Author's Note: And today we're finally reaching the Green Fiery Vale! There'll be some new characters today, but hopefully you'll make quick friends with them. Aye! Them fire villagers. Lot speak bit like tis, that they do!

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New map: I made a map over the Green Fiery Vale to give you all a better idea of how the Vale and the Fire Village looks like. You can find the link to the map on my account page, under Green Fiery Vale map link.

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A few quick reminders:

Cursive for youtube, bold for ListenOnRepeat.

If you put m. before the fanfiction .net-part of the web address of this story, the chapter will open in a format where it's possible to copy the link directly instead of having to write the whole link manually into the search bar.

For example:

m. fanfiction. net s/11442685/2/Tale-of-the-Pokemon-Master-A-dream-of-victory

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~*~Chapter 5: The Fire Village~*~

I remember once, when I found you staring at the brick wall in the garden.

"Oh Life! Oh Life! Why are you running around, reading letters on the walls which you cannot see?"

"But Biggest Brother! I can see the words! They are there! They are everywhere! Big Brother told me. The whole world is made of words. Can't you see? The dents. The dust. They'll tell you a story, if you know how to read."

"GLALIE! YOU IDIOT!"

The cave was dark as an absol's den and silent as a tomb, yet suddenly it seemed so much less void. Among the countless icicles littering the ceiling, the odd bergmite was hiding, curious eyes tracking my every movement, and just as I looked down a wanton remoraid passed between my legs, on its way to feed on the algae rich areas where hot rivers met cold rivers further upstream. In a split second, the cave transformed from a silent void to a jungle of life, and it was all because of the lively presence of a certain ice-type.

"Glai glai!" The Face Pokemon gave me a goofy smile, as if to say "Hue hue! I'm such a silly dude!"

That sent me into absolute berserk mode. "Stop smiling you bodyless piece of cold ass shit! Arceus curse you. You nearly gave me a bloody heart-attack with that Ice Beam! Almost thought Old Mamo was coming back to fucking life!"

That's what the Fire Villagers called the Glacier Monster. Old Mamo the Mamoswine. Two thousand years ago, he'd hobbled into the cave to lick his wounds after a battle with another pokemon. He'd never recovered. The thing he fought must've been vicious, for cords of frozen flesh hang from his open belly, the once red flesh paled white and preserved by the cold to this very day. It would probably remain like that for another two thousand years as well. Few wild pokemon ever wandered in here, and bergmite only eat ice.

Old Mamo was far larger than Dawn's little guy. His frozen tusks were like two fully stretched seviper, and his massive frame stood almost as tall as two golurk on top of each other! He was of that ancient breed of giant pokemon almost never found anymore. Mom had never seen one, and neither had Gary nor the Prof. I'd seen my fair share of them, but then again, Mom had once called me a magnet of extraordinary events, so I was rather unsure how much my voice really counted in all of this.

"And what the hell are we gonna do with Sceptile!?" I continued my tirade. "You froze him solid you big ball of frozen brain cells!"

"Glai!" the Face Pokemon blew away my concerns matter-of-factly. "Glai glalie, glai glai lie!"

"No I can't just recall him. What about the backpack? It's gonna get sucked in as well, and you know that's gonna destroy everything inside! Only pokemon can stay inside pokeballs. Nothing else."

"Gla-" she started a comeback, before a light went up in her head. Beads of sweat began forming on her face and she chuckled nervously, "Glai glai glai."

I face-palmed. 'Yeah. NOW you realize this was a bad idea.' I sighed, but let my pokemon think. She had the judgement of a haunter, true, but also the ingenuity of an alakazam. I was confident she'd come up with a way out of this.

Her face suddenly lit up, and dancing about in the air, she eagerly explained "Glai glai! Glai glalie glalie!"

"Huh. Well..." I looked from Glalie, to the icicle that was Sceptile, and then downstream through Old Mamo's legs and into the darkness. "I suppose that'll work."

'This will never work. This will never ever work.'

The Green Fiery Vale breathed heat into my bones, and the sun shone at my back to throw a long shadow into the cave. I was standing in the gape of Old Mamo's Cave from the vale-side, waist deep in the middle of the Silver Stream, staring into the darkness.

It'd been Glalie's idea, sending me ahead to stand guard at the opening of the cave while she cut Sceptile loose with an Ice Shard. Sceptile would drift downstream with the Silver Stream, through the cave to the opening where I was waiting, and the plan was for me to catch him then and bring him onto the bank. But I feared now Glalie might've miscalculated a parameter or two. I'd strapped myself up, with four ropes extending from my belt to two spikes on either side, but the river ran more rapidly here, pushing and pulling at me like a hariyama, and it was just barely that the spikes were holding me in place. 'This is a bad idea. A really bad idea.'

I looked over my shoulder to glance with discomfort at where the river ended some sixty feet further on. You couldn't really see much of the Green Fiery Vale from here. I was standing on a shelf of gravel and moraine, formed at the foot of the Weeping Ice through thousands of years of digging and depositing, and the Silver Stream ran straight across the sixty feet wide shelf before spilling over the edge and into the vale. I had to stop Sceptile before he reached that edge, or he'd be in for one hell of a water slide ride. 'Bloody hell.'

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When I turned back to stare into the cave, I caught sight of a light in there, growing stronger and stronger. 'Sceptile.' It was his six bulbs, still radiating solar energy from within the ice. 'Alright then. Here goes nothing.'

I adjusted my footing on the riverbed, making sure there were no loose rocks under my feet that'd turn away when I caught the ice block. The light was growing stronger and stronger with every passing second, and I leaned forward, arms outstretched to catch Sceptile and guide him onto land. I took a deep breath, preparing for impact.

"Wait." The sense of unease struck me. I mused at the approaching light, coming at me like a train out of a tunnel. "Have I miscalculated here? He's coming way to fast!" With a rush of panic I realized where this was gonna end. The currents were carrying the ice block that was Sceptile like a leaf in a rapid. Never were the spikes gonna hold this. "Oh shit! FUCK!"

The ice block smashed into me like a charging milktank, throwing me off balance and punching the air out of my lungs. The spikes were ripped off the wall as if they were pushpins, and like a helpless rag-doll I was pushed before the ice block, approaching the shelf edge with alarming speed.

'FUCK FUCK FUCK!' With increasing panic, I adjusted myself to get my feet down on the rocky riverbed and scrambled for purchase. Peddles fell away and rocks slipped under my feet, none of them giving me a footing, none of them holding me against the mass that was pushing to plunge me over the edge.

I looked over my shoulder to see the edge approaching. 'Fifteen feet!' I gulped. 'Arceus give me strength! FUCK!'

My heart was racing like an engine, desperately pumping blood to my muscles, beating faster and faster with every foot I was pushed backwards. It was almost as if my body knew what to do before I did, as if it knew that last resort I hated so much was the only way out of this pinch. 'No! I don't wanna blackout again!' But instincts overruled fear. Ten feet. Seven feet. As the edge came closer and closer behind me, I closed my eyes, and a million thoughts were pushed aside as I dove into the deep pools of my mind, tapping into the mystical energy dancing down there.

It was working. I could feel it, aura pulsing out of my heart and into my muscles, to my legs, my back, my arms, filling them with strength like a Swords Dance. My feet continued to scramble against the riverbed, but rocks were no longer slipping away under my feet. Peddles and sand fell away when I pushed against it, but then I found a rock. It was a big one, well rooted in the riverbed, and with all the power of my body and soul combined, I planted a foot against it and pushed.

The edge was only three feet behind me now, but it was no longer coming closer. I'd stopped the ice block's advance for the moment being, but I knew this would not hold for long. Black spots were appearing on my vision, threatening to throw me into a blackout, and I knew that if I continued to suck aura out of the pools of my mind I'd faint in a matter of seconds. 'No. I can't let that happen!'

I pushed. I gritted my teeth, and pushed. Aura surged through my blood like blue fire, and I pushed. I pushed against the big rock on the riverbed, then found another rock and push against that one, then another one, then another one, all the way til I was twenty safe feet away from the edge again.

The black spots had grown to black fields now, threatening to consume my whole vision. My aura was almost used up. The azure light dancing around my arms began to flicker, like a light bulb about to go out, and in a few seconds my arms would turn limp, and the ice block would knock me over like a truck. 'Gotta get on land,' I managed to think through the storm of aura and black spots. 'Gotta get on land!'

With a final effort, I adjusted my grip on the ice block and began pushing it towards the left bank, one hand guiding it sideways and one hand desperately trying to hold the block from drifting down with the strong currents again. The river was not wide here. I could make it. 'Come on now! Push! PUSH!'

Then the azure light faded from my arms completely, and it felt like my whole body was about to go limp. 'No!' I felt the block turn from ice to lead in my arms, and in a split second the block was at the Silver Stream's mercy again, drifting down with the river. 'DAMNIT!' It was do or die. Ignoring the intense exhaustion, ignoring the numbing pain in my chest and the black fields covering my vision, I threw myself against block, digging nails and teeth into the ice, desperately clinging onto it with all my strength. I moved my legs fervently, making a bad attempt at paddling the block onto land. I had no idea if it was working. I had no idea if the ice block was drifting towards the bank fast enough, or if it'd tip over the edge first. I had no idea if I had pushed at the block hard enough, or if I was gonna manage to hold on to the ice much longer, or if the black fields would swallow my whole vision before I could get on land. I had no idea. With water and black spots spouting and dancing all around me, I was abandoned to my instincts.

*Thud*

Music stop

The block suddenly stopped, pushing itself into gravel and sand like a stranded ship. For a good moment I just stayed like I was, clinging against the ice block before realizing what'd happened. 'Land. I did it! We reached the bank!'

The water was still pulling at me, but it was less intense here by the bank, so with gritted teeth and arms as strong as an alakazam's, I managed to claw myself onto the bank next to the ice block. I'd done it. Bloody hell. I'd done it! The black fields had grown too big for me to keep them at bay any longer then, and with resignment I gave into the blackout. 'Not again,' were my last whiffs of thought before I fainted.

"Glai!"

I woke to see the ugliest of faces staring down at me.

"Glai glai?"

I blinked at the Face Pokemon. "Glalie..." I breathed, finding even the effort of speaking exhausting. "You... Idiot..."

