Pokemon Revolution: Advent Phoenix (Rated T)

[EonMaster One]

Yeah, well, the chapter's short because I couldn't get it all up - the forums knocked me off soon after I posted the first part. So, here's the rest:

*** ~~~ ***

Kenjiro felt rather uncomfortable in this shop here in Dewford – a shop that was very clearly for young women’s clothing. However, Reivyn wanted to come in to see exactly what girls wore ‘out here’, as she had taken to calling the entire open world she now considered new. They had been in here for an hour, and it didn’t help matters that he appeared to be alone for most of that hour, as Reivyn tried on outfit after outfit after outfit, presenting herself to him just long enough for him to say – rather robotically – that whatever she happened to be wearing looked nice on her. Fortunately, she had enough common sense to realize when something was too big or too small.

But still...he’d been in here for an hour. Not that he had anything better to do right now, but...

“Kenji?” Reivyn was there again. This time, she was wearing a royal-blue, tunic-like garment with sky-blue trim that traversed her torso. The garment split at the thigh, revealing her burgundy shorts before stopping right at the top of her kneecap. Wherever she had picked this from, one thing was for sure – she had certainly made a good guess when it came to size – this garment fit her perfectly. Kenji saw the price tag hanging off of the garment at Reivyn’s right waist. It was definitely the cheapest one by far.

“Hm?” Kenjiro muttered. “Oh, um...do you want it?”

“Want it?” Reivyn said, looking furtively behind her, where a rather effeminate-looking man with very curly hair was sitting behind a counter and looking down at a piece of paper on his desk. “We can’t just walk out with it, can we?”


“No – I was going to pay for it,” Kenjiro said, very relieved that Reivyn was smart enough not to bolt as soon as he asked the question.

“You’ll pay for something and give it to me?” Reivyn asked. “Why?”

“Today’s your birthday,” Kenjiro explained. “That’s what people do. When someone celebrates a birthday, their family and friends get gifts for them.”

Reivyn let out a squeal of delight and hugged Kenjiro so quickly and so forcefully that she nearly tackled him to the ground. Kenjiro was surprised. You’d think that she’d never gotten a birthday present before.

Then he remembered – she hadn’t.

“Let me go for a second,” Kenjiro said. “I need to talk to the guy at the counter.”

“He scares me,” Reivyn said. “He’s...strange.”

“Tell me about it,” Kenjiro said – he could only think of two reasons why the hell a guy would be the sole cashier in a women’s clothing shop. “You stay here, then. Don’t leave.”

“Okay,” Reivyn replied as Kenjiro walked up to the counter.

“Er...excuse me?” Kenjiro uttered.

“Oh, hello!” the cashier exclaimed. His voice was high-pitched and airy. Perhaps Kenjiro wouldn’t have minded that much if he’d walked up to the counter with his eyes closed. He saw the origin of the voice, however, and this fact sent chills up his spine. “I notice you’ve been here for a while. Are you finding everything alright?”

“Just fine,” Kenjiro said, trying very hard not to look the man right in the eyes. “Listen – you see the girl standing near the door?”

“The one with red hair that came in here with you?” the man asked.

“More like I came in with her,” Kenjiro muttered. “But, yeah – her.”

“Ah!” the cashier gasped. “She looks positively exquisite!”

Kenjiro backed up a half-step – part of him was relieved that the cashier could at least act like he found any female attractive, but the use of the word ‘exquisite’ put Kenjiro off a bit.

“I’m – er...glad you think so,” Kenjiro muttered. “Er...I’dliketogetiforer.”

“Hm? Come again?” the cashier asked, at which point Kenjiro realized that he had run his words together.

“I’d like to get it for her,” Kenjiro said.

“A special present for your girl, is it? I’d be happy to help you,” the cashier replied.

“Erm...no, she’s not – well, it’s not like that...” Kenjiro replied quickly.

“No need to be shy,” the cashier said. “Young love is a beautiful thing.”

Kenjiro got where the man was coming from and would have been a bit less tense – except that he was missing the point.

“That’s not – damn it,” Kenjiro muttered in frustration, leaning over the table and whispering through his teeth. “It’s not like that. We’re not...we’re friends, okay?”


“Really?” the cashier said incredulously.

“What do you mean by that?” Kenjiro asked.

“Young man, why don’t you turn around and look at her?”

To oblige the cashier and ensure his continued helpfulness, Kenjiro cooperated. Reivyn was presently spinning around in the tunic she had tried on. Her long, scarlet hair flew out like a mane around her neck and her silver eyes were alight. Her mouth was open in a wide smile. It just so happened that no one else was in the shop presently to watch this scene. It was as if he was watching her move in slow motion...

“After working in this shop for so long, I am very in tune with the female heart,” the cashier said.

There’s not a lot of men that could say that and be telling the truth, Kenjiro thought to himself. I’m definitely lost.

“I can tell by looking at her,” the cashier continued. “She is not accustomed to being treated well. Did she have a difficult childhood? Do you know?”

“Yes,” Kenjiro replied confidently. “I’m sure she did.”

“Parents...abusive or just very uncaring?” the cashier asked.

“She didn’t know them,” Kenjiro replied.

“Oh, dear! How sad!” The cashier exclaimed, putting his hands to his mouth. “How did you come to know this girl?”

“We met last month,” Kenjiro said, hoping the cashier backed off before asking him something that he’d have a hard time answering.

“And how do you feel about her?” the cashier asked. “If you claim that you are ‘friends’...how do you feel about her?”

An easy question.

“I don’t know,” Kenjiro said. It was as if he had been waiting for someone – anyone – to ask him this question for weeks, just so he could verbalize an answer and try to make sense of it himself. “I had...I guess, kind of a similar childhood. She was raised somewhere where she was taught hardly anything about the world. I ran into her in a forest, and I’ve had to answer nearly all of her questions about the way things in the world work. She didn’t even understand the concept of celebrating birthdays. This is her first birthday present.”

“Birthday?” the cashier asked. “How old would she be?”

“Seventeen,” Kenjiro replied. “Seventeen years old.”

“I see...” the cashier muttered. “I’m sorry, I simply can’t allow you to buy that dress.”

“What?” Kenjiro growled.

“Just take it – no one else I’ve shown it to seems to want it,” the cashier said. “Just one thing – is your heart open?”

“Why do you need to know?” Kenjiro asked.


“As far as I can tell, no one has ever done as much as you have for her. One day – it might be today – she will love you,” he replied. Kenjiro let out a slight gasp and stared at the young woman in front of him, his ears receiving everything the strange cashier said. “Your heart will need to be open to receive her when that day comes.”

“I’ve never met many guys that work in women’s clothing shops,” Kenjiro commented. “And I’ve never met many men that would consider themselves fortunetellers. She will love me? How are you so sure about that?”

“Has she ever had the opportunity to love before?” the cashier asked. Kenjiro stayed silent for a moment.

“No,” he finally responded. “I don’t think so.”

“That would make you the most likely candidate, would it not?” the cashier asked quietly.

Kenjiro stared ahead for a moment, heaved a significant sigh, and raised his voice:

“Thank you for your business, sir.”

“You’re very welcome! Please come back soon!” the cashier shouted, as if all he and Kenjiro had done was exchange pleasantries and complete the sale.

Kenjiro walked up to Reivyn, who smiled.

“Happy birthday,” he said, not looking at her completely.

“Mm-hmm,” she hummed. A moment later, he felt fingers interlocking with his. “The happiest day of my life.”

Kenjiro looked at her. She was indeed smiling. Had one small, cheap birthday gift done that much for her? He saw the way she looked at him as they exited and walked down the road, hand in hand.

Was this what his brother talked about all those years?

He was now genuinely concerned for her physical and emotional well-being. His heart lifted whenever he saw her smile, and as a result, he was on this day happier than he had been...since that day...

“Where do you want to go next?” he asked.

Arcus blinked and watched the sea ebb and flow as he floated there for a few seconds. He saw all of the humans around him, swimming and playing in the water. He had no interest in them. He just wanted to be alone. None of them would talk to him, and he preferred it that way.

“<Not one for a hero’s reception?>” a witty, feminine voice sounded behind him. He’d heard that voice in enough arguments by now to know who it was.

“<Kind of soon for you to be up and about, isn’t it?>” he asked without turning around.

“<Not really,>” she answered. She swam in front of him and he saw that it was indeed Meru, having recovered. “<I’m tougher than I look.>”

Arcus looked away from her.

“<Let me guess – you didn’t need my help?>” he asked. “<I’m regretting it already.>”


“<Don’t be like that, Arcus,>” Meru said, frowning. “<I just wanted to say ‘thank you’.>”

“<Oh...>” Arcus said, a bit put out by the fact that he didn’t get the nasty response that he expected. “<Well, you’re welcome. Just don’t get yourself in trouble again. I don’t think I have the energy to rescue you twice in one day.>”

“<Fair enough,>” Meru replied. “<I didn’t expect anyone to save me the first time. I was kind of surprised that you came down after me...>”

“<You were expecting some knight in shining armor or something?>” Arcus said snippily. “<Sorry to disappoint you.>”

“<Is there any particular reason you’re always so testy?>” Meru asked. Arcus let out a growl. “<Sorry – I’m prying. Why’d you do it? I thought you would have rather seen me dead.>”

“<I don’t have any personal vendettas against anyone,>” Arcus said.

“<You hate everybody equally – I get it,>” Meru replied. “<All the more reason I’m surprised that you did that.>”

Arcus stayed silent for a second.

“<Because I knew I could,>” Arcus said. “<If I know that it’s in my power to save a life and I refuse to do it, that’s as good as murder, isn’t it?>”

“<I guess, when you put it that way...>” Meru trailed off.

“<Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you’re special or anything,>” Arcus said. “<I would have done the same thing for anyone else. I won’t have another death on my conscience.>”

“<What do you mean by –>” Meru began to ask, but Arcus quickly interrupted her.

“<That’s personal,>” he said. “<You can ask me until you’re blue in the face, and I won’t tell you a thing.>”

“<I’m already blue in the face if you take a good look,>” Meru replied wittily, beginning to swim away. “<But thanks for the memo.>”

“<Whatever,>” Arcus muttered, taking a look into Meru’s face and locking on her golden eyes for a moment as she swam around him.

“<You know...>” Meru’s voice drifted into his ears from behind him again. “<Maybe I was wrong about you. You’re not such a bad guy after all.>”

“<A compliment,>” Arcus replied. “<Maybe I should start keeping track in case I ever decide to care about what others think of me.>”

Meru let out a sigh of exasperation.

“<Maybe that was pushing it a little...>” she muttered, swimming off.



Travis felt the warmth of the sun on his bare back as he surfaced with a loud splashing sound. He blinked several times, his vision blurred by haze and by water droplets on his eyelashes. Once his vision recovered, he began to float backward. After a few seconds of daydreaming, he backed straight into something.


“Ack!” he choked as he felt two arms grab him around the stomach.

“Boo,” a girl’s voice sounded as she inched up to kiss him on the cheek. He reached behind him slightly and found her legs. She held on tightly as he carried her the short distance back to shore.

Once they reached dry land, she let go of him and landed on the coastline on her feet. He ran to their blanket and picked up one of the two towels they had brought with them. His feet made prints in the sand as he carried the towel back to her and she wrapped it around the bottom three-fourths of herself, following him.

He sat down on the blanket with a sigh and she landed next to him. They sat there in silence for a few moment, looking at the rest of them all. Half of these people came here for at least half a day at least half of all of the days of summer. They had responsibilities, but nothing out of the ordinary. Most likely, they never had countries or entire worlds depending on them. They didn’t have lives that had tendencies toward the supernatural and the unusual.

...and they, therefore, did not value these few moments of peace as much.

“I wonder what our lives will be like...” Katrina sighed. “After everything’s over?”

“Dunno,” Travis answered. “I guess it depends on how it ends.”

“So, when you do finally retire...what will you do?” Katrina asked.

Travis had never thought about it before – surprising, as there was a point very recently in his life that he thought his career as a Pokémon Trainer was over.

“Not sure,” he answered honestly.

“So...what if you do get it?” Katrina asked. “I mean, you have an equal shot of being Champion just like anyone else.”

“So do you,” Travis replied. “So, what would you do?”

“Well, after being Champion and helping to save Johto, everything else would be boring. I might pull a Shiro and just wander around the world aimlessly for a few years,” Katrina replied. Travis laughed. “You know what? I think you’d be a great teacher.”

“Teacher?” Travis repeated.

“At a Pokémon Academy or something,” Katrina replied. “You’d be a great Professor. Not to take anything from Elm, but how much better do you think we would have been prepared for life as Trainers if we’d had someone who’d been out there before?”

“I guess you have a point,” Travis said. “If he ever had a weakness, it was exactly that – he was never very hands-on. But...Professor? That’s a while down, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know...” Katrina said. “So, you never answered by question. What would you do after you became Champion?”

“The first thing is...” Travis almost answered a bit too quickly. Then, slowing his thoughts down, he said, “The first thing is that I need to get to the tournament. I can’t get to the tournament if I don’t have eight badges. I can’t get eight badges unless I beat the Gym Leader here. So...baby steps.”

“Right – baby steps,” Katrina replied, laughing. She turned around and pushed Travis down onto his back, hovering over him. “Off the record, though...any future with us in the picture is a future I wouldn’t mind much. What about you?”

“No...I wouldn’t mind at all,” Travis replied, smiling. She leaned down and kissed him on the lips.

“You are here,” an accented voice said. Katrina stopped working Travis over long enough to realize that she was now in shadow and looked up. Two people were standing over them.

“Lucky guess,” a girl’s voice said. Travis sat up so he could get a better look at them and immediately let out a groan.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Bad timing, I guess,” the boy said. Darkly, he added, “And just when you were starting to enjoy yourself, too...”

“I’ve been enjoying myself the entire morning, right up until ten seconds ago,” Travis said curtly.

“A little bit testy, aren’t we?” the boy replied.

“<What’s going on over here?>” All six Pokémon showed up in a group and arrived at the same time. Angel got a good look at the boy’s face. “<You again?>”

“I thought I was here offering an opportunity, but if you won’t listen, I guess we’ll have to find somebody else,” the boy said.

“ ‘Opportunity’?” Travis repeated. “Hold on, what are you talking about?”

“I’ve got a chance for you to show us what you’ve got, gunslinger,” the boy said, crouching down and showing Travis a flyer. Travis, investigating it, stood up, and Katrina followed suit, looking over his shoulder at the flyer as well.

“A tournament?” Katrina questioned curiously, looking up at the boy’s face. He had dispensed with the skullcap in today’s heat, revealing a full head of spiked-back and slightly messy brown hair with blond highlights. He was wearing dark sunglasses over his eyes (which Katrina and Travis knew for a fact were green anyway). Today, he was wearing an open red-and-black vest with black swimming trunks. “When does it – one o’clock?! That’s in less than half an hour!”

“Any reason for the short notice, Matthew?” Travis asked.

“Well, it’s a tourney of sixteen,” Matt explained. “Truth be told, we had all sixteen slots filled already – but one of the guys that was gonna participate just had one of those days where he would’ve been better off staying in bed.”

“What? How so?” Katrina asked.

“Well, he went out for his morning ride on his skateboard – a lot of guys around here do that – and landed on a rail the one way you don’t want to...”

Travis and Katrina winced. Having a would-be pro skateboarder as a friend, they knew all too well what this meant.

“And then he ate something that it turns out he has an allergy to, so now he’s breaking out all over his...” Matt started. Thinking that she knew where this was going, Katrina rolled her eyes at Matt right before he said, “...face, not to mention that his baby brother’s sick. We’re talking serious ralphing action all over the guy’s clothes – twice. It’s safe to say that he won’t be making it after all that, right?”

“I guess not,” Travis replied in a noncommital fashion.


“So...you can’t have a sixteen-man tournament with fifteen people,” Matt answered. “So, I thought I’d see if I could find you and see if you were up for it.”

“Okay – gotcha,” Travis said. Then, with a suspicious tone in his voice, he started, “You know, this seems a lot similar to something that’s happened before, but maybe it’s just me. You annoy us half to death, invite us to a tournament, and then try to turn me into a human popsicle. Granted, it’d be pretty hard to freeze anything when it’s this hot, but you probably have another plan to try and knock me off, right?”

“That’s really uncalled for,” Matthew said, folding his arms. “Get it through your thick skull – it was an accident. Stop being so damn paranoid.”

“You know what?” Travis snarled, stepping forward. “Let me tell you something about me – when I think someone’s trying to kill me, most of the time I’m right!”

“You must be really unpopular, then,” Matthew said nonchalantly. “If you weren’t always busy trying to pick a fight, you’d have less enemies.”

“I’ve tried not picking a fight – doesn’t work,” Travis said coolly.

“Why are you so stubborn? ****!” Matthew groaned. “I’m trying to be a good sport.”

“Really? That’s a switch,” Travis muttered darkly.

“C’mon, hear him out,” Katrina said, figuring she’d better try to calm Travis down before he got out of hand.

“Let’s not pull any punches here – the last time we battled back in Oldale Town, I handed you your *** on a platter,” Matthew said. “But I know you well enough to know you weren’t anywhere close to a hundred percent, so I don’t think our first battle proves anything. I figure, now that we’re back in the swing of things – I’m assuming that you’re here to get your third badge and not just for a vacation – you’ll show me what you’ve really got to offer.”

“That’s really classy of you,” Katrina commented.

“Classy? Please,” Travis muttered. “He’s planning on pulling some stunt to try to kill me.”

“Come off it already!” Matt groaned. “I wouldn’t kill off my best competition.”

“I know you wouldn’t – I said you’d try,” Travis replied coolly.

“Seriously, though...there’s a pretty damn good field of competitors. Whoever set this up sure invited the right people,” Matt said. “Brad Carmichael...Cliff Arland...”

“Cliff’s there?” Katrina asked, remembering the rookie from Littleroot Town.

“Yeah,” Matt sighed, sounding like he didn’t like the fact. “He’s decent, but he’s got a big mouth. He went to an Academy and thinks he’s got a leg up on everybody else. By the way...if you take me up on this offer, you’ll be battling him first. So...what do you say?”

“You’ve battled Cliff before,” Katrina commented.

“Not one-on-one, though,” Travis said. “That one Pokémon he had was pretty interesting.”

“The Grass-type?” Katrina asked.

“Yeah,” Travis said.


“He claims he’s evolved it,” Matt said. “Of course, coming from him, that could just be a load, but you never know...”

“Really?” Travis questioned.

“You think you should check this out?” Katrina asked.

Travis looked at her and raised his eyebrows.

The doors slid open to the Pokémon Center and then slid shut behind Kenjiro and Reivyn as they entered. Kenjiro’s intention was to go straight back to their room and relax, but Nurse Joy stopped them.

“Excuse me...you two are in Room 412, correct?” she asked.

“412? That’s us,” Kenjiro answered. “Why?”

“You wouldn’t know someone styling themselves ‘Dreadnaught’, would you?” she asked. “They left a message for a ‘Scorpion’.”

Kenjiro gasped.

“Is something wrong?” Reivyn asked.

“Let’s hope not,” Kenjiro answered.

After packing up their site and returning four of their six Pokémon to their balls for easy transport, Travis and Katrina followed Matt and Mariah a ways down the beach. After several minutes of walking, they saw a platform that seemed to be slightly elevated, about two feet off the ground, and filled with sand. They noticed that the area around this was particularly crowded and that everyone who had set up around here was more or less facing inward toward this large platform.

“Has this always been here?” Travis couldn’t help but ask.

“I wouldn’t say ‘always’, but it’s been around a while,” Matt replied. “From what I heard, the city uses it for anything it wants to do at the beach and attract attention. Tournaments, garage band concerts, karaoke...if it’s on the beach and it’s big, it usually happens right here.”

A boy whose hair certainly would have disappeared against the beach sands was standing on the platform by himself. He seemed to notice Matthew as he peered down the beach, because he shouted, “I guess you’ve found an opponent?”

“I’m first?” Travis turned toward Matt. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“Is it a problem?” Matthew asked. “I wouldn’t have been in such a hurry if your match was last or something.”

Travis let out a hissing sort of sigh.

“Damn it,” he muttered. Looking toward Katrina (who, like Travis, had re-garbed herself with the shirt and dress, not figuring to swim anymore today) he said, “Find a spot for us?”

“Okay,” Katrina replied, leaning in to kiss Travis on the cheek before walking off along with Crescent.

“Good luck,” Matthew said, passing by Travis and slapping him on the shoulder.

“Do I need it?” Travis muttered once Matt was out of earshot. “Probably not.”

He leapt up onto the platform. A referee (dressed in a blue vest and wearing sunglasses, but still carrying the customary red and green flags) seemed to register his presence.

“You’re our replacement, then?” the referee asked.

“I guess so,” Travis replied.

The referee asked for his name and hometown, and Travis promptly gave them. He was a bit relieved that this particular young man (unlike most people in Johto) didn’t seem to have any knowledge of his late grandfather, and therefore would not bring up the subject.

“Round One, Match One!” the young man shouted at the top of his lungs. “In the red corner, Cliff Arland from Littleroot Town!”

Cliff seemed to be hearing a lot more applause than Travis was, as he was waving to the crowd and beaming like a celebrity in a parade.

“In the green corner...Travis DePaul from New Bark Town, Johto!”

There were some murmurs of curiosity, which Travis sort of expected, being a foreigner and all. They probably would react the same way to Matthew. He looked at the boy across from him. He could feel himself trying to contain his energy like a nuclear bomb ready to go off. It had been several days...but he was finally in his element again. This was his escape...

Because, no matter what happened around him, he knew he could come to this place and belong.

This was his time.

[porygon181]

I think I officially hate you. You stink.

What kind of a butthead puts in a deja-vu tourney and then leaves us without a battle??

You hateful, hateful author.

[Air Dragon]

that's just his style... chill... XD

I thought something was missing... you gotta hate the forum lags when you least need them.

Oh, well... hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work i go...

L@er!

OK, onto reviewing part two: more shippiness and smushyness ^_^ *glomps EM1*

You're making me love Templeshipping the more you write about it, can't tell you more that that, but i'm thinking an image...

“<That’s personal,>” he said. “<You can ask me until you’re blue in the face, and I won’t tell you a thing.>”

“<I’m already blue in the face if you take a good look,>” Meru replied wittily, beginning to swim away. “<But thanks for the memo.>”

ooh, more sassmouthshipping! LOL!

She held on tightly as he carried her the short distance back to shore.

Y'know, i think this is better...

She held on tightly as he carried her for the short distance back to shore.

They sat there in silence for a few moment,

They sat there in silence for a few moments,

“Well, he went out for his morning ride on his skateboard – a lot of guys around here do that – and landed on a rail the one way you don’t want to...”

Travis and Katrina winced. Having a would-be pro skateboarder as a friend, they knew all too well what this meant.

Oooh now that'll leav a mark!

Travis replied in a noncommital fashion.

Travis replied in a noncommittal fashion.

yerse, beach tourney time!!! Awesomeness, Olivine and Cherrygrove all over again!

Nice second half, and i call the stops!

Catch ya on a later wave dude!

[EonMaster One]

Well, if you read the last chapter any, you’ll know that this following chapter is going to be mostly Pokémon battles.

(And if any of you read the first series, you’ll notice that this setup is vaguely familiar to you.)

Remember, though, there are also other things that are going on...

Let’s go!

Chapter 14: Dreadnaught's Order

June 9, PA 2013 – Dewford Beach

“In the green corner...Travis DePaul from New Bark Town, Johto!” the referee announced that he was dropping his name in the hat for this tournament as the new sixteenth competitor. The spectators – natives and tourists alike – were curious about the presence of a new face, judging by their intrigued murmurings. He heard a loud, high-pitched whistle that he was sure was coming from Katrina. He also heard a lone pair of hands clapping. He wasn’t sure who those belonged to.

“Now I recognize you!” Cliff exclaimed. “Still at it, are we? Let’s see if you can hold your own one-on-one against me!”

“I got back into the game after two years,” Travis said. “I’m not gonna let a few days throw me off.”

“For this round, the matches are two-on-two with no time limit!” the referee shouted. “Are both competitors ready?”

“Ready!” Cliff exclaimed.

Having already selected his first Pokémon, Travis yanked that ball off of his belt and confidently shouted, “Bring it!”

He heard loud clapping from his right and a voice.

“Show this rookie how vets battle!” he heard Matt shout.

Silently, Travis thought to himself, That I will.

“Round One, Match One!” the referee reiterated. “Ready – GO!”

“Let’s go, Jin!” the younger of the two Trainers shouted, throwing his ball into the air. Out popped a white, bug-like creature that looked a bit like a cicada. It had tiny, pale green wings that didn’t look like they were quite developed enough for flying yet.

“A Nincada – interesting,” Travis muttered. “Meru, let’s go!”

Out popped the Kitide from her ball, at least appearing ready to do battle despite the rather rough encounter she’d had with a Tentacool earlier that day.

“<You doing alright?>” Angel asked, half wondering why Travis would choose Meru, knowing that the latter had been hurt a bit earlier.

“<I’m just fine,>” Meru replied, looking at the Nincada.

“Meru, start things out with a Quick Attack!” Travis shouted. Meru planted all four of her feet into the ground and took off toward Jin, leaping into the air.

“Use Harden!” Cliff commanded. His Nincada emitted a strange sort of hum and began to glow white. When the light faded, he was much glossier-looking.

