~Kyouhei~

Just one more day to remember who I was… That's all I wanted.

Which was a stupid lie of course… one more day would only make me want one more day, and then another and another. The truth was that one more day just wasn't rational anymore, I had made my decision, I had taken the flight, I had said my unpleasant goodbyes to the tiny Island of Mintonga… it was over. Now I was officially a legal citizen of Unova, waiting in the fucking airport bathroom shaking slightly because there was an inevitable lump in the back of my throat, telling me to go back to where I came from.

I nuzzled the gentle pokemon in my arms, hiding my face in her back as she squirmed slightly, unfamiliar with the lack of moisture in the air and the loud humming noises of generators sounding throughout the whole place. This was an industrial city, a place where new technology and machines were being created in order to simplify the lives of people around them. This was something I found incredibly strange, considering simple in my opinion was lack of technology, not more of it. I didn't understand, so I felt very small in comparison.

A small voice in the back of my head told me that things would be ok however, as soon as I found my older brother, who was waiting for me outside this place in order to take me to his new home in this town called "Aspertia".

"What do you think Kukui?" I murmured, hugging the relatively small squirtle and staring at our reflections in the mirror. She was a perfect clear ocean blue color, with the same kind of natural sunspots lining her face like freckles lined mine. Her eyes were pale and soft as she looked back at me, under the harsh bulbous light fixtures. Gently she touched my face with her webbed fingers. She butted me softly in the shoulder; a quiet reminder that this was my idea, and that I had to live with those consequences. I was just happy that she was here with me now, easing the suffering in my heart.

Two years ago my older brother, Touya Black, left the island of Mintonga with our mother, who had divorced our father because she wanted to experience the world firsthand. She was a tourist on the island at one point, and when she met our father she fell "madly in love" and that's when she had Touya, who would forever be her living shadow. The two were inseparable, and I knew that when the decision had been made and the divorce went through, Touya would be leaving the village of Tilt to stay with her. Some people would call this being a mama's boy, but he used to say that it was because he had a story to tell elsewhere. I guess I just never understood…

What could be more fulfilling than the island? It was perfect in every way shape and form, from the tide that rolled in every evening to the way that warm rain would fall and leave everlasting dew on the tropical plants that inhabited only that one place in the entire world. I saw no shame in the lifestyle, I loved it, and so I had insisted that at the time I stay behind. My mother and brother could reach their dreams elsewhere but not me… no way…

Until now that is…

My father fell drunk off a cliff about a month ago… and… that's all there was to it. Just like that he was gone and I had nothing.

That's how I came to the conclusion that I had to stop being stubborn and just give up. I had to leave… the island was far too small to stay on alone. You would go stir crazy to say the least.

Not to mention my brother had just moved out of our mother's home in Nuvema Town, and was now living the good life in this wretched little city that I would call home. Aspertia… even the name was harsh and intimidating. Like the lights here, or the blaring sounds coming from high above. They called out flight names, travel agencies, tourist attractions, and terminals to no end. It was all so much to take in I didn't understand how my brother could actually feel at ease. He was born on the island… he was a native by blood and yet he still managed to find success in this larger, daunting region called Unova. What did it do for him? What was his reason? Where was the boundary that crossed over from his island life and this life?

"Touya found himself here…" I said to Kukui, the island pokemon that had been far too faithful not to come with me thousands of miles away from the village of Tilt. She was named after a native island flower—a tiny white thing that bloomed throughout the sweaty year. The whole island blossomed with them, and it was also the flower I had painted on her shell when I first met her after my parents got divorced and my brother left. I had a near identical flower tattooed in black line-art on my right shoulder as well, forever tying us to the land we called home.

"Do you think I will find myself here too?" I whispered, closing my milky brown eyes and fighting the desire to start sobbing like a child. That was impossible I knew, because I had left myself behind when I got on that plane here in the first place. I couldn't find myself in a place like this… the only place I would ever find myself was on a beach with a surfboard in my hand and the ocean lapping at my feet. That was who I was.

Kukui turned, hugging my neck tightly and silently assuring me that it would be ok, only to be stopped by a horrified gasp that came from the door to the restroom.

"What are you DOING?" a middle aged and very large woman came storming towards me, swinging her almighty purse and throwing it into my head. "GET OUT OF THE LADIES ROOM!"

