon.

“Come on, please stay.” Arti utters under his breath, nervously looking at the shaking Poke Ball.

Sandile breaks out of the Poke Ball, despite being weakened, it starts lunging toward Ralts again.

“Oh no!” Arti panics, throwing another Poke Ball at the Desert Croc Pokemon before it could close its jaws on the Feeling Pokemon.

Nervously, Arti watches the Poke Ball shake again, which it now stops doing. Relieved, he picks up the Poke Ball that now contains Sandile.

“That was close!” Mary says as she gets up and dusts off the sand clinging to her dress, then praises Ralts, “Good job, Ralts.”

Before Arti could retract the Feeling Pokemon back into its Poke Ball, it starts glowing brightly.

“Whoa, what is happening to you, Ralts?” Arti asks Ralts, surprised at it glowing.

With no response, Ralts become taller, and its shape changes. When the light dissipated, Ralts was no longer in that spot, but rather a Kirlia now stands.

“You have evolved!” Arti exclaims, excited by the evolution.

“Kirlia!” Kirlia speaks its changed cry for the first time to Arti.

“I think you should rest for now, that was a scary battle after all.” Arti says to the Emotion Pokemon before retracting it inside of its Poke Ball.

“Thanks to both of you for saving my life.” Mary thanks Arti and Kirlia before the Pokemon itself was fully retracted inside.

“See? I managed to protect you.” Arti replies, keeping the promise he made last night, “So let's say we get this lightning glass back to the archeological team?”

“I would like that very much.” Mary responds.

The duo picked up the glassy crystal and placed it on the sled, despite it being a huge structure, it was lighter than they thought. Meanwhile, Kyurem was watching over the archeological team to protect them from any wild Pokemon. The Boundary Pokemon notice the silhouettes of Arti and Mary from within the grainy wind pushing something with them. Upon getting closer Arti and Mary left the sled with the glass structure near the pick-up truck for it to be loaded after the archeological team is done.

“How did you push such a large object?” Kyurem asks the duo.

“It turns out that most of it was hollow.” Arti answers, glad that the object brought wasn’t damaged in battle. “By the way, I caught a Pokemon who tried to bite Mary, so there’s that as well.”

“It was scary, but Arti and Kirlia saved my life.” Mary adds.

“Sounds like it was eventful, but for me, things were, what the humans of today say ‘boring’. The wild Pokemon around here are possibly scared of my presence.” the Boundary Pokemon claims. “I knew I have felt the energy of evolution in the air, congratulations on Ralts evolving.”

After talking for the rest of the archeology session, the team has finished their work, uncovering clay pots and miniature statues buried within the sand. They now packed up and carried the lightning glass, along with other findings, into a container that can only be carried by trucks, padding papers can be seen inside the container. The leader of the team contacted Lenora, during which Kyurem is retracted back into its Poke Ball.

“Lenora, that glass that you requested is going to be carried back to the museum.” he says into his phone. “No, it’s not broken, these two teenagers brought it to us carefully.” he answers Lenora’s question, then agrees to her request “Okay, they will be sent back to you shortly.”

“So, what did Lenora say?” Arti asks the man.

“She has something to give to you.” he responds then whistles at two Braviary to pick up Arti and Mary.

Back at the museum, the duo looks for Lenora.

“Hello again.” Lenora greets them again.

“Hello!” Arti returns the greeting.

“Hi” Mary does the same.

“You have proven to be responsible as I hoped you would.” Lenora begins, then adds “Please follow me.”

The duo listens to Lenora’s request, following her back to the secret library. When they arrive, Arti feels strange energy, hearing Zekrom’s voice in his mind saying ‘Speak with Kyurem, only then will you take on the Trials of Ideals’. Lenora opens a safe under her desk, before she could even touch the Dark Stone, it rolls out of the safe and toward Arti.

“I’m surprised Zekrom decided to give you a chance to be a new Hero of Ideals!” Lenora exclaims, “To have the trust of one legendary Pokemon is an amazing feat, but having the trust of two legendary Pokemon who used to be one is another level on its own.”

Arti picks up the Dark Stone that is now at his feet.

“I will definitely do my best to meet Zekrom’s expectations!” Arti proclaims as he puts the Dark Stone inside his backpack.

“This just opened up more potential discoveries.” Lenora tells Mary, “Please keep going with him.”

“I will definitely do that.” Mary responds.

The duo leaves the museum as they wave to Lenora. Arti and Mary return to the cafe to take a good look at Arti’s map before their long journey to Icirrus City begins.

 

[System Error]

- I will never take the phrase gently caress seriously because of SomethingAwful using it as a replacement for the f-word for non-registered users
- Suddenly Arti is chivalrous. Maybe chauvinist too. But Mary doesn't seem to mind.
- Awkwardly asking why she likes him. Maybe in the bad poorly-written way, though.
- So to her it was a fated meeting? Interesting twist. Also maybe gives some implications about certain things.
- From the chapter name though I thought they were heading to cowboy guy's town I can't remember the name of, since it had a huge warehouse. Was that a canon thing that town was made from warehouses? I'm presuming so.
- Did that Murkrow like not look and see this was a bad idea?
- Why are they camping outside instead of finding lodging, anyway? They're right in town. There was absolutely no need to camp outside.
- And why can't the automaton watch all night? Kyurem doesn't mind being blatantly conspicuous there, either? I'd like to think it scared some people off, and I'm very surprised the police or even Tectonic Inc. hasn't taken the chance to notice and swoop in.
- You know, it occurred to me to remember this on seeing Leonora's brief description. I don't remember seeing a description at all for Arti or Mary. Bring this up because I named two filler characters similarly as a light shoutout in my present fic (which has multiple allusions to other fics), but had to make up my own designs for them because of that.
- So in telling Leonora what happened, why did Arti not tell the real version of events to begin with?
- Hey, a fest quest in fic, I guess.
- Well, you only needed goggles to get through sandstorms in Gen 3. And much more importantly and logically, the real problem is having proper facial protection to avoid breathing in massive amounts of sand.
- Neat thing with the Braviary transports, given that it's lore that they aren't used in Galar.
- Man it seems Mary has become a lot weaker all of a sudden.
- I wasn't expecting a capture here. Also shoutouts to just throwing balls. Just like in the games!
- Did uh, Mary just lie there on the ground without even trying to get up the whole time? Since as written that's how it sounds like.
- Well Arti did get to be chivalrous after all. Pft.
- I'm surprised Mary didn't have a response related to being Arti's girlfriend and that she'd keep going with him even if she wasn't asked

Another adventure. The pacing here felt way too quick, that said, even by your standards. I felt you could've done this one over the course of two chapters instead of one. You jump from one scene to another with like not even a scene separator in-between. Was a bit disappointed there was no real relationship building in here besides the protection thing, and mostly bleh towards that for the reason that Mary suddenly needed to be protected.

Anyway, still am following along and enjoying this fic. Even in spite of its flaws, it has a certain charm to it that I just like. Looking forward to what's next.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 13: An Old Rivalry Awakens​

The sun shines like a Volbeat using Tail Glow. Emerging out of the Nacrene City cafe is Arti and Mary, ready to make another journey. As they head to Pinwheel Forest on a concrete path, a discussion between them surfaces.

“So, after visiting the Dragonspiral Tower, what do you want to do after?” Arti asks Mary, wondering where she wants to go next.

“I want to know what is causing that steam in the Abyssal Ruins. It’s odd that it started being emitted only a month ago.” Mary answers, then adds, “I think you can help me get to the bottom of this mystery.”

“I’m more than happy to help you.” Arti replies with a little excitement in his voice.

They enter Pinwheel Forest after walking to a duo of trees, with enough space for them to enter the place that scared them last night. The forest itself is shrouded in shadow, with light trickling through the canopy. Arti remembers that he needs to start properly training Kirlia.

“Hey, can we slow down for a second?” Arti brings up a question.

“Sure we can, anything that we need to slow down for?” Mary responds with another question.

The duo slows down their walk until they stop a good 10 feet away from the bridges.

“I think we can do a training session with our Pokemon, Kirlia definitely needs training before a possible battle against Zekrom, I don’t know whether it will happen, but it’s better to be prepared for anything.” Arti explains.

He grabs the Poke Ball containing Kirlia and opens it, the light coming from the Poke Ball arcs its way toward the ground, fading into the Emotion Pokemon.

“Kirl li lia!” Kirlia immediately says when it sees Arti.

“Do you mind if I train my own Kirlia somewhere else in the forest while you train yours?” Mary asks.

“Not at all, feel free to go anywhere you like.” Arti replies.

