Chapter 604: Accumula Town and Hired?!
~Third POV~
[Unova Region, Later, Accumula Town]
The cobblestone streets of Accumula Town hummed with the gentle, pastoral rhythm of the Unova region. Here, where the amber glow of gas lamps met the twilight breeze rolling off Route 1, the air smelled faintly of damp earth, sweet-scented Apricorns, and the distant, ozone-tinged promise of a storm.
White, president and manager of the illustrious BW Agency, marched forward with the precise, rhythmic stride of someone whose life was entirely governed by production schedules and contract deadlines. Behind her, groaning as though he were carrying the weight of the Unova League upon his narrow shoulders, came Black.
The hot-blooded trainer was currently nursing a bruised ego—and a debt—following an explosive, collateral-heavy battle between his partner, Tep, and a fiercely territorial Galvantula back on Route 1.
To pay off the property damages, Black had been promptly drafted into White's burgeoning entertainment empire. And trailing quietly behind the pair of them, hands tucked casually into the pockets of his jacket, was Azure.
Azure possessed an easy, unbothered aura that stood in stark contrast to Black's near-pathological intensity. Perched comfortably upon his right shoulder was a thunderbolt-tailed Pikachu, its ears twitching at the rustle of distant Audino in the brush nearby.
Draped like a living, furry crown across the top of Azure's head was a sleeping Eevee, its tail occasionally sweeping across Azure's brow. And tucked securely inside the inner pocket of his jacket, resting against his ribs, was a Mew currently taking the form of a tiny, pink-eared Pichu, occasionally shifting its weight with a soft, melodic mew.
White stopped abruptly, spinning on her heel, "Hold on!"
Her brown hair whipped around her shoulders as she narrowed her eyes at Azure and asked suspiciously, "I've been meaning to ask since we left Route 1. Who is this guy? He's been following us all the way to Accumula; he hasn't caused any property damage, and yet... I feel like I should know your face."
She pointed a delicate, managerial finger right at Azure's chest and asked, "Are you a critic? A talent scout for the rival league broadcasting networks? Speak!"
Before Azure could offer a reply, Black finally caught up, leaning forward with his hands on his knees, panting slightly as his mind raced with calculations about badges, type matchups, and league rules.
Black straightened up, his eyes wide with a mixture of disbelief and awe, and exclaimed, "Whoa, White—you... you really don't know?"
He clapped a heavy hand onto Azure's shoulder, nearly jostling the sleeping Eevee. He explained proudly, "This is Boss! Well, not our boss, but—wait, you know what I mean! White, this is Azure Sky!"
White blinked once. Twice.
Her brain—usually a finely tuned machine capable of coordinating stagehands, pyrotechnics, set designs, and temperamental Tepig actors simultaneously—completely seized up.
She whispered, "Azure..."
The name echoed in her mind, rattling against the mental filing cabinets where she stored every major celebrity, director, and league icon in the Pokémon world. Azure Sky. Four-time League Champion. The conqueror of the Hoenn and Sinnoh Battle Frontiers. The man who had descended from the stratosphere itself to punch a hole through the Grand Meteor Delta and save the entire planet from annihilation.
White's face flushed a violent, incandescent crimson, creeping all the way up to the tips of her ears.
*SLAP*
She immediately brought both hands up to cover her burning cheeks, her voice pitching into a panicked, high-pitched warble exclaiming, "A-A-AZURE SKY?! THE AZURE SKY?! Oh by the—I am so, so, so sorry! I didn't recognize you without the flashbulbs and the stadium crowds! Please don't sue my agency! Or blacklist us! Or—or have a legendary Pokémon evict us from our office in Nimbasa!"
Azure chuckled, a warm, low sound that rumbled in his chest, causing the Eevee on his head to let out a tiny, contented chirp replied, "Relax, White. I'm not here to shut you down. Truth is... I was actually hoping to talk business."
Both Black and White froze instantly.
White squeaked in disbelief, lowering her hands just enough to reveal wide, disbelieving eyes, "Business?"
Azure said casually, leaning against a wooden fence post bordering an Accumula Town flowerbed, "Yeah. I've been doing my research on Unova while traveling through the routes. I heard about the BW Agency. A high-class company supplying top-tier Pokémon actors for commercials, plays, movies, and action stunts across Accumula, Nacrene, and Nimbasa. And finding out that someone as young as you is running the whole show as owner and manager? Frankly, I was impressed."
He offered a bright, easy smile, adding in an impressed tone, "I was curious to see if you were currently hiring. Not just for me, mind you—though I figure it might be fun to stretch some new muscles—but because a few of my Pokémon have been showing a peculiar interest in the big screen."
White's jaw dropped. The terrifying prospect of the world-famous savior of the planet working under her management short-circuited her professional composure for a solid five seconds.
Then, slowly, the gears in her head began to turn. The marketing potential. The sheer, unadulterated box-office gold of having a multi-regional champion and planetary savior starring in a BW Agency production.
Her eyes sparkled with the terrifying, beautiful light of a born entrepreneur.
White blurted out instantly, throwing her hands up in the air, "Hired!! You're hired! On the spot! Name your terms, sign a standard confidentiality agreement, and we'll start filming tomorrow!"
Black groaned, though a grin tugged at the corner of his mouth, "Whoa, hold on, Boss! You haven't even given him a screen test!"
White snapped, though there was no real heat in it as she pointed a finger at the boy, "Silence, Black! People of his caliber are the screen test! Besides, I have business to attend to with you."
