Irvine Wallander's Story

"Don't you have anything better to do?"

The man's voice interrupted Iris' train of thought as she cheerily meandered her way through Castelia's busy streets. It was a familiar location to her, yet entirely foreign all the while. Iris turned to her suited companion and beamed at him.

"...Battle me, Irvine~!" she countered light-heartedly.

The gentleman shifted his eyes away uneasily. "I'll pass." he replied in an exasperated tone.

This brought a frown to Iris' face. To refuse a trainer's challenge was impolite, but to disrespect the Grand Champion this way? Irvine's contempt was not lost on her. "Sometimes I think you don't even like being around Pokemon..." she remarked in disapproval, studying Irvine carefully.

Irvine would sigh. "We both know I can't win, so what's the point?" he would then ask, turning her gaze towards the horizon.

"Because it's fun! And you get to know people and their pokemon! How can you really know someone until you've had a chance to battle with them?" Iris snapped back, folding her arms and watching Irvine expectantly.

Irvine scowled. "...Right, but some of us have to be responsible adults in the morning. I can't spend all night with my pokemon like you do." he replied bitterly. A moment of silence was had, Iris giving Irvine an unamused look and Irvine avoiding her gaze. "Speaking of which, I'd advise you against putting too much trust in these ... aliens. You could be walking into something foul." Irvine went on in a flat tone.

Iris shook her head as if to shake the conversation from her thoughts. A beaming smile once again permeated her expression. "I think you might be more of a kid than I am." she teased light-heartedly. Irvine's eyes narrowed and he just sort of silently fumed in response. "You don't have to come if you don't want to." Iris added after a moment, proceeding to resume her journey to visit the Deminaughts at a hurried pace. Irvine declined to respond but reluctantly picked up speed to tail the young champion. Hopefully, they weren't far from their destination.

"All right, Radegast, here we are. Let's try not to get in the way of any crazy people in the streets...ah, here we go. Follow me." Touko led her companion around the boulevard facing the sea before taking a turn into the concrete jungle. Soon a long line of would-be customers came into view. "Ah, they're in stock today! Excellent! Let's get in line and hope there's enough for us...and with a face like mine, there freaking better be~" The presence of a Champion opened many doors, to be sure.

Elder hanged by Radegast’s side. The Haunter eyed the skyscrapers suspiciously, as if something about their design bothered the ghost. He evidently did not enjoy the two minutes of waiting inside a pokeball while on the boat. “Lord-Regent, these structures seem oddly vulnerable, and the sheer size would make that vulnerability catastrophic if exploited."

“Not a fan of skyscrapers, Elder?” Radegast queried as he followed Touko with his relaxed, laid-back gait. He then spotted the lineup indicated by the girl he accompanied. “Heh, must be an excellent place if it’s got a lineup like this,” he added to Touko.

"What's up? Never seen towers like these before? There's only so much land space to work with, and digging is hard, so the only direction left to go is up," Touko explained to Radegast and his seemingly bewildered companion. "You fought pretty well, though. They sell these by the dozen, so there's enough for us and our teams." Finally she stepped up to the food truck counter, who seemed suitably impressed at the presence of a Champion.

"Twelve Casteliacones, please." "Y-yes...six hundred Pokédollar, please!" That was just a few small bills out of her electronic wallet, and the machine went to work. "You have to taste it fresh out of the mixer, that's when it's best." The first of the batch would go to Radegast for him to share with Elder, and so on down the line. Everyone who battled would get one, and a few left over were put in a small tub, tightly sealed for convenience. "Have a great day, champ!"

Radegast produced a wallet from the pouch on his belt. From the wallet, he produced six bills. He then prodded each of the four other pokeballs on his belt to inform the rest of the crew that they had arrived for ice cream. It was then that he noticed Touko had paid for the cones with her electronic wallet. “Wait, I thought I was forking over for the cones?” He offered to hand Touko the bills.

