Belle sat outside of the Pokemon Center’s sliding glass doors, her blue eyes locked on the mountain path. It was mid-morning now and she was beginning to worry.
“He should’ve come down by now,” she muttered softly to herself. “It’s mid-morning, and I know that he rises early... if he slept at all up there.”
A frown split her crimson lips and she rose to her paws. She waited for the doors to slide open for her and then she walked into the faintly sterilized air of the Pokémon Center. There were very few Trainers staying there at the moment, not not many had any reason to travel to the top of Mt. Coronet. At the moment, as far as she could tell, there were only three counting her Roxanne.
One of the Trainers was currently sitting at one of the well-built wooden tables eating with his Rapidash, whose fiery mane was a silvery grey color and a saddle was strapped across her back. Belle spared him a passing glance before she continued past and headed for the room Roxanne had been given. It took her but a moment to get the door open and she walked in. Roxanne was in the process of pulling on a jacket and when Belle entered the room. The raven-haired woman looked down at her with a slight frown.
“He was a no show, huh?” the woman asked while her dark eyes looked over herself in the mirror.
“Yes,” Belle replied, though she knew Roxanne couldn’t really understand her.
“I’m sorry about that, Belle,” her Trainer said, bending down to pet Belle gently. “So, what do you want to do?”
“Go up there and knock some sense into his thick skull,” Belle said sourly. Honestly, she had spent two years looking for him and he still didn’t come down from the mountain? “Though, I doubt that would help anything,” she added, sighing.
“Yeah, that’s men for you,” Roxanne agreed, chuckling slightly while she tried to raise her absol’s spirits. “So, want to go up there and check on him after breakfast?”
Belle nodded her head once.
“Well, that sounds like a plan to me,” Roxanne said, nodding as she quickly grabbed her five PokéBalls and walked out of the room.
Belle followed beside her Trainer’s blue-jeaned legs and they entered the main room again. Roxanne picked the table beside the man from before and then got up to go order them some food leaving Belle to sit beside the table, a deep frown on her face.
The man glanced down at her with his light green eyes and small frown of his own formed on his face. “Someone doesn’t look very happy,” he stated casually.
“I’m not,” Belle answered with a small sigh. “No one in my position would be.”
“Aww... what’s wrong?” he asked.
Belle’s eyes widened in surprise and she looked up at him with raised eyebrows. “Can you... understand me?” she asked, she’d heard that some Trainers were able to understand their Pokémon after a long enough time with that specific Pokemon in their party... but she’d been unaware that ability extended to those outside of it.
The man nodded his head. “In a way,” he replied. “The name’s Matthew, or Matt for short.”
“Belle,” the absol replied with a nod.
“Nice to meet you, Belle,” Matt said with a small smile before gesturing a hand to the Rapidash. “This here is my long time friend and best buddy, Reva.”
The Rapidash bowed her head at Belle. “Hello there, Belle.”
Belle smiled slightly. “It’s nice to meet you, Reva,” she said politely.
“So... again, what’s the reason for the sad mood?” Mat inquired. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
“I suppose not; I’ve only managed to get the basics across to Roxanne so it would be nice to actually talk with someone about it,” Belle said with a small sigh as her eyes caught sight of Roxanne who was patiently waiting behind a waffle iron. “I’m... waiting for my love to come down from the mountain.”
Matt raised an eyebrow. “That sounds like a very... fantasy type of picturesque setting,” he said.
“I’m aware,” Belle replied shortly. “I’ve been looking for him for two years since he took off on me...” she sighed. “And now that I’ve found him he was supposed to come down from that mountain this morning.”
“I see...” the man murmured with a pondering expression.
“Near as I can tell, he’s spent the last year praying for Father Arceus to come and absolve him with no real luck,” Belle continued. “And he promised me that if he didn’t succeed last night then he’d come down.” She looked down and a look of absolute sadness crossed her face. “I just... I’m so worried about him.”
The man’s eyes lit up slightly. “A year you say... praying to Arceus?” he muttered before glancing at Reva. “You think she’s talking about our Absol friend?”
“It seems like it,” she replied with a short nod.
Belle looked up at them in surprise. “You’ve met my Cres?” she asked them with widened eyes.
“More like I know him,” Mat replied, glancing back at Belle. “You see, I make frequent visits to Mt. Coronet and I run into him a lot when I go to up to the summit.”
“Oh,” Belle said with a small nod. “What... was he doing?”
