Obnoxious Fate 2: Complication

Chapter 6: Fractured

Warning: Violence Ahead! Consider yourself warned!

Translation Guide will be at the end of this chapter to avoid spoilers.

Jubilife Convention Center, The Golbat Room

The day went pretty uneventful. They went to the front desk, got the information for where their booth was and when and the designated room for Crystal to give her presentation.

"This is a really small room." Gold commented when he saw that there were only thirty-two chairs with a small table at the front. He had seen those video game conventions in Goldenrod and their keynotes were gala events with a stage and hundreds of screens. This was pathetic in comparison.

"Well, these conventions only cater to a niche crowd. It'll be a good day if we fill twenty of those seats. I hope that we'll sell out with the speaker being Professor Oak." the attendant said as they looked at the room.

"Professor Oak's Assistant, actually" Ruby corrected in an almost-condesending way.

"Right. So, here are the keys to the room. Feel free to come in between now and the presentation to make any adjustments."

"Check this out!" Gold said as he played with the overhead projector.

"Sir, please don't mess with the equipment. It's very expensive."

Jubilife Convention Center, Show Floor

Wally and Sayuri escaped the madness (partly out of fear that the old overhead projecter would come crashing down and spray tetanus everywhere, all complements of Gold) and walked around the semi-bare show floor. A few of the more technical booths were setting up, but nothing too exciting.

"Ooh, what's this?" Sayuri asked as she pointed to a device being wired into a computer.

"That's Devon Corp's booth. My dad works for them. This is probably the newest version of the PokeNav." Wally replied.

"Why is it being wired into that computer? Aren't they wireless like PokeGears?"

"Well, when they introduce new electronics at conventions they are more often than not running on older stuff and made to look like they're shiny and new." Wally explained, not aware that it was sheer luck that the techs were too busy to notice that the son of a corporate technician was spilling trade secrets.

Ruby and Gold came walking quickly out of the hallway and on-to the show floor as their attendant yelled "AND STAY OUT!"

"What did you two do?" Wally asked, sweatdropping as they quickly made their way to the exit of the Convention Center.

"Gold got a little too carried away with the adjustment wheel of the overhead projector and..." Ruby explained, a little embarrassed that Wally (and by extension Sayuri) were getting dragged into what he liked to call "The Dexholder Carnival of Destruction".

Once they were outside, Gold opened his PokeGear and dialed the number for the limo. Wally heard the driver pick up the phone and heard it get hung up just as quickly. Gold's shoulders slumped as he admitted defeat and called for a hotel shuttle.

The Hotel Lobby.

During the ride everybody remained quiet. The hotel shuttle was the last thing between a comfortable ride and having to cram four people into a taxi. Gold was definitely acting on his best behavior. When they arrived at the hotel, the four of them quietly walked to the lobby.

"Well, that was fun." Sayuri said, trying to ignore the awkward phone call with her dad and getting rushed out of the Convention Center.

"Yeah..." Wally replied, noticing that Gold and Ruby were watching this conversation intently.

"If you're not busy tomorrow, maybe we could hang out at the park again."

"Well, I don't know. We still have some stuff to gather up for the presentation..." Wally said as he could see both Ruby and Gold facepalm.

"Okay, well, see you when I see you, I guess." Sayuri said sadly as she walked off towards her elevator.

Veilstone City, That Night

"So, since I'm not going back to Hoenn? Does this mean that I'm free to go?" the thug asked as Hanatzu sat back in his chair.

"Why would you think that?"

"Well, there is no reason for my presence, right?"

"True."

"So, why should I stick around? I have a life in Kalos. I want to put this all behind me."

"You're right. There is no reason for your presence, and you aren't going to stick around." Hanatzu said as he snapped his fingers. A Scyther appeared seemingly out of nowhere and used a Slash right across the back of the thug's legs, causing him to crumple to the ground.

"You went against my orders and killed my brother-in-law. Then you ran away and hid like a coward instead of facing the truth."

"G-G-Gliscor killed him. Not me!" the thug said. Blood was pouring out of his legs (perhaps the Scyther severed an artery).