I shrunk back, gasping at the weight in such a bag and pulling my pokemon with me.

"Fuck!" I cursed, grabbing my carry-on and throwing it over my shoulder as she rounded on me, intending to chase me clear out of the airport. "What the hell are you talking about?!" I bit back the more vulgar things I wanted to say as I trampled back out the door I had come in. Only now did I realize that there was a specific sign on the door—a symbol of a horribly drawn woman. My mind whirled in confusion as numerous strangers stared at me, watching as if they were concerned with my appearance.

All I could think of was why the hell there was a separate bathroom for woman and for men… why? Since when?

The speakers blared above my head as I slunk away, ignoring the calls that came from people in suits holding signs with strange names on them. Everyone looked so… busy that it was hard to concentrate. It was as if this whole world had been put into fast-forward. Even the way they talked seemed utterly fast- not that I could understand half of them through their accents anyways. I stared at the ground as I walked, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone but not wanting to step on anyone's heels either (knowing this crowd they would recoil and bite me in the face).

Once I got outside things would look better… there would be real air and trees and flowers and other things that I could drown myself in. Things that would remind me of home and make me feel a little bit better about my decision to come here. And Touya would comfort me as well… he would bro-hug me like he used to and mess my hair and I would act like I didn't like it—but really I had been missing it for over two years now.

I hoped Touya would be proud of me… I hoped he would be appreciate me coming to live with him instead of staying on the island after our father died. Since this decision was based off of him I figured he would have to… right? But of course there was always the odd chance that maybe he had moved away from mom because he wanted to be alone… or maybe he had a new girlfriend that he was getting close to (as much as that idea repulsed me I had to admit it was possible).

Walking through the airport was challenging and confusing, with a lot of signs pointing in odd directions—the ceiling?—and people directing others around as if no one knew what to do. It was busy for a Sunday evening, and despite it all I couldn't quite gather the strength to go on. I had to stop twice because I felt utterly dizzy, swaying into a man in a wheelchair and then ultimately sitting on the ground in a corner that smelt like cigarette smoke and carpet cleaner. I put my head between my knees, taking long deep breaths and trying to remember the last time I had eaten—not at all today because the airplane attendants didn't take money from where I came from.

Kukui blew a soft spray of mist on my sweaty forehead, uncaring of the way it dripped through my hair and cooled me. The walls continued to spin slightly as I sat, wondering why, why, why, why I had done this to myself. I could have stayed on the island… no one would have judged me… my mother would have been disappointed in me for not coming to live with her here in Unova was of course, she would be disappointed when she found out I was living here with Touya instead. It felt like I just couldn't make everyone happy, and more or less I wouldn't be happy at all. This was the decision of the century and it was too late to want to go back. A wave of homesickness came over me strong and hard, dragging me further into the ringing in my ears and making it hard to see straight.

"Hey kid… come on kid!" a voice approached me not a moment later. "Get up."

I swallowed the emptiness in my stomach and looked up at the face standing above me. "C—can you take me outside?" I ran a hand through my dampened hair.

"Yeah kid." The young adult offered me a hand—which I took gratefully—and pulled me to my feet. "You ok? Where are you from?"

I shook my head, feeling Kukui holding my ankle as if she would catch me if I fell. "Umm… an island, you wouldn't know it."

He nudged me forward. "I'm the gym leader of this town, Cheren, a good friend of your brother."

"Huh? Y—you know my brother?" How did he even know who I was to begin with?

"Kid, everyone knows your brother…"

I looked up in confusion. Why would everyone know my brother? Last I checked this wasn't a small town in any sort, and Touya had just moved here, so there was no way he could make friends that fast. I perched my lips as the gym leader looked down at my pokemon, his black hair falling slightly in his eyes and his long limbs reaching down in offering. Kukui sniffed him, but that was it… she wasn't used to these kinds of people either.

"Squirtle right?" Cheren asked, ignoring the obvious confusion. "But I didn't know Squirtles had freckles…"

"She…uh… well most of the Squirtle where I come from have sun freckles." I bent and lifted her easily into my arms, ignoring the way my head tried to pull me under like a dark ocean wave again.

"Like you." He chuckled back at me. "Come on, I will show you the way out…"

"Thank you."I said, following him carefully, a pace too close so that he turned and looked over his shoulder and I was right there. But I couldn't help it… I didn't want to get lost and this was the first nice person I had met.

