Trainer Andrew ♂, Johto Day 22: Into the Light

I finally escaped that wretched place!  And it was so simple all this time.  There was a massive pit in the middle of this room sheeted in ice, and I kept slipping into it and having to climb my way back out via another route.  It turned out that I had been going left, up, left, down, left, up, left, RIGHT, down, right, down.  Which is obviously all wrong, as I should have been going left, up, left, down, left, up, left, down, right, down, right.  How could I have been so stupid!?

Dragging my haggard frame from that icy tomb, I emerged into Blackthorn City, which, despite the giant icy cave right next door, is noticeably lacking ice.  While pondering the meteorological improbability of having such a closed-system temperature difference would have been a lot of fun, I was far too tired and hungry, my mouth still reeking of raw Delibird.  Going to the Pokémon Center, I stumbled inside and crashed out on the floor.

Awaking several hours later, and discouraging some Nurse Joys from looking at a few of my toes which had become a strange, black color, I sought out somebody to talk to who could explain to me this new, odd town.  Sitting down for dinner in some old lady’s house (she didn’t seem to mind), I questioned her about the place.  She told me that Blackthorn City is famous for its Dragon Trainers, most notable Lance of the Elite Four. 

I laughed a bit, and told her that I had once replaced Lance in an Elite Four battle.  She looked confused, so I inquired as to why.

“Well,” she said “that’s not what he told me.”  At that, she called upstairs.  Then, who should emerge but my old friend Lance!

Running over to hug me, though I’ve told him I’m not one for physical contact, he was elated at seeing me again, as he had assumed I’d died on the S.S. Anne.  Slapping me heartily on the back, he beckoned me upstairs.  He explained that the old woman downstairs was him mother, and that he had come back to his hometown to try and get his life in order. 

Apparently the whole incident at the Indigo Plateau had shown him that he really hadn’t gotten over the problems of his past.  But everything changed when he was drawn in by this gathering of people called the Rayquazians, who told him that the legendary pokémon Rayquaza was going to come down from his moon base at the next equinox to take all the true believers to live with him there. 

I told him that I knew somebody who had met Rayquaza, but he dismissed it.  I also wanted to know how they would be able to live or breathe on the moon, but none of my questions seemed to even faze him.  Then he wanted to give me some literature which, he said, would explain everything.  But I’m already a Celebite, so I passed on his offer. 

While that didn’t make him too happy, he did offer me a chance to see his little religious group at a ceremony they had coming up.  It was almost the equinox, and all Rayquazians from across Johto were going to meet in Blackthorn City’s Dragon Den to celebrate their ascension into space. 

I don’t have anything to do, so I accepted his offer kindly. 

It’s fun to learn about new cultures,
Trainer Andrew ♂