Chapter Text
Rumi dabbed sweat at her brow as the last beams of light from the battle faded. A few yards away, her Galarian Rapidash slowed its gallop to a soft trot after charging at her opponent’s Pokemon, a feeble Chandelure smoking weakly on the floor. Its dying flames sputtered out one final time in response to the super effective attack before extinguishing entirely, its Pokeball automatically calling it back and removing it from the battlefield.
A fanfare played over the speakers. An automated voice praised, “You’ve defeated Elite Four’s Mystery!” as confetti rained down from the ceiling. Across the arena, a Pokemon Trainer walked forth, torso covered with various medals, face obscured by a rather thick mop of hair covering his eyes. As he approached Rumi and the iridescent Rapidash, he removed one of the medals from around his neck, presenting it humbly to her.
“I can’t remember the last time someone made it this far,” he murmured. Rumi bowed her head in gratitude, allowing Mystery to slip the medal over her braid. It joined the three other medals around her neck with a gentle clink. “It’s a miracle you got past Baby at all, let alone me, Abs, or Romance.”
Rumi grinned. Baby’s primarily Fighting-based team might have looked impressive – after all, not many would imagine such a soft, youthful face having such mastery over intimidating, aggressive Pokemon. Still, Baby’s Throh and Machamp were no match for Rumi’s Dragonite's expert Flying moves, and she soared her way past the first Elite Four champion without much problem.
“Battling Baby was a piece of cake,” said Rumi before she could stop herself. She didn’t want to be too arrogant, but she didn’t want to lie just to help this Elite Four save face either. Of all the Pokemon Leagues, the Saja region’s Elite Four was considered the most prestigious, and Rumi was the closest anyone’s been to defeating its current line up in years. “He was a good warm up for the rest of you.” Never mind that Abby’s Steel-based team had Rumi on the ropes with her Nidoqueen watching helplessly from the side, unable to use its lethal Poison moves. But Mystery didn’t need to know that.
A smirk twisted Mystery’s lips, and though she couldn’t see his eyes, Rumi felt them boring into her own. “Don’t get too confident now,” Mystery warned her. “You know what lies ahead.”
“I actually don’t,” Rumi retorted, swinging her long hair over her other shoulder as she called her Rapidash back to its Pokeball. “I only know hearsay. Care to enlighten me? If it’s such a big deal I’ve made it this far, I’m sure you can spare some intel as a reward.”
Mystery pondered this for a moment, but true to his name, said nothing. He only made a zipping motion over the smirk still on his lips, and Rumi knew it was useless to press the matter further. The rest of the Saja Elite Four hadn’t been much help to her either. Instead, they just let her pass to each next stage with a fervor to be avenged by their Champion. Romance went so far as to send her along with a couple of blown kisses that were imitated by his team of Fairy and Cute types, but that was it. Rumi was no close to learning more about the Saja region’s Champion than she was before she entered the Elite Four gauntlet.
“Aish,” Rumi muttered under her breath as she left the final Elite Four arena. “These Saja Trainers are so full of themselves.”
In the spacious vestibule between Mystery’s quarters and the Champion’s, Rumi did a quick inventory of her team and her items, bringing out each of her Pokemon to treat the various wounds they had sustained in battle. The six Pokeballs fastened to her Trainer belt thrummed with life, each Pokemon all but bursting out with hungry anticipation for one more victory against the Saja Champion himself. After this, Rumi will have defeated every region’s Pokemon League. And then, maybe then, she’ll finally retire, choosing one region to settle down in with Zoey and Mira, her best friends and the only two other Trainers alongside Rumi to make it out of their small, sleepy hometown of Pallet Town. Win or lose, the two of them are waiting for her at the end of all of this.
Rumi, of course, was set on bringing home a victory. With the winnings she has accumulated from conquering each Pokemon League, Rumi theoretically would have enough for all three of them to live comfortably for the rest of their days –
That is, however, assuming the world would be stable enough to sustain such comfort.
No, Rumi thought as anxiety welled up in her. Just like that, a dam within her mind burst apart. She sank to the vestibule floor and began to panic – a feeling she couldn’t afford to entertain, not now, not when she was so close to winning. She tried to think of Zoey and Mira sitting in the arena stands just outside the doors, but her mind took it one step further and zoomed out of the massive Pokemon League building entirely.
Outside of these walls, the world is all but on fire. Outside of these walls was a sky stuck in perpetual night, a darkness cast over every known region of the world. Rumors of disappearing legendary Pokemon were fast spreading, confirmed only by an increase in natural disasters that left towns devastated and crime rampant. The thrill of battling the Saja Elite Four over the past few hours had been just enough to whisk Rumi back, however temporarily, to a time when battling was simply for sport and not for survival.
It’s this survival that drove Rumi’s pursuit of victory, gaining Champion title after title in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Galar, Unova, and everywhere in between. Recognition as Champion granted Rumi exclusive access to restricted regions, and through this, she was able to encounter some of the very legendary Pokemon that were now rumored to have vanished. Now, with one Champion standing between her and the ultimate title in the last region she had yet to conquer, Rumi was closer than ever to Pokemon Mastery, and thus, the resources she needed to seek the most powerful legendary Pokemon of all: Arceus. Rumi hoped the elusive god Pokemon would help – how, she didn’t quite yet know. But with their world in the balance, Rumi didn’t know where else to seek answers, and as one of the strongest Trainers across all the regions, she felt an obligation to use that strength for the greater good. After all, was that not what a Pokemon Master was for?
As Rumi calmed herself down, one of the Pokeballs on her belt hummed warmly, as though the Pokemon inside sensed her unrest and sought to comfort her. She smiled down at it. Despite the Saja Elite Four’s best efforts to defeat her, Rumi hadn’t yet brought this one out into battle. This one she was saving for the Saja Champion, a secret weapon she was keeping up her sleeve for her final Championship. As widely regarded her victories were throughout the regions, she hadn’t been ready for people to find out she had bonded so closely with a legendary Pokemon to the extent of now having one on her team. But with the looming threat of other vanishing legendaries, Rumi knew she couldn’t keep this secret for too long.
Rumi took a deep breath and centered herself, bringing her thoughts back to the two girls sitting in the crowd in the Champion’s arena. For them, and for all of us, she thought to herself as she stepped through the doors to face the Champion of the Saja region.