Chasing Ghosts - Prologue

> Prologue

It was over. A battle against a Champion was just as much a battle of wills as a battle of Pokémon, yet fighting a Champion with no will to battle with her Pokémon was no battle in the first place.

There was a stunned silence in the arena as serperior’s head finally bowed to exhaustion and the once-regal Pokémon who had been such a powerhouse at the beginning of the battle finally gave in. There were no cheers – the bell hadn’t even rung. Just stone cold silence and did Touko just . . . lose a battle?

A pause, then uneasy applause for Iris, the girl set to be the next Champion.

:.::.:

“What kind of battle was that?” Iris sat next to me and searched my face for an answer. “Your mind wasn’t in that battle. You didn’t even want to battle. You’ve always loved battling – are you sick? We can have a rematch when you’re better, you know, because you would’ve never lost on a normal day.”

“I lost deliberately.” I paused, then decided against the silence and rushed to fill it again. “I don’t want a rematch. I don’t want to be Champion anymore. I’m leaving.”

When Iris didn’t throw a childish fit – who doesn’t want to be Champion? – I was incredibly grateful. She just politely asked where I planned to go.

“Johto. Maybe Kanto. Hoenn or Sinnoh. I don’t know, but it won’t be Unova. I’m going to be chasing ghosts.”

“That doesn’t sound entirely safe Touko. Chasing ghosts? Is that another kind of wild goose chase?” Iris glanced at me warily, concern lining her face.

“I want to research some old legends. I want to travel the world. Climb to the top of the Bell Tower, go to the depths of the Whirl Islands. I want to do something new and something fresh. I’ll travel around and research old legends from other regions—chasing ghosts, Iris, chasing ghosts.”

Chasing a lost Hero with a hardly inconspicuous Zekrom.

“I won’t try to stop you Touko, but what about your family and friends? They won’t want you to leave.”

“Oh I know. That’s why I’m going to leave, then when they start to worry, you’ll explain it all to them.”

“What?! Are you freakin’ kidding me Touko? No one wants to be told by someone else that their daughter or best friend left without saying goodbye to them!”

I told Iris there was nothing she could do and left. She stared after me without a word.

A week after I’d left, Cheren and Bianca started questioning my whereabouts and Iris kept her word and spilled. My mother was shocked, Bianca was a sobbing, quivering mess and Cheren was stone calm as he wondered how I could do this to them.

I never knew about this though, because I was in Johto already.

:.::.:

With a zoroak-turned-glaceon on my head, I turned the key in the stiff lock and the door swung open. I’d settled down in Ecruteak City to study the legend of Ho-Oh and Suicune, Raiko and Entei, but that was a year ago. I completed my research last month and had no real direction to go anymore, since the Champion of the Johto region seemed to own all the legendries in the vicinity, even though she let them go as they pleased.

As nothing else seemed to be interesting, I had considered tackling the gyms again in Johto and Kanto, but quickly dismissed the thought. I was rusty, hadn’t battled for months, my Pokémon were incredibly out of shape and nothing would whip up a frenzy like Unova’s missing previous Champion bringing the Johto and Kanto gyms to her feet.

There wasn’t much of a path for me in Pokémon battling anyway.

So I moved once more. Packed up any ties I had to Johto and moved to Sootopolis City in Hoenn and did nothing but live a normal life. I watched gym battles once or twice, but once they stirred something deep in my gut I started keeping them at a far distance.

I still loved my Pokémon and though I hadn’t been using them much recently, I couldn’t bear to let them go and so I tried to incorporate them into my new lifestyle. Reshiram and I would fly on cloudy days when the white luster of its coat was less visible, though it wasn’t too happy about the damp either. I made and tended a garden with serperior; swanna and I took a dive every weekend. Zoroark did what she did and every Thursday volcarona and I would take a trip to Lavaridge town. Cinncino tried to act as a housemaid. We found purpose again, and I found friends again.

I was wet and sopping with seawater after the morning dive with swanna on Saturday and so, wrapping my wet hair and body in a towel, I dropped myself and turned on the TV. The first thing that popped up was the Battle Channel, which I didn’t remember ever turning on to, but as I flicked through the channels I noticed the same battle was airing live on every channel. And as I looked closer, I started to notice things.

Like Iris was in some ridiculous Champion garb and was battling a challenger. A female with beautiful innocent blue eyes that looked so alarmingly familiar it took me a moment to realize it was my little cousin, Mei, who had followed me around everywhere when I was little.

Mei’s glaceon was taking chunks out of Iris’ haxorus. Ice after ice attacks on the dragon Pokémon were doling out severe blows, and the golden-plated Pokémon passed out from severe ice burns. The crowd screamed and I realized that Mei had just won the battle. A surge of grief threatened to overwhelm me again, and swanna nestled into my elbow. I stroked her feathered head and she cooed softly.

Bianca and Cheren ran onto the screen then, along with Mei’s best friend Hyuu. They all looked so well. Bianca looked older but still as ditzy as always, and Cheren just looked smart. I read somewhere that he had become a gym leader, replacing Lenora. I was happy for him, but I wasn’t there to celebrate with him.

Hyuu tackled Mei into a hug and they high-fived each other. Mei lingered for a second afterward, then rushed to peck him on the cheek. Hyuu went scarlet and my heart wrenched.

I wanted to go back now. I wanted to go back so badly.

So go back then, reshiram grumbled, using it’s slightly aggravating telepathy. Just for a day.

A day.

That couldn’t hurt, could it?

Reshiram was ready in seconds, its sapphire eyes twinkling like it knew the answer to a question I didn’t understand before going airborne.

They some home is where the heart is.

I was going home.