When Leon's son Fayiz defeats Champion Raihan, his sister Amber isn't impressed. She was born amidst tragedy in Orre. Predictably defeating her cocky brother in Galar's Champion Cup just isn't exciting - so, along with her cousin Zane and Raihan's d...
33 years ago, the people of Orre anxiously watched artificial black clouds swirling around Citadark Isle. The waves whipped up to protect Cipher's fortress were vicious. Everyone at the Pokémon HQ Lab was glued to the TV. It wasn't any old 13 year-old who fearlessly crossed the sea to take on the stronghold alone. It was their Michael. Jovi would never have admitted it, then, but she was afraid her older brother might meet the same fate as their equally fearless father: death at the hands of Cipher.
No normal boats could reach the isle. TV crews could only wait for the Robo Kyogre to reapproach Gateon Port, or for Cipher to announce their dominance. Neither of those things confirmed the result. It was as the clouds dispersed and the waves stilled that people, of every age and walk of life, rushed from their homes; whether they saw it with their own eyes in Gateon Port, or on the TV in the furthest reaches of Orre. They knew Michael had won. XD001 had been captured. Cipher was finished. People clapped and cheered. They cried, but they were tears of joy.
Jovi had never felt as hopeful as she did that day, sitting on the steps outside the lab, waiting for Orre's hero but more importantly, her brother. It was unlike even the afternoon Wes emerged victorious. Michael hadn't just defeated the organisation that killed his father. He destroyed them. For the first time in anyone's memory, Orre felt so united and content, it was impossible to imagine evil could ever return.
Michael was fiercely independant and quietly hopeful. It was that stoic, courageous independance that allowed him to triumph, to barely flinch even as Ardos announced the plan to blow up Citadark Isle with their arch-enemy and replaceable subordinates still present as they escaped. The purity of his endlessly hopeful heart was what saved him, for it reached wordlessly out even to his enemies; to wake Eldes from the nightmare of his brother's evil and manipulation to convince their father they were wrong. Grand Master Greevil broke down in tears as Eldes led him away. Ardos fled, vowing revenge. By then, journalists had flown on unaccustomed Pokémon, or paddled in whatever boats they could find, to the isle. Before Michael climbed back into the Robo Kyogre, they caught him staring silently out at the pacified sea. His serene expression betrayed as little as he said. Even the gracious words and tears of the people he saved didn't visibly move him.
Jovi leapt to her feet when she heard the whir of a scooter. As she clung to her brother's hand, Lily stood beside them and, just like her son, stared into the trees in silence; but Michael never forgot how he understood in that brief moment that Lily was finally at peace. Her beloved husband's work was done. She knew he was proud, of her and the son she raised to be so brave. It was then, smiling down at his sister's boundless admiration, that his carefully composed face began to crumple. Squeezing his eyes shut, he turned them to the cloudless sky. It didn't stop stray tears escaping. He knew it, too. So did Jovi. That was the moment she vowed to never lose hope. She would go on an adventure of her own to discover her dreams and achieve them.
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So, Jovi spent the next year on the back seat of Michael's scooter. They travelled across Orre, to visit all the friends he made and through neighbouring regions until they reached the great ocean between the mainland and Alola. Jovi was captivated by the countless new Pokémon she saw her brother battle, but most of all those that roamed freely in the wild. Most Pokémon in Orre were imported from Kanto, Johto and Hoenn. She'd never seen even the most despised pests like Trubbish, Stunky and Pidove. Constantly taking photos and making notes, comparing them to the educational books she bought with pocket money, she wanted to take them all home. The problem was, she enjoyed watching others battle... but even when she won, usually through sheer determination, she didn't really enjoy it. Michael saw she loved learning. In a distant city dominated by dazzling skyscrapers and its famous suspension bridge, he took her to a regional Pokémon Professor's lecture. He spoke of his team's triumph in reintroducing wild Pokémon to the countryside, ravaged by fire after a series of explosions at an oil refinery.
