The Philosopher's Propeller, or, Bickering in A Starlit Night
Lilycove Beach, Lilycove City, Hoenn Region
It was a nice, clear night. There were a lot of stars on the sky, and to top it off, it was a new moon.
Add all of them, and you might see why Miyano, Robert's veteran pokemon, was as cheerful as she was. Robert's modest house that lies pretty near the beach ensures that she can go to and from the beach (his other 'mons too, if they will, although lately the only other 'mon that frequents the beach at night was Richard, another veteran of him, and that's mainly to fetch Miyano home) without much hassle from natural obstacle the city has.
You might be tempted to ask, 'Who's Robert? And just who are Richard and Miyano?'
Robert Aquinas (some says behind his back that he was a descendant of Thomas Aquinas, the renowned theologian), their trainer, was one of Hoenn's leading scholar on the history of Crusades.
Yes, those Crusades.
He have recently rejected the coveted membership within the infamous Council of Heroes (what the Elite Four has been known then) to concentrate on his studies, but be very careful if you try to fight him in a Pokemon fight. The precaution is worth it, for he defeated the reigning Champion, Tom Kinsley, about two years into his adventure. Three years into the start of his adventure, he retired from competitive Pokemon fighting carrer to pursue educations from places far from Hoenn, believing he can find more fortune as a scholar than as a Pokemon battler. And, boy, does he find his passion and fortune.
Richard was the male Treecko he chose as his starter from Professor May when he started his adventure. Then, Robert was eighteen (he got into adventures a bit late than his peers because he wanted to concentrate on his studies). Of course, now, thirteen years later, he's a Sceptile.
Richard has a lot of common stories with Miyano, the female shiny 'mon that Robert caught very early in his adventure. Back then, Robert has no idea she was shiny when he caught her. It was only after he visited the local Pokemon Center that he knows that she was a female, shiny Ralts. Now, she has grown into a Gardevoir.
Along with them, his other crews when he defeated the reigning champion was Philip, the Gyarados; Frederick, the Breloom; Ran, the Ninetales; and Raymond, the Skarmory. Among the four, Ran is the only other female squadmate they got.
And now, back to the present.
Sitting on the cliffs near Robert's house, Miyano was singing. Not really loud (none of the Ralts line was known for their loud voice, anyway), just clear enough for someone a few meters away to hear.
(A.N.: I skipped her singing to the song's second stanza. She sang from the first, however.
Translations are mainly courtesy of hirasawalyrics dot tumblr dot com, edited here and there.)
Zambia, hageshiku inochi terasu
(Zambia, illuminating life intensely)
India, yuuyami ni yomi wo mamori
(India, guarding the Netherworld in the evening gloom)
Ririshiku kaeru hitonami no yoru
(The night that waves of humanity return home so gallantly)
Mieru ka? Ougon wa koko ni arite
(Can you see it? The Gold is right here,)
Amaneku terra wo yuku kimi wo kazaru yo
(adorning you, who walks the earth far and wide,)
Nemuranai kenja no manazashi de
(with the gaze of a sleepless philosopher,)
Sora ga hareru hi ni
(on the day the sky grows clear)
Enter Richard, clueless on which part of the song she's at, but not what song she's singing (Hirasawa Susumu's Philosopher's Propeller 1, that is). He pulls her to a hug on her waist, surprising her.
"Who's that?" she asked with the utmost menacing voice she can manage.
Instead of answering his childhood friend, though, he chirped in head-first (?) into her singing.
Hageshiku kaze wo uke hitoshirezu
(Catching a strong wind, without being known,)
Mawaridasu Kenja no Kaiten'yoku ga
(the Philosopher's Propeller starts spinning,)
Otozureru chuuya no fukashigi de
(and, with the unfathomable wonder of the days and nights to come,)
Kimi wo tsurete yuku yo~
(carries you away with it)
Sure enough, chaos soon ensues.
"Good thing is, it's you, Richard," she sighs in relief. "Bad thing is, you sang the wrong part! I'm not there yet!" she then got mad at him over that trivial issue.
"But it's more important that you're safe! Sitting that close to the cliff? You're looking to commit suicide or what?" he got mad at her in return. And their umpteenth argument starts.
That's just how they work, really. Amidst the nigh-constant bickering Richard and Miyano have, none of their teammates can deny that they care deeply for each other and the rest of the team.
After all, they're pretty much the oldest members of the team and had to play as team dad and team mom (even if they aren't that much older from the rest of the team), especially after Frederick have died.
In fact, Ran and Raymond, who are dating themselves (Ran adores the aerial view she gets when she's flying atop Raymond, just as Raymond appreciates the warmth Ran radiates that helps him fight back the cold air above when they're having their 'flying date'), are speculating that the lizard and the psychic are dating as well.
"No, I'm looking to see Fred!" she answered.
"Fred, huh? Ten years have passed and you're still unable to get over it? He's going to cry seeing his sister ended her own life like that," Richard hugged her tighter. He didn't expect to actually silence her; he knows that she didn't intend to end her life.
