Cianwood City Pokemon Center:
“K-Kiara…?” Lucario whispered in shock, scarcely able to believe his pup-hood friend was sitting in front of him. But nonetheless, he wasn’t able to deny what was quite literally staring him in the face. He’d recognize those eyes of hers anywhere. “Is that you?”
“Oh, Lucario…” Kiara whispered lovingly, giving him an affectionate nuzzle before nipping at his ear. “You know perfectly well you’d never lose me, no matter where you went. I have always been by your side. I treasured your friendship after all. Probably the only friend I ever had in that forest who wasn’t a part of my flock. So, of course, I’d come to try and find you when I got old enough, powerful enough to leave the safety of the flock and look for you.”
Blushing, Lucario stuttered out “Yes… Yes, I did notice you’d finally evolved into a Fearow. Sorta hard not to, really.”
“Yes, my figure is pretty great, isn’t it?” Kiara teased, extending her wings just to show them off a bit. “...Still, shouldn’t let it go to my head though.”
“Probably not, no,” Lucario sniped back, forgetting about his utter humiliation at the Cianwood City Gym for the moment. “But you really flew out all the way from Ilex Forest just to find me? I mean, that’s miles away! And yet here you are in Cianwood, past the infamous storms that cover the Whirl Islands!”
Even Lucario had heard of the infamous weather conditions that made travel through the Whirl Islands nigh-impossible this time of year. Fearsome storms of great size and power covered the small archipelago of four islands, battering them with high winds and drenching monsoons. The weather systems had recently been theorized by scientists to have been carried by the trade winds all the way to the Alola Region to the southeast.
Of course, there were other theories if you dug deep enough into Johto’s local legends, even before modern day science got involved. If you were so inclined to turn to myth, you would find some rather… unusual theories. These were the kind most modern day Pokemon scientists scoffed at, but some older folk still held to be true. The kind of explanations they’d grown up with all of their lives. Some turned out to be true, some not.
Regional sailors and local islanders have speculated that the Legendary Pokemon Lugia, with its powerful wings that could blow a house right down to its foundations in one flap, could be the cause. Lugia, it is said, remains hidden beneath the sea or perhaps deep inside some cavern somewhere in the Whirl Island’s system of caves, fearing its own destructive powers. In fact, one old legend claimed that Lugia, if it did not keep its powers in check, could cause a mighty forty day storm of unparalleled might and power.
The Guardian of the Seas it may have been, but it’s said to be a mighty creature not to be trifled with, especially by unwary and unworthy trainers. There were tales going back centuries of its destructive power and might. However, quite oddly, there was a mirror side to these myths. Lugia, for its destructive capability the creature supposedly possessed, was believed to have the ability to actually calm the seas in times of great calamity. There were also stories of it rescuing sailors and Pokemon in distress from sinking ships, and bringing them to safety. Thus, it had earned the aforementioned nickname, and great respect and trepidation from local sailors.
A lot of this, of course, required an open mind. Sadly, so few people outside the Whirl Islands cared or honored this lore and mythology, scoffing at the idea of such a powerful pokémon’s existence. It’s been falling out of favor among the young, and those that know the tales have begun to dwindle in this modern era...
No matter what the cause, the fact remained the Whirl Islands was a dangerous route to travel by sea or by air during the summer time. Lucario was astounded Sunset and now Kiara had managed to make it through the archipelago despite the storms, not to mention the various whirlpools that gave the islands their name.
“And yet I survived…” Kiara bragged, and Lucario chuckled a bit. Seems being a Fearow hadn’t dulled down her confidence any. “Not without incident mind you. Trust me on this, finding you was quite the story…”
“One I’d love to hear, when we have the time.” Lucario replied, before giving a slight grunt of pain as he rubbed his jaw, still feeling the aftereffects of the punch delivered by Chuck’s powerful Poliwrath.
“Hey, we have all the time in the world, considering where you are and all…” Kiara replied and Lucario groaned.
“Yeah… Don’t remind me…” he muttered and Kiara blushed sheepishly as she gave out a small nervous laugh.
“Right, sorry… Forgot about that for a moment,” she apologized, rubbing the back of her head with a wing.
“So, how’d you know where to find me in here anyways?” Lucario asked, getting right to the point.
