Travels of the Trifecta! (PG-13)

[Yonowaru in Chaos]

I recommend you give some indication to the chapters and all, especially since you have one chapter spread over multiple posts and it'd be worlds more convenient.

You might also want to give indication where the POV changes (it's possible, even though you sort of link them together with a sentence or two).


As usual, I'm enjoying this immensely, especially where you portray certain characters, such as the usual Conway, as well as Daisy (:]). Reggie is also excellently portrayed in his sudden and forceful character shift.

Oh and just so you know, cyclones don't form on land, although you never explicitly said that it did :D

[Shinneth]

Yup, good call. I was gonna do that anyway once I hit the second page, so I guess that's something to do for today. I also keep forgetting to add on the chapter names whenever I post on the forum, but they do have names. Horrible, horrible puns like the Pokemon dub makes. :') I'll add them to the list. Let's just say Conway's name allows for a lot of potential priceless fic names. I just wanna have a new, separate story altogether just to have an excuse to have a story named Conway to the Danger Zone.

The FFN version of the story does have separators every time the scene switches. I'm not sure if this forum has a sufficient equivalent or not. I've been compensating for extra spaces, but now those just count for more characters, which is my new enemy. ._. I'd like to try not to make Chapter 5 longer than the last one, but that's my critical flaw as a writer: I can't shut up. Ever.

Glad the product's still appeasing, though! I'll have to start getting creative since a new Paul appearance is confirmed within the next few weeks. I'll have to start pacing this story a bit better since it starts out pretty much less than a week after DP100, and after four chapters two whole days haven't even passed yet. Inadvertently, I'm doing Reggie a favor by severely injuring and slapping a mental illness on him, since that'll mean he'll have to stay close to home before he fully recovers and should tie in perfectly with his tiny little cameo during one of the Iron Island episodes. Still, I can't help but fear imminent plotholes. ♥ I'll have to speed things up a bit in future chapters.

Thanks again for the input!

[dash142]

Yay another new chapter! That was quick, I wish I could write as fast as you ha ha.

Once again you did a good job on all of the characters, even Reggie's personality shift. Daisy is pretty easy to portray though, but you did do good with Tracey and Misty.

For scene or POV changes I use ---- and then skip a line.

[Shinneth]

( I've been writing for many years, but I've never written a battle of epic proportions before, really. This'll be my first foray into such a topic, as this chapter is almost solely the Gym Battle between Paul and Byron! Enjoy! )

The time had come: Paul’s Gym Battle against Byron of Canalave City. He came in with full intent on winning the badge on his first try and strengthen the endurance of his Pokémon by forcing them to adapt to battles against opponents that had an advantage over them. Paul strictly believed there was nothing to gain by spoiling a Pokémon and focusing only on its strengths. After what Weavile had failed to accomplish earlier that day, Paul was particularly harsh on it. For Weavile to stay on as a member of Paul’s party, Paul needed to win this Gym Battle, and Weavile had to do everything in its power to stay conscious. This was no easy task, as Weavile’s defenses were well outclassed by its offensive capabilities. However, the offense would be of little use when most of Weavile’s attacks would prove not to be very effective on Byron’s Pokémon.

It was strangely appropriate, Paul thought, to focus on improving his Pokémon’s defenses in a Steel-typed Gym. Steel was easily the greatest type in terms of defense. Paul committed to sticking with his original plan this time around; even if Byron turned out to be an annoying man, and Paul knew he would be, he certainly banked on the hope that he could never out-do Gardenia in the enthusiasm department. He kept his cool and prevented himself from making any last-minute changes to his team or his strategy. This was easier said than done, considering what all Paul had been through just to reach Canalave City on this day.

The fact that he was now stuck with Conway as a travelling partner also wasn’t helping matters.

“Very interesting,” Conway murmured, as he had never been in this Gym before. “Pristine, metallic… fitting considering the dominant type.”

“This isn’t a field trip,” Paul harshly reminded him. “We’re going straight into battle and straight out the door after I win. You can geek yourself to death over this place on your own time. Focus on finding the battling area or Byron.”

Conway looked ahead; not taking any offense to Paul’s insulting, for as long as his insults didn’t involve Dawn, Conway was pretty adept in enduring Paul’s attitude. “It shouldn’t be a stretch to find the battle arena, honestly. It’s probably right at the end of this hallway behind those doors,” he figured. “If we’re lucky, Byron should be right there to accept your challenge.”

Paul nodded, agreeing with him for once. “With any luck…” He soon looked annoyed, tugging at his coat a bit. “Does he really need to keep it so warm in here?”

“Say what?” Conway was alerted upon hearing that. “Paul, it’s really not that bad in here. Maybe you should take your coat off, but like I said, you’re running a fever…”

Taking off his coat did sound like a pleasant idea, but Paul focused more on Conway’s obsessive diagnosis of his alleged condition. Of course, he’d been feeling feverish and slightly dizzy since he boarded the ship to Canalave City, but he wasn’t about to admit it to Conway. “Will you lay off on that, already? I have a battle to focus on, and your nosing in on my business is becoming a huge distraction.”

“It’s only from the goodness of my heart that I keep reminding you,” Conway insisted. “But don’t worry. I’ll make sure you’ll keep your head in the game. It’ll make up for me annoying you, surely.” And with that, he winked, but Paul remained unimpressed and irritated.

“Just be a good, quiet cheerleader in the stands and we won’t have a problem,” Paul requested just as he was opening the door. “A very quiet cheerleader.”

The next room was indeed a large battle arena with crowd stands at both sides of the field. The battling area hosted a rough and natural ground with several jagged rocks protruding from the dirt. It greatly contrasted the flooring beyond the boundaries, which was shiny and steel just like the rest of the Gym. From a distance, Paul and Conway could see a man toting a shovel standing there at one end of the battlefield. He was stiff and silent, and looked as though he expected someone to come up and challenge him.

“How dedicated,” Conway mused. “To stand there at his post all day to await challengers… must be boring as sin, but his dedication is admirable.”

Paul ran towards the battlefield ahead of Conway until he reached what was apparently the challenger’s designated corner. “Byron!!” Paul shouted out so that the much older man could hear him from across the field. It was hard to make out, but Byron smirked upon the calling of his name.

“I…” Paul took a deep breath before finishing; running even a short distance had already worn him out… and that was unusual for him. “I’m here to challenge you!”

To that, Byron howled with laughter long enough for Conway to catch up with Paul.

“You don’t say?” Byron mused, after controlling his laughter. “And who might you be, kid?”

That harsh tone and condescending vocabulary felt very familiar for Paul. Indeed, this was the kind of talk he’d heard from his own father in the past. He frowned at Byron’s chiding, but remained firm. “Paul of Veilstone City,” he said quickly. “Do you accept or not? I’ve had a very long day.”

The name seemed to take Byron off-guard for a moment. He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and scrutinized his opponent. “Paul of Veilstone City…” he muttered. Then, he grinned. “Almost thought I’d never see the day! You’ve grown like a weed, kid!”

“What…?” Paul’s eyes widened, since this was different. Naturally, most Sinnoh residents were somewhat familiar with Brandon’s children, but he never came across someone who talked as if he really knew him.

Conway took an interest to the statement as well. “You know him, Paul? Goodness, why didn’t you bring it up before?”

Paul shook his head. “I don’t remember actually meeting Byron in person before… unless…”

“HAH!” Byron guffawed, still looking cocky. “Figures you wouldn’t remember me, kiddo! You were ye tall,” He demonstrated by lowering his hand down to his knees. “Last time I saw you! Can’t blame you for that!”

It was becoming obvious where this conversation would lead to. Paul didn’t feel like going there, but felt like he had to if he was ever going to get this battle underway. “You’re… a friend of my old man, aren’t you?”

“Ah, yeah! Good guess!” Byron affirmed. “Brandon and I go way back. He was pleased as punch to introduce me to you when you were a wee one. You clung to your mommy a lot, I remember, but I could tell you had that fighting spirit, and you’d grow up to be a big tough guy like your dad! Couldn’t see that as much in little Reggie, much as he put up a good fight against me all those years ago…” He then realized how many years it had been, and laughed. “Guess I was right there, too! Your brother gave up the battling life, didn’t he?”

Paul felt awkward hearing such specific details of his younger days. He hardly remembered his mother at all and wasn’t even sure how long he actually mourned her loss, if he even did. He was far too young back then, and the details were far too blurred in his head to make any sense of them. But visualizing himself as a young child in his mother’s arms was disturbing.

“Yes,” Paul answered, but felt very uneasy now. He blamed the awkward memories for it, but it was more likely his pounding headache, his sweating, and his stomach bothering him that brought on his worse-for-wear condition. “He’s… a breeder now. But I’m not going to be like him… or the old man. I’m aiming for genuine success.”

Byron seemed to like his attitude. “For being the most powerful Frontier Brain in all of Kanto, I wouldn’t say Brandon failed, necessarily! I know firsthand how tough the guy is. Heh, we got into fights all the time as kids… guy was as determined to find fossils and ancient artifacts as I was! And now he’s gotten up-close and personal with actual legendary Pokémon… it’s easy to be jealous of the guy!”

Conway absorbed every detail of this conversation as best he could; it wasn’t every day one would hear such juicy details on famed figures in Sinnoh. “Indeed, Brandon can’t even be challenged without defeating the other Frontier Brains, and you need good qualifications to even attempt to conquer the Battle Frontier,” he noted. “Guess that is a bit more of a prestigious role than a Gym Leader… no offense, of course.”

Byron frowned and turned his attention towards Paul’s bespectacled companion. “And what do they call you, Four-Eyes?”

Paul nodded contentedly as he noticed Conway quickly becoming intimidated by being focused on. It was enough to make him smile a little.

“Oh! Uh…” Conway paused for a moment, trying to find the right thing to say. “My name’s Conway! I’m a friend and traveling companion of Paul’s.”

Paul’s smile faded. “More like an obsessive leech who has nothing better to do with his time than stalk me. Believe me; I tried to get rid of him.”

Conway wasn’t about to let himself look bad in front of the Gym Leader. “I saved his life earlier today! I’m sticking around until he repays the debt.”

“I see,” Byron said, nodding. “You sure don’t look like much, but we can’t judge books by their covers, huh?! You here for a Gym Battle too, little man?”

“N-not at all!” Conway cried out, waving his hands frantically. “I came here because I wanted to witness one for myself! Ah, I’m kind of like a Pokémon Freelancer, you see…”

“A Jack of all Trades!” Byron sputtered, laughing out loud again. Paul wasn’t sure whether he should have been content that other people were seeing Conway for what he truly was or if he should be disturbed that such a gruff old man would be thinking in a mindset similar to his own. “Oh, I don’t envy you in the least. Best I can do for you is to let you see the thrill of the battle, then!” Byron announced.

He then turned to Paul. “Just so we’re clear, I don’t personally take on challengers until they’ve beaten my son in Oreburgh City. He’s hardly an obstacle, but if you can’t beat him, you’ve got no chance in beating me, kiddo!”

Paul sighed, digging into his back and pulling out his badge case. He opened it up to take out the Coal Badge and show it before Byron. “I defeated Roark ages ago. Here’s the proof if you need it.”

Byron squinted to make sure, but the shape and gleam of the badge was telling enough that Paul’s words were genuine. “Looks like you’re not kidding. That boy of mine’s got a lot to learn yet… but I guess I can’t be too hard on him, considering you’re Brandon’s kid! But regardless of that, I’m very much different from Roark.” He grinned, looking directly into Paul’s eyes. “So in place of my son, I accept your challenge, Paul!”

“Finally,” Paul muttered. The reminiscing was becoming too much for him, especially since he didn’t remember Byron at all. He almost wondered if that combined with the fact that he was a close friend of Brandon’s put him at an even greater disadvantage… but calmed down when he remembered that Reggie was able to defeat Byron a long time ago. If his considerably weaker brother could pull off a win from Byron, Paul was certain he could very well do the same. “Just… a second.”

The heat was becoming unbearable for Paul at this point. He laid his bag to the ground in order to unzip his jacket and wrap it around his waist, leaving him in his rarely-seen dark blue t-shirt. It was a relief to finally have that coat off of him, but he was beginning to worry about what was happening to him within. Conway and Byron didn’t seem to be overheated in the least. Even without the coat, Paul still found himself sweating, and though he couldn’t see it for himself, his face was completely flushed.

“Hot under the collar, huh?” Byron assumed, chuckling. “Guess that’s reasonable considering the reputation that precedes you due to your family. Don’t think for a second I’ll go easy on you just because you’re my friend’s son, kid!”

“I never expected you to,” Paul retorted, trying his best to stay firm and stable. “You’d be a miserable excuse for a Gym Leader if you did.”

This was met with enthusiastic laughter on Byron’s end. “Your words couldn’t be any truer! Spoken like a true son of Brandon!”

While Paul quietly stewed in anger over those words, Byron looked to a dejected Conway making his way to the seats. After a brief moment of consideration, he grinned and called out to the young trainer. “Hey, Four-Eyes! I got a proposition for you!”

Conway jumped a bit, not expecting to be addressed to again, but looked to Byron with an uneasy smile. “A… a proposition, you say?”

“Yeah, get down here!” Byron shouted, gesturing him to come down to the field. “How’d you like to be our referee, huh?”

The idea of refereeing an official match of Paul’s elated Conway. He could hardly breathe, nor believe he was truly being offered this. “Y-you really just said…?”

“C’mon!” Byron urged. “We can’t start without you!”

It was real. Conway really was being offered to referee. It was a relatively simple job, and Conway had read up on Pokémon battling enough to know the basics. Knowing there was no time to waste, Conway jumped from the seats straight to the battlefield rather than walking back the way he came from. He quickly took his place in the referee’s corner between Paul and Byron.

“Alright!” Conway shouted, posing dramatically. “Then let the Canalave Gym Battle commence! To my left, hailing from Veilstone City is our challenger, Paul!”

Paul just gaped at the sight. He couldn’t believe Byron was actually letting Conway referee this battle. But he realized, perhaps, this was a tactic to throw him off. He looked back to Byron and glared, drawing his first Pokéball out, ready to throw at any time.

“And to my right is none other than the Leader of the Canalave Gym, Byron!”

Byron smiled to Conway as he took out his first Pokéball. “Good job, Four-Eyes. You’ve got some flair in the announcing department.”

“Why, thank you!” Conway humbly announced, still in his “official referee” tone of voice. “So, this will be a three-on-three match-up, meaning both the challenger and the Gym Leader will use approximately three Pokémon each! The match is over when one side’s Pokémon are all defeated! Additionally, only the challenger may substitute during the battle!”

Paul shook his head, looking oddly confident now. “Well, that shouldn’t be necessary for me. We’re going to make this a quick one.”

“You must have some game plan to be saying something like that to me!” Byron pointed out. “Overconfidence was a flaw of your dad’s too, you know!”

“He may be overconfident, but it’s different in my case,” Paul explained. “I never talk big without having the skill and certainty to back it up.”

Byron smirked and pressed the button on his Pokéball, enlarging it. “Put your skills to the test, then! Show him your iron will, Bronzor!” The Gym Leader threw the Pokéball out to the field, and from it came out his first choice for battle, the Bronze Pokémon.

“Bronnn,” Bronzor hummed, prepared for another battle to test the challenger’s abilities.

Seeing this made Paul grin. This was much less than he expected, but knew good Gym Leaders wouldn’t put their strongest player out front. What he was happiest about was that he knew enough about Bronzor – a Steel and Psychic-type Pokémon – to figure this would be an easy victory for his first Pokémon. He pressed the button on his Pokéball and sent it out.

“Honchkrow, stand by for battle!”

Finally being called out for battle, Honchkrow flew out of its ball and awaited orders from its trainer. On its own, it could see this was indeed a battle it was called out for.

“Interesting trade-off,” Byron remarked. “I can’t wait to see this.”

“I can’t wait myself,” Conway concurred, wondering how this match would play out with advantages and disadvantages on both sides. “So our first match will be Honchkrow versus Bronzor!” With another dramatic pose, he allowed the match to commence. “Battle begin…!”

Paul was quick to take the initiative. “Honchkrow, rush Bronzor with Sky Attack!”

Immediately, Honchkrow dove in towards Bronzor in a blinding speed. It became enveloped in light as it was about to hit its target.

Byron expected Paul to be more straightforward and fire off a Dark-type attack, but the time it took Sky Attack to charge up gave him an excellent idea. He waited until Honchkrow crossed over to his side of the field before giving Bronzor the first command.

“Stay strong, Bronzor!” Byron encouraged it. “Counter with Gyro Ball!”

Bronzor began to spin itself around rapidly to charge up the energy needed to combat the first strike against it. Luckily for Byron, Gyro Ball fully charged much more quickly than Sky Attack, leading to an immense clash when Honchkrow and Bronzor met face-to-face. Paul immediately looked worried when Bronzor, almost effortlessly, blew Honchkrow all the way back to its side of the field, having overpowered it. Steel wasn’t super-effective against either of Honchkrow’s types, but it certainly looked like it had a lasting effect, shown by Honchkrow’s struggling to remain in the air.

Conway was amazed by the power the small Bronzor possessed, and was enthralled by the clashes of light he just witnessed. “That’s quite a strategy,” he remarked, though mostly he was talking to himself. “Gyro Ball’s power increases if the user is significantly slower than its opponent. The wider the gap, the greater the increase of power. It’s no surprise that it could overpower Honchkrow with those aspects in play.”

Byron laughed and wagged his finger at Paul. “You called it certainty, right? Sure looked like plain old overconfidence to me, kid!”