I was still laying on the bank of the Silver Stream, soaked to the bones, and feeling like someone had sucked out all the blood in my veins and replaced it with lead. The heat of the Green Fiery Vale hugged me like a mother, bringing warmth and energy back to my tired bones, but even so, at the moment I was still feeling too tired to move much more than the muscles in my face. 'Some five minutes rest and I'll be good again,' I thought with a grimace.

"Glai," the Face Pokemon cocked her head, before beginning to nag at me, "Glai glai glalie glalie!"

"Yeah yeah," I sighed in annoyance. "I'll be up in a few minutes. Practice some Ice Beams on the Silver Stream in the meantime, if you absolute must do something."

"Glai!"

For the next couple of minutes I just lay there, watching Glalie as she made ice floe after ice floe on the river and roared her sailor laughter as they tipped over the edge and crashed to pieces downstream. 'How long was I out? Over a minute, I bet.' I hated using that much aura. When the black spots appeared, growing larger and larger, it didn't just feel like I was gonna lose consciousness for a second or two, it felt like I was about to die, like I didn't trust my body to wake up again after I fainted. I did have my reasons for that mistrust. For every time I fainted, it always took longer before I'd wake up again. Back in Rota I would be out for a few seconds top, but this time…

"Hey Glalie?" I asked the Face Pokemon. "How long exactly was I out?"

"Glai… Glai glai glalie."

I looked at her with puzzlement, not really understanding what she was saying. I sighed. "Damnit Glalie. I'm serious! Why do you have to answer me with gibberish?" The Face Pokemon cocked her head at me, but said nothing more. I adverted my gaze to the sky again. 'Well, judging by how long it'd take her to get from Old Mamo and out here, I guess we're talking several minutes.' A mix of gloom and fear fell on me. It took me longer and longer to recover for every time I fainted. How many more times before I wouldn't wake up at all? I shuddered. 'Best not think of it.'

With aching arms I pushed myself into a sitting position. I felt better now, though there was still a certain dizziness clouding my mind, blunting my senses. My vision was a bit more cloudy than usual, my ears felt like they'd been filled with water and my mind felt like it was running on energy saving mode. 'Aura shortage,' I knew. 'It'll get better with a couple of berries from Matheus' orchard.'

With a sigh, I wrenched off my soaked hiking boots and upended them, watching as the Silver Stream came pouring out. Next off came the woolen socks, then the trekking trousers and the long johns, and finally all the other layers of wool and fur wrapped about my body. All wet clothes were stripped off, which was basically all my clothes. Glalie snickered at my glorious nudity, so I flung the wet pair of undies in her face.

I changed into some dry, lighter clothes, before flinging the choked backpack over my shoulder again. I was about to pack my wet clothes in as well, when I noticed Glalie had frozen them all to cubes of various sizes with her Ice Beam. She laughed her Ursaring-choking-on-motor-oil laughter. I recalled her back into her pokeball.

Finally I went over to Sceptile, still a block of ice, though it was visibly melting in the heat of the Green Fiery Vale. Half of his tail and one of his ears had already thawed free, so I called, "Hey Sceptile!" The ear twitched in response. 'Sweet.' "Follow after when you've thawed up, 'key? I'll be heading to Matheus'!" The ear twitched again, and the tail lashed against the water. I nodded. "Don't snooze too long now. We've got training to do later."

I turned towards the edge. 'And now, for the glorious homecoming.' I followed the Silver Stream the last few feet before reaching the edge where the river spilled into the vale, and there the whole magnificence unveiled itself before me. A warm oasis in the middle of a cold and bleak mountain range, bathed in sunlight, a pleasant heat rolling up the hillside from the bottom of the vale to wish me welcome. It was the place I'd called home for the past eight months, the place that'd been my Pallet Town in this huge mountain range of terrors and adventures. It was the Green Fiery Vale.

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The vale was huge. As round as a pokeball, it measured at least four miles across, and grass and greenery painted the hillsides from the bottom of the vale to where the sides became too steep for grass to grow. It looked like a giant bowl, punched into the Lairon's Spine by one of Arceus' almighty knuckles, and then coated in a sprinkle of grass and green herbs just for good measure. It was a dazzling sight.

Charizard and talonflame, fletchling and fletchlinger and red oricorio ruled the blue skies above the vale, roaring and squawking and tweeting and singing, filling the air with fire and heat. In the hillsides, camerupt and numel grazed tranquilly, and amidst them mareep bleated and discharged as old shepherd Damos tried to keep his herd under control with the help of his two arcenine. On the far side of the vale, just above the North Fields, magcargo and the rare turtonator shell dotted the landscape, the Lava and Blast Turtle Pokemon bathing in the warm sun.

I punched two knuckles into the air and declared, "Hello, you old Green Fiery! I'm finally back!"

My feet started moving, and before I knew it I was racing down the hillside, my heavy backpack clinking and clanking and every second threatening to trip me over, but somehow my feet always seemed to find the right place to land. The meadows were a green ocean around me, and the world was filled with scents of asters and zinnias, lilies and fairy flowers, irises and even some burnt grass! The Silver Stream tumbled and roared next to me, laughing, urging me on, and I was only forced to halt my mad run when the stream suddenly branched out, one branch cutting right across my path.

I'd reached one of the inlets to the Fire Village's irrigation system. Water was tapped from the Silver Stream here and canalled to crop fields further down the hillside, where it freshened and fed nutrients to the cereals and vegetables growing down there. The Silver Stream was the Fire Villagers' life source, and the combination of the smart irrigation system and the ever-warm climate of the Green Fiery Vale was the reason the villagers hadn't experienced a poor harvest in fifty years!

The canal I was crossing led water to the East Fields, where cabbages, potatoes and carrots were grown. On the other side of the river, just some further ten meters downstream, water was tapped from the Silver Stream and then canalled half circle around the vale til it reached the North Fields on the other side. Those fields were the largest ones, and was where the villagers grew barley and wheat, oats and even some corn. Walda would bake some absolute amazing cornbread with that cereal, and you'd have to be stealthy and nimble to steal a piece from the baking sheet before Abraham came and gobbled it all down. Maya always complained about that.

I leapt from rock to rock, crossing the four meters wide canal like it was child's play. Well over, and with a little less adrenalin in my body after the tumbling run, I stopped to gaze down into the bottom of the vale. The Chief's Hall stood where it'd always stood. Same did Matheus' hut, his berry orchard and the pool in the village square. Villagers were moving around down there, going about their daily business: working the crop fields, repairing tools, feeding their pokemon. The whole village crowded with people and pokemon, except down on the Ashfield. The Fire Village's only battlefield was completely empty. 'Well. That's not good.'

As I kept on gazing down into the vale, I spotted a lone rider racing up the path from the village. The rapidash carried her as if he'd never carried anything else, and that wasn't too far from the truth either. The two had known each other since he was a ponyta, and the fire stallion would not burn his rider even if she snuck up and yanked his tail from behind.

The rider rode swiftly and sat the saddle like she was born for it, her bushy green hair flying wildly behind her. She was lean and small of stature, but no one would ever call her short for that. The village chief's daughter commanded far too much respect for that, though if that was because of her status or just her fiery personality was not really certain. She was the whole village's best friend, and every boy in the village wanted to be just a bit more than that, me included. I raised a hand and waved, "Maya!"

She reached me in no time. "Hoi! Good t' see y' back!"

I stopped to meet her as her rapidash trotted to a halt. "Yeah. Long time no see! Any news from the village?"

"Aye! Talon, he was out ranging some small hours ago, was he, hunting down tha' lone migthyena 's been stalking about close t' Ol' Mamo's Cave them past few days. Poor lad. Wanted a new 'hyena-pelt t' keep that poke' egg o' his warm, that he did, but t' bitch was too clever for him t'day. The bugger found nothing but rocks and rivers, but it wasn't all fruitless. Now guess what! He spotted t' Northern Wind! Tis was only a glimpse, but boy claimed he saw her blue shadow roaming south along t' Faraway Bridge, heading for Johto I'll wager!"

'Suicune,' I knew, remembering the few times I'd been lucky enough to meet the legendary beast myself. In flight, she was a beauty to behold, but as everyone knew, wherever the Northern Wind roamed…

"Lucky y' came now," Maya continued. "T' winds o' the Aurora Sea will be coming in on us t'night. Cold winds. They follow t' Northern Wind, that they do. A storm is coming. Mighten even be a blizzard, if any articuno care t' take flight from that Mevedia Glacier and pay tribute t' these mountains t'night. Water and ice waltz well together, but fire and heat can outdance them both! Ain't that true, Quill?"

"Cynda cyndaquill!" The young cyndaquill on her shoulder cheered, the fire on his back blazing with excitement.

"When Quill gets older and has evolved, I'll ride off t' Ringtown and buy him one o' them technical machines," Maya continued. "Machine twenty-o-two that is, Solar Beam. After that, not even water 'mons will have t' guts to stand up 'gainst him!"

Her rapidash neighed in protest then.

"Oh, and I'll buy one for you too, 'course," Maya laughed, stroking his fiery mane. "Arceus damn me if I was ever t' forget a gift for you, aye Dash?"

A warm smile spread across my face as I watched her caress the fire stallion. 'She's so good with pokemon. Pikachu loves her, Infernape too. Most of my pokemon do really, and especially-'

"SceeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPT!"

'Sceptile,' I realized with half a sigh. 'Looks like that thawing went faster than expected.'

He must've heard me shouting Maya's name. Like an overexcited graveler, the Forest Pokemon came tumbling down the hillside, leaping and rolling with bits of ice falling off to leave a trail behind him, all the while somehow producing his handsome mareep-wool-and-talonflame-feather cloak from his heavy backpack. Sceptile made it down to the canal in no time, and in one swift motion leapt across the wide waterway, landing with a roll and ending on a knee right before Maya's outstretched hand. He promptly grabbed it and gave it a leafy kiss. Dash cindered his face with a single fiery snort in answer.

I face-palmed. 'Smooth as a sandslash's back.'

Maya just laughed. "Oy Ash! Think Sceptile here needs one o' 'em persim berries. Poor fellah's so confused he's forgotten wha' happens when grass kisses fire!"