This happened just as Meru’s head connected with Nincada’s hardened body. She bounced up into the air a bit, not appearing to have done much damage with her attack.

“Now, use Fury Swipes!” Cliff yelled.

After about four or five nasty slicing sounds, Meru was sent flying back to Travis’ side of the field.

“No!” Travis groaned.

“<Tch...that was messed up,>” Meru grunted, rolling to her feet. “<I am definitely gonna be sore tomorrow...>”

“Well...we see what he’ll do against physical attacks, so we’ll have to change our approach...” Travis muttered. Then, raising his voice, he yelled, “Water Gun!”

Meru inhaled and fired a jet of water that came at Jin so fast that Cliff didn’t have time to issue an order. The water jet smashed into the Bug-type, flipping him over a full rotation. When he did land on his feet, he appeared very disoriented from the shock of the blow.

“You’re asking for trouble!” Cliff shouted. “Go, Jin! Shadow Ball!”

“Shadow Ball?” Travis took a second to register –

A second too long.

A small sphere of crackling dark energy shot forth from where Jin’s mouth would have been and impacted right into Meru, blasting her off her feet rather forcefully and kicking up quite a bit of sand in the process.

“Another Fury Swipes, Jin!” Cliff yelled. The Nincada began to scuttle along the sands right to where Meru was just rolling back to her feet. Jin leapt and aimed his claws down at Meru’s head, but Meru had the sense to jump out of the way before being skewered. Jin came after her again, and Meru dodged just as well the second time. The third time, however, Jin got his contact, knocking Meru to the ground with a vicious scratching attack. Cliff was elated. “Nice going!”

“That’s it! Quick Attack!” Travis yelled. Meru took off in a blur at Jin, who raised his guard and lowered his head.

“Harden,” Cliff said, sounding rather bored. Jin glowed white again and became even shinier. Meru reached the Nincada and, instead of ramming him, landed on his head and turned around.

Travis let out a laugh, a smirk on his face.

“What the – how’d you –“ Cliff stammered.

“Try defending against this!” Travis shouted. “Meru, use Water Gun!”

Meru leapt straight up and fired a Water Gun directly to the back of Jin’s head. The latter’s eyes rolled as the sudden impact made him dizzy. Meru jumped off him, kicking the white-coated Bug-type into the gritty sand at the same time. After all of this, Jin was still conscious, but most certainly standing on his last legs.

“<That maneuver looks familiar,>” Crescent commented.

“Yeah...” Katrina uttered in response. “I guess he does pay attention to my matches...”

“Finish him off! Bite!” Travis yelled. Meru leapt at Jin and caught one of his limbs in her teeth. Her mouth turned upward into a grin as she dove to the ground, rolling the Nincada over and smashing him into the sand rather mercilessly. Jin lost consciousness as Meru let go and rolled off him, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Nincada is unable to battle!” the referee announced, raising the green flag. “Kitide is the winner!”

“Tch...” groaned Cliff, returning Jin to his ball.

“Back in the saddle,” Travis said, pumping his fist calmly and smiling.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Matt commented, applauding with the rest of the observers.

“You got lucky,” Cliff said simply, enlarging another Pokéball in his right hand. “I won’t make the same mistake twice.”

“I’m sure you have a little more up your sleeve,” Travis said. Looking down at his Water-type, he said, “Meru, I’m thinking that you should rest up.”

“<Are you sure?>” Meru asked.

“You had a rough morning,” Travis replied. “Plus, I’m pretty sure he’ll be using a Grass-type next.”

“<...Eh,>” Meru sighed. “<Fine.>”

Kenjiro’s saffron eyes alertly scanned the dark innards of the cavern. It was cool and earthy, and a pin of light could be seen from the entrance at a bit of a distance. Kenjiro walked forward, a torch in one hand, and his handy weapon in the other. He walked forward, flagging the torch a bit and causing embers to bounce light on the rock walls of the yawning cave. As he pressed forward, he remembered the wording of the letter given to him by the nurse earlier that day...

There is a hermit by the name of Hong Liu, down in the depths of the Dewford Mines. He is an expert on legends and many consider him to be a wizard of sorts. He knows all sorts of information about the Blade Trinity and the legend surrounding Arceus and His Three Servants. Obviously, his information – let alone the man himself – in the wrong hands would be nothing less than devastating to His Majesty the Prince’s cause. Find this man, and warn him that he should go into hiding elsewhere, lest the Empire find and capture him.

“Kenji...what is this place?” a girl’s voice asked behind him. Distracted, he turned around and bashed his knees straight into a stalagmite, letting out a groan of slight pain. He whirled around to find a girl in a blue tunic walking up toward him, looking around curiously with a nervous finger to her lips.

“This is the Dewford Mine,” Kenjiro said, raising his torch so the girl could get a better look. “From what I’ve heard, a few years ago, people started digging in this cave. They found small stone particles.”

“Stone particles? A special stone?” she asked.

“I guess you could say that,” Kenjiro responded. “I’m not talking about these rocks – these are everywhere. The stones I’m talking about, well...when some Pokémon are exposed to these stones, they evolve.”

“Evolve?” she questioned curiously. “You mean, change form?”

“Exactly,” Kenjiro replied. “You see? You’re not so far behind everyone after all, Reivyn.”

The red-haired girl smiled. Then, in her normal curious manner, she asked another question: “Why are we here?”

“We have to find Hong Liu,” Kenjiro answered.

“Who’s that?” Reivyn queried.

“Honestly? I don’t really know,” Kenjiro replied. “The lettter says he’s a wizard or something.”

“Wizard?” Reivyn questioned yet again.

“That’s what Roald put on the paper,” Kenjiro sighed. “You remember him, right? Old geezer with dark skin?”

“I think so...” Reivyn replied.

“Anyway...we have to find this guy,” Kenjiro stated. “Hm? Damn! Dead end...”

He lifted his torch to a stone wall and scanned it.

“I could have sworn Roald said that Hong Liu was here...” Kenjiro groaned.

“Kenji...what’s this?” Reivyn asked, tapping something. Kenjiro turned to look at it. Hardly daring to believe their luck, he approached what appeared to be a mine cart, with rails and such to match. The rails seemed to lead...straight into a stone wall. Kenjiro raised his eyebrow and pointed his gun at the wall. He pulled the trigger, and the barrels spat forth a lightning bolt that zigzagged toward the wall and impacted into it. A slight rumble was heard as the wall exploded into several large boulders, which rolled into a newly formed tunnel and disappeared into the blackness.

“A mine cart...” Kenjiro muttered. “This can only lead deeper into the mines...which is exactly where we want to go!”

He jumped over the cart and landed about two feet deep inside it with a thunk. Kenjiro immediately saw to his left the lever that was no doubt used to activate the cart. Reivyn was standing behind the cart, looking rather unsure of herself. She placed her knee up onto the top of the cart, lost her balance and let out a slight scream as she toppled head over heels into the cart, ending up on her backside.

“Graceful,” Kenjiro commented sarcastically. Reivyn, who didn’t pick it up obviously, scooted back into Kenjiro’s lap, leaving him feeling rather awkward. He looked to his left and yanked the lever.

“Where are we going?” Reivyn asked as the cart started to move. “What happens now?”

Kenjiro pulled his arm back to where it was before he yanked the lever and found that it was resting on Reivyn’s shoulder. Dropping it immediately, he answered, “I have no idea.”

“I’m up first this time,” Travis said, gazing across the sand arena at his tawny-haired opponent. “Champ, let’s go!”

The Pokéball Travis threw burst open to reveal a green, gecko-like creature with a red belly and bulging, yellow eyes. His prominent, forest-green tail thumped from side to side as he eyeballed the opposing Trainer.

“Tsk tsk tsk...still first stage, I see,” Cliff commented. “You can only get by with your bite-sized buddies for so long. Two gyms...maybe three if you’re really good, but if you get to four and five with most of your Pokémon still unevolved, you’re gonna get your *** handed to you.”

“Speak for yourself,” Travis replied. “Show me what you’ve got.”

“Vipiri, let’s go!” Cliff shouted, throwing his Pokéball into the air. A rather sizable, light-green bird creature emerged. The leaf crest on his head was a healthy forest green, as well as his small wings and long, ostrich-like legs, which ended with stark white talons. He leapt into the air with a loud cry.

“What’s that...?” Travis muttered to himself, scanning the creature with his Pokédex. “Plumowl, the evolved form of Leafen. Wings have regressed, making extended flying difficult. Employs its long legs for altitude in jumping. Yeah...that’s altitude, alright.”

“Hit him with a Peck!” Cliff shouted. Vipiri descended upon Champ, his pale blue eyes locked in on the small Wood Gecko Pokémon.

“<Whoa!>” Champ grunted as he leapt out of the way. Vipiri turned around immediately and began pursuing Champ, who dodged a second Peck and then a third. Travis felt that it was now time to strike back.

“Champ, use Iron Tail!” Travis shouted. Champ skidded to a stop, his tail glowing white as Vipiri’s beak descended upon him.

With a loud clanging sound, Champ whacked Vipiri across the face with his metal-powered tail.

Katrina let out an exhilarated whoop while Matt groaned.

“Damn,” he said, wincing. “That’s like getting hit in the teeth with a sledgehammer!”

“Oh, no, no, no – we’re not going down that easily!” Cliff exclaimed.


“Really? Another Iron Tail, Champ!” Travis yelled. The Treecko took off after Vipiri with his tail still as hard as steel and glowing a bright white.

“Vipiri, jump! Get the hell outta there!” Cliff shouted warningly. Champ hit nothing but air as the Plumowl leapt very high.

Very high.

“Whoa, what the hell?!” Matt shouted, removing his shades to get a better look at Vipiri.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Travis groaned, shielding his eyes against the sunlight. “That’s, like, fifty feet!”

He looked back down toward Cliff, who had an expression on his face that was smug even for him.

“Wing Attack, Vipiri!” Cliff ordered.

“<I can’t see him!>” Angel piped up.

“<Oh, geez! My eyes!>” Champ groaned.

“<Don’t look straight at the sun, genius!>” Angel said, squinting.

“Damn it!” Travis swore.

BOOM.

There was a kick-up of dust, and Champ went flying into the air.

“<AGH!>” he groaned, smacking against the ground hard. Luckily, a bed of sand only hurts so badly upon impact. Getting to his feet, he muttered, “<Crap...would’ve done a few more sit-ups if I knew I’d be fighting today...>”

“Sorry,” Travis muttered.

“PECK ATTACK!” Cliff’s yell came from the opposite side of the field. A large fowl-like Pokémon appeared out of nowhere, right in front of Champ a half-second later.

WHAM.

“No!” Katrina groaned concernedly as Champ hit the ground again.

“Come on!” Matt groaned, banging his fist against the ground in frustration.

“He’s fast,” Travis muttered worriedly. “And Champ’s weak against Flying-type attacks...I gotta end this soon. Champ, use Quick Attack!”

“<On it!>” Champ said, disappearing in a puff of sand.

“What? Where’d he go?!” Cliff shouted.

“<Over here!>” Champ yelled, appearing on the right side of Vipiri and knocking him sideways with a quick flick of his tail. He then disappeared and reappeared behind the Plumowl a few yards away, whacking him again and throwing himself into a spin, catching Vipiri with the tail several times before finally knocking him to the ground and disappearing again. In another cloud of dust, Champ reappeared mere feet in front of Travis and skidded to a stop.


“Not bad,” Cliff commented. “At least you’re putting up a battle.”

“I don’t put up battles – I win them,” Travis replied with determination. “Champ, use Iron Tail!”

“Mind your head, Vipiri!” Cliff warned the Plumowl to duck – just what Travis had been waiting for.

“Champ, south!” Travis yelled simply. The Treecko, who appeared in midair right above Vipiri’s head and was rotating in midair to deliver more force to the attack. Vipiri had his head bowed in order to avoid a high strike, but Champ continued to rotate as gravity took effect, slowly pulling him down toward the ground. When he reached the Plumowl’s long legs...

CRUNCH.

...he delivered a crushing blow with a spinning Iron Tail, sweeping Plumowl into the air. The second strike whacked the Spring Fowl Pokemon’s body, sending him across the sand arena, where he landed on Cliff’s side with a thump.

“<Can’t beat a good sinker,>” Champ commented, coming to a stop and landing on the ground rather unsteadily. “<Whoa...>”

He hit his knees on the ground.

“<Are you okay?!>” Angel asked.

“<I’m good...>” Champ said a bit weakly. “<Just spun around a couple of times too many, that’s all...>”

“Plumowl is unable to battle! Treecko wins!” the referee announced. “Advancing to the Round of Eight – Travis DePaul from New Bark Town!”

“Take a rest,” Travis said, returning Champ to his ball. “Good work.”

He leapt down from the platform and ran around it to where he’d seen that Katrina had set up. Matt and Mariah were next to her, and the latter was already on his feet.

“Good stuff,” he said. “You had me worried for a second.”

“No kidding?” Travis replied, sounding noncommital and a bit standoffish as he sat down on the blanket. He suddenly felt hands working on his shoulders and leaned his head back.

“You sure didn’t make that one look easy – that’s for sure,” Katrina said.

“I’m doing the best I can here,” Travis said coolly. “I hadn’t battled in about a week, and this was spur-of-the-moment. Don’t I at least get an ‘E’ for effort?”

“Well, you won, so I guess I can only complain so much,” Katrina said.

“Right,” Travis commented. “But that Plumowl’s pretty impressive, isn’t it?”

“I could handle him better,” Matthew piped in.

“I hate to say it, but you’re probably right,” Travis said.

“ ‘You’re probably right,’ he says,” Matthew repeated, smiling smugly to Mariah. “At least I get a little respect.”


“You’d get a little more if you weren’t always talking crap,” a voice sounded as Matt and Mariah found themselves in shadow. Standing above them was a sandy-haired boy of about twelve who did not look the least bit happy.

“You had your shot, Cliff,” Matt said with an extremely annoyed tone in his voice. Travis only noticed at this point that the accent Matthew had spoken with as a twelve-year-old had all but disappeared. “Go away.”

“Don’t talk to him like that!” a girl in a rather skimpy-looking schoolgirl outfit ran up to Cliff’s side.

“You again?” Katrina commented, sounding as annoyed as Matt.

“Jadyn, stay out of this,” Cliff said. “This is between me and Matt – at least, it was, before he started bringing his little friends into the picture. I see right through you, Matt.”

“Oh, really?” Matt lifted his shades to his forehead as he laid back on his elbows smugly.

“You’re the type that lives off dumb luck,” Cliff said simply. “You get the one win against the guy that you’d have no shot in hell of beating one time out of ten. Then, when he wants a rematch, you hide behind somebody else and let them do your dirty work.”

“I don’t need anybody to do my dirty work. I can kick your *** myself,” Matthew retorted sharply. “You know, that’s the problem with you Academy *******s. You always wonder why you lose matches to no-count, average Joes like me, right? You don’t work hard enough to beat me. That’s why. You’re ‘privileged’, so you don’t have to work.”

“I work very hard, in fact,” Cliff said.

“That’s really easy when you’ve got a starter with one-of-a-kind rarity and sponsorships,” Matt said calmly, standing up. His eyes narrowed dangerously, alarmingly similar to how Travis’ face looked when he was upset. However, Matthew’s green irises only served to make this facial expression more frightening. His voice calm and low, he said, “But you try starting a journey from the slums of your hometown with a half-month worth of your dad’s child support. Then you can lecture me about ‘hard work’.”

“Wait a second...am I missing something here?” Travis muttered. Katrina sighed.

“You should have gotten to know a little bit more about Madeline when she was with us,” Katrina said. Travis frowned, immediately realizing that Katrina had a good point. Madeline, Matthew’s twin sister, had been Shiro’s girlfriend (and still was, as far as Travis knew). She started out as a rather plain girl that wanted a chance at an ‘extraordinary’ life – a life that was bigger and better than the one that she had. Travis knew from comments that Madeline made that neither she nor Matthew had gone to an Academy, but he really didn’t know all that much about her background. “Their parents are separated.”

“That’s right,” Travis muttered into the ground. “That one time she said something about her family being in ruins...”

Madeline had a rather hard time of things because of her involvement with Shiro and eventually the Lineage War. In that war, she lost her half-brother and sister, enemy agents who turned against Angelos in order to protect her. At that point, Matt was also missing.

“Is something wrong here?” the voice of a boy prompted everyone to look to the left. A teenage boy was standing there, wearing a black muscle shirt and blue shorts with black trim. He had slightly curly, shoulder-length, dirty-blond hair. His eyes were also hidden behind aviator shades. He was rather tall, although Travis thought he’d still be shorter than Shiro, who had grown at a horrifying pace in the last two years and now towered above either of his childhood friends, at a height just shy of six feet. “What is this? The couples’ corner or something?”

“Brad? Isn’t your match up next?” Matthew asked.


“Five minutes,” the boy said. He looked to be in his mid-teens or so.

“Tch...this is getting ridiculous,” Cliff muttered, rolling his eyes.

“Piss off, then,” Matthew replied simply. Cliff gritted his teeth and looked like he wanted to say something nasty, but turned around and walked off, his girlfriend (at least, that’s what Travis assumed, as the two were always together) Jadyn in tow.

“That was kind of testy,” Brad remarked. “What was all that about?”

“Sore loser,” Matthew answered a bit tersely. “So, what brings you here?”

“Oh, I just wanted to congratulate the guy that won that match,” Brad said. Turning to the blue-haired boy, he said, “Travis, was it? Good comeback.”

“Thanks,” Travis said, standing up. “So, your name’s Brad, right?”

“Yeah,” Brad replied. “Brad Carmichael – Tangelo Island.”

“Tangelo?” Katrina repeated. “Orange Islands?”

“Right,” Brad answered.

“That’s a nice hop, skip, and jump to get here,” Katrina commented.

“Matt told me about you two,” Brad said. “Looks like he was right about you. I can tell by the way you battle – you’ve definitely been there before.”

“You’re no slouch yourself,” Matt replied. “Mr. Former-Orange-League-Champion.”

“Orange League Champion?” Travis repeated in astonishment.

“Only for a year,” Brad answered modestly. “I lost it last year to this chick – come to think of it, I think she said her last name was Marius, too...”

“Did she have brown hair?” Matt asked quickly.

“Yeah, she did, actually,” Brad replied. Travis and Katrina gasped.

“You don’t think –“ Travis started.

“It fits,” Katrina replied.

“What do you mean, ‘it fits’?” Matthew asked.

“Last year, Madeline went with Shiro out to the Orange Islands to find her – I mean, your – father,” Katrina answered. “So, she would have been there at the time.”

“Did you say her name was Madeline? Rings a bell,” Brad commented. “I know this much – she had really strong Pokémon. Pikachu and Nidoqueen are the two I can think of off the top of my head.”


“Pikachu...that’s Sparx,” Katrina commented. Sparx was a female Pikachu that Travis owned back in 2011. She was quite strong, streetwise, and a bit sarcastic. Actually, Travis thought that Meru reminded him a bit of the Pikachu That fall, Travis came to find out that she and a Growlithe of his that he called Hotshot were an item. Since, initially, the word was that he would probably never be able to journey again, he ended up releasing the majority of his Pokémon. Serge, who was by species a rare Tyrogue evolution known as Hitmonzen and was (even at Angel’s concession) most likely Travis’ strongest Pokémon, went back to Union Cave to train with his brother (whom Nate apparently owned and subsequently released.) Cannon, a Wartortle known for his strong Water Gun and wacky personality, was released back into the sea (to Angel’s relief).

However, he lacked the ice water in his veins necessary to be heartless enough to separate Hotshot and Sparx. Therefore, he figured that, as both wanted to see the world, he would give them over into the ownership of Shiro and Madeline, respectively. This worked very well, as the Pokemon’s personalities were almost mirror images of their new Trainers.

“A Nidoqueen, too...that’s gotta be her,” Travis added. Matthew and his sister, Madeline, both started with Nidoran corresponding to their genders. Both eventually reached their last stage of evolution. Apparently Madeline still had hers, but...

“Hey, Matt...” Katrina began to ask. Travis wondered if she could read his mind as well. “Didn’t you have a Nidoking? What happened to him?”

“Traded him,” Matt replied simply. Travis’ jaw nearly hit the ground.

“You traded him?!” he nearly shouted. At that moment, he heard an announcement calling for Brad Carmichael. He didn’t catch the other name.

“Well, later, guys,” Brad said.

“Good luck,” Matt piped up.

“Luck’s got nothing to do with it,” Brad replied confidently.

“Yeah, but ‘good skill’ sounds stupid,” Matt answered. Brad laughed and walked toward the arena platform. Meanwhile, Travis, Matt, and Katrina sat down, the first of these three still open-mouthed at the second’s revelation. The third looked rather surprised, too.

“You traded him?” Travis repeated. “I don’t really know what possessed you to do that. If I had a Nidoking that strong, there’s no way in hell I’d –“

“You might if someone offers you a Torchic egg,” Matt interrupted him. Travis bit his lip. “There’s a Nidoran nest right outside of Goldenrod City. But a Torchic egg...you don’t just find those on the street.”

“True...” Travis conceded.

“Besides...” Matt muttered to himself, “I wanted a new challenge.”

“You take this ‘work ethic’ thing pretty seriously, don’t you?” Travis asked.

“You’re damn right I do,” Matthew answered. “It’s the stuff upsets are made of. When one guy has what looks like an obvious advantage, how does the other win as often as he does? It’s simple – his hard work and determination makes up for his disadvantage in size, skill, or whatever disadvantage he might have. And if you have talent and hard work...well, then you’re damn near unbeatable.”

“Sounds like something a coach would say,” Katrina commented.

“Speaking of hard work and talent – I think you need to watch this match,” Matt said, pointing up at the platform. There was Brad, the tall, dirty blond-haired teenager they had met minutes ago, occupying the green corner. In the red corner was a boy that looked like he was about fourteen or fifteen, sporting a haircut with limp fringe and jeans that looked like they had been intentionally ripped at the knees.

“Eh...” Travis grunted, looking away for a moment, thinking that this guy’s style of dress and hair reminded him of a certain Gym Leader that had (at least, at one point) a not-so-secret crush on him.


“Something wrong?” Katrina asked, picking up on Travis’ little murmur.

“I don’t get the whole emo bit,” Travis replied, folding his arms. “Why is it so popular? It’s depressing just to look at.”

“For someone who looks down on emos, you act like one quite a bit,” Katrina remarked.

“No, I don’t,” Travis retorted.

“I guess the first week or so of our journey was an out-of-body experience for you,” Katrina said.

“You’d be depressed, too, if you didn’t win a match for an entire week,” Travis groaned.

“Hey – old married couple!” Matt shouted, getting their attention. “I thought we were paying attention to the match.”

“Hey, I take offense to that!” Katrina exclaimed indignantly. “I’m younger than you are!”

“MATCH!!!!” Matt exclaimed very loudly, bringing everything to silence. Then, smiling, he said, “Thank you.”

“Round one – match three!” the referee announced.

“Match three?” Travis repeated. “Did I miss something?”

“Not really,” Matt replied. “The guy you’ll be facing beat his opponent really quickly.”

“Oh,” Travis said rather stupidly.

“BEGIN!” The referee shouted. Both Trainers yanked out their Pokéballs like gunslingers in an old Western.

“Sableye!” the emo Trainer shouted, throwing a ball into the air. Out popped a purplish-black creature that looked a bit like a gremlin. It had eyes that looked like huge diamonds and sharp-looking teeth. Travis went to scan, but Katrina was on it already.

“Sableye – properties of Ghost and Dark-types, never seen that before...” Katrina muttered to herself. “Makes use of attacks such as Night Shade to defeat its enemies.”

“Interesting – Ghost/Dark-type combination – geez, what beats that?” Travis muttered.

“Let’s go!” Brad shouted, throwing his own Pokéball into the air. Out popped a small, aquatic-looking creature with a blue, oblong body. Sprouting from its head were two large, golden antennae that seemed to be crackling with electricity.

“Hey, that’s a Chinchou, isn’t it?” Katrina asked.

“I think so...” Travis said, scanning the creature. “Yeah – that’s a Chinchou, all right. Water and Electric-type attacks.”

“Did you catch this guy’s name?” Matthew turned and asked Mariah.

“I think his name was...Zack Troy or something like that,” Mariah replied. Just as she made this comment, the match started:

“Sableye!” Troy made the first move! “Use Scratch!”


The Gremlin-like Pokémon took off after Chinchou, his black claws bared to strike. A confident smile crossed Brad’s face.

“Chinchou, dodge it,” he said simply. Chinchou jumped backward, leaving Sableye swinging down into the sand and kicking up a large amount of it. Sableye was now caught in a cloud of sand, and Brad seized his first opportunity to go on the offensive. “Use Bubble!”

Chinchou spit forth what seemed like dozens of tiny little bubbles that floated into the cloud, which cleared – but a second too late for Sableye, who was caught completely unawares, to avoid the many small bubbles exploding on him like tiny grenades.

“Use Night Shade, Sableye!” Troy yelled. Sableye rounded his hands and formed a transparent ball of energy that had a crackling, black outline. He fired it at Chinchou, who was nowhere near quick enough to dodge the fast-moving bullet of energy, and took it head-on, falling to the ground and yelping in pain.

“Alright, can’t take anymore of those,” Brad muttered as his Chinchou struggled to her feet.

“Still not done yet?” Troy asked.