“This match is far from over,” Paul retorted, though he was hesitant about sending Honchkrow in so close against Bronzor again. He decided it was time to battle more strategically. “Honchkrow, stay right where you are and use Shadow Ball.”

“Honch!” Honchkrow acknowledged as it charged a ball of dark energy in front of its beak. Byron realized Paul planned to attack from a distance this time and looked sharply to his Pokémon. “Bronzor, hurry over there! Use Confuse Ray!”

“Zor!” It called out before following Byron’s orders. Swiftly floating over to Paul’s side of the field, Bronzor charged in and attacked Honchkrow with a ray shining white and purple with full intent of confusing it before it could fire off the Shadow Ball. The ray struck Honchkrow and seemed to be effective, but it couldn’t dissipate the fully-charged Shadow Ball that went flying right into Bronzor as soon as Honchkrow was broken away from its attack.

Bronzor was hit directly and sent into one of the many large rocks scattered across the field. It was not knocked out yet, but clearly damaged by this point. Honchkrow, fully confused, could no longer keep flying and landed on the ground, trying to shake off its unfortunate status before Bronzor had another chance to attack.

Paul assessed the situation thoroughly. Strategically, since he was allowed to, he would be wise to recall Honchkrow and use a fresh Pokémon to quickly finish off Bronzor. However, Paul wanted to focus on endurance for this Gym Battle. He wanted his Pokémon to withstand whatever Byron could throw at them with steeled determination. Paul knew he was going to need that kind of thing when it was time to face the League, as well as the new Battle Frontier… not to mention his own father.

Unsure of the results, Paul made another command to attack: “Now! Use Dark Pulse before it recovers!”

Luck was on Paul’s side this turn, as Honchkrow successfully shot a dark aura beam towards Bronzor, which was still recovering from the previous clash. Bronzor remained pinned against the rock, but was still conscious and able to battle.

Paul growled at this. “Come on, already! It’s over!” It was apparent that the small Pokémon’s great endurance was aggravating him.

Conway just shook his head at this. “Paul’s acting rashly now… not a good state to be in before the first match even ends. Impatient, sick, Pokémon with disadvantages… I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Hah! Wanting a quick match with me, the master of steel?!” Byron shouted out with a laugh. “My team is built with defense being the number one priority! Try as you might, but you’ll never take my Pokémon down in one shot! You were foolish to think you could end this quickly…” Then he grinned. “Just like Brandon! Pure overconfidence! So Bronzor, tackle Honchkrow while it’s still vulnerable!”

“Not a chance!” Paul shouted back. Being compared to Brandon only fueled his never-ending anger. “Honchkrow, stay focused and use Aerial Ace! You can’t miss!”

Honchkrow’s confusion was still present, however, as it attempted to fly high into the sky to initiate the attack, only to fly itself directly into a rock instead. Seizing the opportunity, Bronzor flew towards Honchkrow and rammed into it, hard. Paul was shocked, and Byron simply laughed again.

“It can miss if it’s still confused, which it obviously is!” Byron pointed out, now overwhelmed with pride. “End it now, Bronzor! Gyro Ball, once more!”

Paul had no idea when Honchkrow was going to recover from the confusion, but he had a feeling Honchkrow would be well incapacitated if it took another hit. In order to win, he needed to use his speed and accuracy to come out on top.

“Counter it!” He shouted to Honchkrow. “Shadow Ball!”

It was the climax of the first battle as Honchkrow’s Shadow Ball clashed against Bronzor’s Gyro Ball. However, Shadow Ball managed to overpower Bronzor’s attack and ultimately sent both attacks flying at Bronzor, which was then pummeled into the ground. When the lights faded and the smoke cleared, the results were clear: a very exhausted Honchkrow remained standing, but Bronzor was completely incapacitated.

After gaping for a moment, Conway remembered he was refereeing and did his duty. “Bronzor is unable to battle!” he announced before dramatically pointing to Paul. “Victory goes to Honchkrow!”

Byron was now impressed. “It seems I underestimated you,” he admitted. “Shadow Ball can weaken the target’s defenses. Bronzor was weakened after taking that first Shadow Ball… that must be why it took so long for it to recover, and why its Gyro Ball could not overpower your second Shadow Ball onslaught.” He thrust his shovel deep into the ground. “Bravo! That was an excellent strategy!”

Paul wiped the sweat off his forehead, now staggering. The intensity of that fight exhausted him, and he had to go through at least two more. He simply nodded to Byron without saying anything. The dizziness was close to overpowering him, but he shook it off and stood firmly once more.

Conway was concerned; Paul was quickly succumbing to his illness but continued to deny it and press on, stressing himself out and putting himself in an even worse physical condition. He knew what the answer was going to be, but for the sake of his own conscience, he looked to Paul and asked him, “Are you sure you want to keep going on with this?”

“I’m not giving in,” Paul growled. “Ever. I’m going to win this badge today.”

That was more-or-less the response Conway expected. He looked down and nodded. “Well, do your best, then…”

“I already am,” Paul insisted. “Honchkrow, stay the course.”

That decision surprised both Conway and Byron. But the surprise on Byron’s face quickly dissipated as he grabbed Bronzor’s Pokéball, aimed it at said Pokémon, and recalled it. He looked down at the Pokéball with a proud smile. “Admirable effort, Bronzor. You earned yourself a rest,” Byron said, putting his Pokéball away and taking out another one.

“Since you’re staying with Honchkrow, your next opponent will be…” Byron announced, dramatically posing before unleashing what he possessed in his next Pokéball. “Steelix!”

Conway couldn’t help but shrink back a bit when the thirty-foot Iron Snake Pokémon entered the battlefield. Despite its intimidating look, Paul shrugged it off.

“Big deal,” he said. “I fought one of those before in Johto. I know what to expect.”

“You battled with little Jasmine before, huh?” Byron figured. “Well, we’ll see how well you can predict my Steelix’s moves!”

Paul nodded, fighting off the nagging pain and exhaustion wearing him down as he commanded Honchkrow to stay strong, despite being severely injured at this point. “Shake it off, Honchkrow,” he urged. “Sky Attack!”

Byron just shook his head. “No chance. Steelix, use Ice Fang!”

“Ice Fang?!” Paul echoed, now surprised. “Jasmine’s Steelix definitely didn’t know that…”

There was nothing Paul could do. Honchkrow was trapped within Steelix’s grip as it was slammed by a super-effective Ice Fang attack; its Sky Attack was unable to finish or affect Steelix in any way. The hit was more than enough to knock Honchkrow unconscious, which was made obvious when the Big Boss Pokémon careened into the ground lifelessly.

“That was quick…” Conway murmured, before realizing he had to announce again. “Ah, Honchkrow is unable to battle!” He pointed to Byron. “Victory goes to Steelix!”

Byron nodded in agreement. “A foregone conclusion, if I do say so myself.”

Paul silently recalled Honchkrow back to its Pokéball and pulled out his next one. “So we’re at two apiece. Make sure you don’t get too cocky.” Paul threw out the Pokéball to unleash his next fighter. “Ursaring, stand by for battle!”

The tall Hibernator Pokémon appeared on the spot, growling a fierce “Ursaaaah!” to show its readiness for the battle. It looked up and glared at Steelix, not at all intimidated by its much larger size.

“A Normal-type,” Byron mused. “You must have quite a few surprises in store for me.”

“You could say that,” Paul replied before looking to Ursaring. “Put all of your strength into this one, Ursaring. Use Hammer Arm!”

Ursaring growled out loud as it rushed towards Steelix with its forearms glowing brightly. Byron and Steelix braced for this attack as Ursaring slammed its arms down on the lower portion of Steelix’s body. The force of the blow sent shockwaves through the ground, and everyone on the playing field could feel the brutality of that single blow.

Steelix roared out loud in pain, as the super-effective attack effectively dented it, but withstood it and was still in the game.

“Excellent work, Steelix! That may have been painful, but you persevered!” Byron said, truly meaning to compliment his Pokémon.

Conway rested his chin in his hand as he analyzed the battle schematics. “Steelix’s defenses are more than twice as firm as Bronzor’s… but Ursaring has the raw power to compensate for this. It helps that he’s slightly faster, too… the side-effect of a powerful attack like Hammer Arm will put a dent in Ursaring’s below-average speed, but it should still be quick enough to dodge, if Paul is in his right mindset…” He briefly looked over to Paul, who looked as strained and sickly as ever. Conway frowned and shook his head. “Who am I kidding?” He said to himself. “He’s officially lost his marbles.”

“Show Ursaring what for, Steelix! Use Iron Tail!” Byron cried out, thrusting his fist forward.

Steelix followed through with the command and attempted to smash Ursaring with its giant, heavy tail. The accuracy was precise, but what Byron didn’t expect was Ursaring catching the tail in its own grasp and preventing Steelix from doing any damage. Ursaring struggled under the weight, but was able to shove the tail out of its way.

“Have another surprise,” Paul offered the Gym Leader. “Ursaring! Secret Power!”

Being a Normal-type attack, the power of the attack and the rocks that flew at Steelix did not affect it much. However, it suddenly felt anxious as it flinched; Secret Power’s hidden effect on the rocky terrain.

“Ah! You tricky little…!” Byron muttered under his breath as he witnessed his Pokémon falling victim to the secondary effect. “This is no time to be anxious, Steelix!” He called out. “You’re the big guy on the field! You own this terrain! Remember that!”

Byron’s words were somewhat getting through to Steelix, though it wasn’t enough to break the condition it was rendered in. Steelix flinched again when it saw Ursaring charging up another attack.

“We have Steelix right where we want it,” Paul announced, sounding a bit more optimistic that his plan was working well so far. “Take your time charging that Focus Blast, Ursaring. It won’t be able to take another major hit like that.”

Byron shook his head in disappointment. “Overconfidence will get that kid nowhere. Steelix, snap out of it already! You can’t let that Focus Blast hit you!” And Byron knew that one disadvantage to having a thirty-foot Pokémon was that it was essentially a huge target that was nigh impossible for any attack to miss. Steelix’s poor speed usually meant a guaranteed hit. So instead of trying to dodge the attack, Byron went a different route:

“Steelix! Pull yourself together and use Sandstorm!”

The route of distracting Ursaring to the point where the attack never occurs.

The entire field suddenly picked up the weather condition of a sandstorm, where hot blasts of wind blew dust, sand, and bits of rock everywhere. Even Conway and Paul couldn’t evade it. Conway was at least fortunate enough to have eye protection, but the last thing Paul needed was added heat and bits of rock and sand battering him and his Pokémon for the rest of the battle. His vision was blurred and distorted through his sickness alone; the sandstorm made things much harder to see and it took a physical toll on everyone involved… except Steelix, who seemed practically immune to it, and Byron, who was tough enough to endure the elements.

Ursaring was quickly distracted when rocks started pelting the back of its head, not to mention the dust and sand easily able to get in its eyes and obscure its vision, as well as causing extreme pain. Its charged energy dispersed as Ursaring tried to rub its eyes in frustration.

“Perfect timing!” Byron announced. “This is your chance, Steelix! Use Bind!”

Steelix proudly did as it was told, and captured Ursaring with its brutal tail. It squeezed Ursaring hard, making the situation all the worse for Paul’s second Pokémon.

Meanwhile, Conway was coughing, trying to keep the dust and sand out of his face. “Are you sure this is safe?!” He called out in fear.

“Don’t get yourself all torn up!” Byron shouted back. “It’s only temporary! Now, Steelix! Make sure you’ve got a good grip on Ursaring! We’re ending this very soon!”

Paul grumbled as he tried to think of a plan to get Ursaring out of danger. Being in such close proximity to Steelix, being squashed by its tail, and suffering the effects of Sandstorm was taking an enormous toll on it. Within two moves, Paul was suddenly dealing with a myriad of issues. “Ursaring!” he cried out. “J-just… try to break out of it! If you can toss away his tail, breaking out of the Bind should be easy!”

Normally it would be, but dealing with the effects of Sandstorm at the same time as Bind was very taxing on Ursaring’s stamina. It attempted to break free from the hold, but could not do so quickly. Meanwhile, Steelix was preparing for its next move as it leisurely countered Ursaring’s attempts to break free by squeezing harder.

“The coup de grace!” Byron announced. “Steelix, use Ice Fang!”

Still constricted within Steelix’s tail, Ursaring had no way to avoid the harsh chill of Ice Fang. One moment later, the Sandstorm started to recede. Everyone was able to see clearly again… and what they saw was Ursaring frozen in a block of ice.

“Hah! It actually froze Ursaring!” Byron cried out in disbelief. “Excellent work, Steelix!”

Conway stared in horror at the scene. “I-it’s true… Ice Fang has a small chance of freezing its opponent if the attack is successful… Ursaring had no way to even move, so it got the brunt of the attack…” He looked to Paul, who was also staring in abject horror. Conway sighed and shook his head. “Looks like this one’s over.”

“Ursaring!!” Paul shouted in desperation. “Get out of there! Break out, already!”

“Save your breath,” Byron insisted with a smirk. “Steelix, put that Ursaring out of its misery with Iron Tail!”

A brutal slam was heard, followed by the dramatic breaking of the ice. It was a direct hit, and Ursaring was powerless to resist it. Ursaring was sent flying back to its side of the field near Paul. Paul fell to his knees and stared at his Pokémon, who was now rendered unconscious by that final vicious blow.

It was a depressing and vicious sight to behold. Even Conway was horrified, and it was evident in the tone of his voice. “U-Ursaring is… is unable to battle… victory goes to… S-Steelix.”

“Yahoooo!” Byron cheered, as if he’d won the entire challenge already. “Against the odds, Steelix! Against the odds! You’re amazing!”

Steelix seemed appreciative of the comment. Paul was still on his knees, staring down at his fallen Ursaring. He had just been in control of the entire match mere moments ago, and now he was left with only one usable Pokémon while Byron still had two and going strong. Paul remembered what he had said earlier at the Pokémon Center.

“What’s wrong, kiddo?” Byron called out to Paul. “You forfeiting the match already?”

Paul shook his head, but still could not look at the man he challenged. He no longer had room for error for the rest of the battle; he had to play this out perfectly, or he’d be walking out of the Gym with no Mine Badge to show for it. In hindsight, he wished he could go back in time and prevent Magmar from being sent to Reggie. He very much doubted Weavile would be able to pull off a win from a relatively healthy Steelix and whatever else Byron had up his sleeve.

Finally, he took out Ursaring’s Pokéball and silently recalled it as he did with Honchkrow. After a mighty struggle, Paul managed to stand up again and take out his final Pokéball. He grasped it tightly, knowing the odds were well against him now, but knew he couldn’t spend all day deliberating over that. Paul felt extremely sick now; his entire shirt was damp from perspiration, he was now dirty from being within the Sandstorm, his cheeks were burning red (and overall, the Gym was feeling like a desert to Paul by this point), his stomach was doing flip-flops, and he could barely see straight.

Byron and Conway patiently waited for Paul to collect himself. Conway wondered just how much more Paul could take, because he easily looked as if he could pass out already. Again, he felt he should ask Paul if he still wanted to go on, but already figured that it would be impossible to drag Paul out of the battle now after being this deep into it.

Paul closed his eyes and gathered his thoughts. He then looked to his company with an intense glare that Byron himself remembered seeing on Brandon when he was this age. It was his “business” look. He looked to Steelix and muttered, “Better stay on your guard. He’ll be trying his best to even out the score.”

After a deep breath, Paul pressed the button on his Pokéball and threw it out on the field as hard as he could. “Weavile, stand by for battle…!”

Upon seeing this Dark/Ice-typed Pokémon, Byron smirked. Conway knew this was coming, and he certainly did not envy Weavile right now.

“Well, it seems our challenger can’t seem to take the heat, Steelix!” Byron said, completely unaware that Paul was actually sick. “How about you do him a favor and take Weavile out quickly? Do it with Iron Trail!”

Steelix was quick to act on this order and swung its giant metal tail at the Sharp Claw Pokémon.

But this time, Paul refused to allow his physical limitations to hold him back. “Dodge it!!” He ordered, and Weavile did so with ease. The strategy to getting around a giant Pokémon that was a threat to its typing was to abuse the gift of speed it had. Compared to Weavile, Steelix was slower than a snail, and being significantly smaller than Steelix made Weavile an even harder target to hit.

Even without Paul’s commands, Weavile was constantly dodging on its own, perhaps assuming that was part of the general routine it would have to go through if it wanted to defeat Steelix. And it had to defeat Steelix: its fate depended on the outcome of this battle. It awaited Paul’s commands when it came to the offensive maneuvers, however.

“Climb up Steelix, Weavile!” Paul called out. “When you reach its head, jump up and wait for my signal!”

Weavile briefly looked to Paul and nodded before rapidly dodging through hopping and using its claws to quickly escalate the giant enemy Pokémon with the intent of hitting its weak point for massive damage… whatever it could do to dent Steelix. Steelix was not 100% due to Ursaring giving it a nasty sting in the lower section of its body early in the previous fight, but its condition remained fairly decent.

However, the faster Weavile climbed and dodged, the trickier it became to actually hit Weavile with a giant glowing tail. It was quickly getting too risky for Byron’s liking; he didn’t want to end up knocking out his own Pokémon just by trying to swat a metaphorical gnat.

Conway watched this interesting battle with amusement, and even with a bit of hope. “Whatever he said to Weavile must have worked… Weavile looks fantastic right now. Maybe it can actually pull this off. The small size and speed being utilized to Steelix’s disadvantage… that’s simply genius.”

