Soren Rivers
I was aware of the warm blanket around me first as I started waking up. I rolled over with a groan as I opened my eyes, focusing on the figure staring at me from where she was curled up. The shiny umbreon got up and gave a cheery cry before jumping down and running out of the room, coming back a few moments later with Jay.
Relief swept through me and despite the fading ache through my body I sat up. "Jay..."
She took Curse's place on the edge of the bed and nodded tiredly, as if she hadn't been sleeping. "How you feeling?"
"Sore." I leaned forward and hugged her despite my words, I didn't care, I needed to hold her to reassure me she was there. "I'm glad you're okay... Is Freya alright?"
Jay pulled away gently, there was something like loss in her eyes but she didn't seem to be grieving. "Freya left. She got out before us and got help from the pokémon Rescue Members... they took her with them after they dropped us off here so she could start her training. Freya said she had originally meant to tell us and leave after we met up with Ivan but obviously Valhalla messed up that plan. She was fine though."
"I see..." I trailed off as I processed what she said. I was glad Freya was alive and well but I would miss her, especially since I couldn't say goodbye.
"We need to find Ivan and tell him what happened... he probably already thinks we're dead. After that... well... I'm not sure."
"Get stronger, fight the champion, take down Valhalla and their leader Tarot." I pulled away slightly so I could look her in the eyes. "I will keep you safe, they'll never lay a hand on you again, alright? I swear."
Jay pulled me against her again, her voice unsteady. "Soren... we thought you were going to die. We didn't know what was wrong, you wouldn't wake up, and your eyes... they were glowing blue. Don't do anything that will get you killed for my sake, that's what I want you to promise. I already lost enough, I won't lose you."
"I can't promise that."
"Guess I'll just have to beat you to the face off with Tarot then." Jay let go and stood up, walking over to the door before looking back at me. "We can leave whenever you feel well enough, I'm assuming Ivan is still in Xelen so we can take a plane there from here... or walk. I don't know which option would be safer with Valhalla still around."
"Where are we exactly other than 'here'?" I asked, getting up to follow her out despite the slight dizziness that went through me momentarily.
She came closer and let me lean on her. "Back at Risen. Valhalla hasn't been spotted around here after the day we were captured, though the news claims they're still prowling around near the capital... Tarot is staying there to 'protect' the king and queen."
"We'll stop him... or someone will. He can't just become King without question and Valhalla can't just disappear after he does, everyone in Drucan would know."
"Perhaps." Jay didn't seem to believe my theory. "He'll probably have it all planned out to make himself look like a hero."
I thought back to the time he'd saved us from Alice, he had seemed like a hero at the time, but now I was willing to bet he had been searching for us to keep an eye on where we were. Sure he had helped us out but that had been to gain our trust. It wouldn't be too difficult for him to trick the region, he acted like a hero, had the looks, and was even in a trusted position of power. Tarot was good at putting on a show. "You're right."
Jay shrugged as if not caring as she walked to her room across the hall and grabbing her bag and motioning for Curse that we were leaving. She grabbed my things from the chair and handed them over to me before walking out of the room. I followed her to the airport, our progress slower than our usual pace though I wasn't complaining about it; I still felt pretty tired.
The plane ride gave me more time to rest though I was too anxious over a possible attack to fall asleep. Jay had managed to pass out in the seat beside me though, which made it hard for me to stay entertained once my phone died and I couldn't play games anymore. I occasionally brushed my fingers through Jay's hair smiling whenever she shifted closer to me or gave a sighing sound of contentment. The pain was fading though and by the time we landed I could move around without any stiffness or throbbing pain, which I found refreshing but I was more content with the fact we hadn't been attacked by Valhalla during the flight.
I woke her up and led the way off the plane. "How'd you sleep? You seemed happy."
Jay blushed slightly and nodded. "It was fine... I felt like I was outside the plane and flying with wind rushing around me, it felt so free, like I had never been able to move around so much for a long time. It was nice... but there was something lonely about it."