She grabbed the collar of Black's jacket with surprising strength and continued, "You and your Tepig have a promotional photo shoot for a local berry juice brand in ten minutes, and if you're late, I'll have your badge case as collateral!"
Black protested, being dragged down the cobblestone path toward the town square like a sack of stubborn grain, "Aw, man! But I need to study the type advantages of the Striaton Gym! The gym leaders are triplets! Three of them! That's three times the strategy!"
White yelled back over her shoulder, hauling the hot-blooded trainer away into the twilight, "Shut it! Move your feet!"
Azure chuckled, watching the duo disappear around the corner of a brick-paved boutique. He muttered good-naturedly, "Kids…"
"Well, well, well! Look who finally found a real job!"
*POOF*
A smoky, indigo-hued shadow detached itself from the base of the wooden fence. Out popped Gengar, its shiny, pale-purple body gleaming under the gas lamp, sporting a wide, mischievous grin that stretched nearly from ear to ear. The female ghost Pokémon folded her arms across her chest and asked, "Does this mean I get to star in a horror film? I've been practicing my jump scares on random Bidoof all week!"
Azure said flatly without even looking down, "Denied."
Before Gengar could even register the rejection, a cascade of spectral and psychic energy erupted around Azure. Out from his shadow drifted Darkrai, its crimson-eyed gaze cold and distant, silently floating an inch off the ground. Beside it stepped Marshadow, its small, shadowy form crossing its tiny arms with an emphatic shake of its head.
On Azure's shoulder, the Pikachu crossed its paws and let out a sharp, dismissive "Pika-pi!" The Eevee on his head woke up just long enough to yawn, bat lazily at the air, and burrow deeper into Azure's hair. From the jacket pocket, the Mew-Pichu let out a high-pitched, mocking chirp.
Simultaneously, a bright flash of light crackled from Azure's belt as Rotom materialized directly out of the Arc Phone. Rotom cackled, zipping in a circle around Gengar's head, "BZZT! Access denied, flesh-bag! Your acting range consists entirely of 'drooling' and 'screaming'! Negative compatibility ratings across the board!"
A sleek, neon-purple polygon materialized for a fraction of a second beside Rotom—Porygon-Z, its digital body glitching in silent, digital agreement before blinking out of existence. Gengar's mouth dropped open.
She looked around at the collective rejection of her peers, her shiny purple face twisting into an exaggerated pout. With a dramatic huff, she raised both of her stubby hands and firmly flipped the entire group the middle finger.
Gengar muttered darkly before sinking back down into Azure's shadow with a soft bloop sound, "Uncultured swine."
Azure let out a long, long-suffering sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He couldn't help but mutter under his breath tiredly, "Honestly... sometimes I wonder why I let you guys out of your balls."
He pulled the Arc Phone from his pocket, the device's screen glowing with a soft, holographic blue light as Rotom re-entered its housing with a digital zip. Rotom's cheerful voice chirped from the speaker, "Bzt! Arc Phone online! All regional maps, meteorological data, and planetary lore loaded and ready for action!"
Azure said softly, his thumb scrolling across the glass interface, "Arc Phone. Pull up topographical data on the Unova region. Specifically... the Giant Chasm."
The screen flickered, projecting a three-dimensional holographic map of the northern reaches of Unova. A jagged, impact-cratered wilderness shaped like a massive horseshoe lit up in glowing red wireframe.
Rotom's voice dropped an octave, taking on a surprisingly cautious, digital warble explained, "Bzt... Warning. Warning! Destination: Giant Chasm. Located geographically between Route 22 and Route 23. It is classified as a hazard zone, Master Azure! Local legends state that a veil of unnatural, perpetual ice blankets the crater floor, and strange weather anomalies have been reported by the Unova Pokémon League. Why... why are you asking about the Giant Chasm?"
Azure didn't answer immediately. He looked up past the gas lamps of Accumula Town, staring north toward the dark, star-studded canopy of the Unova night sky. A slow, knowing grin spread across his face—the kind of grin that usually preceded planetary-scale events or the capture of forces older than time itself.
Azure murmured, his voice barely louder than the rustling leaves of the nearby Oran trees
"Well… White's got her agency to run, and Black's busy stressing over gym badges. And we do have the time…"
He reached up, gently scratching the Eevee behind the ears, adding with a mischievous grin, "Since we've got some free time before the league really kicks off... I figured it's about time I added another heavy hitter to the roster. Can't let a region like Unova keep its best secrets to itself, right?"
Pichu (Mew), perched on his shoulder, let out a psychic sigh that echoed in Azure's mind, 'You are going to give the regional league officials a heart attack before we even get to the first gym, aren't you, Dad?'
Azure thought back, turning his gaze toward the dark, jagged silhouette of the mountains in the distance, 'Possibly. But it's going to be absolute fun.'
With a final, confident step, Azure turned away from the twinkling lights of Accumula Town and began the trek toward the wilderness, leaving the business of the BW Agency and the dreams of the Unova League to follow in the wake of the storm he was about to create as he grabbed Braviary's Poké Ball.
Azure smirked as he thought excitedly, 'Can't wait to get Kyurem. Last I checked, Kyurem waits for a hero to fill in the missing parts of its body with truth or ideals. Let's see if I qualify and see if I can see the Original Dragon of the Tao Trio.'
/////
A/N: Hope you like the chapter!
Also, on a side note, any ideas what the Original Dragon's abilities should be?