Byron grumbled, not really having an attack that wouldn’t risk Steelix’s wellbeing as long as Weavile was attached to it. “Don’t let Weavile just stick to you, Steelix!” he ordered. “Shake it off and smash it so we can win this thing!”

Steelix attempted to do so, but Weavile’s sharp claws and unmatchable speed made it nigh impossible to detach Weavile from its body. And soon enough, Weavile reached the top of Steelix’s head. It jumped up high into the air, waiting for Paul’s signal.

Paul carefully monitored Weavile’s altitude until it was high up enough to his liking. He threw his arms down to signal Weavile to attack just then. “Now!! Use Brick Break on Steelix’s head!”

Weavile didn’t even waste a second after receiving the command. It zoomed downwards back to Steelix with its claws glowing menacingly. Byron looked concerned and shouted out to his Pokémon at the last second. “Steelix! Dodge it!!”

However, Steelix was simply too slow. Weavile’s claws pounded hard into Steelix’s head and sent it crashing down. Byron was aghast at the sight while Paul let a wicked grin escape his lips. After throwing down on Steelix, Weavile continued to beat on Steelix’s head without any sort of command from Paul. Noticing this, Paul blinked at Weavile, a little confused over its actions.

Conway, however, figured it out. “It’s overcompensating for what happened earlier today,” he hypothesized. “Such determination… just to be able to stay with someone like Paul?”

Paul couldn’t understand what exactly was going on, but he liked what Weavile was doing. “Keep at it, then! You seem to know exactly what you’re doing, Weavile.”

Hearing its trainer’s encouragement further fueled Weavile to Brick Break on Steelix’s head to the point where it was nearly paralyzed, and possibly sustaining a concussion before finally passing out.

“Enough, enough!” Byron called out. “Kid, he’s done enough!”

Paul peered at Steelix and saw that it was indeed out cold. Weavile simply didn’t notice because it was too focused on beating Steelix into oblivion. “Weavile!” Paul shouted out. “It’s over! You defeated it! Get back over here!”

Weavile stopped, seemingly broken from a trance it was in. It hopped away from Steelix and back to Paul’s corner, where it looked to Paul for appraisal. Paul didn’t smile at Weavile, for the battle was not over yet, but nodded to it to let Weavile know it did a fantastic job taking down a thirty-foot beast of a Pokémon that had a major type advantage over it.

Amazed and almost filled with hope, Conway happily made the result official. “Steelix is unable to battle! Victory goes to Weavile!”

Byron solemnly returned Steelix to its Pokéball and looked to it. “It was my fault for not making a suitable strategy. Don’t blame yourself.” He pocketed Steelix away and pulled out his final Pokéball. The score was now tied up again, both trainers left with one Pokémon each.

“Keep up that enthusiasm,” Paul advised Weavile. “This isn’t Olivine Gym; Steelix was just the beginning. This is going to be Byron’s trump card. Make sure you don’t allow yourself to get hit.”

Weavile nodded to Paul, knowing now it was Paul’s only hope for winning a Mine Badge. Even with the type disadvantage and poor defenses, Weavile was determined to end the final battle as quickly as the penultimate.

“So, it’s down to this,” said Byron, looking down at his final Pokéball. “Just as well. Keeping it tight makes a battle more worthwhile and interesting! Represent yourself, me, and this Gym well, my friend!” He looked to his opponent. “We’ll make our stand here and now! GO!!” He threw the Pokéball out to the battlefield. “Bastiodon!”

[Shinneth]

Out came the Shield Pokémon to the battleground; thankfully, this one was hardly thirty feet tall. At a modest four feet and three inches, the ancient reptilian Bastiodon stood firm as Byron’s signature Pokémon.

“Hey, neat!” Conway exclaimed, nudging his glasses to get a more accurate look. “Bastiodon. I’ve never seen one up close before!”

Paul sighed, trying to find a weak spot on his final opponent. “Facing it head-on won’t do any good, it looks like. All that armor...” He then stared down at Weavile. “Only attack when I tell you to for this battle. What you did to Steelix was a nice touch, but doing the same thing to Bastiodon will only lead to disaster.”

Weavile looked up at Paul and nodded nervously. “Wea, wea!”

Paul pointed out at Bastiodon. “Good. Then get out there and follow my lead!”

Weavile jumped further out into the field, seemingly ready to brace whatever attack Bastiodon had in store for it.

“Kid, you’re a fine opponent, but I’m afraid the game ends here!” Byron shouted out, still loaded with confidence. “Bastiodon, rush at Weavile while using Flamethrower!”

Bastiodon did as it was told, running towards its intended target at a rather undesirable speed, but making up for it by firing off a lengthy Flamethrower attack towards its opponent that was much quicker.

“Jump!” Paul shouted out. “Dodge it!”

Weavile did so with relative ease, and quickly had the advantage of being over Bastiodon for a potential attack.

However, Paul had other ideas. “Now, use Ice Beam! Cover the field!”

The decision confused Byron and Conway a bit until they noticed what exactly Weavile was doing: by using Ice Beam to cover the battlefield in a sheet of ice, it was a matter of time before Bastiodon had traction issues and crashed itself into a rock. Weavile landed with ease, accustomed to the cold and graceful enough to stay on the ice without any problem.

“Well, that’s one way to ‘level out’ the playing field,” Conway remarked, smirking. “Most trainers in Paul’s physical condition would’ve cracked by now. Here he is still using strategy rather than haphazardly attacking to get it over with. Maybe I underestimated him… similar to how I did back in Hearthome City.”

“On your feet, Bastiodon!” Byron ordered. “You can’t accomplish a thing lying down like that!” His Pokémon tried to obey, but it was easier said than done for the awkward and heavy (not to mention tetrapod) Bastiodon.

Weavile was right behind Bastiodon. It smiled and looked to Paul for the next command.

Paul nodded back to his Pokémon. “With your best shot, now, since Bastiodon’s distracted! Hit it with Brick Break!”

Using a similar strategy to the one against Steelix (though not on the head this time), Weavile’s claws shined with bright intensity while landing the attack hard against Bastiodon – specifically, the areas of said Pokémon that weren’t protected with its natural armor. Weavile spread its arms to attack both unexposed sides of Bastiodon’s torso with the attack, leaving the Shield Pokémon howling in pain as it fell flat onto its stomach on the cold ice floor.

“Marvelous!” Conway exclaimed. The lenses of his glasses shined as he looked closely at the results. “Bastiodon is half-Rock and half-Steel; both types are weak to Fighting moves! It’s four times as susceptible to the type compared to a Pokémon with no strength or weakness to the type! If Paul can keep this up, Bastiodon will be history very shortly even if it has top-notch defenses!”

Byron grimly nodded at the sight, well aware of his Pokémon’s double-weakness from the beginning and figured Paul would have Brick Break as the central part to Weavile’s strategy after seeing it pummel Steelix to the ground with it alone. “You can endure it, Bastiodon! Show our friend here that you won’t be overcome by a simple double-weakness! Use Iron Defense!”

Bastiodon growled as its head began to subtly glow a shade of blue, showing Iron Defense in play. Paul frowned, as he was quick to see a problem in the near future because of Bastiodon’s now dramatically-increased defensive power. Weavile had no way of undoing it, meaning Brick Break’s effectiveness was significantly snuffed out. “Fall back, Weavile!” Paul shouted out. “He’s planning something.”

Weavile obeyed and skid across the ice, distancing itself from its opponent, who was now very close to being able to stand on its own. Back on all four feet, Bastiodon carefully turned around to face Weavile.

“First thing’s first,” Byron reminded his Pokémon. “Get rid of that pesky ice, Bastiodon!”

After a mighty roar, Bastiodon rose up on its hind legs, only to quickly descend and smash its two front legs back into the ground. The force of the stomp and the weight of Bastiodon was enough to make the entire field of ice crack and break into pieces, ridding Paul of his advantage in the field. The shockwaves sent off by the stomping was enough to knock Weavile off its feet. Paul and Conway also wobbled around, but were able to remain standing.

Byron grinned, obviously happy to have the upper-hand once again. “Let’s see if our foe can match up to your defenses! Bastiodon, rush it with Iron Head!”

Bastiodon rushed at Weavile as its entire body glowed with a blinding aura. Being knocked off its feet, Weavile was unable to react as quickly as it normally would. Paul had no real way of countering the move, but he thought the least he could do was slow down his hefty opponent. “Weavile, use Ice Shard and get out of there!”

Being a priority move, Ice Shard would assuredly reach Bastiodon before it could reach Weavile with Iron Head. Weavile flung shards of ice to pelt Bastiodon, but it seemed to only barely scratch the Pokémon as it continued to rush at Weavile with full power. Seeing that it didn’t help, Weavile attempted to move out of the way, but still got nailed in the side by the vicious attack. The Sharp Claw Pokémon was thrown into a rock from the force of the blow. It was still conscious, but was significantly wounded.

“And just like that, Paul’s back to square one…” Conway noted, looking fearful for Weavile as well as the ultimate outcome of the final match. “Ice Beam, Brick Break, and Ice Shard… only one of those moves really affects Bastiodon, and even now that’s been weakened due to Bastiodon’s boosted defense.” He looked to Paul, who seemed rather conflicted on what to do next. “Paul… what can he really do now?”

“Might as well lose with dignity, kid,” Byron advised Paul. “Your overconfidence just got the better of you this time. Finish Weavile off with Flash Cannon, Bastiodon!”

Similar to Shadow Ball, Bastiodon didn’t need to move to perform this attack. It charged the energy within its mouth and fired it off when ready. Pure Steel-typed energy flew at the faltering Weavile with a fury.

Paul knew a direct hit would end it, but he wasn’t content to let it end this way. “Dodge it!” he cried out to Weavile. “Jump over it!”

It was a close call, as Weavile was still trying to recover from the side-swipe it suffered from the Iron Head attack, but managed to avoid it in the nick of time while holding its injured side with one arm. Flash Cannon instead disintegrated the rocks Weavile was previously lying against.

“I’ll need to stick with aerial maneuvers to win this,” Paul muttered to himself, grasping his forehead as he started to wonder if his energy would hold out before the battle even ended. “This could’ve been done with two fully-powered Brick Breaks… it’s all going to be improvisation from here on out.” He looked to Weavile, who was still airborne.

“Take advantage of your position, Weavile!” Paul advised. “Brick Break, again!”

With only one free arm, Weavile performed the attack with solely that arm, jabbing the claw into Bastiodon’s right side with the super-effective attack once more. Bastiodon cried out, but was able to handle it better due to its enhanced defense. It quickly whirled around to face Weavile and stared it down.

“Flash Cannon!” Byron called out to his partner. “And this time, don’t miss your target!”

Weavile was dangerously close to Bastiodon now. This was something Paul was sure Weavile couldn’t handle. “Get out of there!!” he screamed, though he knew the odds were not on his side.

It was another close call, but Weavile didn’t manage to escape this time. The smaller Pokémon was smacked in the back by Flash Cannon and knocked onto the hard ground as a result. Weavile did not get the brunt of the attack, but it had definitely been hit.

Conway couldn’t look when this happened. When he managed to open his eyes, he was horrified to find Weavile lying on the ground, twitching. “O-oh, that’s… that’s really not good. Flash Cannon’s like Shadow Ball in that it can potentially lower an opponent’s defense. Weavile’s pretty abysmal at defense to begin with… so if that secondary effect happened…”

Paul shook his head when he noticed Weavile was still conscious. “No more of this. No room for error…” He knew if Weavile lost this, it would be just as much his fault as it would be Weavile’s, if not more. He knew he was ill, now, and considered himself foolish for going into such an important battle without being 100% himself (he still would never admit his fallacies out loud, however). Paul tried to hold back a violent coughing fit, but could no longer resist it. Conway heard this and looked over. Now he could tell Paul himself was closer to defeat than either of the Pokémon.

However, it was far too late to back out now. Conway looked back to the battle, hoping it would end soon whichever way the victory went. In a way, he held himself responsible for not standing up to Paul when he knew Paul was making a grave mistake. Conway wondered how Paul even got this far on his own if he not only treated his Pokémon harshly, but himself as well.

“It pains me to drag on a challenger’s humiliation; really, it does,” Byron claimed. “This was inevitable from the beginning. Admirable that you made it this far with a relatively poor choice of Pokémon, kid, but I’m going to end it here.” He pointed out to Bastiodon. “Bastiodon, use Flamethrower on Weavile! It’s on its last leg!”

Metaphorically, it was very true. Just as Weavile knelt up, it could feel the increasing heat coming up from behind. It was fearful to see a massive stream of fire headed its way, and any decent hit would end the battle for sure.

“D-Dodge!” Paul shouted, now completely desperate for a miracle. “Jump in the air again!”

Once more, Weavile managed to evade the attack by jumping over it. What neither Weavile nor Paul expected was for Byron to catch on.

“With limited advantages, you’re left with a limited amount of strategies!” Byron pointed out. “Jumping over Bastiodon’s all you can really do; I can see that! So Bastiodon! Redirect that Flamethrower to the air!”

Suspended in midair, Weavile certainly didn’t expect another blast of fire. Neither did Paul. In haste, Paul commanded whatever came to his mind just then.

“Try to cancel it out!” Paul hollered, and by now his voice was scratchy and strained due to the excessive shouting and illness taking a toll on his body. “Ice Beam!”

Ordinarily, Ice was weak to Fire and wouldn’t stand a chance against a Fire-based attack. However, Flamethrower in execution was identical to Ice Beam: a thin, concentrated stream of an element. The attacks possessed the same amount of power, and what no one actually counted on was Flamethrower melting Ice Beam, turning it into water, and being snuffed out due to the dramatic change in element – turning Ice into Water would make the attack strong against Fire instead of weak. Weavile had the advantage in altitude, meaning it literally rained on Bastiodon’s parade.

No amount of Ice Beam was left when all was said and done, but Flamethrower was taken out completely and the melted remnants of the Ice Beam attack splashed onto Bastiodon, effectively soaking it.

Weavile landed back onto the field. It was in critical condition, but seeing Bastiodon drenched gave Paul an idea; possibly something inspired from his own ordeals in the rain earlier that day. “Bastiodon’s wet!” Paul pointed out. “So let’s try this! Weavile, use Blizzard!”

Conway just raised an eyebrow at that command. “Blizzard? Seriously? That’s not going to affect Bastiodon; it’ll just…” Then he paused. “Wait, the secondary effects…” Conway then got it. “He’s going to…!”

The gem on Weavile’s forehead glowed. Byron was not catching on as quickly about what Paul planned to do, but whatever it was, he wanted to end it first.

“Don’t let this drag out any longer, Bastiodon!” He shouted out. “Melt that Pokémon! Flamethrower again!”

A weaker Flamethrower came out from Bastiodon, but it was too late to counter. Weavile fired snowballs and powerful wind shears. The intensity of the coldness coming from the Blizzard attack prevented it from being totally nullified like Ice Beam was, and whatever was melted was thrown right back at Bastiodon by the wind shears and froze to it instantly.

Paul smiled wickedly, as he couldn’t believe it was actually working. “Keep it up, Weavile! Let’s see how Byron likes his Pokémon being deep-chilled!”

Now it was hitting Byron. He remembered how his Steelix beat Paul’s Ursaring: freezing it solid and then knocking it out while it remained defenseless. Paul was aiming to return the favor here and now.

And it worked. As Blizzard dissipated, everyone was witness to the massive Bastiodon being frozen solid in a block of ice.

“Impossible!” Byron cried out. “Bastiodon, you have to-”

“It’s over, Byron,” Paul calmly interrupted. “Weavile, one more Brick Break! Send Bastiodon into oblivion.”

Weavile was more than happy to comply. A fearsome rush followed by two powerful claws to break the ice and finish off Bastiodon occurred, and with a thunderous thud, the Shield Pokémon had been felled.

In all his days of battling, Byron couldn’t recall the last time he was witness to such a turnabout. But he did know one thing: his old friend Brandon was also notorious for turning things around in his favor in a pinch… even during their childhood days.

Conway had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, and with reality confirmed, he cheered. “Bastiodon is unable to battle! Victory goes to Weavile!! That makes the challenger, Paul of Veilstone City the winner…!!”

Byron conceded with a nod, now taking a mature stance as he looked to Bastiodon. “Looks like we had that one coming, my friend. It was just a lucky circumstance.” He then returned Bastiodon to its Pokéball. “You take it easy for a while, alright?” Byron said to it. “We’ll get ‘em next time.”

Conway ran out into the field and hugged Weavile, which was unexpected for the latter. “Weavile!” he exclaimed. “You were awesome! The way you turned the tables was like nothing I’ve ever seen before! And best of all, that means you’re safe!”

Weavile really didn’t know this acquaintance of Paul’s, but it did know that every word he said was the truth. It smiled with a bashful “Wea, Wea” before Conway released his hold.

“Indeed, that was an amazing display,” Byron admitted, walking over towards Weavile and Conway. “At first it seemed repetitive, but it turns out that you and your friends expertly exploited the critical flaw of my team.”

“You mean the speed factor, right?” Conway asked.

Byron nodded. “With great power, endurance, or speed, something must be given back in return. My Pokémon were sturdy, but all of them were slow. I could make the best of that weakness with moves like Gyro Ball, but clever trainers can even make that backfire, as we’ve just seen today.”

