Chapter Text
“The story out of Saffron City continues to develop this morning, as SilphCo has released a statement claiming yesterday’s series of explosions were the result of an internal experiment gone awry. Details are still sparse, but the official word from Saffron City PD is that there were no deaths and only minor injuries as a result of the incident. It looks like the excitement of the last twenty-four hours may be winding down, Tony.”
“Eh, I don’t know Jim. Nobody’s been able to answer why these “experiments” were being run in a penthouse suite, or what they involved. Some people—”
Zane tuned out the report and shook his head with a shaky breath. Distractions would do little good, now.
The pokéball felt cool in his hands as he rolled it between them in habitual motion. Flecks of slate blue paint shed away with each rotation, revealing the red beneath. He’d need to touch it up, soon.
The whirring of the doors sliding open cut through a lull from the broadcast and a portly employee finally entered the atrium from the back, nose buried in his work. Zane leapt to his feet, posture rigid straight.
“Good morning!”
The attendant jumped, dropping his tablet and coffee with a clanging splash. “Merciful Arceus,” he said, hand over his heart. “Don’t do that!”
“Sorry.” Zane winced at the man’s annoyed tone but pressed forward and stepped up to the counter. “But I’m here to challenge the Gym.”
The attendant ignored him. He squatted down and picked up the soaked tablet with a grimace. “Clair is going to kill me, then fire me. Great.” He looked up to Zane, his eye twitching beneath a bushy brow. “The circuit started yesterday. How long have you even been waiting?”
“Well, the Gym opened at eight, so…”
“And you’ve just been sitting here for two hours?” The man stood with a groan, back cracking. “There’s a bell, y’know?” He gestured toward a single button next to the door he’d come through. Behind the counter.
A flush crept up Zane’s neck. How was he supposed to know that?
“That’s neither here nor there,” he said, pushing past the embarrassment. “I’m here to compete for a badge.”
The attendant gave him a once over with a critical eye and Zane fought the urge to fidget. “Clair only accepts challenges from trainers with seven badges. Now get out of here so I can salvage some type of peace this morning.”
“But that’s not right.” Anxiety bloomed in Zane’s chest, stirring a panicky rhythm to his heart. “Gyms have to offer challenges to trainers of every badge level.” He had read the manual front-to-back on the way to Blackthorn. Enough times to leave the book’s spine broken and held together with hopes and prayers. The rules were clear, and he’d based his entire plan on it. “She has to battle me.”
The man pinched his eyes shut. “Patience, Colin, patience.” He took two deep breaths before leveling Zane with a look carrying the same dismissive energy as before. “Everyone and their mother knows Clair’s meant to be the final hurdle before the Conference.” He gestured to the waiting area. Spacious and empty. “Which is why nobody else is here and I should be able to study right now instead of talking down a newbie.”
“But it’s against the rules,” Zane tried again, mind whirring for options. He had no backup plan.
Colin snorted. “Take it up with the League; see where that gets you.”
“I… you…” The man waved him off and Zane’s anxiety settled into a proper annoyance. “Where’s Clair? I’ll challenge her directly.”
“Oh sure.” He went back to his tablet, shaking his head. “Just head on to the Dragon’s Den and interrupt her training. That’ll go over real well.”
Zane spun on his heels and marched toward the Gym’s exit with desperate determination. Everything depended on winning his first badge. Without it he’d be destitute. He’d have to go crawling back or sit and wait until they tracked him down. He wasn’t sure which option would be worse.
“Wait, kid. I wasn’t serious! Don’t be suici—”
Zane ignored the man’s parting words as the doors closed behind him. He turned north and released his sole partner from his pokéball.
“Sol!” the pokémon emerged with a fierce cry. The blue-grey ball of cytoplasm that surrounded his body rippled with psychic energy before he realized there wasn’t an opponent in front of him. “Losis?”
“Change of plans, buddy.” Zane tapped his shoulder and Solosis dropped onto it. His gel-like form molded over it so the psychic could keep his balance. His expressions could be hard to read, but Solosis warbled at him in a worried tone. “You know that crazy cave I read to you about last night? Well, we have to go in there.”
“Sol. Los.” His concern was clear.
“We’ll just have to sneak our way through. Find Clair. Convince her to let us battle. Easy peezy.”
