End Of The Line (Calista)

[Elliot]

With faint, heavy footsteps, Elliot slowly made his way across the island.

His foe had run off without repercussion, probably to continue blazing her pathway of destruction. How Elliot wished he could stop her . . . how he wished he could fight like his father, strong and proud, instead of just rolling over and succumbing to his pain. How he wished he could train his team better, leave them strong enough to take on that horrible Garchomp instead of easily being steamrolled by it. If that monster wanted it could have killed them all. Instead it left them alive, to be held hostage for a message once more.

No chance in hell Elliot was ever going to send that message.

His team walked with him, a slow procession of death and sorrow as they tried to find any injured or dying on the battlefield. Isaac flitted ahead, squealing whenever he saw anyone who needed help and rushing over to their side. Where Isaac went Samson followed, rushing ahead to set broken bones or put pressure on any wounds. Judas stayed behind to watch the rear, resting on his feathery laurels and allowing everyone else to handle the dirty work for him. Finally in the rear were Maggie and her trainer, the water-type worriedly watching him as he clutched his injured rib. At first he had been the head of this little line, but as they walked he fell further and further behind.

Until finally he slumped, falling into the sand with a soft thud. His rib, his face, frostbite from being directly swallowed up by a blizzard . . . no matter how much he tried to keep marching on, the pain was just too much. He slowly shut his eyes, fading in and out of consciousness. The last thing he witnessed was Maggie letting out a cry of alarm, running to his side and motioning for the others to follow.

Or was it? As his vision faded, he could swear he saw a mysterious figure in the distance.

[Calista]

Calista had been moving through what was obviously an area that had been bombarded with canon-fire with her Pokemon close in tow. Tatsu had finally woken up from his little nap and Kazam was resting in his poke-ball, having deserved a rest. Yui was walking right next to the girl who called herself Blood Rose while in the battleground. That's when she spotted a group of Pokemon on the beach far ahead, her eyes drifting across the group who was trying to find the few survivors left. She looked along the small group, trying to spot the trainer when she did, just before he collapsed to the ground and the Marshtomp let out a distressed cry. This caused Cali to jump into action, looking directly up at the Staraptor who had been one of her biggest fighters in the first conflict she had been engaged in. "JET! Go warn the medics that there's going to be someone gravely injured in!" With a cry the bird Pokemon acknowledged the command, though reluctantly took off. It had been acting as her eyes in the sky, and now her vision was going to be cut down greatly.

She motioned to Tatsu to follow her lead and started running, wanting to get over to the boy as quickly as possible, her cloak keeping her face hidden as usual as she ran. Yui ran right next to the girl, it's pace steady and determined, knowing exactly what was on the girl's mind. She was the oldest member of her team after all. She slid to a stop, her eyes glancing at the Pokemon around her. "Don't worry guys, I'm not here to hurt him." Without even waiting for the Pokemon's approval she knelt down, looking at the the boy as she motioned to her Vaporeon, "Gentle stream of cool water over the burn on his cheek, Tatsu, get ready to carry him, but be gentle, I'm not sure the extent of the damage." She looked back up at the group of Pokemon, her eyes looking around at the group and noticing almost instantly the damage to the Makuhita. She closed her eyes, clenching her fists. This kid, being brought into the middle of the conflict because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like every one of the civilians on the ground around them.

The damage had been done, but that didn't mean that she would forget it. "Whoever you are that did this I swear by own grave that I will bring justice to your twisted mind."

[Elliot]

Maggie was on guard as soon as the suspicious cloaked figure arrived. She protectively stood in front of Elliot, lowered into a fighting stance and glaring suspiciously. A total stranger approaching while her trainer was so weak and vulnerable . . . she didn't want to take any chances today.

Then the girl spoke, claiming to not come in harm, and Maggie warily stepped to the side. Well, more like was knocked to the side: after all, it wasn't like the hooded figure asked for permission before rushing in. She continued to watch, however, and was fully prepared to get between them in case this suspicious new helper proved treacherous.