“We’re just getting warmed up,” Brad replied confidently.

[EonMaster One]

~~~ *** ~~~

The next thing they knew, they were speeding through a dimly lit tunnel, the rattling of the mine cart assaulting their senses.

“Do you know –“ Reivyn said, letting out a slight scream at an especially rough spot on the track that nearly jarred her from her place. “...where this cart goes?”

“Deeper into the cave,” Kenjiro grunted. “Where it stops – your guess is as good as mine.”

“Wherever it’s going...” Reivyn commented. “It’s going quickly – ouch! ...and painfully.”

Kenjiro looked to his right and left and saw several roles of holes on the right and left sides of him. He heard a whizzing sound that he knew couldn’t be good.

“GET DOWN!” Kenjiro shouted, forcing Reivyn into the bottom of the cart as arrows zoomed past his head, missing him by mere inches more than once. He looked down at her. She was apprehensive and panting, sweat dripping down her pale face. He felt her quick, pronounced breaths on his lips and nearly lost himself for a moment, until it registered with him that the reason they were this close to each other was that they were taking cover and in mortal danger. He noticed the area around the cart brighten slightly and eased back into a sitting position, pulling Reivyn up along with him. Now, he was at the front of the cart.

“What happened?” Reivyn asked.

“Booby traps, apparently,” Kenjiro replied. He turned around. “Now that we’re through those, we should be...”

He looked to his left and noticed masked men in a cart on a neighboring track. They both appeared to be wielding crossbows.

“Great,” Kenjiro groaned, loading his gun. “And there’s a welcoming committee.”

Kenjiro turned over his shoulder and looked down the railway. He noticed that both tracks were going over some sort of underground bridge that appeared to be rather lengthy. He also noticed that both tracks would soon be parallel.


“Leave this place,” one of the masked men said as the tracks drew parallel to each other and they began crossing the bridge. “You are not welcome here.”

“The hell I’m not!” Kenjiro shouted, firing his gun right at the masked man, who disappeared into his own cart. Kenjiro swore and ducked a crossbow bolt that he just barely noticed was coming. He groaned, “This is ridiculous!”

He emerged from the cart and fired two shots, quickly ducking back under before he could receive any retaliation.

“Did you hit one?” Reivyn asked. Kenjiro frowned.

“Who are these guys? Bandits?” Kenjiro muttered. “It’s like they knew we were coming...I hope we’re not too late.”

Kenjiro gave a sigh of relief as he realized that they were in a tunnel and therefore out of harm’s way as far as those mystery masked men were concerned. He then looked up and saw slots in the walls of this narrow tunnel. He looked to his left and right, also, and saw bones. Many bones.

Human bones.

Then he realized something – in every skeleton he saw, the skull was on one side of the cart, and the bones of the body were on the other. He saw a gleam down the tunnel and his eyes widened as he realized what was going on.

“DOWN!” he shouted, putting his hand on the top of Reivyn’s head rather forcefully. He and Reivyn ducked immediately as they heard a sound that sounded suspiciously like blades ringing through the air. Looking up almost in amazement, he muttered, “Holy ****. He’s got axes in the walls, too? Whoever this guy is, he must not want to be bothered.”

“Kenji!” Reivyn sprang up and pointed. “We’re at the end!”

“That’s good, right?” Kenjiro muttered. “Why are you acting so – wait a minute...we’re not slowing down, are we? And what are those boxes?”

“To cushion our fall?” Reivyn said in a questioning tone.

“With solid wood? I don’t think I like that,” Kenjiro replied quickly.

“Something’s in the boxes, then?” Reivyn asked. Kenjiro had a horrible thought at that point.

“We’re not sticking around to find out!!!” he yelled, grabbing Reivyn tightly and leaping out of the cart. They cleared the boxes, seemingly in slow motion, seconds before the cart rammed into them. The entire setup went up in a blaze of Megacite energy. Kenjiro, drifting backwards, saw the full effect of the explosion. Planks and splinters of wood whizzed past their heads as they barrel-rolled in midair, holding tightly onto each other and creating a picture worthy of an action film. As dust flew from the dying explosion, Kenjiro landed on solid earth on his back, Reivyn falling on top of him and using his body to break her fall. They skidded for several yards before coming to a stop, stones, dust and wood falling all around them. Finally, everything went silent.

“Agh...” Kenjiro panted. “I...am gonna...beat...the living...hell...out of Roald.”

Reivyn, still breathing hard from exhaustion, rolled off Kenjiro and sat up.

“Screw this,” Kenjiro muttered, closing his eyes. “I’m tired.”

Reivyn watched him rest for a moment – flat on his back on this bed of earth, with his arms spread wide away from him. She leaned her head down inside the crook of his elbow.

He flinched a little, but he didn’t move. He kept thinking about what that shop owner had said to him a day or two ago. He wondered if he should have taken it seriously. The man was...eccentric, at best. But, at the same time, he did have a valid point. The affection of a person (or of a Pokémon, for that matter) usually gravitates toward whoever he or she feels did the best by him or her. And in her case, he was that person, was he not? That was the way things had ended up.

“Not the best place for a snooze, hm?” a wizened-sounding voice rang through the cave. Kenjiro’s eyes snapped open and he found that he was looking up into...an upside-down face. The first distinguishable thing about him was his mustache, which was white with age and draped down over his lips to his waist. He had a beard that was slightly shorter and also white. His head, which Kenjiro could barely see from the angle he was laying, appeared to be completely devoid of hair. He was wearing a white robe and carrying a staff that actually looked rather fancy for an old man’s walking stick.

“You have any better options?” Kenjiro asked, mostly joking and slightly annoyed.

“Hmm...I could,” the old man said, as if he knew something that Kenjiro didn’t.

“Look,” Kenjiro sighed, sitting up and looking up at the bald-headed man. “I’m looking for a guy by the name of Hong Liu. If you don’t know him, you’re wasting my time.”

The old man’s eyes were obviously dim, but Kenjiro could have sworn that he saw a glint there when he said ‘Hong Liu’. Maybe it was a trick of the light, though...

“I know him – very well, in fact,” the old man. “For one must know oneself to live with oneself.”

“You’re Hong Liu, then? Your riddles aren’t that good,” Kenjiro said, standing up. Reivyn was left sitting but decided to pop to her feet as well.

“I am, indeed,” the old man replied. “Now, come – believe it or not, I have a house here in this cave. I have not had guests for so long...”

“I wonder why that is?” Kenjiro muttered, sure that the old man couldn’t hear him.

“No one has the persistence to make it all the way here – that is why,” Hong Liu said. Kenjiro gulped inwardly – ears in their prime wouldn’t have been able to hear what Kenjiro said word for word...and this guy had to be at least... “This is the year 2013, is it not? That would make me about...one hundred and fifty-seven. That’s it. You were just now wondering how old I am, were you not, young man?”

Kenjiro stopped dead in his tracks. He didn’t know which was more unbelievable – the fact that this guy claimed to be 157 years old, or the fact that he could apparently read minds.

“Uh – Hong Liu...sir...there’s a problem,” Kenjiro said quickly. “You see, when we were on our way down here, we ran into these guys...”

“Masks? Crossbows?” Hong Liu asked.

“Yes,” Kenjiro answered.

“Ah, don’t worry about them,” Hong Liu said good-naturedly. “They’ll know you have my permission to be here once they see you with me. If you didn’t – well, I would have killed you on sight.”

Normally, Kenjiro would have taken a comment like this as a terrible insult, but there was something about Hong Liu that made him not want to argue the point.

Sableye came charging in, his dark claws raised to attack Chinchou, who held her ground and forced Sableye to break through a string of Bubble attacks. At the last second, she evaded the wildly-swinging Sableye, who took a header into the ground from overextending himself during the previous attack.

The expression on Zack Troy’s face was stoic.

“Enough playing around,” Brad said. “Finish him off, Chinchou! Use Spark!”

Chinchou began to crackle with electricity and leapt into Sableye, instantly electrocuting him and knocking him out.

“That Chinchou must be pretty powerful,” Matt commented. “A field like this usually makes Electric-type attacks a lot less effective.”

Seconds later, both Trainers had returned their Pokémon to their Pokéballs. Troy’s eyes closed as he went for his second Pokéball.

“Let’s go, Makuhita!” Zack Troy shouted, throwing a Pokéball into the air once again. All of a sudden, Travis felt somebody slap his right arm rather forcefully.

“Hey,” Matt whispered. “Pay close attention.”

“Hm?” Travis uttered.

“The Dewford Gym Leader – Brawly’s his name – uses Fighting-type Pokémon. I hear Makuhita’s one of his moneymakers,” Matt replied. “So you might want to make a note of this one’s attack patterns if you plan on going to battle Brawly after this.”

“Oh,” Travis said, not meeting Matthew’s eye. “Thanks...I guess. I wonder what Brad’s gonna respond with?”

“Let’s roll, Cactadder!” Right on cue, Brad summoned forth his Pokémon. Travis raised an eyebrow, not having heard of ‘Cactadder’ before. The ball burst open on the sandy ground to reveal a snakelike creature over three feet long with spines all up and down its coiling, lime-green body. The hair on its head was a bright ginger color. It drew itself up to a height and hissed at its opponent.

“Hmm...never seen that before,” Katrina commented.

“Cactadder...Poison-type, found most often in desert areas,” Travis read excerpts from his Pokédex scan and paraphrased them.

“Cactadder, start it up with Pin Missile!!” the messy-haired Brad shouted first. The Adder Pokemon’s spines glowed and seemed to begin to fire themselves at Makuhita, who stood firm and took them to the gut.

“Too tough,” Zack Troy said simply. “Makuhita, use Arm Thrust!”

Makuhita seemed to attempt to punch Cactadder from the opposite side of the field. It was obvious for about four seconds that Makuhita’s arm simply was not long enough to reach the green-colored poison snake. On the fifth second, Makuhita’s arm appeared to extend...and keep extending. The other arm soon followed, and Cactadder found himself on the other end of two unfriendly fists ready to strike.

“Constrict!” Brad shouted. Cactadder bounced into the air and wrapped his spiny body around Makuhita’s extended arms, snapping them together rather painfully and lodging himself into them with the spikes. Makuhita winced.

“Ouch,” Matt muttered.


“That’s a good move,” Travis commented.

“Makuhita can’t do much without its arms,” Brad commented. “If you can’t find a way out of this, you might as well give up before I really start fighting back.”

“Yank him back toward you and prepare Vital Throw!” Troy exclaimed. Brad shook his head.

“Bite Attack!” he ordered. All at once, Makuhita’s arms began to retract, bringing Cactadder back toward him. Cactadder opened his mouth, revealing four large, poisonous fangs aimed with malicious intent at Makuhita’s round head. Makuhita tilted his head, dodging and nearly allowing Cactadder to fly past him like a poisonous, spiny missile. Makuhita attempted to grab Cactadder’s sharp body and –

“MA-KU!!!” the yellow Fighting-type groaned in pain as some of the many spikes surrounding Cactadder’s body pierced his hands. He promptly dropped the Poison-type Adder Pokémon, who proceeded to land in the sand with a thump and immediately lash out at Makuhita’s ankle, grabbing hold with his sharp fangs. Makuhita, groaning in pain, pounded Cactadder on the head with one of its round, stubby fists and then wildly kicked it away. He then began to favor the opposite arm as Cactadder bounced against the sand and back to Brad’s side of the field. Makuhita seemed to be struggling to stay on his feet.

“Ah...” Matt uttered. “Cactadder’s poisoned him. Makuhita doesn’t have a hell of a lot of time before the venom takes effect.”

“Makuhita, Tackle!” Troy shouted. Makuhita bounded across the sand and launched himself at Cactadder, who twisted out of the way, lashing Makuhita’s shoulder as they passed each other. Cactadder slid to a stop as Makuhita hit the ground rolling. Both turned around and looked at each other...

Makuhita began to slowly sink...

And then he was down.

As the referee announced Brad as the winner of the match, Matt, sounding very much like some sort of color commentator, remarked, “I’m surprised Troy put up that much of a fight from the jump – he didn’t have much of a chance. Not only was he at a type disadvantage, but Cactadder’s attacks are so explosive and quick that Makuhita didn’t have the speed to switch from attacking to defending in time to avoid Cactadder’s fangs. Cactadder moves pretty quick normally, but that speed is nothing compared to how quick it attacks. It’s moving along and then – WHAM! – you’re toast before you know what’s hit you.”

“I guess you’re impressed, then,” Travis sighed. Matthew definitely had a way with words, but Travis secretly thought that it might have just been because Matt liked to hear himself talk. He let out a sigh and eyed the ring.

“What’s wrong?” Katrina asked.

“If this match was any indication, I’ll have to deal with Brad Carmichael before I even start worrying about what Matt’s got up his sleeve,” Travis muttered. “If that’s the case...I have to figure out a plan for stopping that Cactadder.”

“Yeah...” Katrina sighed in agreement.

“You’re okay, aren’t you?” Travis asked. “Not feeling... left out or anything, are you?”

“No – I’m fine,” Katrina replied with a smile. She sat across Travis’ knees and kissed him. “After all,” she said, “I get the first crack at Brawly.”

“You can have it,” Travis answered lazily. “I’ll be too tired after all this.”

“You’re messing with me,” Katrina said. “You’re not tired.”

“When’s your match, anyway?” Travis asked Matthew.

“All the way at the end...” Matt groaned, shaking his head. “I’m ready to go now, damn it, and I have to wait four more matches before I can!”

“So, you’re in the last bracket...” Travis mused. “Well, you get a chance to see what everyone’s got first.”

“I guess...” Matt sighed.

“I just thought of something,” Katrina gasped. Leaning over to Travis’ ear, she asked in a low voice. “Do you know where Kenjiro and Reivyn went today?”

“Kenjiro said he’d leave us alone until we were done here,” Travis replied, nearly in a whisper. “Besides, he can take care of himself, so I wouldn’t worry about him.”

The old sage, Hong Liu, led Kenjiro and Reivyn down a long tunnel and, after what felt like an eternity, they emerged from it to see an enormous cavern. Kenjiro thought he heard rushing water and found that he was right – to their left, a rushing waterfall gushed forth from a hole in the stone, falling into a lake and pooling there. The small waterfall seemed to sparkle red, blue, and yellow in some places.

“It’s so beautiful!” Reivyn whispered. Kenjiro genuinely expected this reaction and didn’t really pay much mind to it, mainly because he was looking at the fact that, sitting in the middle of this huge cavern were a house, made in an oriental style, as well as a garden. There seemed to be small pillars in the back of this gargantuan cave and, from this distance, Kenjiro could judge neither their height nor their function.

“What?” Kenjiro muttered. “There’s no way this is Dewford – the mines were never this deep.”

“You are quite right,” Hong Liu said, even though Kenjiro was well out of earshot. “This is not Dewford Island.”

Okay, that’s really starting to creep me out, Kenjiro thought to himself.

“My apologies,” Hong Liu said. Kenjiro made a noise similar to someone who had stubbed his toe and was trying very hard not to yell out. “In any case, welcome to my humble home. We are underground on an island five miles northwest of Dewford.”

“How would we get back if we needed to?” Kenjiro asked.

“Well...there are ways...” the old sage replied. “But no matter.”

“Are you really a wizard?” Kenjiro asked.

“ ‘Wizard’? Is that what they call them nowadays?” Hong Liu asked incredulously. “When I was your age, the title was ‘wise man’. I wouldn’t call myself one, though.”

“But you do know magic,” Kenjiro said. Then, figuring he had better turn this statement into a question, he added, “Don’t you?”

“I suppose you would have a few skills at my age,” Hong Liu laughed modestly.

“Yeah, I don’t know what the lifespan was in your day, but there aren’t a lot of people that live to be a hundred, let alone a hundred and fifty,” Kenjiro answered.


“Well, the people of my time certainly regarded me as something a bit out of the ordinary,” Hong Liu admitted as humbly as possible. “After all, in those days, unless you were a nobleman with good medicine, the best a healthy man could hope for in those days was about sixty years or so. Not bad, perhaps...sixty years was quite a bit of time to be getting along with. There were not so many things to do back then. Today’s world...oho, too busy for an old man like myself! I prefer to relax.”

“This place is peaceful,” Reivyn sighed. “Where does this waterfall come from?”

“Up above,” Hong Liu explained. “A small crack in the rocks lets water in from the sea up on the surface...so these falls are natural, actually.”

“Looks like you have fragments of evolution stones coming through here, too,” Kenjiro commented. “Water Stones, Fire Stones, Thunder Stones...”

“That’s half the reason that I want my peace and quiet,” Hong Liu explained. “Goodness knows that if others found this place...it is truly unique, you see. It has a certain magic, a certain...sacredness about it.”

Kenjiro looked around. Somehow, he realized in that moment that he could not bring himself to do as he’d been instructed – not yet, at least. He watched Reivyn, whose eyes were fixated on the waterfall in front of her. The sheens of the many stone fragments contained in the cascade of water illuminated her full-moon eyes with different colors. She blinked twice, tore her eyes away from it, and looked at Kenjiro, almost as if she had just realized something unpleasant.

“Have you found the way out?” she asked.

“Something wrong?” Kenjiro questioned. She did indeed look nervous.

“If they come down here, we’ll have nowhere to run,” Reivyn said, sounding concerned. Kenjiro knew exactly what she meant, but he had a simple answer for her problem.

“We’ll have to fight, then,” he said. Reivyn’s face fell.

“Why do we always have to fight?” she asked. Kenjiro pondered the question as he turned around and watched Hong Liu, who was continuing toward his strangely-located house and garden.

“It’s our lot in life, I guess,” Kenjiro replied. “If there were no wars to fight...it would be so easy to take peace for granted. But everyone doesn’t....he doesn’t. He’s probably having himself one hell of a time up there, and who can blame him? In the back of his head, he probably wonders if he’s got enemies sneaking right up behind him, ready to pounce. Somehow, though, he’s able to enjoy the few moments of peace he has...”

He shook his head.

“I’m rambling,” he muttered. “Let’s go inside.”

Hong Liu had already done so; Kenjiro and Reivyn were left to deal with a tall, young man standing in front of the garden. He was very tall and strong-looking, perhaps twenty-five to thirty years of age. A leaf-green headband held in place his long, black hair, which had a limp feeling that gave it the impression of being slightly wet. His eyes were a dirty green color strongly reminiscent of leaves and earth. He wore a garment with a stiff collar that was mainly green, along with white pants. Kenjiro noticed a ring on one of the fingers of his right hand, which looked to be clutching a rather long bo staff. Silently, the man extended it toward Kenjiro.

“What is your purpose, traveler?” the man asked.

“I need a word with Hong Liu,” Kenjiro said simply.

“A likely story,” the man said. “But I know better.”


“Wait a second –“ Kenjiro gasped, recognizing the man’s voice. “The guy with the crossbow...that was you, wasn’t it?!”

“State your business,” the man said.

“I would like to speak with Hong Liu – I told you already!” Kenjiro shouted impatiently.

“About what?” the man said.

“Potential enemies,” Kenjiro replied. “There are people who would want his power – whatever it is – and he needs to go into hiding.”

“Master Hong needs not uproot himself and run somewhere else,” the man said. “I, Creon St. Galtea, will suffice for his protection. As for you – I cannot let you leave alive, lest you expose my master’s hiding place.”

“So, you’ll try to kill me, hm?” Kenjiro said, pulling out his gun, cocking it, and pointing the weapon straight at Creon’s head. There was a standoff for a while.

“Kenji...” Reivyn whimpered. He had to make sure that, whatever happened, she was not injured in the fight.

“Again, the arrogance of modern men...” Creon said.

There was a blast like a shotgun, and just as Kenjiro realized that he had not pulled the trigger, his gun went flying from his hand. It hit a rock face near the waterfall and exploded into pieces, all of these fragments falling into the water and sinking deeper and deeper.

Kenjiro grimaced. It seemed that his time for putting off the truth had run out.

“There are powers in this world that you cannot comprehend,” Creon said, continuing to point the bo staff (which had just betrayed its true strength by issuing forth a jet of silver light that had blasted Fenrir, the trusted blade-gun that Kenjiro crafted himself three years ago, out of his hand) at Kenjiro’s forehead. To Creon’s surprise, Kenjiro smiled.

“Oh, I think I understand a little bit better than most,” he said, reaching around himself to the back, inside of his traveling cloak and pulling out twin weapons.

A scream burst forth from the innocent girl behind him, reverberating in the cave of the hermit Hong Liu and the mind of Kenjiro Kazaki.

[Oathblivion]

Darn it, I had a review for the last chapter that I could've swore got posted. Oh well, here I go.

Chapter 13. It wasn't my favorite chapter, to be honest, but it served its purpose so I can't say that I didn't like it. The plot got moved along a bit more, mainly in relation to Kenjiro and Reivyn's relationship, and Travis is back to his new-old self. It was nice seeing all the pokemon again, and needed. Through all the pirating and angsting I had almost forgotten about Meru and Arcus. Yeah, I know. Bad reader. T.T But hey, you, the author, have taken into consideration those who have memories befitting goldfish and given us a chapter to breathe with. Right before going at it again in Chapter 14...

It seems like it's been ages since we've seen a good pokemon battle ,not that seeing Travis slice people to bits isn't fun. And the two in this chapter didn't disappoint. Of particular intrest is the new Cactadder. Why did Gamefreak let Seviper in when there is this kind of genius in the world. Honestly, one of my new favorites isn't even official... Man I feel like I'm reading Dragonfree's work again. Why do you do this to us!? WHY!? Ahem, yeah.

Matt seems to be less of a miniature beast of burden; good news for me. I liked him back at the Cherrygrove tourney. And finally we get news of Shiro and Madeline, but what's this? Madeline is the one who won a huge title? Hm, I'm busy trying to think of how Shiro'd react to that... ... ... I got nothing. Finally, more Kenjiro/Reivyn action. whole scene of the mine cart and underground house reminded me, simultaneously of Donkey Kong Country, Naruto (no offense here, Kishimoto redefined my thoughts of ninja ^^), and Merlin's house in Kingdom Hearts. I suppose it's a gift to be able to find humor in the most serious of things, but...

Anyway, good two chapters, and kudos for getting them up so fast. I like you liking to be able to post chapters at your own leisure. Don't let it die too fast, okay? Please? -Oath

[EonMaster One]

Actually, Cactadder, as well as Pyrika, were AD's Fakemon. Seriously, where was this guy when they started filling the 4th Generation with unnecessary evos/prevos of 1st-Generation Pokemon?

And actually, that mine cart scene was inspired from recently having seen the mine cart scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. O_O

I actually pull something from just about everything I watch.

[Kazekage]

Seems like I've suddenly become a closet reader! But all in all here is my review of the fic, in general, and the latest chapter.

Fic in general- What can I say, it has everything, from sword fights, to satanic temples, from cute little fakemon, to evil political scandals, more action then PR:J, a little less adventure, but its only begun, so I'm sure you'll get that in there. Great job, truly a great fic. (Maybe even award winning if you know what I mean ;P)

This chappie- Good chapter, the Pokemon came back, which was good, cause there are some moments where I forget that this is a Pokemon fic. (Maybe its just me) But yeah, they've been nicely devoloped, and the nostalgia from reading it, and remembering the tourny was amazing. One thing that bugged me was, that Matt traded his starter, I mean come on, yes a Torchic egg that makes it pretty much okay, but it still kinda gets to me, that Matt would trade his starter pokemon.

Happy writing!

Edit: Hope you didn't forget about my Fakemon...lol... Sorry, just getting a bit anxious, its the first really good Fakemon I made..

[EonMaster One]

Well, I figure that if the writers of the anime can get away with forcing Ash to release a Pokemon whenever they consider it to be too strong (particularly in the cases of his Charizard and his Primeape), I can have Matthew trade away one.

Here's the catch. You'll find out (albeit several chapters down the road) what the circumstances were surrounding this trade.

[Air Dragon]

and i can't wait! sorry, pokemon pearl and kicking Cynthia's sorry a** kept me from reviewing sooner...

Nice start and altogether brilliant portrayal of the fakemon. to answer yours and Oathblivion's question why, i had no idea how to get my ideas to nintendo. i still don't and after mutilating the pokedex with characters like lickilicky (God i hate that name!) i don't feel that they deserve that sort of humiliation...LOL!

Back to chapter: sweet as ever, plenty of plot furtyerment and i am anxiously waiting for more... ihave to update too, but hey...

well no grammar errors to speak of, so that's another plus.

L@er!

P.S. your commission's on its way!

[Castform]

PHYSICS IS KICKING MY A** =.=

Anyway, good chapters, I would type more if I weren't in a rush to school right now. >.> and I am sure i could find at least one grammar mistake, that is, if i have the time =.=

EDIT: btw I have just seen three scanning over it ^.^ which is good news for me, I am not of a job ^.^

[EonMaster One]

You’ve probably had a few questions about this guy ever since you saw him in Chapter 2, right? Well, hold your breath, because some questions are about to be answered now about our favorite rogue.

