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“I can only see one future! One where selfish, foolish humans think about nothing other than themselves and steal more and more from another… a tragic future! This device’s original purpose might have been that of life, but in the end, it achieved nothing but death and destruction. There is not much power left… but it is just enough to use it once more…. Pupils of Sycamore, watch as the lands you love twist into something you cannot even imagine!”
Atop Paldea’s Pokémon League building stood a lone figure surveying the vast landscape of the region, eyes sweeping over one landmark in the distance to another. From the ruins of the watchtowers from the time of the Paldean Empire, to the modern windmills spinning in the breeze, all the way to the fields of olives, oranges, and grapes; this was the Top Champion’s pride, her lands, her duty.
Most of the time, it was thankless work. Nights spent without sleep and meetings led to ensure the livability of the region were rarely acknowledged by others, but recognition was not something that the Top Champion sought out.
Geeta stood alone at the head of the league, carrying the weight of the well-being of trainers and civilians alike upon her shoulders. Her failures would reflect poorly upon the rest of the region, so naturally she built herself up as someone who should not fail.
That might have come with the effect of becoming absorbed in work that ate away at any chance of a social life that she might have had, but if that was the price to ensure the success of the region, then it was one that she would gladly pay.
Loneliness was an expected part of leadership. Framed within the view of an untouchable top trainer, being alone was just a result of her choices.
There was a pleasant ding from the elevator, breaking the Top Champion out of her musings. Well… maybe not totally alone.
The sound of a familiar set of footsteps rang out, and Geeta found herself trying to suppress a small smile as the corresponding voice soon followed, echoing across the empty battlefield.
“Thought I’d find ya up here, Boss.”
“Rika,” Geeta greeted, turning around to face the Ground-type specialist. “What brings you here?”
“Nothin’ in particular. Can’t a gal enjoy some fresh air?” Rika flashed a cheeky smile, throwing out bait for Geeta to return her banter.
Luckily for her, no one else was around to see them, so Geeta figured that she’d bite.
“Why of course, but you are on company time. Make sure not to take too long lest your pay get docked.”
Rika just laughed at that coming up beside her to be shoulder-to-shoulder with La Primera, both of them knowing full-well that though Geeta maintained a completely straight face and even tone of voice, she wasn’t the type to dock pay for taking a bit of a break.
Hearing her coworker’s mirth chipped a crack within Geeta’s solemn demeanor, and the Top Champion allowed herself a moment to wonder what life might be like if she could be open enough to be blessed with the sound of Rika’s laughter every day.
As of now, however, Geeta was afraid that wouldn’t be possible. She was much too busy, Paldea still much too underdeveloped to be able to afford her taking her hand off of its wheel. Still… she thought about it.
Rika reigned in her chuckles after a minute, eyes still hosting the smallest bit of amusement in them as she opened her mouth to respond to Geeta’s jab.
She did not get to speak a syllable before the sky turned dark and exploded.
Instinctively, the two moved closer to the other, fingers intertwining as a beam of energy and light seemed to explode outwards from the direction of Glaseado Mountain, making the sun seem dim in comparison. The pair could hardly make out anything else until the sky abruptly returned back to a normal-ish shade of blue, a bright meteor-like streak still visible in the air, still ascending upwards into the heavens.
Geeta recovered first, though her vision still danced with spots and her heart hammered in her chest like it would when she faced down an opponent on the battlefield. Her gaze immediately went back over to the direction where the beam had seemingly come from, though she could see no indication that any part of Paldea had been the source. Maybe the other mountains were blocking her view, but seeing that in that direction was only Montenevera and the mountain the city upon was fine, it was unlikely that the beam was Paldean in origin.
Though, that begged the obvious question;
“What… was that?”
The Top Champion could only squeeze Rika’s hand in response, before straightening her posture and bringing back the demeanor of Paldea’s La Primera.
“Contact the gyms. All settlements must be put on lockdown. Whatever it was… I will not allow unnecessary harm to befall this region.”
Rika’s expression hardened, and she nodded curtly, letting go of Geeta’s hand as she turned around to leave and enact the will of the Top Champion.