“Your new friend, the one with the bacon hair, told me,” Kiara replied, and gestured with a wing towards the doorway, where Sunset was leaning up against the frame. She gave a nervous little wave.
“Sorry, was I interrupting something?” she asked sheepishly, a red flush present on her face.
“No, no… Not at all!” Kiara said waving her over. “If you're interested, you're more than welcome to stay and listen.”
Sunset shrugged and pulled up a chair next to Lucario’s bed. “Weeeeelll,” she admitted as she scooted it closer to Kiara. “I ammmmm more than a little interested as to how you found your old friend all the way out here…”
“Same here,” Talon said, and everyone turned their heads to see him perched on the open windowsill. Dragonair was peeking her head in as well, equally interested.
“Welllll, it starts off like this, a little over a few months ago…” Kiara began…
Deep within the southern Ilex Forest:
It was only a few days after Kiara, still a tiny Spearow, had seen her best friend (And though she’d never even begun to think of it at the time, possibly maybe more…) sucked into a Pokeball by that blue haired trainer with the glasses. Currently, she was taking a flyover of the Ilex Forest, coasting over the tops of the trees with the springtime sun shining brightly high above her.
Vivillon, in their many wing patterns of varying color and beauty of all sorts, rose up from the treetops for an early morning flight. Kiara let a small smile creep onto her beak. She knew there was this thing called a Pokemon Gym nearby, and the guy who lived there -Kiara had never bothered to learn his name, honestly- specialized in Bug-Types. Any one of those Vivillon would make quite a catch, really. Or at least serve as a good conversation piece.
Kiara sighed as she reached a small clearing and set herself down on a nearby tree branch. Normally at this time of day, she and Lucario would be racing each other through the forest and launching attacks at each other to test and improve each other’s strength. That couldn't happen now. She let a small slip from her eye before wiping it away with a wing before anybody she knew could see it. She… She wasn't lonely, no! Not at all! She had plenty of friends in her own flock to play with in the forest!
“But… But none of them are Lucario, are they?” she thought to herself as she looked at a small pack of Zigzagoon, led by their evolved form, Linoone. She gave a wistful smile, that had to be the same pack Lucario stole an Oran Berry from back when he was just a Riolu. Back when they’d first met.
Kiara then took to the skies again. she’d just have to accept the fact that Lucario was probably living happily with his new trainer, and that she’d probably never see him again.
A few months passed, and summer was in full swing. Kiara had resigned herself to the fact that she’d probably never see Lucario again, and spent her time training hard with her flock mates.
“You miss him, don't you?” her father, a powerful Fearow of some years and the leader of the flock observed one day. “That Lucario friend of yours,”
“N-No, I don't!” Kiara stuttered. Her father gave her a look.
“Kiara, a father can tell when their child lies to them. I know you too well,” he said softly. “You think I don't know? I've seen you playing with him. I'd never seen you quite so happy in all of your life.”
“A-Alright already!” Kiara snapped, looking directly at her father as she fought back the tears “Fine. I admit it, I miss him! No, more than that, I love him!”
“I thought so, just watching you two… it was like me and your mom all over again. She was a real spitfire when she was your age. ...Still is actually,” the Fearow admitted before leaning in closer to his daughter. “Don't tell her I said that, okay? Promise?”
“Promise.” Kiara giggled. Her father then leaned in closer, and took her aside from the rest of the flock.
“Listen, I’m going to tell you something only your mother knew until now, as long as you promise to keep it quiet,” Kiara’s dad said and the little Spearow nodded. “I wasn’t born in the wild like the rest of the flock. I… I had a trainer once, full of a fire not unlike your own. From nearby Azalea Town. She sorta reminds me of you, really.”
Kiara’s jaw dropped as her father used his beak to pull an old Pokeball out from his chest feathers. As battered as it was, it was obvious her dad cherished it, from the way he gazed at it longingly. For the longest time, she thought her father was a wild Pokemon, but learning this, it changed Kiara’s perception of her father completely. It didn’t make sense, why hadn’t he told her this before?
But as she gave it further thought, pieces started to fall into place. Her father had always seemed stronger than your average run-of-the-mill Fearow, but she’d always chalked it up to particularly intense training and fights. And that was still true, but now she knew they always hadn’t been with Wild Pokemon in defense of his flock.
“What… What happened to her?” Kiara asked, not really sure if she wanted to know.