Rage was the first to emerge. “BRING THY CHALLENGE TO MY TASTE BUDS, FRIEND-RADEGAST, SO I MAY CONQUER IT WITH INFINITE HASTE!”

“Here ya go buddy, don’t eat it too fast now, you hear?” Radegast handed Rage a cone.

“I SEE NO REASON TO NOT EAT THESE EDIBLE ITEMS QUICKLY! I WILL NOT BE STOPPED BY MERE CONES SHAPED LIKE WEAK CREATURES- OOH! AUGH! THIS CONE FIGHTS BACK! I FEEL A DEEP CHILL IN MY MIND!”

“Told ya, bud. That’s a brain freeze for ya,” Radegast chuckled as he handed two cones to Elder, and one more to Crystal. The Operative hopped onto one of Elder’s hands and happily ate one of the cones. Radegast shared his own with Suros.

"That was the deal, yes. But it's always handy to have some pocket change, you know?" Touko purred, as once again her plan had worked to perfection. "Your Mankey does seem to rush into things, doesn't he? I'd suggest you take the Gym challenge. If you manage to beat Burgh, your guys should trust you enough to obey your commands all the way to level 40 or so. Levels are just an approximation of a Pokemon's overall strength and experience, though...I've seen some strategies that rely on using low-level monsters to take what should be one-hit knockouts and hit right back. But I'm rambling." A cone for Volcarona, who used psychic power to hold it in place as the bug lapped at it, quickly melting the thing from its intense heat, while Touko savored a chocolate-flavored specimen. "You're strong, but I think you can get even stronger."

“Ah, I getcha,” Radegast gladly handed Touko the bills. In response to the quip about Rage, he replied, “That’s his way.”

At mention of taking the gym challenge and commands, the group fell deathly silent. Radegast’s face seemed suddenly deprived of all emotion. Even Rage was given pause part-way through another large bite from his cone. “Well, that sort of thing is cool for trainers,” Radegast chimed, suddenly breaking the awkward silence. He turned to the others and asked, “Did you guys want to take on this Burgh guy?”

“This wouldn’t change anything?” Crystal asked. Radegast seemed to understand perfectly what Crystal was asking. He shook his head. The silence yet resumed as everyone seemed deep in thought.

"Did...did I strike a nerve? Forgive me," Touko bowed towards Radegast before going back to work on her cone. Haxorus got to enjoy a cold treat in a much more favorable context, as well. "It is a quick and dirty way to get stronger, though, but I get the feeling that that isn't your way, judging from how you reacted."

“Hey, no worries, Touko," Radegast grinned once more, "It’s like I said: we’re… unorthodox.”

"Speaking of unorthodox...you hear that the next block over? Sounds like some kind of block party." Touko's honed ears from spending lots of time in the urban landscape led her to pick out not only the Pokemon in the halls, but also the event that was gathering the attention of quite a few big wigs. Peering around a corner, Touko couldn't believe her eyes. "Oh. My. Arceus. It's Iris. Grand Champion Iris...the leader of the Pokémon Nation! Just a few years ago she was another Gym Leader...what the HELL is going on?"

Radegast’s ears perked up as Touko mentioned it. “Something troublesome I imagine,” he said immediately before Touko explained who Iris was. He too followed Touko to the corner to peer around. The girl, Iris, appeared to be a young, dark-skinned girl. She appeared younger than the human Radegast, even. Champion? Radegast wondered. She must be very talented with these modern duels. “Ah, someONE troublesome.” He grinned. The grin faded quickly as he realised he was jumping to conclusions. "Or wait, is she troublesome?" He asked Touko, “Then again, being a Champion I imagine she’s trouble for someone somewhere. I’m not even a pro trainer and I’m a thorn in the sides of some people,” he laughed.

Elder too chuckled, being the source of Radegast’s first official enemies. As the crew finished their cones, each of them returned to their respective balls to rest. Due to the sugar of the ice cream, however, Rage accidentally entered the ball Crystal had been using. Undeterred, the Seel entered the ball the Mankey had been using. It would’ve taken an immense amount of focus for anyone to notice this unusual swapping of pokeballs amidst the presence of an apparent champion, however.