“Rika,” La Primera called after the Ground-type specialist, who froze in her tracks and turned her head around. “...be careful.”
She received a two-fingered salute in return, the length of Rika’s tie trailing behind her as she continued onwards. Geeta could only hope to whatever higher being was listening that whatever that beam was, it would not mark the end of Paldea and its inhabitants.
Tulip’s first week as gym leader was going swimmingly, at least up until the point where it seemed as though the heavens itself were tearing apart and the frantic calls and alerts started to pour in, clogging up her phone’s notifications as the familiar sound of the Paldean Emergency Alarm blared from every electronic device that was hooked up to the internet.
So there was a crisis. Great. At least she didn’t have to worry about any challenger that might have been trying to get a badge. She wasn’t even sure how that would have worked, if she would have had to write an ‘I.O.U’ or if the trainer would just have to go through the test again… which could do with some improvement, but that wasn’t something that Tulip could afford to think about currently.
“Miss Tulip, we must close the gym-”
“Miss Tulip, the Rangers are on their way-”
“Miss Tulip, is this a full lockdown-”
“Miss Tulip-”
“Tulip!”
A familiar, brash voice cut through the din of gym trainers, lower government officials, and civilians who seemed to think that the entire situation was nothing more than a hoax for some reason or another. To Tulip, it was a lifeline that she grasped at desperately, eyes darting across the crowd of people in suits or sandals until she spotted a familiar tracksuit and waved the figure over.
“Dendra,” the Psychic-type specialist said breathlessly, tuning out all of the noise from those around her, “what are you…?”
“I wanted to surprise you with lunch,” Dendra said sheepishly, “but, uh…”
Dendra gestured around vaguely, as if everything else happening around them was explanation enough (it was).
“But anyways! What can I do to help?”
For a moment, Tulip’s mind went completely blank. With the entire situation that had unfolded in front of her, she still had yet to actually fully comprehend what in the Distortion Realm she was doing.
She had only been a gym leader for a week. This craziness was happening. Was she even qualified to handle this?
“I-” Tulip started, then stopped, then allowed her attention to wander to the never-ending din that was pressing in around the two.
“-we need-”
“-what do we-”
“-how do you-”
“-iss Tulip-“
“Whoa, hey there, you with me?”
Dendra’s voice once again served to break Tulip out of her trance, preventing her from losing what little respect she might have gotten from her short time as gym leader. Still, she didn’t trust herself to speak just yet, answering Dendra’s question with only a nod as she placed her hands on Tulip’s shoulders.
“Alright, good. This is… certainly a crazy thing that’s happening right now, but we’re going to do our best to get through this together, okay?” When Tulip nodded back in confirmation, Dendra continued trailing her hands down to intertwine their fingers together in a grounding motion. “Okay. Now… would you like me to do anything to take some things off of your plate?”
Tulip sucked in a breath, closed her eyes, and counted to five. She was a gym leader. If this was a challenge, then she would rise to the occasion.
“Could you… please help inform Alfornada citizens to return to their places of residence until further notice?”
“Osu! Of course!” Dendra struck her iconic battling pose before starting off into the crowd of citizens. “I won’t let you down! Alright everyone, if we can please make our way back to our homes-!”
With the crowd thinning out, Tulip couldn't help but let out the sigh of relief that she didn’t even know her body was holding onto until the present moment. Okay. She wasn’t alone. Dendra had her back. There was a crisis going on, but all instructions had already been relayed through the region’s emergency sirens.
She was the mouthpiece. She could do it. She could keep her city safe.
After the incident with Team Plasma, just about everyone within Unova would agree that the gym leaders needed a break. And then when Neo-Team Plasma struck again, well, it was a miracle that more leaders didn’t just quit their jobs then and there.
Many retreated from the public eye to recover, sure, but to the knowledge of everyone else, they still held their titles of gym leaders. The Unovan League had declared a week of closure and remembrance for those who had perished within the attack on Opelucid City, but even after reopening and attempting to return to normalcy, there was a bleak air of horror that lingered like the Sticky Web of a Swadloon.
