There was no contesting the magnitude of Sinnoh's Battle Frontier; that was, at least, Fire's whole reaction to the set-up, to all that it offered, asked for, and gave tenfold in return. The first word he'd heard about it had him thinking smaller scale than what it truly turned out to be. A layout where trainers could battle in any way and under any circumstances that could be imagined. It had to just be a pretty big gym building, right?
Hah!
Fire got lost in its world, sometimes rather literally, though not all the time regrettably.
Especially not when the Battle Factory's beep boopity halls would lead him to a rather grand treasure...
It was far from the most interesting of layouts in Fire's eyes. An imitation of some high-tech laboratory building, just like you'd see in the movies. The distant and nearby whirring of electronics in operation didn't bother him so much, nor the way that the sound of life easily left his ears for such electronics.
Kinda, anyway.
Okay, so maybe it was kinda creepy, in a detached way.
That didn't matter though. It didn't stop him idling down its hallways in his breaks, wanting to scope out the frontier in its entirety. Some of the rooms? Boring. Most rooms? Locked with a key card slot or pass code device beside it. Dull.
One room though, thankfully, fortunately, magically, was not locked.
And it had to be one of the best rooms in the entire building.
Arcade machines, from wall to wall and inbetween. Most operable too, and—holy shit, didn’t he used to play that as a kid back home? And that? Fire’s feet don’t know which way to turn, which to approach first, but make the decision soon enough, eyes wide in awe and finger pressing a button hesitantly. Not out of any thought that he shouldn’t be doing this, but if it will even respond in the first place.
It does.
And that was the story of how Fire gamed undisturbed for the rest of his life.
[ エリカ ] ❀ ;
Erika’s first trip to the nearby region that was known as Johto had been when she was no older than a child. And to her child’s self, the region was nothing more but a treasure trove of new, exciting places that were simply begging to be explored, knowledge asking to be uncovered.
She was much older now, yet the sense of wonderment still remained. There were still many myths and legends of Johto that had yet to be known and the prospect of learning more of the rich culture that encompassed the entirety of the region filled her with anticipation. It was always how she felt when she stepped down from the Magnet Train, which was what made the Johto region so much more accessible that it had been in the past, and would most likely be how she felt even if she had come to unveil the many legends untold.
But this visit differed from the others. No, she was not here to learn more of myths and legends, but to pay a visit to the establishment called the ‘Battle Frontier’, a name that greatly intrigued the battle enthusiast in her. Spoken of as where many a trainer gathered in pursuit of bettering their skills, what more could she have asked for of the place? There was nothing more the Gym Leader would rather do during the break between her duties than to visit such a renown place, and to personally experience what this ‘Battle Frontier’ would offer.
The sight of the grandeur entrance rendered Erika speechless, a light flush tinging her cheeks followed by widened eyes. It was unlike anything that she had seen before, the entrance only a small part of the grander structure that was what she assumed, formed the entirety of the Battle Frontier. To call it all a sight to behold was an understatement, though she eventually shook herself out of her daze and entered its vicinity, her wandering gaze taking in each and every sight laid before her.
What her gaze eventually settled upon was what appeared to be a facility of sorts, its dome like structure though not flamboyant as the others, intriguing her all the same. One in question was the castle-like facility that was to her left upon entering the establishment, though its imposing nature had lead her to instead make her way over to the facility called the ‘Battle Factory’. Having heard the explanation from the ladies in the reception area, the battling system of the Battle Factory was the one that intrigued her most, so all the more reason for her to have come here. Now, for her to figure out how she would be able to experience said facility..
sabrina drops down from the window, landing heavily on her feet. the impact travels all the way up to her knees, a sharp ache she ignores. she’s got to move.
panting, she staggers into a narrow alleyway, stepping quickly and as quietly as she can. trash litters the ground and there’s the hiss and clatter as a wild pokemon flees at the sound of her footsteps. in the distance, she hears voices and the crackle of a radio.
“the suspect has fled on foot. we are currently in pursuit. i repeat, we are currently in pursuit. send backup.”
the sound grows closer, and sabrina grits her teeth. she ducks behind a dumpster, landing awkwardly and biting back a groan when her back comes into contact with brick. her skin is burnt raw and even slight contact feels like sandpaper. her breath comes out in wheezes— both from the running and what she suspects are cracked ribs. she’s faintly aware of a cut somewhere on the back of her head; her hair is matted with blood and she’s starting to feel dizzy.
she holds her breath as the police officers pass by her hiding place. she waits a moment, then two, until she can no longer sense their presence. then she’s off again, slinking in the shadows of the winding streets.
suddenly there’s a buzz in the air and she feels her blood freeze, the tiny hairs on the back of her neck standing up.
she coils back, puts as much distance between the two of them, but she’s a moment too late.
“mangezone, thunderbolt.”
suddenly every single nerve is on fire and her body goes rigid— its pure agony, and she lets out a pained scream.
the moment the current stops, she folds to the ground, landing hard on her back. she can taste metal in her mouth and distantly realizes she’s bitten her tongue.
for a moment she sees nothing, and simply lays there twitching, until thorton approaches with cold eyes. “did you really think you could escape?” he asks, voice uninflected.
there’s a hundred thoughts running through her head.
i dont want to go away again, i can’t live in a cage, i am going to die, i can’t let them take me.
“i’m going to kill you for that,” she snarls, eyes flashing and teeth bared— all she can feel is red-hot rage. he doesn’t react to her threat, doesn’t even blink, and this makes her all the more furious.
he murmurs an order to his pokemon as her hands flash.
Not too long ago, Volkner got a strange phone call. He didn’t expect Thorton of all people to ask him for help. Really, Volkner was a mess as it is—though well, he could be considered normal at this rate. He leaned against a lamp post and waited patiently for him, not seeming to care that the lamp was flickering on and off. He surfed on his phone as he watched the time tick slowly. It didn’t take long before it reached the precise time they were supposed to meet.
And sure enough, Thorton was there. He slipped his phone in his pocket and kept it on vibrate in case he was needed. The light above him was still flickering, but there weren’t any signs of sudden sparks and whatnot.
❛ Hey. Leviathan’s in there. ❜ He pointed up at the street lamp, and two curious eyes came into view along with colorful blue electricity. The Rotom let out a snicker and wallowed its way out, only to get upright and get right up to Thorton in greeting. There were many things Volkner’s Rotom could slip into. Long as it contained some force of electricity, it could power up anything as it pleased. A pokedex? Sure, if there was one available. It couldn’t talk like a RotomDex, though, or at least from what he knew.
❛ Some people call my Rotom as Levi or Athan to make it easier. I’m ready to see yours. ❜ He spoke calmly even though his Rotom, Leviathan, was moving in zig-zags in front of Thorton excitingly. Its movements did seem a little dull however, as though it was mature. Leviathan was a curious Rotom, and a rather calm one compared to most. It surprisingly listened to Volkner, even though that wasn’t apparent quite yet. Once Leviathan got a good look of Thorton, it swished back to Volkner, but it wasn’t playing with the light above this time.
