His ears rang. His surroundings were red, but all he could see was blue. His body was numb and his vision spotty. He coughed weakly and sputtered blood, his hands and body trembled in pain, though he felt nothing. A sea blue creature had come into his view and groaned in concern. He managed a smile, teeth slightly coated in blood as is dripped from his mouth. "F-Ford..." he grunted and lifted his hand, letting the Swampert nudge his hand, a smeared, red handprint now present on his forehead. "Get the others... to May..." he pulled off each pokeball and handed them to Ford.
Ford shook his head and let out the Talonflame contained in one of the pokeballs. Talonflame, after seeing everything that had happened, flew directly at Kyogre, intending to attack. Ford bellowed at him to catch his attention. Once Talonflame looked back at him, he shot a quick glance at Brendan and then at the exit, telling the fiery falcon that their trainer needed help and fast. Talonflame gave a quick nod and swooped at Brendan, swiping his hat and flying off.
Ford looked back down at the source of his trainer's pain; a large shard of sapphire embedded in his side from Kyogre's reversion. He wanted to take it out, but he only knew that Brendan would only bleed out faster, so he left it alone and looked around for something to do.
"It's okay, Ford." Brendan said quietly. "Just- do something about Kyogre..."
Ford nodded and looked back at the whale-like poke'mon glowing with the yellow markings. He growled and prepared to fight.
Outside the cave of Origin, Steven, Wallace, Archie and Maxie stood, May had left momentarily to help a family take shelter. "He's taking an awfully long time."
Wallace pointed out. He looked up at the sky in concern, "And this storm hasn't let up." "The- the Scamp's got this... right?" Archie asked, almost doubtfully. Steven had been debating whether or not to go into the cave after the boy, but didn't want to risk getting himself or his poke'mon hurt. If something happened to Brendan, it was on him. His stomach churned more and more of the possibilities as to what could be happening in the heart of this cave. A screech shattered his thoughts as Talonflame flew out of the cave like a rocket. He dropped the hat he carried into Steven's hands and landed in front of him, staring at him intently. Steven took a moment to look at it, then looked at Talonflame, "This is..."
"Is that blood!?" Archie asked, pointing at a spot on the hat, redder than the red orb that Brendan carried with him.
"The boy's in trouble." Maxie said. "We have to go in after him." Steven commanded.
"But Steven! What about Kyogre and this storm?" Wallace asked.
"All we can do is go in to help Brendan. He's in trouble and we're responsible for it. The boy we chose as our hero, needs a hero." Steven said, "Who else can help him?" he turned and followed Talonflame back into the cavern.
Archie, Maxie, and Wallace all looked at each other, shrugged and ran inside. If any of them had remained outside, they would've noticed that the storm had ended about thirty seconds after...
Ford stood on the ledge by the water, glowering at Kyogre's weakened form, its body scuffed and damaged by the several 'Rock slides' it had endured from Ford. Ford's eyes seemed to blaze with fury. He snorted and dug into Brendan's bag, just barely free enough for Ford to sniff and to reach into and retrieve an ultra ball with his mouth. He closed his eyes for a moment and tossed the ball into the air, spinning around and smacking the ball with his paddle-like tail and launching it toward Kyogre. With three very weak rolls, the ball remained still, indicating that the poke'mon was Brendan's now. Ford nodded and retrieved the ball, bringing it back and lying next to Brendan's pale, still, cold body. Ford groaned sadly and moved closer to Brendan, hoping to keep him somewhat warm. He was barely able to see him breathe and barely able to feel him tremble. He lowered his head, hoping that Talonflame would come back soon.
"Hurry! This way!" Steven's voice echoed, then was shortly followed by Talonflame sailing back into the room. He landed by Ford and looked around for Kyogre. Then he looked down at Ford, who held the ultra ball close to him. They both then turned their attention to the enrtyway as the four men gasped- not in shock, but in wonder. The room was more beautiful than anything they'd ever imagined. Steven quickly shook his head and knelt by Brendan. "My god..." he muttered. He said, seeing the large shard of sapphire embedded in Brendan's side.
"Whoa..." Archie breathed, looking back and forth between the wound and Brendan's face, noticing that Brendan was now practically grey.
"He's lost too much blood." Steven said and scooped the child into his arms.
Ford jumped up and growled lowly at Steven, having heard Brendan barely groan weakly.
Steven flinched, he'd never heard Ford growl so aggressively before.
Talonflame had pecked Ford's shoulder to calm him down.
"Call those two back, we gotta get Brendan to a hospital." Steven commanded.
