Sinnoh Journey

Chapter 78 - Victory Road

Victory Road. Any trainer's worst nightmare, yet also one of their biggest achievements. Collecting a Region's eight Gym Badges allows a trainer to take on the formidable Elite Four and Champion, the strongest trainers of a Region.

Kyra was still distant and not paying attention to what was going on. Rather than going ahead as she normally would, she let Nate and Willow lead. Empoleon let Kyra, Lucario, and Glaceon onto his back as he swam across the water, enjoying the feeling of the water below him.

Willow was riding on Milotic whilst Nate was on Gastrodon. Although the two were ahead, they kept looking back to check Kyra was still ok.

"Hey Kyra, are you sure you're alright? You've been quiet all day," Willow asked, telling Milotic to hang back a bit Whilst Nate had Gastrodon hang back.

Kyra nodded but stayed quiet, she stroked Empoleon's neck to tell him to go slightly faster so she didn't have to talk anymore. She hadn't felt well since waking up this morning, barely having even talked to her pokémon either.

"Kyra, come on! What's wrong? You should be happy we're headed to the Elite Four. You were really excited last night," Nate reminded, Milotic and Gastrodon soon catching up with Empoleon.

Kyra sighed, she didn't want to admit why she wasn't as excited as she was last night. A nightmare had left her terrified of her worst fear becoming a reality.

"Is this why you were up early this morning? Are you feeling ill or something?" Willow asked, remembering that Kyra had been rather off colour in the room this morning.

Kyra shook her head, she wished that Nate and Willow could understand pokémon too, that way she wouldn't have to speak. "I don't know how much longer I'll be a trainer for. Last night...it felt so real."

"What felt so real?" Nate asked, he and Willow sharing their concerns.

Empoleon looked back at his trainer as he felt a few splashes on his back, he noticed that Kyra was crying and he asked Lucario and Glaceon to be of comfort to her. As much as he wanted to be of comfort, there wasn't any land nearby he could stop at to dry himself off and then hug his trainer.

"Kyra, please talk to us. We want to help you," Willow said, she had noticed Kyra's tears and was growing increasingly more worried.

Kyra let Lucario hug her from behind whilst Glaceon nuzzled into her neck, she appreciated her partners' closeness, but it only made things worse.

"Barry challenged me to a battle, whoever lost would release their pokémon and stop being a trainer. It was going well until he provoked me and my aura took control of me. Barry wasn't the only one hurt, you all were. I couldn't do anything to stop myself. It was so quiet when I woke up that I thought my aura had taken control, but luckily it hadn't," Kyra explained, letting the words flow off her chest helped much more than she had expected it to.

Nate and Willow, although glad that Kyra had opened up to them, couldn't help but worry. Before they had taken on the Sunnyshore City Gym, they had run into Barry - or at least, Barry had run into them. Barry wouldn't take no for an answer, becoming very annoyed when Nate and Willow said that Kyra wasn't with them at that point. He had never said what he wanted, but after Kyra had talked about her nightmare, they had their suspicions of what Barry wanted.

"If he does show up in the couple of days that we're training, we'll show him not to mess with us again. Willow and I haven't had our shot at battling him, he hasn't seen just how far we've come," Nate said, his confidence strengthening Willow's in the process.

"Nate's right, we'll have a double battle with him. He's the one who claims bonds mean nothing in a battle, we'll show him just how wrong he is," Willow added, she too now brimming with confidence.