Yes, there’s still a tournament going on up on the surface, but that’s not important...yet.

Chapter 15: The Wise Man and the Wanderer

June 9, PA 2013 – Hermitage Cavern

Reivyn let out a scream as Kenjiro pulled them from the inside of his cloak. Two, eight-inch-long knives with diamond-shaped cross sections – the image of the weapons that she often employed in combat. These two, however, seemed worn, and on their tips were black spots that were obviously dried blood that, for some reason, Kenjiro had never bothered to wash off.


“Melee weapons...” Creon said, lowering his rod to the ground, his straight, sable hair flapping behind him. “You are not a complete coward, then.”

“I made a vow not to use these until the time was right,” Kenjiro said. “By destroying Fenrir, you force me to break that vow. For that, the punishment can be nothing worse than a painful death.”

“You dare threaten me?!” Creon shouted, twirling his rod above his head. “You, without the least bit of the knowledge of the forces that –“

“I wouldn’t bet on that,” Kenjiro said aggressively, the two knives beginning to glow amber in his hands.

“You came to Master Hong seeking more power, then,” Creon said.

“You know, stubborn people that can’t accept making a mistake really make me sick,” Kenjiro said. “So, why don’t you just put the stick down and step out of the –“

There was another gun-like blast, as a spark of silver light shot forth from the end of Creon’s staff. Kenjiro watched it sail past him, missing his head by inches.

“That wasn’t very nice at all,” he said loudly, charging. Creon shot forth several more jets of light from his staff, but Kenjiro dodged all of them, charging Creon and raising his dagger to strike.

He missed Creon’s face by inches, and the long-haired man responded by using his free hand to grab Kenjiro around the throat, forcing him backward. Kenjiro saw blue lights flicker in front of his face as something smacked into his jaw and sent him flying. He hit the rock floor and bounced once, rolling to a stop in front of a very worried and frightened Reivyn.

“Kenji!” she exclaimed.

“I’m – fine,” he grunted, struggling to his feet and panting.

“Now where was the young man that – there you are!” an elderly-sounding voice exclaimed. Hong Liu had come back out of his home to find Creon in front of the garden and Kenjiro several dozen yards away. “Creon, what’s going on here?”

“This guy says he wants to talk to you,” Creon replied. “About what, he wouldn’t tell me...”

“He came here with me – didn’t you see him?” Hong Liu reprimanded. “You must learn to pay more attention, Creon.”

“Yes, Master,” Creon groaned, his head lowered.

“Now, I want you to show our guests inside,” the sage ordered.

“Follow me, then,” Creon said grudgingly, beckoning to Kenjiro and Reivyn.

Kenjiro turned in Reivyn’s direction.

“Come on,” he said. Reivyn stepped away from him. “Come on – what’s wrong?”

“Just...go,” Reivyn replied. She was not meeting Kenjiro’s eye now. He was confused.

“You can’t stay out here by yourself,” he said, starting to sound desperate. “Please...Reivyn, come inside.”

“No,” Reivyn said with such finality that Kenjiro gave up immediately.


“Don’t wander off,” Kenjiro said with the air of a sitter talking to a five-year-old, following Hong Liu and Creon inside. Reivyn sighed and her gaze returned again to the underground waterfall.

This was what he had not told her.

She felt the crushing weight of hurt and disappointment on her heart – the weight one feels when one’s trust has been violated. Yet, for her, this was the first time. She trusted no one to care, nor have her best interests at heart. And yet, the one person she did trust had turned out to be a mask, hiding his true identity from her.

She needed a way out – but where would it be? As far as she could gather, she was miles underground; if that weren’t bad enough, even if she made it to the surface from here, she would have to find a way across five miles of water between this place and Dewford Island. She would be relatively safe there...after all, he said that they wouldn’t chase her across water –

Then again, it was he that said it, so she could not be sure now. What if, somewhere in Dewford Town, there was a contingent of acolytes and Temple Knights waiting for her as soon as she landed?

What if he’d had this planned all along?

Could she trust anyone now?

Don’t wander off, he’d just said. He wanted her to stay right where she was. Before, he had always advocated moving as much as possible to keep them off her track. Now, there was this unpleasant change...

It was the story of her sad existence. She had grown up alone, and she was going to die alone...with no one on her side.

She collapsed in front of the pond, looking at her kneeling self in the clear water. She adjusted her scarlet hair, as her hands had nothing to do. Thinking of something, she stretched her hand toward the water. It grew still and began to shake. Closing her eyes, she visualized what she wanted done with the water, where she wanted it to go...

She swung her hand in an arc over her head, opening her eyes. A huge jet of water had leapt up from the pond and followed her hand, sprinkling her with a mist as it passed overhead before slamming into the earth below with a great splash.

“A dragon, made entirely of water – very beautiful,” a woman’s voice made Reivyn jump and whirl around. Standing there was a woman most likely in her twenties. Her auburn hair was tied into two large plaits that hung at the sides of her head. She also had a headband around her forehead, much like Creon’s except that it was dark blue to go along with her outfit. Around her neck was a choker that appeared to be set with one solitary ruby. She seemed to be armed with two short swords – thankfully, neither of them were in her hands, which were covered by black fingerless gloves. “Where did you learn how to do that?”

Reivyn didn’t answer.

“What’s the matter? Meowth got your tongue?” the woman asked, tilting her head. “What’s your name? You do have a name, right?”

Reivyn remained silent, taking a step back and making a mental note of where her kunai were located.

“Is something wrong? You look a bit on edge,” the woman said.

“I want to go back to Dewford,” Reivyn said finally.


“Where’s the young man that was with you?” the woman asked. Reivyn’s heart gave a jolt – at some point, this woman had been spying on her. Reivyn’s silvery eyes darted toward the hermit’s home. “On the cart?”

How did she know about the cart ride??

Reivyn took two quick steps backward, drawing her weapons.

“Crossbows,” she muttered.

“That? Oh, it was nothing personal, trust me,” the young woman laughed. “We’re just a bit...protective of Master Hong, you see. I don’t want to fight you.”

Reivyn understood these words very clearly. With a sigh of relief, she put away her daggers.

“My name is Agnes St. Galtea,” the woman said with a smile. “My husband and I stumbled upon this place by accident ten years ago, and we’ve been protecting it – and Master Hong – ever since.”

“Creon?” Reivyn asked, thinking directly back to the long-haired man that had gone inside with Kenjiro.

“Creon’s my husband, yes,” Agnes explained. “Now that I’ve volunteered all of that information, would you mind at least telling me your name?”

“Reivyn,” Reivyn finally said.

“That’s a beautiful name,” Agnes commented, continuing to smile endearingly in the hopes that the red-haired girl talking to her would know that Agnes meant her no harm.



“Well, at least you know where everything is,” Kenjiro commented, for Hong Liu had just shown him a huge map of Hoenn that appeared to be accurate at least up to the year 2010 – as current as a low-detail map needed to be.

This house was quite small on the inside. It was a single-floor house and composed mainly of five rooms.
Kenjiro was presently inside the room that was used for the living room, the dining room, and the study. This was the largest of the rooms, forty feet by forty feet. On the walls, rather high bookshelves lined the walls on the rooms far corners. On the left side was the aforementioned map. On the right ticked a clock. Kenjiro realized with a jolt that it was now just past three in the afternoon, assuming this clock was right. It felt like it had been a lot longer than three hours since he’d received the letter at the Pokémon Center, traveled with Reivyn all the way to the cave, and then endured the rather frenzied cart ride that landed them here. Also on the right was a scroll of what appeared to be runic symbols. Although Kenjiro was curious about them, he couldn’t bother giving it a second look – he didn’t understand runic symbols anyway.

In the middle of this room sat a table with four chairs. Kenjiro was sitting on the chair nearest to the door, and the one opposite him was occupied by Creon, who sat there with his staff in his hand, eyeing Kenjiro with a look of utmost suspicion.

(The other four rooms, Kenjiro gathered, were the lodgings of Hong Liu and Creon, on the left and right sides respectively, along with adjoining bathrooms for each.)

“I do not choose to lose touch with the outside world – that is foolish,” Hong Liu said sagely, running over the map with his old, wrinkled fingers. “I merely choose not to live there – and all for the best, if the rumors I hear of today’s Hoenn are true.”

“What rumors?” Kenjiro leaned his elbows on the wooden table, intrigued at the sage’s comment.


“I hear that King Elvanan has died – as recently as a year ago,” Hong Liu said, sitting down in the chair to the left of the room.

“It is true,” Kenjiro said.

“How sad...” Hong Liu’s manner suddenly became more somber. Granted, the topic of conversation was a man’s death, so this was in order. Kenjiro, however, got the feeling that Hong Liu had some kind of connection with the late monarch. “It feels as if I’ve lost a grandson...”

“Lost a grandson?” Kenjiro repeated. “Did you know the King?”

“Elvanan’s father, King Valorian II, liked to ask me for advice from time to time,” Hong Liu said heavily. “I like to think that Valorian considered me a friend, even...but I saw much of Elvanan’s life. When the boy was born back in 1950, I was one of the first to know. I watched him grow from a baby into a strong man, and when he found a bride, I was given the task of performing the ceremony. When Valorian passed away in 1980, he recommended that I stay on as Elvanan’s advisor. But there were some that feared my influence...the chief of them being a young man named Malachi...”

“Gorba,” Kenjiro muttered.

“Yes, that was his surname,” Hong Liu replied. “He convinced the court that the task of chief advisor was better suited to someone younger.”

He let out a laugh.

“Truth be told, he had a point,” the wizened old man chuckled. “I was, of course, nearing a hundred when Elvanan was born – so by the time he became king, I was very old indeed! That, however, was not the reason that Malachi Gorba sought to oust me. He just needed an excuse. Malachi was a very intelligent boy, yes...but also very ambitious.”

Kenjiro supposed inwardly that, when a man had lived for over a century and a half, it was well within his rights to call anyone presently nearing the age of sixty a ‘boy’.

“He wanted the position for himself,” Kenjiro said.

“Yes, and who could blame him?” Hong Liu chuckled again. “To be the right-hand man of the king – most men would give their right arm for an opportunity like that! Me, though...I’d had my fill of politics, so when Gorba did that, I graciously stepped aside and left the capital. Then, Gorba began to send men after me, spreading vicious lies that I was plotting to overthrow Elvanan. I ran for my life for nearly twenty years. I doubt that Elvanan was aware of Malachi’s vendetta – he would have put a stop to it. Then, when I ran as far as I could without leaving Hoenn, I found this place – and I’ve lived here ever since.”

“Hmm...I’m sorry,” Kenjiro sighed.

“Sorry? Why?” Hong Liu asked.

“The reason I came down here was because...Gorba’s plan for you has changed,” Kenjiro said.

“Elvanan had twin boys, right?” Hong Liu asked. “Their names were – oh, I can’t remember for the life of me...”

“Elrik and Edgar,” Kenjiro answered. “Edgar is the king now.”

“It must have been tough for Elvanan to choose one of his sons over the other...” Hong Liu commented.

“Elvanan didn’t choose,” Kenjiro said flatly. “He died before he could, and Gorba made the decision for him. He thinks Elrik is a threat to Edgar’s, and therefore his own, power. Now the same thing that happened to you years ago is happening to Prince Elrik.”

“What is the prince doing about it, then?” Hong Liu said. “Surely, he cannot start a war against his own brother!”

Kenjiro sighed.

“It’s complicated,” he said. “No, not a war...not yet. Elrik doesn’t have that kind of support. His force is probably about a thousandth of the strength of Edgar’s Imperial Army.”

“Imperial...” Hong Liu repeated, sounding numb with disbelief.

“Edgar plans to set himself up as an emperor. I’m not sure if this was Gorba’s direct decision, but his influence is definitely there,” Kenjiro explained. “Either way, it hasn’t been very good news for Hoenn. Half the kingdom’s under martial law now, and you can’t think a bad word about Edgar or Gorba for fear of getting whacked to death by an Imperial Knight.”

“Totalitarianism...?” Hong Liu asked, sounding fearful.

“Headed in that direction,” Kenjiro answered grimly, inclining his head.

“No! Elvanan never would have stood for it!” Hong Liu let out a groan of anguish.

“Now, Gorba wants to use your power – this ‘magic’ or whatever you have...to frighten all of Hoenn into submission,” Kenjiro continued. “Then, when he no longer finds you useful...”

“No!” Creon shouted, jumping to his feet. “Master Hong...what should we do?”

“It won’t be long before the Imperials find this place, too. You set up some damn good traps, but they wouldn’t all be enough to stop an entire battalion of Imperial Knights. That’s not to mention what they could do if they get their hands on the stone fragments down here...” Kenjiro muttered very quickly. Taking a deep breath, he finally said. “I suggest...that you leave this place and seek asylum in another country.”

June 9, PA 2013 – Dewford Beach

Just as quickly as Travis’ second-round opponent had won his match in the first round, Travis showed him the door in less than three minutes. As if this act laid down a definitive challenge, Matthew won his match in two and a half minutes – so quickly that, by the time Travis returned to the beach (for he had left to answer the call of nature) the match was already over. At that point, there was an hour’s break for the remaining four competitors – Travis, Matthew, a deceptively-skilled brunette girl named Liza Flynn, and Brad, whom Travis would be facing for the first spot in the finals.

This one-hour break was quite merciful, as it allotted the competitors enough time to scamper down the road to the Pokémon Center in order to heal their Pokémon’s injuries and fatigue, then scamper back before the semi-finals started.

Here at twelve minutes past three, Travis was just finishing his scampering – with three minutes to spare before his match. Brad was already down on the beach, talking – or, the right term is probably flirting – with a group of bikini-clad teenage girls that had been watching the entire tournament. Travis wondered what kind of wild stories or funny jokes Brad was telling to get this group of three lovely ladies to hang on his every word. Granted, Brad had been an Orange League Champion and therefore only had to embellish his life so much...

But as he caught Katrina’s eye and watched her spring to her feet and run to him, he was glad that he didn’t have to think up stories to impress her. In any case, anything he could ever think up would be pretty lame standing next to the story they had actually lived through...

“You barely made it!” she said breathlessly, throwing herself upon him and pecking him on the cheek. “Your match starts in, like, two minutes!”

“Brad doesn’t seem to be in a hurry,” Travis said, pointing out the curly-haired boy among the group of girls.

“Ha ha...” Katrina let out a laugh. “Typical boy.”

“Did you ever find out how old he is?” Travis asked.

“Turned fifteen in May,” Katrina answered. “Oh – and get this. You know how he said Madeline beat him?”

“Yeah...so she’d be the defending Champion this year, right?” Travis questioned.

“Actually, according to Brad, she just took the trophy and left. They had to have an entirely new tournament to decide who would defend the title next year,” Katrina said. “Guess she didn’t like the idea of staying in one place for a year.”

“Guess not,” Travis laughed.

“Will Travis DePaul and Brad Carmichael please come to the arena? Your match is about to start,” a referee with a megaphone got Travis’ attention immediately. He gave a start, and Katrina giggled.

“Guess it’s go time,” he said nonchalantly.

“Have a plan for stopping Cactadder yet?” Katrina asked.

“My best stuff’s on the fly – I’ll tell you after I get up there,” Travis answered. Katrina shook her head.

“Good luck,” she said, laying one on his lips before returning to her spot. He smiled and made his way up to the platform. As he watched her sit down, he saw Matthew lock eyes with him. In that second, they communicated wordlessly:

You’d better win, gunslinger.

I can handle this. You just focus on your own match.

His feet felt the sand under them as he looked across at the curly-haired teen, who leapt up onto the arena coolly and confidently.

“Let’s see how this plays out!” Brad shouted. “Come on, I’ve got three phone numbers riding on this match!”

“That’s too bad,” Travis responded. “I thought you were here to win. Oh, well – how’s this sound? I eliminate you from the tournament, then you have all the time in the world to talk to girls. Everyone wins, right?”

“If you think you’ll get rid of me that easily, you’re dead wrong!” Brad yelled.

“BEGIN THE MATCH!” the referee shouted, raising both of the flags.

“First off!” Brad yelled, throwing his Pokéball into the air. “Elekid!!”

“Eh...” Travis grunted as he saw the creature – yellow and black, with what looked like a plug sticking out of his head. He hadn’t planned to see an Elekid – he’d have to rely on a pseudo-type advantage. “Okay...Champ, let’s go!”


The Treecko burst forth from his ball with a backflip and eyed Elekid, who swung his arms as the plug on his head crackled with electricity.

“Champ, use Abs–“ Travis started...but Brad was too fast for him.

“Elekid, Quick Attack!” he shouted. No sooner than he had issued the order, Elekid was off. He came in a golden blur toward Champ, who had no time to react...

WHAM.

The crowd let out a collective groan as Champ took a nasty clothesline to the throat and rotated very strangely in midair. He struggled to his feet and his bulbous, yellow eyes narrowed to slits. Elekid’s clawed fist came barreling into Champ’s field of vision. The Wood Gecko Pokémon ducked under the fist only to see another one. He jumped away from Elekid, landed immediately, and pivoted, aiming his tail right at Elekid’s head. Elekid blocked the Pound with one arm.

“Thunder Punch!” yelled Brad. Elekid’s crackling fist came in hard and fast, but not fast enough.

“Champ – block it and use Iron Tail!” Travis ordered. Using his forearms, Champ stopped Elekid’s electrified punch in its tracks. With one huge heave, the Treecko swung Elekid’s arm outside, leaving his body exposed. With two steps, Champ used Elekid as a stepladder, spinning around quickly and delivering a crushing blow with his glowing tail. Champ made contact, sending Elekid sprawling across the arena of sand. The resilient Electric-type managed to roll to his feet after a while, but the last attack had obviously done some damage.

“Not bad,” Brad commented. “Not bad at all. But it’ll take more than that to beat my Elekid!”

“There’s more where that came from,” Travis answered. “Trust me.”

“Elekid, use Quick Attack!” Brad ordered.

“Champ, you, too!!” Travis shouted.

The two Pokémon became blurs skirting over the surface of sand. In the center, they met and bounced off one another...

...Then again...

...and again...

...and again.

“They’re an even match!” Matthew commented.

“Come on...” Katrina craned her neck to get a better view of the action.

“Thunder Punch!” Brad shouted. Elekid reappeared, skidded to a stop, then took off toward Champ, who planted his feet in the sand and braced.

“Champ, stand your ground!” Travis yelled. Elekid came with the punch...

Champ caught Elekid’s arm, negating nearly all damage from the attack as a spiral of sand surrounded the two.

“He blocked it!” Brad groaned.


“Champ, push him back!” Travis commanded. The two Pokémon grappled, each struggling to acquire his footing on the gritty terrain.

“Thunder Punch!” Brad shouted. Instantly, Champ’s arms withdrew from Elekid’s as if he had sustained a burn, leaving him virtually defenseless when Elekid’s fist approached...

Champ took the blow on the chin and went airborne.

“Damn!!” Matt groaned. Champ recovered in midair, skidded to a stop on one knee, and looked up –

“Finish him off! Another Thunder Punch!” Brad yelled. Travis smirked. He was ready.

“Store energy for Iron Tail – but don’t use it!” Travis said loudly enough for Champ to hear.

“<Don’t quite understand the game plan here, but if you say so...>” he said, closing his eyes as his tail began to glow a bright white.

“Iron Tail again?” Matt muttered.

“What’s Travis waiting for?” Katrina wondered.

Elekid continued to approach...

“You’re running out of time, come on...” Katrina whispered...but Matt’s patience was spent.

“HEY! PAY ATTENTION – YOUR TREECKO’S ABOUT TO GET KNOCKED INTO NEXT WEEK!”

“Take him down!!” Brad shouted.

“Stand in there and take the shot,” Travis said calmly. He was relying on the mental and physical toughness of his Pokémon – things he knew came in spades when it came to Champ.

With a soft sound of thunder, Elekid laid into Champ’s green jaw with a right hook, knocking the Grass Pokémon backward a step, but no more. In fact, other than a slight disturbance of the sand around Champ’s feet, it looked like the attack had done no more damage than a normal punch.

“<Whoa...that felt weird,>” Champ said, shaking his head slightly.

“What happened?” Brad asked.

“Now, go, Champ!” Travis shouted, before Brad had a chance to react. “Crackling Iron Tail!”

Champ, his tail coursing with electricity, rammed Elekid, knocking him into the air ever so slightly. Spinning on the spot, he delivered the lashing tail attack. A lightning bolt tore across Elekid’s torso as the Iron Tail hit him, sending him barrel-rolling sideways. He landed on the ground and skidded, leaving a trail in the sand of the battlefield before finally coming to a rest at Brad’s feet, unconscious.

“Return!” Brad groaned, summoning Elekid back into his Pokéball as the referee made the announcement of Travis’ victory. “You used Elekid’s own electricity against him. How did you do that?”

“A little knowledge I picked up from the last time I used Iron Tail on a Pokémon that knew Electric attacks,” Travis answered simply.

May 27, PA 2013 – Rustboro Gym

Sighing heavily, Travis returned his Pokémon. He looked up at the black-haired gym leader and smirked.


“Don’t start scheduling the rematch just yet – we’re just getting warmed up!” Travis shouted, pulling out a Pokéball and throwing it. Out of it burst a green, bipedal, lizard-like creature.

“<Alright! Game time!>” Champ the Treecko shouted to announce his presence.

“Game time, indeed,” Travis echoed, smiling.

“Treecko – you have no idea how many times I’ve battled a Treecko since I became Gym Leader,” Roxanne commented. “Grass-types with good parameters...but their move pool is limited, to say the least.”

“How’s this for a limited move pool?” Travis shouted. “Champ, use Iron Tail!”

“<Pullin’ out the big stick early, huh?>” Champ quipped before rushing toward Nosepass, his prominent tail glowing a brilliant white. He leapt into the air and landed on Nosepass’ head tail-first. Champ leapt off, revealing that the area that would be Nosepass’ forehead was now very slightly cracked. Champ landed and turned around.

“Rock Throw!” Roxanne yelled. Nosepass glowed a faint electric blue. He appeared to be causing small rocks to hover with electromagnetic energy. With a burst of power, the rocks zipped away from Nosepass and toward Champ. Champ avoided the first one. He was hit square in the belly by the second and third, and took the fourth off the top of the head.

“Iron Tail again!” Travis shouted.

“That’s a Steel-type attack! You know what to do this time, Nosepass!” Roxanne yelled. At the very moment that Champ’s tail began to glow that bright white again, he felt himself being inescapably and invisibly yanked tail-first toward Nosepass. After several seconds, he found himself sitting on the top of Nosepass’ huge, stone nose...

...unable to escape.

“Your entire Pokémon doesn’t become a Steel-type when it uses Iron Tail...but its tail does, obviously,” Roxanne said with a smirk. “Metal conducts electricity, so what should I do here...Nosepass, use Thunderbolt!”

“When I stored up the energy for Iron Tail,” Travis explained, “I knew that once Elekid hit Champ with the Thunder Punch, all the juice would go right to Champ’s tail. Of course, normally, that would have blown off Champ’s backside...”

“<You tell me this now?!>” Champ shouted at him. Travis laughed.

“But the terrain saved Champ from getting overloaded. All the extra energy Champ couldn’t handle went straight down,” Travis said, pointing at the sand.

“Because sand doesn’t conduct,” Brad muttered. “How could I have missed –“

“Well, he’s back to form,” Matt sighed, leaning back seemingly in resignation.

“You sound nervous,” Mariah commented.


“You see, this is what I’m talking about,” Matt said, half laughing. “You get him in a one-on-one battle, and he’ll pull **** like this. I’m telling you – he’s a freaking superman. His brain doesn’t work like ours. It’d be hard enough to beat him if he just knew his types like the back of his hand – he knew from the jump that Elekid wouldn’t be able to do as much damage to Champ because Treecko is a Grass-type...but he takes everything into account. Everything. Tendencies of nature, weather, arena – he always knows something you don’t, and that’s why he’s so damn hard to beat.”

“He was a bookworm when we were little,” Katrina said, observing her boyfriend as he returned his Treecko back to the ball, took a bit of a circling walk, and planted himself in the Trainer’s Box again.

“Why am I not surprised?” Matt sighed.

“But it’s paid off for him,” Katrina said. “Beating him goes past just defeating the Pokémon he uses. You have to outsmart him, and that’s the hard part. Anything he knows – anything he’s ever learned – can be used as a shield to defend himself, or a weapon to attack you. He’s good...and he knows he’s good. That’s why he wants to be Champion more than anyone else.”

“What do you mean by that?” Matt asked. “One thing I remember about him – he never cared much about his own achievements. It always took someone else reminding him that he had a reputation to defend. But he ‘knew he was good’? What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that...he knew that, if he ever had an actual shot, he’d be able to do it,” Katrina replied, looking ahead. “As much as you feel you got robbed of your chance when the Johto League got cancelled two years ago...he feels ten times worse.”

[EonMaster One]