"Umm… Mr. Gym leader." I muttered, breaking the private bubble of silence between us. "You said that everyone knows my brother… but… why is that?"

"You really don't know?"

I blinked innocently. Touya was just a trainer. A good one obviously, since he had the money to pay to live in a large town like this one, but that didn't mean that he should be popular. And what was even more baffling than that is that Touya had always been my nerdy older brother. He was the one that preferred to stay inside on rainy days while I was out in the ocean racing the waves on my surfboard. He was the one that couldn't climb a palm tree to the very top without falling halfway. He was the one that often backed out of stupid dares (running nude through the jungle).

I just couldn't see him as anything but… well… UN-popular.

"You will have to ask him yourself…" the gym leader murmured as we approached a large set of double doors that swung open on their own. Shit what kind of sorcery was this? Doors that opened on their own? No… people would wave their hands before a black square on the wall, and THEN the doors would open. What the hell is that?

"Is it bad or something?" I asked, considering the possibilities that my brother could have been a criminal or something. People may know him if he did something really bad…but… Touya was nothing of the sort the last time I saw him. Last time I saw him he was still picking flowers for mommy with scraped up knees (while I wrestled with wild mankeys in the canopy, trying my hardest not to break another bone because she swore up and down it would stunt my grown forever. And I was short to begin with).

"Ask him yourself." Cheren lead me through the doors out into the big scary world of the city—I had only ever seen pictures before.

"Where?" I ignored the things around me, trying to anticipate the concrete buildings and neatly shaved grass that was placed along the sidewalks, as if that would counteract the ugliness of it all and make it ok. It was too much to take it at one time—I had to wait for the right moment to truly look.

"What you don't recognize your own brother?" a familiar voice was followed by a swift swat to the back of my head. "Arceus Kyou, look at this mop."

A flood of relief came over me as I turned to see a pair of familiar chocolate brown eyes boring down at me—however from much higher up than I remembered. Unthinkingly I through myself into his arms, unable to bear the idea of this discomfort any longer. It had been just over two years since the last time I saw him… I didn't care what anyone thought of two brothers hugging in public all awkwardly, I was just happy to find some comfort.

"Man you smell like the ocean…" Touya ruffled my hair, dislodging the lingering smell of saltwater and sickly sweet flowers. "And what the hell is that?!" he turned to look at the tattoo on my shoulder.

I smiled tiredly, the first sheepish smile I had put on since I left the island early this morning. At least if I couldn't be on the island, I still had a piece of it with me. That tattoo was more than just a few lines of black ink…it was part of me. It was a memory.

I took a deep breath, letting the somewhat clean air bathe the back of my throat as I looked up at my older brother in awe. This was the first time I was seeing him for a long time, and it really amazed me to know that up until now he had only been a memory as well. He was my childhood memory while he was gone, and now we could start making more memories. He was here, I was here, and that was what meant something right now.

The brother before me though… was a lot different than the brother I knew two years ago. He was taller for one, and he had thicker more neatly groomed hair. His skin had returned to its non-tan color and though he never had the kind of freckles I did, the few he had were now nearly invisible. I didn't even know freckles could disappear… but I guess if they were fueled by the sun, then being in a town where the sun didn't ripen you… it made sense. He also had a more definite jaw line, with fuller lips and a heavier set brow. Dark eyelashes rimmed his chocolate colored irises and his nose looked to be shaped a little more neatly between his eyes. It was almost as if someone had reconstructed his face… but not enough to make a noticeable difference.

I knew that the only reason he looked different was really because he had simply grown up. Unova had taken him in during the most frivolous time of his development—zits, hands and feet that were too big for his body, no sense of style—and yet now it seemed that he was the complete opposite. He had left before his prime and now he was swimming in it… but… oddly enough he didn't look…happy…

"I'll talk to you later Black." Cheren, the neutral gym leader spoke up from where he was watching the reunion. It was obvious he didn't want to intrude.

"Thanks for finding him."Touya shot back a striking—and obviously fake—grin. I flinched, biting my lower lip and stepping back a spot. Well this… this was awkward…

"Why did he call you Black?" I wondered as the gym leader left.

"Everyone calls me Black."Touya shrugged. "Now come on… you look like you are sick or something, have you eaten today?"