“Like you said, praying to Arceus and making the mountain his home,” he informed her. “In a very routine way too.”
“Ah, I see,” the absol said. “That sounds like Cres. Get him on a schedule and he’ll follow it till the day he dies,” she added with a small chuckle before sighing. “Thank you for telling me.”
“No problem,” Mat said with a small smile.
It was at that moment that Roxanne returned, a plate of eggs and a Belgian waffle balanced in one arm with a glass of water. In her other was a small bowl of meat strips and she set those down in front of Belle. “There you go Belle, eat up, we’ve got quite a journey to make today and you’re going to need your strength,” the woman said with a smile.
“Thank you, Roxanne,” Belle replied before she began to eat.
“So; you keeping my Belle company over here?” Roxanne asked Matt with a raised eyebrow as she cut her waffle down the middle, her faintly accented voice ringing out in the silence.
“You could say that,” Mat said with a soft smile as he held up an open hand. “The name’s Matthew, or Matt for short.”
“Roxanne, from Kalos,” she told him, accepting the handshake and giving him a firm one in return.
“Ooo, you’re from the Kalos region?” Mat said with a note of intrigue in his voice. “Should’ve figured with the faint accent to your voice. But I’ve never been there, heard it’s a real fancy place.”
“Oh, it is,” Roxanne agreed with a small smile as she thought of her home. “But the people are really nice, once you look past our fashion obsession of course,” she added with a self demonstrating chuckle.
Matt chuckled as well and nodded his head. “Yeah... I’ve heard about that too,” he said with a small smile. “So, you’re about to head into Mt. Coronet or the like?”
Roxanne nodded her head. “Yes, that’s right,” she replied. “I’m taking Belle up there to see if we can’t find her boyfriend. At least, I’m pretty sure that’s what she’d been trying to tell me for the past year.”
“Yep, that is correct,” Matt replied with a small nod.
“What? How would you know?” Roxanne asked with a raised eyebrow. “It took me a month to realize that’s what she was getting at.”
“She told me within the conversation we were having,” the man replied with a blank blink. “I saw she was sad and asked what was wrong, and it popped up after a while,” he explained.
Roxanne blinked twice before her mouth opened and shut once. “Oh... you’re one of those guys who can actually talk to Pokemon,” she said while shooting him an intrigued look. “Didn’t think I’d ever run into one of you out here in the middle of nowhere.”
“Yeah... I guess I am,” Matt said with a bashful smile, rubbing the back of his head. “Though, traveling with Reva for the last fifteen years of my life might have helped with that,” he said, gesturing to the Rapidash sitting behind him. “Learn to understand one Pokemon and the rest quickly fall into place.” He then shrugged slightly. “Or at least, for me it did.”
“Okay...” Roxanne said before she frowned, and then a smile split her face. “I thought I recognized you when I came in last night. You’re the Hearthome City Gym Leader, aren’t you?”
“Gym Leader in training, technically,” Matt corrected with a small chuckle. “But yes, yes I am.”
“Thought so,” Roxanne said with a small grin. “I always do my homework before I head to a new region.”
“Then you did a very good amount of research,” Matt complemented her.
“Thank you,” Roxanne replied. “I’m going to be a Pokemon Professor one day. At least I hope I will be,” she added with a small smile.
“Ah, a very good choice of career,” Matt said with a small nod of his head. “Continue studying hard, and I bet you’ll reach your goal soon.”
“Thanks,” Roxanne said before she took a sip of her water. “So; how much did my dear Belle tell you about her boy problem?”
He glanced down at Belle. “Is it okay for to me to say?” he asked.
Belle looked up from her meal and licked her lips free of meat juice. “Yes, she may as well know. I’ve been trying to get it across for a while now,” the Absol answered before she returned to her meal.
Mat nodded his head and turn his head back at Roxanne. He then began to explained everything he and Belle talked about during their little conversation. “So that’s the gist of it.”
Roxanne looked down at Belle and bent over to rub her head softly. “Aww, my poor little Belle,” she said with a sad expression. “To have a boy run off on you like that is a tragic thing, especially if he’s that headstrong.”
“Thank you,” Belle said with a small shake of her head. “Though, all it really means is that we’re going to need to get up that peak soon. I’m worried about him. He’s never been ‘okay’ since it happened.”
Matt raised an eyebrow at the emphasis Belle put behind the word ‘it’ but didn’t press into it, instead he said. “Well, if the summit of Mt. Coronet is where’s you’re heading for, I’d be happy to guide you the quickest way up there.”
