#Dragonite shiny PEAK

[galladeblades]

Level 11 Salamence caught! Not level 10, but close enough. Oh my goddd, it took forever to encounter a Bagon. Luckily, it didn’t take as long for this baby dragon to show up. Wasn’t keeping track of how many encounters, but I think we just barely peaked over 30 calls. Didn’t take too long. I was half paying attention while playing Magikarp Jump.

Oh yeah, that Lapras. Not mine. He came from the GTS a long time ago. He was already trained to Level 100 and the person wanted a Cosmog or Milotic or something. Shiny Lapras is purple and it looks so beautiful and I wanted it so here we are. Still wanna breed one of my own.

 Anyway, Lapras is pretty bulky and has Ice Shard, weak priority Ice type move that knocks out the Bagons in one hit. Plus you can use 48 times [when PP ups are used]. Nice not having to worry about a move running out.

Little Dragonair has a buddy now! Caught her when trying to fish up a Dragonite for the Pokedex for a Shiny Charm. 

[mysidewriting]

Through the Storm

Note: Alright! Sorry for making you guys wait so long for this chapter! I'm on break for a week now so I think I'll be able to get a lot of writing and possibly postings in! Hopefully!

From the start-->Previous chapter

Chapter Nine

Ecrutek City was permanently stuck at the peak of fall. It was heavily wooded for a city, trees bordering every side of the town and small patches of them burst through between buildings and houses. Every leaf was either orange or red, almost as though there was an eternal fire burning through the foliage.

All the streets were old style brick, the kind of roads that made your car bounce all over the place when you drove by. Most of the buildings were heavily influenced off traditional Japanese paper homes. Two towers stood at the northern point of the town, one of which reached towards the stars and was almost painful to look at on a sunny day. The other had burned down years ago and stayed there, blackened and destroyed, as a tribute to the three legendary beasts that were born from the ashes.

The history was rich and deep and the scenery was breathtaking and as such, I decided to stay in Ecruteak for the rest of my time in Johto. I'd rented a room at the hotel in town, putting down for at least two weeks. The room I was given provided a stunning view of the two towers. Every other night I caught a glimpse of a large shimmering Pokémon flying to the taller of the two - bell tower, I'd briefly read up on the legendaries of the region while working with Elm and believed that the Pokémon was Ho-Oh.

I wanted to meet Ho-Oh but something about it was frightening, even to me. I accredited it to the fact that it was another fire pokemon like moltres - except bigger, stronger, and more ancient. Every time I saw it something twitched in my chest and I ached to run to the tower and ascend its many levels to meet the bird... almost like a magnetic pull. But I couldn't, even if I wanted to, even if I did surmount the weird fear I had of it - the whole area surrounding the towers was blocked off from visitors. I found it odd that such a huge tourist attraction would be off limits. But I had overheard there was a want to preserve the nature growing and thriving within the walls of the barricade. That there was something important about the vegetation in that area.

Whatever it was, I hoped someday I'd get the chance to see it.

I wandered the city and the area around with my Pokémon. Passing short conversations with those I passed by that recognized me for various reasons. One elderly woman I walked by had previously joined me for lunch out of the kindness of her heart. A man that I had brought a Pokémon egg too for his child to hatch as a starter. A group of kids I had saved from a horde of ledyba on their way home from school. There was such a cute little community in this town, it almost filled that hole in my heart of not being able to talk face to face with friends.

I bumped into someone on accident as my mind drifted off to think about the last phone call I'd had. I quickly stumbled back and looked up at the guy, "I'm sorry! I was distracted!" Eevee popped out of my hood, crying out at the stranger.

The man's gold eyes locked on mine momentarily before staring in shock at the Pokémon on my shoulder. His eyes widened, "Is that a shiny eevee?!" He shouted.

I nodded, "yeah this is Rosemary!" I scooped the small Pokémon off my shoulder and held her up to the man. "She's a tough little eevee."

"Dude, I want one so bad. Where'd you find it?" He asked, reaching a hand out to let Rosemary sniff him.

