The Pride Before (Pokémon Cultivation)

"They struck at night. Elder Anders was there, I saw his face, but Lance commanded the assault. It was like a scene out of our histories: a dragonflight breathing fire in a strafing run, and in moments our entire compound was aflame. Most of us perished in the razing. They only descended when our spirit was well and truly broken. To call it a fight would be dishonest praise: what happened was pest control, my clan the scurrying vermin."

When the Blackthorn clan turns on their vassals, the Fantasia heiress is left to scurry into Icy Path, her Pokemon taken, her cultivation shattered, and her dragon's pride cruelly humbled. There, she meets Red, a reckless trainer from Kanto with a burning ambition.

When a trainer falls to the very bottom, what is there to do but climb the mountain again?

(Also posted on Sufficient Velocity.)