'He needs some aspear berries and a rawst berry more than that.' I looked from the trail of ice to Sceptile's cindered face. 'Or perhaps a few tissues and some quality time with Torkoal. His heart surely must be a ruin now.' I decided to give the lovestruck idiot a helping hand for once. "That's true, but when dragons kiss fire, now that's another thing entirely, isn't it?"

"Dragon?" She looked at me like I was half a psyduck. "Pardon me boldness, but there're far too many leaves on our friend Sceptile here t' be anything but a grass-type!"

I shrugged. "Well, believe it or not, the pokedex says he is. Part grass part dragon, at least when he's mega evolved."

"Well, I'll trust me two eyes over that cheeky box o' yours any day o' t' week, thank-you-very-much!" Maya's stubbornness was as immovable as a camerupt, and just as explosive as one too. "Wait now." But it could also turn to curiosity as quickly as a talonflame. "Y' said mega evolved, didn't you?"

"Yeah! That's right!" I helped Sceptile back up, before carefully removing the necklace around his neck. I displayed it to Maya. "Look what we found!"

Maya's face lit up. "Groudon scorch me fiery arse! Tha's the sceptilite, init? Arceus be good. Tis' fantastic! Just wait t' Pap hears this! He's gonna be dancing like a torchic, that he will!"

I chuckled. "He better! This expedition was no walk in the park I'm telling ya, but we pulled through!" I gave Sceptile a proud pat on the back. "And now I have another dragon-type in my party. Oh! But guess what! His new typing isn't the only awesome thing about this mega evolution! Now listen to this. His new ability, Lightning Rod, it can make his special attack rise to crazy levels! We tried it with a Solar Beam back there in the mountains, and bloody hell, for a moment I almost thought it was Arceus himself standing before me! We'll need him to be hit by a bolt of lightning first though. His ability doesn't activate without that."

"So that beam o' light was your making, aye?" Maya whistled. "You're not overreacting then. That stuff certainly looked like the making o' our Lord Almighty, unleashing his fury upon this mortal world. A beam o' light binding heaven and pokearth, that it looked like."

I reacted to Maya's pious lines. "What? You mean you saw it then?"

"Y' can bet y' scorched arse we did! Whole village looked like Dialga had come down from his realm t' freeze time to a standstill. Everyone stopped and looked!"

'Holy Arceus!' My mind was a firework of hype and excitement. 'From the Weavile's Ice to the Fire Village, that's almost one hundred and fifty miles as the murkrow flies! Lightning Rod is fucking mighty!'

"It came from t' direction o' them Halls of t' Mountain King," Maya continued, "so Talon freaked out like a scared torchic, rambling on about Groudon coming t' scorch our vale and some other rapidash shit. I told him it mighten even be Giratina himself coming up from them deepest hells o' t' pokearth, and I'll tell you it's a wonder o' Arceus neither feathers nor beak sprung from that head o' his. Boy was such a torchic y' meganium had t' use Aromatherapy t' calm him down." Maya rolled her eyes. "Has no nerves, that boy. Almost nineteen, and still has the courage o' a torchic. Bet he'd never even dare t' think that thought o' going over them twin passes and down t' that Weavile's Ice, like you did."

I blushed. "Hey thanks Maya! But I'm not that brave. I just like-"

"T'was no compliment," she shut me up. "Y're foolhardy as a charmeleon, Ash Ketchum. I told you that before y' left, and I'm telling you that again. Crossin' them twin passes, it's something no man should ever do. Evil things lurk down there, by Lake Shadowy and inside that Spirits' Tomb, y' know!"

I reacted with frustration to the sudden attack. "Hey! I thought you were glad I found the sceptilite!"

"I am! Just telling you t'was a risky thing going down there, tha's all! Y' know t' legend of the lavender light, aye? Get too close to t' Vale of Elgard and mighten y' won't come back again. Just you thank Ho-oh's luck it went well this time, aye!"

I sighed in defeat, and my face became a snubbull. This was like being back in Pallet Town again. "Yes Mother," I mumbled sarcastically.

"Wha' was that?"

"Nothing!"

The rest of the walk down to the village held a more pleasant tone. I told Maya about the incident with Glalie and the aura blackout earlier. Maya looked at me with a mix of wonderment and worry then, but said nothing. She always got like that when I told her about my aura, like she couldn't quite decide whether to react with amazement at the rare ability, or scold me for being so reckless as to use it.

We passed the Old Arcile, where Fire Villagers came to say their prayers to Arceus, and then the old stone bridge, which was the only thing connecting the west and east bank of the Silver Stream. There I told Maya about my intent to go over to Matheus, and after a bit of complaining from Maya we left the river bank and followed the winding path down past the Ashfield. I gave the empty battlefield an uneasy glance, but said nothing for now. The path led us past the low mounds surrounding the battlefield by the river, and shortly after we were standing on the doorstep of a homely hamlet.

Matheus' hut was the only building on the east bank of the Silver Stream. The rest of the Fire Village was huddled together at the other side, but it seemed a hundred miles from the closest city wasn't enough isolation for the villager who'd built it and lived there before Matheus moved in. That guy really couldn't have liked people very much.

The hut was no larger than my little house back in Pallet Town. The walls were made of clay and mud and stone, and the roof was thatched with strands of burnt grass. "Burnt grass can burn no more," Matheus always said. I didn't know about that, but I supposed you'd go to all sorts of measures when you lived in a place called the Fire Village and your roof was made of grass. 'Glad he's a doctor and not a building engineer. You don't need burnt grass to heal a pokemon, only berries, and on that field he can rival even the best of berry masters."

That was true enough. Only five meters from the hamlet walls, the first row of berry trees stood vigil, leaves rustling and berries ripening. The aureal fruits crowded the trees. Oran berries and sitrus berries, pecha berries and cheri berries and rawst berries, leppa berries and lum berries and even some rare tamato berries! Heracross ate one of those once, and was a slowpoke the day after.

"Nine?"

A coo to my right drew my attention. Matheus' ninetales had woken up. He'd been sleeping soundly by the doorstep, his body a perfect cinnamon roll and his light blue tail a duvet over his snout, but it seemed we'd made a bit too much clamour for his sweet dreams to continue.

"Hey Ninetales. Enjoying the shade, are we?" I crouched down to pet his icy fur. Matheus' ninetales was nothing like those that could be found roaming the plains back in Kanto. He was an Alolan ninetales, a dual ice-fairy-type, as serene as the morning breeze and as fair as a prince. Matheus claimed he'd found him on a market in Gorod Sveta six years ago, though who he'd bought him from he would not say. "Fellah liked Rs," was the only answer he'd give when asked about it, and then he'd shun you for the rest of the day, grumbling something about "saving him from a fat Orreon lady".

Ninetales cooed as my hands travelled from his body to his nine majestic tails. Matheus had shown me once how to caress the tails in such a way that snow formed on them, but I could never really get it right. No one could. Only Matheus. That man surely had chansey hands. It wasn't unusual that the doctor would spend hours upon hours brushing and massaging the bundle of blue tails, grooming them til they sparkled with small ice crystals and a cloud of white snow followed wherever Ninetales went.

"Man, you're too beautiful," I chuckled. "Bet you get all them ladies, don't you?"

I knew for a certain Meganium had a massive crush on him, though she pretty much had a crush on everyone. Serperior also seemed to enjoy the sight of him, and probably Lapras too. Hell. Even Glalie seemed to be a bit infatuated by the beautiful ice-type.

"Nine!" he cooed in response, his icy fur cold and refreshing to the touch.

"He's an ice-type, Ash," Maya warned. "Tis not natural. Ninetales are fire-types, not ice and fairy-types. That fellah Matheus bought him from, bet he found Ninetales up there in that Arceus' cursed Holon region. Y' know what creatures roam about there. Pokemon with all kinds o' crazy types. Wouldn't trust them failed Orreon experiments for a second, that I wouldn't."

I sighed. "Bloody hell Maya. How many times must I tell you? He's an Alolan ninetales, not a Holonese ninetales or an Orreon ninetales. Alolan forms are just as natural as our own Iridish forms, products of nature and evolution, and no freakin' mad Orreon scientists."

"Aye, is that so? Well tell me then, wha's so bloody natural 'bout an ice-type coming t' be in a tropical archipelago?"

I honestly had no answer to that. 'Well, the laws of aura work in mysterious ways, I suppose.' Not bothering to argue more with Maya, I gave Ninetales a final pat on the head before straightening to knock on the door. No one answered. I knocked again. Still no answer.

"Just walk in," Maya suggested casually. "Wha' y' so afraid t' see? Matheus milking his diglett t' pictures o' gardevoir and lopunny?"

'That's definitely a thing to be afraid of,' I shivered, and pushed the door open.

Music stop

watch?v=e-Jum77Qcdg&list=PLy1UtDKOkmEeW07Wc-EcB_D41PxtEI0jz

Inside the hut, the air was heavy and dense with scents of odd incense and berry candles. Dust danced in the dim light, and the dirty windows filtrated the sunlight in such a way as to create a homely, almost golden atmosphere in the room. Dusty books and lab flasks filled with berry extract crowded the various shelves and tables, along empty bowls and bowls filled with berry mixtures, and some rare berry plants Matheus didn't dare to keep outside, such as a newly sprouted custap plant, a germinating lansat berry and a starf plant in its early blooming stages.

On the sill of a tiny window high up on the wall, Matheus' old abra was sitting with her arms and legs crossed, sleeping soundly. Matheus would use her from time to time, if an emergency occurred and a pokemon or human had to be teleported to Fall City for immediate medical care. Abra had done the teleportation so many times now she would never miss the Tierfreund Allgemeine Hospital by more than a couple of hundred feet, which was quite an impressive feat when teleporting over such large distances.

The room was a mess of all the things in the world, but even so, amidst the chaos, the one thing that always drew my attention when entering Matheus' hut was the sixteen wooden masks hanging on the walls. The masks were as tall as croconaw, all shaped like coffins, and looked like totem masks straight out of Alola. There was a yellow one among them, black eyes and spotted with two red dots on each side, zigzag stripes reaching across the bottom. Another one was red, with menacing orange eyes below a round, silver shield, and the bottom part was dotted with yellow spots. The sixteen masks were in sixteen different colours, and were meant to represent sixteen different things. The sixteen aspects of Arceus.

