Man in the Ice Mask
He didn't know it, but she saw all of his movies. Twice over, too.
But she couldn't just tell that to his face. He was no longer Brycen, the charismatic prince of showbiz, but a colder, reserved Brycen who lived in solitude and only spoke when words were needed. She would look between the movie stills of some of his greatest roles and then his portrait in the Unova Trainer handbook and wonder how one had become the other.
It would only be natural for fascination to overtake her from there.
She'd been watching his movies ever since she was a child, enchanted by his flashy on-screen stunts and remarkable roles. She was shameless to admit it; she had grown up with his films, and they had become a part of her. And how wonderful it is to have such an enigmatic figure only a mountain and a city's span away; a man so close, yet so distant? How easy it would be to simply fly to Icirrus, but difficult to approach him on matters that concerned his now non-existent acting career?
Despite this, her idolization of him was fervent, but all at once quiet. She never spoke of her fascination of him with anyone, not even to Iris, with whom she spoke of her deepest secrets with. This Brycen-hype was an entirely personal affair, an affair spent pent up in her roost on weekends watching his best roles, observing, and appreciating. She'd hold her Rufflet in her arms, tousling its feathered top excitedly whenever Brycen appeared on screen. He was damn good at what he used to do. Good with emotion, a master at action sequences, and he had a gentle smile that didn't reveal too much yet was so charmingly honest. She had an especial favourite – Man in the Ice Mask – which was the best of his roles, as well as his last.
Then, and even now, he captured mystery and ambiguity as effortlessly as breathing air.
But one thing never ceased to pester her; why did he abandon stardom for his current life?
She first saw him in the flesh at the annual League Conference. He stood heads over a crowd, and had an elegant stride with which he used to weave through the many trainers who were present. Cool and collected, with an excellent posture that exuded pure dignity. Some of the Ace Trainers thought he dressed funny, but she didn't think that at all. His style of dress was wonderful, as if he were playing the role of an exotic character from a foreign land. For the longest time that day she would think about asking him all about his movie career, from his favourite roles to his most successful films, but she knew it wouldn't be so easy to get an answer out of him.
She felt the need to converse with him. He sat alone during the conference, but didn't seem bothered by it. He almost seemed peaceful, in a sense. It was a peace she wouldn't dare disturb if she made an attempt to sit with him. She was worried that her presence was disturbing him even from where she sat, and even she knew that was over thinking things.
She waited until the conference was over to work up the courage to talk to him. It was like approaching a wild Pokémon; you wouldn't know what first impression you would get. Would he be friendly with her or just outright ignore her? Disregarding their professions as seasoned trainers, she was just a fan, so perhaps he would understand and spare her a few words. No matter what he said, she always found deep meaning in his words, whether they be the ones he said in his films or as a gym leader.
And how she wished. She tried to be casual, popping in with a comment on the conference and then introducing herself ("Skyla, Mistralton's Gym Leader), then waiting for him to answer ("…"). She would keep things going ("You're Brycen, aren't you? I've heard a lot about you."), and he would answer back ("…") by saying nothing at all. She didn't know what to do, in all honesty. She distractedly glanced around her at the people making their ways out, and then back at herself, all fidgety and nervous while Brycen stood over her, unfazed. Just keep talking, she urged herself, just say it.
"Why did you quit acting?"
She must have hit something; by the way he regarded her with stronger focus, the tensing and un-tensing of his muscles, and his icy gray eyes looking her up and down in quick motions before settling on her face.
"Because it ruined my life."
He said it so simply.
After that, she couldn't bring herself to say anything. He left her there; he left her speechless, unsure of what to say and whether or not she would have the courage to set aside time over the weekend to watch Man in the Ice Mask ever again.
She was a special case. This revelation didn't cause her to mope, pent out her intense dissatisfaction and confusion or chuck away her DVD collections and Brycen memorabilia. For her, things didn't simply end. The answer he gave her sparked a better reason for her to admire and pursue him. He had a story to be told, and she would not give up until she heard it.