~~~ *** ~~~

“Asylum...in another country?” Creon sat down, muttering numbly. He buried his face in his right hand wearily, leaning against the table. “You mean, leave Hoenn?”

“Unless you have a better option,” Kenjiro said, peering over his folded hands at the younger of the two magicians.

“But...” Creon uttered.

“I will make the journey alone, if necessary,” Hong Liu declared. Kenjiro figured that he’d missed something.

“No! I could not ask you to do that, Master!” Creon exclaimed. He seemed desperate. “But still...my wife and child...”

“Wife and child?” Kenjiro repeated. Now he knew that he’d missed something.

As if to answer his questions, the door opened behind him to reveal a young woman of nearly thirty.

“So, this is your wife...” he muttered.

“Oh, Creon, this is where you were,” the woman said. “This red-haired girl is outside. She’s a sweetheart, but she seems too afraid to come in.”

“Reivyn...” Kenjiro muttered, having nearly forgotten that she was out there. “At least she didn’t wander off.”

“I don’t believe we’ve been introduced,” the woman said. “My name is Agnes St. Galtea. Creon is my husband.”

“I figured that out already. I’m Kenjiro Kazaki. I have a message from Prince Elrik,” Kenjiro answered. Two gasps from the other side of him indicated that there must have been something that he had forgotten to tell Hong Liu and Creon about himself.

“Prince Elrik himself sent you?” Creon asked. “You neglected to tell us that.”

“You have to understand,” Kenjiro replied calmly. “Edgar – guided by his advisor Gorba, of course – chased Elrik from the castle after their father died. Elrik was going to give up any right he had to the throne to avoid a civil war...but then, something happened.”

“What?” Creon asked.

“It’s very personal,” Kenjiro asked. “I don’t even know all of the details. In any case, for the last six months, we’ve been rounding up supporters.”

“Supporters?” Creon asked. “For what?”



Reivyn had been left all alone outside this strange cottage-in-a-cave. She found, though, that she rather enjoyed the solitude. No one to talk to her, no one to lie to her, no secrets for her to have to figure out.

It was quiet...

SMASH.

Reivyn gasped and looked toward her left, down the pathway that led to this area, when she heard the noise echo off the rocks in this large cavern. She heard a gruff yell.

“Damn it, Moriard! Be more careful!! What if you set off another one with all the racket you’re making?!”

“There aren’t any more traps, Galvant!” The voice of a second man joined the first.

“Sure, there aren’t any more traps – don’t come crying to me if you get your head chopped off or end up with an dart stuck up your –“

“I get it!” the second voice groaned. “You just stay alert.”

“You think something’s coming to get us, do you?” the man apparently named Galvant asked.

Reivyn heard a familiar clanking sound and looked behind her. No one was stirring in the cottage. She would have to investigate herself. Whoever these two men were, it didn’t sound like they were here for a cup of tea. Reivyn took off running down the stone pathway and listened as the voices grew closer and closer. She turned a corner, stopped at the last second, and threw herself behind a wall as she nearly ran straight into the men.

There were not two, as she’d thought.

...more like an even dozen, all in black armor and armed with either swords or spears. The man in front had short, lank, black hair that fell in curtains around his eyes. He also had blue eyes and a particularly fierce-looking line of facial hair that started below his lower lip and shot straight down the center of his chin. The man right behind him had wild, spiky, burgundy hair sitting on the top of his young-looking face. He also had both of his ears pierced with golden hoops. His eyes were a darker blue than the other man’s. The other ten soldiers all had helmets and assortments of facial hair or lack thereof. She knew this armor. They started walking, their armor clanking in the space of this large area. Reivyn had to think fast. She knew that the soldiers could soon be upon her. She could be attacked just for looking suspicious –

And because she was female.

She readied her knives behind her back, just in case, and stepped out.


“HEY!” the young, burgundy-haired knight shouted, pulling out a long sword and pointing it at Reivyn, who froze. After a tense moment, he lowered his blade and commented, “Oh, it’s just a girl. Hey, she doesn’t look half bad! What brings you to these parts, cutie pie?”

“Moriard!” the black-haired knight groaned with displeasure as some of the soldiers laughed.

“What’s a sweet thing like you doin’ all by herself in this cave here?” Moriard asked. “Or maybe...maybe you’re not all by yourself. Wouldn’t happen to know an old geezer by the name of Hong Liu, wouldja?”

Reivyn gulped.

“I don’t...know what you’re talking about,” she said a bit too slowly.

“Now, come on,” Moriard sighed cajolingly, fingering his blade. “I’d really hate to do any damage to that pretty face of yours, but if you don’t tell us where the old coot is, we’ll have to hurt you.”

“What do you want with him?” she asked.

“We want a word – that’s all,” Galvant answered the question instead. His voice was low and gruff, but there was something about the coldness in his eyes that Reivyn didn’t like much.

“A word?” she asked defensively. “What about?”

“Well, there’s a warrant out for his arrest,” Moriard answered simply.

“For what crime?” Reivyn asked.

“No idea,” Moriard said, shrugging carelessly. “They pass down the orders, I just follow ‘em. Besides, who says someone needs to be a criminal in order for the Imperial Knights to arr–“

“So, there’s no crime?” Reivyn asked. “You’re going to just take him – just like that?”

“Y’know what?” Moriard said, a vein going in his temple. “You’re bein’ a right little ***** right now and I don’t think I like your attitude. Take her!”

He snapped his finger and one soldier carrying a sword lumbered toward her. He swung with his blade and barely missed. Reivyn planted her feet, then leapt, driving her front foot directly into the knight’s armored chest. It was probably right at this point that Reivyn realized that she’d gotten herself into a little bit of trouble. The black-clad knight left the ground for a moment before landing on his fundament at Moriard’s feet. Galvant raised an eyebrow.

“Interesting...” he muttered.

“What the hell?!” Moriard seemed to be losing his cool. “You pathetic sack of crap! You call yourself an Imperial Knight? You just got knocked on your *** by a little girl!!”

“Let’s kill her and be done with it,” Galvant said calmly. He seemed to be the cooler head of the two, despite what Reivyn had heard from the initial conversation. “That strategy’s always worked before. Whatever you’re going to do, make it quick.”

“We working on a deadline that I don’t know about?” Moriard asked loudly.

“Well, I’m just saying, before they know we’re coming. We have no idea how powerful this guy is,” Galvant said. “So I think it’d be best if we just –“

“The guy’s a hundred and fifty million years old, Galvant,” Moriard groaned, rolling his dark blue eyes. “The only thing strong about him is his breath, more than likely. You don’t honestly believe all that ******** about him being a wizard, do you?”


“I’m not taking the chance that it’s true, I know that much,” Galvant said. Taking a deep breath, he took one step toward Reivyn, brandishing a spear about two yards in length. Its head seemed to be made like the shortened version of a sword blade, capable of cutting as well as stabbing. “We’ll give you one more chance. Either tell us where Hong Liu is, or move the hell out of the way.”

Reivyn stepped backward silently.

Two steps...three steps...

“Too slow!” Moriard shouted, yanking a spear from one of the knights and hurling it.



There was silence in the study of Hong Liu as Kenjiro finished explaining the situation concerning Prince Elrik and the Emerald Knights, as well as his own role in the grand scheme of things.

“Of course,” Kenjiro said calmly, “If you weren’t hermits living miles away from civilization, I’d have to kill all of you at this point. But I trust you won’t go squealing to anyone. After all...you don’t want to get on my bad side.”

“How dare you threaten –“ Creon stood up, but Kenjiro, holding both palms out, cut him off.

“It’s not threatening, it’s a matter of security,” he said. “Exiled he might be, but this is still a member of the royal family we’re talking about here. Now...I think you have some explaining to do, Creon. You claim you have a child, and yet I have not seen him...or her, whatever the case is.”

“I wasn’t clear enough,” Creon sighed. “I meant that we have a child on the way. My point was that, out of the three of us here, I might be the only one up for a long voyage into another country. Of course, if it’s Master Hong we have to move, that doesn’t help anybody, but...”

Creon stopped short as he heard a bloodcurdling shriek that made even his long, lank hair stand on end.

“What the hell?!” Creon muttered. Kenjiro already knew ‘what the hell’, so to speak. As soon as the scream rang out, he stood up quickly, overturning the chair and loudly repeating a string of various four-letter words as he exited the cottage.

“That dear girl...” Agnes sighed. “If she’s in danger from something, that must mean...”

“We’ve got company,” Creon made his way around the table, grabbing his staff. “I never imagined this day would come...”

“Ah...” Hong Liu closed his eyes and bore a facial expression that made him appear tired. “I knew they would catch up with me eventually.”

“Master Hong – Agnes – stay here,” Creon said with great urgency as he exited.

“Be careful!” Agnes shouted after him, opening the door to watch her husband leave. Uttering a sigh, she commented to Hong Liu, “I’m sorry, Master. Normally, I would be out there fighting with him...I feel so useless.”

“Do not say that,” Hong Liu answered. With a sigh, he stood up, bowed with age, and said, “A good young person respects their elders...but a good old person also knows the value of the future. Creon is prepared to give his life not so much for me, but for you...and the child you are carrying.”




Reivyn kept her eyes shut tight. She kept waiting for the pain, but it never came. Had it really been that quick? Moriard must have been very accurate with the spear – it had to have hit her right in the heart and killed her instantly. She squinted, wondering for a moment what her beyond what look like –

Then, with a jolt of the heart, she realized that she was still in the cave, quite alive. Moreover, several people were in front of her. A tall man directly in front of her with short, ash-blond hair and wearing green and black attire...

Green-and-black attire??

She stepped backward and saw that this man had caught the spear.

“You don’t kill this girl, got that?” the man said, staring right at Moriard, who looked like he’d just seen a ghost. “She’s out of your jurisdiction.”

“She’s in our way,” Moriard said impatiently. “And so are you, for that matter. This doesn’t concern you.”

“Apparently, we’re looking for two different people,” the blond-haired man pointed out. “You can have the old man – we’re here for the girl.”

“Looks like you solved our problem for us,” Moriard said, tilting his head. “I suppose thanks are in order. After all, we’re all friends here, aren’t we?”

“In a manner of speaking,” the tow-headed man replied, turning around so that Reivyn got a good look at his face. He had apple-green eyes and a long nose, as well as a scar on the right side of his mouth...

Reivyn had seen this face before!

She stifled another scream and stumbled backward.

“You’re unnecessarily afraid,” the man said. “I come to give you something that no one else has.”

Reivyn looked up at him.

“If you surrender quietly and come with us,” he said silkily. “I am offering you a chance at redemption. I believe that the execution of someone as skilled as you would be a waste. If you come with me...all will be forgiven.”

Champ staggered backward and then collapsed forward, favoring his right arm all the way to the ground.

“One...two...three...four...five! Treecko is unable to battle! The winner is Cactadder!!” the referee announced to mixed cheers and groans.

“I didn’t think it’d be that easy for him,” Matt sighed as Travis returned his Pokémon. “Brad is a former Champion, after all...”

Travis surveyed the sand field. It was now full of holes where Cactadder had burrowed into the sand and reappeared. This took him slightly by surprise, as Cactadder didn’t display that talent whenever Travis had seen Brad use him. Travis was now faced with a choice – use Angel now, knowing that she would be needed in his match with Matt (or Liza Flynn, in the unlikely event that the latter won), or trust Meru to pick up the victory. Of course, Angel’s type advantage over the Poison-type Cactadder prompted Travis to lean a bit more in her direction. Then again, it wouldn’t hurt to give Meru some needed battle experience against this strong opponent...


Matt had that Combusken, and Travis knew that, for the sake of self-redemption, Angel would want to be that Combusken’s opponent. Truth be told, either Meru or Angel would work against Combusken –

But that was a worry best saved for a few minutes from now. He had to win this match first.

“Don’t tell me you’re having trouble?” Brad yelled across the arena. “You know which of your Pokémon has the advantage – send her out already.”

Travis smirked once he realized something, pulling out his Pokéball.

“Meru, let’s GO!” he shouted, tossing the ball into the air. The Kitide contained within burst out and stared down Cactadder, who was rearing up into an attacking position.

“So, you want to try things the hard way, hm?” Brad asked with a smirk.

“You’re no rookie,” Travis said. “You were hoping I’d use Angel because you had something waiting.”

“Question is, is that cute little furball strong enough to win against my Cactadder?” Brad asked. Travis did a double take for a second because he thought he literally saw smoke coming out of Meru’s ears.

“We’re about to find out, aren’t we?” Travis replied confidently.

“BEGIN!” the referee shouted.

“Cactadder, underground, now!” Brad shouted. Cactadder uncoiled to its full length of nearly four feet, slipping into one of the existing holes in the sand. Travis grimaced.

“Damn it,” he muttered. “There’s about ten holes he could come out of...and that’s if he’s not digging a new one. I gotta flush him out somehow...there! Meru, Water Gun straight into the ground!”

Meru leapt and aimed a Water Gun straight into the sand. A second later, geysers of water gushed from half of the holes, turning the field rather muddy. Travis bit his lip in frustration as Meru landed, looking around.

BANG.

An explosion of sand shot up from the ground, and when the dust cleared, Cactadder was right behind Meru. She turned around, but too late...

“Gotcha,” Brad croaked with a smirk. “Cactadder, Bind!!”

The Needle Pokémon slithered close around Meru in an embrace of death and then contracted.

Travis winced and groaned, almost as if the many spines on Cactadder’s body were piercing his own skin.

Meru snarled and tried to hang tough as the spines went further and further into all sides of her body. It felt like everything was on fire. Worse, though, was the feeling of helplessness – a feeling that she had felt too many times before. The images of a Tentacool swam in front of her blurring vision. Would she
need someone to save her this time?

Would she always be a liability?

Enough.

She opened her mouth and let out a loud scream that contained all of her pain and frustration. Both Trainers groaned and went for their ears simultaneously.


“Agh...****!!” Matthew cursed, his eyes shut tight. He was standing up, but he quickly went to his knees and curled up into a ball. “No...stop it! Make it stop, damn it!!”

Katrina was instantly distracted. Something was wrong.

“Ngh...” Travis groaned as the sound continued. Meanwhile, Matthew was curled up tight on the ground and screaming whilst Mariah and Katrina tried to comfort him, the latter of the two wondering what the hell was going on with him.

Cactadder released Meru and wobbled to Brad’s side of the field.

“God, that’s awful,” Travis grunted with a shudder as he opened his Pokédex. “What the hell was that?”

“If a Kitide finds itself in danger, it will emit a loud screeching sound that affects the balance and coordination of would-be predators,” the Pokédex droned its explanation.

“Supersonic...” Travis muttered.

Meanwhile, Matt finally staggered to his feet. Katrina got a look at his face. He had gone a greenish-white color and sweat was literally dripping from his face.

“Matt, are you –“ Katrina opened her mouth to ask. Matt, groaning, staggered past her and Mariah, fumbling his way inland like one who had indulged in liquid pleasure a bit too much, until he reached a trash can. Katrina was at a distance, but a loud groan and a nasty retching sound told the whole story. Mariah was the first to approach him, and she had gone very white as well.

“Matt, are you okay? Are you there? Say something!” she shouted. Matt steadied himself. “If you’re not feeling well, maybe you should drop out –“

“HELL, NO! ARE YOU NUTS?!” Matt shouted. Mariah was frightened into silence. Matt, realizing how harsh he’d just been, shook his head. “I don’t drop out, you got that? I need to take a walk – clear my head a little.”

“I’ll come with you, then,” Mariah said – but as she’d somehow expected, Matt held up a hand to shoo her away.

“I need to be alone,” he declared, trudging off slowly. It was at this point that Katrina approached Mariah, having missed Matt by about ten paces or so. She looked over her shoulder at Travis, who had resumed his battle with Brad and had gained the upper hand due to Cactadder’s confusion.



Five minutes later, Matt found himself on a corner of the beach. Instead of sand, this part of the coastline was covered with rocks and small stones that could fit into one’s hand. Matt had taken to sitting on one of these larger rocks alone, skipping rocks on the water. After flinging yet another one, he stopped for a second and went into a pocket on his vest. He now clenched in his fist a necklace. It was made from links of what appeared to be a very good imitation of silver. The charm on the end was made from real silver and appeared to be a profile of a Pidgeot (a species that could be found in Johto, normally as the leader of a flock of Pidgey and/or Pidgeotto) spreading its wings.

It had been nearly ten years since he had received this. In exchange, he had given a promise...a promise that he would grow strong. In making that promise, he promised himself that, until he felt that he was strong enough to be a Champion, he would never wear it.

He had failed again. He was still the same weak, little boy that left Cherrygrove, always expecting others to fight his battles for him. Despite all he had done since he had arrived here, there was still such a long way to go.


Was that it?

Was he that irreparably weak?

“You’re not still sick, are you?” a voice rang from Matthew’s right. Mariah was walking up to him, her sable hair out and dangling over her right eye slightly.

“I told you not to follow me,” Matthew muttered.

“When did I start doing what I was told?” Mariah answered sassily. Matthew laughed in spite of himself as Mariah skipped up onto the rock and took a seat right next to him. “What are you doing all the way out here?”

Her eyes strayed to Matthew’s hand – she had seen the necklace many times before.

“Oh...” she uttered.

“I know, you’re gonna tell me to get over it, right?” Matthew asked bitterly. “I know already – the world isn’t gonna wait for me to deal with my ****.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything like that,” Mariah answered rather defensively.

“But that’s the truth, isn’t it?” Matthew shot back quickly. He stood up and took a deep breath. “Listen, I can’t do this anymore.”

“What are you talking –“ Mariah started, but Matt cut her off.

“I won’t hurt anybody else by being a liability,” Matthew said. “You deserve someone strong...and I can’t do it.”

“Of course you can’t – because that’s what you keep telling yourself, right?” Mariah said. “That you’re weak? That you’re not good enough? How the hell do you expect yourself to become a Champion thinking like that?”

“I don’t know, but I’ve gotta find a way, damn it!!” Matt yelled, clenching the necklace in his hand harder than ever. “He did. I won’t lie and say that he’s got it all together, but the fact that he hasn’t cracked completely is a miracle! What the hell’s he got that I don’t?!”

“I’m not sure, but...” Mariah muttered.

“I refuse to believe that I can’t be his equal! That just doesn’t work for me!!” Matt yelled. Holding the chain up to Mariah’s face, he continued to shout, “What about my brother, huh?! Knowing how pathetic I am must have him turning over in his grave right now!!”

“You shouldn’t say things like that...” Mariah said, her voice cracking. She buried her face in her knees. “Please, don’t do this...”

“Why not?!” Matt shouted. “I’m the one that wants this! I’m the one that has to get by, and I won’t accept the fact that I’m just one of those people that’s destined to crash and burn!”

“Matthew!!” Matt heard another voice to his right. He turned in that direction and saw the people that, somehow, he wanted to see.

Travis and Katrina watched as Matthew leapt from the rock and covered the several dozen yards in almost no time at all. Before Travis had time to register what was going on, Matt had torn across the beach and –

SMACK!


– laid into Travis’ face with an open palm. Travis staggered, every fiber in his being wishing to pull his sword on Matthew Marius, but then realizing that he had left it in his room at the Pokémon Center a mile or two away.

“So, what’s your secret, huh?!” Matthew spat desperately, grabbing onto Travis’ shirt. “You tell me how I’m supposed to find any strength at all when it feels like I’m dead inside!! I know that you’re not just ignoring everything you saw and had to do that summer, so how the hell do you deal with it without falling to pieces – all on your own?”

“All on my own – you think that’s how I did it?” Travis spat, not looking at Matthew yet. “It’s when you get to where you are now that you have to realize that you can’t do it on your own.”

“Oh, really? But you can,” Matthew replied bitterly.

“No,” Travis said. “Is that what you’ve thought about me all these years? You’ve got me all wrong. You’ve been looking for something special that just isn’t there.“

“If that’s true, then it’s something I should be able to do, too,” Matthew said. “You get your strength from somewhere. If it’s not the sword...”

“It’s the people around me,” Travis finally explained. “The people I know care about me. I get strength from them.”

He looked up and saw a fair weather cloud that, before it was blown apart by a rushing wind, became for a moment the image of an old, wise and caring face that he had known as a small child.

“Even the ones that aren’t with us anymore,” he sighed. “They’re there, too, if you look hard enough.”

“But the last thing you want to do...” Katrina finished, pointing with her chin. “...is push them away.”

A black-haired teenage girl approached Matthew. He felt another hand close around the necklace in his own hand and looked to his right. At that moment, Travis felt an elbow make contact with his ribs.

“I was wrong about you,” Travis said quickly. “I thought you didn’t really care about what happened to your family...”

“That’s because I tried not caring – thought it would hurt less,” Matt answered, looking down at the hand that was clasping the hand holding the necklace that once belonged to his brother. Mariah’s hands were closing his right one into a fist.

“Go on,” she said. Matthew looked at her for a second, and let the necklace out to its full length. He thought about it for a second, then stopped, giving Mariah a look. Mariah understood what this look meant and gasped. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah – I’m sure,” Matthew answered, giving Mariah the necklace. She spread it out and gently slipped it around Matthew’s head.

“Look sort of familiar to you?” Katrina whispered into Travis’ ear.

“Yeah,” Travis answered, fighting down a laugh.

The Pidgeot charm came to a rest about eight inches under his chin, where it hung and gleamed in the sunlight. Matthew looked up at Travis and Katrina, and there was a look in his jade-green eyes that the latter recognized very well.

“Your match is next,” Travis said.

“I know,” Matthew said, grabbing Mariah’s hand and walking past Travis and Katrina. He went a few steps and stopped. “You know,” he said, while the two boys had their backs turned to each other, “Are you sure about this? You might regret it later.”

Travis let out a laugh.

“Good rivals bring out the best in each other,” he said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Whatever floats your boat,” Matthew said nonchalantly, beginning to walk off. “But, just for the record...you’re right.”

This left Travis and Katrina alone at this spot on the beach.

Travis walked away from Katrina a few steps, picking up a rock from the ground.

“You know...” he said, tossing the rock toward the water, where it skipped away from him several times before going under with a loud plop. “...he never said why Meru’s Supersonic jacked him up like that.”

“Maybe it’s not for us to know right now,” Katrina answered.

“I never would have guessed that he thought so much about his brother and sister,” Travis sighed. “He’s more like me than I thought...”

“I’m glad you finally see that,” Katrina replied, now sounding a bit stern. “At first, you just hated him because...I’m not sure why. The only thing I could figure out was that it was because he somehow reminded you of everything that had happened. Or maybe, you just needed somewhere to direct all of that anger...”

“You don’t have to rub it in,” Travis said uncomfortably. “You’re more in tune with people’s feelings than I am.”

“That’s because I had to figure out the secret a while before you did,” Katrina said, approaching Travis. “Helping someone else overcome their pain makes yours feel a lot smaller.”

Travis smiled.

“Our first tournament was kind of like this one, remember?” he asked. “Two years ago...”

“You won that one, didn’t you?” Katrina asked.

“It kind of went all haywire after the first couple of matches,” Travis said. “Shiro dropped out, then you drew with Yoshina...”

“All eight of us had something to do with the war, didn’t we?” Katrina commented. “Small world.”

“Yeah,” Travis repeated. “Small world.”

Travis and Katrina looked at each other for a moment. Travis, who had a stone in his hand, allowed it to slip from his hand and fall to the ground with a clatter as each continued to stare at the other. Katrina laughed.

“You’re teasing me,” she said.

“No, I’m not,” Travis replied. Katrina let out a short squeal as Travis playfully ran a finger along her neck.

“Stop it already,” she laughed.


“Make me,” Travis answered. Katrina jumped into his arms, kissing him before he had a chance to react.

They broke apart after several moments, and Travis smiled.

“When I’m with you, my life isn’t so complicated,” he said to her. Her mind went back to something that someone had said to her only a couple of days ago. For a moment, she kissed him even more vigorously than she had the first time.

“That is one of the cheesiest things you have ever said to me,” she said. Travis had a momentary look of shock on his face as if someone had just pulled a Madeline on him right before Katrina smiled and said, “but it’s one of the sweetest, too.”

“I try,” Travis said, throwing an arm around her. She leaned against his shoulder and they began to walk.

“So, what’d I miss?” Katrina said – she had left to talk to Mariah before Travis’ match had ended.

“Not much – Cactadder tried to use Bind on himself and tied himself into a knot,” Travis said, fighting down a laugh. “Then I had Meru use Water Gun to blast him into next Thursday. You should have seen the look on Brad’s face. He looked like a Psyduck.”

Travis did an imitation of a Psyduck with a particularly bad headache and Katrina laughed again.

“I wonder where Kenjiro and Reivyn are?” Katrina asked.

“Probably back at the hotel or on the town somewhere,” Travis replied. “I wouldn’t worry about them too much. One thing we know about Kenjiro is that he can take care of himself. As long as he and Reivyn haven’t gotten separated, they should both be fine.”

“What do you say, hm?” the man with ash-blond hair had extended his hand to Reivyn. His fingers were long and skinny and had a pallid look about them. Moriard and Galvant, along with their unit of Imperial Knights, looked on as this standoff continued to unfold. “If you reaffirm your loyalty to the Temple, there’ll be no need to kill you. It’s a fortunate thing for you that you’re only a priestess, and know next to nothing about the secrets of the Shoryuu. A Temple Knight in your situation would probably be executed.”

“Did someone say something about executing Temple Knights?” Reivyn’s heart leapt into her throat as she heard a familiar voice. Around the corner came two men. One of them had bronze-colored hair and was unarmed. The other was carrying a staff and seemed to be staring a hole through the servants of the Temple, right to the battalion of Imperial Knights behind them. The bronze-haired youth spoke again. “I’d like to be in on that action.”

The blond-haired Temple Knight looked like he’d just seen a ghost.

“You’re dead!” he gasped.

“Nope,” Kenjiro Kazaki said nonchalantly, a fire in his eyes. “I’m more alive than I’ve ever been in my life.”

As he said this, he stepped in front of Reivyn and gently pushed her behind him. He was nose to nose with the Temple Knight, who was the same height as he. Kenjiro smiled.

“Wow, Reivyn, you must really be something for them to send five guys after you at the same time,” he said loudly. “Especially when one of them’s a second-class Temple Knight.”