At the first Sunday of October every year, a celebration erupted across the entire Arcestic world, called the Festival of Faces. People would flood into the streets, wearing masks of red and black, yellow and blue and all the colours of the rainbow, and celebrations would last from dusk til dawn. The Festival of Faces was especially popular in Alto Mare, where thousands of tourists would flock every year to experience the spectacular masquerade, but the Festival was also celebrated in the Fire Village, though at a much smaller scale.

I'd been fortunate enough to take part in the festival, first arriving in the village only two days before the happening. Matheus had brought out the masks, and everyone had had their turn wearing them, dancing around a great bonfire, drinking camerupt's milk and charizard's roar and doing all sorts of unholy things. Then, at the very finale of the festival, Maya had stepped out of the Chief's Hut, draped in white silk with streaks of black from head to heal, the golden wheel of Arcues crowning her head. The bonfire had burnt out by then, and the night sky had been an endless ocean of twinkling stars and deep darkness above us. Imagine what it looked like, standing there in a completely blacked out Green Fiery Vale, a hundred miles from any polluting city lights. The starry sky had been like nothing I'd ever seen before, and the night had only become a thousand times more enchanting when Maya had presented a scroll from her robes of silk, and unrolled it. A single torch had been lit to illuminate the words, and Maya had begun preaching the wisdom of Arceus, as everyone sat down to listen in solemn silence.

"This is for all men and woman, humans and pokemon alike. Listen well and good, with ears and tongue, nose and eyes, for the hour is here, to finally shed some light.
Oh hear these words! The White Lord's words!
Look towards the stars, my friends, the ancient stars on the sky this night, for beyond them, beyond the planets and stars and the void in-between, beyond the edge of the universe, Arceus sits on his throne, and he listens to our prayers, with all the senses there is.
Oh Lord, my great Lord, we cast away all sin and ask now for your forgiveness, as we fall down in prayer to hear the words as you wrote.

Red is for passion, and the fires we bind,
Blue is tranquility, and the pools of the mind,
Green is for family, like leaves of a tree,
Fuchsia is disease, and the poison we never see,
Yellow is for youth, and the sparks of spring,
Brown is experience, and to the earth we sing,
Black is for death, and the darkness of mourn,
Lavender is loss, and the ghost that was born,
Silver is for freedom, and the wings to proclaim,
Celadon is evolution, and the bug that became,
Bronze is for labour, to break rocks strong and hard,
Grey is for duty, and the steel of the guard,
Pink is the mind, and the sharp psyche a lance,
Orange is the body, and the fighting man's chance,
Iris is for power, and the dragon king's price,
Clear face is solitude, and a world laid in ice,

Sixteen faces for sixteen aspects. Aye, my friends. Build your lives around these sixteen, and Arceus shall welcome you with open arms. Know the truth of these sixteen, and the ideal shall not be harmed. Do not fear Yveltal's kiss, for death is a door, and beyond is light. Be good, my children, be loyal, my children. Walk down this path of sixteen, and I shall see you again, in Arceus' Heaven."

Those had been the words. The shaggy and foul-mouthed chief's daughter had been a shining goddess that night, the Festival Maiden in all her splendour, and the words she spoke had bewitched me. 'All she really needed was an ocarina and a beautiful song, and I would've been right back at Shamouti Island again.'

Maya wasn't the first Festival Maiden I'd fallen for. I remembered Melody, in her cream white skirt and flowing veil, dancing so finely on her toes while playing the song of the Guardian of the sea. Even back then, when I didn't have half a clue what love was, I still knew I liked what I saw, and I wanted that enchanting feeling again.

And Maya had given it to me, in her folds of white and black silks, and the words of ancient wisdom she'd preached. I'd fallen flat. I sighed, and looked at the impatient greenhead beside me with a half-dreamy look. 'Well, I know who got the best score in my book.'

"Arceus be good. Can't a man have some peace in these faraway mountains?"

Turns out Matheus was home after all. As I turned to the deep voice, I saw the village doctor standing in the entrance to his study, the crackling tunes of some classical piece playing on his radio in the background. He was as large as an emboar, and had the face of one as well. On his head was only the faded dreams of a mighty red mane, but that dream was still alive and thriving along his jaw and around his mouth. His arms and legs were hairy as an ursaring, and he wore a red west that was far too small for him, serving only the unfortunate purpose of highlighting his glorious belly. Matheus was the Nurse Joy of the Fire Village, and one of chief Abraham's best friends.

The village doctor narrowed his eyes at me. "You're back I see. Well. Did you find anything then?"

"Oh! Umh..." I got myself around to digging the necklace with the sceptilite out of my pocket, and then showed it to Matheus. "You bet we did! Look!"

Matheus studied the gemstone for a moment, before grunting in dissatisfaction. "Don't like it. Not one bit. Gotta be a reason why they hid them all up in there, aye? Don't want them to be found, but Abraham doesn't get that. He's been obsessed with these gems for years, ever since his son was stolen away." The village doctor shooed the sceptilite away and went over to attend one of his berry plants. "But enough of that. You've come here, you clearly need me to do some healing for you. Which of your pokemon have you crippled this time, I wonder."

I bit my tongue to swallow the insult. "None of that. Just some minor stuff. Glalie showed up when we passed through Old Mamo's Cave earlier and froze Sceptile with a direct Ice Beam, and Dash used Ember on his face after that. Oh, and he's caught a cold as well, if you've got anything against that."

The village doctor kept on attending the plants, never looking at me. "Injuries caused by bad judgement and lack of control. Don't you think I've forgotten the time that beastly glalie of yours froze one of my berry trees. Destroyed it completely. First tree I ever had to chop down in my orchard." He finally turned around then, but his glaring eyes set on Maya this time, who returned it full force. Those two did not like each other much. "And small wonder Sceptile caught that chill. Venturing into the mountains with only a thin cloak. Walda told me." The village doctor snorted, still looking at Maya with condescending eyes. "Future chiefess, aye? Much leadership qualities there, when you can't even convince a sceptile to wear an extra layer of cloth."

Maya cracked her knuckles and made a threatening step forward at that, but I held her back before she could take another.

Matheus seemed to ignore her. "But I'll heal him up for you. A paste of sitrus, aspear and some rawst will get him back on his feet soon enough. As for the cold, it'll pass naturally. Don't you think I'll be wasting any berries on that. Storage is already shrinking as it is."

I dug out Sceptile's pokeball and handed it to the village doctor. "Thanks Matheus."

"My pleasure," he grunted. "Now, I hear you'll be leaving soon? Good. These mountains were never a place for a hot-shot trainer like you. That shrinking storage. Know who's fault that is? With you bringing in ten new pokemon for treatment every other day I've been working like an arcenine harvesting berries to prevent a catastrophe. Know what'd happen if we ran out? Suppose a city-boy like you wouldn't. No. I'll be glad to see you of to that Millennium Island, bringing your sporty pokemon torturing with you."

I bit down on my tongue at the absurd statements, doing my best to swallow my temper. 'Easy Ketchum. Snorlax will let you punch out your fury later.' Next to me however, I could see things were quite another matter. Maya was glowering at the village doctor like an ekans, doing little to hide her disgust.

"Now, was there anything else?" the village doctor concluded, looking like he really hoped for a no. "If not, I'd love to go back to my study if you please, close the door and forget all about the two of you."

"Well," I started, cowering under the doctor's glare. "There was actually one thing, Matheus, if you'd be so kind. I had to use some aura earlier. Glalie's fault. Dried me up completely. Could I have a berry paste as well to fill up again?"

"NO!" the doctor exploded, smashing a lab flask to pieces against the floor. I took a step back. "I told you just now, did I not? Storage is almost empty! I'll help your pokemon, fine, but YOU can manage without. What you need aura for anyway? Pokemon depend on it. Humans DON'T!"

"Reshiram bite me fiery ass!" Maya finally ignited then, transforming her glowering glare into words. "What's this I hear!? You be the village doctor. Y' job is t' help and heal mons and men ALIKE! Y' hear me? Now do y' duty and give Ash that bloody berry paste, or I'll have y' tied up and thrown in t' Mother Silver! That I will!"

"Know your place," Matheus growled. "You speak like a chief, but you're only the chief's daughter, and Abraham's son comes before you."

"My brother 's gone. Y' know that," Maya growled back, "and YOU preach 'bout knowing one's place? YOU, who was born at the teat of an Orreon woman? YOU, who has not owned a single fire-type in your life? YOU, who know less 'bout these mountains than some southern boy come up from t' cities beyond t' Range? It's YOU who should know y' place. Matvei."

"Mind your TONGUE!" the doctor roared and sent five fingers smacking across Maya's cheek, striking her so hard I feared he'd knock her senseless.

"Mind y' HAND!" But Maya struck back with twice the force, slapping him like a cinccino and almost throwing the six-foot man off his feet.

The doctor held his cheek and glared back at Maya with the vengefulness of a seviper, grumbling something in native orreon. The chief's daughter had really tugged at a nerve now. Matvei was his real name, or at least the one he was born with anyway. According to Maya, Matheus, or Matvei, had come to the Fire Village some twenty years ago. Before that however, he'd lived in Orre, in the city of Gorod Sveta located along the Trans-Iridish Highway north of the Faraway Mountains. What exactly had driven him to leave civilization and head into the Faraway Mountains in search of the Green Fiery Vale I'd never managed to find out, but the big doctor had hinted at times it could be for religious reasons.

In Orre, the majority of the 17 million population followed the religion of Orion's Love, a faith brought with the first Iridons who crossed the Kalósi Landbridge binding Atlas and Iride in ancient times. It was among the oldest religions in the world, and though it slowly made way for the Faith of the Ho-oh and Arceism as ages came and went, Orion's Love never really disappeared in Orre. Raging seas and high mountains shielded the country from the rest of the world, and today, as five thousand years ago, the traditions of the ancient religion were practiced in cities and villages, deserts and mountains all over the ragged peninsula.