As such, there weren’t a lot of younger trainers with parents willing to let them continue exploring the region and participating within the league. For older trainers, many of them had either already received their gym badges, or simply did not have the time to come and challenge the gyms with reconstruction and such. Thus, many of the gym leaders remained in a state of idleness, falling back on their secondary jobs to keep them occupied while waiting for their gyms to see challengers once more, or extending their gym’s closure to accommodate for any sort of impromptu vacation.
Which was the reason why both the Mistralton and Nimbasa City gym leaders were seven thousand feet above the ocean, en-route towards the Unovan Nature Preserve.
Was it running away from their problems? Debatable. But Skyla had heard of the soon-approaching migration of Altaria, and Elesa had nothing better to do for the next week, so together they went.
High above the clouds, the noise from life on the ground faded away, the only tether being the voices of the air traffic control towers. But those went silent after a while, when Skyla brought the craft up high enough and let them cruise on at a steady pace.
Trusting in the capabilities of her partner, Elesa had allowed herself to doze off, uncaring of the possibility of waking with a crick in her neck, the whistling of the wind and the hum of the engines lulling her into a state of semi-unconsciousness. And there she would have stayed if not for a shrill alarm that filled the cockpit.
“Effective immediately, until further notice, flight operations in the national airspace system, including Unovan civil aircraft, foreign civil, and military aircraft are prohibited, except for medical emergency, Unovan military, law enforcement, and emergency evacuation flights. All aircraft must contact their closest control tower for further instructions. Repeat, effective immediately, until further notice…”
The screeching alert over the radio continued, and Elesa uncrossed her arms and sat up in her seat. Blinking quickly, she immediately looked over to where the wind to her storm was seated, eyes focused dead ahead into the skies that she dominated. Her grip on the yoke was constrictive, so unlike the relaxed way that Skyla had been handling the aircraft when they first took off.
“Oh, Dragons, not again,” Skyla swore under her breath, before reaching over towards the radio and tuning it to a different frequency. “Mistralton Control, this is Skyguardian Five-Five-Eight-One Echo, current position two hundred and seventy miles from Mistralton en-route to the Nature Preserve. Requesting further instruction.”
The radio spewed out static and the faint noise of air traffic controllers addressing other planes. Then, “Skyguardian Five-Five-Eight-One-Echo, this is Mistralton Control. Maintain altitude and heading towards Preserve airspace. Repeat, maintain altitude and heading towards Preserve airspace.”
“Five-Eight-One-Echo remaining on-course, confirm.”
Air traffic control then proceeded to read out a new frequency for Skyla to be transferred to, and her partner dutifully changed frequencies once more and started speaking to what must have been the air traffic control tower for the Nature Preserve. Even while rattled, even while her hands trembled while working the controls and making minute adjustments, she exuded an air of confidence, secure in her own skills as a pilot to be able to guide her craft to safety.
Elesa, on the other hand, could just feel the sweat forming on the back of her neck.
The skies weren’t her domain. She and Skyla might share a runway, but once they were above the earth, that was where Elesa ceded control to her partner. She had full confidence in Skyla's ability to get them down on the ground safely, but with the events of Team Plasma so fresh in her mind, she couldn’t help how her own breaths started to come in short. The sight of Opelucid City covered in ice flashed through her mind, and the chilly air within the cockpit wasn’t helping her as her brain unhelpfully supplied the memory of rescue teams slipping on the unnaturally smooth ice.
Was there, like, a Neo-Neo-Team Plasma attacking the region? Neo-Team Plasma, Electric Boogaloo? Team Plasma Part Three?
Unlike whatever cheesy films came out from Pokéstar Studios, no one in Unova wanted a sequel to Neo Team Plasma.
But if it wasn’t Team Plasma, then what could it be? What sort of horrible event could have made that alert be broadcast to every aircraft?
Elesa wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know. Though her spiraling thoughts were cut off by a soft weight coming to grasp her hand, squeezing lightly as she focused her gaze onto her partner.