“Soon to be First-Class Temple Knight Vausin,” the man said. “Once I take the girl with me.”

He shoved Kenjiro out of the way and made a beeline toward Reivyn.

“And if I have a problem with that, Vausin?” Kenjiro asked calmly.

“Careful,” Temple Knight Vausin said silkily. “If you keep your mouth shut, I might just let you run around for another day before we kill you.”

“Put a hand on Reivyn and I’ll be the one to kill you first,” Kenjiro said sharply. Vausin, who had extended his hand toward Reivyn again, backed off and turned toward Kenjiro, laughing.

“You’re a real trip, you know that?” Vausin chuckled. “This is why the outside world is so dangerous.”

Without any kind of warning or time for Kenjiro to defend himself, Vausin slapped him. Kenjiro reeled for a moment and turned his hard eyes back toward Vausin, a red welt now shining on the left side of his face. Vausin took a deep, satisfied breath – like the eerie silence before the bombshell.

“You know, little girl, if I was in your situation,” Vausin said, “I’d find it difficult to trust Kenjiro Kazaki – what with the fact that he was a second-class Temple Knight.”

[Air Dragon]

I love WiFi... i have the power!

Just ended lectures for the day. I'm reading this right now!

I'll be back!

Back to the action!

LOL at Cactadder! Tying himself in a knot! So Travis beat Brad and Matt almost loses his grip.

Kenjiro a Temple Knight! Hm, didn't see that one coming! So is he into capturing Reivyn himself for redemption or is Templeshipping about to get a new twist?

Meru pwns again! Champ does too!

To quote DarkPersian479, Stop! Grammar Time!

walls, rather high bookshelves lined the walls on the rooms far corners

walls, rather high bookshelves lined the walls on the room’s far corners

looked across at the curly-haired teen, who leapt

looked across at the curly-haired teen, who’d leapt

Well, i gotta run...

WIRELESS BROWSING ROCKS!!!

L@er!

P.S. Did you get my email?

[Castform]

I'll be correcting again, starting from this chapter, as long as its over the weekends I think I can manage ^^

. Two, eight-inch-long knives with diamond-shaped cross sections – the image of the weapons that she often employed in combat.

O.O this is the first time I have ever seen you make a fragment mistake. But, since this is the first time, we can let you pass...this time...

He missed Creon’s face by inches, and the long-haired man responded by using his free hand to grab Kenjiro around the throat, forcing him backward.

Compound words have always a bit of trouble for you, as well as everyone else since there is no dam rhyme or reason to em! long-haired is actually longhaired, but honestly I think long-haired looks bettre =.= The english language is so confusing.

And yet, the one person she did trust had turned out to be a mask, hiding his true identity from her.

Never made this mistake before either. Then again, you've never really used it. Anyway minor stuff. And Yet is redundant. Simply use yet

Reivyn asked, thinking directly back to the long-haired man that had gone inside with Kenjiro.

Read comment number 2

On the walls, rather high bookshelves lined the walls on the rooms far corners.

A rather simple mistake. I assume you meant rooms as in possesion, so, it would be room's.

At that point, there was an hour’s break for the remaining four competitors – Travis, Matthew, a deceptively-skilled brunette girl named Liza Flynn, and Brad, whom Travis would be facing for the first spot in the finals.

K again with the compound words. This actually does have a rule. deceptively (like most -ly words) is an adverb describing the adjective skilled. So there is no need for a hyphen.

“Grass-types with good parameters...but their move pool is limited, to say the least.”

“

I am pretty sure I corrected this before >.> are you actually making corrections >.> or am I wasting time =.=, anyway but this is a subject verb agreement, grass types is plural therefpre you would use are and not is.

His eyes were a darker blue than the other man’s.

Stupid english rules, so many damn ones to remember. anyway this sentecnce compares someones eyes to someone elses eyes. so you need to include that other wise it could be misintepreted as eyes were darker than the man and not the man's eyes

“They pass down the orders, I just follow ‘em.

they are two comlete sentences so you have two options. use a ; or use a . your choice.

Done! ^^ I am not going back to correct the other chapters >.> that would be a pain. I'll just correct your newer chapters ^^

~

[EonMaster One]

Sweet sixteen...boy, it’s safe to say we’re on the fast track here. I started writing in March.

By the way, you might want to have some napkins handy. Some of you guys whose jaws might have hit the ground as a result of some of the recent plot twists...well, you’re starting to drool all over your keyboards and I guess you can figure out that drool and electronic equipment don’t really mix.

Anyway, on to chapter sixteen. This is probably my longest chapter to date, but IMHO, it's also one of my best. There are two different storylines to follow, and both have something interesting going on. This chapter maybe best encapsulizes the style that I've been using to write everything I've written in the Revolution series so far: Pokemon Battles, Mano-y-mano can-opening, plot development, a little bit of romance...

Without further ado, here we go!!

Chapter 16: A Collage of Confrontations

June 9, PA 2013 - Hermitage Cavern

Reivyn’s eyes darted from blond-haired Vausin to Kenjiro Kazaki and back again.

“He never told you?” Vausin asked, turning toward Reivyn. Seeing her facial expression, he muttered, “I’ll take that as a ‘no’.”

“Does it matter?” Kenjiro shot back, nonchalantly rubbing his face where Vausin had just slapped him.

“You’re another waste of talent,” Vausin said harshly. “You were a prodigy, destined for greatness. At the rate you were going, you might have even had a shot at being the next Archbishop...and you threw it all away. But, I suppose you were born into the wrong family...the brother of a radical heretic...”

“Shut your mouth!!” Kenjiro roared.

“Touched a nerve?” Vausin spoke silkily.

“Can you guys take your personal beef somewhere else?” a voice from behind Kenjiro groaned. Captain Moriard was standing there with his unit, looking quite impatient. “We’ve got a geezer to find.”

“Oh, really?” Moriard looked slightly to his right. From out of nowhere, a man with long, black hair had appeared, armed with a staff and looking a bit like he was prepared to fight. “Suppose I stop you. What happens then?”

“Simple – we trample you into the ground, step over your corpse, then take the old man,” Moriard answered.

“Over my dead body,” Creon growled.

“I have no problem with that,” Moriard answered. Meanwhile, Vausin was approaching Reivyn again.

“Come away from the fools and infidels,” he directed her. “Return your body and heart to the Divine Dragon.”

“So your monks can have their way with me? No,” Reivyn said suddenly, snatching her hand away from Vausin, who looked shocked for a moment, and then growled.

“You’ll meet an ugly end hanging around with riffraff like this,” Vausin grunted, angling his head at Kenjiro. “That his lies have been passed on even to the least of us...how proud Hayate Kazaki must be...”


“ENOUGH!!” Kenjiro roared, drawing both of his knives and charging Vausin, who stood there with a sick smile on his face. He tilted his neck sideways and avoided one of the knives. Vausin grabbed Kenjiro’s attacking arm, unceremoniously flipping the rogue Temple Knight over his shoulder. Kenjiro sailed through the air, performed a sort of flip, and landed on the ground behind Vausin, facing his back shoulder and skidding to a stop. Unfortunately for him, he had landed right in the middle of four armed monks – and more unfortunately for him, he was so concentrated on Vausin that he didn’t realize this. One of the hooded monks snuck up behind him, knives drawn...

“KENJI!!” Reivyn yelled at the top of her lungs. Kenjiro turned around and ducked under the monk’s attack. The acolyte let out a death gurgle as he dropped his kunai and slumped to the ground.

“Looks like dear Kenjiro wants to do things the hard way,” Vausin sighed, drawing a serrated sword from a sheath on his back that, for some reason, Reivyn had failed to notice before. “His funeral – or should I say, yours?!”

He took seven fast steps toward Reivyn and came down with the sword. To his surprise, he was much too slow as Reivyn managed to jump out of the way a step and a half before he got there. He looked over his shoulder slowly to see Reivyn standing behind him.

“You can’t run forever,” Vausin chuckled. “Sooner or later, you’ll have to fight...and you will lose. All this effort for a few moments of freedom...it hardly seems worth it.”

“I pity you,” Reivyn said. “You will never know what it means to be cared for by somebody.”

“Love,” Vausin scoffed. “The only thing it serves to do is to make it easier and more painful to lose someone.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Reivyn said.

“Too bad for you...” Vausin growled, charging. “I’M NOT!!”


“Come on, let’s go, let’s go!” Moriard yelled to the unit behind him. Ten knights and Galvant were running quickly toward the far end of the cave and the path that led back to Hong Liu’s hermitage. After about ten steps of running, Moriard stopped (Galvant ran into him, nearly knocking him over) and looked at the passageway as if he’d seen Death itself.

Creon was standing there, his staff in his hand, and he was all business.

“That’s as far as you go,” he said.

“Come on, don’t be stupid,” Moriard laughed. “There’s one of you and twelve of us –“

A silver jet of light shot forth from the end of Creon’s staff and struck the knight immediately to Moriard’s right, blasting him clear to the other side of the cavern, where he hit a rock wall about ten feet off the ground, plummeting face-first into solid stone soon after.

“Eleven,” Creon said coldly, lowering his rod. Moriard looked like he’d just been clubbed over the head. “Anyone else want to try and walk past me?”

Moriard gathered himself and frowned. He pointed his sword at Creon.

“Since you want to give me an excuse to use force, that’s just what I’ll do,” Moriard said.


Kenjiro and the three remaining monks stared at each other for a half-second, then the fight was on.


“EEEEAAAARRRGH!!” Kenjiro roared as he charged, both kunai in hand. The monks (two of them carrying twin kunai, the third a staff. With a sweep of his arms, he threw both kunai in a roundhouse fashion. As they curved outward and began their trek in toward the acolytes on either side, Kenjiro continued to run at them, his hands now working a series of signs. He locked in on the last of these signs and shouted at the top of his lungs, “LIGHTNING DRAGON SPIRAL!”

The two kunai glowed a bright bluish-white and gathered tails of crackling energy. The elongated heads of dragons were visible where the blades of the kunai should have been. They arced around the staff-wielding acolyte in the middle, going right at the two others flanking him. Sensing danger, they leapt into the air as the lightning dragons circled around the back of the third acolyte, who ducked, letting out a scream of terror. The magical beasts ruffled the acolyte’s robe as they came past him, uttering roars that sounded like claps of thunder as they ascended into the air, where Kenjiro had jumped. Kenjiro, as of now unarmed, met the two acolytes in midair – four weapons to his zero.

The dagger-wielding monks heard crackling behind them and their eyes widened. They each let out screams of agony as they were caught inside the mouths of the two lightning dragons and utterly consumed. With a wild look in his eyes, Kenjiro welcomed the crackling forms into his hands. His fingers gripped the handles of two kunai as the dragons collapsed upon each other, creating a beach ball-sized globe of lightning. The staff-wielding acolyte looked up and gasped loudly as he saw Kenjiro hovering several feet in the air.

“YOUR KIND WILL NEVER RULE ME AGAIN!!” he roared, hurling the two kunai at the monk. “DIE!!!”

The energy focused in his kunai created a huge thunderbolt that descended straight at the acolyte, obliterating him in short order. Kenjiro landed on the ground as the smoke began to clear, catching his two kunai effortlessly in one hand and turning around toward his next target...

Vausin.

Speaking of which, Vausin was trying – and failing -- to cut Reivyn in half. As always, she was just a beat too quick.

“Stop dancing around, damn you!!” Vausin bellowed as he continued to try to slash her. Eventually, he backed her into a corner. She realized that she had nowhere to go and screamed as the Temple Knight charged...

Her heart skipped a beat as a tall form appeared out of thin air right in front of her, grabbing Vausin’s sword arm. The blond-haired man grunted, his teeth bared in a fierce snarl.

“I’ve been waiting five years for this,” Kenjiro whispered in a voice replete with hatred and vengeance. “You’ll be the first, Vausin…”

There was a flash of silver, and Vausin’s eyes rolled. Kenjiro had used his free hand to deal Vausin
a double blow with both kunai at once. Blood began to pour out of Vausin’s stomach, spilling onto and
over Kenjiro’s hand.

“Tell me,” Vausin croaked, his breathing ragged and short, “Is this quest for revenge worth bloodshed? It will never bring him back…and all you’re doing is damning yourself to hell.”

“That’s what you don’t understand about me,” Kenjiro answered. Even Reivyn, who had seen nearly as much death and bloodshed as Kenjiro himself, found herself feeling slightly faint at Kenjiro’s sudden brutality as, with a flip of the arm, he appeared to twist both knives and drive them in further. “Avengers are bound for hell from the very jump. But if I take as many of you with me as possible, it’s worth it.”

He took a step in closer, driving the knives in all the way to their hilts. His hands were shining and the color of Reivyn’s hair.

“Looks like this is where we part ways,” Kenjiro said. A sick smile crossing his face, he added, “I’ll see you there.”

Vausin let out a strangled scream and began to shake limply as his body was covered in lightning.

“ARGH!” Vausin yelled. “What is…”

“Just a little something I invented myself after I left the Temple,” Kenjiro said, as Vausin continued to convulse and writhe in the pain that came from this stun gun from hell. Raising a foot up to the Temple Knight’s chest, he yanked the knives out, kicking Vausin off his feet and causing him to land on his back, smoking and still shaking with an expression of utmost terror on his face. After five seconds, the entire portrait of carnage froze, never to move again. Kenjiro was left alone, breathing hard.

“After a while, you start to learn,” he panted without looking at Reivyn. “When they come after you, someone’s life has got to end, because they won’t stop until one of you is dead. So if you don’t want it to be you, you have to be prepared to kill.”

Reivyn’s silver eyes widened with horror as she looked at Kenjiro’s armed hand, which was covered in blood halfway up the forearm.

“That’s one,” he whispered viciously. “Seven left to go…”

Reivyn didn’t know what to think. She was so confused. On the one hand, he was this cruel, violent, and bloodthirsty avenger…but there was this other side of him – a side that wasn’t quite so cold and uncaring, a side that came out whenever no one mentioned the Temple.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Reivyn asked. “Why didn’t you tell me that you used to be a Temple Knight?”

“That was five years ago, Reivyn,” Kenjiro answered.

“Five years? But that would have made you…” Reivyn said, using the bit of knowledge she had to do the math in her head.

“Thirteen years old,” Kenjiro finished. “Everyone seemed to think I was pretty good at…whatever the hell it was we were doing.”

He gave a bitter laugh.

“No way I’m going out like this,” he grunted. “If I can’t have a peaceful life, at least let me die somewhere quiet…with a little bit of light.”

Reivyn pondered these words carefully. They seemed oddly out of character for Kenjiro.

“Have you given up on living?” she asked. “Is there anything you want other than a peaceful death?”

Kenjiro turned and looked straight at Reivyn for several seconds.

“Nothing,” he said, walking off and leaving Reivyn with the familiar feeling that he just might not have been entirely truthful with her. Her patience was at an end, her heart bursting with the question that she had been longing – and yet so afraid – to ask for weeks. Before she could stop herself, it exploded forth from her as a dam cracking and gushing an unstoppable current.

“Kenji!” Kenjiro felt an arm on his shoulder and realized that the arm was Reivyn’s. He also realized, with a slight twinge of pain, that she had a very firm grip on said arm. “Why are you doing this?”

Her voice was firm and strong and there almost seemed a kind of madness audible within it.

“Doing what?” Kenjiro asked.

“If you hate the Temple so much, why do you spend so much time trying to help me? Is it all part of this scheme you have for revenge? Am I just a tool to you, or am I something…” Reivyn began to yell, all the questions she had about the one standing before her bursting forth almost uncontrollably. “Am I something else?”

“I’ve never met anyone who asks more and stranger questions than you, Reivyn,” Kenjiro sighed. Apparently this was his attempt to calm her down; it didn’t work one bit.

“That’s the only way I know to learn something that I don’t know!!” Reivyn shouted in her frustration. “The way you talk to me is different from everybody else. I feel safe around you, even though you’re one of the most brutal and hateful people I’ve ever met!”

“What is it, then?!” Kenjiro yelled, finally having lost his patience. “What the hell do you want to know from me?!”

“I want to know if the reason you’re doing this…” Reivyn said, tearing her eyes away from Kenjiro for a second and looking for the ground. She took a gulp of the dank, wet underground air, looked up at Kenjiro again, and, almost as if she was sure that she would lose her nerve should she hesitate a second longer, screamed the question. “I WANT TO KNOW IF IT’S LOVE!”

“. . .” Kenjiro was completely taken aback. Any question…

Anything about the Temple…

Anything about Kenjiro himself…

…would have been easier to answer – but she had to ask this one.

“Is that why?” Reivyn’s voice softened when Kenjiro did not answer right away. “Is that why you only treat me like I matter as much as your revenge? Do you love me?”

Kenjiro remained silent. The truth was, she had asked him a question to which he did not know the answer…

…or perhaps a question whose answer he chose not to know.

“Answer me,” she said with the desperation of an abject plea, and yet the authority of an order. As she often still did, she let out a gasp and tensed as she felt two hands gently caressing her shoulders…

With a jolting movement, she felt her neck whip sideways and she was swung and then violently thrown to the ground. She hit the stone floor, looked up and let out a scream.

Kenjiro looked down at his chest, which was pierced all the way through with a long sword. Creon, who had just dispatched the last of the grunt Knights on the other side of the cavern, jabbed his rod into Galvant’s stomach, spewing forth a jet of flame that engulfed the sub-captain, who let out a scream of agony as he died a fiery death. He turned around, looking for Moriard, and found, with a groaned oath and a gasp of horror, the last of the Imperial unit with his sword cleanly piercing the heart of Kenjiro Kazaki.

“Shouldn’t have gotten in my way,” Moriard grunted, yanking the sword out and kicking Kenjiro in the ribs.

She watched him fall back in slow motion…

At the last second, she caught his head mere inches from the ground and supported him. His eyes were wild. He seemed to be struggling to speak and, even though Reivyn was looking right into his eyes, he did not see her.

“R-Reiyvn…” he muttered, his eyes darting around inside their sockets. Finally, as he gave a sigh, they centered, unseeing, upon hers and became perfectly still. She felt his body become heavy and lowered it down into the ground, sobbing uncontrollably as Creon began to approach. Her knees buckled under her with the weight of loss – a weight somehow made physical, tangible…

…and the cavern echoed with a scream – a soul-rending shriek that reverberated with all of her grief, all of her pain, and all of her sorrow.

Dewford Beach

The afternoon sun shone golden and hot upon the sands of Dewford. A multitude of youths, from all ages and all walks of life, gathered upon these sands, oblivious to the tragedy that was taking place mere miles away. Their concentration was on the match…the final match. Sixteen had entered this competition; two remained…

…and, out of these two, only one could emerge victorious.

A crowd can feel the tension of a true and personal rivalry, even if they don’t know the Trainers…they can still feel it. They can sense when this is more than a match – they can sense when this is a fight, a one-on-one battle of wills.

He felt the winged charm, cold between his shirt and his bare, tanned chest. The scattered applause and cheering to which he took this stage of sand was all but silence to him. His emerald-colored eyes sought only the foil of him…

His friend…

And yet his greatest rival.

The spur behind him…

And the obstacle in front of him.

The one he wished to be…

…and the one he wished to surpass.

He stared across the sand at this reflection of a past self. After so long, he understood why things were the way they were. He saw so much of himself in him. Trying to overcome the pain of his past and forge a future for himself and someone that he loved...he knew the concept much too well. The hard fringe of his cobalt hair tickled his forehead as the sea breeze kicked it into life. A look of determination was painted onto his face – no longer gentle and innocent as the boy he was two years ago. A boy, yes, but a boy that had seen the troubles and the scars of many hard years – that was who he was now.

His mind wandered back to the year he had spent trying to piece together his life after the war. In a lot of ways, the story of the boy across from him was the same as his own. They both knew all about overcoming pain – both past and present.

He couldn’t have asked for a better rival.

“Are you ready for this?” he heard the brown-haired boy shout.

“Just say the word,” Travis replied, selecting his first Pokemon at random at pulling the ball off his belt.

“Are both trainers ready?!” the referee shouted, shooting a look at each of the two boys.

“Let’s go,” Matt said calmly, a quiet determination in his voice.

Travis responded with a silent nod, his eyes locked upon Matthew’s.

“BEGIN!” the referee yelled, raising both flags in the customary fashion. Instantly, there seemed to be a stir among the crowd – relative quiet was replaced by a murmur of excitement…people in less-than-convenient positions stood or craned their necks to get a better look.

“First off…” Matthew shouted, throwing his first Pokéball. “Mightyena!!”

Travis had heard of this creature before, but he had never seen one. He wasn’t going to lie to himself – it looked pretty fearsome. At three feet tall and with a coat of gray and a coal-like black, along with its sharp teeth, prominent ears, and piercing, red eyes, it looked like some kind of attack dog sent to (forcefully) escort his soul to the underworld. It let out a deep growl that reverberated in the pit of Travis’ stomach afterward.

Then again, maybe that was the fact that the last bite he’d had to eat had been well over eight hours ago. He and Katrina were just about to eat lunch when Matthew approached them with news of the tournament. On top of that, they’d had a seven-o’clock breakfast that morning with no snack in between. Travis then remembered with a twinge of annoyance that this tournament had prevented him from finishing his date with Katrina in the first place. He’d have to make it up to her somehow.

Travis mentally smacked himself – focus!

“Meru, let’s go!” Travis yelled, throwing the Pokéball containing his Kitide into the air. As the ball sprang from the ground back into his palm, a white glow dimmed to reveal a smaller, aquamarine Pokémon that was similar in appearance to a fox cub. She looked up at her bigger counterpart. As the Bite Pokémon growled again, Meru allowed a grimace of sorts to cross her face. It was almost as if she thought that she could win this battle, but knew from the onset that it wouldn’t be so easy.

“Mightyena, Shadow Ball!” Matthew shouted. The canine creature opened his mouth, revealing his razor-like fangs, and a large, black globe of energy about a size bigger than a regulation softball appeared, crackling and sparking with its dark power as it gathered strength.

“<Uh-oh,>” Angel had been hit with a Shadow Ball or two in her lifetime and knew how much they hurt. Then again, that could have been partly because of the fact that she was a Psychic-type, but still…

“Dodge that and use Water Gun!” Travis ordered. Meru moved to her left quickly, easily avoiding the fast-moving ball of ghastly energy. As the Shadow Ball exploded into a cloud of dust behind her, Meru took aim and fired with her Water Gun. The high-pressure jet caught the Dark-type full-on in the face, causing him to bark angrily as he skidded backward.

“<Take that!>” Meru shouted enthusiastically.

“Go after him!” Travis yelled immediately, gesturing at the Mightyena. “Use Bite!”

“Bite, Mightyena!” Matt responded.

The two Pokémon approached each other, the Bite Pokémon living up to his name as he was the one to connect, grabbing Meru with his fangs and tossing her to the ground as they collided in midair. Travis swore as Meru hit the ground, resiliently rolling to her feet soon afterward.

“Shadow Ball!” Matt shouted.

“Water Gun!” Travis responded loudly.

A black ball of energy and a high-pressure jet of water met each other in the center of the arena, exploding in a shower of black and white as the spectators surround the arena let out a collective gasp of astonishment and erupted into cheers.

“Good show,” Matt laughed.

“You’re holding back a little bit,” Travis replied with a smirk. “Why don’t you make this interesting?”

“Stick my neck out and get decapitated? No, thanks,” Matt replied wittily.

“Suit yourself, but I’m going all out!” Travis shouted. “Meru, use Water Gun!”

“Double Team!” Matt yelled. Mightyena howled and appeared to split into five copies of himself. The Water Gun hit the Mightyena on the near right, and it dissipated, leaving four copies.

“Not bad,” Travis chuckled with a smile.

“I’m just getting warmed up,” Matt answered. “Use Double Team again!!”

The four Mightyena became eight and surrounded Meru, who looked around herself to find an octet of growling dog figures poised to attack. Travis knew, of course, that only one of the eight was real – and he already knew a good way of finding out. The question was…would Matt be smart enough to see it coming?

“Shadow Ball!” Matt yelled. “Take her down!”

Travis waited for a half-second as eight Mightyena began to produce eight Shadow Balls, aiming at Meru from eight different directions. Of course, Travis knew that there was only one real Mightyena. The trick about the physics of Double Team was that this one Mightyena could at any given moment be any one of these eight clones. The real one was moving in short bursts. Of course, this amount of speed would probably do something interesting when combined with…

“Supersonic!” Travis yelled. “NOW!!”

Meru opened her mouth wide and produced a high-pitched scream. There was a loud ringing sound, almost as if the supersonic waves were being filtered through a long tube – like a bullet through a gun with a thirty-foot barrel. Almost instantly, Matt’s knees buckled a bit. Mightyena let out a loud howl and fell to the ground in front of Meru as the former’s seven clones disappeared.

“Bite!” Travis ordered. Meru jumped straight at Mightyena, her sharp, short fangs closing on the Bite Pokémon’s neck as she tackled Mightyena to the ground. Mightyena, snarling loudly, aimed his head up at the Kitide…

This time Shadow Ball hit its mark – point-blank, in fact. Meru screamed loudly as she was blasted up into the air. She went into a somersault and landed hard on her face in the sand, skidding backward.

“Damn!” Travis cursed.

“Did you really think I’d go down that easily?!” Matt shouted. “Tackle, Mightyena!!”

Mightyena charged – a shadow the color of blackest night.

“Tackle, Meru!” Travis responded quickly.