“...She… She died. Lung failure. There was nothing that could be done. She always had problems with illness, so she knew it’d come eventually. For seventeen long years, I enjoyed every moment I spent with her, from when I was a tiny Spearow right up till the day she died. I stayed with her until the very end” her father said sadly, his voice completely and utterly emotionless as painful memories came to the surface once more. “The adventures we had, the stories I could tell. Me and the rest, we were such a good team... She released me and the rest, when she lay on that fateful bed. She thought it was the right thing to do. She didn’t want us going to another unknown trainer. I kept my Pokeball in any case, my resting place for all those years. To honor her and our time together. I haven’t seen the rest of the team since.”
“By Arceus dad… I never knew…” Kiara whispered giving her father a comforting nuzzle with her head. He then nudged the Pokeball to her.
“Take it, find your friend. Let his trainer capture you with this Pokeball. Now that its former owner is… gone, it’s not registered with the Pokemon League. So, nobody can accuse your trainer of ever stealing you.”
“You don’t want to do that. Lucario’s trainer is accused of something I would never wish on any Pokemon. He’s a disgrace to humankind,” a voice boomed as a massive Ibex like Pokemon covered in blue fur trudged out of the forest. Both Kiara and her father bowed at the sight of him.
“L-Lord Cobalion…” both Kiara and her father whispered. Cobalion looked directly at Kiara.
“Ah, so you’re the spirited young little Fearow to be who gave Lucario such a fighting spirit?” He confirms. “For that… I thank you. Without that… I can only imagine what would’ve happened.”
“What?” Kiara squawked in fear. “What about Lucario? What’s happened to him? Tell me!” she demanded. “Please.” She adds fearfully, remembering to whom she was speaking.
“It’s his… trainer. He’s a Poke-Abuser. I had to step in to save your friend’s life.” Cobalion growled.
After a moment of agonizing silence, Kiara’s dad let out a loud screech of rage, one that made all of his flock’s feathers shiver.
“Where is he? Who hurt my daughter’s beloved?” Kiara’s father roared.
“Elsewhere in the Johto region, somewhere outside Cianwood. That’s where I last met up with him.” Cobalion huffed.
“L-Lucario...? Is… Is he okay?” Kiara whispered in fear.
“For now, yes. He escaped, but I don’t know what happened next. I had to chase his former trainer off, I couldn’t see what happened to Lucario next. With all luck, he made it to civilization,” Cobalion asserted “But...”
“I have to go find him.” Kiara snarled out, picking up the Pokeball in one of her talons. Next, she unfolded her wings and looked towards the sky.
“Kiara, wait!” Her father yelled at her as she started to fly off. She paused and looked back, using her wings to keep herself aloft. “To get to Cianwood, you’d have to pass through the Whirl Islands! You and I both know what they’re like this time of year!”
“I don’t care!” Kiara cried, giving one last look at her father, her flock, and Cobalion. “I’ve got to find him, no matter what the danger! He needs me!”
As she flew off, well aware of the possibility she’d never see her father again, she narrowed her eyes and rocketed off towards the direction of Cianwood and the Whirl Islands. Out of earshot, her father whispered tearfully “Be safe, my daughter. You’ve got your namesake’s spirit, that’s for sure.”
The Whirl Islands:
True to her father’s predictions, the weather around the Whirl Islands was especially nasty around this time of year. And this particular storm season, it was really bad. Kiara had the misfortune of arriving at the islands during a violent thunderstorm, with torrential rainfall and treacherous cliff peaks hidden by thick black clouds by nightfall. Little did she know, but this storm would go down in record as one of the most powerful ever to hit the Islands in the past 10 years.
Lightning crashed dangerously close to her as rain pounded onto her tiny wings and deafening thunder boomed in her eardrums all around the small Flying-Type. Barely able to keep her eyes open or catch her breath in the inhospitable storm. The boiling skies were almost pitch black as Zekrom himself, (Honestly, Kiara wouldn’t be surprised if the Deep Black Pokémon was in some way responsible for this.) this lightning was her only form of illumination.
“Sweet Lord Solgaleo’s mane!” Kiara thought to herself as a jagged bolt of lightning nearly struck her again. Below her, the waters churned violently in the storm, and she saw palm trees bending -And in some cases even snapping in two- below her on one of the islands. Red Rock Isle was its name if she remembered correctly. The whole island seemed to groan and creak.
