Shadow Rysing Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Author's prelude- I guess I get to do this over...Eh, to give this a positive spin, it's a retcon. And oh boy, between a bad bout of burnout on anything creatively, it’s been a challenge to write. Depression is a bitch. Yes, this will turn into a playthrough, just want to set a background. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 1: small beginnings with big prophecies. Zane just wanted to sleep. Slammed into a wall by a dammed Kingdra. "It could be worse, I could have broken my neck...Still, that look Clair had. It was full of sadness, almost like she didn't want to fight me." he finished his thought while shifting to try to get comfortable. "Broken ribs suck." Zane thought aloud. "You know, I'm beginning to think that you like sadism..." said the sassy brunette walking into the room. "Babe...I wouldn't end up like this if Clair would just swallow her pride. But, she's too egotistical to do that." Zane piped back, grabbing at his side. "I'm dammed and determined to get the recognition I damn well deserve." "I know Zane, but sometimes you've got to stop hurting yourself while trying to get results. I don't want to see you hurt like this." Courtney knew how to get Zane to calm down... Nestled in the northeastern mountains of the Johto region, Blackthorn city is a beautiful sight to behold. Ice from the mountains has cut a river through the south of the city with waterfalls dotting the route that follows that river. Forests give the city its western edge while providing ample opportunities for trainers to toughen themselves and their partner Pokémon. Most of the time, these consist of dragon tamers. Of course, Blackthorn city is rooted in its past for a singular purpose... to fulfill the prophecy of the Johto region. This prophecy, handed down over numerous generations, tells of a trainer meeting and battling all kinds of Pokémon, and eventually coming across the one they call "God." Arceus. This legendary trainer prophecy has driven everything Blackthorn does... just so the city can claim to have that honor. The city that heralded the legendary trainer. Everything from training regiments to schooling. Who can be a dragon tamer, who can compete for gym positions. Those who were selected by the elders of the city were normally native-born children. However, Zane wasn't born in Blackthorn. He was born in Goldenrod, the biggest city in Johto. His mother, a native of Olivine, fled the city because of her family. While a talented battler herself, she could never use her prowess because her father demanded that she help with the family farm. His desire to own and operate his farm made the rest of the family help, otherwise it would have failed. However, Zane's mother, Marissa, wanted to be more than just a ranch hand. She wanted to experience things she thought were only dreams. So, during a late-night argument, she snuck out and ran east to Goldenrod. Fast forward 5 years, Marissa was finally able to put her battling abilities to use as the Goldenrod Gym Leader. During her time as a Gym leader, she would meet the man that would become Zane's father. He called himself Steve and he was from a smaller region, the Orre region. He had traveled to Johto because of his work, being a traveling researcher. However, because he was from the Orre region, he had never experienced a gym battle. So, he spent most of his time watching Marissa and her challengers. He was fascinated with her and her Pokémon for months, asking her numerous questions about how she felt about battling the challengers. They spent 5 months getting to know one another before he received a letter. The letter was from his family, and he needed to go home. One week after Steve left, Marissa found out she was pregnant. Two months after Zane was born, there was a confrontation in Marissa's Gym. Her brother had stormed in and started threatening her, saying that the family was going to make her life hell. Fearing for her newborn son, Marissa resigned as the Gym Leader, leaving the position vacant. Because of connections, she was able to flee to Blackthorn with the help of Lance's father, the then current Gym Leader. These connections gave the council no second thought about Zane being trained as a child of Blackthorn would be...The only exception was Alcin Kuso. Alcin had recently come into Blackthorn, just like Marissa and her son. However, he promised to the elders of the city council that he could help deliver the prophecy that Blackthorn so desperately coveted. Most dragon tamers started off with a Dratini as their first Pokémon if they heralded from Blackthorn. However, because of Alcin's lone exception, the council was stuck in debate about starting Zane as a dragon tamer. For 9 years, Zane didn't have a Pokémon because of this stalemate. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Now sweetie, don't go farther than the first edge, and stick close to Kangaskhan please?" Marissa told Zane as he was getting ready to play on the route to the south. "Yes Mom, I know. I promise I'll be careful." Zane responded with a tinge of melancholy. "I always am..." A group of kids was waiting for Zane to get to the mouth of the river. This group included Clair, Zak, and Lance, who was a bit older than the rest of the group. The 4 of them regularly hung out on the weekends after Clair and Lance had finished dragon training. Zak was an arrival to the city with Alcin; however, Zak didn't have the resentment that Alcin had. Not much else was known about him. He lived within the elders communal housing, and was pretty secretive, preferring to keep to himself, unless it was to hang out with Zane. “Hey Zane!” Lance called out. “You done getting your stuff together up there?” “Yea, I’m headed y’alls way!” Zane responded with a tinge of frustration. Route 45 was extremely hilly, full of small bumps. The route was divided in the middle by a river, mostly comprised of melting ice from the mountains in the north. This makes for excellent terrain to train Pokémon. This also made the Pokémon that inhabited the route some of the toughest in the region. The tops of the larger hills were dotted with nests of Skarmorys and Gligars. However, because Zane was with his mother’s Kangaskhan, he was fairly safe. Zane had some basic battling training, given his mother's position. However, he was still very green to the flow and overall feeling of battling. Kangaskhan was still strong enough to overcome this deficit in his knowledge at this time. “Humph.” Kangaskhan growled, trying to get Zane’s attention. “Yes, I know. I’m not gonna go past here. I know there’s a lot of danger down there.” Zane pipped back with. Suddenly, Lance and Zak blasted past Zane, laughing. “Hey Zane, come on down here!” Zak shouted after him while tossing his pokeball up in the air, releasing his Pokémon, A Chatot. Zak decided not to train dragons as they weren’t his speed. His choice of partner was the one he came over with. Lance followed suit by releasing his Dragnoair, followed by Clair’s Seadra. Zane slumped and sat down, disappointed that he couldn’t go further than the hill he was on. It was far to dangerous for him to move past that point, and Kangaskhan wouldn’t let him down there. “Go Dratini!” Zane thought aloud, throwing a rock, pretending that it was a pokeball. Lance, Zak, and Clair giving their pokemon some instructions to relax while they played in the water, shot a look up at Zane. “When is the council going to give him a start? He’s one of us!” Lance said proudly. “When Alcin doesn’t have a stick up his-…" Before Clair could finish her thought, a loud shriek cut through the air. “SOMETHING has a Skarmory up in arms over there.”Zak said, pointing to a hilltop behind Zane. Zane quickly turned around just barely to see a Skarmory jetting itself towards him. Before Zane or Kangaskhan could react, the metal bird had impacted Zane in the stomach, launching him into waters below, not able to stop. Before he knew it, Zane felt a presence, and then felt a creature budge his hand. Without thinking, Zane clenched his hand clutching the creature. The creature, in response, rocketed itself out of the water pulling Zane up with it. With Zane able to open his eyes properly out of that water, he found the creature to be a....pink Dratini? “I thought Dratini are blue?” Zane thought to himself. “Are you being disturbed by this punk?” Zane asked Dratini, with the juvenile dragon nodding in response. “Right then, how about we shut it up?” With little more than reflex, Zane began commanding Dratini. “Thunder Wave! Slow it down!” Dratini responded in kind, instantly launching a weak jolt of electricity, striking Skarmory and causing it to screech in agony. Dratini started squaring up, seeing the bird wriggle. “Do you know Dragon Rage?” Zane asked. Dratini started gathering a blueish flame in its maw. “Burn it.” Zane said coldly seeing this. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With this event, Zane had gotten his Dragon. But it was not an easy process for the council to accept him for training. Despite a close bond forming extremely quick, Zane and the Dratini were ostracized by Alcin, with his argument being it wasn’t but a mere fluke that they meet. Eventually, the council agreed to start training Zane, with the head elder overruling Alcin. For 13 years, Zane was trained just like those who were born in Blackthorn. He was trained to be a tamer, but that isn't what he wanted. He thought being a trainer, traveling the region to prove his strength was more apt for him. As most children had the choice to do so in Blackthorn, the council still had to approve this. Because the child leaving the village would carry the name of Blackthorn. Alcin blocked Zane's request. Zane's mother continued to support his choice. Always wanting him to be happy, she supported what he wanted to do. She always did things