“I have to admit, I was scared there for a moment,” Conway sheepishly admitted. “Paul’s battling style can be unorthodox at times, but it looks like he knew what he was doing all along.” He looked down at Weavile, giving it an encouraging smile. “You know, Weavile, if Paul really wanted to get rid of you, you would’ve been the first one sent out. The likelihood of you beating Bastiodon, Steelix, and Bronzor without getting knocked out is essentially slim to none. The fact that he sent you out last must have meant that he really wanted to keep you; he really did give you a second chance, and you didn’t let him down.”

To see it that way, Weavile felt a sense of pride and security. It had been scared stiff by its trainer’s indignation earlier, but knowing there was a part of him that genuinely cared and liked Weavile enough to try his best to keep Weavile on made said Pokémon feel liberated, even if it was still reeling from the pain of battle.

Conway held back a laugh before looking to Paul’s corner. “Well, come on, don’t be shy! Come up and accept your-…”

He was cut off when he saw Paul no longer standing, but now collapsed to the ground. “Oh, crap!” Conway cried out. “He pushed himself too far! Paul…!” Byron too finally noticed that his challenger had fainted, and followed Conway to care for Paul. Weavile also followed, concerned for its trainer’s health.

Conway reached Paul first, kneeling down to turn the unconscious Paul onto his back so he could get a feel for his temperature. He was very alarmed after feeling his forehead, which was now burning hot. Paul was flushed, having trouble breathing, and sounded congested. Simply removing his coat did nothing more but buy him some extra time to stay conscious long enough for the entire battle and no longer.

Byron couldn’t believe it. “You mean to say he was sick all along?!”

“I tried to talk him out of this, I swear!” Conway panicked, looking guilty. “He kept blowing me off; he was that determined to fight you! I was hoping it was just a simple little cold, but…!”

“Looks more like a full-blown flu bug,” Byron noted, shaking his head. “Just stay calm, kid. Let’s get him to a bed.” With that, he picked up Paul with relative ease. “Ironic, in a way. A strong battler, but a pretty weak body…”

Suddenly, someone else entered the battle arena. He rushed over to Byron, and Byron did not seem surprised in the least. It was merely one of his colleagues who worked at the Gym.

“Cedric,” Byron acknowledged. “What’s the hurry, friend?”

“We’ve just received a long-distance call, sir,” Cedric reported. “It’s Maylene of the Veilstone Gym. She’s on hold right now, but she requested to speak to someone named Paul… and specifically said it was an emergency.”

“Emergency?!” Byron said, now surprised. “Well, Paul’s right here in my arms, but you can see he is clearly incapacitated right now. He’s in a bit of an emergency himself.”

Conway frowned. Sometimes, he hated it when his ominous premonitions turned out to be true. “Let me take the call in his place,” he requested. “You can make preparations for Paul and I’ll find out what Maylene wants.”

“Quick thinking, Four-Eyes!” Byron complimented, in his own special way. “You really are a man of many talents. You’ll leave Paul to me, then. Go ahead and take the call.”

“Right,” Conway agreed, nodding. “Alright, where am I going?”

Cedric took Conway by the hand. “Follow me and I’ll show you. Quickly, please!”

“You don’t need to tell me twice!” Conway shouted, being dragged away.

Byron looked down at the confused and worried Weavile before making a move. He found Weavile’s Pokéball and nodded, looking serious. “Your friend isn’t in good shape, Weavile. He shouldn’t mind me returning you to your ball.” With that, he recalled Weavile to its Pokéball and put it in Paul’s bag. After zipping it up and tossing it over his shoulder, he jogged across the arena to find a suitable place for the ailing Paul.



“Wh-what the…?” Maylene was confused when she was met with a green-haired adolescent in glasses instead of Reggie’s little brother on the video phone. “Sir, can you make your call somewhere else? This is kind of an emergency…”

Conway shook his head, looking stern. “I’m here on behalf of Paul. I’ll take a message for him.”

“You are?” Maylene couldn’t possibly imagine someone willing to be associated with Paul. “Who are you?”

“You may call me Conway,” the bearer of the namesake said with a smile. “And you must be Maylene, the Gym Leader. It’s a pleasure to meet you, albeit in unfortunate circumstances.”

Maylene wasn’t sure why Paul just wouldn’t take the call himself, but decided to run along with it. What choice did she have? “Ah, yes… yes I am. I’m calling on behalf of his brother, Reggie.”

“You said it was an emergency, right?” Conway asked. “What happened?”

“Oh…” Maylene groaned, hating to think about going over the situation in detail. “Reggie was outside training near Mt. Coronet, where there were severe thunderstorms about…”

Conway recalled the weather report he and Paul watched before arriving at the Gym. “Weird… Paul said there was no way he’d be out in anything like that…”

“Well, he was wrong!” Maylene said adamantly. “Reggie was out there and he got struck by lightning! He survived and he’s stabilized at the hospital right now… well, in a sense, anyway. We need Paul to return to Veilstone immediately!”

It freaked Conway out to hear that someone was actually struck by a lightning bolt… and even more, managed to survive. “Th-that’s… really crazy. I’ll try and arrange a trip back to Veilstone City, then, but we’ve got problems on our end, too.”

“Problems?” Maylene wondered out loud. “What do you mean?”

Conway sighed. “It’s not like he got struck by lightning or anything, but Paul’s been suffering from a cold ever since he left Jubilife City. Despite my attempts to get him to rest, he refused and went on to battle Byron. The battle’s over now… and Paul won, but… he pushed himself too hard, and he’s literally knocked out himself. That’s where I came in, you see,” he explained.

Maylene gasped, and then pounded her face with the palm of her hand in frustration. “Oh great, just great! So he’s sick, too…”

Conway seemed confused. “But you said Reggie survived the lightning strike. And how does that even make him sick? He’d just be severely injured…”

“He’s sick in the head,” Maylene tiredly clarified. “We need Paul here before Reggie has a total mental breakdown. There’s no way I can contact their father, so Paul really does need to be here for his brother. It may be the only way to cure Reggie. How long will it be before Paul gets better?”

“I have no idea,” Conway admitted. “He just now passed out. But don’t fret; I’ll arrange a trip to Veilstone City and we’ll both be out of here by morning. We’ll go by ship as much as we can so Paul can recover on the way there. Will that suffice?”

Maylene nodded nervously. “The quicker, the better. I hope Paul recovers by the time he gets here; I don’t think Reggie’s going to react very well if he sees his little brother in a bad condition.”

“I’m not making any promises,” Conway pointed out. “But I’ll do the best I can to make sure he’s healthy when he visits his brother. I’ll be at his side the whole time, so there’s no need to worry, alright?”

“No need to worry…” Maylene murmured, before smiling a bit.

Conway smiled back. “It’s something a good friend of mine likes to say, but I mean every word of it.”

Contrary to the situation, Maylene found herself giggling quietly. “A good friend of mine likes to say the exact same thing… thank you, Conway.”

Conway humbly bowed. “It’s my pleasure to service you all. I’ll go ahead and make traveling arrangements straight away.”

“I trust Paul’s in good hands,” Maylene said, a bit more at ease with having faith in Conway. “I’ll see you guys soon, then?”

In a fancy action, Conway saluted to the young Gym Leader. “Indubitably, ma’am! Take care.”

Maylene nodded. “You, too!”

And then, the conversation ended with both parties ending their calls simultaneously.

There were many arrangements Conway was now obligated to make. He looked up and sighed. “No need to worry, indeed. One of these days, I hope these good deeds enable me to see you again… because this is officially a nightmarish adventure.”

( TBC )

[dash142]

Another good chapter! I'm kind of sad that Paul is so sick... which is weird since he's a jerk. But good job on showing that he secretly does like his Weavile. That battle was a close one, and you did a good job on it.

[Yonowaru in Chaos]

Conway looked ahead; not taking any offense to Paul’s insulting, for as long as his insults didn’t involve Dawn,

You misplaced your semicolon. It should be after 'insulting', instead of 'ahead'.

You were ye tall,” He demonstrated by lowering his hand down to his knees. “Last time I saw you! Can’t blame you for that!”

It's technically one whole sentence, so you shouldn't start with a capital letter when Byron 'resumes' speech.

In fact, you can try: You were ye tall-” (he demonstrated by lowering his hand down to his knees) “-last time I saw you! Can’t blame you for that!”

Also, for the 'Can't blame you for that!' part, shouldn't it be 'Can't blame me for that!'? Unless it was sarcasm...

“Yes,” Paul answered, but felt very uneasy now.

“Yes,” Paul answered, feeling very uneasy now.

Basically your implication, but more flowing.

Steelix was not 100%

'Steelix was not at 100% or something along those lines. Just '100%' doesn't do the job.

“Get out of there!!” he screamed, >even< though he knew the odds were not on his side.

such an important battle without being >at< 100% himself

Same as before.

froze to it instantly.

I like how all the bits just seem to go together, what with both brothers being deranged :3

You have a gift in characterising characters like Byron and Conway (as well as all the others, but Byron especially in this chapter). They're oh so juicy :9

I can also tell that you seem to be setting up some sort of shipping here *nudges*

[Shinneth]

(Thanks for the reviewing! Didn't expect there to be so many errors last chapter, but I'm glad the masses are still enjoying the product! This one admittedly isn't that exciting, but 5 would be a hard act to follow anyway. This serves to bridge from one plot arc to another, as well as adding another little surprise element to the mix. We'll see how well that goes. I smell angst in the next chapter!)

Once traveling arrangements were made, the unconscious Paul was transferred to an infirmary where he could recover more quickly. He and Conway were due to leave Canalave City by ship early the next morning, and the ship would at least take them as far as the Valor Lakefront. From there on, they would have to take a bus to make it to Veilstone City. The distance alone meant it would take a few days for Conway and Paul to reach their destination, but it was the best they could afford to do at this point, especially since Paul was quite incapacitated now and certainly couldn’t make any progress today.

It was dusk when Paul finally came to. He grunted, sensitive to the fluorescent lights in the room. Though he regained his consciousness, Paul honestly felt no better than he had before he passed out. He was still hot and sweaty, his headache was borderline-unbearable, and even in a clean and sanitary room, Paul found his sinuses congested and had difficulty breathing.

He was awake, but had no energy to sit up on his own. However, Paul did notice there was a wet cloth over his forehead, as well as a bag of ice. It disappointed and embarrassed him that this wasn’t a dream; he really had succumbed to an illness mainly due to his negligence of his wellbeing. Conway happened to be sitting in a chair and reading a magazine close by Paul. Paul didn’t know this, but Conway had been in that position for hours.

Upon hearing Paul make a noise, however, Conway looked past the magazine pages to see that Paul had indeed woken up. “Oh, good!” Conway exclaimed, relieved that Paul had woken up. Ordinarily he wouldn’t have been this worried, but seeing Paul succumb to a simple illness the way he did have the elder trainer rather frazzled. “You’re awake… guess that means you’re going to be alright, then.”

“Alright…?” Paul asked, as he was little confused. It then hit him that his voice was sore and hollow-sounding. He was much sicker than he thought he was. “What… happened?”

“What happened?” Conway echoed in disbelief. “You’re telling me that you don’t remember? … Well, guess I can’t be too harsh on you. Passing out the way you did probably left you really disoriented.”

Being told that he passed out only further embarrassed Paul. Nonetheless, he looked as stiff and annoyed as he usually did. “So I’m sick after all. You must be ecstatic that you turned out to be right this time.”

“Huh?” Conway shook his head. “I’m not a jerk like you, Paul; I wouldn’t be happy about you being sick whether it proved me right or not. I didn’t want it to come to this in the first place. Why else would I have been trying to talk you out of that Gym Battle constantly?”

“The Gym Battle…!” It just struck Paul that he had been battling with Byron for a Mine Badge at the time he lost consciousness. Slowly, the details of his memories before passing out crept into his mind. “That’s… that’s when I passed out.”

Conway nodded, setting his magazine aside. “You passed out in the Gym, yes. Scared the living daylights out of all of us, too.”

Paul gritted his teeth, having a feeling there was only more bad news to come, and he certainly wasn’t in the mood to hear it. But for his own peace of mind, he had to confirm it… “I passed out during the final match. So I… automatically forfeited the battle.”

“Guess again,” Conway retorted, bringing out Paul’s badge case and opening it up for him to see the contents. With the other Sinnoh Badges Paul had earned, Paul’s eyes widened when he saw none other than the Mine Badge in the case with the others.

At a loss for words, Paul could only stare and stutter, thinking he was hallucinating all of this.

Conway couldn’t deny it; seeing Paul react this way was highly amusing, but he knew this was hardly the time to mess with his head. “No, Paul, you aren’t imagining things. You managed to defeat Byron just before you passed out… and you have Weavile to thank for this Mine Badge.”

“Weavile…” It was all coming back to Paul now: how everything went wrong that morning, how he blamed Weavile for most of it, and how he threatened to release Weavile if it failed to deliver in its scheduled Gym Battle. He remembered how the battle had played out, now… and he remembered that he sent Weavile out last. From that, he knew Conway was telling the truth. But again, he didn’t want to give Conway the satisfaction of seeing him humbled.

Paul grunted and looked away. “It looks like Weavile made up for its previous blunders today, then. We’re even, and Weavile knows that. It doesn’t need thanks from me or you.”

“Too late,” Conway pointed out tauntingly. “I thanked Weavile enough for both of us. Face it, Paul: if you wanted Weavile gone, you would’ve sent it out first rather than last.”

Aggravated to no end, Paul snatched his badge case from Conway and slammed it shut. “I don’t need to explain my methods to you. What matters is that I’ve obtained my Mine Badge now, so it’s time for me to head to Snowpoint City and for you to make tracks in some other direction. I’ve tolerated you about as much as I can stand to at this point. Are we understood?”

Conway sighed, just then looking a bit more serious, which Paul did not expect. “Paul, the journey to Snowpoint City is going to have to wait for the time being. There’s a family emergency you’re required to tend to at the moment, so we’re leaving for Veilstone City tomorrow morning.”

Much as he tried to disregard his relatives, the term “family emergency” immediately took effect on Paul. He glared at Conway and grabbed his wrist.

“What are you talking about?!” He shouted at Conway. “What happened?!”

Physical violence was something Conway liked to avoid. “Easy, easy!” He urged, gently removing Paul’s warm hand from his wrist. “The Gym got a call in from Maylene, Veilstone’s Gym Leader, shortly after your battle ended. She specifically requested to speak with you, but you were out cold at the time, so I took the call for you. She was calling on your brother’s behalf, Paul.”

It disgusted Paul to realize that Reggie was serious about letting someone like Maylene look after his place while he was out training. At the same time, he was impressed that Reggie had remained true to his word and took his training seriously for his upcoming battle with Brandon. Still, the “family emergency” element of the call came back to mind, and Paul didn’t want to waste time in learning the specifics of such a call.

“Why Maylene?” He asked. “Why couldn’t Reggie call me himself?”

Conway closed his eyes and looked down, solemn and calm as he broke the news to Paul. “Remember when you said there was no way Reggie would be careless enough to train outside when there was severe weather about? Apparently you were way off on that, because Reggie was found near Mt. Coronet where the worst part of the storm system was. According to Maylene… Reggie was struck by lightning.”

This sufficiently stunned Paul. Not only was he dead wrong about his brother’s actions, but hearing that his sweet, gentle brother had been the victim of one of nature’s harshest elements set a shock throughout his whole body. Paul had recovered enough to be sitting up on his own by this point, but now he’d fallen back against his pillow as Conway’s words sunk into him. Paul was still conscious, but he certainly felt as if he could faint again.

It pained Conway to see this reaction from Paul, but knew it was only expected… even out of someone as cold-hearted and sturdy as Paul.

“The good news is… Reggie survived the lightning strike,” Conway clarified, which at least put Paul at ease a little. The short amount of time that passed between being informed of the lightning strike and being informed that Reggie survived it felt like hours of pain and regret on Paul’s end… not that he would admit it.

Still, Paul couldn’t help but look paranoid as he looked to Conway. “And the bad news…?”

“Well…” Based on the limited information Maylene gave him, Conway was unsure of how to answer the question, but figured for Paul, a bad answer was better than no answer at all. “I’m not sure how much this has to do with the lightning strike since she didn’t go into detail very much, but apparently your brother’s on the verge of a mental meltdown. No one is able to contact your dad, so Reggie really needs you to be there for him in his time of need, okay?”

“A mental meltdown…” Paul pondered over such a thing, as he never heard such words and his brother’s name used in the same sentence before. He couldn’t even imagine what the situation would be like… and deep down, that frightened him a bit. “If you put it that way, then… I’ll have to go. The old man can’t be relied on for anything, even though this is exactly the kind of thing he should be doing if he were a real father.”

Conway nodded in agreement. “Why is it that no one can get ahold of Brandon, anyway? Is he just that antisocial?”

Paul shrugged, pretending not to care about the way his father did things. “He considers himself a special case because he has a flying pyramid. The old man is never in the same place twice in Kanto, so it’s impossible to pinpoint his exact location. For whatever reason, he never really installed communication devices into his Battle Pyramid. There’s also the fact that he’s rarely in that thing because he spends so much of his time digging up ancient artifacts…”

“Very peculiar,” Conway noted, adjusting his glasses. “A father who’s practically invisible to the entire world and even his family… no wonder you don’t like the guy.”

“Enough about him,” Paul snapped, trying to get out of bed. “I’d better get moving right away to Veilstone.”

Conway was quick to stop Paul and force him back into bed. “Hey, hey, no need for that. You’re still sick and you’ve got no business moving about until you recover, okay? Don’t worry about getting back to Veilstone City.” He smiled, happy to brag about his recent accomplishments. “I’ve taken the liberty of booking us on a ship that’ll take us to the Valor Lakefront. From there, we’ll reach Veilstone by a bus that’ll be waiting for us. We’re setting out first thing in the morning, so you need to get as much rest as you can so you can at least board the ship without falling over. I’m going with you to make sure you get better before we reach Veilstone City.”