Kiara barrel-rolled to the left to avoid another bolt of lightning, the poor Spearow being battered all the while by heavy rain and wind. She felt exhausted. Her wings beat out of sync with one another. She gasped for air in this electrified environment. Her vision growing blurry, she could see the vague silhouette of Cianwood’s shores in the distance. The lighthouse’s ray beaming like a glimmer of hope in the distance. She just had to make it there.
“Come on…” Kiara whispered between her gasps. She forced herself forward, screeching to the sky above “Come on! I’m almost there… Don’t worry Lucario, I’m coming!”
The shores grew closer. A few more lightning bolts threatened to fry Kiara. Barely keeping up her strength and her altitude, she clawed her way onwards. The shores were so close, she could almost taste it. Exhausted, panting, and soaked to the bone, she pushed on. Her determination pushed her beyond her normal limits. And her great devotion and determination earned her a great reward.
She found her entire psychology shifting and changing. Energy surrounded her, enveloped her mid-flight. She began to glow bright and felt her strength renewing. No, increasing. Her beak sharpened and lengthened as her neck became vulture-like, and her tiny wings grew exponentially larger. As the energy faded, Kiara’s eyes widened. She looked down at her new form, at her wingspan. She’d now gone from a tiny 0.3 meter Spearow to a fully grown 1.2 meter Fearow!
Kiara screeched in triumph as she flapped her giant wings and used her newfound speed to push through the violent hell of the storm, her talons still clutching onto her Pokeball tightly. Through the pounding rain and wind, she flew. Never giving up, not once. She tucked in her wings and flew past bolts of lightning, her fear evaporating in the face of newfound confidence thanks to her new strength and power. Kiara challenged the storm, almost daring it to try and stop her now. She grew cocky. She screeched once more, as she fixed her eyes firmly on her destination.
However, just when it seemed she would be in the clear, life threw her one more curveball. The storm seemingly answered Kiara’s challenge, and as if to punish her cockiness, a lightning bolt hit the tip of Kiara’s wing and, combined with a sudden side draft, sent Kiara careening towards a giant rock formation sticking out of the sea.
“Great, newly evolved and I’m going to die for my troubles… Lovely.” Kiara deadpanned, defiant to the end. She closed her eyes and prepared for impact.
But before she spiraled uncontrollably and smashed beak-first into those rocks, creating a bloody spatter all over the rocks, the winds suddenly subsided somewhat as a giant form emerged from the waters. Ridge-backed and almost pure white, this creature resembled a cross between a dragon and a plesiosaurus. It caught Kiara and placed her upon its back. Kiara gasped in awe as she found herself atop this truly gigantic form, with red scales on the back. She was speechless as she saw the head of her savior. Lugia, Guardian of the Seas, looked over its shoulder at the newly evolved Fearow.
“No… No, it can’t be…” Kiara whispered, barely believing her own eyes.
“Cobalion sends his regards! He knew you might need help, so he sent yours truly, to give you a wing or two!” the Diving Pokémon chortled with a wink of his eye. “Call me Silver, by the way.”
“Thank… Thank you, Silver…” Kiara whispered in exhaustion.
“No problem. Sorta my job, now you just sit back young Fearow and let Lugia Airways get you to your destination! Cianwood City, right?” Silver chuckled.
When Kiara nodded, Silver smiled and flapped his wings and pushed on through the storm.
Cianwood City Pokemon Center:
“Okay… Okay, you’ve got to be bullshitting me,” Sunset stammered out, hardly able to believe the young Fearow’s words. “Let me get things straight. You met Cobalion of the freaking Swords of Justice himself, actually talked to him along with your dear old dad, and then flew through one of the most violent storms in the history of the Whirl Islands and evolved in the process, and were rescued by a shiny Lugia who called himself Silver? Do you know how made up that sounds!?!” She shouted at Kiara, throwing up her hands in the air in disbelief.
“Well, when you put it that way, I admit, it does sound a little contrived…” Kiara admitted, trailing off as she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly with a wing once more. “But why would I lie to you? Hell, why would I make that kind of stuff up?”
“Hey, if Kiara, my b-best friend, says it’s true, why shouldn’t I believe her?” Lucario remarked, although everybody had heard the noticeable stutter over the words best friend he’d made. Plus, there had been a large red tint on his face when he said this.
