A Brilliant Diamond Story

Chapter 9: The Journey to the Top

It was a quick journey to Sunyshore, past a few Trainers, and finding the Pikachu Fan Club, which I deduced from a look inside was the world's first FurryCon. One man inside said he was going for the Champion with only Pokemon, and I could only smile as I remembered there was a Ground-type member of the Elite Four. Wishing him luck on that, I kept pushing on, and eventually reached the city of Sunyshore, spelled with only one N, which was driving me nuts. There, I was accosted by a man named Flint, who I knew would be one of the five assassins sent to kill me at the end of this journey, who said Volkner (Volk...Volt...dammit) was actually feeling depressed because no good trainers ever came to fight him, only weak ones. Which, considering he's the eight Gym Leader, meant anybody who didn't devote their life to this was just getting deep-fried by high-voltage electricity.

But, acting like that wasn't a serious health concern, Flint asked me to give him a serious battle. He did this, or course, with a neon-red afro on his head, suspenders attached to his belt that he left hanging for some reason, and an accent that suggested he was trying a little too hard to be a Soundcloud rapper.

But Volkner was my next target, anyway. I agreed to Flint's terms.

Volkner was out for now, apparently, and after finding him in the local lighthouse, he declared that I was to be his last challenger before his mid-life crisis hit him at the age of, what, 25? And he would head off to fight the Pokemon League.

Well, knuck if you buck, Volkner. Game on.

Gym #8: Volk

Type: Electric

This Gym proved to me why I chose Leaf at the start of this game. With his Earthquake, he was unstoppable, crushing every Gym Trainer in our path, and there were a considerable amount. Some of them had different types: One had a Mr. Mime, and only a Mr. Mime, while another had a Bibarel. But we had all the type combos we needed to counter them, and we eventually reached Volkner himself, who was just as depressed and full of himself as I suspected he was. Frankly, I would've been happy having battles that weren't too big of an issue; I'd done that for most of this game, hadn't I? But regardless, it was time to put my money where my strats were. Let's ace this punk.

He started out with a Raichu. Simple fare. It tried to eat a Shuca Berry to limit the damage of the Earthquake, but it didn't matter. It managed to hit Leaf with a Surf first, which made me nervous, but the absolute unit tanked it and crushed that punk underfoot.

Then, Volkner sent out Octillery. That was a surprise. Since when had the Gym Leaders decided to switch up their typings? But, fine. A Leaf Storm managed to put it to bed before it could do anything to me.

But then, Volkner sent out an Ambipom. Again, another type switch. I had no Pokemon with Fighting-type moves save Beav, and since she was a Water-type, I had a feeling that Ambipom could be a bit shocking if it wanted to be. So, I kept Leaf in, and Volkner put me on the defensive. It kept landing Double Hits, of all things, and though I threw up a Sandstorm for chip damage, I still had to alternate between hitting the Ambipom and healing up Leaf. It looked like I was on the losing side of this engagement for the first time in what felt like forever...I actually felt nervous. Ambipom was nailing these criticals, and I was worried a lucky hit could be the end of Leaf. But then, a saving grace; Leaf landed a crit on his Earthquake, and managed to kill it. Finally.

And then came Volkner's Luxray. I had Leaf set up an Earthquake, and Volkner moved first. I wasn't surprised; Zippy was insanely fast, of course other Luxray would be, too.

What did surprise me was that it hit me with Ice Fang.

At a quad-effective typing, Leaf was nearly one-shot. Not only that, but the move had caused him to flinch, leaving Leaf at a sliver of health with the Luxray at full. Needless to say, it was good I'd been wearing brown pants at the time.

I managed to swap in Blitzo, who dodged the next Ice Fang with ease, and try to just overpower Volkner with mid-effective moves, but hitting his Luxray was like trying to hit a fly with a blow dart. It just kept dodging everything I threw at it, and hitting me with Thunder Fang after Thunder Fang in return. Thankfully, Blitzo fought through a paralysis, but this thing was dodgy. I was back on the defensive, and I didn't like it. But then, thankfully, Blitzo managed to land a crit Fire Blast, and the Luxray was slain.

The eighth Gym badge was now ours. Not only that, was snapped Volkner out of his depression (at least, sorta), and he gifted us Charge Beam, a move he called "pretty hot," which gave me immediate, unnecessary images of what he'd use it for to call it "hot." Fine, whatever.

After leaving the Gym, we encountered Jasmine, a Gym Leader from Johto, a region I'd never really played, and she gifted me Waterfall to help me access the Pokemon League.

It was then that it sank in for me. The Pokemon League. This. Was. It. One long trip through Victory Road, and it would be time to face the biggest, and final challenge of our adventure. I didn't think I was ready. But then, would I ever feel ready for this? I doubted it. Not if what awaited us in there was as challenging as they said it was...

But the challenge would never be beat if we didn't go, would it? So, I suited up my Pokemon for our last excursion, and we set sail across Route 223, battling multiple Trainers along the way. We traveled through some odd ocean maze before eventually reaching Victory Road, which was also an incredibly complex maze. Honestly, by the time I'd made it halfway out, I felt like I'd lived in that cave my entire life. In fact, I couldn't shake the feeling that's what happened to all of these other Trainers; they'd just gone in hoping to make it out, and got turned around somewhere along the way. Well, I certainly wasn't about to let anyone on my team be a victim of this cave.

It was a gauntlet of the truest kind. Every HM I had was put to the test; Rock Smash and Strength colluding in chambers, an entire area dedicated to Surf, each room another maze to solve, always unsure if I was going the right way or not. At one point, I followed a 5-minute trail through this labyrinth, hoping for an exit, and instead finding a Dark Pulse disc. By this point, I could feel my skin crawling as my irritation only increased, and the wild Pokemon did not help matters in the least.

And then...light.

I sprinted for the light, intent on getting out of this hellhole...and found myself in front of the Pokemon League.

The music hit me harder than it had any right to. I stood there, suddenly overwhelmed with this feeling of...success.

This was it. Everything I had worked so hard for. My entire team's effort, those we lost along the way, all of the heartache and pain and fire in our souls...this was it. The culmination of everything. The end of our journey.

I sat there for a moment, drinking it in. After everything, I...almost didn't want it to be over. I had no idea what awaited me in there; what if it was for not? What if this entire journey ended with me in a crumbled heap?

What if, after everything...I failed?

I took a deep breath. I hadn't come this close to the mountaintop to stop now. Every Pokemon I had lost up to this point was for this moment here. You all had joined me on this journey, for this. Exact. Moment. I couldn't let you all down, could I? Everything was in place. We were ready. We had to do this.

And so, with a tentative step and a fire in my heart, I took my first steps into the Pokemon League.