Paul looked annoyed again, mainly because he knew he was in yet another situation where he couldn’t rid himself of Conway. Still, at least he meant well. “I’m not a baby, Conway. I can take care of myself.”

“Big talk for someone who ignored my advice earlier today and ended up passing out during a Gym Battle,” Conway snidely reminded him. “I’m beginning to suspect this inability to care for yourself trait runs in the family, you know. Either way, you might as well rest up as much as you can. Since we’re so far away from Veilstone as it is, we’ll be at sea for at least a couple of days. You have to get better, because Maylene told me that Reggie might not take it very well in his fragile mental condition if he saw you the way you look right now.”

Seeing it that way, Paul suddenly didn’t want to argue with Conway about his physical health any longer. Even he couldn’t deny he was well beyond sick due to his own carelessness. He wasn’t sure what to expect from his brother, and in some way he felt partially responsible for the breakdown, but couldn’t quite put his finger on why.

But as Paul thought about Reggie, something else came to mind; something important.

“Alright,” Paul conceded, looking down and refusing to face Conway. “I’ll take it easy during the trip back home. But I have a favor to ask of you, Conway.”

“A favor, huh?” Conway mused, leaning back on his chair. “Promise you won’t run out on me if I run an errand for you?”

Paul rolled his eyes. “What would I have to gain from doing that, especially in my condition? I want you to run an errand for me since I can’t do it myself now.”

“Ah, alright then,” Conway said, giving Paul the benefit of the doubt. “What would you like me to do?”

“Listen well,” Paul instructed. “Since we’re leaving Canalave early tomorrow, I want you to go on ahead to the library right now. You can get whatever it was you wanted, but I want you to pick up something for me.”

Conway grinned. “Why, that’s practically a privilege rather than an order! Was there something specific you wanted me to find?”

“Yes,” Paul said with a nod. “Regigigas: I want you to take any book or article that mentions that Pokémon. Anything regarding Regirock, Registeel, and Regice should suffice as well. It’s imperative that you dig up every last bit of information that library has to offer about Regigigas. Since it’s the largest library in the Sinnoh region, I expect you’ll find something about it.”

“Regigigas, huh?” Conway mused, smirking. “I think I remember hearing legends about that one… why are you so interested in that one, Paul?”

Paul sighed, waving his hand dismissively. “I’ll explain it when you get back. Just hurry over there before the library closes.”

Conway proudly stood up and thrust a fist in the air with pure enthusiasm. “Aye, aye!” He then resumed a normal stance as he looked down at his young companion curiously. “Anything you need before I go, then?”

“Mm…” Paul took the wet cloth and bag of ice (which had mostly melted by this point) from his forehead. “More ice and a new cloth. I’m guessing it’s still just me who’s burning up in here.”

“You would be correct,” Conway casually affirmed. “With any luck, we’ll break that fever by sunrise. I’ll let the nurse know what you need and be on my way to the library, then!”

Just mere moments after saying that, Conway rushed out of the room to perform his duties. For having to do so many things for such an ungrateful acquaintance, Conway was certainly taking it in stride. Paul could only look on, flabbergasted, until his condition would no longer allow him to sit up. Grunting, he plopped his head back against his pillow and closed his eyes. Paul was feeling miserable in more ways than one, now.







At the same time, far off in Kanto, the party of Misty, Tracey, and Brandon had just arrived at Pallet Town. By this point, the sun had set and it was quickly getting dark outside, so the group was fortunate to reach civilization just in time.

“In my experience, I’ve known Pokémon Professors to be rather busy,” Brandon noted, looking down at his younger traveling companions. “You’re certain Professor Oak will not be offended by having a visitor over this late?”

“Like I said, he loves having visitors,” Tracey assured him. “It’s not like it’s his bedtime or anything. He’s been known to pull all-nighters pretty frequently.”

“Really?” Misty asked. “What in the world is so important for him to be doing at odd hours of the night?”

Tracey shrugged. “Unfortunately, I can never stay awake long enough to know what he specifically does at night. But I imagine he has less free time to dedicate solely to research since he’s taking care of Ash’s Pokémon, and that’s even with my help.”

The familiar name struck a chord with the Frontier Brain. “Whose Pokémon did you just say the Professor was taking care of?”

“Our friend, Ash Ketchum’s Pokémon,” Misty answered. “He’s a close friend and former traveling companion of ours.”

Tracey nodded happily. “We’ve been in a multitude of wacky adventures together in the good old days… Ash is from Pallet Town, but right now he’s in the Sinnoh region.”

“He’s already been through this region, the Orange Islands, Johto, and Hoenn prior to Sinnoh,” Misty pointed out. “Since he’s traveled so much, he’s acquired a lot of Pokémon during his journey. But you know a trainer can only keep six Pokémon at a time…”

“… And he’s made a habit of starting fresh in each new region he enters,” Tracey added. “So after every League, Ash comes by here to drop off the Pokémon he acquired in that region. Professor Oak and I look after and take care of the Pokémon while he’s gone.”

“Of Pallet Town…” Brandon muttered. He then looked sharply to the young trainers before him. “Yes, I am familiar with him. He is one of the very few trainers who has ever beaten me and earned my Brave Symbol.”

“Hey, that’s right!” Tracey exclaimed, pointing at Brandon. “Ash did challenge the Battle Frontier just before he went to Sinnoh! I knew he conquered it… I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection earlier.”

Misty was notably impressed. “Wow… Ash has come a long way to be able to beat someone like Brandon. I traveled with him when he was just starting out… and to think he’s actually Frontier Brain material now…”

“Obviously, he declined the offer to become one,” Brandon reminded. “And it took him three attempts before he finally defeated me, but he’s quite talented for his age, I’ll admit.”

“That’s why Ash didn’t want to settle for being a Frontier Brain,” Tracey said. “He’s aiming to be a master… so don’t be surprised if you see him in the Elite Four one day.”

“Or better yet, the Champion of the Elite Four!” Misty gushed, but then giggled. “Well, he hasn’t even won a League Conference yet for all of his experience. Maybe one day he’ll get his chance.”

Brandon nodded. “I’m sure he will. Interesting that he’s in Sinnoh now, though… that’s where I grew up. My kids are still living there.”

“Oh, wow…” Misty mumbled, taken aback that this gruff old man was actually a parent. “You have children…? I had no idea…”

“I get that a lot,” Brandon admitted, rolling his eyes. “The little one is currently battling Gyms to qualify for the Sinnoh League Conference as well. Perhaps the two will cross paths one day… based on what you’ve said about your friend, they are equally experienced. If they were to meet and battle, it would be quite a sight.”

“It’s a pity you’re stuck here in Kanto,” Tracey sympathized. “That would be so exciting to see…”

“Oh! Look!” Misty interrupted, pointing ahead. “There’s Professor Oak’s Lab! And I see the lights are still on, so he’s definitely home.”

Brandon smiled at the sight. “Excellent. Finally, I should be able to get some answers about what I’m looking for.”

“If Professor Oak doesn’t know, then I highly doubt anyone else in Kanto will either,” Tracey assured, knocking on the front door. “But even if he doesn’t, he can always contact Professor Elm, Birch, or Rowan to see if they know anything.”

The door opened, revealing a pleasantly-surprised Professor Samuel Oak. “Back so soon, Tracey? And I see you’ve brought guests this time!”

Misty nodded and waved. “Nice to see you again, Professor Oak.”

“And this is the Pyramid King himself: Brandon!” Tracey introduced. “He came to us at Cerulean Gym wanting to speak with you personally.”

Professor Oak grinned, shaking Brandon warmly by the hand. “Yes, Ash has told me all about you, Brandon! Your reputation certainly precedes you, but it is a pleasure to see you, of course.”

“The feeling is mutual,” Brandon assured as he and the others entered the Professor’s home. “I’ve come here on urgent business, and you are my last hope to obtain any possible information on a certain Pokémon I’ve been tracking down for months.”

Professor Oak nodded, absorbing the message thoroughly. He gestured towards Misty and Tracey and gave a suggestion. “Tracey, it happens to be dinnertime for the Pokémon. Would you and Misty mind terribly to take care of them while I speak with this prestigious Frontier Brain?”

“Ah, not a problem, Professor!” Tracey consented. “That alright with you, Misty?”

Misty nodded enthusiastically. “Sure. Let’s do it!”

As the young trainers left to tend to Ash’s Pokémon and the others, Professor Oak and Brandon sat down on a sofa to discuss the matter at hand.

“So,” the Professor started. “You say you’re looking for a particular Pokémon. Is this a rare one; perhaps a legendary?”

“I believe the one I seek is both rare and legendary, considering I have yet to find any solid information on it yet. However, I have relatively quickly discovered and captured three legendary Pokémon who are associated with it.”

“Three others, you say…” Professor Oak muttered, grabbing a book and looking for it. “And the name of the Pokémon you seek is…?”

“Regigigas,” Brandon said succinctly. “I have already acquired Regirock, Registeel, and Regice. Regigigas is the alleged leader of the other three.”

Professor Oak nodded as he flipped through the pages of his book. “Regigigas… yes, I do believe I’ve heard of that one before. If I recall correctly, I had talked about the subject with Professor Rowan some time ago.” He looked to Brandon with an apologetic look. “Unfortunately, the conversation was a brief one. Concrete information on Regigigas is indeed scarce.”

Brandon crossed his arms and huffed. “At least you know about it. That’s more than I’ve gotten from anyone else in this region. So you do know the basics… Is there anything else you discussed with Professor Rowan that would help me find it?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t believe this book will help you,” Professor Oak said regretfully. “This is a general index for the known species of Pokémon in this world, so it only gives bare-bones details you probably already know. It cites that Regigigas is the ‘Colossal Pokémon’, and an enduring legend states it had towed continents with ropes. Additionally, it is said to have made Pokémon shaped in its image from rocks, magma, and a mountain of ice.”

Brandon frowned and nodded. “So it implies that my Regirock, Registeel, and Regice were created by Regigigas itself. There’s nothing in regards to where it can be located if it still exists in this world?”

Professor Oak shook his head and closed the book. “Not a word. I suppose you already checked the library and museum in Pewter City… that would be your best bet for finding information on the Pokémon in this region.”

“Of course I already checked Pewter City,” Brandon grumbled. “It was the first place I hit because I knew it was the most-likely area of Kanto that could help me find Regigigas. After failing to find information in Pewter City, I’ve traversed through the entire Kanto region ever since, but I’ve yet to get closer to finding any specific, concrete answers.”

“As a Frontier Brain, I understand you’re confined to Kanto,” Professor Oak acknowledged. “But not all hope is lost. I have the technology to see if there are places in other regions that might have informative literature on Regigigas. I can go online and peruse through every library’s listing in Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and so on until I find a match. Once we find the appropriate book, we can simply order it so it won’t be necessary for you to leave this region.”

Brandon was elated to hear this. “That is a brilliant idea! I must thank you for going through the trouble of doing this for me, Professor.”

“Ah-ah,” the Professor pointed out. “Not just for you, but for the sake of fulfilling my own duty as a Professor to document and study every species of Pokémon in this world. Still, it is my pleasure to assist you, Brandon. Follow me and we shall search through the library databases and see what is available.”

Brandon silently nodded and followed Professor Oak to his computer station. He sat and watched Professor Oak scan all library databases across every region to find any material containing information on Regigigas. Several towns and cities possessed museums and libraries, thus making the process long and arduous. Brandon grew increasingly tense as every individual search turned up negative, without any material on Regigigas whatsoever.

The hours passed… Johto had been cleared; there was no information on Regigigas there. Some time later, Hoenn’s results ended up the same. Both men grew concerned as they began to scan through Sinnoh’s databases.

“Brandon, you came from Sinnoh,” Professor Oak noted as the scanner went on. “Did you try to find out anything about the Pokémon before you moved here?”

“Unfortunately, that was not even on my mind until well after I arrived here to take up the Frontier Brain position,” Brandon responded. “It was many years ago since I’ve set foot in my home region… I’m sure many things have changed since then. But Byron, one of my friends from my childhood, is a Gym Leader in Canalave City these days. I recall there being a library in Canalave City…”

Coincidentally, the scanner was now analyzing the data from the listings of Canalave City’s library. Professor Oak smiled at this.

“We may be in luck yet, then. Canalave’s Library seems to be the largest one in the Sinnoh region… possibly of all regions,” he pointed out. “You’re more than welcome to use my video phone to contact Byron if we find anything in this library. He could send the materials to you personally.”

Brandon smiled at this. “Yes, that would work out nicely… it has been a while since I’ve spoken with him. Most likely, he would throw a fit for me not calling more often, but he is every bit of an archaeologist as I am. We were rivals back in the day… he would be more than happy to help out.”

Just then, the scanner beeped. Both men looked excited, as it meant that the computer had finally found something regarding the Pokémon they were looking for.

After a pause, Professor Oak’s excitement faded. “… one result found in Canalave City… and in Sinnoh overall. I suppose that’s better than nothing at all…”

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Brandon reminded him. “I will take whatever I can get. Reserve that book so I can give Byron a call to mail it out to us.”

As Professor Oak proceeded to do so, he frowned. “… There’s a slight problem with that, Brandon,” he said with a tone of disbelief.

Brandon glared. “And what might that problem be?”

Professor Oak pointed to the screen. “See for yourself; it seems that the book has already been checked out… less than an hour ago, in fact.”

“What?!” Brandon shoved the Pokémon Professor out of the way to see the screen, which clearly showed what was told to him. “Someone checked out the only book on Regigigas in the entire world?! Who could possibly…?!” He looked sharply to Professor Oak. “Find out who checked out that book! I want that person’s name and information immediately!”

Professor Oak inched away, looking uncomfortable now with Brandon’s temper. “Well, you see… not only do I not have the ability to find such information, I believe it’s… illegal, in a way. Privacy regulations and whatnot… the library won’t just tell us who checked the book out.”

Brandon stood up; and after nearly two hours of standing, he was ready to get out of his chair, anyway. “You’re sure of this?”

“Well, yes,” Professor Oak said, sounding fairly sure of himself. “But normally, the books must be returned within a week or so. All you’d have to do is wait a week until it becomes available again, and then…”

“We can’t count on that happening!” Brandon interrupted. “We have no way of knowing if the one who took that book has any intention of returning it within its due date, or ever. I have to know who took that book, Professor. No average person would check out a book on such an elusive Pokémon without a purpose outside of simply reading the book!”

By now, the Professor was growing tired of this tirade. “You honestly believe someone is using that book for another purpose and will never return it to the library?”

“I have my reasons for my beliefs,” Brandon assured. “I have no choice but to go to Canalave City myself and get the answers directly from the source.”

“G-go to Canalave City?!” Professor Oak couldn’t believe he suggested such a thing. “You mean you’re going to Sinnoh?! But you simply can’t do that, Brandon! You have duties here as a Frontier Brain in Kanto! You are their leader! What will happen if you leave?”

Brandon shook his head. “I will not be gone for long. I can put one of the others in charge in my absence. Anabel, Spenser, Noland… any of them would be suitable taking my place temporarily. Besides that, a new Battle Frontier has opened up. Any trainer aiming to conquer a Battle Frontier can always visit the new site.”

“Oh, I believe I heard about that!” Professor Oak exclaimed. “The new Frontier Brains are some of the lucky few who have defeated you, correct…?”

Brandon nodded. “Tower Tycoon Palmer, another old acquaintance of mine, leads the new Frontier. I helped design the blueprints of the new Battle Frontier, and I believe it will be quite a challenge for anyone who dares to try and conquer it.”

Professor Oak nodded. “And to think Ash would have been one of them if he accepted your offer…”

“That’s why there are fewer of them at this time,” Brandon noted. “But the others are indeed trainers of elite status; none of them had to beat me in three tries. His appearance is deceiving, but Thorton is the epitome of a strategic battler, so he will run the new Battle Factory. Dahlia was also deceptive in her appearance and demeanor, but she is one who knows how to battle against the odds... which is why she will represent the Battle Arcade. Then there is Darach, as well as his mistress, Lady Caitlin, who run the Battle Castle. They insisted on running the facility together. Then there is Argenta… she certainly came off as somewhat full of herself, but it was nice to have another older trainer to balance things out. She will be running the Battle Hall.”

“Things are unbalanced on your turf, you mean?” Professor Oak asked with amusement.

Brandon rolled his eyes. “Let’s just say many of them are rather… ‘eccentric’ in their own ways. Greta can be hyperactive, Anabel has been acting strange lately even though she’s usually one of the more mature Brains of the group, Tucker is a little… flashy for my liking… Lucy is…” He paused. “I suppose I am being overly-critical, aren’t I?”

Professor Oak chuckled nervously. “I’m sure it’s only because you’re tense about the book situation…”

“Oh, right!” Brandon shouted, now reminded of the current situation. “I’ll have to contact all of the other Frontier Brains of Kanto to let them know about my temporary departure.”

On that subject, the Professor gulped. “Y-you’re certain you want to go through with this?”

“That book may be the only way for me to find and obtain Regigigas,” Brandon said, dramatic in tone. “If it is lost or misplaced in any way by the one who took it, then I may never achieve my goal of obtaining the rightful leader and creator of the Regis I own. If you would, Professor, please contact the port in Vermilion City and book a trip to Canalave City as soon as possible. It isn’t worth the risk to try flying the Battle Pyramid over a long distance at sea. I will contact my assistant and have him inform Scott and the Frontier Brains that I will be taking a temporary leave of absence.”