Orion's Love was the strong man's religion, they said. Where Arceists put ourselves underneath the Alpha above, those who followed the Orreon religion saw themselves as equals to Orion, their legendary founder. Those who followed Orion's Love were known as Orionsbrothers, and they believed in neither gods nor spirits, only the power of illusions. I wondered what might've turned Matheus from a brother of Orion to a servant of Arceus…

Maya was holding her cheek as well, but while the throbbing pain might've quelled a common man's spirit, it did nothing but fuel the burning rage in the village daughter's eyes. I feared the worst. The two were gonna explode at each other any second now. I'd seen it before, several times. Never would a full month pass without the two butting heads at least once. It was just the way things were around here.

'Fire Village diplomacy,' I cringed in alarm, and ran to seek refuge behind a chair as Maya threw herself at the village doctor like a blazing monferno.

Music stop

"Arceus curse tha' man!" Maya was rubbing a sore cheek, and there was a limp in her walk. She'd really gotten herself some battle scars this time, but even so it was Matheus who'd suffered the most from their fight, as it always was. When I finally managed to drag Maya out of there, hissing and clawing, he was on his knees with a cracked nose and half-cracked nuts. Poor man. "First thing I'll do when I become chief, I'm gonna have tha' fat emboar chased out o' t' village and let him walk barefooted back to Gorod Sveta. That I will!"

"Yeah. Totally," I sounded my agreement while munching on an oran berry. I'd grabbed a handful of them while the two fire villagers were fighting, and was now gobbling them down like a snorlax, already feeling sharper as aura returned.

"Hey, by the way," I continued. "Thanks for standing up for me back there Maya. I really needed these berries."

"Aye, tha's no hassle Ash. Never miss me a chance t' give tha' man-emboar a mouthful t' chew on, and besides, brothers and sisters gotta stick t'gether, aye?"

"Yeah," I smiled a blue-mouthed smile. "Well, technically, we're not brothers and sisters though."

"Aye, but we're as close we could easily be, and I always wished for a little brother." She gave me a sisterly nudge. "Bet y' always wished for an older sister too, aye?"

I sighed hopelessly. 'I wish for a girlfriend.'

We took the path by the Ashfield on the way back to the old stone bridge. A blanket of silence seemed to have been laid over the empty battlefield, and the only sounds to be heard were our feet's beating against the hardpacked mud and Maya soft cursing about her limp.

The Ashfield had not been here for long. When I arrived in the Green Fiery Vale for the first time eight months ago, the lack of a pokemon battlefield had soon presented itself as a problem, and though we tried to manage without for a while, it soon became evident that you could not prepare for the Pokemon World Tournament without a proper battlefield.

And so we'd gotten down to work. Torterra, Donphan, Tauros, Krookodile and Garchomp ploughed the earth and levelled the ground, and the rest of the lot had helped trample it til the mud turned hard and compact. Abraham had lent me a sack of chalk some former chief had bought for some purpose back in the day, and we'd used it to mark the field: midline, centre circle, trainer boxes and all. Finally, a large pile of rocks and boulders had been gathered on the side of the field, ready to be used when need was to practice battling on a mountain battlefield. It took us three days of hard work, but the end result turned out great, and Abraham had been so impressed he'd decided to honour me by naming it the Ashfield. That was cool of him. Of course, whether or not the Ashfield fulfilled all the standards and regulations of the Pokemon League, I did not know, but it was a battlefield, and it was the best thing we had here.

'So why the hell is no one using it? Where ARE my pokemon?'

I decided to finally ask that question I'd been dreading since arriving in the Vale. "Maya? You seen my pokemon? Do you know where they all are?"

"Well. Here, there, everywhere. I think at least one or two o' 'em mighten be doing some training." Maya shrugged. "But since y're asking, aye! I saw Fatbelly snoring over by t' Chief's Hall right before y' appeared on t' horizon. Mighten be he's still there."

'Oh, I can bet my pokemon he is. Groudon's Earthquake is needed to make that fucker move.' I shook my head with a hopeless smile. 'Snorlax. That lazy bastard.'

It couldn't be helped. Snorlax had always been reluctant to move his body more than necessary. What he had in size, he lacked in everything else. He was like a slaking with sleeping sickness, and during my days with the Prof back in Pallet I'd soon enough come to realize finding a shiny feebas in the Pokelantic Ocean would be easier than making a top class pokemon out of him.

But that didn't mean I hadn't tried. Three years filled with rigorous training came and went, and slowly but surely, I'd managed to manhandle Snorlax onto that path all high level pokemon had to follow. It'd created results. With new moves like Heavy Slam and Ice Beam under his belt, and a bit of extra bulk added to his already enormous frame as well, Snorlax was transformed from a lazy bastard with the defence of a jigglypuff to a lazy bastard with the durability of a blissey. Snorlax was gonna be a living hell to bring down for any opponent in the World Tournament.

But the frustrating thing was, he could've been even stronger than that by now. When I arrived in the Fire Village eight month ago, Snorlax looked such a powerhouse I was certain he'd simply yawn at the face of an articuno's terrifying Blizzard. When Sceptile and I departed the Fire Village two weeks ago, he looked that exact same pokemon. He'd barely progressed at all during the past eight months, and I could swear he looked fluffier now than when we first came to the Green Fiery Vale.

I sighed. That was the problem with life in the Fire Village. My quest for mega stones had sent me on long expeditions into the most remote corners of the Faraway Mountains, and sometimes weeks had gone by without me getting to see my pokemon. I'd spent a fair share of weeks back in the village as well, even a whole month straight in January when the Faraway Mountains had been so cold a trip outside the Green Fiery Vale would've turned a sandslash Alolan in seconds. But even then, I'd spent most of my time recovering from previous expeditions and preparing for new ones, leaving little time for my pokemon. The gang was forced to do large chunks of their training on their own, and that came more naturally to some than others.

Sceptile, Floatzel, Trapinch, Infernape and Greninja would bounce out of bed and get down to training regardless off if I was there or not, and it was really those five who'd seen the most progression during the past eight months. Some of my less strong-willed pokemon however, the slackers and procrastinators… Snorlax liked battles, he just didn't like training for one. Same with Glalie, and Torkoal, and even Garchomp! It'd been evident their development would suffer unless I took action to counter this problem. Fortunately, as the brilliant trainer I was, I'd done just that.

Every time I headed out into the wilderness, I would put one of my more responsible pokemon in charge of the training. I'd detail him instructions of what to do, what each of my individual pokemon needed to work on, and ask him to keep track of everyone's progression to the extent he could. Of course, I could've just asked some random fire villager like Maya or Talon to do it - probably would've been a more reliable solution too - but it wasn't just results in terms of individual strength I was looking for. I wanted to build team chemistry as well, and find leaders.

It was an experiment of mine. The captain role. These pokemon I picked to lead the training while I was gone, they weren't necessarily the strongest, quickest or even the smartest in the gang, but they could lead. They were cool-headed and respected, and I wanted to build on those qualities and mold them into team captains.

The idea of the captain role sprung from a relatively unknown phenomenon within pokemon battling. Pokemon might not be able to communicate between pokeballs, but they could still sense each other's mood through aura. In a full 6-on-6 battle, when tension often was high and my pokemon waited nervously in their balls, low morale could spread like wildfire among them if things went bad on the battlefield, and that could lead to catastrophic defeats. It was a problem absolutely crucial to combat for any trainer who wanted to call himself a professional. The Prof had told me that. Managing to keep the morale high among my pokemon even when in dire straits, that was the art of the comeback king, and that's what won you trophies.

And a captain would do that for me. A calm and leading figure that could send out positive aura and keep morale high even when everything went against us. A highly-respected team member that my pokemon were used to listen and look up to. I wanted to create a little group of captains, who could lead the training when I wasn't around, and keep morale high among my waiting pokemon when I was occupied battling. The captains would be there when I was not.

'Yeah. It was a good idea,' I thought to myself as we crossed the old stone bridge to the west bank of the Silver Stream. 'On paper at least.'

The empty Ashfield had told me everything I needed to know. This project was not going as well as I'd been hoping for.

Trying to find my captains had been somewhat of a hit-and-miss project so far. I'd given Seismitoad a shot when I left on the previous expedition, but leading my pokemon had proven to be quite a difference to those tympole he used to bully around back in his old pond. Maya had told me. He'd whipped my pokemon around all day like some sergeant with anger problems, running them into the ground, croaking and complaining at my pokemon so much that Serperior had slapped him in the end. After that, no one had wanted to listen to him anymore, and a good week of training went down the drain of lost potential.

Noctowl and Pidgeot had done better when they were given the chance, though neither of them had managed that impossible task of making Snorlax lift his ass off the ground and get down to training, or keep Glalie from ruining everything with her Ice Beams.

Blastoise had done surprisingly well during his spell, managing to assert his authority while still staying the same cool dude everyone knew him to be. He'd even managed to keep Snorlax off his ass for an entire day by challenging all the big pokemon to a sumo tournament! If there was one thing Snorlax liked more than sleeping, it was sumo battling.

Venusaur had shown he was born for this stuff when I gave him a try, though I'd already known that. His days as diplomat at the Prof's Corral had moulded him into a sympathetic pokemon with a smart tongue, energetic but patient, critical but helpful. During that one week I was gone, he'd helped Ditto learn two more transformations, taught Seismitoad Earth Power, and bloody hell, hadn't he helped Pupitar build up the courage to finally evolve as well! Venusaur was without doubt my best captain, and I was honestly convinced he'd be fully capable of filling in for me should I ever fall ill before a battle.

And then... there was Pikachu. Arceus be good, what the hell was I gonna do with him? I'd had such high hopes. He was my first ever pokemon, my best buddy, and it felt like we'd been through everything together. Before I arrived in the Fire Village and started going on these expeditions, we'd never been separated from each other for more than a few hours since that day we first met at the Prof's lab eight years ago. Our bond was stronger than an onix. What I'd learnt, he'd learnt too. What I'd seen, he'd seen too. He spoke with my voice, and was one of the cornerstones in this team. When I caught a new pokemon, Pikachu was always its first friend, and he would go out of his way to help it settle into the family. My little buddy had the heart of a chansey and the loyalty of an arcenine. He was the perfect teammate.

And a terrible captain. Pikachu was the first to try out the role when I handed him the reins before leaving on my first expedition half a year ago. I'd hoped he'd start off the captain project with a bang. I'd hoped he'd lay down the first cornerstone of a solid fundament that'd finally carry us to that glory we'd been dreaming of for so long. I'd been marching through Old Mamo's Cave with Lucario, the both of us proud as piplup after finding our first mega stone, and I'd been fully expecting to return to all my pokemon training and learning like never before. Arceus be good, had I been wrong.