“Aww… Young love, isn’t that sweet?” Dragonair thought to herself, smiling fondly at the two young Pokemon.
“Okay… Okay,” Sunset said, getting up out of her chair and beginning to walk back and forth. She put a hand to her chin in thought. “Assuming this is all true, and maybe it is or maybe it isn’t, can you offer some sort of proof?”
Kiara, if it were possible for her, would have beamed proudly, as she produced the Pokeball her father had given her.
“I… I need to sit down a moment…” Sunset muttered as she fell into the chair before looking at Kiara. “You could have grabbed that Pokeball from anywhere, you know that right?”
Lucario let out a low snarl.
“Why would she lie? Why would she make this all up?” he growled out towards Sunset, his fangs bared. Talon gave him a look.
“Hey, hey. Calm down, okay? Like Kiara said, and I’m not going against you or anything, it is kinda hard to believe for most of us, Pokemon or human.” Talon reasoned.
“Okay… I can call up the meteorological station on Blue Point Isle, see if they saw or heard anything unusual that night,” Sunset stated. “Little known fact, they also keep an eye on Lugia’s movements, just to make sure when he emerges from the sea that the people know that there are risks involved due to his supposed storm causing abilities,” she explained. With that, she rushed towards the nearest Video Phone, and dialed a number. On screen came up a white-skinned woman, with long cerise hair that had some green highlights mixed in.
“Hello, this is Professor Blossomforth speaking, can I help you young miss?” the scientist said politely, as a Castform in it’s Sunny Form hovered behind her.
“Yeah, I just want to ask something. I’ve heard rumors that a Lugia emerged from the sea not too long ago. Just want to see if they’re true, that’s all,” Sunset explained.
“Well… I’m not entirely sure how true those rumors are, but we did get a call from Red Rock Isle from a man by the name of Thunderlane who was out storm chasing that night who swore he saw a white and red version of Lugia that night. Personally, I think he’s making it up. Lugia himself appearing is a rarity, but a shiny one? Now that’s just malarkey, plain and simple. Though we cannot say for sure either way right now. No need to worry.” Blossomforth told Sunset in an exasperated tone, who nodded.
“Okay, thanks for all your help,” Sunset said as she hung up, and sighed to herself. So, it looked like Kiara wasn’t lying at all, at least on the part of meeting a Lugia. And if she hadn’t lied on the most unbelievable part, then it’s unlikely that she lied about the rest either. Sunset’s mind was racing now. How could Kiara have met both a shiny Lugia, and Cobalion? She laughed to herself. Pokemon really were mysterious creatures.
After a few more calls all around the Johto region, it turned out the rest of Kiara’s story checked out. After a call to Bugsy, it turned out while he was on a Vivillon catching spree for his gym’s Greenhouse, he did catch a glimpse of a Pokemon resembling Cobalion dashing through the forest.
Sunset was greeted with a smug little smirk by Kiara as she re-entered Lucario’s room, her expression saying everything.
“Okay… I guess you weren’t lying after all… I’m sorry,” Sunset apologized as she stroked the Fearow’s head feathers. “After I found out that a shiny Lugia really did appear that night, I figured you wouldn’t lie about the rest either. I have no reason to suspect you. I did check out the rest of your story to be sure, but that backs up as well...”
“Now, if only Lugia, or Cobalion, could beat that Poliwrath at Chuck’s Gym instead of me… If only I weren’t such a failure to my kind, I would have beat him!” Lucario muttered, only to be soundly slapped across the face by Kiara with a wing.
“No, don’t say that!” She shouted, looking him dead in the eyes and losing her cocky demeanor. “You’re not a failure. Everybody loses now and again, you just need to believe in yourself. I know you can beat him. I know it.”
“R-Really?” Lucario looks away, a little ashamed, as he rubbed his stinging cheek with a paw, his face getting that red tint once more. Kiara taught him better than that all that time ago, and he knew it.
“I believe in you Lucario,” Kiara stated in complete seriousness, and Talon nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, you could’ve had that thing beat if you hadn’t frozen up mid-fight. Just need to keep focused, that’s all,” He stated. “Challenge him again with a calm, clear mind, and I know you can defeat that Poliwrath.”
Lucario nodded, and his paws clenched. “Then that’s exactly what I’m going to do…”