“Ah…” Professor Oak looked uneasy as he walked towards his video phone. “You’re certain Scott will allow this?”

Brandon nodded confidently. “I have tenure. Since I started this position as the Pyramid King when the Battle Frontier first opened to the public and have never asked for a break or a vacation in all the years I’ve worked there, I am certain Scott and the others will see that I have earned this ‘break’ and it is for a good cause, both for my own gain and the Battle Frontier’s.”

Professor Oak sighed; it was clear now that there was no way to convince Brandon otherwise, and he had logical reasons to support his stubborn nature on this issue. “Very well, then. Vermilion Port should still be open, so I’ll book you for the next available trip to Canalave…”

“Excellent,” Brandon said, smirking. “I appreciate your efforts, Professor. I feel the day I will encounter Regigigas will indeed be soon.”






“Check it out, Sleeping Beauty!” Conway announced on his way back into Paul’s room at the infirmary. “The only book in the entire Sinnoh region that has what you’re looking for: Legends of Sinnoh – the God among the Regi Trio.” He waved the book out so Paul could see it. Paul had been sleeping just then, but was easily awakened by Conway’s sudden reappearance.

“Back already, I see…” Paul muttered, rubbing his eyes. “You only found one book about Regigigas in the entire library…?”

Conway shook his head, pointing at Paul. “First of all, I was at the library from the time I left right until it closed, so I was there for roughly two hours. I’d hardly consider that being gone for a brief time.” At that, Paul only rolled his eyes. “Secondly, yes; there’s apparently only one book with any real information about Regigigas in all of Sinnoh. The lady who checked the books out told me it’s probably the only book in the entire world that has such information, so we’re lucky to be in the right region that has it. I believe she told me much of the material was taken from transcripts originally written in Snowpoint City…”

“Wait, wait,” Paul said, holding Conway up. “Snowpoint City…? ‘Legends of Sinnoh’? Are you implying that Regigigas is native to Sinnoh of all regions?”

“Not sure,” Conway admitted with a shrug. “The title certainly implies as much, doesn’t it? I didn’t get a good chance to look through it, so I’m not sure what it’s all about yet. Thankfully, we have a lengthy journey across the sea we’ll be embarking on tomorrow morning, so that’ll give us plenty of time to absorb all of the information in that book and glean the details of whatever you deem is so necessary about Regigigas.”

Paul reached out towards the book to take it from Conway. “Well, I might as well get a head-start on it-”

He was cut off by Conway backing away so that Paul could not reach it from his bed. “Ah-ah-ah,” he scolded. “Like I said, we’ll have plenty of time to read tomorrow and the next day or two while we sail off to the Valor Lakefront. You need your rest, Paul. Sick as you are, you’ll need all the strength you can muster just to be able to board the ship and reach our quarters without falling over. No offense; I’m just not looking forward to becoming your human crutch.”

A low growl was heard on Paul’s end as he bore a menacing glare towards Conway. “Don’t you dare tell me what I can and can’t do.”

“This coming from a guy who can’t take care of himself,” Conway muttered in a mocking tone. “Don’t forget that your health may affect your brother quite severely if he sees that you’re sick. If he’s mentally unhinged already, the last thing you’d want to do is further unhinge him. Am I right, or am I right?”

Paul had forgotten about that, and almost the whole reason why he was returning to his hometown in the first place. Not because he was unconcerned for his brother’s wellbeing, but because he was so ill that he appeared to have something of a short-term memory loss.

“Fine,” Paul grumbled in defeat. “I’ll just go back to sleep, then. You were interrupting that anyway.”

“My apologies, then,” Conway said with a bow, though it somehow sounded insincere. “Just wanted to let you know about the book. I shall turn in as well, since we both need to get up bright and early tomorrow and start our new journey.”

Paul huffed as he lied back on his pillow and covered himself in his sheets again. “You realize the only reason I’m letting you join me this time around is because I’m sick, right?”

“I am well aware of that,” Conway casually noted as he prepared himself for bedtime. “I have a feeling our little partnership will be making some unexpected twists and turns, regardless. We’ll see what the future has in store for us…”

Paul covered his head and turned away from Conway, trying to hold in another frustrated growl. “Just keep that nonsense in your dreams, shut up, and go to sleep already.”

“Of course, of course,” Conway said, climbing into a neighboring bed and turning out the light. “Goodnight, Paul…” He sung out softly.

All Conway got in response was an embittered “Whatever…” as the two quickly drifted into a peaceful slumber to prepare for the journey ahead of them, and the anxiety-inducing task that lay before the both of them.


( TBC )

[Torpoleon]

This fic is so cool and awesome! Do you have a PM list and if so, can I be on it?

[Shinneth]

Do you have a PM list and if so, can I be on it?

A... PM list...? What's that? Thanks for complimenting my story, at least. ♥ Oh, I initially missed this one:

I can also tell that you seem to be setting up some sort of shipping here *nudges*

Naww, really? I guess by now it's become rather obvious why Conway's taken to following Paul around constantly. :3

[Torpoleon]

A PM list is what people haveon the first post of their fic and people who want to know when new chapters are out will be notified by the person writing the fic via PM.

[dash142]

Nice chapter again... now Brandon is off to Sinnoh. I wonder what will happen with Reggie since you didn't include him at all in this chapter.

Oh and awesome banner by the way.

[Shinneth]

A PM list is what people haveon the first post of their fic and people who want to know when new chapters are out will be notified by the person writing the fic via PM.

Aha... I have... no idea how to do that. I am quite uneducated in the way of doing that. I just assume all of that's automatic... like on Fanfiction.net.

Nice chapter again... now Brandon is off to Sinnoh. I wonder what will happen with Reggie since you didn't include him at all in this chapter.

Oh and awesome banner by the way.

Mucho gusto! Reggie will be in the next chapter undoubtedly, as he is still on his butt in the hospital in Veilstone and most likely tranquilized to the point where he's uncontrollably drooling and poor Maylene has to clean it off.

Banner took a hell of a lot of work, but I did like the end result, so I'm glad it pleases you guys... I did custom-make the Brave Symbol, which was a lot more annoying to make than it had any right to be... and for a special spoiler bonus, the barely-visible lady next to Brandon (the dead mom, obviously) is something I kinda-sorta custom made, actually because I suck so hard at drawing in Pokemon anime's style, I controversially used Pokesho's model of Savannah and altered it to get a better idea myself of how Paul and Reggie's mom would look (to, you know... make up for the other genetic details that Brandon lacks... namely the purple hair). I've tried drawing her myself, but it just doesn't come out right. I'll keep trying, since I feel like a bad person sometimes filthing up Pokesho art with my own dirty hands. :') It was just for the sake of getting some clarity, though. My art would've looked like utter crap on the banner, anyway...

I'll try my best not to get distracted and put out another chapter soon! I have a pretty fun twist in store after we get past this hospital arc (though I'm kinda peeved that DP118 and DP119 aren't going to give me any material to go by for the distant future...)! Let's just say it involves a Contest and an anime-only town that I'll pull out of my own creative keister. ♥

[Yonowaru in Chaos]

Nah, it's manual. Just make a list of people who want to be in it, then C+P it into the recipients box when composing a new Private Message.

Oh yeah, I'd like to be on as well :]

Naww, really? I guess by now it's become rather obvious why Conway's taken to following Paul around constantly. :3

Not just that, MaylenexReggie, ByronxPaul/Conway etc. :3

But yes, mainly Conway and Paul (who is quite obviously in denial~).



Eh to be honest, I felt a bit lazy and dismissed this chapter until very later (until now >_>), especially since you said it wasn't going to be very exciting, so I'm very sorry about reading this later than I should. On the bright side, I enjoyed reading this very much (because Conway moments are just priceless x3) even without any sort of action or important events (well, Brandon going to Sinnoh is important and so is Conway obtaining the book, but eh), which says a lot for your writing style.

Keep it up ;]

[Shinneth]

Nah, it's manual. Just make a list of people who want to be in it, then C+P it into the recipients box when composing a new Private Message.

Oh yeah, I'd like to be on as well :]

Okay, I'll... give that a try next time I update! Can't promise I'll get it right. Not quite used to this kind of forum. I've always took to stalking threads like a hawk, myself.

Not just that, MaylenexReggie, ByronxPaul/Conway etc. :3

But yes, mainly Conway and Paul (who is quite obviously in denial~).

ppppffffft. Yeah. For all the Reggie/Maylene interaction (who else other than Paul and Ash's group does the guy interact with anyway, really?), I had a feeling Curtainshipping might be imminent. I'm not sure. I'm rather neutral about it, but I've been aware of it since the characters debuted in Japan since I'm a collector of the fanarts, and there are ample amounts of them together. Me, I think there's a pretty big age gap which makes me have trouble seeing it mutual, at least in this fic, but I think it's feasible. I guess that would be throwing in the ancient term GhostCurtainshipping or something along those lines. I have an idea about throwing a bone in that area later on in Chapter 7 (... provided it doesn't run too long).

Veilstoneshipping... MOAR pppfpfffpfpfft. HIGHLY amusing, but naw, Conway's mainly following Paul because he's aware that Paul happens to run into Ash & Co. quite a bit, meaning he encounters Dawn quite a bit, meaning if Conway follows Paul long enough, he would see Dawn again and the huminahuminahumina would commence. Creeping out Paul along the way is the side-bonus, we might say, but I do have something of a bonding moment in store for those two. Something... "genuine". Hohoho. It'll bring about drama. There's already a little bit of drama between the boys in 7. Then there's a little "bet" that'll come about later on before I segue into their separation bit at the Wind Town adaption... (shoot man, you're probably going to be thinking Byron/Brandon when I post 7).

Eh to be honest, I felt a bit lazy and dismissed this chapter until very later (until now >_>), especially since you said it wasn't going to be very exciting, so I'm very sorry about reading this later than I should. On the bright side, I enjoyed reading this very much (because Conway moments are just priceless x3) even without any sort of action or important events (well, Brandon going to Sinnoh is important and so is Conway obtaining the book, but eh), which says a lot for your writing style.

Keep it up ;]

That's okay, I thought chapter 6 pretty much sucked outside of those 2 relatively important plot points. Except for today's developments in the anime and now it's OFFICIALLY CANON that Brandon's returning to get Regigigas and is... b-battling Paul... and I think they said the freakin' Battle Pyramid is there with him, which just boned me already (since I've felt Brandon wouldn't want to risk a lengthy trip at sea with that clunky Battle Pyramid since he'd probably be as good as dead if that thing malfunctioned... there is no way that thing is buoyant), though his assistant can just follow him and they can meet in Sinnoh later, I suppose. If he starts flashbacking and there's a living mother or there's no genetic relation after all... ah well. Doesn't really matter either way, I guess. Paul having a Hariyama, a Gen III Pokemon for once, tells me a lot, though. I also have a plot point in mind for that random Ninjask he caught in the Glory Blaze! flashback (I'm sure you can already figure out what it is...)

So yeah, safe to say I'm really excited that the whole basis of the story might just become partially anime-relevant. I'm about 3,400 words into Chapter 7 right now. I intend on finishing that and posting it. After that, though, I think I'll take a break and see exactly how the anime executes this little twist (I'm guessing this won't be happening until late April or May, though). I'll continue on with the story no matter what happens, but I've been trying to keep it relatively faithful to the anime canon alongside Ash's story up to this point. If it comes to a point where if it'll have to deviate, I'll deviate it. I just want to be prepared so I can be sure I can deviate it well and still make it believable. Additionally, since the next chapter will be the last one for a while, I'll go ahead and say I've got some fanon family members planned for Conway as well (plays into the "bonding" with Paul bit!), knocking on wood and figuring that, even if he does appear again (and I hope he does), he won't have canon relatives revealed and neither will his city/town of origin (incidentally, I'm planning it to be Veilstone City, what a nice coincidence!). And the reasoning behind Conway wanting to bond with Paul? Oh, just the fact that he detests his older sister. Baa-ZING!

So yeah. Just wanted to give you all a little heads-up of what's to come, and a little moment of keyboard-smashing (adsfhklfhadsklfhasflkhasfsafs) about the near-future events of the anime that's making me ever-so anxious to see just how they pull it off! Can't say when 7 will be coming out since my writing speed is inconsistent, but I'm sure it'll be out BEFORE those episodes air. Most definitely.

Until then~!

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

and I think they said the freakin' Battle Pyramid is there with him, which just boned me already (since I've felt Brandon wouldn't want to risk a lengthy trip at sea with that clunky Battle Pyramid since he'd probably be as good as dead if that thing malfunctioned... there is no way that thing is buoyant)

Didn't stop Jirarudan from taking the Hikoukyuu out over open ocean, and those have to have around the same dispersion capacity. Well, Battle Pyramid maybe more, but still. I think the only reason Hikoukyuu was partially sticking out of the water at the end was because it was in shallow water and mostly beached.

[Shinneth]

Ahaa. I never saw the second movie, so that'd explain why that never came to me. XD Guess you're holding off your thoughts until I finish this thing off, I assume~?

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Oh, I never reviewed? Could have sworn I did on Bulbagarden, since I read every chapter there (well, being fanfic mod I have to, but I enjoy reading yours). And I--well hell, I just said.

I'll give a proper review next chapter, ok?

[Shinneth]

Well, if you're a Fanfic Mod, it's easy to see why you'd think you reviewed! But naw, this fic gets virtually zero love on Bulbagarden for some reason. I think there's maybe one review on it, and that was way back when I posted the first chapter in November. Haven't gotten one since. Then again, I never really review either, so I figure it's an eye for an eye. :') Happy enough to know you're enjoying it, at least!

Lesse... almost 7k on Chapter 7 and it's still chronologically daybreak. This miiiight end up being a monster of a chapter akin to 4 and 5. I'm feeling better physically... I'll see if I can get it up this week!

[Shinneth]

Okay um huge chapter is HUGE. Just... look at the ff.net notes if you want author comments. This is going to take like, at LEAST three posts. And remember, this is the last chapter until after the anime shows us details on Paul vs Brandon! So enjoy the 24k worth of fic while you can! It's expositional mayhem!

Ever restless, Brandon stood at the bow of the ship in the middle of the night as he crossed the seas between regions for the first time in years. Professor Oak managed to book him on a late-night shipping appointment, which Brandon did not mind, as he did not care for comfort or anything of the sort, so long as he made it to Sinnoh as soon as he could. Since he had to leave so soon (and travel quite a distance from Pallet Town to Vermilion City in a short amount of time), he left Professor Oak to send the message to Scott and the remaining Frontier Brains of his temporary departure as well. Of course, Brandon thanked the Professor for all his hard work and assured him that he would not return to Kanto empty-handed.

“Ah, sir,” a sailor suddenly interrupted Brandon’s moment of deep thought. “We won’t arrive at our destination until daybreak. It’s probably best you get some rest and-”

“Brandon.” The Frontier Brain curtly interrupted. “I despise the formalities.” He looked to the sailor with a stiff frown. “You said we would not reach Canalave City until daybreak?”

The sailor flailed a bit and nodded with a slightly panicked look on his face. “Yes, s-… Brandon! Daybreak! Roughly 5 or 6 o’clock, the Captain estimates! I-I’m sorry I offended you, but still, I must insist you return to your quarters and rest until we disembark...”

After a moment of consideration, Brandon conceded with a nod. “Admittedly, it’s hard to sleep knowing I’m finally returning to my home region after seven long years… but I have a job to do. I can reminisce after I retire.” He looked to the sailor. “Where would my designated quarters be, now?”

“Oh, my apologies!” The sailor said, bowing. “Follow me and I’ll show you. Don’t worry; I’ll be sure to wake you up when we reach Canalave’s port.”

Brandon gave a slight smile of contentment at that as he was led to where he would sleep for the next few hours.









On the verge of daybreak, an alarm clock sounded off. Conway was quick to jolt out of his bed and smack the noisemaker off, as he hated sudden loud, beeping sounds. He yawned loudly, usually not accustomed to waking up at 05:00, but it was a necessity for today in order to be prepared adequately to board the boat at the nearby port that would take himself and Paul on a long ride to the Valor Lakefront.

After scrambling for his glasses on the side table and putting them on, he looked to Paul, who was still soundly asleep with a cloth and a bag of what was once ice over his forehead; now water. Conway stretched out a bit before approaching Paul and removing the items from Paul’s forehead and getting a feel of his temperature by pressing the back of his hand against his forehead. This was beginning to stir Paul, but Conway was getting a feel of his companion’s progress before he fully awakened. Conway frowned, as it felt like Paul’s fever had not broken after all as he hoped it would. He wondered if he simply didn’t give Paul enough time to rest due to the fact that they had to wake up earlier than usual today, or…

“Maybe Byron was onto something when he said Paul had a weak body,” Conway muttered, still discontent as he removed his hand and went to get a thermometer. By now, Conway had made enough noise for Paul to be disturbed. Once all the lights had been turned on, Paul could no longer resist the outside world and opened his eyes.

Paul couldn’t hide it: he looked and felt like crap.

He looked to the bed aside him and noticed Conway not present, but could hear him meddling in the bathroom nearby, so Paul knew he was still around. Wearily, Paul looked out the window to see that the sun had not yet risen, though daybreak was nigh. He lurched over to look at the clock, which was on Conway’s side of the bedroom, and his eyes widened in disbelief.