One of Suros’ eyes unveiled from beneath a wing. She silently judged the girl, who appeared closer to the Lord-Regent’s age than Touko was.

Radegast noticed the daggers Suros was staring into the small-ish girl. “O' Beware, my lord, of jealousy," He whispered to Suros, "It is the green-eyed monster that doth mock the meat it feeds on,” He smirked and nudged a finger playfully on Suros’ head. The Fletchling chirped happily.

Suddenly, a massive beam of light shot into the sky a ways off the coast of Castelia City. Despite the time of day, the beam shone through the blue sky, pulsing with energy. Many citizens stopped and stared at this light, as it was rather impossible to miss. Some people wondered if it was the work of their recent alien inhabitants. Others hypothesized it was a battle of epic proportions. Yet, one fact couldn't be ignored.

It was coming from the Pokemon Trainer Academy.

“What the…?” Radegast caught sight of an unusually enormous ray of light emitting from far off the coast. Radegast knew the location of origin, for he was recently there. “Yo, I’m gonna go check that out, thanks for the ice cream, dude!”

Ignoring the situation with the VIP, as the boy was prone to do, Radegast bid farewell to Touko and took a stroll toward the shipyard. He did not run because he still had a cone in his hand. Most everyone else did too. The team followed at a brisk, but comfortable pace. Most of the team had finished their cones already. Before anyone could move to re-enter their respective pokeballs, the Seel cleared her throat.

“I do wish to get stronger, though,” Crystal said, “Perhaps defeating this Burgh fellow would benefit us as a whole.”

“THE DEFEAT AT THOSE POWERFUL FOES TAUGHT ME YET ANOTHER LESSON IN HUMILITY,” Rage added.

“Which will stick with you until the end of the day,” Suros chirped from on top of Radegast’s shoulder..

“I DO NOT REGRET THAT FACT!”

“Still,” Radegast continued, “If you guys are down for taking on a Gym, that means more battles like this past one and the man in the weird suit.”

“I would be perfectly fine with more opportunities to claim military victories!” The Operative barked.

“This one-on-one stuff is really negating our style, though…” Suros groaned.

Radegast stroked Suros’ head gently. “I’ll take your reply as a reluctant “yes” then. How about you?” he directed this question to Elder. For all the time of pondering, the ghost was the only one who had yet to speak on the matter. “Hey, take your time. Got a quick boat ride ahead of us.”

Elder reluctantly entered his pokeball as Radegast finished his cone. The human licked his fingers and wiped his hand off his hoodie before jogging up the boarding ramp for a ferry about to make the trip to the PTA.

"You know they'll be here any minute, don't you?"

"Yeah, just give me a minute! It's not every day you get to meet a prince, you know!"

Iris was in the process of taming her rather wild hair while her advisor, Irvine, waited for her. It ought to be noted that the term 'tame' ought to be taken rather loosely, as there was nothing short of an actual gel bath that was going to keep Iris' hair from looking anything short of wild. However, she could at least contain it in something resembling a ponytail so that it wasn't all over the place. Irvine grimaced.

"I don't think they're here for lunch, Iris..." Irvine lamented, ever frustrated with his boss' whims. Iris casually flipped her hair, standing up straight and turning to face Irvine. "Ready." she said, and the two set off wait for the Taiyou's arrival.

Among the docks of Castelia City, the Shokaku Class Carrier anchored itself in the harbor, along with the crews on the dock, the ship was being moored, Taiyou soldiers stood on it's decks, while aircraft technicians began to pull the various helicopters and other craft out of their hangar bays, where they could be fueled and ready to launch.

Shimizu, along with Commandant Katamura stood on the edge of the boarding ramp, which was being lowered down to the quay wall below.

Shimizu's Personal guard, several Imperial Warriors stood silently behind him, watching the trainers, their pokemon, for any threats.

