Part six: Home is where the heart aches
Clay made a promise to me that I could rent a cabin on top of Twist Mountain for free as long as I kept it safe. This meant a call to Analyt. I wouldn’t be able to patrol the mountain while I was at the Summit, so I needed the best of my best to go through and check for villains.
When I got settled on the mountain, I immediately set up my laptop and plugged it into the storage system transport machine. Skyla helped me sync it; I’m horrible with technology. I then called up my home team.
“Analyt! It’s good to see your face on my Pokegear.. Listen, I need you guys in Unova with me. Can you let Bucky(my Blaziken) and Staraptor out? Teach Bucky how to work the computer and tell him to assemble a team over there after you guys leave. Then, send everybody over, starting with the egg.”
Analyt nodded with a growing smile on his round face. Within an hour, I had my dragons crowding cozily in the warm cabin with me, sipping green tea. Bucky and Staraptor had certainly indulged themselves; they had called out my Lugia, Soulreaper, and my shiny Raikou by the time I hung up the phone. Oh well.. Both of them loved fame, flourishing in the Battle Frontier and basking in attention around legendaries and shinies. I hoped for their sake they didn’t also summon Damion, the Empoleon. That was a pride bomb just waiting to go off.
As for me, I finished up my league team, adding Trench the Torterra and Skystar the Gliscor, with the promise to train Scrag in the morning. I carefully scrolled through my boxes, eventually choosing Shadow the Gengar, Tyson the Feraligatr, SpiceGrrrl the Houndoom, and the six I had recently trained in Johto for a friendly competition. I grinned as they showed up, all at level 50. Tryxie, the Ninetails. Psycha, the Alakazam. Zigzag, the Dragonaire. Charlie, the Poliwrath. Badass, the Arbok. And finally Cedar, the Sandslash. A lot of Pokemon, I know. But I felt these guys would be my best bet at patrolling the mountain. I set up shifts, with them going in groups of three. After organizing the patrols and setting the boundaries, I set the groups out to go explore while Analyt prepared dinner and I took Dracoburn out for a long flight, out in the evening air.
About an hour later, we all gathered for a “homemade” dinner. Of course, I’ll always prefer Stantler over Sawsbuck, but Scrag inhaled his share like it was a gift from Arceus himself. After that, Draco lit a bonfire and we sat out under the stars, sharing in the universal beauty of a mountain sky at night, with the scent of burning wood around us, the sound of Woobats and Swoobats fluttering through the dusk, the occasional skittering sound of a Joltik on a tree.. I lay against my drowsy Charizard, watching the newly hatched Gible poke around at sticks and rocks with his parents watching dutifully, a love and gentleness in their eyes that I had never seen before. I brushed aside loneliness at the thought of not having a relationship of my own. I had my Pokemon; surely that was enough?
I woke up that morning with the chirping of Pidoves over my head. My Pokemon were still around me, though the fire had gone out. Everyone had gotten closer together; Little Gible was nestled between Scarr and Ferocity; Martinet and Regent were lying with their heads on the same log; my Johto patrol team were in a closely-packed heap, with the hot Tryxie in the center and the better adjusted to cool temperatures(Charlie and Cedar) on the outside. And I had Dracoburn wrapped around me and.. Scrag resting in the crook of my knees, a grin on his sleeping face. I lounged with them, thinking, until the activity in my mind roused Draco. We got up silently and went for a walk in the morning air to clear our lungs and heads.
“So, Draco, do you like it here?”
It’s no Silver. But I’ve handled greater change before. And we all get the feeling there is more to come. He sighed. You’re anxious. The bird girl is anxious. The rude man with the nearly incomprehensible accent? He was shaking in his boots. Something’s wrong, and we can feel it. Will you tell us? Tell me?
“Draco.. Remember Team Rocket? There are people out there like them. People who hurt other people and Pokemon. There was a team a bit like them here.” He bristled, but let me continue. “Except they took people’s Pokemon away because they said people abused their Pokemon through making them battle each other.”
That’s stupid. If it was so abusive, we wouldn’t be willing to battle. We enjoy competition, it keeps us from going insane. It’s like exercise for us to use our powers. I’ve known of wild Charizards that have killed each other or caused forest fires because they were so restless. The only reason Pokemon need trainers is to give us boundaries so that our fights don’t go too far. Loyalty to our trainers takes precedence over the adrenaline of battle. Otherwise it would be chaos. We would still fight, and it would be much worse.