"Near Ilex Forest." I peered at the guy in front of me as he got acquainted with my Pokémon. He wore a black and gold hat that rested backwards on his head, long black hair that nearly hung over his eyes but was swept out of the way. He dressed casually, but a full set of six pokeballs hung from his belt and a heavy looking bag was slung over his shoulder. "What's your name?" I asked.

"Whose asking?" He retorted with a sly grin.

Eevee crawled up my arms and back to my shoulder where it stood, I placed my hands on my hips. "Champion of Alola, Moon Hillel." I said with my own grin.

The guy laughed, "Really? Gee who would guess that two champions ended up in the same town."

"So you're Gold then?" I asked, surprised as he nodded and presented a card proclaiming him as Champion of Johto - Gold Boyer.

"That's me." He said with a nod, "Nice to meet you, champion of Alola."

"You too! Honestly didn't think I'd meet you while I was here." I said, throwing a hand forward for a handshake. He accepted, his grip on my hand firm and the shake very steady.

Gold wasn't able to stick around very long, but he did manage to set up a day to get together for dinner and get to know each other. He was off to some dragon cave not too far from here and I almost accepted his offer to go with. I had other plans for the day already and had to get heading that way if I wanted to be there before the sun set. He seemed like an interesting person, outgoing and similar to Green, minus the narcissism.

I hiked towards Olivine City, the town that boarded the coast and led out to what were called the whirl islands. I was interested in exploring the islands and had caught myself a gyardos in order to surf out there and investigate. I doubted they would be as crazy as Seafoam had been, but I was still interested due to the similar geology.

I understood why the islands were called whirl islands once I actually got out on the water. The entrance to all four of the caves were behind huge whirlpools that could only be transversed with a special move my gyardos didn't know. I pushed the Pokémon as close as it dared to get to the whirlpools and tried to judge another way I could access the land formations.

The water swirled violently below as I stood on gyardos's back, tottering as I attempted to balance myself on its slippery scales. The space between where I stood and where the shore to the caves began looked possibly jumpable. I bent my knees, calculating if I could make it before Gladion's voice suddenly echoed in my head - telling me to not make stupid choices.

A heavy sigh escaped my mouth as I flopped back down onto the back of my Pokémon, this was a stupid choice. I had been contemplating risking my life without even thinking about it. Gladion would kill me if I survived that jump. I pat gyardos's side and directed it away from the islands, figuring I could re-access my transportation to the islands if need be.

We turned around and started back towards Olivine, gyardos grumbling in disappointment. I struggled to think of another way to get over those whirlpools that didn't involve me bringing my dragonite back onto the team, I wanted to challenge myself with only using Pokémon from the region... aside from Kai and Null. So pulling Tsunami out would be cheating myself....

A roar sliced through the air, causing gyardos to stop its movement towards land and release a mirroring roar in the direction the other had come from. It rose from the water, stretching its long body over the surface, bringing me up with it. My stomach dropped as I realized how far the water was below me and I clung harder to gyardos's fins.

Something burst from the depths, causing a huge series of waves to knock my Pokémon off balance. Gyardos fell over, dragging me under the waves with it. Water exploded in my ears and swept down my throat as I slipped into the ocean. I slapped a hand over my mouth and quickly stopped my downward momentum by thrusting myself to the surface. Gasping as my head popped up over the bobbing waves. My Pokémon sunk lower and lower and anxiety clenched my stomach as I worried it had been fatally injured by something in the process of the waves knocking it over.

Rain was now sprinkling above head, dark clouds seemingly coming from nowhere. A large figure hung in the sky, glittering a gorgeous silver with the dampness of the air. Large fin like wings beat the air and a gaping mouth shot jets of water towards the sky. The sheer power of the beast was enough for me to realize it was another of Johto's ancient legendaries, though I hadn't read much about this one. Lugia, probably? The books had claimed it lived under water somewhere.