“Would you?” Roxanne asked with a smile. “That’s very kind of you Mat. Just what I’d expect of a Gym Leader.”
“It’s no problem, in fact I was going to head up there myself to visit a friend today,” he replied with a small smile.
“Well, thank you all the same,” Roxanne said with a grin. “It’ll be nice to have an escort going up there last night in the dark wasn’t all that fun.”
“Yeah, especially with all the Zubats and Golbats flying around during that time,” Matt agreed with a short nod.
“Tell me about it,” the woman agreed. “Zeb almost ran out of juice, and that never happens anymore.”
“Well it’s a good thing I got plenty of Repels so we shouldn’t be having much encounters from the wild Pokemon,” Matt said. “That and most of the wild Pokemon learned to leave me and Reva alone.”
“Well then it’s lucky we ran into you, right, Belle?” Roxanne asked, looking down at Belle who gave her a quick nod.
“Yes, I’m very thankful for the assistance,” Belle agreed.
“Like I said, it’s no problem,” Matt said.
Roxanne finished her breakfast and stood up, reaching for a PokéBall at her waist.
“You mind getting on the road now?” she asked him.
“Not at all,” he replied as he pushed his hand hard on the tables to stand up. He then carefully turned around and move his legs the bench portion of the table, and began to limply walked over to Reva who took to herself to sit all the way down on her hooves.
“You okay there, Matt?” Roxanne asked with a small frown.
“Oh yeah, I’m a-okay,” he replied as he glanced back at the woman. “Just a small little birth defect in my right leg, nothing big,” he said with a small chuckle as he began to carefully climb onto the saddle across Reva’s back.
“Okay then,” Roxanne replied casually before she began walking towards the door. She paused for a moment and waved at the Nurse Joy who was currently brewing a cup of coffee. “Thanks for the food, Ma’am,” she called.
“Oh, it was no trouble,” Nurse Joy replied, turning and giving them both a wave. “Stay safe up there you two, especially you Matt.”
“Will do as always, Nurse Joy,” Mat said as he waved goodbye to the woman. “Hopefully we’ll be back before dusk.”
“Alright, I’ll have dinner waiting for you as usual,” the pink haired woman replied before turning back to her coffee.
Roxanne walked outside with Belle at her side and pressed the release button on her PokéBall. There was a flash of light and a fully saddled Zebstrika emerged.
“You ready to head back up that mountain Zeb?” the woman asked him as she hopped into the saddle with a practiced vault.
Zeb gave her a slightly flat look.
“Not really, no, but for you, I’ll do it,” he replied, though she couldn’t understand a word of it. Belle chuckled a little before Roxanne held up another ball and sucked her into it, no point in making her have to keep up with the horses.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be taking gentle slopes that won’t be too rocky to walk on,” Reva told the Zebstrika as she walked up to him.
“Oh; hello there,” Zeb replied, looking over and giving Reva a quick examination. “My name is Zeb, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Reva, and the same to you,” she replied with a courteous nod.
“Charmed,” Zeb said with a nod of his own. “So; I take it that you’ll be acting as my guide for the day? Good, I swear I nearly broke all four of my legs last night.”
“I can understand; the paths in Mt. Coronet weren’t really made with our kind of hooves in mind,” Reva stated.
“Okay, Zeb, stop flirting and let’s get a move on,” Roxanne said playfully, slapping him gently on the side of the neck. Zeb turned his head around to give her another flat look, to which the woman just smiled playfully before she leaned in and whispered. “There’ll be plenty of time later.”
Zeb let out a small sigh and turned back to Reva who was chuckling lightly. “Ignore her; my Trainer likes to imagine love everywhere.”
“For someone from the Kalos region, I can imagine,” Reva replied as she began to trotted ahead.
“Well, we aren’t all shameless flirts,” Zeb said with a slight roll of his eyes. “Only most of us,” he added, chuckling dryly.
“Well if it’s any consolation Zeb, you’re aren’t really much of Reva’s type,” Mat said with a small chuckle.
Zeb blinked blankly for a moment. “He can understand us, can’t he?”
“Yep,” Reva replied with sly smile.
“Oh dear,” Zeb said. “I was... unaware of that,” he added while Roxanne looked between the three curiously.
“You’re so lucky to actually understand what they’re saying,” the dark haired woman said with a small smile.