Skyla had one hand on the yoke, and she spared a quick glance to Elesa before directing her attention back towards the controls, all of the dials and gauges that meant nothing to Elesa no matter how much Skyla tried to teach her.
“It’s going to be okay,” Skyla seemed to be saying, “trust me.”
And though Elesa might have been terrified for whatever unknown threat that had besieged the region once more, she knew that she trusted Skyla with every cell in her body, and that her beloved would keep them safe, no matter what sort of storm they had to weather.
The howling blizzard on Route 217 seemed less chaotic than the current situation in Snowpoint City.
Maylene had only just arrived, and yet she was already swept up in the panicked rush of citizens and visitors alike attempting to find extra fuel or someplace to stay for… some reason. She attempted to ask what was going on, but no one stuck around long enough to give her a concrete answer.
It definitely wasn’t the blizzard that was causing this, though. The citizens of Snowpoint City endured so many harsh storms that they were almost completely desensitized to blizzards. Rescue Absol and Houndoom were always on the lookout thanks to the local rangers, but as long as everyone stayed within the limits of the city, they would be fine. In fact, it was a well-known stereotype that Northern Sinnohans would trek outside of their houses just to take selfies during a snowstorm, often striking absurd poses with their Pokémon and captioning the pictures with equally out-of-pocket slogans, much to the chagrin of the Emergency Management Office.
(Maylene’s favorite was one of an Abomasnow next to the Snowpoint Gym, with text that read: “Snow Warning? Why would you ever think that?”)
In any case, Maylene soon managed to squeeze her way through the crowds to the gym, and was rewarded with the sight of her girlfriend, as beautiful as ever, snow like diamond dust floating around her as she gestured around wildly in a conversation with the head of the local ranger division as well as the mayor of the city. Had circumstances been different, perhaps Maylene would have allowed herself to stand by silently and watch, but as it was, she forced herself to continue forwards until she could reach out and graze Candice’s shoulder.
“What’s going on?”
The mayor and ranger started off in the same direction, leaving the two of them alone even throughout the chaos. Candice turned around to face her girlfriend. “You didn’t hear?”
“I don’t get signal up here.”
Candice seemed to realize that, and pressed a fist to her forehead, her foot tapping anxiously on the snow-covered ground. “Some sort of weapon went off in Kalos. They don’t know who it was aimed at or what it’ll do. At least… that’s the last I heard. The blizzard’s blocked all further communication to the city, probably knocked down one of the relay towers or something. We could try to trek down to Route 217 or 216, but then we’d take the risk of not making it back. I–I mean, we probably should try, but… what if whatever weapon it was already hit someplace? Or what if-”
The Snowpoint Gym Leader started to ramble on, gaze becoming more unfocused as her mind and mouth raced on with hypotheticals that no one could know the answer to. Maylene had only seen Candice like this once before, a few years ago when the whole Team Galactic debacle happened.
“Candy,” Maylene said firmly, hands on Candice’s shoulders as she directed her partner’s gaze to herself. “Slow down. Breathe. We’re still here. No matter what happens… we’ll be okay.”
The pair of gym leaders remained like that for a while, the sounds of their breath syncing even as the raging blizzard from the route below moved upwards to assault the city with snowfall so thick that it blocked out the rest of the world around them.
“I… I hope you’re right.”
Had Sabrina been a lesser psychic, perhaps the visions of death and destruction would have sent her into a frantic state of panic. As it was, though, all she could do was prematurely close down the Saffron City Gym as she pondered over the placement of her premonition.
Perhaps it was lucky then, that it had been a vision of today.
When the alerts came in from the Indigo League and Kanto’s government, Saffron City had already been in a state of half-lockdown, as the actions of their gym leader were very much taken into account whenever its citizens began their days. The last time that the gym had closed outside of its normal hours of operation was during the Team Plasma incident halfway across the globe, so those who lived within the city limits were quite used to heeding the unspoken warning of their city’s protector.
Which also made it easier for Sabrina to focus, not having to worry too much about gym responsibilities and being able to sit and meditate in peace, turning over her premonitions in peace.
Well… relatively speaking.