Elliot shuddered a little at the feeling of water hitting his cheek, letting out a mixed moan of pain and relief as his eyes slowly started to open again.

The first thing he noticed was that a new person was there who he had never seen before. He recoiled slightly from the shock, looking around nervously to try and get a better understanding of his situation. Same island, so he knew he hadn't been taken hostage. Besides, the new figure didn't look like she'd be any Lux figure.

Pale . . . hooded . . . was it the grim reaper!? No, that'd just be silly. As his initial worries and fears began to die down, Elliot figured this delicate solution would be better handled rationally than through panic.

"Wha . . . who are you?" he asked, voice somewhat strained and groggy from his pain.

[Calista]

When he opened his eyes she couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief before she got a good look at him. Dark hair, dark eyes, she couldn't help but be reminded of the leader of Hoenn Nox. She blinked in surprise, suddenly coming to a realization, this kid WAS Terran's son, how had she not noticed it before? She blinked in surprise at the boy for a moment before shaking her head, reaching up and removing the cloak's hood to reveal her large, silver eyes and black hair with red streaks. Over all she looked fairly full of life despite the devastation, though there was an edge to the look in her eyes, a determination to get the information on what happened on the beach. She quickly nodded to her Vaporeon who stopped the thin stream of water over the boy's cheek.

"Name's Calista, ace trainer of Nox from Twinleaf Town. And you shouldn't move any, you're injured pretty badly, Tatsu," she called to her Garchomp, motioning for the Pokemon to move over to them. "Pick him up, but be gentle. I do not want to cause anymore injury to him." She quickly fished around on her belt for Sparky's Poke-ball and tossed it up in the air, a flash of light signaling the appearance of the Pokemon before she caught the Poke-ball. "Sparky, we need your senses!" She looked back down at the boy as her Garchomp knelt down next to him, preparing to lift him up. "I need you to trust me and not struggle. We are getting you to a medical tent ASAP, Jet has already flown ahead to warn them that I'm bringing someone in."

[Elliot]

The ominous figure removed her hood, and . . . she was just a kid like him. Huh, that was unexpected. He seemed visible relieved as she de-hooded, always so much more comfortable around other kids than strangers. Besides, the life in her eyes seemed so much more appealing than the beach of corpses he had just managed to get away from.

Nox, too? It really was Elliot's lucky day! This time he didn't cringe as much, and even smiled thankfully at the water's touch.

"Thanks, I needed that . . .

Wait, what? Don't worry, I'm not too bad. I can move, promise!" Of course, the still-warm scar on Elliot's face, slowly receding from its initial branding, said otherwise. So did the slight bluish tone to his skin and the hand he had gingerly placed on a rib. Of course, compared to everything Elliot saw, these injuries were incredibly minor.

Then the Garchomp came around and Elliot scooted away a bit, fresh memories of the beast's hot breath and hungering eyes playing out in his brain. Maggie had to shake him a bit, pointing to the Garchomp to indicate it wasn't the same one that terrorized their team. Elliot calmed down shortly after, looking apologetically at the Pokemon and its trainer.

"Sorry, was just a bit shocked, that's all."

[Calista]

Calista blinked a few times before shaking her head apologetically. "No, it's fine. Tatsu, we'll leave this job up to Blaze, alright?" she held up the Mach Pokemon's Poke-ball as it nodded in understanding, returning to the ball in a flash of red light before she replaced it on her belt, grabbing her Blaziken's Poke-ball and tossing it up into the air much like she had with Sparky's. "Alright Blaze, be gentle. He says he's alright but he wouldn't be laying here for nothing. I trust you to do a good job." She nodded as the Blaze Pokemon knelt down and picked up the injured Elliot gently.

Calista stood back up, nodding to her two other Pokemon before facing the now standing up Blaziken. She looked up at the boy, having to stand on her toes in order to look at him due to the Pokemon being over a foot taller than her. "I don't care if you say you're fine walking, you ain't in the condition to walk," she stated firmly.