“Are you kidding me?!” He complained, throwing his arms up. “You said ‘first thing in the morning’, not ‘before sunrise’, Conway! What were you thinking?!”

“Sorry I wasn’t more specific about that,” Conway called out from the bathroom. “Yesterday was rather hectic, and that’s something you can’t argue with.” He came out with a thermometer in one hand while brushing his hair with the other. “Since you’re up, would you mind taking your temperature for me? I’m afraid your fever hasn’t quite broken yet, so you’re going to have to go straight back to bed once we get boarded and into our rooms if we’re to have you completely healthy when we reach Veilstone City.”

Paul grumbled and took the thermometer from Conway’s hand. “You said for certain that it would be broken by now,” he reminded him, before sticking the thermometer in his mouth and patiently waited for his result.

Conway sighed and shrugged, gathering his belongings together and setting out a fresh pair of clothes to wear for the day. “I forgot to factor in the whole ‘waking-up-earlier-than-usual’ thing. My bad. Still, it should just be a minor setback… like I said, for the distance we’ll be at sea, there’s no way you’ll still have that fever when we reach Veilstone City.” Just then, the thermometer beeped, indicating that it was finished reading Paul’s temperature. “Ah, take it out!” Conway instructed. “I want to see how well we’ve progressed since yesterday’s readings.”

Paul glared at Conway as he followed his orders and took out the thermometer and looked at the readings. Before giving an answer, he looked to Conway again with a skeptical look. “What exactly was my temperature yesterday?”

“103.5 degrees,” Conway reported automatically, as if he memorized the detail. “Way above the human average, and borderline-dangerous. Why? What does it say now?”

Paul looked down and sighed. “102.5 degrees.”

Conway’s jaw dropped, and his arms fell flat to his sides; he even dropped his hairbrush. “No way. All we went through to make sure you were going to make it out alright, and you only went down a single degree? We even had wet cloths and ice over your head almost constantly!”

“Obviously, it wasn’t enough,” Paul grumbled, tossing the thermometer aside. Just then, he was caught up in another fit of coughing, and Conway winced as he watched.

“Yeah…” Conway said after Paul’s coughing subsided. “I just realized your throat’s still sore and everything. Guess we should’ve invested in some cough syrup…”

Paul rolled his eyes. “Didn’t I tell you at the Pokémon Center that it was an allergy infection?”

Conway’s eyes narrowed, as he had long since been fed up with Paul’s dismissal over how bad off he really was. “It was more than that and you know it,” he said flatly. “It might’ve not gotten this bad if you just listened to me in the first place.”

“If I listened to you, I wouldn’t have a Mine Badge right now,” Paul retorted, now just looking childishly stubborn.

“Maybe not right now, but you would’ve had one eventually and you wouldn’t have had to sacrifice your health for it!” Conway countered, which Paul was too tired and sick to fight against. After a moment of awkward silence, a frustrated Conway moved to his side of the bed to gather his fresh set of clothes and a towel.

“We’re due to board at 06:30, so go on and get dressed,” Conway coldly instructed without looking at Paul. “I’m going to take a quick shower. You can get yours after you finish your sleep on the ship. When you get dressed, I implore you to seek a nurse and get some medicine to help out the coughing and high fever. Apparently you’re a little high-maintenance.”

Paul growled at the insult. With the sudden adrenaline running through him, he wanted to punch Conway in the face then and now. He rushed up to do so, but was simply too slow. By the time he got up on his feet, Conway had already made his way to the bathroom and shut the door. He locked it as well… not that Paul would dare assault Conway… or anyone else… but especially not Conway in the bathroom of all places. It was then that Paul experienced a bit of vertigo as he stood. He staggered and slumped against a wall for support.

Much as he hated to admit it, Conway was right. Paul needed to see a nurse for more advanced medicine if he was ever going to overcome this in time to see his brother. This wasn’t the first time Paul had to deal with a nasty illness, truth be told… usually, he was lucky enough to be close to home and be cared for by Reggie. Still, Paul couldn’t recall the last time he felt this bad… and he certainly never fainted during any Gym Battles, either. The fact that he fainted during a Gym Battle where the Leader was an acquaintance of his father’s told Paul that Brandon himself would be hearing of this eventually… and Reggie, too.

He knew Reggie would blow a gasket, as always. What mattered now is that he just needed to present himself as being healthy to his brother when Reggie himself was presently mentally unstable. As Paul staggered over to see a nurse, he briefly wondered what his father’s reaction would be… but dismissed the thought, believing he shouldn’t care what his father would react or think. Especially due to the circumstances surrounding his older brother, Paul despised his father more than ever now. He never would have imagined as he approached the nurse for medicine that said father was just a short distance away from him within the same city limits as his ship came into Canalave City’s port.










“Seven years,” Brandon said as he stepped off the boat and onto the deck of the port. “It seems the city has not changed as much as I suspected it would. Byron would be responsible for that, wouldn’t he…” He chuckled to himself. “He did always prefer the old-school style, as I did.”

It was from this city where he parted from Sinnoh (and his family) seven years ago when he agreed to take up the Frontier Brain position in Kanto. It was a painful and emotional time, but due to the circumstances, in addition to his wife’s death, he was left with little choice. Of course, Reggie was beginning to earn money of his own since he was close to becoming of age, but they were only meager wages and nothing neither he nor Paul could survive from. It was from Brandon’s job alone that the family was able to keep going, but the boys were determined not to sponge off from him forever. He admired their drive and desire to become independent, but Brandon had his doubts in each of them.

Brandon frowned as he came upon the Canalave Library, his ultimate destination, only to find it closed. Of course, most stores were still closed at this early hour when the sun was only beginning to show up over the horizon, but Brandon was an impatient person, and was not fond of the fact that he would have to wait until 07:00 for the library to open its doors. It was not even 06:00 yet, so he still had over an hour to kill with nothing to do. Naturally, he looked towards Canalave Gym. Brandon knew if Byron hadn’t changed his tune, he would be up and accepting challengers (or even visitors) at this hour. As he walked towards the establishment, he stopped abruptly when he felt a sudden rumbling sound from the ground. Very few residents were about this time of day, so Brandon was the only one taking notice to this.

All of a sudden, an armored head and body popped out from the ground in front of Brandon, nearly scaring the middle-aged Frontier Brain to death. The shock was enough to nearly take him off his feet, but he regained his balance, as this felt very familiar to him now. Brandon remembered instances like these happening to him very often to him in his childhood…

Once he got a good look at the man who scared the living daylights out of him, he glared and pointed accusingly. “You haven’t matured a bit, have you, Byron?! Even now, all these years later, you still like to sneak up on people from under the ground like some sort of Diglett?”

Byron laughed loudly in pride, but was cut off as he recognized the voice; it was one he had not heard in a long, long time. Raising an eyebrow, the Gym Leader took off his headgear to look up and meet eyes with his childhood friend from long ago, now a Frontier Brain. “The heck…? I must’ve hit my head on a lead pipe or something… that can’t possibly be you, Brandon!”

Brandon smiled with pride. “It’s true; I’ve returned to Sinnoh on urgent business. But since the library won’t open for over an hour, I figured it would be best to catch up with you. I see you’re the only one in Canalave City who remains in top shape and wakes up this early every day to do your usual routine.”

“Guilty as charged!” Byron admitted as he climbed out of his hole. “Only wish I could set a better example for these lazy good-for-nothings. Urgent business, y’say? You haven’t set foot here in years, man!” He slapped a hand casually on Brandon’s shoulder.

Under normal circumstances, Brandon would probably punch someone in the face for doing so, but he allowed it for the case of a childhood friend… “What’s so important that tore you away from your duties from being a Frontier Brain? Did someone already tell you about your kids?”

Brandon looked at Byron strangely. “What would they have to do with the library? I need the library because Canalave’s happens to be the only one in the entire world that has the one and only book with detailed information on Regigigas: a Pokémon I’ve been after for months. Someone just checked out that book last night, and I intend to find out who did so and why. I can say with certainty I deserve that book more than anyone else.”

“Huh, intense,” Byron mused. “Hope you can get that accomplished soon, ‘cause while you’re here, you really should see your boys, Brandon.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” Brandon scoffed, knowing full well of the tension between Byron and his son, Roark. “One’s off training in preparation to battle me once I capture Regigigas and the other is battling Gyms to qualify for the Sinnoh League Conference, only to advance to the new Battle Frontier immediately afterwards, and then battle me. Both are quite tied up at the moment as I am.”

Byron scratched his head uncomfortably. “Uh… funny you should say that, bud… see, I actually fought Paul in a Gym Battle just yesterday.”

That certainly got Brandon’s attention. “You did…?” He then looked stern. “What was the outcome?”

“He had a green-haired little Four-Eyes with him at the time, yeah… so anyway, I was told that Paul was using this battle to train his Pokémon for endurance, seeing as my Pokémon are predominantly Steel-typed and all…”

Brandon nodded at these details impatiently. “Yes, yes…”

“Point is, strategically, he purposely had a bad choice of Pokémon against mine,” Byron explained. “His Honchkrow, Ursaring, and Weavile against my Bronzor, Steelix, and Bastiodon. It came down to our final Pokémon, and it was an awful close one, let me tell ya…”

“Get to the point!!” Brandon shouted, tapping his finger furiously against his folded arm.

Byron nodded and bowed his head. “He won. He pulled out an ingenious strategy I hadn’t seen since I battled you. I think I really was right way back in the day when you introduced me to the little guy. He may have been clingin’ to Andrea for dear life, but I saw that fighting spirit just waiting burst out and take the world on! I just couldn’t see the same flame in Reggie, y’know?”

Brandon grimly nodded. “It seems you turned out to be right after all these years. Still… it pleases me that he is showing results in spite of his unorthodox training and battling style. He must be close to qualifying for the League at this point.”

“There’s a… slight setback,” Byron mentioned. “It’s part of why I think you need to see your boys. Both of them,” he emphasized.

“Setback?” The Frontier Brain was confused. “What do you mean?”

Byron looked down with regret. “I didn’t realize it until after it happened, but it turned out that Paul was sick the whole time we were battling. Little Four-Eyes was beggin’ him to hold back until he was better, but Paul shoved him away and insisted on battling me as soon as he could. He forced himself a bit too hard, I think, because he was looking really feverish and exhausted. I should’ve noticed it myself; I just thought the kid was nervous trying to live up to your legacy, so… he managed to win the battle and all, but while Four-Eyes and I were talkin’ about the win, we saw that Paul fainted.”

Brandon’s expressions hardened. Distant as he was to his sons, he instantly became paranoid upon hearing of one of them becoming sick or hurt. Of course, this primarily came from the previous loss of his wife.

Byron knew that look well. He had been there for Brandon not long after he lost his wife, and attended the funeral. He looked somber and looked to the side for a moment. “Brandon… I know what you’re thinkin’. Personally, to me, I think it may have just been a cold or the flu that the kid was just too stubborn to take care of, but rest assured he’s being well taken care of now. I got the boy to a bed and he was transferred to the infirmary in this city as soon as possible. Early as it is now, Paul’s still probably over there, so you wouldn’t be going out of your way to see him.”

“I understand,” Brandon said quietly, nodding. “I should probably do that now.” He started to turn off in that direction, but Byron held him up.

“Uh, one more thing, man,” Byron said, still serious in tone. “I said you needed to see both your kids. I wouldn’t be sayin’ that without a reason.”

Brandon turned around, looking fearful now. “You mean to say…?”

Byron nodded, sadly. “Something happened to Reggie, too. Right after the battle with Paul, my Gym got a call in from Maylene. She’s the Gym Leader of Veilstone City now, you know…”

“Maylene?” Brandon interrupted. “I remember that kid… she’s barely my little one’s age. She managed to become a Gym Leader?”

Byron smiled slightly. “Things may have not changed a lot here, but the story’s a little different where you lived, Brandon. Either way, it’s been less than a year since she took up the position. Still, she called my Gym because she was told Paul would most likely be here and she couldn’t get ahold of you.” He sternly looked to his old friend. “No one can, actually.”

Brandon groaned and leaned his face against the palm of his hand. “I knew this was going to come back and bite me one day… what’s this one’s story?”

“It’s a bit more extreme,” Byron warned. “So… brace yourself. Just remember Reggie’s still alive and relatively okay right now, far as we know.” But that certainly did nothing to put Brandon at ease. “Alright, then… Maylene called us, asking for Paul… Paul was out of it by this time, so Four-Eyes took the call for him. He reported back to me saying that Paul’s presence was requested back at Veilstone City, especially since you couldn’t be contacted, because Reggie had been found severely injured and unconscious while training at the base of Mt. Coronet where there were severe thunderstorms yesterday. Thought the kid had more common sense than that, but… anyway, long story short, Reggie got struck by lightning.”

Brandon took this roughly as well as Paul did; in other words, he was stunned and silenced for many awkward moments until Byron had it in him to break the silence.

“I did mention that he made it out alive, right?” Byron clarified uneasily. Being reminded of that, Brandon shook his head (not to tell Byron “no”, but to pull himself together and remind himself of what Byron had just told him a minute earlier).

“S-sorry…” Brandon murmured, being in a rare state of fear and guilt. “I-it’s just… difficult to stay calm after hearing such a thing like that…”

Byron nodded in agreement. “I’m hearin’ ya… if anyone told me that happened to Roark, I’d be flippin’ out right about now. Even if I was told ahead of time that he survived that kind of thing.” He looked to Brandon straight in the eyes as he said that, in mutual paternal understanding.

Brandon sighed. “I should be reacting that way… why am I holding back?” His arms fell to his sides and formed into fists. “You would be right there in the hospital for your son, but I’m not…”

“It’s really not fair to compare the two of us,” Byron pointed out. “Roark and I may not be living in the same city anymore, but at least we’re in the same region in pretty close proximity. You’re thousands of miles away from your kids, Brandon… least you could do is get some long-distance contact set up with them and the rest of your familiars over here, but you can only do so much while you’re in Kanto, man.”

After so many years of resistance of the idea and a long period of consideration, Brandon looked up at the early morning sky. “Indeed… this must be a sign from the heavens. Losing Andrea was devastating enough. If I lost one of the boys…”

The Gym Leader nodded to Brandon. “Reggie and Paul are why you’re bustin’ your butt day-in, day-out as a Frontier Brain. It’s a tough sacrifice to be that far away and still be a dad, I know. But it’s gonna lose all meaning if you end up losing a son because of what you’re doing, too…”

Brandon suddenly found it hard to stand on his own two feet as he was reminded of his abysmal family situation. Byron was fortunate he was close enough to Brandon as a friend; otherwise Brandon would have tossed him off a dock by this point. Taking the cue, Byron took a seat next to his childhood friend.

“The fact of the matter is, I’ve never been that great of a parent,” Brandon admitted. “The only time I was adequate was when Andrea inspired me to be so. It isn’t that I don’t love the boys… it’s just…”

“Not everyone’s cut out to go it alone,” Byron reminded him. “I’d doubt I would’ve been able to raise Roark right by myself without my wife’s help, truth be told. I just got lucky.” He looked to Brandon insightfully. “You realize that’s why I kept tryin’ to encourage you to remarry, right…?”

Brandon didn’t stay in Sinnoh for long after Andrea died, but Byron was one of the few people outside of his sons to truly be there for him in his time of need. Unfortunately, Byron ended up overstepping a boundary by urging Brandon to move on a bit too early before he was ready. Eventually, it was becoming apparent that Brandon’s readiness to find another wife was never here nor there; timing had nothing to do with it.

“I understand your heart was in the right place, Byron… and I appreciate the gesture,” Brandon said softly. “But I wasn’t ready seven years ago… and I’m still not ready now. And if I’m not ready now, I believe I never will be. I simply never pictured any other woman in my life. It may have been selfish of me to not give the boys another mother, but… looking at it another way, if I remarried, I wouldn’t have been able to take up the Frontier Brain position and support the family. There was a good chance the kids wouldn’t have taken well to a strange new woman in the household, either. And at this point, it’s simply too late for a mother to enrich either of their lives.”

Byron looked skeptical. “You really think so?”

“Of course,” Brandon said tiredly. “One’s going to be eighteen years old in about a month, after all. And the other was only… perhaps five, almost six when Andrea died. At present, he still doesn’t remember his own mother’s name… or anything about her, really, other than her profession. The only reason he knows that is because his brother’s taken to following his mother’s footsteps after failing to defeat me… not that I can blame the boy. He was simply too young to remember the details.”

Byron looked up, thinking about the previous day. “Kinda ironic, now that I think about it. The day you introduced me to Paul, the lil’ tyke wouldn’t let go of his mommy without throwing a fit. I knew something was off about him yesterday… like something in him totally changed since the last time I saw him. I think I know what changed, now.”

“What in the world are you talking about?” Brandon asked, as he remembered Paul’s clinginess to his mother in his early years, but wasn’t sure where Byron was going with this…

“Kid grew up forgetting what a mother’s love is like!” Byron deduced. “Can’t deny he loved Andy with all his heart while she was alive, but without her and you leaving so soon after, all he had was Reggie. Reggie was gonna try to succeed where you failed as a kid, then changed his mind and went Andy’s route. Paul looked up to his big brother before that happened… poor guy’s had nothin’ in his life but disappointment and failure and missing out.”

Being told that so forwardly was enough to keep Brandon quiet for a moment, as there wasn’t much he could say to argue against or scold his friend for talking out of place. Byron was close enough to the family to know the details; especially since he had battled Paul just yesterday. Byron would have easily been able to tell the difference between Paul of the present and the Paul he saw last. That was more for what Brandon could say about the Paul he saw last in person.