She decided to challenge him. If she wanted to understand him, enduring the hardships of battle was the only sure way of doing it. Brycen was a generally peaceful man, but his methods of proving worth were harsh and relentless. Everyone knew that just as well as she did. It was the only way he could open up to her.
She looked forward to the challenge, even though it loomed dangerously over the horizon like an oncoming avalanche. She spent weeks training her team with Iris and Elesa. She learned to cover weaknesses and boost her strengths. She wanted to show Brycen what she could do, and perhaps leave an impression on him that would allow him to open up to her on his past. Iris was surprised with her determination, but she, along with everyone else, didn't know it was for Brycen.
He told her acting had ruined his life. It was a truth she knew that both of them wouldn't want to speak about, but it was a truth worth learning of, even after all of those years idolizing him from afar.
The fly to his hometown was nothing but a few wing beats away. Anxiety grew within her; she only wished for more time to think about what she was about to do. Her Unfezant warbled sympathetically as they descended. No, she wasn't going through with this alone. She had her team with her, her very backbone, and they were going to endure the hardships with her. The thought by itself brought her comfort, but such feelings were immediately quelled when they landed before the entrance of the Icirrus City Gym.
It was a daunting, gaping maw of a cave, and what lay within tested her limits. The gym members, although slightly intimidated by her, held up the best fights they could. She had entered ice territory, facing spurts of frost and icy snow that would have crushed her birds in seconds, but her team was fast. Evasiveness was key, and it was something her birds were naturally good at. They swept through their oppositions with ease, each victory leaving her with warm blossomings of relief, but as she neared the end of the frosty trail she knew that the real challenge was only about to begin. She approached the gym leader as surely as a league challenger would; heart thumping wildly, hands trembling and stomach twisting in into knots.
She tried to make herself look confident and presentable. She thought it worked. Before her he sat cross-legged on a raised stone platform, his brilliant blue yukata spread around him like an emperor's robes, his body completely motionless and undisturbed by her sudden appearance. Much to her surprise, he spoke first.
"You're nervous."
"I… I'm not—"
"You are. I can feel it."
There was no arguing with him, she quickly learned. Everything he said was a test: would his words shatter her front of confidence, revealing the fact that she was indeed nervous as hell and itching to battle? A front was a front, and she chose to uphold it because breaking down in front of him was what he expected her to do; she willed herself to do none of the sort. She had her pride as a gym leader.
"Why did you come to challenge me?"
She wasn't prepared to converse with him before battle – she swore to Arceus that it was definitely more nerve-racking than the battle itself. But she spoke from the heart, and her heart spoke genuinely.
"I challenge you because I want to know the truth. If I win, you will answer whatever I have to ask."
He accepted her challenge without question ("Fine. Bring it!"), and summoned his Beartic, the monstrous thing snarling and brandishing its claws at her Swanna. It gave her a small glance of assurance before spreading its lovely wings and taking flight, inspiring awe and self-confidence in her already tattered facade. Whatever the outcome may be, whether they win or lose, the trust her birds have for her will never break.
She strove to win. He made her work for it, perhaps much more than she had trained for. She and her team pressed through, her voice rising higher than Brycen's when she gave her commands, the flame of her spirit growing until it became a wildfire that swept every inch of her body. So, this was what it felt like to be alive. The only thing on her mind was victory, victory. It seemed Brycen had a tough time dealing with her, but reading beyond his frustrated tones in order to see whether he was impressed with her or not felt impossible.
Despite all that happened, results were results. She lost, but by a pinch. She hurriedly returned her birds to their respective Pokéballs, eager to take them home and nurse them back to health on her own. She turned to face Brycen, who had withdrawn his triumphant Cryogonal; she curtsied, and kindly thanked him for the match, and turned to leave.
"Wait."
He was never the kind of man to go after people. At least, that was what she thought. She turned around to face him once more, a puzzled look on her face. What more did he have to say?
"Ask me anything," he said.
She quirked an eyebrow. "But I lost."
"Indeed you did. But it doesn't matter. It was how you battled, the style and fervor which you demonstrated, that I think was enough. I believe someone with as much courage as you deserves to know."