I'd returned to chaos. The Ashfield, newly built and still unmarked by battle back then, had been completely empty. 'Just like now.' Glalie had been off doing mischief somewhere, 'Just like now,' and Snorlax had been snoring by the Chief's Hall, 'Just like now, if Maya is to be believed.' Back then, I'd found Pikachu hosting a barbecue by the riverside for half the squad, complete with a volleyball net, Matheus' radio blasting the theme song of the 2040 World Tournament 2BA Master, and Charizard grilling burgers stolen from the kitchen house while sporting a pair of sunglasses and an apron reading "Kiss the cook". I wondered where I'd find Pikachu now. 'I'm gonna shake some bloody ambition back into that damn rodent.'

I'd hoped it was just because he was the first out, that I hadn't really been clear enough on what I wanted him to do while I was gone. Maybe he'd just been unlucky? I'd hoped, that if I just gave him another chance, he'd do better this time and prove to me all those qualities of leadership I knew him to possess.

But all evidence told me now those qualities were only fantasy. I was gonna have to swallow that bitter truth once and for all. My best buddy was a fantastic teammate, but he couldn't lead even a brace of ducklett across the road if he tried. He was a terrible leader, and because of that, a terrible captain. 'Pikachu. You're everyone's best friend, aye, on good and bad.'

I sighed. My mood had been dropping considerably as the realization dawned on me, and when the cluster of huts that was the Fire Village started appearing around us, my face was a snubbull.

There were about sixty villagers living and working in the Green Fiery Vale the whole year around, though now, with the snows melting and summer returning to the Faraway Mountains, that number had risen to something closer to eighty. We passed breeder Marcus' hut, who lived in Sinnoh most of the year, but came to the Green Fiery Vale every summer to mate his team of ditto with what he called the "top-quality fire-types" of the Vale. We passed old shepherd Damos' hut, who lived in the Green Fiery Vale all year round with his wife Sheena, and provided cozy mareep wool for the entire village.

Then the village square came into sight. The path took a sharp bend around butcher Ghris' large hut and his pigpen, where twenty dumb tepig grunted and oinked like pigs, and then the crowd of huts and pens opened up to reveal the open space in the middle of the village.

There was nothing special about the village square. The ground was trampled hard and grassless by all the feet that crossed the square every day, though around the village pool, there were still some tufts left.

I half expected to find Pikachu relaxing there in the lukewarm water, but only naked fire villagers where to be found, their clothes in a heap next to the pool. Butcher Ghris was in there, a large man in his thirties with bushy brows and short-trimmed hair, looking like he was sleeping. Next to him was Dalia, old shepherd Damos' granddaughter, a busty girl around my age with blonde hair and lips that looked like a feebas', and eyes that looked like they belonged to a goldeen, and a nose as flat as a stunfisk. Actually, her whole face looked like a fish really. Finally, there was Talon, a tall, lean boy with a nest of green on his head, him too around my age. His eyes were closed and his hands twinned behind his head, his face as blissful and carefree as a simisear.

"Hoy! Talon!" Maya shouted at him. "Careful no carvanha bite y' little pink toes!"

The bare-chested boy opened his eyes then. "No carvanha in t' Mother Silver, like! Only remoraid!" He seemed confident in his own knowledge for a second, but then his expression began to change from carefree to doubtful. "Right?"

Maya rolled her eyes.

Then his eyes fell on me, and he shot up for half a ninjask's flutter before remembering he was completely nude, halting himself and sitting back down again. "Hoy Ash!" he waved. "Glad t' see y' back! Dalia wagered you'd be in a 'hyena's belly by now. I said nay! Y' just won me a kiss, y' did!"

I glared at the fish faced girl next to him, who returned the glare with a half-opened goldeen's eye. 'Of course she wagered that. That slutty salazzle has more hate in her than a hydreigon.'
"No prob Talon! Though next time you want to kiss a feebas, go catch one in the Silver Stream instead!"

The feebas lips parted as if about to say something, but before she got the chance, Maya broke in again. "By t' way, Talon! Guess wha'! Tha' Solar Beam we saw a week past, t'was neither Groudon nor Giratina! Just Ash's Sceptile! Y' pissed y' pants over a grass 'mon!"

"I knew that!" The lean boy answered stubbornly. "I knew very well tha' was no Groudon! And I never pissed no pants! Was just in awe over t' amazing power of tha' Solar Beam. Tha's all!"

"Aye. Y' right," Maya responded sarcastically. "Tha' wet spot, t'was just t' work o' some invisible squirtle, aye?"

As Maya and Talon kept on arguing, I looked around the village, searching for my pokemon. By the kitchen house at the far end of the square, I noticed Walda and some villagers cooking up a mixture of some kind in several great iron cauldrons, and providing the heat underneath were a team of five torkoal. Four of them looked to be sleeping, while the fifth was chatting eagerly with Walda. I watched as he suddenly broke into a fit of joyous tears, probably after getting a compliment from the village chief's wife. "Torkoal," I chuckled. 'And there's another one of my pokemon. Well, at least he's doing something useful. We should be giving much more back to the fire villagers for all they've done for us.'

That was true. Food and shelter, both for me and my pokemon, it had all been provided by the villagers, all without costing me a single poké. It seemed Abraham thought finding the mega stones was payment enough.

Next I turned to look west, at the Chief's Hall priding the top of a tiny hill. The Hall was a long log cabin, large enough to fit a steelix fully stretched. The walls were thick logs stacked on top of each other, blacked with tar, gleaming like ores of onyx in the sunlight and giving of faint odours of pine and asphalt. On the roof, jutting out at each end of the ridge, a wooden charizard's head was roaring, and guarding the entrance to the Hall, two real-sized arcenine of black-painted wood sat, ever watching. Several smaller carvings ornated the Hall as well, figures picturing a variety of pokemon, and a few places verses from the Arcula had been carved into the wood, some in the letters of the unown alphabet, others in runes from the Sinni island of Stark Island, the place Walter Gropius had originally hailed from.

Another day I might've stopped to awe at the sight, but today there was something quite else that drew my attention. There, by the north end of the Hall where the sun couldn't quite reach, a band of pokemon had gathered, lazing around in the cool shade like a heap of slakoth. I recognized them all. There was Snorlax, as Maya had told me, but he seemed to have been joined by some other 'mons as well, snuggling up to and on top of the Lazy Pokemon's belly. A goofy sand shark with a head as hollow as a dusclops, a slim and agile Volcano 'Mon with the temperament of a togekiss, a sandy croc sporting shades cool enough to beat a tentacool, a bossy toad with bumps on his forehead that made him look like he was constantly frowning, an electrical rodent with the leadership qualities of a pichu. "Pikachu," I grumbled. "You're in big trouble now, buddy."

Wordlessly, I left Maya to argue with Talon and made the short climb to the top of the hill, rounding the Hall 'til I was standing right in front of the bunch. None of them noticed me. All were snoozing and snoring like a choir of saws on wood.

Snorlax was the bass, his stomach rising and falling. Krookodile and Seismitoad were the tenors, the Intimidation Pokemon sounding like something between a roaring charizard and an accelerating truck, while the bulbs on Seismitoad's body vibrated with every snore to make a harmony that almost could be mistaken for music. Typhlosion slept silently, but I noticed the blaze around his neck flared up and down with every breath. Garchomp's snores were ridiculously high-pitched for such a large pokemon, but Pikachu was still above him on the scale, the soprano of the choir.

I smiled for a moment at the sight, but soon enough the frown returned to my face, and I sighed. 'Snoring by the Chief's Hall in the middle of the day… Why are they doing this? The greatest test of our lives is looming in the horizon, and they act like they've already given up!'

I couldn't allow this to keep up for a second longer. I had to turn this trend of procrastination and laziness, now. So with all my might, I boomed like an exploud, "GET UP YOU LAZY SONS OF SLAKING!"

Five pairs of eyes shot open.

"I told you to train while I was away, not laze around in the shade like a bloat of slowpoke!"

The lot looked at each other. Snorlax yawned.

"The Pokemon World Tournament is six weeks away," I continued. "Six weeks! Six weeks is all we have! Six weeks to get you all into tournament shape! Six weeks to make all the preparations for the greatest marathon of our lifetime! Twenty-four matches stand between us and the Pokemon Master title. Twenty-four matches we all gotta win! You know how we do that? By going into each match with a team of six on-form pokemon, a team that is still varied in type and contains pokemon that complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. But we won't accomplish this advantage without a hell lot of planning and coordination, and most important, discipline! I've done my part! I gave you all detailed schedules you needed to follow, schedules designed specifically for syncing your form cycles so that we'll always go into a match with the advantage of six on-form pokemon. I spent days and nights designing these things, Arceus damnit! Seismitoad! You're supposed to be at the end of top form when the tournament begins! Garchomp! You're supposed to be hitting top form by the end of the group stage, and you know how delayed that peak can get if you don't train properly! I need you for that last group stage battle damnit! And Typhlosion! You're supposed to be hitting top form in just two weeks! You think you'll be getting there by lazing around in the shade?"

The lot exchanged uncertain looks. Some shook their heads carefully, some just stared at the ground, while others fought hard to suppress a yawn.

I shook my head with a sigh. "Six weeks guys, that's all we've got. Six weeks, and the wait will be over. Six weeks, and the Pokemon World Tournament begins. I mean, this is what we've been dreaming about, isn't it? The glory at Millennium Island? At least, that's always been my dream, but I'm growing uncertain if you guys are really with me on this path or not…"

The awkward tension followed for a few seconds, but then Pikachu leapt onto Snorlax's belly and gave a rousing "Pika pika! Pikachu!"

That broke the tension, and the rest of the gang followed up with cheers and chants of "Krook rok!" and "Toad!", "Gaaar!" and "Bau'ooo!". Snorlax yawned.

I smiled, a little fire returning to my heart. "Good. Then let's get back on the right track again! We're leaving back to Kanto on the morrow, which means there's gonna be little time for training the upcoming weeks, so let's at least get some done now! I wanna see everyone down on the Ashfield in fifteen minutes! Everyone! Someone not down there by the quarter passed, no one is getting food for the next three days! Now? The clock is ticking! Spread the word!"