She was still worried. Not for the rest of Kanto. The Indigo League and the Ranger Corps and every citizen who remembered the Great War were all ready and prepared for the worst. No, she was worried for one of her fellow gym leaders, one who occupied the town south of Saffron City.
She shouldn’t have been. Attempting to figure out the meaning of her premonitions was something that was impaired by strong emotions. And yet she could not bring her mind to find peace, no matter how hard she tried to purge all other thoughts from her head, the lingering scent of floral perfume and the rustle of a silk kimono remained.
A lesser psychic might have given up. A better person would, too. What good would come out of remaining holed up within a place where one’s help could be used elsewhere?
Sabrina, however, was neither. She remained rooted in place, eyes closed as she tried to wrangle control over her own mind.
Instead, her thoughts continued to wander elsewhere. Outside of her body, sure, but nowhere near the direction where she wanted it to go. Her presence remained by the gym, hovering around as the minutes ticked by, waiting for something that Sabrina herself didn’t quite know yet.
Her answer came a while later, when the familiar clop of geta sandals rang out across the empty streets of the city. Unbidden, Sabrina felt the corner of her lips twist upwards in a small smile, as she continued to follow the presence until it came to the front doors of her gym, which opened with barely a touch from the same woman that Sabrina’s mind refused to stray from.
Now, Sabrina could relax. When the presence of the soft blooms of spring was in her doorway, that was when she let go of her earthly tethers, and let her spirit wander the planes between time and space.
It was a long time before Sabrina opened her eyes once more, a peaceful expression upon her face as she turned towards Erika. The other gym leader seemed nervous at first, but upon seeing Sabrina’s relaxed demeanor, could not help herself from letting out a premature sigh of relief.
“Will it be… okay?”
Sabrina nodded, echoes of triumphant whoops and relieved laughter still echoing throughout her mind.
“We will be fine… Kalos has stories yet to be told.”
“To this day… I yearn to create a more beautiful world. I will yearn for it forever. I once thought we could achieve that world by fulfilling the material needs of everyone… but now I know it is not that simple. An old proverb says that it is good to feed the hungry, but better to teach them how to feed themselves. I… had focused solely on what I believed the world needed. Yet, I lost sight of how to make it so that people and Pokémon could truly flourish. I have learnt my lesson well. Perhaps in time, the beautiful world I seek will finally come to fruition.”
“Wait for me before you charge in! How hard is that?”
Sounds of Canari’s screaming filled the space, echoing throughout the garage of Racine Construction. Had Tarragon’s hearing not been going out, Gwynn would have felt inclined to feel bad for the man, especially given the unholy hour that the two of them were up at, playing a ranked match with mostly strangers who didn’t know how the game worked. It was grating on Carani in particular, who had expressed discontent with the matchmaking algorithm before.
“I can’t help you if you’re already dead, you pea-brained, Skrelp-sucking, Ange-Floette-blasted idiots! I hope your mother chokes on a Horsea and dies!”
“You’re not streaming,” Gwynn said dryly from her place next to Canari, hiding her own annoyance at their teammates much better than her girlfriend was (it was easier since she wasn’t hooked up to voice chat), “you can swear for real, you know.”
Canari just sighed in acknowledgement, collecting herself for a moment before addressing the teammates still in the lobby. “You know what?” She started, voice barely holding back her annoyance, “Good effort everyone, good effort… is what I would say if I didn’t have the second-highest damage output as Kyra you Ditto-born bastards! If your families knew what was good for them, they’d chuck themselves into Hyperspace Lumiose or jump into the Great Crater! You’d be more useful as Pyroar food, and I hope you spend the rest of your life in Wild Zone 17!”
With that, Canari exited the lobby, and Gwynn followed suit, watching with Braviary-eyes as her girlfriend slumped back into her gamer chair, her perpetually terrible posture showing itself once more.
“Maybe we should take a break,” Gwynn suggested after a while. “Let some time zones flip over and come back when there’s new people in the lobbies.”
Her girlfriend let out a sigh, pulling down her mask for a moment and taking some deep breaths. “...yeah, you’re right. Sorry ‘bout losin’ it back there.”