Each time a screech left its mouth, the storm intensified by a noticeable margin. The rain falling harder, the winds picking up, booming thunder shattering my ear drums. I slipped back under the water, the outside becoming more dangerous than what lay below. I could just barely see through the burning salt of the ocean and a form from below was rushing towards me rapidly. Relief surged through me as I realized it was gyardos returning. I snagged a hold of its scales as it burst back to the surface and roared at the large Pokémon in the skies.

Lugia roared back, lightning struck behind it and I caught a momentary glimpse of another bird in the clouds. The size of it remarkably small in comparison to the storm creating beast, jagged yellow wings sliced through the gray skies and I was shocked to see that it was Zapdos.

Lugia faced the bird, a ferocious growl leaving its chest - sounding much like the rumbling thunder that still rang out every few seconds.

A boat skidded past, stopping only momentarily so the driver could scream at me to get out of the water. They offered to drive me back to land but I declined, figuring gyardos could handle bringing us back its self. I tried to pull my Pokémon away, shouting for it to head towards land as another huge strike of lighting arched across the sky. It took a lot of tugging but gyardos finally turned and sped towards the shore of Olivine. The rain pelted my face, forcing me to keep my eyes closed and rely on my Pokémon's own sensibility to get to safety.

The booms of the storm continued to intensify as gyardos dropped to let me onto land. I stumbled off and recalled the Pokémon to its ball, rushing towards the nearest shelter. A woman waved to me, inviting me into her house, I thanked her as I rushed in and made sure to stop before I dripped all over her hardwood floors.

"I can't believe you were outside in this! This weather is horrible!" The woman said with an intense shiver, she rushed towards her kitchen, pulling a jacket tight around her shoulders. "Come inside!" She shouted when I didn't follow her.

"Sorry!" I shouted in response, wringing my drenched clothes and removing both my shoes and socks before stepping out of the doorway. "I didn't want to get everything wet."

"Don't worry about that, it's just water." She called as I entered the kitchen. "Were you on the ocean?!"

"Yes I was." I replied as she shoved a steaming mug of tea into my shivering hands.

"Was it Lugia?" The woman asked, meeting my gaze with these bright, excited gray eyes.

I nodded, taking a sip from the warm tea and relishing in the feeling of the heat moving through my body. My skin felt like ice, stiff with the damp chill of the rain and ocean salt.

She cheered, "I knew it!" Her hands clasped together, "I could tell from the clouds."

"Really? There's a difference?" I asked.

She nodded, "it's a lot of technical jargon I'm sure a random person off the streets wouldn't understand." She waved me off and I shrugged, clouds weren't something I was experienced with so she was right about that. "By the way, I'm Krys." She giggled, "Sorry I didn't introduce myself right away."

I shook my head, "it's okay, the circumstances were kind of strange." I laughed as well. "I'm Moon, from Alola."

Those energetic gray eyes of hers lit up again, "Oh! I heard about you! You’re the champion visiting our region!"

I grinned, "Yeah that's me."

She extended a hand for a shake and I accepted, "Nice to meet you, Moon. I'm actually the Johto region's champion's rival." A loud laugh left her mouth, "boy that's a mouthful."

I stayed with Krys, watching the storm with a pile of blankets draped over my shoulders. She tried explaining the cloud stuff to me but most of it went over my head. There was a good half hour where we could actually see Lugia, battling with something under the waves. Krys, apparently a self-proclaimed legendary researcher, explained that for the past month things like this had been happening around the world.

"All the region's legendaries have been acting up recently. In varying degrees, something big is happening." She said with a distant look out the window.

"Yeah I experienced a lot of weird stuff with the Kanto legendaries too." I replied, sharing my experiences with mew and moltres upon request. She was so excited to hear the stories and begged me for any other experiences with legends.

I hesitated before explaining that I had went face to face with lunaala and multiple island guardians back in Alola. I avoided all information about ultra-space and cosmog with skill, though, and the story lacked any obvious gaps that Krys picked up on. I showed her pictures of lunaala and the tapus as she had never even heard of them.