That sent the lot flying in every direction, making for the Silver Stream and the kitchen house and Walter's Hill in an attempt to find and herd all their teammates together before fifteen minutes could pass. Pikachu was one of the first up, but when he tried to escape, I seized the electric rodent by the tail and lifted him into the air, letting him dangle upside down like a bundle of carrots ready for inspection. "Not you."

Pikachu wiggled around like a caterpie, trying to escape my grasp. "Chuuuu!" he then cried as he unleashed a Thunderbolt, but the shock was barely a tickle, and when he realized my grip was not gonna falter, he gave up.

"Sorry buddy," I shook my head. "If you'd actually been doing some training these past two weeks, that Thunderbolt might've hurt some, and not just tickled like a pichu's Thunder Shock."

"Pika."

"Yeah," I grunted, before pointing an accusing finger at Pikachu. "What the hell man! Have you really fucked this up again? I remember giving you very specific orders before I left, and those did NOT include allowing the gang to doze off by the Chief's Hall in the middle of the day! Now, what do you have to say in your defense?"

"Pi pi!" the rodent answered, waving his arms. "Pi pika pikachu pika pi pi-"

"No," I stopped him. "You're NOT blaming this on your form. Yes, I know it's rock bottom at the moment, but so was Venusaur's when he got to lead the training, and he still managed to do a fantastic job! Strength and leadership isn't the same thing. This is a shit excuse." I gave the rodent a little shake. "Now tell me why the hell you haven't been doing as I told you!"

"Pi." The rodent was defiant this time, arms crossed, looking another way.

"Don't be a freaking pichu! Spill the beans or I'll shake you again!"

"Pi pika chu," the rodent mumbled.

"What?"

"Pi pika chu." Louder this time, but still...

"Come again?"

"Pi pika CHUUUU!" And then he shocked me again, but still it was no more than a tickle. It was like that when he was in bottom form. He couldn't even harm a snivy, much less my almost-electrical-proof body.

But his massive defiance still pissed me off. Why the hell couldn't he just tell me why he wasn't taking this seriously? "I spent years designing all these form schedules!" I kept on, trying to get the little rodent to understand what was at stakes here. "Yours alone took me a whole month! I had to search through hundreds of pages of that wailord of a book the Prof gave me just to find a little info on that damn form class of yours! And then it was coordinating them all! All your form curves! I've been working on this since the Prof first taught me about this stuff! I've spent days upon days with you all, trying to figure out which form classes you all belong to, and nights upon nights trying to fit and finetune all those into one big plan for the Pokemon World Tournament! A three months long tournament it is! Do you know how bloody hard it is to plan something like that!? And then you just decide to give everyone a week off and piss on it all! Why Pikachu!? Why!?"

The Mouse Pokemon let his defiant mask slip then, a face of guilt taking its place, and he finally conceded the truth. "Pi pika, chu pika pi, pi pikachu."

I gaped. "You… can't be serious."

That was his reason. THAT. "You let them all ditch training because you wanted to be nice? Because you didn't want the others to think you're strict and uncool?"

The rodent became defiant again, looking away with arms crossed, protesting silently. I knew he wasn't lying. That excuse was simply too ridiculous for Pikachu to have just made it up.

"Well, I hope they still like you when we get steamrolled in the first battle of the World Tournament," I growled. "I hope they all still like you when we crash out of the group stage less than two weeks in, and I hope they all still like you when they realize they wasted their only chance to ever participate in a Pokemon World Tournament on snoozing and tanning their asses! I hope they all still like you when everything goes to hell, because that's what's gonna happen! Thanks to your fear of being disliked I'm stuck with a squad in complete disarray, AND THAT LESS THAN TWO MONTHS BEFORE THE GREATEST EVENT OF OUR LIVES!"

It seemed like the whole Green Fiery Vale went quiet then. Even the bleating mareep in the hillside had turned silent, and the wind was holding its breath.

I sighed, realizing suddenly what I'd been doing. 'I was shouting at him! I never shout at Pikachu. Never! Arceus help me. The Pokemon World Tournament hasn't even started, yet already it's tearing on my nerves.'

I decided to call for a truce. I could never stay mad at my best buddy, and now guilt was replacing the anger. "Well, I suppose not everything is doomed. I'll make some few modifications to the plans. We can make it through the group stage without Garchomp, I think. I suppose Seismitoad can cover for him to some extent. The ground-typing is the important thing to replace here, not the dragon-typing. However," I drew a breath, "I won't let this go without consequences. You're not leading another training session until you get your priorities sorted out again. Is that clear?"

Pikachu nodded in acceptance, his defiant mask softening again. "Pika."

"Great," I smiled at him. "Now, go help the others gather the gang, and I'll see you down on the Ashfield in a few minutes' time for some healthy afternoon training. Millennium Island is calling, and tomorrow we'll answer that call! Let's do it with minds set on glory!"

"Pika!" The Mouse Pokemon made a quick salute before darting off towards the Silver Stream, his movements sharp and zigzagged like his lightning tail as he dodged people and huts and obstacles in his way. I watched him with a brooding frown. 'Two months left, and I'm stuck with a squad in complete disarray...'

"Hoy! Arceus guide y' soul, Ash! Tha' was one hell o' a tantrum y' unleashed there! Sure thought y' were gonna murder poor Thunder Rat with just t' power o' y' words!"

I looked up to see Maya climbing up the hill, seemingly having run tired of arguing with Talon.

"It was nothing. Just a bust up, that's all. We're still friends. Don't worry about it." I showed away the grey clouds of worry dancing around my head. My brain was hurting too much to think about it all right now. "Hey Maya," I continued, remembering then the other reason I'd come to the Chief's Hall. "Tell me, do you know where Abraham is? I need to return the Map of Hidden Gems, and tell him about the sceptilite!"

"Aye! Tha's right!" Her face lit up like a bulb. "Tha' y' must! Pap will be thrilled! Y' gotta tell him 'bout the Solar Beam! Bloody hell. Y' gotta tell him everything! C'mon! Let's find him!"

"You know where he is then?"

"Aye! He was in his study a good hour ago, discussing this year's breeding season with Marcus. Mighten he's still there. C'mon y' slowpoke!"

I followed Maya around the Chief's Hall to the entrance, where the two wooden arcenine sat guard. A short climb of stairs led to a wooden stoop with railings as elegant and ornated as the rest of the building, and then Maya pushed open a creaking wooden door to reveal the Hall's interior.

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Inside, the Chief's Hall was dark and cozy. Distorted sunlight spilled lazily into the long room through two thick windows of crown glass, and a few dying embers glowed dimly in the fireplace. The Hall was warm, and was filled with odours of smoke and spilled ale. I'd wiggled my nose at that smell when I entered the Chief's Hall for the first time eight months ago, but now I'd grown used to it, even liking it really. A long table of thick wood stretched from the fireplace at one end of the room to a little dais at the other end, where Abraham would sit toasting with Matheus and other prominent villagers during a village feast. Behind the dais there was another creaking door leading to the chief family's chambers, and Abraham's study.

But I was not heading there quite yet. There was someone I needed to say hi to first, a friend I'd made here in the Fire Village. He was an old friend, you could say, a very old friend, close to 170 years, and he was snoozing and warming himself there by the fireplace. 'Or perhaps it's the fireplace that is warming itself by him,' I chuckled. "Hi Heatran! How's the magma flowing today?"

Heatran looked up, blinking at me with sleepy eyes before giving me a nod and an acknowledging "Heat". Heatran belonged to Abraham now, though before him, he'd belonged to his father, and before him again his grandfather, and so on, stretching all the way back to Walter Gropius, the founder of the Fire Village and Heatran's very first trainer. Word had it Walter had befriended Heatran up on Stark Mountain during his childhood years, before heading off to try his luck in the Faraway Gold Rush after reaching adulthood, bringing a young and adventurous Heatran with him. The Lava Dome Pokemon had never returned to his home mountain. He'd stayed in the Green Fiery Vale with Walter til the day he died, and then he'd stayed with his son til he died, and so on. Heatran had outlived five generations of Gropiuses, and though signs indicated he was finally beginning to feel his age, it was far from impossible he'd outlive his sixth.

It was a puzzling thing really, Heatran's age. I was no heatran-expert alright, but from what I'd read in the Prof's big book, the species never tended to live much past eighty. Yet, Heatran was more than twice that age.

'But then again, have legendary pokemon ever been known to follow the natural order of things?' I went over to crouch down next to Heatran. Aye, he was a legendary pokemon alright. I could feel it. That tingling thrill that always filled my heart when I was in the presence of a legendary. I couldn't quite describe it, but it was that way with Latias too, even after two years. I guess the excitement of meeting a legendary pokemon would never quite fade, no matter how many times I met one.

A pair of heat resistant gloves were hanging by the fireplace. I grabbed them and pulled the pair over my hands, before beginning to massage Heatran's back with all my strength behind it. The Lava Dome Pokemon murmured. He liked it that way. Heatran was old, but not frail, and the magma in his veins still ran hot.

Unlike most heatran, Heatran had the ability Flame Body, which basically meant the unarmoured parts of his body could burn your fingers on contact, no matter if he wanted it or not. Fortunately, Heatran's age had cooled that burning power to a certain extent, making it possible to massage the Lava Dome Pokemon's hottest parts as long as you wore the pair of water aura-infused heat resistant gloves.

'Brock should've seen me now,' I thought as I continued to work my way up his spine, feeling the magma pump underneath his thick, leathery skin. I wondered if my old friend had ever tried to massage a heatran before. Probably not. Who had really?

Finally, I made it up his spine to the back of his head, and the plate that covered most of his face. That was another strange thing about Heatran. Where a normal heatran would've had a simple horned iron shield above its eyes, Heatran had instead some kind of coffin-shaped plate fastened against his forehead, making him look almost like a bastidon. The plate was as tall as him, and looked exactly like the masks Matheus kept hanging on his walls, except this thing was made of rock, and there was no face on it, only a dull red coloration that seemed to dance with the shifting light.