“I know, Draco.. But leading them was a very zealous young man named N. He had been conditioned his whole life to believe that trainers only hurt their Pokemon. His father, Ghetsis, always gave him Pokemon that had been abused or abandoned when he was a child. He had no human friends, only Pokemon that had been hurt by their trainers. It was never really his fault that these things happened; Ghetsis had brainwashed him his entire life. In the end, it turned out that Ghetsis merely wanted N for his mascot. He used N to convince people to release their Pokemon, all while Ghetsis increased the power of his own forces. They finally caught Reshiram, an extremely powerful dragon. N took on a young man named Cole, but not until Cole had caught his own legendary dragon, Zekrom. Together, the dragons fought, and Cole managed to pull off a victory. Enraged, Ghetsis attacked Cole’s weakened team, but again, Cole defeated him. Team Plasma scattered upon this, and N left on Reshiram to cleanse his soul. But everyone is still very uneasy. Something doesn’t feel right, as if it ended too easily. People and Pokemon alike are on edge that Ghetsis may return with a vengeance.”
Draco stared hard at the ground. So he may be out there still.. But what use is he if he’s exposed? If he doesn’t have N or Reshiram, how is he supposed to be a threat?
“I’m not really sure, to be honest. I don’t know the whole story. But I’m sure this will be discussed at the Summit. Skyla said they ‘needed this league more than ever’. All we can do is make ourselves as powerful as we can, and not let ourselves get too close to anyone.” I murmured wistfully.
You’re lonely. Why is this?
“You’re crazy, Draco. I don’t need any human as long as I have you.”
Liar. Basic human nature. Basic nature of any living creature, really. We need companionship to survive and continue our species. It’s nothing you can help; look at Ferocity and Scarr. Strongest-willed creatures ever born, but they melt when they see each other or the little one. It’s entirely inbred.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, kids? You really are nuts!”
You need a mate. Or at least a friend. Bird girl’s too preppy. Miltank man’s too.. Uneducated. And old. You’re in your prime, for a human. There was a chuckle in his voice. Live a little.
“Humans only cause pain.”
You sound like N.
“Oh, don’t you think I’ve been hurt enough? I don’t like heartbreak, so sue me! The only living beings I need in my life are my Pokemon.”
Ha. Alright. But when you get all moony like Ferocity and Scarr, I’m gonna laugh my tail flame out.
I slugged him in the arm playfully. “At least I know you still have a sense of humor. C’mon, we have a Sandile to train.”
An few hours later, Scrag was already level 28 and we had defeated every trainer on the first floor. The little croc learned quickly and excitedly. It didn’t enjoy injuring other Pokemon, but it loved to please me and impress my Pokemon. It seemed to have a little crush on Cedar, but the Sandslash regarded it like a babysitter would to a nine year-old who flirted innocently with her. That night, we gathered around the fire again, roasting berries. I pulled out my acoustic guitar and began to strum some old favorites from the Eastern regions. My Kanto Pokemon smiled nostalgically as my fingers began picking the melody of Lavender Town’s sad theme.. “Love, love, love, love, dancing silhouettes in your heart. I will, haunt you, gently tracing your intentions. Fol-low, your love, as the shadows spin ere closer. Tracing back to, when I lost you, feeling empty, being lonesome. Love, love, love, love, dancing silhouettes in my heart.”
My team sighed sadly, remembering the loss of our lives as we knew them. I continued with the remix. “I will always know you, need you, love you. I will always want you, hear you, feel you. I will always see you. I will always dream you. Until the day you are mine. As my sad-ness follows, my spir-it it still shows, until the day, until the night, that you are mine. As I dream so, softly, my heart it skips so lightly, and I need you, but you are mine, in your new life. I will always know you, need you, love you. I will always want you, hear you, feel you. I will always see you. I will always dream you. Until the day you are mine.”
I wiped a single tear from my cheek, and looked deeply into the watering eyes of my friends. We let out a collective sigh, all feeling a bit homesick. But it was a new day, in a new union, and we would make it. I knew it.