“Or cursed,” the blonde haired man replied with a joking chuckle. “Ever tried to sleep at night in the woods with a choir of Pokémon chatting away in your ear?”
Roxanne frowned for a moment and then chuckled lightly. “I can see the problem there, yes,” she agreed as their mounts turned and began heading uphill.
It took them roughly an hour to reach the summit, a whole hour less than the last time Roxanne tried to scale the mountain by herself. Zeb for his part was much less exhausted, he’d even managed to avoid getting any rocks between his horseshoes and his hooves.
“Wow, thanks a lot, Matt,” Roxanne said as she dismounted and patted Zeb on the neck while she reached into her backpack for a water bottle which she then poured into her hands for the Zebstrika to drink from. “You saved us a ton of time.”
“You’re very welcome,” Matt replied as he too dismounted, carefully, and leaned a hand on Reva’s back for support. “Traveling this mountain a lot comes in handy now and then. Glad I could share my experience with the two of you.”
Zeb retracted his neck a little to look over at Reva. “You have my thanks as well, following you was much better than going by myself.”
Reva smiled slightly. “You’re welcome, and I know, the first time climbing up here was tedious... not to mention battling Galactic Grunts now and then... that was just downright annoying.”
“Oh? Do tell,” Zeb said interestedly.
As the two Pokémon talked, Roxanne reached down to draw Belle’s Poke Ball from its place on her hip and pressed the button. The red light flashed and Belle appeared, her head quickly glancing about.
“Hmm, he’s not here,” the absol said quietly with a frown as she walked around the plateau, sniffing the air as she did so.
“Yeah... normally he’s up here praying around this time,” Matt agreed as he glanced around.
Roxanne frowned and noticed a pile of rubble. “Hey, that looks recent,” she said, pointing towards it. Belle frowned and followed her Trainer’s gaze.
“She’s right,” the Absol stated, walking up to it and beginning to sniff. “And this is where Cres’s scent fades...”
Matt slowly walked up to Belle and glanced down at the rubble. “You sure his scent doesn’t head off somewhere else?” he asked.
The Absol shook her head. “No, I’m positive of it. His scent is here... and then it vanishes,” she said with a small frown. “He either got grabbed by something really large and carried away by air... I don’t know anything with that big of a wingspan who could actually hold him. Or... he got teleported somewhere by some psychic Pokémon, but that’s doubtful because we’re Dark-types.”
“Or... he vanished from the face of the summit,” Matt murmured with a small frown.
“What’s up?” Roxanne asked as she walked over to them.
“Seems like Belle’s boyfriend just up and vanished from this spot,” Matt replied his frown deepening a bit.
“Well... that’s strange,” Roxanne murmured with a frown as she crouched down beside Belle and gave her a comforting stroke. “It... sounds kind of like a story I read in the paper a ways back... but I haven’t heard of any giant crystals growing anywhere, and I kind of doubt that there are any Unown living around here.”
“No there isn’t... the only Pokemon who really ‘live’ up here are... well, the Legendary Pokémon of Time and Space.”
“Dialga and Palkia?” Roxanne asked with a raised eyebrow. “You think one of them would’ve taken notice of Cres and kidnapped him or something?”
Mat frowned and place a hand under his chin. “I don’t think so... else Belle would probably picked up their scent.”
“He’s right,” Belle agreed with a swift nod. “The only one up here last night aside from myself and Cres was... no one.”
“Not exactly...” Matt said as he reached down to pull out a PokéBall from his belt. “There is someone who possibly know what happened to Cres.”
“You don’t mean Giratina, do you?” Roxanne asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah,” Mat replied as he tossed the Poke Ball out. “Emmely, come on out,” he said. The PokéBall opened emitting a flash of light and a Glaceon appeared on the ground. He then pointed a finger to open patch of ground. “Emmely, use Ice beam.” The Glaceon obeyed and opened her mouth to fired a thin blue beam onto the ground, creating a sheet of ice.
“What are you doing?” Belle asked the man.
"Creating a ‘window’ for Giratina to talk through,” he replied while he took off his backpack and began to rummage through it.
“How... and isn’t that incredibly dangerous?” Roxanne asked, frowning at the man. “I know that you beat the Champion here... but isn’t it risky to bring Legendaries into this? They have a habit of nearly killing anyone who deals with them.”
“Nah, not really, or at least for me,” Mat replied. “Besides, I’ve done this plenty of times before,” he added as he pulled his hand out to show it grasping on a large chunk of an amber-looking crystal.