Mary heads off the path and deeper into some hollow of trees on the left of the path.

“Alright Kirlia, the training for you to become a proper Gallade starts today.” Arti states as he takes off his backpack.

“Kirlia!” the Emotion Pokemon agrees to the training.

“Okay, so the first thing I will teach you is how to use the blades that will become part of your arms. You get one of your arms into this position across your torso.” Arti shows a diagonal position of his arm.

“Lia.” Kirlia repeats the position that Arti is doing.

“Now swing as if you’re mimicking a Bisharp!” Arti commands, doing the move for Kirlia to follow.

“Kirlia!” the Emotion Pokemon listens and swings its arms, though, a little bit off the mark.

“It wasn’t completely accurate, but that’s okay, we only have just begun. Now try it again.” Arti tells Kirlia.

The Emotion Pokemon repeats the action, now achieving it.

“Kirlia lia!” Kirlia becomes excited, a little bit too excited that it starts doing a ballerina dance.

“No no, dancing is not part of the training.” Arti tries to get the Emotion Pokemon to stop dancing.

“Kirli...” Kirlia feels a little disappointed as it stops dancing, but eventually gets the idea that it must fight the temptation for the training to be successful, even though it will be hard.

“I know you like dancing, so think of doing fighting moves as a version of dancing.” Arti comforts the Emotion Pokemon while keeping it focused. “Now do the same chopping motion with your other arm...” he begins a command, “...like this!” he finishes as he shows the action with his other arm.

“Kir li a!” Kirlia swings its other arm, copying Arti. At first, it’s not accurate, but after a few more tries, it manages to master the motion.

“Great job!” Arti praises the Emotion Pokemon. “Now do each arm, alternating between them without my guidance.”

Kirlia moves its arms much like how Arti requested, alternating between left and right. Eventually mastering the art of a karate chop, not the move, but the start of becoming a properly trained Gallade.

“Great job, we are done for today.” Arti concludes this training session, then adds, “Tomorrow will be about kicks.”

“Kirlia!” the Emotion Pokemon exclaims in an excited manner.

Arti redraws Kirlia back into its Poke Ball, satisfied with today’s training session. Next on his list is asking Kyurem about what Zekrom told him telepathically back at the museum. While he waits for Mary to come back, Arti picks up the Poke Ball containing Kyurem and throws it into the air. After the light dissipated, the Boundary Pokemon speaks to him.

“I sense that you have obtained the Dark Stone.” Kyurem tells Arti as soon as it left the Poke Ball.

“That’s correct, now I possibly heard Zekrom’s voice telling me to ask you about the Trials of Ideals.” Arti replies to Kyurem.

“Ahh, the Trials of Ideals. They are the trials necessary to gain Zekrom’s real trust. You see, Reshiram and Zekrom will not trust you immediately, you must go through their tests to see if you are worthy of their trust.” the Boundary Pokemon explains.

“What about the fact that the Dark Stone rolled to me by itself, didn’t Lenora say Zekrom trusted me?” Arti asks.

“That’s not the real trust that Zekrom seeks to have with you. Instead, Zekrom sees great potential in your capabilities as a Hero of Ideals first. You may be curious about how many trials will there be. There will be three trials, the first Trial of Ideals will involve a battle against a trainer who specializes in the electrifying aspect of Pokemon.” Kyurem explains the first trial.

“So, basically, a battle against an Electric-type specialist?” Arti asks.

“If that’s the modern way you humans put, then yes. However, you must win against the trainer. Zekrom expects you to be successful on all three trials.” the Boundary Pokemon adds to the explanation.

“So, what are the other two trials?” Arti’s curiosity rises.

“I will tell you once you get to them, I will shake the Poke Ball whenever you encounter another trial.” Kyurem answers.

“Wouldn’t it be just easier if you could talk to me telepathically?” Arti tries to find a way for Kyurem to communicate with him without sending it out.

“Unfortunately, I cannot do that.” the Boundary Pokemon answers truthfully, “You see, I have lost part of my consciousness that allowed me to communicate through a human’s mind. The God Stone is that part, which is capable of more than just communication, but we should not worry about that for now, focus on the Trials of Ideals first then seek th-”

Kyurem gets interrupted by a shadow that covers some of the light shining down, looking toward the gaps between the leaves of the trees.

“What’s wrong?” Arti asks the Boundary Pokemon.

“Our rivals are back.” Kyurem answers to its mentee.

“Wait, really?! Has it been a week already?” Arti wonders, realizing he has lost track of time.

“If you need me to scare Bruin away again, let me know.” the Boundary Pokemon offers.

“No, let’s deal with him and his Dragonite the right way this time. We need to stand up for ourselves and show that we are much stronger than they think we are.” Arti decides to be courageous.

Suddenly, Dragonite bursts through the canopy with Bruin on its back.

“Well, look who it is, Mr. Weak and Dr. Awkward.” Bruin comes in already insulting Arti and Kyurem.

“Dragoni ni ni nite!” the Dragon Pokemon laughs in a condescending manner as it lands.

“Bruin, we don’t want any trouble.” Arti immediately tells his rival.

After Dragonite landed, Bruin getting off the Dragon Pokemon and walking up to Arti.

“I don’t care, I want that rematch now!” Bruin demands.

“Are you sure you want battles against me as your priority?” Arti asks his rival.

“Of course that’s my priority! Why else than to defeat a weakling who took my opportunity to be better than anybody else?!” Bruin harshly answers, not budging on his intent.

“Geez, you have become more annoying than last time.” Arti reacts to Bruin’s answer.

“Go nite nite nite.” Dragonite says something that’s sensitive to Kyurem.

“How dare you?!” the Boundary Pokemon angrily replies.

“What did Dragonite say?” Arti asks.

“It called me an asymmetry freak.” Kyurem replies, now growling at the Dragon Pokemon.

“What’s this?” Bruin picks up Arti’s backpack from the ground.

“Hey! Leave that there!” Arti gets worried about Bruin finding out about the Dark Stone.

“And why should I do what you say? I don’t listen to weaklings, remember?” Bruin replies snidely.

Arti tried to be patient, but now he feels his anger rising.

“Okay then, I hope you don’t mind that I will just get it back from you.” he attempts to grab his backpack, but Bruin raises it at the last second.

“Ha! You can’t even reach your stuff, weakling!” Bruin mocks Arti.

“Come on! This isn’t funny!” Arti starts to get more irritated.

Bruin then tosses Arti’s backpack to Dragonite. Arti tries to get his backpack from the Dragon Pokemon, but Dragonite keeps it just a tiny bit out of reach.

“Give that back to him!” Kyurem yells angrily at the Dragon Pokemon.

“Oh look, the awkward freak defends the weakling.” Bruin wastes no time in insulting the Boundary Pokemon.

“Okay, that’s it!!” Arti finally had enough. “I’m going to-” Arti begins speaking before he gets interrupted.

“You will do what weakling, huh? Do what, huh?” Bruin gets close to Arti’s face in a threatening manner and then pushes him onto the ground.

“Fine! You wanted that rematch, then you will get it.” Arti says it through his teeth.

“Dra nite” Dragonite throws Arti’s backpack hard at Kyurem rudely.

After the rivals get to opposite sides and Kyurem gives Arti his backpack back. They prepare to battle.

“Alright Kyurem, if we are to be able to stand up for ourselves, we need to show them that they can’t just pick on someone.” Arti gets his mind toward the battle.

“That Dragonite needs to learn how to respect elder Pokemon.” Kyurem gets ready to battle.

“Hey! How about you two just shut your blabbering mouths about ‘respect’?” Bruin harshly interrupts while getting his mind on the battle.

“Dra go ni” Dragonite mocks its opponent while getting ready for battle.

The wind howls as silence finally settles between the two rivaling teams. However, said silence did not last long.

“Kyurem, use Dragon Pulse!” Arti commands the Boundary Pokemon.

“Dragonite, use Twister!” Bruin commands the Dragon Pokemon.

Despite Arti’s commands going first, Bruin’s Dragonite performed its move before Kyurem could.

“Hahraaannhh!” Kyurem gets flung on the air with strong winds momentarily, stones caught in the wind hits the Boundary Pokemon on the neck and back.

This however, did not dissuade Kyurem from launching a deadly Dragon Pulse from its closed jaws.

“Niite!” Dragonite gets launched back as it feels a painful burning sensation along with its back crashing into many trees.

“Dang it, how did his Dragonite manage to go for an attack first?” Arti is surprised by Dragonite’s quicker response, but comes up with a strategy for Kyurem to move before the Dragon Pokemon. “Kyurem, use Scary Face!” he commands the Boundary Pokemon again.