Clay made a promise to me that I could rent a cabin on top of Twist Mountain for free as long as I kept it safe. This meant a call to Analyt. I wouldn’t be able to patrol the mountain while I was at the Summit, so I needed the best of my best to go through and check for villains.
When I got settled on the mountain, I immediately set up my laptop and plugged it into the storage system transport machine. Skyla helped me sync it; I’m horrible with technology. I then called up my home team.
“Analyt! It’s good to see your face on my Pokegear.. Listen, I need you guys in Unova with me. Can you let Bucky(my Blaziken) and Staraptor out? Teach Bucky how to work the computer and tell him to assemble a team over there after you guys leave. Then, send everybody over, starting with the egg.”
Analyt nodded with a growing smile on his round face. Within an hour, I had my dragons crowding cozily in the warm cabin with me, sipping green tea. Bucky and Staraptor had certainly indulged themselves; they had called out my Lugia, Soulreaper, and my shiny Raikou by the time I hung up the phone. Oh well.. Both of them loved fame, flourishing in the Battle Frontier and basking in attention around legendaries and shinies. I hoped for their sake they didn’t also summon Damion, the Empoleon. That was a pride bomb just waiting to go off.
As for me, I finished up my league team, adding Trench the Torterra and Skystar the Gliscor, with the promise to train Scrag in the morning. I carefully scrolled through my boxes, eventually choosing Shadow the Gengar, Tyson the Feraligatr, SpiceGrrrl the Houndoom, and the six I had recently trained in Johto for a friendly competition. I grinned as they showed up, all at level 50. Tryxie, the Ninetails. Psycha, the Alakazam. Zigzag, the Dragonaire. Charlie, the Poliwrath. Badass, the Arbok. And finally Cedar, the Sandslash. A lot of Pokemon, I know. But I felt these guys would be my best bet at patrolling the mountain. I set up shifts, with them going in groups of three. After organizing the patrols and setting the boundaries, I set the groups out to go explore while Analyt prepared dinner and I took Dracoburn out for a long flight, out in the evening air.
About an hour later, we all gathered for a “homemade” dinner. Of course, I’ll always prefer Stantler over Sawsbuck, but Scrag inhaled his share like it was a gift from Arceus himself. After that, Draco lit a bonfire and we sat out under the stars, sharing in the universal beauty of a mountain sky at night, with the scent of burning wood around us, the sound of Woobats and Swoobats fluttering through the dusk, the occasional skittering sound of a Joltik on a tree.. I lay against my drowsy Charizard, watching the newly hatched Gible poke around at sticks and rocks with his parents watching dutifully, a love and gentleness in their eyes that I had never seen before. I brushed aside loneliness at the thought of not having a relationship of my own. I had my Pokemon; surely that was enough?
I woke up that morning with the chirping of Pidoves over my head. My Pokemon were still around me, though the fire had gone out. Everyone had gotten closer together; Little Gible was nestled between Scarr and Ferocity; Martinet and Regent were lying with their heads on the same log; my Johto patrol team were in a closely-packed heap, with the hot Tryxie in the center and the better adjusted to cool temperatures(Charlie and Cedar) on the outside. And I had Dracoburn wrapped around me and.. Scrag resting in the crook of my knees, a grin on his sleeping face. I lounged with them, thinking, until the activity in my mind roused Draco. We got up silently and went for a walk in the morning air to clear our lungs and heads.
“So, Draco, do you like it here?”
It’s no Silver. But I’ve handled greater change before. And we all get the feeling there is more to come. He sighed. You’re anxious. The bird girl is anxious. The rude man with the nearly incomprehensible accent? He was shaking in his boots. Something’s wrong, and we can feel it. Will you tell us? Tell me?
“Draco.. Remember Team Rocket? There are people out there like them. People who hurt other people and Pokemon. There was a team a bit like them here.” He bristled, but let me continue. “Except they took people’s Pokemon away because they said people abused their Pokemon through making them battle each other.”
That’s stupid. If it was so abusive, we wouldn’t be willing to battle. We enjoy competition, it keeps us from going insane. It’s like exercise for us to use our powers. I’ve known of wild Charizards that have killed each other or caused forest fires because they were so restless. The only reason Pokemon need trainers is to give us boundaries so that our fights don’t go too far. Loyalty to our trainers takes precedence over the adrenaline of battle. Otherwise it would be chaos. We would still fight, and it would be much worse.
