Attendant: "Excuse me, trainer?"
"Yes?"
Attendant: "I just heard this on the Xtransceiver. There's a big storm on Route 7! And the storm seems to be different from... Wait a minute... I RECOGNIZE YOU!!"
"Uh-oh."
Attendant: "YOU'RE THE GIRL WHO BROKE MY SCREEN BACK AT ROUTE 4! THANKS TO YOU I GOT TRANSFERRED!"
"I swear it wasn't my fault! And I don't have the money to replace it! I'm sorry!"
Attendant: "Oh, don't worry. I don't want any money. I WANT YOUR SOUL!!"
She lept over the counter and began to strangle me. Thankfully the two Ace Trainers in the gate pulled her off and held her back so I could escape.
The first thing I did upon entering the route, besides take in the scenery, was approach some Poke Balls laying in the grass. The first one turned out to be a wild Foongus, the second one turned out to be a hostile Poke Ball just like earlier, and the third one was a Full Heal.
"Not bad, I guess."
The trainers on the route were all experienced elites, using teams of Pokemon from all over the Unova region, many fully evolved. It was a tough gauntlet, but my team prevailed. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one defeating the local trainers on this route.
Cheren: "Stop! Anthony!"
Bianca: "Hi!"
"What do you two want now?"
Cheren: "Simple. One last match. If I win, you have to buy me new glasses and I get to pick them out, no matter how expensive they are. If you win, you buy me replacement glasses like you really should, but I promise to stop harassing you. Deal?"
I hesitated for a moment, but decided we might as well bury the hatchet here at the climax of my journey.
"Very well"
Anthony vs. Cheren
My Typhlosion emerged first, to combat Cheren's Unfezant. Repeated fire attacks wore down Unfezant, while the only attack it got in was a fairly useless Razor Wind.
Cheren: "That was just the beginning! Go, Samurott!"
I promptly switched out to Exeggutor, who took down the high-levelled Samurott with Grass Knots.
"That's how you take out something much more powerful than yourself!"
Cheren: "What is, switching in a Pokemon with a type advantage before I even send it out?"
"Yep!"
Cheren: "Why can't I do that?"
Bianca: "Because we're NPC's! We're not allowed!"
Cheren sent out Liepard, who used Taunt on Lucario, which really didn't make much difference since Lucario only knows attacks.
Lucario wanted to learn Heal Pulse, but I declined to let him learn it. Last thing we need is him trying to heal people to death.
Cheren sent out his final Pokemon, a Simisear, while I shifted to Omastar. I probably don't need to tell you how that went.
Cheren: "Well, that's it."
"So now you have to stop harassing me."
Cheren: "Sigh..."
"And yeah, I'll give you the money to buy new glasses."
Cheren: "Actually, I noticed I'm seeing just fine."
"Wait... what?"
Cheren: "Yeah. I don't think I need glasses any more."
"But... that isn't even possible! Your eyes can't just correct their vision without some sort of surgery!"
He shrugged.
"Oh, well. At least I don't need to-"
He snatched the money from my hand.
"Hey!"
Cheren: "You still owe me, I just don't need to spend this on glasses!"
"Fine. Now stop harassing me."
Cheren: "Hey, I never said I wouldn't follow you around. I just won't challenge you to battles."
"No!"
Cheren: "We're going to the same place anyway!"
"Then you go ahead of me!"
Cheren: "Fine! Bianca, let's go!"
Bianca: "Whee!"
They went off.
Bianca: "Oh, but first..."
She handed me several Max Revives.
"Thank you."
After exploring a branch of the route to give those two a head start, I proceeded to the end of Route 10, where I encountered a large, ornate gate. On the other side was a barren area of cracked dirt, with gorge-like walls making it a closed-off path forward.
"This must be the gate to the Pokemon League."
Guard: "That it is. Now then, show me your Trio Badge!"
I showed him it, and he opened the large door, exposing an area that had grass and plants, a small creek, and fiery torches. The torches had burned down a lot of the plantlife, however. Up ahead was yet another large door and guard.
In the next room, I felt a sense of normalcy.
"This must have been designed by Lenora."
In the corner was two torches and an 8-bit looking sword, with a tag stating that it was dangerous to go alone. I ignored it, and proceeded to the Insect Badge's chamber, which was empty except for a large bug-shaped rock with a walkway over it.
"Strange."
As I walked over it, honey poured down from above. I quickly darted to the other end to avoid getting slimed.
"BURGH!!"
The next room was fairly straightforward, consisting of a metal bridge over what seemed like pointless power generators that existed solely for Elesa to have her theme. There was, however, one lone Ace Trainer hanging out in the place.
Ace Trainer: "Gates are placed at the border of one space and another space. In other words, gates mean that the world beyond here is a different world."
"I suppose. What are you doing in this room besides telling passerby that?"
Ace Trainer: "Oh, it has free Wi-Fi here in this room. Elesa demanded it."
I noticed he was using a laptop. I walked through the next gate, which opened to a fairly boring path, though the large mounds of earth on either side and exposed ores indicated Clay was responsible here. I noticed that the path was much, much wider than the others though. Skyla was next, and her area had no floor.
"What?"
All there was was a permanent updraft.
"Am I expected to walk on thin air?"
Guard: "Yes!"
I tried, and fell into the chasm.
"OW!"
Guard: "I never said it would work."
Of course, it wouldn't be Skyla's work without grievous bodily harm borne of ignorance to the workings of the human body. I somehow escaped the chasm, and walked on to Brycen's chamber. The floor was frozen, with large icicles serving as stopping points on the Frictionless Ice (TM). I slid to the other side rather easily.
Finally, in Drayden's realm, there was little beyond large dragon-shaped sculptures adorning the path. I exited through the large archway beyond it, and was faced with a huge mountainous structure, with caverns all over it.
I entered the ground-floor cave, and proceeded up to the next floor, where an Ace Trainer challenged me. During the battle, Typhlosion learned Lava Plume, a much needed move. This cavern led out onto the side of Victory Road's mountain. I realized it was sort of like an inverted Twist Mountain. As I walked around the lip, a Veteran slid down the side from a higher level and crashed into me, sliding me down to the lower level, albeit on a ledge that was inaccessible from the entrance.
"Watch where you're going!"
I climbed my way back up through nearby caverns, and found myself on the third level of the mountain now. Inside a cave, there was a Blackbelt running in circles. Suddenly, a dustcloud appeared on the ground. I ran over to investigate, seeing a nice Gem sitting in it.
"Ooh!"
The Blackbelt ran over the dust cloud, and it disappeared.
"Hey!"
Blackbelt: "Too bad!"
He continued running in circles. I went past him, and proceeded up. Now the path began to split. And the split paths began to split. Not wanting to miss out on any goodies hidden in the caverns, I began exploring wherever I could.
Eventually, I stumbled upon a much odder entity.
"Whoa."
The legendary Terrakion snorted at me.
"I guess you're the last one!"
Legendary Pokemon Battle!
Anthony vs. Terrakion
At this point, I outleveled Terrakion since it was only as powerful as its brothers. Lucario used Bulldoze, which inflicted good damage and slowed Terrakion down. After two of those, Omastar switched in and used Ancientpower, bringing Terrakion down to an abysmally small sliver of health. Now ready for capture, I switched to Exeggcute and put Terrakion to sleep with Hypnosis. Surprisingly, the first Ultra Ball captured it.
"Huh. That was easy."
I exited the Terrakion chamber and emerged out on top of Victory Road. In front of me stood a large, imposing building. I stepped toward it, ready to face the league.
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