“You know you never have to apologize to me,” Gwynn was quick to respond.
“Eh, well… is it too early to be making Ange Floette references?”
Gwynn just shrugged. “Ask Team MZ about it. I don’t think so. Honestly, once another crisis happens, whatever the one before it kinda seems less impactful.”
Canari nodded, as though Gwynn had just shared something wise and sagely. “Fair. So… what were you thinking? For a break. You maybe wanna heat up some snacks and watch another episode of that paranormal show you like?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of taking a look around from the roof,” Gwynn admitted. She reached down to shut off her computer setup, the fans of her PC whining softly before stopping.
“Ha, tryin’ to make me touch grass now, G-Volt?” Canari replied with a laugh. “Well, I can’t say that it isn’t a good idea! If you’re still up for the Z-A Royale tomorrow we could see where the current zones are tonight to guess where they might pop up next.”
Any other night, Gwynn might have grumbled about the Z-A Royale’s strange tendency to never release information beforehand as to where the next Battle Zones might pop up, because that meant that her lumbering oaf of a brother was always running across the city and creating more problems for her to solve in his haste to find one of the zones. However, tonight Gwynn just hummed in response, carefully avoiding stepping on the copious amounts of Tynamo and Eelektross plushies as she made her way out of the gaming den.
There was shuffling from behind her as Canari shut down her PC and followed her out, before the two quickly found themselves outside of Racine Construction and walking down South Boulevard towards the Gare de Lumiose and Vert Street, veering off towards the familiar golden-yellow lights of a Holovator next to a scaffolding course.
One burst of teleportation later, and the pair were atop the roof, the glow of Wild Zone 17’s border shining brightly against the dark canvas of the night. The pair of them ignored that, however, in favor of walking along the rooftop until the bones of Lumiose Tower were fully visible to them.
Gwynn paused for a moment as she looked at the looming figure, a shadow against the light of the city, the steel of its frame covered in greenery with bits and pieces of metal jutting outwards.
She almost could not believe that it had only been a handful of months since the tower came alive, trapping the Team M-Z leader inside and necessitating the cooperation of all major Lumiose City factions to keep the city safe. Just a year ago, Lumiose Tower had been clad in snow-white panels, awaiting the return of its gym leader while renovations took place. And five years before that, it had stood unaccompanied by walls as it remained illuminated even after the launching of the Ultimate Weapon.
“Poké for your thoughts?”
Gwynn snapped out of her trance, meeting the gaze of a concerned Canari. The streamer seemed to be trying to hide it, though, as she quickly looked away towards the tower and shoved her hands in her pockets. The sight almost seemed comical, so out-of-character from the Canari that Gwynn knew that she just couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her mouth.
“Nothing much,” she answered quickly, the response ready at the tip of her tongue as it would be if it had been Ivor asking instead. But then she pondered a moment, circling her mind back to exactly what she had been thinking before Canari asked. “Well… do you ever start to think about how exactly we get to where we are today?”
“Feeling philosophical, are we?” Canari teased lightly, before a serious expression returned to her face. “I mean… sometimes. Why?”
“...just… thinking about everything that’s happened. How we ended up here,” Gwynn answered. “I mean… would we have gotten together if it weren’t for the Z-A Royale? Would the Z-A Royale have happened if it weren’t for the threat of Rogue Mega Evolution? Would those new megas have been discovered if it weren’t for the Ultimate Weapon firing again?”
Canari cocked her head slightly to the side. “That’s… huh. Never thought of it like that.”
As destructive as the Ultimate Weapon had been, as much pain and suffering that it had caused, the changes that it brought were not just confined to a label of terrorism, nor was the event itself just to be remembered as violence.
Kalos had been saturated with energy once more, allowing its inhabitants to forge new bonds with their partners that they might have never been able to before.
The world had stopped to stare that day, as the force of the most destructive weapon in known history had come crashing back down onto the land.
But this day, two Kalosians stopped to stare over a city forever changed, illuminated by the light of the stars.