I shook my head. "No…" but my stomach didn't feel hungry anymore… My stomach felt empty in a way which could not be filled. It felt there was a piece of my insides missing and the short second of happiness vanished like a flame underwater. Why was my brother so well known? And why did everyone call him by his last name and not Touya? Never before had anyone called him by Black…

"I missed you buddy." My older brother wrapped an unsteady arm around my slender shoulders and messed my hair once again, seeing that my face had fallen. "We have a lot to talk about I know… but it can wait. I want you to see your new room…"

I smiled sadly, looking my brother in the eyes once more in misunderstanding. He was acting happy… but he wasn't happy…So what had happened?

"I missed you too."I shrugged him off playfully, as I used to do when we were younger and he would cling to me. The rejection was more like affection if you ask me… but this time it felt different. Touya was right when he said we had a lot to talk about…

But why did it feel like he was going to lie to me?

…

Touya's house in Aspertia was relatively cookie cut in comparison to all the other houses in this fresh new town. It was set on a street with few trees and more decorative iron-work fencing than anything. It was painted neatly in white and lined with flowers that were placed just so, perfectly united so that they didn't look natural. It was bothersome to watch gardeners out before their homes in the chilly spring evening, under the suns melting glare with hoses and shovels. It made me feel left and lost in a weird way.

The bedroom Touya gave me wasn't horrible though, it faced a direction in which I could see the wilderness touching the city's limits, rising like a mighty beast ready to pounce on the havoc of such a town. It was the first thing here I admitted I liked—considering Touya said just beyond those trees was a beach, and though it wasn't as warm as the beaches I was used to, it was still uninhabited and nice. He admitted to surfing there a few times in the last two weeks since he moved in here and that alone made me feel like maybe he was the same brother that once lived in Tilt with me. I wasn't happy, but I was a little more at ease.

There was also pale wooden windowsills in this room, whereas all the other rooms in the house had been painted with white and looked more civilized than I was used to. Touya had left me the bare wood on purpose and I thanked him for that—he even said I could carve into it like I used to in the palm trees down by the beach. Really the only problem with this room was it was empty without even a bed, which Touya made a mental note to get, as well as a dresser and some shelves if I wanted. I told him that he was being too weird and eager to be nice and that he should stop before I took advantage of it. He didn't mind apparently.

"I'm not a terrible cook huh?" my older brother asked as I shoveled rice and vegetables into my mouth, not tasting the searing food but loving it so much because I was starving to death.

"You've always been a good cook." I commented between bites.

"Well you've never been such a hog." He scoffed, wrapping his long fingers around the scaly head of his pokemon—which I had only just been introduced to upon entering here. She was a massive snake like thing—kind of like an arbok but with completely different colors—and had extremely sharp eyes. Her muscles rippled and the leaves protruding from her neck would sway as if they were being blown by an unnatural wind. She had come willingly to me, seeming to know that I was related to her master, and I found that despite the squirmy feeling in my chest, she actually wasn't intimidating. She was sweet and eager to make friends with Kukui, who was not so brave as to do so. The squirtle stayed close to my side even as we ate.

"I suppose I should start explaining…" Touya murmured when I ignored his comment—of course I was a hog, I was a growing sixteen year old boy.

I swallowed eagerly, awaiting this moment and choking down my nervousness with a glass of water. "Yeah." My eyes narrowed. "Black…"

"Black's the name I was given by a… friend." Touya murmured. "Sometimes Blackie, but that's not the point. The point is… that I'm… sort of a hero—and I know that you probably won't believe me if I just tell you, so… here."

I waited as he skipped across the kitchen to a cabinet door that had a small combination lock on it.

A hero…?

Touya unlocked his cabinet and pulled out a large bin, snapping the lid off and setting it on the edge of the table in front of me. From inside I could see many, many newspapers and articles from magazines, stacked together in obvious order from oldest to newest.

"Two years ago…" Touya began, pulling out the oldest newspaper and handed it to me. "An organization called Team Plasma tried to liberate all the pokemon of this region. I didn't know about it at the time, but I was on my pokemon journey so I ran into them and they tried to take my pokemon… I was lucky enough I beat them and word got around."