“Let’s beat these wimps and use Dragon Claw.” Bruin calls out the move to Dragonite.

The Dragon Pokemon moves first once more, striking Kyurem with its claws and leaving a scratch mark on the Boundary Pokemon’s torso.

“Hahraaaaannh!” Kyurem cries out from the pain.

“Again?!” Arti starts to get worried as sweat starts rolling down his face.

“Hahranh!” Kyurem freezes the air in front of its face to make a mask made out of ice, with three rows of jagged teeth which are visible from a distance.

“Go nite!” Dragonite wimpers and backs away because of its new fear at what it just saw.

“Oh come on Dragonite, don’t become such a scaredy Meowth. Just use Dragon Claw and get this over with!” Bruin commands the Dragon Pokemon, finding unbelievable that it gets scared in the first place.

Despite the command, Dragonite is scared to move because of the Scary Face.

Despite the battle’s tide seemingly changing, Kyurem is severely weakened, barely standing, it looked like this battle was lost, until...

“Kyurem, I know we can still win this battle, now use Glaciate!” Arti tells the Boundary Pokemon to perform the move.

Kyurem finally moves before the Dragon Pokemon, freezing the air around Dragonite before using the ice crystals to strike it around the torso.

Given how hard the crystals hit the Dragon Pokemon, it was greatly weakened.

The battle ended with Dragonite collapsing from the sudden low body temperature.

“Dragooo…” the Dragon Pokemon lays on the ground with its wings drooping like wet paper and eyelids draped halfway.

“No! How did I get beaten by the same weakling again?!” Bruin throws a tantrum.

“Because you hyper-focused on defeating me, forgetting about the possible strategies you could have done.” Arti tells his rival.

“Unbelievable! I will not listen to what you have to say. You may have won this time, but I will make you regret it!” Bruin replies harshly before drawing the barely conscious Dragonite into its Poke Ball and going toward Nacrene City.

Bruin disappears behind the pair of trees marking the entrance to the city.

“Kyurem, are you okay? That scratch looks pretty bad.” Arti goes into his backpack to take out a Super Potion.

“Do not worry, it will heal.” the Boundary Pokemon reassures Arti, “I had worse wounds in the past. However, I would be lying if I say these wounds didn’t hurt so much.”

“Then hold still while I spray this Super Potion.” Arti takes a close look a Kyurem’s neck before spraying the medicine on the wound.

“Ow!” the Boundary Pokemon exclaims as tiny drops of the spray coats the wound.

“I know anything touching the wound hurts, but this spray will help heal your it faster.” Arti reassures Kyurem. “Can you lower yourself towards the ground for a minute?”

The Boundary Pokemon did what its mentee asked to do.

“So, what was that you were going to tell me before our rivals came demanding a battle?” , Arti asks Kyurem as he sprays the Super Potion on the wound marked on the Boundary Pokemon’s back.

“I was going to tell you that you have two more sets of trials that you are going to face in the future, but do not worry about them yet, focus on the Trials of Ideals and be courageous when doing them.” Kyurem explains what it was going to say before the interruption.

Arti now takes a look at the scratch mark on the Boundary Pokemon’s torso, which he sprays said mark with the last drops of the Super Potion with.

“Okay, your wounds should heal quicker now.” Arti tells Kyurem, “For now, you should rest.”

As Arti draws the Boundary Pokemon back into its Poke Ball, he sees Mary emerging out of the treehollows.

“What happened here? Golurk was strangely impatient with watching Kirlia train, so something must have happened.” Mary immediately asks Arti.

“I have to tell you the truth: I didn’t want you to worry about that bully coming to ruin this experience for me because I defeated him in a Pokemon battle, hence why I left out this detail.” Arti confesses.

“Wait, a bully?!” Mary asks, a little bit surprised. “I could’ve helped you!”

“I know you could have helped me, but I didn’t want to drag you into my current problems…” Arti becomes a bit disappointed. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt, I was afraid that he would do that to you and your Pokemon just to get to me.”

After a realization, Mary went to hug Arti and proceeded to thank him, calming down in the process.

“Thank you for trying to keep me safe, but can you promise to let me help you next time?” she asks a serious question. “I don’t want you to get hurt either.”

“I promise.” Arti agrees before kissing Mary on the cheek.

Mary decides to change the topic to something more positive as she and Arti stop hugging.

“Hey, how about we go to Nimbasa City to ride the ferris wheel?” she changes the topic with a question.

“That would be great, I wonder if this will the last time it will be operational.” Arti agrees to the idea. “Plus, I would like to have a battle against Elesa.”

“Is this related to your hero quest?” Mary becomes curious.

“As a matter of fact, yes!” Arti answers and then explains what Kyurem told him, “So, for Zekrom to truly trust me, I have to take on the Trials of Ideals, first of which requires winning a battle against an Electric-type specialist.”

“That’s a big task that you have to do.” Mary tells Arti, “She has a Pokemon that can glide in the air, not only that but she can also cover her Ground-type weakness decently. She has definitely surprised a lot of Gym challengers with her strategies.”

“If that’s the case, I will need to train Sandile before we get there. And don’t worry, it will not try to bite you again.” Arti assures Mary.

“If it’s going to help you then can you teach it not to bite as its first instinct?” Mary asks.

“I can and will definitely teach it not to bite everything that happens to walk in front of it.” Arti promises his girlfriend.

“Wait, why can’t Kyurem help you with this battle?” Mary asks, confused by her boyfriend not even mentioning the Boundary Pokemon’s potential to be a big help.

“Now that I think of it, I never asked Kyurem about helping me. Maybe I should ask once we get to the Nimbasa Gym. Whether Kyurem will help me or not doesn’t matter, I will still do my best in the Pokemon battle against Elesa.” Arti decides, willing to accept the possibility of the Boundary Pokemon not helping him during that battle.

“So, should we head there now? I really want to see that battle!” excitement rises within Mary.

“Definitely!” Arti agrees with his girlfriend.

The duo starts heading to Skyarrow Bridge as they continue on with their journey to Dragonspiral Tower. Arti knows there are three trials set before him, being unsure of the other two sets of trials, his mind begins to be filled with thoughts about them.

 

[System Error]

Going to be a bit different than my usual style since my brain was too frazzled and unfocused tonight to go point by point. But I read the chapter. Have to say though, Bruin is among the most hilariously tryhard bullies I've ever seen in fiction. It's like he's spouting every cliche imaginable in attempt to be tough. He may ironically have a point: Arti is debatably weak, he just has a really strong Pokemon. And at least he can pose a threat to it, legendary or no. Something about these two rival trainers having a legendary and a pseudo legendary respectively and yet also being new trainers is a bizarre twist. That said, something about their rivalry just isn't connecting. Maybe it's because Arti is just brushing him off too much and Bruin being generally childish and ineffectual at this point. I'd also like to think if someone is hyper focused on defeating someone else, they'll be able to defeat them - because strategizing on how to counter their every move will be a part of it. In fact, neither trainer uses much in the way of strategy here, aside from Scary Face maybe (which is interpreted as something else besides a speed drop? what happened to this thing being so full of piss and vinegar it doesn't care about Kyurem?). But yeah, seriously. Bruin is more comedic than threatening at this point. Especially his parting words, a mix of rough writing and cliche. Is good to see him again, at least.

One thing I did like about this chapter though is the training techniques. It's a bit rough, but I did like the part where Arti is training his Kirlia. Interesting that he likes dancing when they're heading to Nimbasa next. Do I detect a detour to the performing stage where he can dance his heart out? I suppose it remains to be seen!

Oh yes, there were also a couple typos about: "Galade", "weakene" and "train the my own" among them.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 14: The Dancing Fighter​

In the bright sunshine, Arti and Mary are taking in the view that the Skyarrow Bridge offers once more. The gentle ocean breeze blows on their hair like a flying Pokemon flapping its wings near some tree leaves on the ground. The horizon is two different shades of blue with differently shaped clouds dotting the lighter shade, and a few boats floating on the darker shade. They start making their way to Castelia City once more, knowing that the tremors don’t wait.

“So, what do you want to do once we arrive at Nimbasa City again?” Arti asks Mary about what she wants to do.

“I want to go to the Musical Theater, I never had a chance to dress up a Pokemon before.” Mary admits what she wanted to do all this time.

“Then the Musical Theater is one of the places we go to.” Arti decides in order to give his girlfriend her wish.