That really hit the spot, the green lizard thought after he saw her reaction. She only nods a few minutes later.
By the way, Frederick died a few months after Robert defeated Tom. What made the death made such impact on the team was that he died due to a natural illness, not due to battle injuries. His replacement was a male Zangoose he named Balian.
"I, too, am shocked of his death. I think you once said, before Rob retired from Pokemon battles, that I, Fred, and Philip were named after the three European kings who took the cross and jump into the Third Crusade. If we were, I think Fred's death was as tragic as his namesake's," he had to hold his tears.
"Yeah, but at least our Fred didn't die when he's leading an army," she affirmed.
"Still, that doesn't make his death less tragic," he added.
"Hmm. How's Philip?" she then asked.
"He's well, the last time I saw him. Rob usually let's him in the seas when he's out of his ball, tho. You should know him better, he adores you like his own mother," he reparted.
"Oh, how I could forgot that he adores you like his own father as well," countered the white-cyan psychic. "I sure miss the confused look the folks at Lilycove have way back then, ..."
"... trying to figure out how the hell a Sceptile and a Gardevoir can raise a Gyarados. I'd be lying if I say I don't find it very amusing," he cut her short, trying to hold his laugh at the memory.
"Yea- don't you cut me like that! Besides, how can you read my mind?" she snapped again.
"You've forgotten we're old friends, do you? I know just anything about you," he 'boasted.'
"Well, if you really are, let's start with the easier questions. What is my name?" she asked.
"I don't know," he answered it without any guilt.
"How d- What is this, manzai?" she quickly sees through what he's attempting to pull on her.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"No." she answered flatly. "Rob sure took a lot of pride for not being a weeaboo, especially after you consider who I and Ran were named for," she then added.
"And the two of you were named after whom?" Richard inquired, now really getting all ears.
"Me? Some girl from an overly long detective manga series. I won't tell you her name. I think Ran was named after another girl from that series, too," she answered.
"Our Ran? You got to be kidding. She looks like a fully-matured kitsune from Japanese legends, I'm dead sure she's named after that shikigami," he dismissed her opinion about Ran's namesake and posits his own.
"Either that prodigious protagonist's childhood friend or that shikigami who's amassed enough power to have her own shikigami, then. But that's exactly what I'm speaking of. The team's male 'mons reeks of the Crusades. Not what your typical weeaboo would even speak of when the weeaboo's busy singing blind praise for a culture he don't even know well enough," she made use of his dismissal to really drive home her point.
"Explain how."
"I'm not going to elaborate further about your, Fred's, and Philip's namesake. Let's just jump to the mongoose and the steel bird," she said rather impatiently.
"Okaay~" Richard is as impatient as her.
"Balian ... I guess he's named after Balian of Ibelin. Pretty good guy, at least he tried to mend the great fracture between the kingdom before that fateful battle, although to little effect," she replied shortly.
"That fateful ba- oh, the Horns of Hattin, I guess." She then nods.
"How 'bout Raymond?" he asked.
"I'll bet that Raymond is named after Raymond III, that peace-loving Count of Tripoli that managed to make a private truce with Saladin and refused to acknowledge Guy of Lusignan as his overlord," she answered the question to the Skarmory's namesake with such derisive tone.
"Rather blunt, are you? Both Crusader and Muslim contemporary sources assessed him positively," he sighed.
"If it wasn't for this man and that bastard Raynald, the Kingdom of Jerusalem isn't going to be fractured that badly! Let's just pray that if he catches another 'mon, the 'mon is NOT going to be named after that damned Raynald de Chatillon. After all, if Saladin, known even in Crusader chronicles for being just, personally sworn to kill him, either there were something wrong with Saladin, which I'd doubt, or there were something really wrong with Raynald," she fervently said.
"Amen~" the lizard amended.
"At least Raymond's advice before that fateful battle, even if it was ignored in the end of the day, was really sound. In fact, it could've gave the Kingdom some big fighting chance," she gave him a hint.
"To let his domain go so the huge Crusader army can fight Saladin at their strongest, instead of at their weakest, huh?" he correctly interpreted her hint.
"Mm. Most of the assembly agrees with Raymond, and for a good reason," their 'bickering' that night turned into some really deep topic.
"Yeah. They know there were no decent water sources between their camp and his domain of Tiberias. A shame someone persuaded the king, in private to try and send the army to relieve Tiberias, or, rather, their torment and doom. And the Kingdom, along with them," he concluded.
"That's pretty grim of you, dear. You're usually an upbeat leader. You live your life like you're going to live a thousand year even when you know captive 'mons don't usually see fifty," she replied to his pretty dark conclusion.
"Watch what you're saying, my dear," he spun her so that they're facing each other.
"One of the hardest problems of raising a Ninetales is the fact that they almost always outlive the original trainer, disease or murder aside, and they will have to acclimatize to entire generations of human family. Just so you know, most Ninetales will outlive its original trainer's grandchild. I don't think the two of us will outlive Rob, nevermind his child. And Rob isn't even married yet." He intentionally let the 'dear' slip for now for what he believes to be a much more urgent matter.