"I see." I wasn't sure how peaceful that was, maybe with less wind, but she did seem less tired than before. We walked out of the airport and I glanced around Xelen, unsure where to start searching for Ivan in the city, though the Pokémon Center seemed like a good place to start if he was still in the city. "Hey, do you think your map could find the Pokémon Center?"
Jay pulled out her phone instead. "I'll just put it in the GPS, that should work faster."
A moment later we were moving again down several streets until we made it to the familiar building and went inside. After getting settled into my room I walked over to Jay's and found a comfortable spot to lay on her bed, sitting up slightly so I could see her as I spoke. "Do you think we should wait for him here or start looking around the city?"
Jay shrugged as she finished sorting through her bag for Curse's pokéball to let her pokémon out. "Well, we don't know if he's staying here or possibly leaving, if he hasn't already."
Wow... that didn't answer the question at all. I sighed and got up, as much as I would love to just stay here with her. Jay would just insist on going out to find Ivan in the end. "Let's get going then. We can check out the gym first and see if Glaze knows anything about where Ivan went."
"Alright." Jay seemed to perk up slightly upon the decision and paused to allow Curse to hop onto her shoulder before heading to the door, a smirk on her face as she glanced back at me. "Bet I can beat the gym leader and find Ivan before you can get up."
"Oh yeah?" I jumped up and hurried after her.
I quickly caught up as she slowed down outside the Pokémon Center and jumped on her back while laughing before sliding off, kissing her neck for a moment as I started walking. We walked through the streets once more, this time paying closer attention to see if Ivan was walking along the street as well, until we came to the gym. I glanced at Jay and she paused to check the surrounding area once again before going inside. The interior was shimmering white snow falling from the ceiling with sparkling ice pillars that had jagged sharp edges, which jutted out dangerously in some places. While we didn't plan on challenging the gym we did take it upon ourselves not to mention that to the trainers we battled to reach the gym leader.
"What's up?" Glaze looked down at us from his chair, his figure lounging on it rather than sitting as he ate from an icecream cone. "I'm joking, I know you're here to challenge me."
I nodded but Jay spoke up before I could tell him I wanted a battle. "We're looking for a friend as well. He's another trainer named Ivan Woods. We were supposed to meet him here a while ago but things came up and we were delayed."
The gym leader rose to his feet, setting his food aside, and fixed his fluffy white scarf before joining us on the battlefield. "Tell you what. You two battle me and win and I'll give you badges and the information."
"Alright." Jay agreed quickly.
I took out Foxy's pokéball. "Fine with me."
"Good." Glaze pulled out his own pokéballs. "Cryogonal, Weavile, let's show them what happens to those who stay in the cold too long."
"Foxy!" I threw out the pokéball and my riolu immediately got into a fighting stance. "Use force palm on the weavile."
Jay smirked. "Scourge, show them what you've got, use ember."
"Dodge and use night slash, Cryogonal, use aura beam!"
He didn't even need to tell them where to attack, they just moved. Scourge yelped in surprise and fell but deflected the second attack with an ember, which gave Foxy an opening to force palm the snowflake like pokémon. Cryogonal fell back but was replaced by Weavile, who used night slash again to knock Foxy down. I glanced at Jay but couldn't tell what she was doing, why the hell were her eyes closed? This was a pokémon battle!
"Jay, a little help would be great now!" I growled as Foxy took two more hits while Scourge finally acted on his own to attack with ember.
She shook her head before finally speaking. "Scourge... time to show them."
Scourge used howl before a bright glow fell over him, his body growing larger until the evolution finished off with curved horns and a long tail growing out behind him. The light disappeared and Scourge gave another howl as he waited for his next command. Foxy stared at the evolved pokémon for a moment, as if contemplating something, before dodging to the side as another aura beam shot out at him.
"Battle is still going on, show me what you've got!" Glaze shouted, running a hand through his bleach blond hair as he waited impatiently. "Weavile, get them going again with metal claw! Cryogonal, use acid armor!"