I stared at the news article before me, eyes wide as Touya was on the front page holding the small first evolution of his grass pokemon Serperior. It was such an old picture too that I could see Black's island freckles and his more naturally windblown hair. It was him before the big scary region got a hold of him. I sighed, glancing up at him again now that I could see the evident differences. Slowly I was starting to feel like this was less and less of the brother I once knew.

He spread out about six or so more newspapers and pointed to them in order. "The dreamyard, the Chargestone cave, the amusement park, Twist mountain, Dragon Spiral Tower, the pokemon League… I beat Team Plasma every single time. The region actually started to rely on me… and well, my best friend Cheren who you met earlier. Together we were sweeping the nation, Kyouhei…try to understand ok? You were secluded on that Island so I know you didn't hear about any of this, but… its true. I stopped Team Plasma, I battled their leader and I won."

"Well it couldn't have been that big a deal…" I murmured, knowing that I probably sounded more rude than anything. But really I was in awe. All those pictures the newspaper put out reflected a year's time in which my brother went from perfectly tan island boy to sharp and skilled Unovan man. I could literally see the spirit of our homeland being sapped from his gaze as he took pictures upon pictures and displayed them before me on the kitchen table.

"It was huge. Kyouhei, half of the region lost pokemon dear to them. Everyone was living in fear, everyone was hiding. It was… a bad time."

I couldn't meet his eyes as he spoke.

"But it's over now… and the only thing that's left is… my name. Black. That's what people called me."

"Everyone knows you…" I murmured. "Is that why you're ok here? Is that the reason you like it here?"

"What do you mean?" He asked. "I like Unova because… I just… have a lot of memories with it now."

"Oh." I murmured, not sure if I believed him or not. Everyone on the island knew each other, so I thought maybe since everyone here knew Touya, then that was what made him like it here. But I guess he was right… memories are a lot of who you are and what you do and where you go in life, that's exactly why I had found it so hard to leave the Mintonga Island—all my memories were there.

"You ok?" he asked me when I stopped eating completely, just pushing things around with my fork instead.

"I'm fine." I said. "Just shocked you know."

"You will get used to it." He smiled that same fake smile that he gave her best friend Cheren earlier at the airport. It was strained… unlike the cheeky grin he used to give people when we lived on the Island. And I highly doubted I would get used to anything here.

"Oh and here some good news that might cheer you up." Touya nudged me in the shoulder. "My friend Bianca is a pokemon professor's assistant and I asked her if there was any way she could get you a pokemon… I didn't know that you would have one of your own." He looked at Kukui softly. "But if you still want it she said she was bringing over a trio of pokemon in a few days."

I wasn't sure if I did want a pokemon native to Unova, since they all seemed so different and weird… but at the same time I didn't want to be mean about the offer, so I just nodded. At least I wouldn't get lonely with pokemon around me.

"Don't look so miserable." Touya packed away his newspapers swiftly, closing the tub and putting back into the locked cabinet. "Come on… Kyou, it will be fine."

I shrugged. "I hope."

He sighed. "Right… well… ok."

I nodded as he turned and left me alone in the kitchen to think, his slithery Serperior fallowing eagerly.

Touya was a famous pokemon hero? He was so well known around this region that he actually liked it here? I didn't understand… the memory thing made sense but it wasn't as if he was even living in the same town. He was living in a completely new area that held no memories to him at all. So what was the point? I didn't want to admit that I was hoping to find Touya a little more disgruntled by the new atmosphere like me… but at the same time I couldn't even allow myself to believe that I was hoping Touya would decide to come back to Tilt with me.

Was that my anterior motive all along?

No… I knew my brother wasn't going back to the island… that had never crossed my mind until now. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt to know he had lost all interest in it.

Kukui patted me on the shoulder gently, bringing me out of the darker parts of my mind that revolved around going back home where I belonged. I sighed, stabbing a vegetable and pushing it further away from me on the plate.

For the first time in a long time I wondered if any of this would have happened if it weren't for the fact that two years ago Touya and my parents got divorced. My mind whirred back to the way it was so long ago, when the couple actually cared about each other. It was their choices that made me have to make the choices I did today. It was them who separated Touya and I two years ago. It was initially them and their stupid "love" that made things the way they were now.

Angrily I pulled Kukui into my lap, hugging her tightly and biting my lower lip. Things were so different now…

Even Touya was different. He wasn't even Touya anymore…

He was Black.