Toya woke up in a haunted house. The sofa and lamp were jittering in the heat. The place had a shade of brown and felt like it was a failed attempt at making an abandoned house creepy. He checked the swaying sofa out of interest. Nothing happened. Heaving a deep sigh, he threw all trivial thoughts away, and reorganised his priorities. He's not an explorer anymore. He had a goal in this world. Apart from achieving that goal, nothing else should slow him down.
Toya came out of the house into a hot and sunny place. He checked his belt. Six pokemon stared back at him with curious eyes. He needed to visit the Pokemon Centre first. Regardless of how uneasy he felt about what he was going to do, he had a goal to reach.
Hugh ran up Victory Road with excited anticipation. He heard that Kyohei had won all eight gym badges and is going to challenge the Elite Four. The rivalry in his heart could not miss this chance to challenge him again, after all what had happened.
He bounded up the stairs and dark corridors with relative ease. A few trainers stared back at him with weary eyes. An ace trainer kneeling at the dusty floor healing her pokemon told him to beware of the young trainer with birds nest hair. "He was crazy strong," she told him. "Unbelievable."
Heart jumping with excitement and pride, that his rival had grown this much stronger, he rushed towards the exit with renewed energy, burning fiercer than before.
At the top of the bare mountain caves, he saw a shadow of a young trainer, who was eyeing the two bright barriers that blocked a pair of staircases with thoughts.
Kyohei…
The young trainer turned, sensing the presence of someone else, letting the sunlight from the cave's opening cast a shadow over his being.
"Kyohei," Hugh announced. "It's been a while. I challenge you to a battle."
This was the exact same place that Cheren and him battled, all those years ago. Now, with this young trainer challenging him, the memories flooded back again. His lips betrayed him and let out a small smile. Very well.
Hugh fought on with growing panic. Kyohei had obviously made some changes to his team. He always had, but this time it was completely different. The new pokemon were unreasonably strong, uncharacteristically high leveled. He switched his pokemon constantly as if he wanted them all to have a turn in the match, testing them out, even though Hugh was certain that even with just one pokemon, Kyohei would have no problem bringing his whole team down, type advantage or not.
When Hugh was down to his last pokemon, Kyohei revealed his last member too. They would both sent out their starter pokemon, but this time, unlike all the other times before, two exact same pokemon came face to face. Surprised, Hugh stuttered, "I thought you had a…"
The look in his rival's eyes told him something was up. Hugh swallowed his questions back and ordered an attack. Questions shall wait.
Utterly defeated, Hugh recalled his pokemon back. He stood up and stared at his rival in the eyes. "Where did you get your pokemon from?" He asked seriously. Receiving no answer, he dug for more. "Where's your starter? Isn't he your closest buddy? Why is he not here now, out of all these times, when you're about to fight the Elite Four?"
There was silence, which seemed to fuel him up even more. "Did you even train these pokemon yourself? Did you borrow them for the sake of winning the championship? Did you STEAL them?" The mere thought both scared and angered him. Maybe Kyohei's old pokemon might have a little trouble for the Elite Four challenge, but Kyohei would not do this. Kyohei loved his pokemon, he would not replace them easily, especially after all these times travelling together.
"They're mine all right," Kyohei finally answered. "I trained them myself. Caught them myself too, years ago. You shouldn't worry. You're Hugh, right?" he asked him, who was frowning back with confusion.
"What do you mean I'm Hugh?" He snapped. "I AM Hugh. You caught them when?" This was bizarre. Had Kyohei lost his mind? Hugh walked towards him and turned him around to face the light. A closer look at his face told Hugh that he was serious. Different. Older. "Kyohei…" the voice was filled with a sense of loss and confusion.
So this was Hugh. Kyohei's rival and old friend. Toya thought of Cheren, of how he would feel if it was him in this situation. Hugh deserved to know, in the same way that Cheren deserved an explanation too.
"I'm not Kyohei," he said, after a deep breath. "Kyohei's left."
Hugh's face was blank. After all the weird things that happened, he didn't know what to think anymore. "Left where?" was the only question he could come up with out of a million others he ought to ask.
"In search of his true heart's desire," Toya said. "His passion does not lie with pokemon battles. He wanted a change of life."
Hugh could not believe what he was hearing, but he could not think of any other explanations either. "Who are you?"
Standing up straight and facing Hugh properly, he said formally, "My name is Toya. Pokemon League Champion two years ago, and many more. I have taken over Kyohei, to finish some business that he left behind, and also in hope that I could meet up with someone I've been searching for." And as an after though, "I'm sorry."
Hugh was dumb struck. Staring at Kyohei… Toya... with wide eyes.
Toya turned and walked towards the League, leaving Hugh behind. A change of mind. He would visit the Pokemon Centre yet again, before he takes on the Elite Four. Even though his own pokemon were still in top form, ready to fight, he shouldn't deprive Kyohei's beloved team, who all stuck with him until now, from the chance of leaving their history in the Hall of Fame. It might take some time getting used to, but Toya was confident that as Kyohei now, it was meant to be this way.