She looked down at the Rufflet she cradled in my arms, which trembled and peeped feebly, nudging her arm with its beak. She agreed with him wholeheartedly. Brycen offered to heal her birds within one of the back rooms of the gym (which, she learned later, turned out to be his living quarters). She followed him with reluctance, unsure of how to take his hospitality, but thought it rude to turn him down. A small healing machine was mounted on one of the walls of the wide open room, and she placed each ball within it and watched as they were simultaneously refreshed. Brycen also encouraged her to release her Pokémon and let them fly freely around the cave; the ceiling of the room was open to the sky above, with a nice view of Dragonspiral Tower which stood only a matter of miles from Icirrus. She did as he suggested, watching her birds spiral around in the sky above them, chirping gleefully and playing with one another.
She looked around herself at Brycen's "home", noticing that there were no such objects of comfort or convenience in sight. There was only a futon against one wall, a small gas stove built into another, and a spacious pond of clear water that took up the majority of the room. All light was natural. She couldn't imagine anyone famous resorting to a life as simple as this. This was how she began with her onslaught of questions ("What made you want to live like this?"), and he answered her at great length, without qualm.
Acting ruined his life, to the extent where he became so absorbed in his ego and wealth that he wanted more; when getting more wasn't enough for him, he simply sank into anxiety and helplessness. The life he had made for himself had destroyed him ("…and there were moments where I was fully convinced there was longer a reason for me to continue living."). He was unsure of himself and of the future. But things changed completely when he consulted with Alder, a veteran in both Pokémon training and in life ("…and he gave me a reason to continue living."). Under the champion's guidance, he chose to pursue a simpler life, and that was when he changed himself drastically. No more glam and overspending and whoring around with the media. ("Alder told me it was my life. The only person who could get me to change was myself; so I did as he taught me. It took effort and self-assurance, and the process was long and gradual, but it worked out, and I couldn't have my life any other way.")
As he spoke she could only listen, unsure of what to say or how to react. It was apparent that she had wandered into the darker territories of Brycen's life. Should she be impressed or concerned with what he had been through? One thing was clear to her: she wouldn't walk out of the gym thinking of him as the same person again. She no longer had the desire to look back at his old pictures or sit through Man in the Ice Mask again just to relish in his fame. The Brycen of today had dominated the Brycen of the past.
It made her sad.
"I think you were a great actor."
To that he said nothing; he continued to watch her birds spiral overhead with indifference. She was getting used to his chilly attitude, in fact, she could no longer see him differently now. He had changed himself beyond what she could recognize, and perhaps what she felt then was an urge to let go of his past, just like he had years ago.
"You seem troubled now."
She looked up at him suddenly, and he stared back at her from where he sat atop the rocks, eyes somewhat softer and filled with – could it be? – sympathy. She felt frozen in time, in some sort of dream, all the while locked in his gaze, and it wasn't until he brought his hands up to his head when she was convinced that this was real.
His calloused fingers gently unwound the cloth that masked his eyes, and gradually revealed the face she had seen in the magazines, the face on the TV screen, slightly withered with age. His smile was tentative and stiff, as if he hadn't smiled in years, but his efforts nonetheless spread warmth and contentment someplace closer to her heart. She imagined it fluttering about inside her chest with little wings, because before her was her childhood hero resurrected, even if it was the best he could do. It was a sight she never thought she'd see in the entirety life.
"You're the second person I've ever shown my identity to," he murmured, putting his mask back on. She nodded slightly, words escaping her once more. What compliment could ever live up to such kindness?
She decided it shouldn't matter; better to speak from the heart than anything else.
"That means a lot to me." She smiled back at him, sure of her answer. "Especially since it's coming from you, Brycen."
He simply nodded, then turned his attention towards the flat surface of the pond, which beheld a mirror image of the clear skies above. Brycen was not a man of words, and she walked out of the gym that day accepting that.
She couldn't possibly have him any other way.
End.
Brycen really grew on me, and I always imagined these two to have a sort of mentor-and-student relationship if they ever knew each other that well. It really fascinates me.
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