Meru charged – a blur the color of virgin, tropical water.

They collided at the center, inches above the ground, kicking up a ring of dust and bouncing off each other. Mightyena, growling fiercely, skidded to a halt, while Meru, groaning a bit, dug her own sharp claws into the grit below her to slow her own backward momentum. Another cheer of excitement rose from the crowd, but Travis could see that the battle was starting to take its toll on Meru, who had all the heart a Trainer could ask for, but was nonetheless substantially smaller than the three-foot-three, eighty-one-pound Mightyena (this according to Travis’ Pokédex).

Travis would have to change his strategy.

“Water Gun!” he cried out immediately.

“Shadow Ball!” Matthew responded.

The two attacks hit each other and canceled out. Through the hollow center of the resulting ring of intermingled darkness and water, the green eyes met the blue, each pair with a steely glint.

Meru and Mightyena began to mirror each other’s moves, their footprints creating a circle inside this square of sand. One was shooting Water Guns, the other, Shadow Balls. Explosions of water and shadow and sand flared all over the arena as the crowd sat on tenterhooks, watching and waiting to see what would happen next. By the time the volley was over (Travis had to dodge a couple of rogue Shadow Balls and Water Guns, as did Matthew), each Pokémon was facing its trainer.

“Tackle!” both Trainers shouted simultaneously.

Meru and Mightyena charged, bouncing off each other in the center of the arena and switching sides, both skidding to a stop in front of their respective Trainers and turning around, breathing loudly. Now that he got a good look at Meru, he was a tiny bit worried. Her aquamarine fur was disheveled and she was covered with indigo-colored bruises. She staggered a bit.

“<I can’t lose…>” Meru groaned.

“Meru…hang in there…” Travis muttered.

“C’mon, Mightyena – just one more push…” Matt muttered.

Meru and Mightyena locked eyes for a moment, and dropped to the ground, one right after the other.

“Oh, my –“ Mariah gasped, her hand to her mouth. Katrina grimaced.

“…FIVE! Double knockout!! Both Pokémon are unable to continue! This match is a draw!!” the referee shouted, crossing his flags in his hands.

Both Trainers returned their respective Pokémon, gazing at each other with slight intrigue.

“Geez…” Travis panted, a bit impressed and a bit worried.

“Damn it,” Matthew said drily, a slight smile on his face.

She held his body in his arms, shaking him, refusing to believe it. He had been so steadfast, so tough…a part of her dared to think that he was nigh invincible.

“Kenjiro…Kenji…please wake up…”

“You *******,” Creon said, standing between Kenjiro’s dead body and the one who had made it so – Captain Moriard of the Imperial Knights, who took one look at Creon’s eyes. “I’ll make you pay for that!!”

“Will you?” Moriard mocked him, raising his sword, which was covered down to the hilt with the blood of Kenjiro Kazaki – a sight that took Reivyn’s grief, shattered it, and handed it back to her as rage…rage that she had never before felt in her entire life.

“No,” Creon heard a growl behind him and stopped dead in his tracks. He whirled around to find Reivyn on her feet. Her weapons were drawn, her fists were clenched and shaking uncontrollably, and there could not be found an emotion but total fury on her dirty, tear-streaked face. “Don’t touch him.”

“Heheh…this is amusing,” Moriard laughed. “You, of all people? Maybe, if you’d stayed out of our way like we asked you, the both of you would be alive.”

“Shut up,” she growled harshly, shaking even more powerfully now. “I’m going to kill you.”

“Right,” Moriard scoffed. “Little miss crybaby, kill me? Try it.”

With a snarl that sounded like it had been belched from the bowels of hell itself, she charged. Moriard was taken aback at her speed and leapt backward, narrowly avoiding losing his head to one of Reivyn’s knives and then the other. Forcefully, Moriard raised the hilt of his sword and struck Reivyn in the back of the head. She hit the ground face-first and rolled several times, springing off the ground and ending up on her feet after several midair barrel rolls.

“What the –” Moriard gasped, crying out as Reivyn’s knife slashed his face moments later. A trail of blood flew from Moriard’s cheek, splashing onto Reivyn’s grimy and tear-stained face. Moriard raised his blade, growled, and attempted to slash Reivyn, who grabbed Moriard’s arm and threw him to the ground. She jumped away to put some distance between herself and her opponent. She looked up and saw Moriard charging with his long sword. A flash of silver through the air…

A scream of pain…

Reivyn went flying. Sticking one hand down, she vaulted on the ground, flipping herself back to her feet. Moriard came at her again. She grabbed his arm and, with a quick pull, guided him rather forcefully into a rock face behind her. Moriard choked in pain as his back slammed against the stone wall. Reivyn reared back and laid a kunai into Moriard’s torso. The red-haired captain groaned as Reivyn bodily tossed him sideways with a terrible groan of rage. She took two steps, a back flip, and rose high into the air, directly above Moriard’s heart, rotating very quickly with her kunai in front of her.

With a loud yell, she released the two knives, which continued to spiral downward, tails of flame streaking behind them like small comets. Moriard jumped backward just as the knives hit the ground…

BANG.

There was a blast like a bomb going off, and the ground around the knives erupted into violent flames. The force of the blast was more than sufficient to put Captain Moriard onto his back, as he skidded on that area of his body, his body armor the only thing saving his flesh from being ripped to shreds on the rough ground. When he finally regained some control of his person, he used it to roll to his feet. In doing so, his eyes focused again on the place where the explosion had happened – a place that was now shrouded in a cloud of thick dust and smoke.

“Damn you!” Moriard yelled. He saw the dust shift a bit….

And Reivyn emerged, armed with her knives and charging toward him. Raising his long sword, he ran to meet her. ‘

He was the first to move, attempting to decapitate Reivyn with a single stroke. Reivyn blocked it and landed a vicious right hook on Moriard’s body with the knife in her hand. Now, Reivyn, her beautiful, silver eyes glinting madly behind her dirty and matted hair, went on the offensive. Moriard looked slightly over his head and realized just in time that the dagger that Reivyn was swinging at him was crackling with lightning. He dodged and looked at the one in her left hand, which was wreathed in flame. She hit Moriard twice more, badly denting the armor he was wearing. She then leapt up and brought a hard knee into Moriard’s nose, breaking it instantly and causing it to spurt blood. Using that same leg to step on the reeling captain’s shoulder, she brought the other foot across Moriard’s temple, clouting him sideways and to the ground. He hit the dirt flat on his back. Reivyn didn’t hesitate. She took two or three steps, leapt, and drove her knees directly into Moriard’s body. Lots of things broke at this point...armor, along with several ribs…

Moriard coughed a huge fleck of blood into Reivyn’s face, which was already cut and dirty with everything imaginable. She pointed the blades of her knives at two opposite points on Moriard’s neck and stabbed.

Moriard wasn’t dead instantly. Instead, she continued to push through skin and muscle. As he shook and gurgled, Moriard’s face became redder and redder, eventually taking on the appearance of a large beet, until –

The pressure became too much. Moriard’s eyes rolled, having been the victim of an aneurysm. Moreover, blood began to pour from every remaining orifice on his head. His body went limp and his head rolled to the side. Just for good measure, Reivyn grabbed him by his hair and slammed his head against the ground five solid times.

She stood in the silence of the dank cavern. Corpses were everywhere around her as she hit her knees and looked around. Her eyes blurred again with tears and fatigue. There was one corpse that she did not see.

The only one that mattered to her in this bloody place…



She opened her eyes. She was in a small bed, barely big enough for her. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she found that the room in which she lay contained shelves full of books. She sat up on the bed and heard the door open. An auburn-haired, relatively young woman (although she was older than Reivyn) walked in at that moment and gave a slight gasp.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “You’re awake!”

Reivyn remembered that face – Agnes…who was married to Creon, who was fighting alongside herself and Kenjiro when…

At that moment, the weight of what had happened hit her. She buried her head in her knees (it registered for a brief, fleeting second that sometime between when she had fallen in the cavern and when she had awoken in here, both she and her clothes had been separated, cleaned, and reunited) and began to cry.

“Oh-oh…what’s wrong?” Agnes asked, attempting to put a comforting arm around Reivyn. “Why are you so sad? We’re all alive, aren’t we?”

Agnes couldn’t have asked a worse question. Reivyn reacted by shrieking “NO!” and sobbing even harder.

“What do you mean?” Agnes asked. “Master Hong, Creon and I, you, and Kenjiro…at least I think that was his name…”

“He’s…d-dead!!” Reivyn sobbed. “I s-saw it…”

“He’s quite alive, actually,” Agnes said calmly. “I just went in to check on him and he asked me if you were okay.” With a good-natured whisper, she added into Reivyn’s ear, “I think he likes you.”

“B-but…I saw him…” Reivyn stammered, shaking her head.

“Well, he was pretty much a moment or two away from being a corpse when Creon brought him back. It must have been while you were fighting that Imperial Knight,” Agnes explained. “But Master Hong fixed him up in a flash, and now he’s good as new! Well – almost…”

“Where is he?” Reivyn asked, standing and then staggering. Agnes came over to support her.

“Whoa, easy,” Agnes replied, steadying the girl. “That fight you were in was pretty brutal.”

Nevertheless, she stood and walked toward and opened the door. She walked nervously across the lobby of the hermitage. Creon and Hong Liu seemed to be poring over the map on the sage’s wall. Registering her presence, both stopped to look at her. She returned their stares for a moment as she turned and walked past them and the map, almost as if an unseen voice had called her in that direction.

“Kenji…” she whispered as she exited the door. Hanging over this underground lake was this balcony that seemed to be supported by two huge posts that went down, down, down into the water. She looked around in the distance and saw two holes in the distant rock walls, from which water spilled in beautiful, gushing falls. Her eyes came down to the end of the balcony, where a youth was leaning over it, lost in thought. He heard that he was called, and turned around slowly. There seemed to be something different about his facial expression, but her eyes were so blurry with tears, she failed to see what that difference was. She ran straight into him, wailing loudly into his chest. Not touching her for a moment, he just stood there, a bit surprised that anyone would cry over him like this. He just stood there. And…

Finally…

He received her.

Feeling his arms on her back, her screaming quieted to silent sobs. She looked up and placed her hand, almost instinctively, on the left side of Kenjiro’s chest, where the scar from the sword…

And, no doubt, the scar from a brand of another kind…

The burn of a life past…rested.

Kenjiro looked down at her silently, not protesting, not saying a word. She let out a sob and finally spoke:

“You never answered me…”

She looked at the ground. Soon after, she felt a gentle finger under her chin and looked up.

Almost as businesslike as he always was, he walked past her toward the back door of the cottage, stopping only to turn around and say this:

“We’re probably leaving soon. We can’t stay here anymore.”

She sighed and put her hand to her chin for a moment.

She finally had her answer – a curt answer, unspoken…but an answer nonetheless.



From inside, Kenjiro stole a glance over his shoulder outside and then quickly turned toward Creon and Hong Liu, both of whom stopped looking at the map on the wall and turned to him.

Creon sighed. Her timing perfect, Agnes entered the room right before Creon began to speak.

“Master Hong has come to a decision,” he said curtly, his body language betraying the fact that whatever decision Hong Liu had come to, Creon must not have agreed with it.

“I do not wish to run away,” Hong Liu said simply. “I wish to do something…more.”

“More?” Kenjiro repeated, looking askance at the old sage.

“He means…” Creon sighed, trailing off as if he could not bear to finish the sentence. “He means that he wants to help Prince Elrik fight.”

This was more than Kenjiro could have hoped for – imagine Roald’s face when the old wizard and his two protégés turned up at his front door! Nevertheless, Kenjiro had to keep his cool and not look like he needed or wanted these three people that much.

“Are you sure about that?” he asked. “I hope you understand that if this thing gets ugly, we’re talking about a civil war at best.”

Suddenly, it was as if Creon’s patience could take no more. “I tried to tell him that,” he piped in with the air of a younger sibling ratting out his older counterpart, “but he wouldn’t lis…”

“I understand you very well, Creon,” Hong Liu said sternly. “We can only hide from the world so long. It’s time for me to handle Gorba the way I should have years ago. Perhaps, part of the fault for this situation lies with me. If I had put up a better fight when Gorba took my position from me…”

He trailed off and looked up at Kenjiro.

“Tell us where the Prince is,” Hong Liu said.

“Rustboro City,” Kenjiro replied, sounding confused. “But, how…”

“There are means,” Hong Liu said, raising one of his crooked, bony fingers and hiding a smile under his long mustache and beard. “Where there is a desire to do something, the means can always be found.”

“Sounds an awful lot like ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’,” Kenjiro commented. Hong Liu chuckled, his white facial hair quivering a bit.

“If you say so…”