"Just imagine the last time you're left powerless, unable to avoid someone's death. Someone you dearly loved. We have enough pain witnessing Fred's death. I can't even say how much pain Ran will have suffered in a hundred years, after all of us, maybe Rob's children too, passes away." Once again, she was silenced. She knew well the pain she felt when Frederick passes away.
In fact, she meant it when her expression told him she still have difficulties coping with it. Richard knew well that Miyano used to flirt with Frederick after Robert won the Championship. His confession that her love was reciprocated when he was in his deathbed really took an effect on her.
Actually, Fred called Richard privately to take care of his love and never to tell her that Fred loves her. However, Richard's unusually sad expression attracted her attention; Richard usually manages to put a cheerful mask even at the most gloomy situations. When he refused her assistance to help him, she decided to take the shortcut and read the parts of Richard's mind she shouldn't have read before she broke down harder than he did, followed by his sigh ("Huh, now you know why I refused it.").
She then turned to Richard to help her to deal with it. Although he, with the help of the rest of the team, managed to help her problem, a new problem arises before they know it, though: she fell in love with him.
"And, now, the inevitable que-" Now it was her turn to cut him off, "You must know your attitude is infectious."
"And, then?"
"You've been a great help for my problems. Our problems. Thank you, Richard." Before he managed to react, the psychic stole a kiss to his lips. It connected, and for a long time. The deep, passionate kiss ended only because she needed the air; she coughed for it the instant she end it.
He then hugs the white-cyan tight, and she confesses, "I love you, Richard. I do."
"I too, my dear Miyano," the lizard returns the affection.
"By the way, you were trying to offer me something inevitable. What was that?"
Richard actually forgot what he was supposed to ask when she cut him, so he gave her a bad poker face and told her, "Well ... let's forget about it and go home. Rob is sure waiting for us."
Before they even walked, he asks as if he remembers the question he was going to ask, "Ahh, yees~ In your opinion, which was the more decent, the Fourth or the Sixth?"
Now it was the psychic's umpteenth turn to be surprised, "What are you speaking?"
"The Crusades. The Fourth Crusade or the Sixth?"
"Me? I'm going for the Fifth; at least it was sactioned by the Pope and didn't actively kill men of the same faith," she replied. The Fourth and the Sixth Crusade was among the most controversial crusades, each for their own nasty reasons.
The Fourth started pretty well, until the Doge of Venice, Enrico Dandolo, intervenes. The Frankish Crusaders intends to march to and smash Egypt, but Dandolo made use of them to bully Zara, another Catholic state, and slay countless fellow Catholics. Dandolo also made them, basically, screw Constantinople enough so that it really softens the Byzantine Empire enough to be gulped down by the Ottomans two and a half centuries later. All this so that the Venetian can regain sea trade supremacy.
That ends up pretty well, assuming your definition of 'pretty well' involves facing Papal wrath and being excommunicated and condemned.
The Sixth, however, was not only not sanctioned by the Pope (its biggest perpetator, Frederick II of Holy Roman Empire, was excommunicated because he failed his promise to get involved into what we know as the Fifth Crusade, in addition of not being in friendly terms with the Pope), it also ended with a treaty before a battle between the Crusaders and the Muslim starts. It shows to the world that one can pull a Crusade without Papal support and without a bloodbath.
"The Fifth? That's so you, looking for the third option when you can. You know I know Rob is really opinionated on that matter and stays with the Sixth. 'At least, no episodes of Catholic killing Catholic,' he say." He ruffled her hair.
And the ruffling, instead of the discussion on the more bleak parts of the Crusades or Miyano choosing the Fifth instead of the Fourth or Sixth Richard offers, was the start of a new argument.
That's just how they work, really. Amidst the nigh-constant bickering Richard and Miyano have, none of their teammates can deny that they care deeply for each other and the rest of the team.
Although that was the first time they confess their love for about thirteen years.
Disclaimer: Philosopher's Propeller 1 (c) Hirasawa Susumu. All namesakes are either historical personalities or fictive characters that belong to their respective owners. (Kudos to anyone figuring out who are them~)
A/N: Well, well, my first romance piece.
It ended up floating between friendship (well, they are childhood friends, after all~), romance (sorry if the romance part is corny, have yet to be in a date myself ^^;), and hurt/comfort (the discussion on Frederick's death). And Crusade history.
Personally, the reason I ship this is that the last time I played Emerald, those two kids formed a vital part of my team's offensive core. I thought Sceptile/Gardevoir was crack enough ... until I found out that it has a shipping name attached on shipping dot bulbagarden dot net: Guardian Lizard Shipping (no prize is given for guessing who's the guardian and who's the lizard :v).
Dangit.
The author only have his storyline idea. Anyone caught copying this script without the author's permission must write an essay on why do you think the Fourth Crusade was more honorable than the Sixth Crusade at least an equivalent of four A4/F4 pages long. And by 'write', I do mean that; write it up on pieces of striped paper, instead of typing it, and send the papers to me via snail mail. I'll acquit the charge only once the essay comes into my hand.