We tried to deduce what could be happening to drive all the legendaries mad... but none of our suggestions seemed to accurately explain things.

I was thankful Krys let me stay, she even made dinner for the both of us to help me warm up. She was kind, and I could feel a friendship forming as we both sat on her couch - watching the booming storm outside grow and intensify at a less rapid rate.

M//Have any of the legendaries in Alola been acting up?

H//Not from what I've seen.... why??

M//just wondering haha

H//they all seem normal to me! //also HI WHENS THE LAST TIME WE TALKED???!

M//sorry, things have been crazy lately

H//Lillie told me about the restaurant //your still mentally stable, riiight?

M//yes duh hahaha

The rain and winds didn't die down for the rest of the night. Lugia had long vanished according to Krys, the clouds returning to their 'normal state' after a while. Something about pressure kept the storm going though, it would be surprising if it didn't last into the next day.

Krys invited me to stay for the night considering the weather and I accepted the offer after momentary hesitation. I didn't know her that well but I could tell she was a genuine person and even if things went sour, Ecruteak wasn't that far. After another hour filled with pleasant chatter and getting to know each other, a very soaked looking champion entered the house. Gold's eyes landed on me and he nodded absentmindedly, as though it wasn't even strange to see me at his rival's house after just meeting hours beforehand.

Apparently he was staying with Krys as well, the two were good friends beyond being rivals. He didn't hang around to talk though, disappearing to a basement that he apparently had claimed his own the past year. Not that Krys cared, she had offered it up to him.

G//What's going on in Johto...?

M//You mean the weather?

G//It looks horrible on Doppler Radar, there are storm warnings over here as well. //Everything ok by you...?

M//yeah... I'm okay thanks to the Johto 'elites' haha

G//What happened?

M//Lugia happened lol

G//Lugia?

M//A legendary out here, totally almost killed me with this storm haha.

G//Moon...

M//I'm okay! Just freezing my ass off for eternity now! c:

G//Have some soup or something, blankets, sweaters. Whatever. Don't get sick, okay?

I sent him a picture of myself, already wrapped up in multiple blankets and a half eaten bowl of soup resting in my lap.

M//trying that haha

G//Still cold?

M//yes :c

Krys set up a spare bed for me in a side room before inviting me to watch a horror flick. She claimed the affect was far better during a thunder storm. I decided then that she was worth keeping around as a good friend even after I left Johto. It was rare I stumbled on another person who enjoyed horror movies, and I was in need of a horror buddy.

G//hot shower... heating pad... get a fire Pokémon to keep you warm...?

M//lol it's okay, dork. I'll survive the chills.

G//Okay //I called the Sinnoh champion today...

M//Really? Did she tell you anything?

G//Nothing we didn't already know //You said you're with the Johto elites now?

M//Yeah, the champion and his rival. I'm staying at their house tonight because of the storm.

G//...I feel like there's a significantly higher chance you could be attacked when your with another champion. //Please be careful... if possible.

M//I can't imagine anything would happen tonight with this rain though!

G//But that could be more of a reason to launch an attack... if you’re unsuspecting they have a better chance of.... //Arceus, I need a break.

M//Relax, Gladion. Everything's fine. //everything WILL be fine

G//...

Krys looked at me cryptically as the title of the movie she had put in flashed across the TV screen. I shoved my phone into my pocket and apologized for being on it when we were about to watch a movie. She shook her head.

"I don't really care if you’re on your phone." She laughed, "I just wanted to know why your face was all red like that."

I looked away, my apparently red face heating up even more. I probably looked like a tomato. "I don't know." I laughed, rubbing my cheek.

Her laughter grew louder, "Whatever man, let's just watch the movie."

I still kept my phone hidden away while we watched the film. Feeling awkward about what she had seen. We'd only just met, I didn't want to explain my emotional life so quickly, I hadn't even told Lillie about what was going on in my heart lately. That and it just wasn't something you told a new friend.