It seemed no one in the village really knew the exact details behind the plate's origin, or how it'd ended up on Heatran's face. Abraham had told me once the story was that the Lava Dome Pokemon had gotten it from another chief several decades ago, supposedly to replace the iron shield after it'd cracked. I thought it was strange. Why couldn't that chief just replace it with a new iron shield or something, instead of such a big, clumsy thing? 'Arceus knows.'

It was pretty to look at though, the way shades of red seemed to dance on it, and perhaps that was the reason. Heatran had grown to become a symbol of power in the Fire Village, and Talon even claimed it was Heatran who chose the next village chief after one died. Perhaps that village chief several decades ago had chosen the plate simply to make the Lava Dome Pokemon look more powerful? 'Well, it worked.' I reached out to touch the plate, and the tingling thrill in my heart grew. 'What kind of rock is this thing made of anyway...'

"By Arceus! Who be the fool who left me door at a gap, I wonder!"

I turned to see a large man standing in the doorway, his hair an unkempt mane of green behind him. He wore the same kinds of clothes as Maya, brown jeans held up by a pair of braces, a loose-fitting shirt of mareep wool tucked into it. Goldminer's clothes.

"Heatran, was it you?" He continued in his rough voice. "Did y' touch me door? Me fine wooden door? Don't y' know, we could have all sorts o' things wandering in here if we don't close this door, mind you, like a naughty daughter or two!"

Maya had spun around to face him then, and her face instantly brightened at the man in the doorway. "Pap!"

"Har har har!" he roared a course laugher. "Maya! How be me little vulpix today?"

"Don't y' call me that." Maya crossed her arms stubbornly. "I'm turning twenty-and-two in t' summer! Long overdue y' start calling me a ninetales instead, me thinks."

Abraham barked another laugh. "Har! Aye. Mighten y're right, but y'll always be me little vulpix nonetheless. Just 'cause y' no flimsy cyndaquill no more doesn't mean y' stop being me daughter!"

Maya smiled at that, before challenging him with a "Hoy! Flimsy? Now that's a bold thing t' call a 'quill! I say y' should stay careful what y' say around 'em, or y' mighten just end up burning y' hand!"

I'd heard that story from her once before, about how the village daughter had put a cyndaquil in her pants when she was eight, right before Abraham came to give her a spanking for a broken vase. He never spanked her again.

Abraham looked from Maya, to Quill on her shoulder, and then back to Maya again. "Har. Y' don't need t' warn me. I'm quite familiar with tha' danger, thank-you-very-much." The senior Gropius seemed to rub his left hand unconsciously.

Quill fired up his back blaze for a moment then, and Abraham leapt back with a shout. Maya started laughing then, and I snickered along. It was such an absurd thing, how such a walrein of a man could be afraid of a puny cyndaquil. 'Well. The Quill is mightier than the sword, I guess.'

I decided to announce my return then. Stepping out of the shadows by the fireplace I raised a hand to greet the chief of the Fire Village. "Hey Abraham! Look who's back!"

"Aye. I have eyes, lad. I can see that, "Abraham growled, not taking his eyes of his left hand.

I blinked at the hostile response. 'Is he actually mad at me, or is he just-'

"HAR HAR HAR!" Abraham erupted into a roaring laughter again. "Just joking with y' laddie! It's good t' have y' back!"

'Yeah. That's what I thought,' I sighed, glaring daggers at the green-haired walrein. 'That man has the humour of Charizard.'

"Now tell me," Abraham continued. "Did y' find t' sceptilite down there? Was it hard? How was t' trap?"

"Oh you bet we found it!" I replied proudly, giving the village chief a thumb up. "It was exactly where you told me it would be. At the end of the ledge and over the rope bridge. We reached it on the morrow of the 14th. Sceptile fucked up the evolution on the first try, but second time was the charm!"

"Really?" Abraham hooted. "Y' must tell me everything then, from start t' finish. Don't leave out a thing!"

I nodded, and so I began telling about the eventful expedition, from carrying all the equipment down the Frostwiskey Gorge to the climb above the Weavile's Ice, before dramatizing the finding of the sceptilite and ending with a finale that left a look of astonishment on the village chief's face: the Lighting Rod-boosted Solar Beam.

Abraham nodded. "So that great column o' light was y' sceptile's making, aye? Absolutely amazing, and honestly a bit disappointing as well. I really should've glimpsed Groudon at least once before I die."

I opened my mouth to brag. "Actually, I've met-"

"Yes I know," Abraham cut in in annoyance. "Y've told. Several times."

I scratched my head in embarrassment. "Well, only three or four times, or maybe five."

Abraham's expression softened. "Aye, but I suppose y' have the right t' it. Y' should almost have a drinking song made 'bout you, as many adventures as y've been through!"

"You think so?"

"Aye! Arceus hold these t' be me true words. Y're a true adventurer, Ash! Even ol' Walter Gropius would've been proud of you, I'll wager. Just look at this last adventure o' yours! Y' cross the Weiss-Sheinux Twin Passes with only y' sceptile on a quest t' find an ancient treasure as old as t' Dawn Days, and in heroic manners y' succeed! Once again y' come back from one o' t' deepest and wildest parts of these mountains t' bring us a mega stone. I'll tell y' this lad. What y've done for this village, y' have no idea how much we all appreciate it!" Abraham rubbed his left hand. "Aye. This arrangement we've had, it's worked out well for t' both o' us. We're getting our treasures back and y're getting t' harness their powers in t' World Tournament. Sounds like a win-win situation t' me! Y've been a blessing from Arceus, Ash. I must remember giving Liza me thanks for sending you t' us."

I nodded with a smile. It was Liza who'd first told me about the Fire Village. It'd been back in August last year, when I'd gone to the Charicific Valley with Charizard on one of his many visits to his mate there, Charla. While the two turtle dragons had been catching up, I'd had a cup of spicy figy berry tea with Liza, and after listening to some complaining from my side about the ridiculous prices of mega stones in the Celadon Department Store, she'd told me. About this place deep into the Faraway Mountains, a place her mother had hailed from before moving to Kanto, where they still lived without neither electricity nor aura technology, but instead harnessed the power of fire pokemon to keep the chill out of their vale. She'd told me about her uncle Abraham who was the chief of the village, and finally she'd whispered to me the secret of an old map that supposedly showed the location of more than fifty mega stones hidden around in the mountain range.

"Yeah. It's been great, for the both of us!" I pulled the Map of Hidden Gems out of my backpack, careful not to make a rift in Abraham's artwork. "Thanks to this thing here, I might just stand a chance at that Pokemon Master title. Just you wait. The power of those seven mega stones, they'll help us far! I know it!" I handed the map to Abraham, before extending a hand to him, feeling the melancholy of the words I was about to speak. "Thanks Abraham. For the map, for the mega stones, for giving me a warm bed here in the middle of the cold mountains. It's been great."

"Har har har! T'was nothing laddie!" Abraham laughed his course laugh, but then his voice softened. "So y' finally leavin' then?"

I nodded. "On the morrow. It's a long way back to Kanto, and my dream awaits me at Millennium Island."

"Aye. I understand. Y' must chase y' dream lad, even if it takes you t' the end o' t' world." Abraham released my hand and unrolled the map. "Well! Seems that sceptilite be another treasure off t' list then! Only three left out there now. Three more, and we'll have 'em all. T' secret is closer than ever before." The last part was only a mutter. Maya gave her father a hard nudge.

"Ouch! Oh, and o' course y'll be wanting t' have t' mega stones back as well. Can't leave these mountains without 'em, now can you?" Abraham barked a laugh. "Har! Now that would be a shame! No laddie. I'll fetch t' stones for you. We made an arrangement, and a Gropius never crosses his words. Y'll have 'em with you when y' leave on t' morrow."

I nodded. "Thanks Abraham."

It was the village chief that safekept the mega stones when I wasn't using them. Where exactly he kept them I had no idea, but if I planned to use one I'd always have to ask for it the day before, as if Abraham could only access the hiding place during night-time or something. My main suspicion was one of the many caves and sandslash burrows holing out the hillsides of the Vale, as he'd then need the cover of night not to reveal the exact cave he hid them in. 'Or maybe he just keeps them somewhere really far away, like someplace outside the Vale, or perhaps down where the Silver Stream burrows into the ground at the far end of the Vale.'

As we'd been speaking, Heatran had decided to leave the cozy fireplace to request some affection from his trainer. I handed the heat resistant gloves to Abraham, and he crouched down to start massaging the Lava Dome Pokemon in such a way that brought a deep rumbling from the pit of his stomach, like a volcano about to erupt.

"Y' heard t' news, Heatran? Ash is leaving on t'morrow."

"Heat, ran," the Lava Dome Pokemon nodded, sending me a glance. I smiled at him, and then Heatran began bobbing his head up and down, the plate tapping at the floor with each bob. Heatran did that sometimes when he got excited about something, and he must've been really fired up now! Heatran's body began glowing with such heat that even the heat resistance gloves weren't enough to stop Abraham from retreating in fear of burning himself. Heatran bobbed his head and stamped his feet, and he growled like a volcano, "Ran heat heat ran ran!"

"Aye!" Abraham lighted up. "Y' read me thoughts! A feast! That's what we should have! A hero's departure. Can y' imagine an event more in need o' a feast than that? Aye! Let's give t' lad a proper send-off."

"Heat!" Heatran cheered in agreement, the magma now visibly pulsing underneath his skin.

Abraham nodded, and the village chief stood back up before spreading his arms to declare, "It's decided then! Maya! Rally t' kitchen house! We feast at sundown!"

Author's note: So what do you think of the Fire Village? Would you've liked to live there? This chapter was largely based around lore building and the getting to know the village and its inhabitants. Worry not though. Next chapter comes the interesting stuff.

And just a heads up, I'm heading on a class excursion to Singapore and Vietnam next week. We'll be staying there for about eighteen days, and I doubt I'll get to do much writing while down there, so I can not guarantee the release of the next chapter anytime soon, but perhaps sometime in the middle of May? We'll see.

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Upcoming chapters:

- Chapter 6: Secrets in the night - Ash POV, Maya POV - About 10000 words.

- Chapter 7: The boy that wanted to be an aura guardian - Ash POV, Maya POV - About 8000 words.

- Chapter 8: Fort Wilderlands - May POV, Ash POV, Maya POV, - About 8000 words.