Before long, the duo arrives at Castelia City again but immediately starts making their way to Route 4. Upon walking toward the transition gate, they realize that the city is oddly empty, with only a few other people and a few Pokemon here and there.

“Something is not right here.” Arti notices the different atmosphere.

“Wait, is the road cracking?” Mary notices a crack that wasn’t there when she and Arti had arrived at Castelia City yesterday.

The strangest part is that there was no construction equipment around, nor was there a sign of a Pokemon battle taking place. The duo continues making their way toward Route 4, being more careful as they walk in the mostly empty Castelia Street. Eventually, two female employees of Tectonic Inc. become visible near the transition gate. The two women working for the company are standing near a strange machine.

The machine itself has 6 cylinders at the joints all with a piston between them and the ground. Wires from the machine protrude out of the central control unit and into said cylinders.

“How did this one run out of power so quickly?” the woman on the left asks her co-worker on the right.

“You forgot to charge the battery before we got here, didn’t you pay attention at the meeting yesterday?! They said to always charge the battery before making a trip!” the woman on the right scolds her co-worker on the left.

Arti and Mary stop on their tracks right before the end of Castelia Street, hiding behind some garbage cans.

“What is Tectonic Inc. doing?” Mary whispers to Arti, worried about what this could entail.

“I don’t know, but if this is one of those machines that causes tremors, then I have a bad feeling about this situation.” Arti whispers to Mary, thinking of a way to get Tectonic Inc. out of Castelia City before cracks start reaching the buildings.

“Then what should we do?” Mary thinks as she holds the Poke Ball containing Golurk.

“We have to stop them before they have a chance, the way to do that is to destroy it so it cannot be used again.” Arti comes up with a plan, “Will you help me on a multi battle against them?”

“I will help you!” Mary goes along with the plan.

The duo gets out of their hiding place, willing to battle the Tectonic Inc. workers. The workers notice the duo and start demanding that they leave.

“Get out of here, you’re not allowed to be in this area!” The woman on the right rudely shouts at Arti and Mary.

“You’re the one who should get out. You can’t just cause tremors in cities whenever you want!” Arti responds.

“Can’t you take a hint? You’re not allowed here!” the woman on the left demands.

“Why are you insisting on doing this? Why do you want to destroy so much just for energy?” Mary asks, feeling a little annoyed.

“Doesn’t matter, we can and will do anything to rub the tectonic plates together.” the woman on the right chooses not to answer the question. “Now get out before I make you!”

“No, we are not going to let this go while you put the region in jeopardy.” Arti refused to listen to her command.

“Very well, then.” the woman on the right picks up a Poke Ball from her pocket and throws it into the air, releasing an Excadril.

The woman on the left throws her Poke Ball too, releasing a Kantonian Dugtrio.

Arti throws the Poke Ball containing Kyurem while Mary throws another Poke Ball containing Golurk.

“What Pokemon is that?!” the worker on the left exclaims while her coworker remains silent at the sight of Kyurem.

“Kyurem, use Dragon Claw on the Dugtrio!” Arti commands the Boundary Pokemon.

“Golurk, use Shadow Punch on the Excadrill!” Mary tells the Automaton Pokemon to perform the move.

“Dugtrio, be faster and shake the ground with Earth Power underneath the strange Pokemon!” the woman on the left shouts for the Mole Pokemon to attack Kyurem.

“Excadrill, attack that Golurk with Metal Claw!” the woman on the right commands her Pokemon to attack.

Dugtrio dives its three heads under the concrete and shakes the ground underneath Kyurem, some hardened pieces of the ground hit the Boundary Pokemon on the chest.

“Hahraaahn!” Kyurem cries out but holds its footing enough to slash at its attacker with Dragon Claw, giving Dugtrio a scratch mark on the left nose.

“Trio!” the Mole Pokemon yells in pain.

Meanwhile, Golurk curls its right hand into a fist and throws a Shadow Punch right on Excadrill’s belly, the Subterrene Pokemon feels the attack right in the gut.

“Exca!” Excadril yelps from the attack, but slashes at the Automaton Pokemon by using Metal Claw.

“Golurr!!!” Golurk yelled the loudest from the attack, collapsing onto the concrete and unable to battle.

“Golurk!” Mary runs to her Pokemon, “Are you okay?!”

“Golur…” the Automaton Pokemon groans.

“You did your best to help Kyurem, you should rest now.” Mary says as she draws Golurk back into its Poke Ball.

Arti begins to get worried, if Golurk went down in one hit from that Metal Claw, the battle seems to be a lost cause. The thoughts about what would happen if that machine is turned on after battle troubles Arti’s mind.

“No, I can’t let them cause tremors here…” the thought fills the potential hero’s mind as he tries to decide his next course of action. “There won’t be much time to save everyone if those skyscrapers start to fall.”, comes another troubling thought. After thinking long and hard about how to stop his opponents from charging the tremor maker, he makes a risky decision.

“Kyurem, use Glaciate!” Arti shouts the first part of his plan to the Boundary Pokemon.

Kyurem launches a chilling wind toward both opposing Pokemon, making ice crystals appear around their bodies.

“Triooo!” Dugtrio couldn’t take the coldness of the attack, all of its three heads droop downwards toward the ground as they get drawn back into its Poke Ball by its trainer.

“Cadrill!” Excadril yells but didn’t go down as easily as its battling partner. However, the cold did affect the movement of its body.

“Excadrill, use Metal Claw again! Show no mercy.” the woman on the right angrily commands the Subterrene Pokemon.

Excadrill swings its claws directly onto Kyurem, causing great pain on the Boundary Pokemon.

“Hahraann!” Kyurem yells, not being able to take the pain, dropping to the ground.

“I’m sorry Kyurem.” Arti tells the Boundary Pokemon as he draws it into its Poke Ball. “I needed to take that risk.”

Then surprisingly, Arti picked up the Poke Ball containing Sandile. It’s a big risk to send out a Pokemon whom he never commanded before, but he didn’t have much of a choice. Losing the battle meant the destruction of Castelia City as his other remaining Pokemon isn't strong enough to survive a confrontation against even one of Tectonic Inc.’s Pokemon. Light filters out of the Poke Ball and onto the ground, with the Desert Croc Pokemon taking the spot.

“Okay Sandile, I know we might have gotten off on the wrong foot, but I need your help. If you want to help me save many lives, use Dig.” Arti calmly explains to and commands Sandile.

Much to the potential hero’s surprise but also relief, the Desert Croc Pokemon burrowed into the ground.

“Hah! You think a weak Pokemon like that can stop me?” the woman on the right laughs at Arti. “Excadrill, use Earth Power and let’s get this boy out of the way.”

Excadrill proceeded to cause a targeted tremor on where Sandile used to be. Yet, no sign of the Desert Croc Pokemon suffering a hit, it was silent for a moment, until a line of bumps started rising toward the Subterrene Pokemon. This gave Arti newfound hope of saving the city. A huge bump suddenly sprung under Excadrill while Sandile burrowed out from the top.

“Excaaaa!” the Subterrene Pokemon yells, its voice trailing further as it has been launched toward a lamp post. Hitting its back on the lamp post made it unable to battle, thus being drawn back into its Poke Ball.

“Way to go Sandile! I’m glad you decided to help me!” Arti says very excitedly.

“Sand!” the Desert Croc Pokemon liked the praise, enough to have some newfound strength from the battle.

“Haha! No matter, your strongest Pokemon won’t be able to stop us anymore.” the woman on the left laughs at her opponents. “I was charging the machine while you were occupied.”

This gave Arti and Mary a big scare, despite their efforts, they couldn’t stop the machine from being charged. Amidst this panic, Sandile has seemingly run off to Route 4.

“No… is this inevitable?” Arti asks himself, feeling defeated.

“I know you did your best.” Mary tries to comfort Arti.

“No, I cannot let this destruction happen… what if there are people and Pokemon inside these buildings? I must keep trying!” in his fleeting and seemingly fading hope, Arti reaches for the Poke Ball containing Kirlia, but it was too late, even he starts to realize it.

The woman on the right turns on the machine, it starts whirling for a little bit, but it surprisingly turned off.

“Huh?” Arti notices the machine shutting off almost immediately, feeling a mixture of confusion and newfound hope.

“I thought you had charged the tremor maker!” the woman on the right scolds her co-worker.

“I did! The wires must have fried or something.” the woman on the left responds.

Clanking sounds can be heard from the inside, then Sandile bursts out of the central control holding bunches of wires inside its jaws, chomping them like they were its snacks. When seen through the hole, the inside of the machine itself is destroyed and unfixable.