She spun on her heel and started walking, motioning for her Pokemon to follow her. "You may think you're all tough and high and mighty, but sometimes it's best to just admit that you need a little help. Never want to over exert yourself. We'll need to take a look at that Makuhita for ya as well, it's beat up pretty well."

[Elliot]

"Okay . . ."

Elliot let out a slight noise of pain as he was lifted into the air, Maggie watching like a hawk to make sure he didn't run off. She sighed with relief when her blockheaded trainer just let himself get picked up for once. She followed quickly behind the Blaziken, somewhat comforted knowing there was another Hoenn lab Pokemon on the case here. Maybe it was her bias speaking but they were always a very dependable bunch.

For the most part he was quiet, but as soon as he heard the girl's admonishment he couldn't help but laugh a bit. It was strained and hoarse, and cut off short by the pain in his ribs, but it was still there.

"Yes, tough . . . maybe if I was things would've been different back there. Maybe I could've actually made a goddamn difference . . . "

He seemed rather distraught, words as heavy as his heart. It was clear he was not in the best of mindsets today.

[Calista]

Calista let out a sigh at the statement, glancing behind her and spying the wrecked remains of a battleship. She raised an eyebrow before looking around, recognizing the scene of the craters from pictures of battlefields by the ocean she had seen before. They had bombarded the civilians on the beach using the battleship? She closed her eyes for a moment, her Blaziken stopping and giving a worried glance at her along with Yui.

"Those good for nothing Lux, killing innocent people like that..." she looked at Elliot, now wanting to know who was responsible for so much death.

"You don't happen to know who caused all this death and destruction do you? Whoever it is....I'm going to break their legs!" She spun around, her Pokemon both blinking in surprise before looking at each other, her Luxray simply keeping a lookout like she had asked it to.

[Elliot]

"Of course. Didn't change a damn thing when I tried to stop her, though."

For a while Elliot fell silent, unable to come up with a response. Then he began to speak, looking physically pained by the memories he was digging up from their resting place.

"She came in a huge ship and unloaded everything she had on the island's coasts. I tried to lead them away, hold the line with my team so they could run . . . it wasn't good enough. So many burned alive, blasted to bits, and it still wasn't enough for her. She beached the ship, had it blown up, wanting nothing more but to destroy and kill. She even tried to shoot one of her own Pokemon.

I intervened. I had to. It thanked me by marking me for life with her symbol. All praise Platinum, the heroine of Sinnoh, eh?" The boy let out another rueful laugh, all he could do to fight back the tears forming in his eyes. He could still see the beach, the corpses, the twisted remains of a ship surrounding a twisted, vile woman. He clenched his fist, furious at himself for not being able to stop her. Who knew how many she was trying to kill now . . .

[Calista]

Calista spun back around and started to march off, her hands clenched at her sides as her Pokemon followed, watching her nervously as she put the hood back up over her head. She was pissed, the girl she had been looking up to all her early life had betrayed her own region, and now she was killing and leaving her mark on people? It was unforgivable, and she would not allow it to go on any longer. She was going to put a stop to the girl, it was now her goal. She was going to restore honor to her region and become the new heroine of Sinnoh, the one it needed to end the war there. She would reclaim Sinnoh and bring it back together, fixing the war-torn region and restoring it's former glory.

"Heroine of Sinnoh my ass. That girl has lost that title now that she's gone so insane. Not only will I kick that girl out of Sinnoh, but I'll fix my home region and become the new savior of Sinnoh." She continued walking, pausing as tents came into view and her Staraptor let out a cry of relief as it spotted her from it's place, the medic realizing that the bird had been warning about an injured kid being brought in quickly motioned for the small parade of Pokemon lead by the ace trainer to follow, which they did. "See if you can lessen that burn mark as much as possible on his cheek. Maybe the scaring wont be too noticeable..."

[Elliot]

Elliot couldn't help but smile a bit at Calista's energy. Of course, her dropping some serious truth about Platinum was a big part of that. While she may have been a hero in the past, Elliot didn't even know what she was anymore. Cruel, vicious, and hellbent on destruction . . . but why? How could a person ever be turned to such depths?