Step by step the Prince started down the ramp.

"I'm not sure if we're meeting Iris here, or whatever amounts to a Government Building."

Emiko Touko landed, wheezing from the rush. "All right, Unfezant, return. Now to give Burgh his marching orders. Knowing him, he'd likely favor Sticky Webs so our guys can safely unload on them from a distance."

Where else would Touko be? Still directing traffic and giving orders, this time barking into her Xtransceiver at an old friend.

"I don't care if you're having the shits right now, get your ass to Virbank and help Roxie, I am not having some of my best backup bottled up!" She was clearly channeling her inner boss bitch as she shouted at the troops to start moving up to gain ground and engage the NRE forces, who had brought knives to a gun fight...and the UPL had orders to shoot to kill, forcing the enemy Pokémon to choose between protecting their Trainers and being effective combat units.

"Burgh, get your big boy boots on, let's show them they picked the wrong side in this fight!" After giving everyone their marching orders, she moved to hold the Skyarrow Bridge, the gateway to the eastern part of Unova. The Striaton leaders were strong, but not as strong as the Shadow Triad...and she couldn't bear the thought of the enemy getting all the way to her home town.

Touko biked quickly across the Skyarrow Bridge, retreating to Pinwheel Forest to establish a command post deep in the woods. The stage was set, now everyone just had to play their part and hope she started her first war on the right foot.

Emiko Touko couldn't believe it. Her side was...winning? "I guess that's what happens when you put all your eggs in one basket! Melaine may be amazingly strong, but everyone else is a PUSH OVER! Fire teams, move up, they're just about to break!" Then something came on the monitor in one of the Nacrene warehouses where she had set up her command post, getting a good view of the action as well as directing logistical traffic and protecting the east end of the Skyarrow Bridge from a surprise attack. "Wait, no, not the fact that they're flying in using super strong birds, I can get Skyla to worry about that. I'm talking about the dude by the ice cream shop, he's way too calm about this. Get a team over there, assume hostile. I want him alive."

Stay calm, Touko. It's just like a normal battle. You've got this, she repeated to herself, one hand on her chest as she rode the edge between exhilaration and over-stimulation.

Emiko Touko was positively giddy, watching the glorious sight of victory unfold! "Burgh. They're retreating. Mop up any stragglers, take captives if you can. James, grab Allen, you two are with me. I'm going in after them. We have a chance to end this war right here before more people get killed."

Wren's ears perked up at the comment, causing him to turn around from the path he was walking. What was this war the stranger was talking about?

Ahem, excuse me. What did you just say?

he inquired, lifting his hand to his chin in puzzled repose.

Touko skidded to a stop on the bridge as some random citizen asked her about some sort of war going on.

"Wherever you've been, you'd better get back there. Some Diancie went all power trippy and established her own freaking Diamond Domain right over in the harbor there, and recently declared war on us. If you're a strong Trainer that can take out the Shadow Obelisks that have popped up and are juicing her up to where not even I'm a match for her, that's great, but for now I have holdouts to mop up and capture. I'm trying to rendezvous with a couple of my friends so we can strike at the enemy territory, so with all respect..."

And then she just gave Wren a hip check out of her way before continuing to the Castelia pier to meet up with James and Allen.

"Ah, James, it's been a while. Good to see you've been well. Who's your friend and why does he look like he wants to battle me? We do not have time for this, we can't just let the NRE retreat to lick their wounds and prepare for the next attack. I managed to catch them by surprise this time by having the troops use guns in addition to their Pokémon, but they won't fall for that again."

Wren Harrington stood in surprise, stunned by the sudden interposition. Not quite an experienced trainer just yet, he stepped back a bit as the commotion unfolded.

Yes! Well, thank you ma'am!

he stammered, unsure of which direction to go. Looking eastward, he turned on his heel and shouted over his shoulder,

Thanks for the tip! I'll be back soon!

came his echoing response before he disappeared off into the wilderness.