“What?! We were bested by a Pokemon?!” the woman on the right takes on a furious mood.

“But how?” the woman on the left asks.

While the Tectonic Inc. employees are dumbfounded at what just happened. Arti thanks the Desert Croc Pokemon.

“Thank you so much Sandile! I couldn’t have done this without you!” Arti is very happy for Sandile.

“Dilee!” the Desert Croc Pokemon warms up to its trainer, knowing that it can rely on Arti.

“You did it!” Mary praises Sandile.

“This tremor maker was too expensive. We are for sure going to be yelled at.” the woman on the left tells her coworker.

Arti and Mary congratulate the Desert Croc Pokemon while their opponents leave the area in disappointment of themselves and fear of their boss. The doors on the buildings start to open as people start leaving, murmurings between them soon fill the city as it becomes its normal self again. Many who left the buildings look at the duo amazed and relieved, soon finding out what happened. Arti and Mary now head through the gate, but not before Arti draws Sandile back into its Poke Ball. Upon entering Route 4, the air becomes grainy once more.

“Before doing anything, we should head for the Pokemon Center.” Arti suggests.

“I agree, then maybe after that we could head to the Nimbasa City gym next.” Mary adds to the suggestion.

After walking through the sandy route, the duo is greeted by Join Avenue again. Ignoring the stands on the side, Arti and Mary make their way to the opposite doorway that leads to Nimbasa City and eventually going into it. Once in the city, they immediately head to the Pokemon Center.

Inside the Pokemon Center, Arti and Mary go to the counter in order for the nurse to heal their Pokemon. While they wait, they heard someone talking about a new type of performance at the Musical Theater called “Fighter’s Spirit”. Hearing about the performance has given Mary an idea.

“Can I borrow your Kirlia for a Pokemon Musical performance?” Mary brings up her idea to Arti.

“Is it about that new performance?” Arti asks just to be sure.

“Yes, I wanted to dress Pokemon up for the Musical Theater for so long. But this isn’t just for me, I think this will help with your Kirlia’s training.” Mary explains her idea.

“Then yes you can, I will definitely watch the performance!” Arti accepts Mary’s idea.

The nurse behind the counter hands the filled Poke Balls back to the duo, before heading out, Arti makes sure to buy some Ultra Balls and Hyper Potions for future potential battles. Arti and Mary now head toward the Musical Theater.

Upon heading inside the Musical Theater, they are greeted by a marble floor and very decorative walls. The walls themselves sport framed posters of their various performances, with the newest one titled “Fighter’s Spirit”, the art of this poster depicts a Throh using Karate Chop through the title itself. Due to the recent tremors, the stairs located on the right are blocked by “Do Not Climb” signs for safety purposes, up said stairs are three doorways leading to the upper parts of the showroom. There are a few doorways to the left leading to the practice and dressing rooms and one doorway on the right leading to the showroom.

Arti picks up the Poke Ball containing Kirlia and opens it, releasing the Emotion Pokemon onto the shining floor. Kirlia looks at its surroundings curiously, then at Arti.

“Are you ready to dance away?” Arti asks the Emotion Pokemon.

“Kirliia!” Kirlia responds with excitement.

“Okay then, I won’t be with you for a little while as Mary will teach you some dance moves. Be nice to her, alright?” Arti requests.

“Kirlia!” Kirlia agrees to the request.

“Okay, follow me!” Mary tells the Emotion Pokemon.

Mary went to the practice room as Kirlia follows her. Going inside the doorway with a sign pointing toward the room marked “Audition for Fighter’s Spirit”, they are met with 3 other people and their Pokemon: a youngster with a Riolu, a woman with a Mienfoo, and a man with a Tyrogue. A gentleman appears in front of the group, he begins to speak in a positive tone.

“Welcome everyone to the first audition of ‘Fighter’s Spirit’!” the gentleman greets the group happily. “I want to see the audience feel energized when they watch your Pokemon perform fighting moves in a rhythmic fashion. I will teach you the moves so the Pokemon can learn from you showing them.”

“Do we need to bring our own props for this performance?” the man with the Tyrogue asks.

“Since this is the first performance of its kind, we will let you borrow our props if you didn’t bring your own, while your Pokemon will get more style points for matching the theme, I encourage you to be creative.” the gentleman answers with an explanation. “Now let’s get this audition started!”

After everyone has been given enough space from one another, the gentleman presses the play button on the speakers behind him. The speakers produce intense folk Johto-style instrumental music with some newer instruments added.

“When the gong plays the first time, punch with your right hand on the left. Like this!” The gentleman shows the motion before rewinding the music when the first gongs sounded.

When the first gong sound of the song played again, the humans in the room did what was asked. After the music was rewound again, the Pokemon has copied that first move when the first gong portion plays again.

“Very good!” the gentleman says as he pauses the music. “Now show the reverse, punch with your left hand on the right. I can tell these Pokemon already got the rhythm, so you just need to show the move for them to use on the second gong.”

As the humans performed the move, the Pokemon mimicked it. The music was rewound and then resumed, the Pokemon moved to the rhythm of the music as expected, and the music itself sounded the second gong.

Meanwhile, as the audition went on, Arti managed to get a seat close to the stage while the audience room was mostly empty. While he waited, he decided to check his map to see what are some other potential sites for the trials that he will face in the near future.

“Okay, so there’s a cave where the rocks are charged with electricity and a volcano that has erupted a few years ago. Hmm…” Arti’s eyes scan some specific parts of the map.

Arti lost track of time as he pondered in his thoughts of how are the visions and dreams related to his quest. Before he realizes, all of the seats in the audience room have been taken.

Back at the audition room, the practice has been finished.

“Great job everybody!” the gentleman applauds the efforts of the practice, “Before heading towards the stage, it’s only appropriate for your Pokemon to dress up for the theme.”

As he brings out a prop case, the gentleman encourages everyone to come to him. After he opens said case, everyone take turns picking out the props. Mary decides to pick out a black karate belt, the top half of a judo outfit, and a few bands to help complete the costume. Before the case becomes closed, she sees a wooden board and decides to pick it up to give to Kirlia once the costume is complete.

“Now it’s time to put props on your Pokemon!” the gentleman proudly announces.

Mary first dresses Kirlia with the judo piece and then ties the black belt around its hips.

“Kirlia?” the confused Emotion Pokemon asks.

“Don’t worry, you will only need to wear this at the performance.” Mary assures Kirlia.

Looking at how the other three people dressed their Pokemon, she decides to put one band on each leg to drape down the Kirlia’s frills on its hips to give the look of the bottom half of a judo outfit.

“Kirl lia...” the Emotion Pokemon begins wishing it didn’t want to dance anymore.

“It’s okay to feel nervous when in front of an audience. Pretending that they are not there can help.” Mary gives a tip to Kirlia.

“Lia.” the Emotion Pokemon nods its head denyingly, implying that’s not what it was trying to say.

Mary ties Kirlia’s green hair in a bun with the final band she had picked up from the case.

“You’ll do great, I promise! In fact, you may even get some practice done during the performance when you hold something I will give you.” Mary still thinks the Emotion Pokemon is nervous about the performance when it’s actually feeling uncomfortable by something else.

Meanwhile, back in the audience room, Arti begins wondering why he needs to battle an Electric-type expert. Does it have something to do with the Dark Stone? Is it trying to tell him something important by requiring him to defeat powerful Electric-type Pokemon? These thoughts begin to trouble his mind until the speakers sounded as the lights darkened.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our musical: the Fighter’s Spirit!” the voice from the speakers announces. “We ask you to be courteous and refrain from taking flash photographs as the flash from the light is distracting not only for the dancers but also for the other people watching. Enjoy the musical!”

The curtains rise as the backdrop shows the inside of a dojo, the window of the dojo’s back wall shows a bamboo forest. In the foreground, 4 Pokemon stands on the stage: Arti’s Kirlia on the left, the Riolu on the middle left, the Mienfoo on the middle right, and the Tyrogue on the right. They each wear the costumes decided by the people who dressed them: Kirlia with its judo costume holding a small wooden board, Riolu dressed up like a ninja, the Mienfoo looking like a karate sensei, and Tyrogue wearing a plastic samurai armor while holding a toy katana.

The song starts on the speakers. Like before, the Pokemon punch with their right hand to their left, the second gong sound prompts them to punch with their left hand to their right. There is a waiting period for the Pokemon as the song continues to play, during it, the Tyrogue samurai swings its toy katana, stealing the spotlight.