Archie picked up each of the pokeballs and returned Ford and Talonflame. He then followed everyone outside, meeting with Wallace in the back. Wallace stared at him and held his hand out, asking for the pokeballs with a distrusting look in his eye. Archie, understanding the mistrust, handed the seven pokeballs to Wallace.
Before any of them realized it, they all sat in the waiting room at the Sootopolis hospital waiting on any word for Brendan. Steven sat silently with his hands folded.
Wallace leaned over to look at him, "You okay?" he asked.
"Who the hell are we to send a kid into a cave... into harms way? Putting so much pressure onto him into saving the world because he 'has the courage and the capability'?" Steven asked, "We just threw someone else's kid into a cave with no promise of returning... because we believed he was our only hope..." he sighed, "And because of it we've... sent him to his death..."
Wallace sighed, "Steven, you're such a pessimist." he said, "The boy will be okay."
"No, Wallace, I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist." he said, "There's a difference."
"Where's the optimistic Steven?" Wallace asked.
While Steven sat on one end of the four seats, beside him was Wallace, and beside him was Maxie, leaving Archie to sit on the very end. Archie was listening to every word while Maxie was zoned-out and buried in a book he'd brought along. None of this was Steven's fault. And he knew it.
"I'm gonna go outside." Steven finally said with a long sigh, then he stood up and walked off. Once he was outside, he played a black glass flute somewhat shaped like an anchor, calling out to Latios. When the large Eon poke'mon landed beside him, he climbed onto his back, "I need to go to Petalburg City." he said, allowing for Latios to take off.
Maxie noticed out of the corner of his eye that Archie was fidgeting with his hands, then finally put down the book. "You're fidgeting."
"Am not." Archie stopped moving his hands, but began bouncing his leg. "I don't fidget..."
"You are." he said, "I notice you do that when you're scared of something." he said. It was only them sitting in the rows of chairs now- Wallace had gone and spoken to the doctor.
"I-I'm..." Archie stammered, "I never meant to hurt anyone..."
"With your foolish plot to recreate the world? What did you expect? Remove all land and the world will drown."
"Your plot was stupid too." Archie snapped back, "Your idea was to expand the land and give more space for land-dwelling poke'mon to live. News flash: You need the water to survive."
"Well, at least I didn't have a fourteen-year-old sent to stop my plan and have him killed." Maxie said.
Archie flinched. "We don't know if he's dead." he looked back down.
Steven shortly walked back in and sat down a seat away from Maxie, retaining his previous spot, "Where's Wallace?" he asked.
"He went to ask the doctor about the boy." Maxie said, returning to his book.
"I see..." Steven nodded.
A brunette woman rounded the corner with Norman on her heels, "Honey- wait!"
The woman slapped Steven as hard as she could, "What were you thinking?!" she asked, "Sending my little boy into a cave with a dangerous poke'mon like that?"
Norman pulled her back, "Hon, it's not like that- just listen to me."
"Norman! Brendan's hurt, and you're not even flinching!" she snapped.
"Don't accuse that of me- I'm just as worried as you are."
"You sure don't look it."
"Enough!" Archie stood up, having the arguing couple and the now-pink-faced League Champion look up at him in shock. Maxie looked up at him and closed his book. "This is my fault." he said. "If it weren't for me trying to awaken Kyogre, the kid wouldn't be in this situation." he confessed, "Besides, he charged in there with a better understanding of the creature than we did." he said, "Kyogre didn't hurt Brendan intentionally."
"How can you be so sure?" Maxie asked.
Archie opened his mouth to speak, but had nothing to say. "Why would it?"
Wallace returned with a Gardevoir by his side, it appeared that she had been crying. He had one arm over her petite shoulders and held one of her hands with the other. "Everyone, this is-"
"Glinda." Norman gasped, recognizing his son's poke'mon.
"She saw everything." Wallace continued. He looked at Glinda, "Show them what you showed me and the doctor."
She closed her eyes and held her hands out, forming a circle around them and showing them darkness. They then saw the cave bouncing at waist-level, since Brendan walked toward Kyogre and had his poke'mon attached to his belt. There was a pool of water in the cave with Kyogre in its regular form, seeming to wait for him. The view then climbed onto Kyogre's back, soon to be submerged into water. The view turned black again, then it was nothing but blue. Then there was water droplets everywhere, showing that Brendan had climbed out of the water and onto the ledge they found him on. Everything began trembling as Kyogre encased itself in the blue crystals. Brendan began stepping back, seeing that Kyogre was shaking violently. Then the crystal cocoon shattered, sending shards in every which direction and having the view stumble, stagger, and fall backwards. Shortly after, a pool of blood began forming underneath Brendan.