He didn't even want to think about it. Just the mere idea made him shiver.

Elliot heard Calista's words and immediately found himself shaking his head. He couldn't articulate any reason why at first. Wasn't this mark horrifying? Wouldn't it scar him for the rest of his life? Wasn't it a grim reminder of the day he learned the world was out to get him, just like the many faint scars Merope left all over his body? Wasn't it meant as a message, so easy to defy with proper medical care. And yet he just couldn't get rid of it. Soon he found himself speaking.

". . . Thanks, but no thanks. If this is the message she wants to send, so be it." Somewhere in his brain, dark thoughts began brewing.

The mark she made would surely come back to bite her eventually.

[Calista]

Calista blinked in surprise at the boy before her, surprised by the fact that he didn't want the scarring of his cheek lessened any before he said something about a message. That's when she stood on her toes again to get a good look at the slowly forming mark on his cheek, her eyes widening in surprise. The mark, she thought originally, was not a simple mark like a tear drop or anything, but it was actually the family crest of Platinum's family. So he wanted to keep such a mark? What purpose was it going to serve?

Then it hit her, he wanted it to come to haunt her eventually, and this resulted in nothing but a smile from the young ace trainer.

"You want to bring her to fear the mark itself whens he sees it, don't you? That I can respect." She smiled as she looked at the boy before leaning back and motioning for her Blaziken to set down the boy, who's name she still hadn't figured out, on the table so the medics could take a look at him. She took a step back, hearing the mutterings among some of the more experienced medics about the boy's identity. Then she heard the name, Elliot. So that's what had been passing her mind the entire time eh? Well as long as she knew it now she could stop calling him "that boy" in her head.She smiled to herself, returning her Luxray and Staraptor, letting her Blaziken and Vaporeon stay out seeing as they were her first two Pokemon, hence also fairly worried about her. Especially since they could both hear what they thought was thunder in the distance, though it was probably nothing but cannon-fire from the battleships.

[Elliot]

Wait, what? Elliot was tiny, scrawny, and had a team full of unevolved Pokemon. He didn't have a mean, tough bone in his body! He wouldn't be striking fear into any hearts anytime soon. And yet . . . when he heard what Calista had to say, he kind of liked it a bit. The prospect of revenge was kind of tempting, especially for someone like Platinum.

"I'm just going to think of it as reminder. Maybe for me, maybe for her. Not sure yet." he responded, shrugging. "All I know is that I can't let all of those people down again. I . . . I have to get stronger!" There was a brief flash of fire in his eyes, only for rib pain to force him to settle down again after a brief cough.

"I don't think we've met before, by the way," he mentioned. "My name's Elliot. What's yours?" Probably redundant due to the medic already mentioning his name, but such little details were often lost when one was being wrecked by injury.

[Calista]

Calista smiled as he spoke about getting stronger, her Pokemon sensing her pleasure at the statement glanced at her questioningly. She nodded to the kid before her, taking note that his name had indeed been Elliot and that the medics were not incorrect in that. She pushed off the wall, pulling off her hood once again once she remembered she was in friendly territory and walked over to stand next to the table, her large silver eyes looking down at the boy on it.

"Could have sworn I already gave ya my name, but it's Calista. And don't worry about getting stronger, I like your spunk. I think you have yourself a mentor or training partner, whichever you'd rather call it. Well blaze a trail through Sinnoh and greet Plat at her front door once we have gotten you to the strength you want to be at."

She smiled, laughing a bit at the idea herself, knowing how outlandish it must sound to the medics around the table. What they didn't know is that Calista was a very strong trainer with a very, very ambitious goal. She was going to retake Sinnoh and revive it from it's war-torn state. It needed it, the region had been used as a battleground for far too long. Hoenn and Sinnoh would become the work horses of Nox, much like Johto and Kanto were for Lux. She smiled to herself at the thought, Elliot's and her own regions in full support of Nox would bring the two sides on equal terms.

Both would have majority control of two regions after all.