“And you’re sure this will help us find Cres?” Belle asked.
“One way to find out,” Mat stated as Emmely finished creating a large sheet of reflective ice. “Good job Emmely,” he said, smiling down to the Glaceon, who returned the smile. Matt then walked up to the edge of the sheet of ice and held out the crystal over it. “Hey, Giratina you there? It’s me, Mat, I need to talk with ya for a second.” The crystal in his hand began to faintly glow and blink very slowly.
The sheet of ice remained blank for a few seconds before a starry image rippled into it and then the large golden mask of the Legendary appeared over it. Roxanne let out a small gasp; she hadn’t quite believed the man was telling the truth. Belle, on the other hand, was staring intently at the golden mask.
"Ah, Matt, I was beginning to wonder when you would show up,” Giratina said, in a way both Belle and Roxanne understood. His dark red eyes then glanced over the man and at the woman and the Absol. “I see you brought some guests.”
“Yes, now tell us what happened to Cres.” Belle demanded, not in the least bit intimidated by the Legendary.
Roxanne on the other hand had moved past the ‘stare blankly in amazement’ stage and had reached into her backpack for a pencil and a piece of white paper. She then quickly began to sketch Giratina’s face, leaving the conversation to Matt and Belle for the moment.
“Ah yes, the young Absol from this morning,” Giratina said, closing his eyes and slowly nodding his head. “Sorry to inform you, but he’s not here on the mountain.”
“We kind of figured that out already,” Matt replied.
“Yet his scent fades here,” Belle pressed. “What did you do to him?”
“I only helped him in the way he needed it,” the phantom dragon replied. “And that was to get away for a moment.”
“By which you mean that you sucked him into your domain,” Roxanne said, looking up from her completed sketch. “Meaning that he’s your prisoner.”
“Oh, not in the slightest,” Giratina said flatly. “More like I simply helped him move to another location away from here via my domain.”
“So where is he now?” Belle asked, glaring at the Legendary.
“I can’t say; he asked me to keep it a secret from you.” he replied. “I’m normally not one to agree to something like that, but I guess I could say I found it interesting.”
“Why would he do that?!” Belle exclaimed, hurt and pain clearly showing on her crimson face.
“Because he knew that if he kept his current act any longer, he would eventually hurt you in a way he never would have wanted to, so he left to amend that,” the Legendary replied. “Though he did tell me to tell you that he did love you and hopefully will return when he can.”
“I... see,” Belle said sadly. “That... does sound like Cres... I love him, but he is such a idiot sometimes.”
Matt glanced down at Belle with a small frown. “Sorry... hopefully he’ll come back soon,” he told her tenderly.
Roxanne sighed and gave Belle a comforting stroke. “I know what it’s like to wait for a true love my little Belle,” she said softly. “Of course in my case it wasn’t quite the same, but I know the feeling.”
Belle sighed and leaned up to give Roxanne a small nuzzle. “I know you can’t understand me, but thank you Roxanne,” she said softly.
“She says thank you,” Mat told Roxanne with a soft smile. “Even though you can’t understand her.”
Roxanne smiled and bent down to give Belle a kiss on the cheek. “You’re welcome my little Belle. I promise you, we’ll wait down in that Pokémon Center until your love gets back.”
“I...thank you,” Belle said softly, then she frowned. “But what about your studies?”
“She thanks you... but what about your studies?” Mat translated.
“You should charge them for this,” Giratina commented with a small chuckle.
“You’re not helping,” Mat told him a bit flatly.
Roxanne pursed her lips for a moment before shrugging slightly. “My studies can be done anywhere,” she told the absol before looking at Giratina with wicked eyes. “Besides this is a brilliant opportunity to study a Legendary up close. I have so many questions to ask him.”
“Well, I guess I can spare some of my time answering some questions,” Giratina replied, sounding very proud of himself.
Roxanne grinned and got out a binder and pulled it open, revealing a blank piece of paper. “Alright; let’s begin with...”
Belle sighed and looked up at Matt, who in turn was looking down at her. “Once again... I’m sorry,” he told her.
“I... it’s fine,” she said with a small shake of her head before she got to her paws. “I think... I’m going to go for a climb,” she stated before giving Roxanne a small nuzzle and then sprinting and leaping down the less angled side of the cliff.
“Be careful,” Matt called out before Belle left his sight. He then glanced back at the woman who was eagerly engrossed with Giratina and listened in to their conversation.