[EonMaster One]

~~~ *** ~~~

The first battle had ended in a draw, neither Pokémon being able to withstand the other’s attacks. Therefore, each Trainer had been forced to choose a second Pokémon, and the selections had been made.

Travis chose Champ, a Treecko who had been his first acquisition (due to the nature of their meeting, it could not truly be called a ‘capture’) after he had arrived in Hoenn over two weeks ago. Champ was proficient with the Iron Tail maneuver. Of course, Matthew, having watched all of Travis’ battles, knew that already…

He had countered with his Dustox, a variant evolution of Wurmple that evolves from the violet-tinged Cascoon as opposed to the pure white Silcoon. Dustox was a bug-like creature with a large, purple abdomen, huge, green wings, and huge, yellow compound eyes befitting an insect. A haze seemed to waft forth from his wings whenever he flapped them.

Already, Travis had to admit to himself that he was slightly worried. If it had been anyone else commanding this Dustox, he wouldn’t be as concerned, even with his Grass-type Treecko at a slight disadvantage because of the Bug-type and Poison-type properties of his opponent. But Matthew had a way of beating rare Pokémon with ones that were relatively common. Along the first leg of his journey, Travis thought that he’d seen about a hundred or so Wurmple, so they weren’t exactly hard to find. But he couldn’t use Angel just yet – he wanted to wait until Matthew called on his Combusken, which had beaten Angel quite badly the first time that they had met in battle, nearly half a month ago in Oldale Town.

“You gonna call an attack or not?!” Matthew shouted. Travis smirked. Matt was trying to bait him.

“<Yeah, are we?>” Champ yelled. Travis shrugged his shoulders ever so slightly – if his Pokémon was ready to go, then he might as well go.

“Champ, use Quick Attack!” Travis shouted, clenching his fist. Champ was off in a flash toward Dustox, who hovered about two or three feet off the sand using his wings.

“Dustox, use Protect!” Matthew yelled. A dome of energy surrounded Dustox and gave off a slight hum. Champ rammed right into the barrier, breaking it but bouncing off. He flew backward and skidded to a stop in the sand.

“<Okay…that didn’t work,>” Champ commented. Travis muttered an expletive under his breath.

“Confusion!!” Matt ordered. The air around Dustox seemed to distort for a moment. About a second later, a sound of impact was heard as Champ went flying, thrown airborne by an invisible blast of Psychic energy. He righted himself in midair and managed to land on his feet. However, he looked a bit dizzy.

“Champ, are you okay?!” Travis shouted.

“I’m fine!” Champ groaned.

“Again, Dustox!!” Matt yelled.

“Quick Attack, NOW!” Travis responded. A large amount of dust kicked up in front of Travis as Champ disappeared. A moment later, Champ came hurtling through the air from Dustox’s right. Dustox, sensing the Treecko’s presence, rose into the air a couple of inches, leaving the green Wood Gecko Pokémon to hit absolutely nothing. Having overextended himself, Champ flipped in midair and screeched to a stop in the hot sand, his back now facing Dustox.

“Too slow! Dustox, use Psybeam!” Matt shouted. The Poison Moth Pokémon readied a rainbow-colored beam of Psychic energy. Travis knew he had to be quick.

Dustox fired –

“Champ! Use Iron Tail on the ground!!” Travis shouted. Champ’s tail, glowing white, smashed into the ground forcefully, causing it to shake a bit as a column of falling sand measuring about five feet in height arose between himself and the Psybeam, which hit the sand and appeared unable to make it through the natural barrier.

“Quick Attack!” Travis yelled. Dustox saw only a pillar of sand. All of a sudden, a green-and-white blur broke the column and streaked upwards into Dustox’s prominent, violet thorax, knocking him backward a bit. Champ disappeared and reappeared where he had started the battle, several feet in front of Travis.

In the lull that followed, Matthew whistled.

“I’m not gonna lie – that was pretty sick,” he commented. “Serious creativity points for that one.”

“If it works…” Travis said, shrugging his shoulders slightly. Meanwhile, the cogs were working in Matt’s brain.

Damn it! I can’t afford another draw like the last one! Combusken’s all I’ve got left and I’ll bet that Travis and Angel have their act together now, so they’ll have an advantage!

Travis wasn’t crazy, either, but he was talking to himself nonetheless…

Okay – I got away with one there. But I need to end this battle before Matt figures out how to use this sand against me.

“Dustox, use Gust!” Matt yelled. Travis groaned another swearword – this was the one thing that he was hoping Matt wouldn’t do. He shielded his eyes as the wind grew strong and sand kicked up everywhere on the arena. Champ, with his oblong optics, had no chance – the grit got into his eyes faster than you could say ‘Sand-attack’. He shut them, squinting horribly as he felt himself being lifted into the air. After a couple of seconds of chaos, Champ was spewed out of the sandy typhoon and onto the ground, where he bounced despite the soft landing and groaned loudly.

“<Okay – I really didn’t practice for that!>” he shouted as he staggered to his feet. Travis put his hand to his forehead, grabbing at his bangs a bit in a calmly-displayed frustration.

“Guess that worked,” Matt commented, almost as if he was surprised at himself. “Dustox, another Gust!”

“Oh, damn…” Travis muttered. “Champ, wait a second!”

“<Huh? What?>” Champ uttered, his mouth slightly agape.

“Trust me,” Travis said. “Jump on my signal and ready an Iron Tail.”

“<Don’t know where this is going, but you’re calling the plays here…>” Champ sighed as his tail began to move back and forth and glow a bright white. He planted his feet in the sand and braced himself for the inevitable impact. The sand began to rise in a spiral around him.

“Fire it off, NOW!” Matt yelled, clenching his fist. Dustox began to beat his wings faster and faster…

“Jump!!” Travis shouted. Champ wasted no time getting off the ground. He began to feel himself being thrown around in the cyclone and began to spin. It was at that point that he realized the plan. Champ was high above Dustox, who looked upward with his bulging, compound eyes and saw a million Treecko focus into one.

“Why’s he spinning like – OH, ****!! Dustox, get outta there!!” Matthew cried, realizing his error.

“Iron Tail, Champ!” Travis yelled.

With a sickening crunch, Champ’s prominent, glowing tail connected with the top of Dustox’s head – but the Treecko was just getting started. The momentum created by the spin caused Champ to come around again…

…and hit a second time…

…and a third time…

…and a fourth time.

On the fifth hit, Dustox fell to the ground, battered, bruised, and beaten. Champ landed on the sand on his tail and used it to spring back to a standing position as his opponent fell to the dirt yards away. Matt groaned.

“One…two…three…four…five!!” the referee counted. “Dustox is unable to battle! Treecko is the winner!!”

Matt returned Dustox to his ball. Maybe it was wishful thinking on Travis’ part, but Matt looked like a little bit of the wind had been taken out of his sails.

“Minor setback,” the green-eyed teenage boy muttered, ruffling his already windswept, highlighted brown hair.

“We know what’s coming next,” Travis muttered.

“Go…Combusken!!” Matt yelled, throwing a Pokéball into the air. The sphere burst open to reveal the young fowl Pokémon – healthy, strong, and looking for a fight.

“<Ngh…>” Champ grunted in disapproval at the appearance of a Fire-type onto the battlefield.

“Don’t let him intimidate you!” Travis shouted. “Go after him! Use Quick Attack!!”

“<Let’s go!!>” Champ yelled, charging in a blur of white, spinning, and grunting with effort as his tail made contact with Combusken’s right jaw. The Young Fowl Pokémon fell back a step or two as Champ landed. Champ’s eyes went to the size of dinner plates (which isn’t saying much, if we’re being honest) when he saw a stream of flame coming down at him. He jumped out of the way as the fire hit the sand and kicked it up in a cloud of thick, hot dust and smoke.

“Keep it up, Combusken!! Use Peck!!” Travis heard Matthew shout through the cloud of smoke. Combusken emerged, running extremely fast with his arms at his sides and his beak poised to strike.

Champ wasn’t ready…

WHAM!

The green-bodied creature fell to the ground as a passing orange blur struck him on the head. When Champ rose to his feet, a prominent purple bruise was on his face. Travis groaned his disapproval.

“Take him down,” Matt said calmly, drawing his finger across his throat. “Meteor Ball!”

Travis groaned. “Champ, dodge it!”

Combusken lazily threw a spiraling ball of flame at the ground as Champ jumped backward. It was almost as if Combusken wasn’t trying to hit the Treecko. As Champ landed and heard footsteps, Travis realized, too late, that he had no time to defend himself.

“DOUBLE KICK!!” Matt shouted. Combusken didn’t need telling twice – a well-placed knee was driven into Champ’s pink torso. The small Grass-type groaned and coughed as all the wind was taken out of him. Combusken brushed Champ up and into the air with his clawed foot. Then, with the leap of a Dodrio with springs in its legs, Combusken rose into the air and turned head over heels, bringing his own heel down right between the Treecko’s eyes and forcing him face-first into the sand from a height of about ten feet or so. Compared to other surfaces, like hard Pokémon League-standard arena floor, the sand was a relatively soft landing…but it didn’t matter. The barrage of blows had been more than enough to sap Champ of his remaining energy. The referee started and finished the obligatory five-count.

“Treecko is unable to battle! Combusken wins!!” he announced, pointing the green flag at Matthew.

“Nice job,” Travis muttered as he returned Champ to his ball. He was now down to his last Pokémon. He looked down at his ankle, at the Espeon who had been his faithful friend and fighter through two years of troubles. He knelt down next to the lavender Sun Pokémon and stroked the top of her head. She smiled. The two had always gotten on well, and had a relationship similar to that of twin siblings. Partly due to their deep connection and partly due to Angel’s psychic abilities, they often found themselves finishing each other’s sentences and things like that – a fact that had made Angel’s previous loss to Matt’s Combusken even more disturbing. “Are you feeling up for a rematch?”

“<Definitely!>” Angel exclaimed, smiling again. Travis stood.

“Let’s go, then.”

Kenjiro looked up at the towering cliff in front of him. A hundred feet up or so was the hermitage of Hong Liu, which had been vacated by its tenants and emptied to the best of their abilities. On the strength of Creon, Kenjiro, and Reivyn (who proved, as she always did, that she was much more formidable than she appeared), nearly all of Hong Liu’s important books and documents – including the large world map that had been set up in the hermit’s study.

Where had all of these possessions ended up?

Well, it turned out that Hong Liu owned a small ship. It was this that was hidden in a deeper cavern several dozen feet below the location of the hermitage. What was more impressive was the fact that Creon could summon the ship to the shore if he wished.

The ground gave a lurch under him. Kenjiro realized immediately that the ship was moving. Her crawl was slow and steady toward what appeared to be a tunnel. Where it led, Kenjiro had no idea.

“You feeling okay?” a man’s voice sounded behind Kenjiro. It sounded young and strong, so it had to be Creon. He turned, and, sure enough, there was the young warlock with the long, black hair.

“I’ve had a lot worse,” Kenjiro answered. Correcting himself, he said, “Well…I’ve had things that have hurt a lot worse.”

“You should live,” Creon answered, “barring any…complications.”

“Complications?” Kenjiro repeated, raising an eyebrow at Creon. “You never told me there’d be complications.”

“Ha ha ha,” Creon laughed, clapping Kenjiro on the shoulder, which he didn’t like very much. “You should learn the beauties of having a sense of humor. It’ll help you with your girlfriend.”

“What?” Kenjiro grunted. “I think you’re misunderstanding something…”

“You’re kidding me, right?” Creon chuckled. “I saw you with her on the balcony.”

“That doesn’t mean…” Kenjiro murmured, but Creon cut him off.

“You tried to sacrifice yourself for her – and it would’ve worked, too, if Hong Liu hadn’t been able to see you right away! I’m not sure if you can convince yourself that it doesn’t mean anything,” Creon said, walking away. Kenjiro leaned over the railing of the three-masted ship and sighed.

“Kenjiro…” he snapped out of his reverie when he heard a girl’s voice. He turned around and saw Reivyn walking toward him. In spite of himself, he felt an urge to hold her, to shield her from any unseen dangers. She was within a step of him when she stopped.

“Is something wrong?” he asked immediately.

“I just thought…” Reivyn mumbled. “I would ask you a question.”

“What is it?” Kenjiro asked calmly as the red-haired girl walked past him.

“If you love me…or anyone…why is it so difficult for you?” Reivyn asked. Kenjiro squinted as they emerged from what turned out to be another cavern. He looked in front of him and saw distant islands, as well as a very large one on the horizon. Wingull cawed as they flew in formation overhead. Perhaps it was because he had been in the dark caves for so long, but everything, even after he opened his eyes, looked so much brighter and better. He then remembered that Reivyn had asked a question – and an incomplete one, to boot.

“Huh??” Kenjiro uttered. “What do you mean by that?”

“Difficult to show that you love somebody,” Reivyn replied. Kenjiro sighed.

“Who told you that I loved you?” he asked. Immediately he expected Reivyn to break down in tears, and he was surprised when she did not.

“I know you do,” Reivyn answered. “Somehow, I just…”

She trailed off and stopped speaking at once. There was an awkward silence.

“Every time I look at you,” Kenjiro replied. “You remind me of that place…that’s why I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want you to look at me and see every acolyte who’s tried to kill you…every man that ever tried to touch you.”

“I know you wouldn’t do that,” Reivyn whispered. He was now surprised to see that tears were indeed running down her eyes at a steady stream. “Because…because you love me…don’t you?”

There was another long silence. Another flock of Wingull cawed overhead as Kenjiro took in the rushing waves. The last wall around him broke down.

“I think I understand now,” Kenjiro sighed. “It’s been right in front of me for weeks, and I refused to see it.”

“What do you mean?” Reivyn asked.

“Reivyn…” Kenjiro took a deep breath. “I understand what Hayate tried to teach me all those years. You look at Travis…he’s just a kid, but he’s seen stuff that would drive a lot of men to madness. But he’s okay – or just on the edge of ‘okay’ – as long as he has her.”

“You mean, they need each other to survive?” Reivyn asked.

“Yeah,” Kenjiro said, nodding. “Exactly. He draws strength from knowing that she loves him. Maybe, one day…”

He trailed off for a second.

“Maybe, one day, you’ll feel the same way about me,” Kenjiro said, looking away from her for a moment. “But, if not…a man can dream, can’t he?”

There was another extremely long silence.

“You saved my life…again,” Reivyn said after this long lull. “Thank you.”

For the first time since he was a small boy, Kenjiro let out a full laugh that was not mocking, sarcastic, or cynical. Reivyn looked at him. He was smiling, and it registered with her that, now that he was not constantly sullen and melancholy, he was actually quite handsome.

“You saved mine first,” he said.

“Kenji…do you think we’ll be free one day?” Reivyn asked. Kenjiro stared at her.

“Better than that...we’re both free,” Kenjiro said. Reivyn gasped and quickly shut her mouth. “The Temple doesn’t keep its servants captive with chains or threats. You can leave the place if you try hard enough. But where they get you…they keep you captive in your own heads. They make you afraid to love anyone. They tell you…”

“…If you love someone, it hurts more if you lose them,” Reivyn finished. Kenjiro looked at her and she quickly added, “That’s what Vausin said to me. But there’s something I don’t understand…”

“What?” Kenjiro asked.

“You have the chance to take me back to the Temple for clemency,” Reivyn said. “Why won’t you?”

“It would hurt me if I lost you,” Kenjiro explained. Reivyn blinked. “But that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

Reivyn gasped and her eyes began to water immediately. She wiped the tears from her face, smiled and looked up at him. She took his hands in her own.

“No matter what they try,” Kenjiro said, “they can’t take anything else from us. We’ll have peace.”

She continued to fix her eyes upon him. Her mouth opened very slightly, almost as if she knew what was coming.

It wasn’t anything complicated, or too physical, or too deep. It didn’t say anything that didn’t need to be said, and it wasn’t pretentious or prolonged.

But it had happened – and after it had happened, they found that they were face-to-face for a moment. Her face was burning, but a strange and pleasing sort of warmth passed over the remainder of her body. A sea breeze whipped her scarlet hair into life. She laid her head on his neck for a moment, then broke apart from him.

There were still questions to be answered about themselves and where they fit in on this vast planet about which they knew relatively little. But slowly, those questions were being answered.

They were making progress…together.

Two Pokémon remained in the battle. On one side, a newly-acquired Pokémon, taken as a egg that hatched into a Torchic that subsequently evolved into the Combusken now standing upon the sand arena.

On the other side, an Espeon that had been a faithful friend and partner to her Trainer for several years – a very competitive Pokémon that hated to lose once and absolutely refused to lose twice.

Only one would be left standing when this fight was over…and Angel was determined that she would be that one.

“BEGIN!” the referee shouted. Travis didn’t need telling twice.

“Let’s go, Angel!” he yelled. “Star Shower Combination!!”

“Star Shower? What’s he cooking up…?” Matthew muttered. He looked straight up as a large group of star-shaped points of light sat awkwardly against the sun and the daytime sky. Matthew recognized those stars at once. “That’s a Swift attack…”

“Let ‘em drop,” Travis said with authority, waving his hand downward for emphasis. With loud screams, the energy stars began to hurtle toward the ground.

“Shoot ‘em down! Ember attack!!” Matt shouted immediately. Combusken reared his head back and fired a salvo of tiny fireballs with the speed and constancy of an assault rifle. Flames hit stars in mid-air, resulting in explosions, the number of which would give modern-day Baghdad a run for its money. Combusken (who had jumped for better accuracy) landed on the ground and heard footsteps.

“Too late! Quick Attack, Angel!!” Travis yelled.

“Scratch!” Matt shouted.

A lot of things happened at once here. Angel, who was moving toward Combusken at a speed barely slow enough for the human eye to pick up, was undaunted as she saw Combusken raise his claw. He brought it down on nothing but sand, as Angel reappeared six inches over toward Combusken’s left side and continued to advance.

She made contact, her head leaning against Combusken’s left shoulder as the latter left his feet.

“No good!” Matt groaned.

“Confusion!!” Travis yelled a split-second later. The air around the two Pokémon was distorted for a moment. Then, almost as if Combusken had hit a force field…or rather, the force field had hit him…he went flying sideways across the sand arena out toward the sea a bit. He hit the ground at an angle that sent him into an uncontrollable roll. His arms flailed out wildly and swung as if someone had stuffed the Young Fowl Pokémon into a spin cycle. However, Combusken, whose species was known for its physical strength and athletic ability, stuck his claw down to control his roll, hit the ground shoulder-first, and skidded to a stop as he rolled back to one foot and one knee, dragging his sharp claws on the ground for balance and braking purposes. As he finally came to a halt, he flicked his claws out of the sand, bringing some of it up with him as the small grains, glowing a bit with the hot sunlight overhead, were carried away by the sea breeze in a rather aesthetically-pleasing display.

“Oh, that’s it!” Matt groaned. “Combusken, Flamethrower!”

“Flamethrower?!” Travis repeated, a bit surprised. “Double Team, then Quick Attack!!”

Combusken used his Flamethrower a bit differently. He put his hands to his beak, almost as if he was shouting. Then he reared back and, with a loud cry, released a stream of red flames at Angel, who was moving so quickly toward Combusken that it looked like there were about eight of her, all standing still at different points, and a ninth that was actually moving for short spurts before disappearing again. Combusken shot a second Flamethrower and missed…then a third.

“That’s enough, Combusken! Ready Meteor Ball!” Matt shouted. Angel jumped toward Combusken while the latter rounded his hands and a white ball of flame appeared.

“BACK OFF!” Travis yelled in warning…Angel disappeared right in Combusken’s face…

BOOM.

Screams came from the crowd as the Meteor Ball hit the arena on the inland edge, closest to them. A huge cloud of dust erupted from the resulting explosion, beginning to swirl around the entire arena.

“Angel!!” Travis shouted worriedly, shielding his face from the dust.

“Slash!!” Matt’s yell came through the cloud of dust.

“Damn, I can’t see where they are!!” Travis groaned in frustration. He heard several sounds of impact and a scream. “No!!”

The dust cloud began to clear, but not before Angel was belched from it in a rolling heap, landing at Travis’ feet with a loud flump and looking extremely damaged. She rose nonetheless, and turned back toward Combusken, who looked a bit tired, too. Apparently his assault hadn’t gone unanswered, much to Travis’ relief.

One Psybeam could finish this match, most likely…but Travis wasn’t sure how much Angel had left in her. She had always had trouble using Psybeam, even with relatively good energy. Now, as tired as she was, there was no way Travis could bring himself to use the attack.

“Quick Attack!” Travis called. He could hear the desperation in his own voice. He was losing his grip.

“Scratch, Combusken!!” Matthew yelled. Combusken, his claws at his side, took off running toward the center of the arena. Angel ran out to meet him. She leapt and hit nothing but air as Combusken launched himself into a side roll to evade the attack. Angel, having overextended herself horribly and gone flying through the air head over heels, landed on the back of her head – a maneuver that literally caused Travis to scream and then stop himself – and rolled to her feet to see the Fire-type rushing her again. She jumped left as a left claw came screaming through the air at her for a second time. She didn’t see the right foot, hidden under the sand like an Arbok ready to strike its helpless prey…

WHAM.

She was sent skyward, flipping and twisting as she went. The crowd all leaned backward in tandem to get a better look at the flailing Psychic-type hanging nearly twenty feet in the air.

Matthew let out a roar of victory.

“Double Kick!!” he laughed. “Finish her off!!”

Combusken kicked up a cloud of dust as he leapt and ascended toward Angel’s ever-increasing height extremely quickly. Angel righted herself in midair and Travis knew that this was his only shot…he had to take it.

“PSYBEAM!” he shouted. “USE PSYBEAM!!”

After three agonizing seconds of preparation, the rainbow-colored beam burst forth from the gem on Angel’s head. Spinning in mid-jump, the target was able to avoid it…

“NO!” Travis groaned in agony. What he didn’t know was that dodging the Psybeam forced Combusken to change direction in midair, therefore rendering him unable to aim his attack before gravity took effect and Angel fell past Matthew’s Pokémon. Combusken leaned his head back and relaxed as he fell. Angel went sailing through the air, but was on her feet as she landed on the ground, hit a dune of sand created by the upheaval of this battle, and performed a controlled roll down to Travis feet, at which point he gave a loud sigh. Combusken was already on the ground. Travis gave a sigh and found that he himself was very exhausted. His legs started to buckle a bit.

“<Don’t you dare give out on me now! We’re this close!>” Angel shouted.

“That’s my line,” Travis quipped, righting himself and taking in one huge breath. “Okay…”

“Combusken, use Slash!!” Matthew growled. Combusken took three steps toward Angel, his claw ringing through the air. Angel flung herself sideways, avoiding the sweeping nails of the Young Fowl Pokémon. Combusken tripped; Travis saw his one and, perhaps, last chance…

“Psybeam!” he shouted. The gem on Angel’s head began to glow a bright white, and before Matt could shout a warning, Combusken was enveloped in a rainbow-colored beam of Psychic energy.

“Combusken!!” Matthew groaned. The Fire-type fell backward, spread-eagled against the sand.

“One…two…three…four…” Travis panted to himself, echoing the shouts of the referee. It seemed to take forever for the referee to lower his hand.

“Five.”

The crowd erupted into cheers. Travis toppled back into a sitting position with a loud sigh. Angel ran up to Travis’ knees.

“<We won!>” Angel exclaimed.

“I’m beat…” Travis panted.

“Hey! You alright, man?” Travis heard a voice and looked up once he realized that he was in shadow. Three forms were standing over him, two of them with their hands extended. Katrina he recognized almost immediately, but he was surprised to see a tan hand leading to an arm that led to a shoulder that sat under the head featuring the short hair and green eyes of Matthew Marius. Both Katrina and Matt grabbed Travis’ wrists and pulled hard, yanking him back to his feet. Travis stumbled immediately, but was supported by the both of them as the latter clapped him on the back. Travis and Matthew looked at each other for several tense seconds…

…and burst into laughter. It was as if all of the aggression that was ever there between them had been released in that single, explosive battle. All of it had been left here in the sands, and the hate was gone. Travis looked at Matthew’s hair – lank, sweaty, hanging in a curtain over his eyes -- and smirked.

“Do something with that,” he commented. “You look like an emo.”

“Seriously, what’s your obsession with emos?” Matthew asked.

Mariah and Katrina looked at each other, smiled, and shook their heads simultaneously.

The trophies of the winner and runner-up sat unheralded on another table whilst four teenagers – four friends – sat at a place at an outdoor food court at the center of town. The sun was beginning its descent over the western horizon, and the temperature had cooled to that of a pleasantly balmy summer night.

Travis and Katrina shared a soda, not bothering to get two straws, either. As they smiled and laughed with each other, Matthew and Mariah looked on almost in wonder for a while. Finally, it was the least likely of the four of them who spoke.

“I see now why Rafael…” Travis saw Matthew grimace at the sound of the name and deduced that Matt’s previous experience with hearing about Rafael couldn’t have been pleasant. “…I see know why Rafael and I couldn’t beat you that time. You two have a great relationship going.”

“She’s the one that makes it go, actually,” Travis laughed, nudging Katrina slightly. She brushed some of her roseate hair out of her face and grinned. “I just try to stay out of the way.”

Matthew and Mariah both burst into laughter. After it died down, Katrina purred, “Don’t sell yourself short, Travis. You’re a great boyfriend.”

“Aww,” Matthew uttered teasingly.

“Shut up,” Travis said in a deadpan voice, crumpling a fresh napkin from the pile in front of him and throwing it at Matthew.

“No, seriously – all joking aside,” Katrina said soberly. “You and Matthew are a good couple, too. But, you know…Travis and I really don’t know that much about you.”

“Not much to tell, really,” Mariah said, “I’m Mariah Cecil – but you knew that already. My middle name is Bianca.”

“Bianca? That’s a pretty name,” Katrina commented.

“I guess I could have worse…” Mariah sighed with a smile. “What about you?”

“Lynn,” Katrina said simply. Mariah looked at Travis, who had a strange expression on his face.

“Sorry – it was just a fad from Gardner. Everyone went around asking each other’s middle names. That’s part of how we got nicknames for people and stuff,” she explained.

“Good luck with mine – it’s Shelton,” Travis said. Katrina couldn’t tell if the ambiguous facial expression he had made right after telling them this was a laugh or a shudder. “I’m proud of the fact that I’m named after my grandfather, but…let’s put it this way. If I ever have sons, I won’t be naming any of them after me. Three generations is enough. Besides…if I have more than one son, I wouldn’t want the others to feel bad about not being named after me…or my dad…and so on…”

Matthew laughed.

“I guarantee you mine’s worse,” he said flatly. “Unless someone has a second middle name they’re not telling me about.”

The other three shook their head in tandem.

“Matthew Antonius Otto Marius,” Matt said with a shudder. The other three winced.

“A little too long for me,” Travis commented. “Granted, I’m ‘Travis Shelton DePaul III’, so I can’t talk…”

“Antonius?” Katrina repeated. “What’s with that?”

(The real question she wanted to ask was “Had the meds worn off when your mom named you?” but she felt that’d be a little too rude.)

“Oh. My grandfather – my mom’s dad – his name was Anton Schroeder. Madeline’s middle name is Antoinette, if you were wondering. She hates it – thinks it sounds old-fashioned.”

“It doesn’t sound that bad…Madeline Antoinette…” Travis mused.

“Of course, don’t tell her that – you know what she’d do to you,” Matthew commented.

“Don’t remind me,” Travis groaned darkly. “Otto…so you’re named after your dad, too, right?”

“Yeah…” Matt said a bit distractedly. “Madeline went to visit him last year, right? I wonder how he’s doing?”

“You haven’t talked to him at all?” Katrina asked, sounding very shocked.

“Not since he left when we were ten,” Matthew said, taking a sip of his own soda with the air of someone calmly saying that a loved one had died of a heart attack.

“Matt!” Mariah scolded. “That’s nearly five years!”

Travis winced ever so slightly as he turned to look at Katrina.

“Yeah, well…” Matt shifted in his chair uncomfortably. “He didn’t seem to care for me and Madeline very much, did he? If he did, he either would have stayed with Mom or taken us with him when he left.”

“He’s still alive, though,” Mariah moaned with a pained expression on her face. Matt looked guilty immediately.

“Sorry,” Matt sighed. “I know that’s a sore subject for you…”

Seeing the looks on Travis’ and Katrina’s faces, Mariah explained: “My dad was a firefighter. When I was two – Becca was eight, she’d remember better…”

“Becca?” Katrina asked.

“Rebecca, her sister,” Matt answered. “She moved out just as Mariah was finishing up her fourth year of school. Except…that’s all most public schools offer. Only the Academies offer the fifth and sixth-year studies, and the nearest two were New Bark – that’s your school – and Gardner.”

“It just happened that Becca was moving to Violet City, so Mom let me move in with her. It was tough, but she knew I wanted to be a Trainer, so…” Mariah trailed off. “Anyway, my dad was with the fire department, and when I was two, he got called into a building fire on the west side of town. That’s where it gets fuzzy. My mom says that they started sending lifts up to the firefighters when the building was about to come down. Only thing was, they only fit four. So Dad let his four friends go and stayed for the next lift. That’s when the building collapsed.”

Matt grimaced slightly. There was awkward silence for a long while. To everyone’s surprise, Mariah smiled.

“So, now you know my life story, pretty much,” she said.

“What about now?” Katrina asked. “Are you still a Trainer?”

“The whole gym thing doesn’t really appeal to me for some reason,” Mariah said, shaking her head. “But…”

“She’s interested in Pokémon Breeding,” Matt replied. Mariah smiled.



Night fell, and the four of them all went back to the Pokémon Center and their rooms. While walking down the hall of the second floor, Travis put his hand to his mouth, yawning widely. After leaving the food court, they had found the Dewford Gym on the western half of town. Both Travis and Katrina signed up for matches the following day. (Matt, having arrived three days before them, had already beaten Brawly and earned his Knuckle Badge.)

“Tired?” Matt asked.

“I woke up at six in the morning,” Travis explained.

“Yeah, that’ll do it,” Matt admitted. “207 – this is your room, right?”

“Yeah, this is us,” Travis answered.

“When are your matches again?” Matthew asked. From what they had found out, the next (pirate-free) ship to Slateport was scheduled to leave on the early morning of the 11th – the day after tomorrow. Therefore, Matthew and Mariah had a free day tomorrow.

“Katrina’s at ten; mine’s at two,” Travis explained. The noon slot was unavailable; even Gym Leaders had to eat at some point. “I guess we’ll do like Brawly and get lunch between the two matches.”

“That works,” Matthew answered, shrugging his shoulders. “Well, see ya.”

Travis remained silent as Matthew and Mariah walked off, leaving him and Katrina alone.

“Matt’s grown up a lot since two years ago,” Travis commented.

“We all have,” Katrina said, taking a small card and swiping it through a slot on the door. Hearing a click, Katrina turned the knob and opened the door. Travis followed her inside and closed it behind him. Katrina, climbing a small ladder sat down on her bed and moved toward the end. Getting the message, Travis kicked off his sandals, put them near a dresser, and climbed up with her. They stared at each other and smiled broadly.

“So…how did you do it?” Katrina asked.

“Do what?” Travis questioned.

“Make up with him,” Katrina replied simply. Travis chuckled.

“Oh…that. I guess I couldn’t really remember why I was mad at him in the first place,” he answered.

“Maybe, one day, you will be back to your old self,” Katrina commented, laying her head on his shoulder. “Back then, you used to look for the good in people.”

Travis sighed. That was back when he was just a small child, consumed by a worldview fraught with idealism and naivety. That was back before the war, before the sword, before he sacrificed his sanity to save a nation.

“You’re so cynical nowadays,” Katrina commented.

“That’s because I grew up,” Travis replied tersely. “Now...I know everyone has some kind of dark side – no matter how much they try and admit that they’re perfect…they’re not.”

Katrina remained silent.

“Everyone says that they’re okay…they’re not okay,” Travis muttered. “You’ll never hear me tell anyone I’m ‘alright’, because I’m not…I still see him in my nightmares every so often. Those cold eyes…that huge arm that looks like it came from some sort of hell spawn…”

“Please, stop…” Katrina whispered.

“But the scariest thing?” Travis said. “In the nightmare, I’m not fighting him again. In the nightmare…I’m looking in a mirror. Looking at my true self.”

“You’re nowhere near as evil as Angelos was!!” Katrina exclaimed, her eyes watering.

"But I have the potential to be, don’t I?!” Travis roared. Then, realizing he’d been too harsh, he looked away from her. “That’s what I’m starting to figure out, Katrina. I’ll never go back to the way I was. I can’t.”

“You’re here, aren’t you?!” Katrina shouted.

“That’s…” Travis began to shout again. Realizing that it wouldn’t make things any better (as Katrina, who was seldom weepy, was sobbing as she looked at him), Travis lowered his voice. “That’s because I learned that when things come crashing down, you just have to pick up as many pieces as you can and try to do something with them. Fortunately, I had enough pieces left to salvage…just barely. But, the stuff that’s missing…”

“Everyone has pieces that are missing, Travis,” Katrina said, drying her eyes, “and some of them are pieces that you think you’ll never get back once you lose them. Sometimes, though…if you keep it up don’t give up hope…”

She put her hand on his right leg, indicating the spot where this limb had broken several times in the final fight with Angelos two summers ago.

“…you get a miracle.”

She leaned in toward him and their lips met. This meeting was a simple, unrefined thing; technique was a nonfactor, the years were no longer significant. All that remained was the emotion behind it and what it meant to him. The feelings felt during a first kiss are a thing that can only happen once. If ever, though, there was a quality imitation, this was it. His mind went back to that summer night under the aureate moon of Goldenrod City. She had been wearing that beautiful dress that day, and they were so happy to be together at last.

She broke apart from him after a while, applying an ever-so-gentle nibble to his lip just to remind him that it wasn’t 2011 anymore.

“Think about it,” she said. “We’ve come too far to start doubting ourselves.”

They held each other and sat there for a few minutes in silence, watching the light from the moon filter into their room through the window blinds.

“Um…Travis?” Katrina asked. For once, she sounded slightly apprehensive. “I have a question.”

“What is it?” Travis asked.

“Matt made a comment earlier today and it got me thinking,” Katrina replied. “I know it’s kind of dumb, because we’re not even fifteen yet, but…do you think…”

She trailed off and asked the question very quickly – so quickly that it was almost as if she hoped that Travis would miss it, she would say “never mind,” and they could go back to cuddling each other in silence.

“Do you think we could be married one day?” she asked. Travis heard her perfectly and his heart leapt into his throat. At the same time, though…he wasn’t sure.

“Maybe,” he said. Katrina smiled.

“Well, at least that leaves the door open,” she said, closing her eyes and leaning against him. As she succumbed to fatigue on his shoulder, she was unaware of what she had actually done for him in that moment.

…It was just like Travis and Katrina had no idea of the great excursion on which Kenjiro and Reivyn, now in the room next to them, had embarked. Reivyn lay down on the low bed and alertly watched Kenjiro as he stared out of the second-floor window for a few moments. She then watched as he circled the desk to stand above her bed. Quietly, he knelt down.

“Good night,” he said, standing up. Reivyn stopped him:

“Wait.”

He halted and turned around. Blearily, she looked at him and made the strangest of requests.

“Kenji…would you…please…kiss me again?”

Kenjiro was caught off guard for a moment. He leaned down gently toward her and laid his lips upon hers for a moment. Once he broke apart from her, he realized that she was already asleep. He took her hand.

“Sweet dreams,” he said, walking over to his bed. As he lay down, he heard a groan from her side of the room. She seemed to be muttering in her sleep.

“Kenji...I love you…”

He sat up for a moment. It had been years since those words had been said to him and meant anything. Reaching around his back, he pulled out the dagger that had once pierced his brother’s heart, setting it on the table, where it gleamed in the sunlight. He sighed and drew his feet into the bed, looking straight across the table at her beautiful face, smiling in her slumber. So peaceful her face was now; where she was, nothing was chasing her or hurting her. So, he finally said it, knowing somehow that, wherever her dreams had taken her this time, his words would find her.

[Air Dragon]

Air Dragon is first in line, Air Dragon is first in line!

You know how it works...

right, i think we'd best take this from the top...

Grammar check:

best encapsulizes the style that I've been using

best encapsulates the style that I've been using

taken as a egg that hatched

taken as an egg that hatched

L@er!

[xXPorygonXx]

~~~ *** ~~~

“I’m fine!” Champ groaned.

Should have those little <.....> things like you usually use to distinguish Pokemon and human speak.

Honestly, this one on the best chapters in Advent Phoenix to date. It seems like Travis is slowly becoming himself, instead of a sword happy maniac. I was happy to see that Travis's hatred of Matt has become a slow friendship. Oh yeah...mass produced Templeshipping for all! I really though Kenjiro was dead, for awhile. And the fact that Kenjiro was a Temple Knight was a huge plot twist! But we all know he's a good guy, especially when it comes to Reivyn. Anyways,awesome chapter as usual!

[Diddy]

I'm back.

I've kinda been on holiday for a while and I got back for some uber chapter readage. On PRJ I got near the finale of season 2 about the Cianwood bit.

Anyway, I forgot what chapter I was on when I last posted so I'll just do Dewford.

Intro of Matt was well put in there, get the battling rivalries back into it for a while, take the subject from swords and evil kings at least for a chapter or so.

The tournament, very good, my favourite was 'Cactadder' a decent sounding snake pokemon that isn't portayed as either a retard or a fat blob.

Templeshipping Ahoy. gay shop owner with hinty hinty, secluded mine cart ride, *** kicking, almost dieing and a superb kill from Reivyn, kudos to the girl.

To end Matt and Travis, chums? what next. maybe Madeline will get out of her gonad destroying habit, men can only hope. Katrina can also have a girlfriend to discuss stuff with now those two kissed and made up.

A slight grammar complaint though. I'm not sure riffraff as you spelt it is all one word, i'm sure its riff raff or riff-raff. or am I just making it up.

erm. well I had something to say here but I forgot so I'll leave you to writing and if I remember I shall regard it later. Bye