The Way of the Dragons

A Fiery Encounter

Leaving the Battle Tower behind, we made our way to the Pokémon Center to heal our exhausted friends.

"So, what's next on the agenda?" Eric asked.

Kat hummed as she took out her phone.

"Well, the next city is Cianwood City, but we can't get there unless it's by boat, and none of us has any experience driving a boat." Kat said.

"Right." Rina said sadly.

"We could use our Pokémon to fly over there," Nina suggested, "I'm sure it shouldn't be that hard."

"Yeah, but to get to Cianwood City, we've gotta pass through the Whirl Islands. Not only that, constant storms are occurring there," I said, glancing at Kat's phone, "I don't want to risk our Pokémon getting caught in one of those storms."

"I agree," Elsu said, "Having them scale a mountain is different, but if they have to fly through a potential storm? Yeah, I don't want to risk that either."

The others nodded as we stepped into the Pokémon Center.

"Welcome to the Pokémon Center!" Nurse Joy said.

We smiled at the pink-haired woman as we handed over our Pokémon.

"How're we gonna get to Ciamwood City from here?" Rina asked.

"I have no idea." I commented

"I can take you there." said an unfamiliar voice.

We turned around and saw a young man with light skin and matching brown hair and eyes. He wore black glasses, a sweater with golden flames, black jeans, and sneakers with a fire design on them.

Why does he look so familiar?

Next to him was a strong-looking Charizard with a Mega Stone attached to its wrist.

I figured Charizard was able to mega evolve.

My eyes widened when I recognized the man before us.

"Y-You're Vincent, Suncam City's Fire-type gym leader!" I exclaimed.

Nina's eyes widened at my claim.

"This is Vincent?" she asked, glancing at the man, "My mother says you're the strongest gym leader in Ezonia!"

"Word travels fast, I see." he said.

I shook my head to calm my thoughts.

"No, you see, Nina and I are from Ezonia," I claimed, "Her mother is Rachel, Maidbury City's gym leader."

"And her grandmother is Elise, the Dragon-type Elite Four member of Ezonia." Nina said.

Vincent's eyes widened as he took a step back.

"You two are related to Rachel and Elise?" he asked in surprise.

"They sure are!" Kat said.

Vincent chuckled and shook his head fondly.

"Well, I'm even more willing to take you guys with me." Vincent said.

"What do you mean by that?" Elsu asked.

Vincent grinned as he glanced back at his Charizard.

"Charizard and I were gonna rent a boat and head to the Whirl Islands to do some Lugia hunting," Vincent claimed.

"Lugia?" Eric parroted, "Isn't that the counterpart to Ho-Oh?"

"Sure is! Lugia's said to be in an underwater cave in the center of the Whirl Islands, but many say it's not. Charizard and I are goin' out to find it and battle it!"