"Bite!" Jay ordered.
"Foxy, use quick attack on Weavile then force palm!"
Foxy obeyed instantly and tackled into the pokémon while Scourge blocked Weavile's attack, biting down hard on its arm, and Foxy followed up with his second attack. Weavile shuddered and staggered away before collapsing to the ground. Glaze returned his pokémon to its ball before pulling out his next pokémon.
"Froslass, draining kiss on the houndoom! Cryogonal, aura beam the riolu!"
"Don't let it get close, ember!" Jay shouted.
"Foxy, dodge with quick attack then defend Scourge with a bullet punch!"
I wasn't sure if he would make it in time but considering Jay's pokémon was keeping the ice slash ghost type at bay with the flames I was hoping I could help out. Cryogonal was knocked back with the quick attack, fainting the already injured pokémon, and Foxy turned on Froslass attacking it from behind as it tried to avoid another ember. Glaze was beginning to look frustrated with the battle, though being a single gym leader doing a double battle challenge probably wasn't his normal style. It didn't seem like it was at least the way he used his pokémon independently from each other. Once again he returned and took out another pokéball.
"Glaceon, ice shard!" Glaze growled.
"Melt it with ember!" Jay ordered.
I turned to Foxy. "Keep Froslass distracted with another bullet punch!"
Foxy once again followed my orders and Froslass fell back into a defensive position before retaliating with ice fang. He gave a cry of pain and fell back to avoid a draining kiss before being hit with a mirror shot that had been meant for Scourge. I watched my pokémon collapse on the ground with Scourge joining him a moment later as the houndoom was hit with an ice shard and ominous wind.
"Foxy, come on, get up." I called out to him. "I know you can!"
"Ri.." Foxy shook as he got up, Scourge rising as well and defending my pokémon as he recovered enough to stand.
I considered bringing him back for a moment before deciding against it for the moment. "Alright, force palm on the glaceon!"
"Bite on Froslass, take it out!" Jay commanded.
The froslass went down under the attack while Glaceon was slowed as Foxy's attack created paralysis. Glaze tenses and returned his pokémon before sending out his last one, a walrein. "Hail!"
Great, just what Foxy needed, consecutive damage from the weather. I clenched my teeth. "Force palm again!"
"Scourge, use ember on Glaceon!"
"Ice shard!"
The Glaceon seemed to disappear for a moment before shooting ice at our pokémon, though Scourge took most of the damage once again. The fire type shuddered at the damage building up before collapsing on the ice with a small whine.
"Scourge!" Jay looked at her pokémon in fear before returning him and sending out her next pokémon. "Hati, it's up to you. Use thunder fang on the walrein!"
"Quick attack then force palm on Glaceon!" I knew splitting up the attacks between both enemy pokémon was exactly how Glaze was losing but at the moment I was concerned over Jay's reaction the her pokémon fainting.
The glaceon managed to avoid the quick attack but paralysis took effect once again and force palm hit it hard. Foxy glanced back at me as Glaceon staggered back before a glow overtook his features. I watched in amazement as Foxy evolved into a lucario, now standing over the weakened glaceon and creating a glowing orb in his paw. It was over in an instant, the glaceon collapsed unconscious onto the ground, which left only the walrein to defeat.
"Alright, that's great Foxy!" I exclaimed. "Now let's-"
Foxy fell to the ground before I could finish, the last of his energy spent as the hail and damage piled up and took him out of the battle. I hesitated after returning him, aware that I was letting Jay down as she fought the walrein alone. I pulled out my next pokéball and threw it, releasing Basilisk onto the battlefield.
"Basilisk, poison tail." I growled, wanting to finish the battle.
"Viper!" Basilisk hissed and lunged forward, his tail glowing as it struck the slower pokémon.
Hati added his own attacks as well before giving a yelp as he got too close and Walrein's ice fang bit down on his leg. Basilisk immediately went to Hati's aid with a poison tail, finally knocking out Glaze's pokémon. I had to admit, it had been difficult considering their levels but... they didn't seem to have many attacks. Maybe Glaze wasn't the best gym leader, but after Oris he wasn't exactly the worst.