Krys and I jumped at every jump scare the movie threw at us and we laughed it off. Calling ourselves babies and wimps because we normally didn't jump at stuff like that. A loud roll of thunder boomed overhead, shaking the house and covering the sound of the tv. Another, sharper sounding bang echoed from somewhere in the house and Krys jumped to her feet as Gold walked into the room, laughing as he saw how scared she had gotten.

He plopped onto the couch opposing us, "The hell you two watching up here?" He said with a sneer.

"A horror movie, don't look too long! You might get scared!" Krys said with an imitated ghost voice and a witch cackle. I couldn't help but laugh at her.

"Yeah, okay." Gold shook his head, annoyed. "How much longer is it?"

"Like an hour, why?" Krys asked, pausing the film to see the time stamps. "Did you want to do something? It's kinda too nasty outside to do anything."

He nodded, "it's too dark at this point too... We can just go tomorrow."

"Go where?" I perked up.

He grinned, clearly excited to see he had sparked my interest. Everything about Gold was so casual and laid back, I really enjoyed the vibe and the way his smiles stretched across his lips. "I wanted to go get a closer look at Lugia, see what's going on."

Krys gasped, "You mean you want to go to the bottom of the whirl caves? That's so dangerous!"

He shrugged, nonchalant. "I've never had any issues getting down there."

Krys shot him a glare in response, rolling her eyes when he didn't react to it. I spoke up, "I was trying to go to the whirl islands when I ran into Lugia actually."

He nodded, "it lives at the bottom of the caves."

"Gold has a great relationship with Lugia for some reason. It's like it thinks he's its best friend or something." Krys said with an obviously jealous sigh.

I quickly explained that I had a strange connection with articuno back in Kanto as well. That it had been oddly fond of me and let me touch it and everything. Gold had the same experience with Lugia and since he actually lived in the region and could spend his time with the beast, the two had formed an interesting companionship. I was jealous, I would have loved to continue interacting with articuno if possible, but I just wasn't able too. Krys was clearly jealous too, with how interested she had been in Lugia's storm, I knew she liked the Pokémon a lot. She admitted to the jealousy after the film ended and Gold had wandered off to make food for himself. But she was still grateful that she could see it close up because of her friend/rival.

I followed after Gold while Krys put the movie away. He was standing in the kitchen, staring intensely at the stove as it cooked a pizza. I laughed at him and he shot me a comedic look in reaction. "Kinda funny that we ended up at the same house tonight." He said. "It was already odd enough to be in the same town."

"Yeah the coincidences today are insane." I replied. "Funny how things work out."

He took a long sip from a bottle of soda, gaze staring out a window on the far end of the room. "Have you heard about those weird charizard attacks around the regions?"

My heart stuttered in my chest at his words. "Yeah... I have..."

"It's weird. Three in a week..." he mumbled, he set down the soda with a loud thud and opened the stove to remove his pizza from the oven. Krys came to stand in the doorway of the kitchen and listen in. "How long before they hit here too?"

I frowned, "hopefully never."

"What's that?" Krys asked.

"The charizard attacks. In Kanto, Sinnoh, and Kalos." He replied evenly, pulling open a drawer for a knife. He sliced the pizza to pieces and handed both Krys and I one on a paper towel. "Just wondering if they'll hit here too."

"I didn't hear about those." Krys said.

"My friend is looking into them, trying to figure out what or who is causing it." I chimed in, "I actually experienced the one in Kanto first hand."

Gold winced, "Damn really? That was the goriest one too." He said.

I nodded, trying to not think about it again... I took a bite of the pizza, ignoring the burn it left on the roof of my mouth. I thanked Gold for the food and wandered off to the room I had been provided to sleep in for the night.

I laid on the made up bed with the layers of blankets still wrapped tightly around me, folding myself as deep into the duvet as possible. Everything smelt freshly cleaned, but the kind of freshly cleaned where it had been preserved in a closet full of other freshly cleaned things. A window sat just above the bed, allowing me a view of the stormy sky.