The song continues with an eventual third gong where the Pokemon kick with their right leg to the left, the fourth and final gong makes the Pokemon kick with their left leg to the right. As the song begins to reach its conclusion, Kirlia threw the wooden board upwards, jumped and, kicked it across the stage, thus stealing the spotlight. The conclusion of the song ended on an intense vocal, prompting all four Pokemon to perform a karate chop.

The audience excitedly gets up from their seats and applauds the performers, Arti felt proud of his Kirlia doing so well.

“Yes! You were great, Kirlia!” Arti cheers for his Pokemon.

The curtains close as the audience begins to leave, Arti was really excited to meet back with Mary and Kirlia. It took a little bit of time for both to meet back with him.

“You were awesome up there!” Arti compliments the Emotion Pokemon, who is not wearing the props anymore.

“It was fun to go on this musical, I wish I could keep doing this.” Mary reveals her wish to Arti. “But we have more important tasks to do.”

“Kir lia” Kirlia feels relieved to be out of the costume.

“Oh, that reminds me, since we are in Nimbasa City, I need to take this opportunity to challenge Elesa for a Pokemon battle.” Arti remembers.

After drawing Kirlia back into its Poke Ball, Arti and Mary leave the Musical Theater and head toward the amusement park where Elesa’s Gym is supposedly located. Arti knows this battle won’t be easy, but he has to try. A worry rises into his mind: the Drak Stone only giving him one chance at this trial.

 

[System Error]

- The one thing I do like about your fic, as flawed as the writing sometimes is, is that you understand that the grunts in evil teams are supposed to be comedic relief in canon.
- Although on the other hand, I am wondering just where in the hell Quake Industries Inc. is getting all these overpowered Pokemon from. They could just take over the world by force without having to use these evil energy machines if they can casually beat a legendary in just two attacks. Since evidently they can beat anyone they want.
- And uh the weak freshly caught Sandile brings down the super overpowered Excadrill? Seems legit.
- The dialogue of the goons after the battle reads a little chunkily. Like in a no one talks this way sort of way.
- JUST DANCE! I would make more of a pun here, but that's all I know about that series. And hey, heading back to the dance theater. I've only seen one other person bring that minigame up which even Nintendo didn't seem to care much for, and they shoehorned Ash into it.
- For the detriment of those with flash photography...
- There's a point in the sequence where Kirlia is called a Ralts.
- So uh what were the results? The fic is noticeably evasive on what they were.

Another chapter after a while, and more of a progression one. Except the tectonic nerds were here and being overpowered at the start. Seriously, what's their deal? They're insanely strong for no reason (at least at the time) and yet their real threat is their power. May as well just blow up their machines because that's a lot easier than their Pokemon. But, just rambling about them, really. Am wondering where you'll take them.

 

[Poke Dragon]

- The one thing I do like about your fic, as flawed as the writing sometimes is, is that you understand that the grunts in evil teams are supposed to be comedic relief in canon.
- Although on the other hand, I am wondering just where in the hell Quake Industries Inc. is getting all these overpowered Pokemon from. They could just take over the world by force without having to use these evil energy machines if they can casually beat a legendary in just two attacks. Since evidently they can beat anyone they want.
- And uh the weak freshly caught Sandile brings down the super overpowered Excadrill? Seems legit.
- The dialogue of the goons after the battle reads a little chunkily. Like in a no one talks this way sort of way.
- JUST DANCE! I would make more of a pun here, but that's all I know about that series. And hey, heading back to the dance theater. I've only seen one other person bring that minigame up which even Nintendo didn't seem to care much for, and they shoehorned Ash into it.
- For the detriment of those with flash photography...
- There's a point in the sequence where Kirlia is called a Ralts.
- So uh what were the results? The fic is noticeably evasive on what they were.

Another chapter after a while, and more of a progression one. Except the tectonic nerds were here and being overpowered at the start. Seriously, what's their deal? They're insanely strong for no reason (at least at the time) and yet their real threat is their power. May as well just blow up their machines because that's a lot easier than their Pokemon. But, just rambling about them, really. Am wondering where you'll take them.

Thanks for noticing the part where I unknowingly put Ralts instead of Kirlia, so I went ahead and fixed it.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 15: The Troubled Mind​

The Nimbasa City theme park is filled with cheers and laughter as the rollercoasters have been fixed. However, Arti feels differently as he and Mary stand at the front of the final building with the yellow roof just past the ferris wheel. The building is off course the Nimbasa Gym.

Before he steps inside, the Poke Ball containing Kyurem shakes in his pocket, he knew that meant something important is needed to be said. He picks it up, presses the middle button to enlarge it before finally opening the spherical device that houses the Boundary Pokemon. The glow was just blended into the sunlight, nevertheless, the intended Pokemon stands beside Arti and Mary.

“This is where the first Trial of Ideals takes place.” Kyurem speaks to Arti.

“So about the trial, will you be able to help me with it?” Arti asks the Boundary Pokemon.

“Unfortunately, I cannot.” Kyurem tells the truth. “For as you see, the Dark Stone does not allow me to help a hero with a battle that would result in an easy victory in a trial which requires a battle against another human’s Pokemon.”

“I didn’t know that.” Mary says as she takes out her notes and writes down what the Boundary Pokemon explained.

“Well, do I have to win this battle the first time or not?” Arti asks Kyurem, hoping to get an answer.

“Only the Dark Stone knows the answer, unfortunately. It keeps some crucial details to itself until you communicate with it.” the Boundary Pokemon couldn’t give Arti a concrete answer. “However, it will only communicate with you when you absolutely need its help.”

“Well then. I guess I only have two Pokemon to help me with this battle.” Arti persists. “I have to be honest, I’m kind of nervous.”

“Don’t worry, I believe in you. Even if you lose this battle, you have tried your best.” Mary tries her best to support Arti.

“Well, here goes nothing.” Arti steps through the doorway as he takes a deep breath and lets it out.

Once he enters, the only light he can see pours through the doorway he just walked through. He was feeling inside the Gym until the spotlights turn on in an instant, surprising his sight.

The Gym composed of a catwalk connected to the floor Arti stood with some stairs. On the sides, the silhouette of crowds covers the equally dark floor as they murmur in curiosity of the boy who entered. However, what’s the most surprising is the lack of trainers on the catwalk, Arti knew this was different because he remembers Pokemon battles shown on TV happening here, there were supposed to be three gym trainers on the catwalk. On the other end far from Arti stood a woman wearing a puffy yellow-colored jacket along with some headphones with one side having a red antenna and the other having a blue antenna, the clogs that she wears match the color of the antennas while her shorts had stylized yellow and light blue stripes.

“I guess some last-minute training isn’t going to happen.” Arti thinks to himself before he starts to take steps across the catwalk.

The woman on the other end also starts walking across the catwalk to meet her challenger, the crowd on both sides starts cheering her on.

Once Arti has finally met the woman in the middle, his mind started racing with thoughts about the battle he is about to be part of before said thoughts were interrupted when the woman introduced herself.

“Hello, challenger! My name is Elesa, the Gym Leader and supermodel. What is your name?” Elesa asks her challenger.

“My name is Arti.” Arti introduces himself.

“That name is electrifying! I can see that you are conducting to battle, your pulse must be thundering to the sky!” Elesa tells Arti.

“Then battle we shall!” Arti attempts to hide his nervous feeling.

“We will make this battle a magnet for excitement.” Elesa says as she sends out her Emolga.

“Olga!” the Sky Squirrel Pokemon sounds its confidence.

“Alright Sandile, I hope you can do this.” Arti sends out the Desert Croc Pokemon.

“Sand!” Sandile sounds its eagerness.

Arti tries to keep his worries away, he will only perform worse if he doesn’t focus on the battle at hand. At any other time, he would’ve been excited to battle a Gym Leader, but as of right now, he worries that the loss of this battle means the Dark Stone will never truly reawaken to him.

“Okay Sandile, use Bite!” Arti commands Sandile.

“Use Quick Attack, Emolga!” Elesa gives orders to Emolga before Sandile gets to move.

The Desert Croc Pokemon attempts to move first, but the Sky Squirrel Pokemon tackled it from its right side, catching Sandile by surprise.

“Sandsan?!” Sandile reacts before executing Bite.

The Desert Croc Pokemon enclosed its jaws on Emolga’s tail.

“Emolll!” the Sky Squirrel Pokemon yells, but otherwise, didn’t flinch much.

“Darn...” Arti thinks to himself, “That Flying-type is preventing any Ground-type moves from being used. But I think I have an idea.”, Arti retracts Sandile back into its Poke Ball, “Sandile, you can help me later.” he says as the Desert Croc Pokemon disappears into the Poke Ball as a reddish light. Arti then throws out the Pokemon containing Kirlia, “Okay Kirlia, do your best!”