Glinda's audience stood in shock, Archie mentally confirmed that Kyogre didn't hurt Brednan on purpose. Glinda opened her eyes and looked at everyone else, returning everyone to the outside world.
"Thank you, Glinda." Wallace nodded and returned her.
"So... at least we know what happened." Maxie said.
Archie stood silently for a while. "Norman-" he looked at his wife, "Whatever your name is, if you need to hit for on behalf of your son..." he held out his arms.
Norman marched over and punched him in the face. His wife was close behind and had another fist ready, "This is on behalf of all of Hoenn-"
"Uh- Norman, you and your wife can come see your son now." the doctor came in and informed them, just before she was able to punch.
The couple walked off and followed the doctor, and Archie let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.
"Saved by the bell." Maxie said.
"I just hope that Brendan's okay." Steven said.
Wallace was sitting down in one of the chairs keeping to himself, sorting through the poke'mon that Brendan was intending to challenge him with later. Ford, the Swampert, Talonflame, Gallade, Glinda the Gardevoir, Serperior, and Latias. He rose an eyebrow upon seeing Latias, "How on earth?"
"He defended her from Team Aqua." Steven said, he'd sat down right at that moment.
"Brave kid." Wallace said. "If he pulls through this, I can't wait to see him in my gym."
"He'd be an a opponent to honor battling against." Steven said.
A stone dropped into Steven's lap. When Steven looked up, he met with Archie's gaze. "What's this for?" he asked, picking up the marble-like stone.
"He needs that more than I do." Archie said. "Give that to him when you can." he started walking off.
"What is that?" Wallace asked.
Steven studied it closely, "It's a Megastone." he said, "For a Sharpedo."
Maxie sighed and handed Steven a similar stone, "Give that to him too. Tell him it's a gift from the both of us." he said, "That's for Camerupt."
"Where are you two going?" Steven asked.
Archie and Maxie looked at each other for a moment, then they shook hands. "We're disbanding our teams." they said simultaneously and walked off.
Steven sat beside Wallace in silence for a while. "Wow..."
"Amazing with what guilt can do to some people, even those with the coldest of hearts." Wallace said, then he looked up to see Norman walk in, eyes full of tears and his wife huddled into his shoulder, "Is he okay?"
Norman cried a little, "He lost a lot of blood... the wound was huge and the shard was bigger than my hand."
Wallace and Steven began to sink.
"But..."
They began filling with a little hope.
"The only damage was to his skin and muscle. None of his organs were damaged, so there's no failure anywhere. And the wound wasn't nearly as deep as it looked. They were able to clean him up easy."
"So... he'll be okay? He just lost a lot of blood?" Steven asked.
Norman nodded.
Wallace sighed, "That's a relief." he stood up and shook the man's hand, "Your son is a hero." he handed him Brendan's poke'mon.
"Thank you, we're really proud of him."
Wallace nodded with a smile, "I look forward to seeing him in my gym." he said and walked away.
"Not if I have any say in it." Norman's wife said.
"It's Brendan's choice." Norman said, "He's much happier here. He loves his adventures, and he loves his poke'mon."
"He certainly takes after you." she smiled.
Steven stood up, "I have to return to my duties in Ever Grande City." Steven lifted the mother's hand and laid three stones in her palm, "Give these to your son. They are for Sharpedo from Archie, Camerupt from Maxie, and Latios from me."
"But he has Latias not Latios." Norman said.
"If he has the capability to earn Latias through friendship, he'll be able to receive Latios as well. I have faith in him." he said. "These are each a gift from us. Please make sure he gets them." he said and walked off. Then he stopped in his tracks and quickly walked back to them, "And this." he handed them a flute he was using before, "It's an Eon flute. His Latias should hear this whenever he plays this and she'll come faster than you can say eon. Anytime, anyplace." he said and left for good.
**Any thoughts? I played the Kyogre event and had this scene stuck in my head ever since. That team really is my team. I have Poke'mon Y too, hence the Talonflame. Anyway, hoped you guys liked it, please review if you have any questions or comments, and don't hate... Hating is bad.**
***EDIT: Okay- this fic was actually meant to be a one-shot type of deal, I just accidentally forgot to hit 'Complete' and left it as 'In Progress'... however... if anyone likes it that much- Please say so! I can continue it.***