Sleep wasn't coming to me whatsoever, my mind was reeling with thoughts of that horrifying night about a week or two ago. I tried to clear the images from my consciousness repeatedly but it just wasn't working. I'd be lucky to sleep tonight...

Light danced across the ceiling as a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. The small room I rested in seeming far darker after the sudden brightness had faded. I reached for my phone, I felt bad texting Gladion again... or rather just felt awkward about it considering we'd talked not that long ago and I didn't want to come off needy. But Lillie was asleep by now for sure and there was no way Hau was still up. I felt like I needed to talk to someone to get my mind off things.

So I sent Gladion another message, testing to see if he was still awake.

M//Are you asleep yet?

I stared at the screen, heart racing as I waited for a reply. Realizing I was really hoping he would be awake and able to talk. Realizing I didn't even want to talk to anyone else...

G//Of course not. I have a ton of paperwork to get through

I grinned despite the content of the text, I felt horrible that he was getting such little sleep... but so happy he had replied.

M//I'm sorry, that doesn't sound fun

G//It's not horrible.

M//Gold brought up the attacks...

G//Who is Gold? //After what happened in Kanto it's all becoming big news.

M//He's the Johto champion. //I can't stop thinking about that night now...

G//Is it bothering you? We can talk about it, Moon.

M//I want to get it off my mind... ^^

G//Ah, alright. //Here, one second.

He sent two pictures of Silvally, one of them I had begged for the last time we'd talked on the phone - of the beast smashed up between a wall and a dresser. The other a picture of it grinning happily at the camera, its tongue lolling out the side of its mouth.

M//Aw, how cute!

G//He wouldn't leave me alone today, I had to bring him into the office with me.

M//Haha, he misses you!

G//Yeah, I know he does. //We need to get out more.

M//You should, it'd probably be good to get out every once in a while.

G//Did Hau tell you about what happened with Guzma?

Guzma? What?

M//No...?

G//Really? Damn. //Slow for being such a loud mouth.

M//Gladion don't be mean //I haven't talked to him a lot recently so that's probably why. I wanted to make sure all his attention was on Lillie!

G//Sorry. //yeah he brought that up to me the other day. I didn't know anything about all of that. //its odd.

M//is not haha //so what about Guzma?

G//I'm afraid I'll have to pull a you for that and explain it later. Sorry. //I need to get this paperwork done tonight

I buried my face in my blankets, hoping the fabric would muffle my laugh at his word choice. 'Pull a me', I was horrible with actually telling him things. I'd still not told him about mewtwo or talked in depth about the Pokémon tower.

The last part of his message made me feel bad, though. I was kind of being selfish, half begging for his attention when he needed to get work done.

M//I'm sorry, I can leave you be haha

G//No, no. Texting is fine, Moon. //If its helping you then I don't mind at all.

The room flashed with lightening once again, one of my pokeballs bursting open and eevee jumping up onto the bed with me. It snuggled up against my leg and I coaxed it up closer to my face, letting it get comfy on my chest instead. It trembled a bit, clearly scared by all the noise.

"It's okay, Rosemary." I coo'ed, stroking its back until it stopped shaking. My eyes started to feel heavy as I watched the small Pokémon relax and smile at me.

M//I think I'm okay now, I feel sleepy

G//Do you? //You should try to sleep then. //If you can't, I'll be here for you still.

My stomach burst into butterfree, the sheepish grin on my face made me feel so awkward and embarrassed despite the fact that no one could see it. Holy miltank, when did I develop such a huge crush on him?! He was just far too sweet on me, especially in the past few months. A better question was how could I not have developed a crush like this...

M//Thank you c: //Good luck with the paperwork, and hopefully goodnight

G//I hope you sleep well, Moon.

Do I tell Lillie about this...? She would want to know... but it's her brother... Rosemary stirred, reminding me that Pokémon could typically sense emotions such as this. Her head popped up and her tiny smile grew brighter. She made a tiny noise and rolled onto her back, eyes closing once again. I followed the small Pokémon, closing my eyes and trying to calm my racing pulse and flustered thoughts.