“Kirlia!” the Emotion Pokemon announces its presence.

“Wow, you shocked me with your strategy!” Elesa exclaims excitedly, “But will this be enough to magnetize a win?” she asks before commanding Emolga. “Use Pursuit, Emolga!”

“Emol!” the Sky Squirrel Pokemon disappears then appears and strikes Kirlia at blinding speed.

“Kir!” the Emotion Pokemon receives a hit but is still capable of battling.

“Alright Kirlia, use Psychic!” Arti commands Kirlia.

The Emotion Pokemon launched a mind wave at Emolga, giving it a little bit of a headache.

“Use to electrifying Volt Switch!” Elesa tells the Sky Squirrel Pokemon.

Emolga charges itself with electricity then tackles Kirlia, dealing a critical hit on the Emotion Pokemon. Without its trainer picking up its Poke Ball, the Sky Squirrel Pokemon retreats into said device.

“Kirlia…” the Emotion Pokemon cries out.

“I’m really sorry Kirlia.” Arti notices that Kirlia is not feeling well after that last attack.

“Okay Zebstrika, make this battle a lightning rod of excitement!” Elesa sends out Zebstrika as she says that.

“Zebstriiika!” the Thunderbolt Pokemon calls out.

Now confronted with a Pokemon who can be damaged by Ground-type moves, Arti retracts Kirlia into its Poke Ball. As he was just about to pick up said Poke Ball, he heard Elesa command Zebstrika.

“Use Pursuit!” Elesa told the Thunderbolt Pokemon.

Zebstrika wasted no time hitting Kirlia with one of its front hooves. Unlike the previous Pursuit, Kirlia was hit harder.

“Kir…” the Emotion Pokemon collapses to the ground, unable to battle.

“Oh no…” Arti thinks to himself, “This is really bad, I hope Sandile can do something about this”, the worry intensifies as Arti retracts Kirlia back into its Poke Ball and throws out the Poke Ball containing Sandile.

“Sand!” the Desert Croc Pokemon speaks.

“Let’s become lightning-fast by using Flame Charge, Zebstrika!” Elesa commands the Thunderbolt Pokemon

“Okay Sandile, I need you to use Dig, can you do that?” Arti asks Sandile.

“Dile!” the Desert Croc Pokemon answers then burrows itself into the ground.

The flames launched from Zebstrika barely miss Sandile as it almost scrapes the Desert Croc Pokemon’s tail.

After a little bit, Sandile burrows out from underneath Zebstrika, hitting the Thunderbolt Pokemon hard.

“Trika!” Zebstrika yells as it falls toward the ground. Weakened, but still able to battle.

Despite the success this time, Arti knows that Emolga can come into battle anytime, regardless of whether a Volt Switch is used or not. Regardless, he will still try his best for the sake of his Pokemon.

“Sandile, use Dig again!” Arti commands the Desert Croc Pokemon.

Without hesitation, Sandile burrows into the ground once more.

“You did great, Zebstrika.” Elesa retracts the Thunderbolt Pokemon. “Bring in the thunder, Emolga!” she says as she throws out the Poke Ball containing the Sky Squirrel Pokemon.

“Emolga!” Emolga exclaims.

A mound underneath Emolga grew, but the Sky Squirrel Pokemon jumped away and glided as it watched Sandile coming out of the mound, completely avoiding the Desert Croc Pokemon’s attack.

“That Emolga…” Arti thinks to himself, “I wish Sandile had a way to counter it.”, snapping back to the battle, he shouts “Use Bite again!”

“Let’s wire this battle with Quick Attack!” Elesa commands Emolga.

Before Sandile can move, Emolga strikes its left eye with blinding speed, causing a critical hit to the Desert Croc Pokemon.

“Sand!” Sandile yells angrily, it charges toward the Sky Squirrel Pokemon and encloses its jaws around Emolga’s right arm.

“Olga...” the Sky Squirrel Pokemon is not feeling so well after that attack. In fact, both Pokemon on the field are greatly weakened.

“Dile…” the Desert Croc Pokemon whines then collapses to the ground, unable to battle.

The crowd on both sides of the catwalk cheered as Elesa became victorious.

“This was certainly a fun battle!” Arti says out loud as he retracts Sandile back into its Poke Ball. Although, his worry about the Dark Stone grew, but he tries to hide it with a smile.

“You could say, this battle magnetized all of this excitement.” Elesa added.

“Well, I hope I get to battle you again, but I must be going for now, goodbye for now.” Arti tells Elesa as he turns around and leave.

“Bye!” Elesa waves to her challenger.

A few moments later, Arti emerges from the entrance, feeling like he wasn’t able to do his role as a hero.

“So, how did it go?” Mary asks.

“Not so great, now I’m not sure what to do.” Arti confesses with a sad tone.

“At least you have tried.” Mary tries her best to comfort Arti.

“I know you haven’t been able to win that battle, I can sense it through your worry and sadness.” Kyurem tells Arti.

“Well, then what else am I supposed to do? This was a very important battle!” Arti responds.

“I will be honest, many of the previous heroes had times of hopelessness, regardless if they were Heroes of Truth or Heroes of Ideals. It was common for Reshiram and Zekrom to give those heroes another chance.” Kyurem recalls many similar events from a long time ago.

“So, you’re saying that I might have another chance at this?” Arti asks.

“You might, but also keep in mind that you also might not.” Kyurem begins explaining, “It was equally common that many of the previous heroes did not get a second chance.”

“Well, that did not improve my situation… I need some time for myself.” Arti goes to the Pokemon Center to heal his Pokemon, then leaves for Route 4.

“I will follow him to see if he communicates with the Dark Stone.” the Boundary Pokemon tells Mary.

“Are you sure you won’t scare people?” Mary asks Kyurem.

“I must know what secrets Dark Stone hides to help Arti in this time of need.” the Boundary Pokemon explains.

“Now that you mention him needing help, let me come with you. I want to support him.” Mary decides to come with Kyurem.

At Route 4, Arti is sitting on the steps of Join Avenue. He doesn’t want to rely on the Dark Stone for advice, but he doesn’t have a choice if he hopes to save Unova from destruction.

“What am I supposed to do? Do I get another chance at this trial or is the Dark Stone going to refuse to lend me its power?” Arti speaks out loud.

Before long, he hears the all too familiar loud footsteps growing from the double doors behind him.

“What do you need for me to do?” Arti’s voice becomes almost monotone.

“Do not fear what Zekrom will think of you, it has already sensed your motives for what you want to achieve.” Kyurem states.

“You’re only saying that to make me feel better, right?” Arti doesn’t believe the Boundary Pokemon.

“What I have spoken is the truth, Zekrom will only lend its powers willingly to someone who plans to use it for selfless reasons. It has observed you through your dreams and learned your reasons, having a hand in guiding you to take on these trials.” Kyurem responds to Arti’s statement.

“It’s not desperation to look for advice when you need it.” Mary adds, hoping to convince Arti.

“You’re not wrong, but-” Arti begins before he gets cut off.

“Previous heroes did not get to where they were without help, many of them received advice from the stones.” Kyurem recalls more memories. “Zekrom decided to give you a chance to become the next Hero of Ideals for a reason, you must establish communication with it sooner or later.”

Convinced and with no other choice, Arti opens up his backpack and takes the Dark Stone out of it.

“Zekrom, if that’s your real name, do I have another chance at this trial? Is there anything I can do?” Arti asks the Dark Stone. “I hope this works...” he thinks to himself.

Not long after, he hears the familiar voice from the dream coming from the Dark Stone itself.

“You must have another battle against the same opponent. For an ideal battle, you must utilize everything you have, do not let your allies fall. Healing them during the battle is the ideal way.” the voice explained before it faded away.

“Thank you Zekrom, I promise I will win the next time!” Arti’s hopefulness returns as he thanks the voice, no further responses from the Dark Stone came.

With the advice in mind, Arti decides to train his Pokemon further before getting a rematch with Elesa. He gets up and dusts his shorts off.

“I’m going to train Kirlia and Sandile further so they are strong enough against Elesa’s Pokemon.” Arti decides.

“Perhaps I can assist you with the training.” Kyurem offers to help.

“How so?” Arti curiously asks.

“Wait, I thought you said that you can’t help Arti with the battle.” Mary restates what Kyurem have said earlier.