Solosis didn’t say anything more, trusting him.
Zane hoped he was worth that trust.
The idea had been perfect. Blackthorn City was the closest to the commune and he could knock the hardest gym leader off the list while they fought at the first badge level. He would have secured enough funds to get through Ice Path, and nobody could question his participation in the circuit with the Rising Badge in hand.
To have it come crashing down because some Gym Trainer had a stick up their ass? Unthinkable.
Zane fumed to himself as he weaved through Blackthorn’s orderly streets. Solosis, bless him, sent warm emotions his way. The psychic type was not strong enough to form words mentally, but his empathetic abilities grew each passing day.
It was enough to soothe over the roughest edges of Zane’s anger by the time he reached one of the four bridges that arced over Blackthorn’s mountainside lake. People gave him odd looks as he pushed past folks taking leisurely strolls on the walking path, but he paid them little mind. Solosis warbled another worried sound when Zane didn’t even slow for a battle that broke out on one of the wider sections of the bridge.
“All the guides barely mention what’s actually in the Den,” he said, idly scratching the spot above Solosis’ head the pokémon liked. “We’re going to need to stay focused since it’s supposedly Clair’s personal training ground.” A place where dragons trained and honed their skills…
Zane squashed the nesting doubt and pressed ahead.
The bridge let out to a scant quarter mile stretch of rocky land bathed in the shadow of the northern mountain range where the four paths converged to a modest gravel trail. Rocks crunched beneath his feet as Zane picked up speed.
“Sol!” his pokémon cried happily, using Confusion to pick up a handful of tiny rocks to orbit around him. It was an old training technique to hone precision and control, and one of Solosis’ preferred games. He’d pick out his favorites and store them in his body every time.
Zane had planned to use his shorter stature to his advantage for once and slip past the guard at the mouth of the cave, but he found them already distracted by another would-be spelunker.
“I’m not even asking to go alone!” A dark-skinned woman glared down a man twice her size, a Ditto clutched in her arms. “I just want a chance to make my pitch. You can come with me every step of the way.”
“And I’m telling you it’s impossible. Clair’s not to be disturbed when she’s training. The whole cave system gets unstable when she lets her team go all out.”
“Ugh. Fine.” She tossed her long braids over her shoulder. “I guess I’ll just have to wait here and keep you company all day. Is that what you wa—Is that a shiny!?”
Zane sprinted past the pair and a laugh bubbled from his throat. He was in!
“Kid, stop! There could be sink—”
Whatever else the guardsman said was lost to the wind as the ground disappeared beneath Zane’s feet between one step and the next.
He screamed, and fell.
---
“Alright,” Zane said. “This was a terrible idea. I’m sorry.” He trudged through the dim light, keeping his left arm hugged close to his chest. Something was messed up in his shoulder, but he could ignore the constant throb of pain if he kept it as still as possible. Or turn to that side. Or take too big of a step. “Fuck.”
“Solo. Losis…”
The psychic type was the only reason Zane wasn’t dead. The sinkhole let out into a cavern covered in stalagmites like so many teeth, and Solosis’ Confusion kept Zane from being skewered.
Bouncing off the sides of them was hardly pleasant, but the tiny pokémon did his best.
“Ribs too?” Zane tested a slow breath, wincing as his side bloomed in fresh, burning pain. “Ribs too.” He blinked through misty eyes and forced himself to move forward. Gas lamps lit the opposite end of the chamber, sending dancing shadows between rocky pillars. It had to be a well-traversed path, just a few hundred meters ahead.
He could do this.
He made it all of a hundred steps before another rumble shook the cavern. He braced against stalagmite half again his height and used it to sink to the ground. “We’ll take it in chunks.” He reassured Solosis, who hovered closer to check Zane over. He breathed in for a ten count through the pain, then out. “Slow and steady.”
Or not at all. Every moment on the ground made the prospect of moving seem a terrible idea. The pain faded as he kept still, and breaths came easier. The two above would search for him, wouldn’t they? He could stay put. Rest.
His eyes drifted closed.
Click, clack, click click clack. “Sol!” Zane rolled his head over to the pokémon to see him holding a half dozen of his collected pebbles in a psychic grip. “Solosis!” He started the beat again, bringing the stones together in a familiar rhythm.
Zane smiled. “Don’t think this is what she pictured when she said we’d see things we’d never see in Valorspring.”