to ensure his success and was always willing to fight for him. It was her who trained him to be a trainer instead of a tamer for those years, being a proficient battler herself. She taught him the importance of always being thankful for his pokemons performance. Always looking after his health, she taught him some of the best training methods she had used for her pokemon. Because of this mentorship, Zane had quickly become one of the best battlers in the village, only being challenged by Clair, who was, in her own right, a prodigy; and Lance, the youngest accepted member of the Elite 4. However, there were significant hardships for the young Tamer. His mother had fallen seriously ill in later years, battling a rare form of cancer. This immediately put a stop to any plans to travel for Zane. His mother took priority. As Marissa’s health continued to decline, Zane began to battle less and less, feeling more responsible for keeping the home running. And when she passed after fighting for 3 years, Zane abandoned battling, instead choosing to try to survive on his own with His now Dragonair. After 13 years of training, it fell to nothing for him. The battle of living was more difficult than what he was prepared for. One year later, the village was more open to travelers, seeing as the Pokemon commissions office of Johto had recently put out a new league campaign. That was when Zane met the one who saved him from the deep depression he had entered. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “There is a reason why this gym is the last one trainers need to qualify for the league. Are you sure you can handle it?” Zane smirked as he chided the blonde. “Well, would you like to test me yourself?” “Courtney snapped back. “Or are you chicken?” She ended her retort with her hands on her hip. This clearly hit Zane in a spot he didn’t know he had. What was it holding him back? He wanted to battle again, despite losing his fire a year ago. “Why am I wanting to do this? I never backed down from a challenge before, but I haven’t had my fire to battle for a year now. So what’s different?” He thought to himself, unsure of what he was feeling. “Fine! Let’s go! There’s a training ground around the back. We’ll do a 1v1.” He exclaimed. -------------------------------------------------------------- Several hours later -------------------------------------------------------------- “May I ask you something Courtney?” Zane spoke up after an hour of rest after their battle. “Why did you set out on your journey?” Perplexed by this question, the blonde took a minute to think. “I’m not exactly sure myself. I think it was a way to avoid what I was leaving behind. A broken family, whom I never felt like I fit into. Well, never felt like I fit into after my dad passed a few years back...” This immediately took Zane by surprise and caused him to well up and look off into the distance. “You know, today was the first battle I’ve had in over a year. My mother was the one who primarily trained me. She passed a year ago, and I lost my fire to battle. I felt like I had to just survive.” Tears nearly breaking Zane’s voice. “She always loved seeing me train and battle at the gym. I was going to initially travel as a trainer. Then her health took a turn for the worse, then I thought maybe going for Gym Leader would be better. I would be able to keep tabs on her...” Zane couldn’t finish the thought. His pain became manifest and cut him short. Courtney reached her hand out and placed it on Zanes back for comfort. “Well, if it’s any comfort, she trained you right. That was the most intense fight I’ve had in a while, even for a 1v1.” Courtney said with a soft voice. “And I can’t imagine how tender it must be for you with it only being a year out. I’m sorry for your loss.” She added. “I’m sorry, you’re still just a stranger to me, I shouldn’t be breakin down like this in front of you.” Zane tried to apologize. “No, it’s quite alright. And I think we’re much more of a kindred spirit than you might think.” Courtney corrected him. “The one who pushed me to want to travel? Was my father... and he trained me, but it’s obvious you had the better training. I was no match for you today.” She tried to pick him back up. “No, you just need to learn the flow of battle better. You have the basics down well.” Zane said. “Well then, how about you teach me.” --------------------------- Present day --------------------------- “I know it’s been a dream of yours to travel. And yes, we could do it together. But you need to get over What Alcin has done to you. Everyone here has been telling you that it was just him voting against you. You don’t need to earn anyone’s recognition; you have it already.” Courtney told Zane, genuinely worried that the man she loves was going to end up seriously hurt. “Then why do I not feel like it?!” Zane snapped back. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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