“During my time without a hero, I often observed other Pokemon, even those who followed commands from humans. I have acquired the knowledge of the strongest moves they can learn themselves without relying on another Pokemon or those circular discs that humans call ‘Technical Machines’.” the Boundary Pokemon responds to Arti then turns its attention to Mary. “While I cannot assist with the battle itself, I can still assist the hero to become prepared for it.”

“Hmm, on one hand, I do want Sandile to trust me more, but on the other, it would be nice to finish training Kirlia as it just needs to master the kicks.” Arti tries to choose between which Pokemon to train while Kyurem helps train the other. He is worried that Sandile might not listen to his commands afterward, but if it’s to ultimately save Unova from destruction, he is willing to take that risk. “I think I have made my choice, I will let you help me train Sandile while I finish training Kirlia. But I want to make sure Sandile will still listen to me even though you will teach the right moves.”

“That is why I’m offering to assist, you are the one who will take on that trial. You must be the one that these Pokemon will listen to.” the Boundary Pokemon affirms.

“If you happen to teach Earthquake to Sandile, can you promise me that the effects of it will only be contained to the battlefield? I don’t want people to be scared when they are watching the battle, tremors already happen outside of battle as it is.” Arti voices his concern.

“Then if that move is taught, I will teach Sandile to only use it to affect what is on the battlefield and not an area outside of it.” Kyurem promises.

“Thank you, that would help to keep people calm.” Arti thanks the Boundary Pokemon.

“What can I do to help?” Mary asks the duo.

“Maybe you can provide emotional support for the Pokemon who will be training.” Arti responds.

“Then I will do my best to help them keep their spirits up!” Mary agrees with the idea.

The three headed down to the more sandy area away from the road, once a good area for training was found, Arti picked up two Poke Balls from his pocket, each containing the respective Pokemon that will be trained and opened them, allowing them to pour to the grainy ground.

“Alright, you two.” Arti begins to speak to Kirlia and Sandile “Both of you will become stronger today, the loss of that last battle made me realize that if we are to keep everyone safe, we cannot lag behind. Now are you ready to be part of this heroic effort?!”

“Kirlia!” the Emotion Pokemon excitedly answers.

“Sand andile!” the Desert Croc Pokemon’s attitude matches that of its comrade.

“Then here’s how we are going to train: Sandile, you are going to be taught by Kyurem while Kirlia finishes its training, once Kirlia’s training is done, I will take the helm to train you for the rest of the way if Kyurem doesn’t finish training you first.” Arti decides not to rely entirely on the Boundary Pokemon.

“Come with me.” Kyurem speaks to Sandile.

“Wait up!” Mary decides to follow the two Pokemon.

The Desert Croc Pokemon, alongside Mary, follows the Boundary Pokemon deeper into the sandy area, leaving Arti and the Emotion Pokemon.

“Alright Kirlia, remember the training we have done? I hope that dance has taught you the basic skills to kick. Now we are going to finish that training, and at the end, I’m thinking of giving you a reward for sticking to it.” Arti explains to Kirlia. “This training is complete once you master your kicks.”

“Kir!” the Emotion Pokemon readies its legs.

“First, some refresh of the kicks you have done at the Musical Theater. There is no rhythm this time, so you will need to get used to kicking hard and fast.” Arti explains.

“Lia!” Kirlia swings its legs much like it did in the musical, but this time fast and random as if it’s fighting another Pokemon.

“Good, you have that part figured out, now here is your final lesson: the flying kick.” Arti presents the Emotion Pokemon with one final lesson. “This is the riskiest technique you will have to master, but many Pokemon who specialize in physical combat learn moves that use this technique. Now listen to how this technique is performed, jump forward and immediately get your legs into kicking position, let the force of the jump deal the damage to your target. Now try it out on that mound of sand over there.” Arti points to a mound of sand on his right.

Kirlia faces the mound of sand as it distances itself from it, followed by a jump. While in the air, the Emotion Pokemon stretches its legs into a kicking position and keeps them that way until it hits the mound of sand. Kirlia fails the technique at first, but after practicing many times, it manages to completely knock the sand mound over.

“Great job! You finally mastered all of the techniques that you are likely going to use in the future.” Arti congratulates the Emotion Pokemon. “Now I will give you that reward in which I have promised.”

“Li lia!” Kirlia lets out an excited cry.

Arti takes off his backpack and starts rummaging through its contents until he finds the Dawn Stone. He closes the backpack and wears it once more.

“Put out your hand, after you obtain this reward, you will now be called by an honorable name.” Arti explains to the Emotion Pokemon.

“Lia!” Kirlia puts out its hand as it can barely contain its excitement.

Arti places the Dawn Stone in Kirlia’s hand, light from the stone itself begins being absorbed into the Emotion Pokemon, which itself starts glowing a blinding light. After the light dissipates, Kirlia wasn’t the Pokemon occupying that spot anymore.

“I shall call you the honorable name of Gallade!” Arti calls the Blade Pokemon by its name for the first time.

“Gal” Gallade stares down at its new body, noticing its arms now being green with blades starting from its hands and jutting out from its elbows and a red protrusion coming from its chest. It starts swinging its arms, deciding to replace Mega Punch with Slash, looking at Arti for approval.

“Impressed, right? This form that you are in allows for better physical combat.” Arti explains to the Blade Pokemon happily. “Already learning a move after you have evolved? Go for it!”

“Gal gal lade!” Gallade exclaims excitedly, longing for a battle.

“Now now, let's be patient, we will get to a battle soon enough.” Arti says to make sure the Blade Pokemon saves its energy.

Before long, the familiar pounding footsteps approach the trainer and Pokemon, the headlights coming from the grainy wind growing closer. The familiar figure of the frozen Dragon-type returns with Mary and a battle-ready Krokorok.

“Welcome back!” Arti greets the group in front of him excitedly as he notices that the Sandile he had before has now evolved into a new Pokemon, “How did the training go?”

“It went as planned, Kyurem surprisingly has a lot of patience with a Pokemon who didn’t listen at first.” Mary notes what she has seen.

“Waiting for more than 3000 years requires a lot of patience, it may be a wonder to you humans, but this is not new for me.” the Boundary Pokemon confirms. “The training went as expected, but I decided to exclude the move Earthquake after I thought about how much you worry for others. You have the choice whether to allow Krokorok to use it.”

“Krok!” the Desert Croc Pokemon looks at Gallade in a surprised manner.

“Galla!” the Blade Pokemon does the same for the Pokemon looking at it.

“After seeing how tremors might be increasingly common, I decided not to teach Earthquake.” Arti gives his final decision.

“Dig is still a move that Krokorok knows, but instead of Bite, it knows Crunch. The other two moves it knows are Swagger and Foul Play. I didn’t know Kyurem taught strategies.” Mary talks about the moves while also being surprised.

“I was once a commander to the Pokemon part of the brothers’ army against invaders before I lost my original powers.” the Boundary Pokemon recalls.

“That’s amazing, no wonder you didn’t teach Krokorok based on power alone!” Arti is surprised at this new discovery.

“That’s very interesting.” Mary notes down said discovery.

“Anyways, we should head back to the Nimbasa Gym. I’m ready for a rematch against Elesa!” Arti says with a lot of energy and readiness.

“Before you take on that trial again, you must remember what Zekrom told you.” Kyurem tells Arti to remember.

“Right! Can’t forget about healing Pokemon during the battle.” Arti remembers as he draws both Krokorok and Gallade back into their respective Poke Balls.

“You can do this Arti, I believe in you!” Mary gives support to her boyfriend.

“I promise both of you that I will succeed this time.” Arti says with confidence.

The three start heading back to Nimbasa City as thoughts come up in Arti’s head, mainly about how he forgot to teach Gallade the right moves for this battle. He will keep this worry to himself as to avoid disappointing Mary and Kyurem.

 

[System Error]

Reading this on three hours sleep and lying down with one of my arms kinda pinned. So

- So it's ideal to win a Gym battle or something of the whatever?
- "Yeah you tried your best Arti. The world's doomed but we have each other!"
- Arti's response to battling is awkward yet very in character for his awkward self
- Elesa likes magnets? Also did she forget she could use Pursuit on the switch?
- Okay there it is.
- Well he got wrecked.
- Oh shoutouts to item use? And shoutouts to TMs too.
- Well I'd like to think that's how Earthquake would be used normally otherwise it'd wreck everything all the time
- Is he trying to teach it (High) Jump Kick?
- The evolution sequence is so dorky. I love it.
- And random actual move replacement, by the Pokemon itself
- And off camera evolution? That is...probably not the best idea.

Next time: he spams Full Restores like they're going out of style, or something.