“Sol.” The psychic said, deadpan. He started over.
“Fine,” Zane grumbled before taking as deep a breath as he dared and joined in with a rumbling hum.
Within a half dozen notes, his voice and Solosis’ beat faded to Zane’s ears, replaced by his mother’s soothing melody. He could not hold a candle to match her talent, but there was comfort in the attempt.
In the sound of home.
They kept at it for long minutes. Zane let the angers and anxieties of the morning wash away like so much grime. They built toward the crescendo and were joined by the rattling of metal matching the melody. Solosis cut off with a surprised yelp, his rocks clattering to the ground. A small quadrupedal pokémon peaked around the nearest stalagmite. Their tail swished, silver and golden scales rattling against each other. Zane sucked in a sharp, painful breath, which sent the little one skittering back behind the rock with wide eyes.
Zane shared a look with Solosis before starting their song again with a hesitant, gentler pitch. Solosis slowly joined back in with fresh stones.
It took another minute before their guest poked their head back into the open. A large golden scale crested over their forehead in the shape of a heart, drawing attention away from the nervous pinch in their tiny grey face. Red eyes flicked between Zane and Solosis before they joined in once more. Hesitant at first, but they grew confident enough to come out of their hiding spot by mid song.
They were only as long as an outstretched arm, but they had to be a dragon. The books all said there were few other types in the cave.
“Jangmo,” they spoke as the song trailed off. Their mouth pulled back into what Zane assumed was a smile. “Mo!” They ran in a quick circle and swished their tail with another quick rattle. The light from the distant gas lamps glittered off their scales.
“Fan of music, then?” Zane reached out a hesitant hand and Jangmo-o sniffed at it and bumped their crest scale against it. It was cool to the touch. “You’re supposed to be terrifying, you know?” All the manuals warned how prideful and territorial dragon types could be.
“Jang?” They leaned into his touch with a chittering purr as he scratched where the crest met their head. “Mo, oh?”
“Sol,” his starter answered with a warble. They went back and forth, and Zane only followed half of the conversation, but Solosis’ tone grew brighter the longer they talked. “Solosis!”
“Knows the way, huh?” Zane looked toward the lights and down to the little dragon, managing to draw up a smile. “Well, won’t turn down the help.”
“Jang!”
“Right.” Zane hoisted himself up, grimacing through a wave of fresh pain. “We’re in your care.”
“Jang!” they repeated with a little hop, scales jingling.
“As you say, but let’s go slow and—”
“Dree!”
Zane registered bright, yellow eyes before Solosis’ Reflect burst to life in time to catch a streak of black before it could crash into his face. “Dreepy!” The blur reconstituted into a pokémon in greens and reds. Their triangular head lost its shape as they tried again, but Solosis was quicker to move his psychic barrier. Somewhere between the third and fourth time, Jangmo-o pressed against the back of Zane’s legs, shivering.
Adrenaline chased away the pain and snapped Zane back to focus. “Confusion!” he ordered. Dreepy rebounded off the Reflect and Solosis dropped it and caught the pokémon in a bubble of purple energy. They struggled against it and cried out as Solosis upped the intensity. Zane took a calming breath. “You have it, bud?”
“Sol!” his starter confirmed. He floated forward, eyes lit in a familiar glow, but Dreepy melted into shadow once again and snapped through Solosis’ telekinetic grip. They zipped through the air before Zane could think past his shock and struck Solosis dead center. The blow sent him flying into the ground hard enough to kick up rubble.
Zane’s mind whirled as he eyed the wild pokémon reform. They shook their head with slow blinks, shaking off the remnants of the Confusion. “Rollout,” he said and ignored how his voice shook. The thing had not been immune, so they weren’t a dark type. He did not need to panic.
By the time Dreepy gained their bearings, Solosis blasted up from the dirt as a swirling ball of cytoplasm. They collided and Dreepy ricocheted against a pair of stalagmites while Solosis arced against gravity, using his psychic energy to boost his speed. His physical capabilities needed all the extra oomph he could muster.
Solosis chased after Dreepy, but the wild pokémon was quick. They dropped into shadow before the attack could land and tried to latch onto Solosis with a Bite as he passed. Zane’s heart leapt to his throat at the sight of dark type energy in the pokémon’s attack, but the momentum from the Rollout kept their teeth from sinking in.