Glaze returned his pokémon and I copied the action as he walked across the damaged battlefield to grant us victory. "Well, it seems you two were ready to face me after all, or you just got lucky with your pokémon evolving. Either way, here are your badges."
"What about our friend? Do you know where he went?" Jay reminded him, grabbing Hati as he tried to sneak over to the ice cream sitting where Glaze had left it.
"Yes, of course." Glaze nodded. "He won and then mentioned waiting for friends who would be challenging me. I believe I saw him leaving a few days after that while I was on my way to the Pokémon Center to heal my own pokémon up."
"I see." Well, that meant he could be anywhere... calling him would probably be best then.
"Sorry." Glaze shrugged helplessly before pulling out a pen and taking my wrist before I could protest to write something on it. "But hey, here's my number. Give me a call if you still can't find him. With Valhalla about it's my job to help our champion protect others from them, yeah? I'll join you or get a closer gym leader to help you asap."
I glanced down at my arm to look at the number, fully intending never to contact him, before nodding. "Okay."
Jay sighed. "Um, alright... Come on Soren, let's get going."
Glaze quickly blocked our path as we turned to leave. "Wait, hold up. I'm coming with you to the Pokémon Center. Considering our battle and what's happening I'll get some items for you that could come in handy."
I wasn't sure if we should trust him but at the moment there wasn't a way to get out of going with him. We did have to get our stuff and heal our pokémon too so we couldn't just ditch either... Beside me Jay was staring at him and I could've sworn her eyes flashed red momentarily before she blinked and looked back down at her rockruff. I let Glaze lead the way out, preferring to know he couldn't attack us with our backs turned to him, and followed beside Jay as we walked back to the Pokémon Center. We all gave our pokémon to Nurse Joy before I led Jay over to the couches while Glaze stayed to talk with her, speaking too quietly for me to hear him from where I was sitting.
A few minutes later he came over with a box Nurse Joy had given him and sat down across from us. "Since I noticed your lack of mega evolution in our battle I thought I'd give you some key stones to help out with that."
He pulled out two key stones from the box before handing one to each of us. I looked at it for a few moments; now I could mega evolve schicksal but... was there a catch? Glaze didn't act as though he was going to ask something from us in return but after what Valhalla did to us I didn't want to risk him being a spy or something for them.
"Now, I don't have many mega stones lying around, other than one for a glalie, but Nurse Joy was holding onto one my father used when he was alive." Glaze pulled out another stone and held it out to me. "He used to run a fighting type gym here before I took over, I'm sure your lucario will have better use for it than my pokémon will. Just be sure to use mega evolution responsibly alright? Don't let it fall into the wrong hands or anything or I'll have to come find you and get them back."
"Alright." Jay responded, rolling her eyes slightly. "What do you think we are, children?"
Glaze shrugged and smirked as he looked me up and down. "Well, maybe not but I'm not too much older than you, I know how stupid some of the choices we make are at your age."
Why was he just staring at me? I didn't do anything, it was Jay who asked! I shrugged and avoided his gaze. "Yeah well, so far most of what happened wasn't our choice."
Glaze nodded and rose to his feet, messing up my hair with his hand as he walked by. "Yeah, sometimes things like that happen to. Just be careful you two and remember, call if you need help."
I didn't respond and made a point of fixing my hair as he picked up his pokémon and left before looking at Jay. "I'm going to go wash the numbers off, can you get our stuff so we can leave?"
She smirked, apparently amused by my discomfort. "Yeah, of course. I'll try calling Ivan while I'm at it, if he doesn't pick up though I say we head back in the direction of Risen, maybe stop and challenge Ferno on the way."
"Fine." I agreed as I walked towards the bathroom, more concerned about getting the stupid phone number off my arm than the fact we'd be heading closer to Valhalla's headquarters again.