“You’re right,” he finally admitted. “Andrea being torn away from us was the worst thing that happened to this family. I lost her and that potential Elite Four spot on the same day. To compensate, I had to leave my children and go to Kanto to continue supporting them. So both of them had to grow and mature without my guidance, for the most part… at best, all I could give them was an occasional letter.”

“Why didn’t you just move them to Kanto with you?” Byron asked, though skeptical. “I mean, don’t get me wrong… I’d still be ticked off at you, because I’d probably really never see you again if you did things that way, but don’t you think that would’ve been better for the boys?”

It was a complicated matter for Brandon; thankfully, he had time to explain this, and frankly… he knew he owed the explanation to Byron. For all the years he went without speaking a word to his childhood playmate, Byron deserved to know the details.

“My first boy was already in the middle of his first journey at the time of Andrea’s death,” Brandon noted, quietly. “It was eerily convenient for him to inform me at the time, since he was en route to Sunyshore City to earn his eighth badge while I was about to take the League Exam for the Elite Four position. Either way, after all was said and done… I didn’t want to uproot my kids so suddenly, especially when my first one was about to have his first League Conference Battle. He didn’t want that, and the little one didn’t want to be separated from his brother.”

Byron nodded and suddenly found the sea surrounding the majority of the city particularly interesting now. “I’m sure Reggie would’ve won the Sinnoh League if he weren’t weighed down with the loss of Andy, Brandon. I was watching the kid in your place, remember? I told you all about it.”

Unconvinced, Brandon tried his best not to look stressed out, but failed and slumped over in defeat. “The boy was defeated within the first round, as I recall.”

Byron shrugged. “Like I said, he had a lot on his mind. I would’ve performed like crap anywhere if my mom just died, wouldn’t you?”

Brandon chose to ignore that question. “Anyway, there’s your answer to that question. After the kid finished his Sinnoh endeavors, he took his brother along with him to other regions to compete until the youngster was old enough to train himself. Not long after that, the first one battled me a few times and lost every time… then returned to Sinnoh for good.”

“Pickin’ up where Andy left off…” Byron mused before looking to Brandon. “Speaking of Reggie, man… there’s a little detail about the lightning strike incident I forgot to mention.”

Brandon’s eyes snapped open. “Detail?”

“Four-Eyes wasn’t sure if it was the lightning strike that caused it, but the reason Paul is off to see Reggie is ‘cause Reggie’s gone a bit, uh… off-kilter.”

This explanation did not satisfy the Frontier Brain. He gave Byron a stern look. “Don’t dance around the issue. Be straightforward.”

“Geez!” Byron grumbled. “Maylene was cryptic about that as it was! What she literally said was that Reggie’s ‘sick in the head’! She said that’s the reason why Paul needed to get to Veilstone ASAP and why she was so mad that she couldn’t get ahold of you about it!”

Brandon suddenly stood up. That “sick in the head” comment just set off alarms in his own. Ever since Andrea died, Brandon inwardly worried if one day he’d have to worry about one of his sons meeting an untimely death due to inheriting her disease. There was no concrete proof that either of them had, as Andrea’s condition was never quite determined even after the autopsy reports. The Frontier Brain lived many years fearing he’d have to go through this once more, and Reggie reminded him of Andrea enough already, even before she died…

“Guess that settles it,” Byron figured, standing up with him. “You’re going to Veilstone, then?”

“Well… yes, I am,” Brandon said, nodding. “I’m going to check on my son in this city first, then extract a bit of information out of the library, since that’s what I came here for originally… that should leave you plenty of time to rent me a boat, Byron. I’d like a small one so I can weave through the rivers of Sinnoh and make it to Veilstone City that way rather than being out at sea. Unless they’ve messed with the routes since I left, it shouldn’t take more than a day or two to reach my destination.”

Byron blinked. The routes had been messed with quite a bit since Brandon left Sinnoh. “Uh, man, you really oughta…”

“Hah!” Brandon slapped his old friend on the back, completely misinterpreting his reluctance. “Byron, be honest with me; how many challengers do you honestly get at this time of day?”

The Gym Leader looked confused. “Uh, average’s about zero, actually. Lazy kids these days usually don’t come a-knockin’ on my Gym until after noon… what’s your point?”

“Use that head of yours for once,” Brandon urged. “You’re obviously not busy if you’ve resorted to scaring residents half to death by popping out from underground, so it won’t be too much for you to simply rent me a boat while I run my errands. The rest of the Battle Frontier committee is likely only now waking up and will soon realize that I have taken my leave of absence…”

“Whoa, whoa!!” Byron was amazed. “You left without tellin’ them?!”

Brandon smirked. “Everything will be fine as long as I get what I came here for. I worked with Professor Oak just last night and he agreed to send off my temporary farewell notice, so it isn’t as if I’ve gone all rebellious or anything. I’m merely looking for Regigigas, and the only way to find it lies within this region. Leaving Kanto was necessary, and I don’t have time to wait for the committee’s approval while that anonymous man or woman has what I’m looking for.”

“Uh huh…” Byron still wasn’t sure about this move. Brandon was always an impulsive one, even as a kid. It always ended up getting him (and his friends) into trouble, and Byron wasn’t about to believe that the trouble was going to end here. “Well, should they call me, I’ll be sure to put in a good word for ya, okay? I’ll let ‘em know that your kids are sick and whatnot. They ought to ease up on you leaving like that, right?”

“Either way, I have tenure,” Brandon noted. “They can’t terminate me.” He faced his friend and smiled. “Thank you for letting me know about what’s happened. I’m sorry; there’s no excuse for going this long without speaking to you. When I return to my Battle Pyramid, I’ll be sure to have some open advanced communication systems installed… including some for myself.”

Byron smiled back. “Anytime, Brandy! Hey, we’ll make a promise, eh? When we retire, we can start up our digging competitions again! We’ll even get Palmer in on it!”

Brandon scoffed and walked over to Byron. “First of all, I told you ages ago to stop calling me that…”

“But it’s our pet name for you, remember? Brandy and Andy?”

“It stopped becoming relevant when the latter passed on,” Brandon reminded coldly.

Byron frowned like a four year-old would. “You know, if she were here right know, she’d put you in a sleeper hold for bein’ so callous.”

Brandon held back a chuckle, because he couldn’t disagree. “She would, but that’s beside the point. Those nicknames are practically antiques, Turnip-Head.”

Just then, Brandon grabbed Byron by the hair and dragged him over to the hole that was made earlier by the latter.

“Owww!” Byron howled, obviously sensitive about his hair despite being a rather hardy man in other areas. “Yeah, speakin’ of antique nicknames…!”

Unable to resist a sardonic smile, Brandon held Byron over the hole. “Still a whiner as always, it seems. Well, stop your complaining and rent that boat for me. I’ll meet back up with you at your Gym after I’ve completed my own tasks. Try not to get sidetracked, Byron…” With that, he released Byron, thereby dropping him into the hole several feet below. Brandon was surprised to hear Byron cry out for as long as he did until he finally hit the bottom, at which he winced when Byron screeched.

“You freakin’ jerk, Brandon!!” Byron shouted from the bottom. “I think I cracked my tailbone! Thanks a lot!!”

Brandon couldn’t hold back his laughing now. He called back at Byron from above, “If you want to keep doing this with myself and Palmer after we’re retired and you’re already breaking your bones at this age, you may want to rethink that promise!”

“I’ll get you back for this, Brandon!”

Brandon just smirked to himself and walked off, now satisfied with his work. “Hit me with your best shot.”

“What?! What did you say?!”

Again, Brandon laughed as he approached the infirmary where Paul was supposedly held. In spite of the stress he was going through in order to capture Regigigas and the painful, depressing reminders of his family life, Byron still managed to lift his spirits, even inadvertently.









It had taken a while, since not everyone was accustomed to waking up so early in the morning at the exact same time, but on the call of urgent business, every Frontier Brain in Kanto was quick to engage in a multiple-party video conference as soon as Scott had received Brandon’s notice from his assistant, Samuel (who had still been in Cerulean City at the time), whom received it from Professor Oak, the last one who saw Brandon in person and booked his trip to Sinnoh late last night.

There were often multi-party video conferences amongst all Frontier Brains and Scott with the Frontier Brains in a circle in certain positions on the monitor with Scott in the center and guests in smaller frames under his. As Noland, Greta, Tucker, Spenser, Lucy, and Anabel logged on, all were more than a little surprised at first to see Brandon absent from his spot on the screen. Since he naturally woke up at early hours, he was usually the first one seen in the conference. Before Scott and Samuel had logged on, the other Frontier Brains stared up at the blank box on the screen that Brandon normally filled.

After a period of awkward silence, Greta broke the ice. “It’s a little weird not being nagged about being ‘so late’ to the conference for once…”

“It could be a coincidence,” Noland suggested innocently. “Maybe he went out digging early and found something interesting. He’s been babbling about something recently; that’s for sure…”

“Another one of those ‘Regi’ things, if I recall right,” Spenser said. “Every time the man catches one, it seems a new one always pops up and he has to catch it… always wanting to catch the Pokémon with a name that bears a similarity to his son’s.”

Lucy nodded. “That’s rather sweet, actually…”

Anabel, however, was a little more skeptical. “I can’t help but feel that something is wrong, still. I’m sure Scott will set us straight when he comes on, but… this is no small ordeal.”

“Duh, we’re in a conference,” Tucker remarked, which only made Anabel roll her eyes at the fellow Frontier Brain making light of her ominous premonitions. “And speaking of late, Scott’d better get his butt in here already. I’m wasting precious beauty sleep on baseless speculation!”

As if on cue, Scott appeared in position on the video conference screen. Samuel followed shortly after, but was strangely placed in Brandon’s usual position on the screen, eliciting many surprised looks from the rest of the Frontier Brains. They knew him, but usually he was merely a guest. Being put in Brandon’s position meant Anabel was right: something was wrong.

“Sorry for the delay, folks,” Scott apologized. “Needed to give Samuel instructions on how to get into the conference. I’m sure you’ve all noticed by now that Brandon’s not here.”

“Did something happen to him?” Lucy asked. “Is he alright?”

To that, Samuel, who was constantly in a rather humbled and slightly nervous state due to being in such direct presence of high authority, nodded. “P-Pyramid King Brandon is alive and well. I can attest to that. Th-that is most certainly not the issue.”

“Then what is?” Tucker asked impatiently. “Why have we all been called in so early?”

“The issue is that Brandon has left the Kanto region as of last night in pursuit of a Pokémon named Regigigas,” Scott informed. “He dropped by Cerulean City yesterday and met a kid who had ties with Professor Oak. By nightfall, he met the Professor and the two apparently located a book on this Pokémon that can only be found in the Sinnoh region, where, as you all know, Brandon originates from.”

Noland still couldn’t see the issue at hand. “It was a library, right? Why couldn’t he just order it or… wait a bit if someone already checked it out?”

“The truth is, Brandon isn’t a very trusting person,” Samuel regretfully informed. “And when it’s the only known book in the world on Regigigas… and, well… you know how long he’s been searching for it, he’s desperate to get the information of the person who checked that book out. He wanted to get to it so quickly that he completely forgot about me and the Battle Pyramid.”

“Actually, he didn’t want to take the risk of losing the Pyramid at sea,” Scott corrected. “And I have a feeling he didn’t want to wait until morning to debate about this little move in a committee, so he went ahead and did things his own way.”

Greta frowned and pounded her fist against her desk. “Where does he get off thinking he can just… do that without asking permission?! He has a job to do as a Frontier Brain! We all do!”

“In spite of his actions, Professor Oak’s put in a good word for him,” Samuel mentioned. “He’s promised to return and he won’t do so empty-handed. It’s not just for his own gain, but for Professor Oak’s and the Battle Frontier’s.”

“There’s that and Brandon has tenure,” Scott added. “Can’t really punish the guy on a level comparable to his actions. And still, his heart’s in the right place… he just has to make sure he follows up on the promise and comes back with this Regigigas.”

“So what are we supposed to do in the meantime for trainers who’ve earned six Symbols?” Anabel asked worriedly. “We can’t honestly ask them to go all the way to Sinnoh, especially since none of us know where he is exactly now. Brandon won’t be in the mood to battle any of them either, I imagine…”

Scott nodded. “You’re right, Anabel; he probably won’t. So to spare the trainers the time and frustration, we’ll redirect them to the new Battle Frontier facility instead. It’ll be much less of a fuss to deal with and it’s a smaller Frontier overall, so you can assure the trainers that for as long as Brandon might be gone, they might be almost done with the new one by the time Brandon’s ready to take on new trainers.”

“We’re all still active, I presume?” said Spenser.

“Yes, all of you will continue about your duties as usual unless you are to come across a trainer with five Symbols. I know it’s usually Anabel who faces challengers before Brandon, but there are exceptions, so all of you must be wary and inform trainers, should they earn their sixth Symbol from you, that they will be unable to earn their seventh until Brandon returns to Kanto,” Scott reported. “I can handle the ones who’ve already earned six and are looking for Brandon right now.”

Anabel covered her mouth to muffle a gasp. “Oh no!” She said in despair. “Since the Pyramid landed in Cerulean City last… Samuel, they’ll be heading your way…”

“Oh man,” Samuel groaned. “I’m just an assistant and referee. I don’t think I’m cut out to ward away a bunch of anxious and angry trainers…”

“No need to sweat it,” Scott assured. “You won’t be sticking around in Kanto either, Samuel. I’d like you to follow Brandon to Sinnoh in the Battle Pyramid and check up on him for us.”

There was a moment of silence before Brandon’s nervous assistant gawked at the suggestion. “Y-you want me to go to Sinnoh as well…?!”

“Why not? Might as well not have the Battle Pyramid sit around Kanto under false pretenses,” Scott reasoned. “Outside of that, I’ve heard that the weather in Sinnoh’s gotten a bit unpredictable and dangerous lately. Anyone else heard about that?”

“I have,” Anabel said. “And looking from that perspective, it may be best for Brandon’s safety to have the Battle Pyramid on hand if he’s going to scale the entire Sinnoh region for Regigigas. Home region or not, if the eco-system is behaving abnormally, he could easily be in danger.”

Lucy nodded. “Especially if he’s aiming for the northern regions. The conditions are especially harsh there in Sinnoh… very few people can survive it in normal circumstances. It would at least provide him shelter.”

“So it’s settled, then,” Scott decided. “You all know what to do if you’re the Frontier Brain giving out a sixth Symbol. I’ll handle the ones who already have six, and Samuel’s going to Sinnoh to monitor Brandon’s progress for us, as well as keep him safe from the elements.”

Samuel still looked apprehensive. “Are you sure this thing is made to fly such a long distance across the sea? Brandon’s never flown it that way before… if it gives out, it’s going to sink like a rock and I’ll be a sitting duck in the middle of the sea…”

To that, Scott only smiled. “You’re just not aware of the Battle Pyramid’s full capabilities, Samuel. Trust me; fly it like you always do, just across the sea to Sinnoh rather than across Kanto. If you have any problems, you’ll know how to contact me, but I don’t think you’ll have any.”

“You look awfully sure of yourself…” Samuel noted, still uncertain of himself, but gulped and eventually conceded with a nod. “I-I’ll do it, though. I am concerned for Brandon’s wellbeing. I thought he was the type who would know better than to go off on his own without telling anyone like this.”

Noland shrugged. “To be fair, he technically did tell us since he left us a notice. But that’s Brandon for you: once he’s got his eye on something the wants, he’ll stop at nothing to get it, even if it means he has to bend the rules a bit to get to it.”

“Since we’re settled, can we end the conference now?” Tucker whined. “I’ve got all this written down. I’ll remember it when I wake up later.”

Scott just sighed. “Alright, alright. Conference dismissed. Go about your duties as usual, everyone. Just don’t forget what I’ve told you. I’ll let you know when I get news of Brandon’s whereabouts.”

“Hopefully it won’t be during the crack of dawn…” Tucker muttered as he signed off. One by one, the rest of the Frontier Brains (more politely) said their farewells and signed off. All that remained was Samuel and Scott.

“So, when are you planning on leaving for Sinnoh? It’ll be a long ride… probably gonna take most of the day to get to the closest point.” Scott asked.

Samuel already seemed to be engaging the Pyramid for a take-off. “Right now, actually. I already had a few kids arriving yesterday wanting a battle while Brandon was away and I promised I’d get back to them today… they’ll be here any minute now, and who knows how many more. It’d be wise for me to get out of Kanto before most of the kids wake up.”

Scott nodded. “Wise choice. You sure you can pull this off? Still looks like you’ve got the chills.”

“A-admittedly, I am a little nervous, but I’m aware this is something I must do for the sake of Brandon,” Samuel explained. “But like you said… if I’m experiencing difficulties, I’ll contact you, right?”

“Right,” Scott affirmed. “Keep me updated, then, and definitely let us know when you’ve found Brandon. And let him know that as long as he follows up on his promise, he has my full support, as well as the rest of the representatives’ of the Battle Frontier.” He then smiled. “Best of luck, man. Hope you find him soon.” And with that, he signed off and the conference ended.

Samuel finalized the flight preparations and the Battle Pyramid began to rise up from the ground just outside of Cerulean City. “Well, finding him will be easier said than done…” Samuel said to himself. “In a region like Sinnoh, that’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack. If I hurry, maybe I can catch him while he’s still in Canalave City…”

The lone assistant steered the pyramid in the direction that would get him to Canalave City the quickest and embarked on his journey, taking the Battle Pyramid with him.