The glancing blow still caused Solosis to cry out in pain and broke his spin, leaving him staggered in the air.
“Psywave!”
Solosis’ eyes glowed blue, and an invisible force hammered into Dreepy before they could slip into the shadows again, sending them to the ground.
“Again!”
The second was weaker than the first, and Dreepy pushed back against the psychic shove. They let out a cry that stung Zane’s ears and caused Solosis to shrink away. They rose back up to an equal height with Solosis and looked worse for wear to Zane’s eyes, but darkness gathered in their mouth once more.
“Confusion,” Zane ordered so quickly the word came jumbled. Solosis obeyed, eyes aglow, but his tiredness showed as he only slowed his opponent rather than stop him. Dreepy crept forward against the onslaught, yelling their name in fury. “Give it all you’ve got!”
“Solosis!” his partner cried, and Zane imagined he felt the pressure in the air as the pokémon sent all the force he could muster against the wild dragon.
The gathered darkness in Dreepy’s mouth faded with each heartbeat, but they persisted forward and latched onto Solosis with a full Bite.
Zane’s thoughts screeched to a halt with Solosis’ pained shouts. There were strategies here, he was certain. Moves to counter, abilities to exploit. None came to mind, and he reacted on instinct, charging the pair and aiming a shoulder check at the wild dragon.
Dreepy went immaterial and Zane passed straight through them and crashed into the stalagmite behind them.
Every injury he had flared up in an agony so sharp Zane could not so much as scream. He hit the ground hard, tears blurring his vision.
“Sol…” Solosis hovered less than a foot off the ground before Zane. His eyes flickered blue as he tried to muster another attack, but he was spent. Dreepy loomed above them, unsteady in the air as they gathered darkness yet again.
Zane found the will to reach out and scoop Solosis close to his chest, shielding his partner as best he could.
“Dree!”
Zane glared at the wild pokémon and braced for more pain, but it didn’t come.
“Jangmo-o!”
The little music-loving dragon charged Dreepy with a Tackle, startling them enough to interrupt their attack even as Jangmo-o slipped right through their body. The pokémon landed in front of Zane and Solosis, shivering so hard their scales clattered, but they stood.
“Jang!” They postured despite their voice shaking. A purple energy a different shade than Solosis’ psychic attacks gathered around their tail. Dreepy glared them down and charged, a fresh Bite prepared.
Jangmo-o spun and struck true, clocking Dreepy across the face with their tail. The aggressive dragon skipped across the ground and Jangmo-o’s eyes went wide in surprise as if they could not believe the attack had worked.
“Thank—” Zane grimaced. Even talking hurt, now. He settled for reaching a tentative hand to rest on Janmo-o’s crest. The poor dragon jumped out of their skin. He forced his calmest smile through the pain and Solosis managed an appreciative sound, muffled against Zane’s chest.
“Jang.” The little dragon curled in on themselves, but still leaned into the touch.
“Dreepy!”
All three of them froze as the other dragon got themselves back into the air. Bruised and battered and still going.
How!? Zane thought in desperation. He needed to gather the two pokémon up and run, but his body would not listen. Jangmo-o shivered harder than before and shied back into the curl of Zane’s arms with Solosis, unwilling or unable to use the tail attack again. He tightened his grip on both pokémon and stared down Dreepy. They gathered dark energy at a snail’s pace.
Some part of his brain told Zane he should be afraid, but it was only anger that festered in his heart. Unjust. Unfair. The world was not supposed to punish him for finally getting away—
A ball arced through the air, the dim light reflecting against the telltale black and yellow of an ultra ball as it smacked against Dreepy and sucked in the wild pokémon with a flash of red light. The superior version of the pokéball clacked against the ground and only shook once before chiming a successful capture.
Zane stared at the ball for a long, uncomprehending moment before another figure crossed his vision.
A woman stood over him with a hand on her hip and a severe frown that deepened the stress lines around her eyes and across her forehead. Grey-streaked blue hair framed her face where it fell loose from her ponytail as she cocked her head, studying him. He recognized her from the gym’s profile in his manual.
Clair’s words came with a neutral calm that felt more dangerous than a bellowing shout. “Well,” she said with a click of her tongue. “You certainly have my attention.”