“I know, Draco.. But leading them was a very zealous young man named N. He had been conditioned his whole life to believe that trainers only hurt their Pokemon. His father, Ghetsis, always gave him Pokemon that had been abused or abandoned when he was a child. He had no human friends, only Pokemon that had been hurt by their trainers. It was never really his fault that these things happened; Ghetsis had brainwashed him his entire life. In the end, it turned out that Ghetsis merely wanted N for his mascot. He used N to convince people to release their Pokemon, all while Ghetsis increased the power of his own forces. They finally caught Reshiram, an extremely powerful dragon. N took on a young man named Cole, but not until Cole had caught his own legendary dragon, Zekrom. Together, the dragons fought, and Cole managed to pull off a victory. Enraged, Ghetsis attacked Cole’s weakened team, but again, Cole defeated him. Team Plasma scattered upon this, and N left on Reshiram to cleanse his soul. But everyone is still very uneasy. Something doesn’t feel right, as if it ended too easily. People and Pokemon alike are on edge that Ghetsis may return with a vengeance.”
Draco stared hard at the ground. So he may be out there still.. But what use is he if he’s exposed? If he doesn’t have N or Reshiram, how is he supposed to be a threat?
“I’m not really sure, to be honest. I don’t know the whole story. But I’m sure this will be discussed at the Summit. Skyla said they ‘needed this league more than ever’. All we can do is make ourselves as powerful as we can, and not let ourselves get too close to anyone.” I murmured wistfully.
You’re lonely. Why is this?
“You’re crazy, Draco. I don’t need any human as long as I have you.”
Liar. Basic human nature. Basic nature of any living creature, really. We need companionship to survive and continue our species. It’s nothing you can help; look at Ferocity and Scarr. Strongest-willed creatures ever born, but they melt when they see each other or the little one. It’s entirely inbred.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, kids? You really are nuts!”
You need a mate. Or at least a friend. Bird girl’s too preppy. Miltank man’s too.. Uneducated. And old. You’re in your prime, for a human. There was a chuckle in his voice. Live a little.
“Humans only cause pain.”
You sound like N.
“Oh, don’t you think I’ve been hurt enough? I don’t like heartbreak, so sue me! The only living beings I need in my life are my Pokemon.”
Ha. Alright. But when you get all moony like Ferocity and Scarr, I’m gonna laugh my tail flame out.
I slugged him in the arm playfully. “At least I know you still have a sense of humor. C’mon, we have a Sandile to train.”
An few hours later, Scrag was already level 28 and we had defeated every trainer on the first floor. The little croc learned quickly and excitedly. It didn’t enjoy injuring other Pokemon, but it loved to please me and impress my Pokemon. It seemed to have a little crush on Cedar, but the Sandslash regarded it like a babysitter would to a nine year-old who flirted innocently with her. That night, we gathered around the fire again, roasting berries. I pulled out my acoustic guitar and began to strum some old favorites from the Eastern regions. My Kanto Pokemon smiled nostalgically as my fingers began picking the melody of Lavender Town’s sad theme.. “Love, love, love, love, dancing silhouettes in your heart. I will, haunt you, gently tracing your intentions. Fol-low, your love, as the shadows spin ere closer. Tracing back to, when I lost you, feeling empty, being lonesome. Love, love, love, love, dancing silhouettes in my heart.”
My team sighed sadly, remembering the loss of our lives as we knew them. I continued with the remix. “I will always know you, need you, love you. I will always want you, hear you, feel you. I will always see you. I will always dream you. Until the day you are mine. As my sad-ness follows, my spir-it it still shows, until the day, until the night, that you are mine. As I dream so, softly, my heart it skips so lightly, and I need you, but you are mine, in your new life. I will always know you, need you, love you. I will always want you, hear you, feel you. I will always see you. I will always dream you. Until the day you are mine.”
I wiped a single tear from my cheek, and looked deeply into the watering eyes of my friends. We let out a collective sigh, all feeling a bit homesick. But it was a new day, in a new union, and we would make it. I knew it.