"Remember, I have access to the case files. You idiot. Gliscor is a loaded gun: often a deterrent but deadly when necessary! Your job was to use that 'loaded gun', and I repeat, only when necessary!"

"Y-You left that... demon... with your daughter. S-Sounds like you're the ruh-real idiot to me."

"She has a special bond with him. He never shows any aggression around her. I would keep talking, but it looks like you're putting this all behind you. Life and everything."

The thug took a gasp of air and it looked like his eyes were going to their last parking spot. His last thoughts were of his life in Kalos. The air that he breathed, the sky he would gaze at. The people who he loved and loved him in return. In a moment of regret for all the grievances he caused, he silently apologized to them and bid them farewell as his consciousness faded away.

"Thank you, Scyther" Hanatzu said as the Scyther went into the shadows once again.

That Night, Sayuri's Room

Sayuri got up to her room and plopped down on the bed. She had a friend at this convention, one that understood what she went through. One that would understand what she was going through. And he wanted absolutely nothing to do with her. Was she thinking about this a little too much?

"Hi, Gliscor!" she said to the Fang Scorp Pokémon who was relaxing on the bed next to her. He managed to turn on the television and found a show that he liked.

"Hello and welcome to 'Defenestration Nation'! The one and only show where you watch us throw random objects out of high-level windows!"

This was a horrible show. Why did Gliscor like watching this? Well, friendship was about compromise, so Sayuri decided that watching this filth wouldn't kill her. Not five minutes in and the room phone rang.

"Hello, dad!" She said, recognizing the number again.

"Hi, sweetie! Did you just get home?"

"Yeah, I'm just sitting here watching this weird show with Gliscor."

"That's great. You said that you were hanging out with that Wally kid, right?"

"...Yeah. Why?" Sayuri asked with a mental groan. What was about to happen? Was her father about to give her an awkward talk over the phone? Was he about to yell at her for hanging out with boys? Was he about to call her back to work?

"No reason. But I need you to do some work for me."

Sayuri's fist pounded the bed, startling Gliscor. Other times he pulled this stunt, it was boring and she was ready to leave. This time she had a reason to stay. Friends. She wasn't going without a fight.

"What is it?"

"Well, you know how your Uncle developed that digital respirator for Wally?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, we have lost the source code for the software and we need to make a copy of the data on his pocket inhaler. They use the exact same system and we can rebuild it with that data."

"So, I need to get the respirator off of him?"

"Yeah, but you need to do it without him knowing. Just use a standard cable to connect it to your PokeGear. I'll send the app to you that will copy the data from it."

"But I'm sure he would be willing to cooperate if I explain what we need it to help other people."

"Well, here's the problem. There's a lot of rules and regulations when it comes to pharmaceuticals. If you did that, and you knew that he did that, he could go to his parents and they could come and sue us."

"Oh, well, I'll do the best that I can."

"Thanks, sweetie. Talk to you later."

With a click, the line went silent. Sayuri went back to watching the show with Gliscor. As she watched these goofballs toss a paper-mache Zapdos filled with Voltorbs out of a window. As stupid as the show was, Sayuri wasn't about to admit how epic the fireworks caused by those Voltorb using SelfDestruct were.

Wally is only in the area for a few more days. If she was going to carry out this mission, she needed an immediate plan.

Ruby and Wally's Room, Approximately the Same Time

"Are you insane, man?" Ruby said as the two boys went into the room. Wally shrugged and they turned on the television. "They used to air this show all the time back in Johto. Two guys throw stuff out of a window. That's all" Ruby said as he rolled his eyes and changed the channel.

"I don't know about Sayuri... everything just feels so weird about her." Wally said as he kicked off his shoes and propped his feet up on his bed.

"What do you mean?"

"Just that she's here and that I'm here. It's an odd coincidence. It almost feels like she was stalking me."

"What do you mean. You're here for the convention. She's here for the convention. Thousands of people will be here. You just have similar interests."

"Like what?"

"Well, your doctor, her Uncle. He was very important to both of you. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's not a coincidence. Think about it. What were the odds that all of the other Dexholders were unable to make this trip? What were the odds that your parents were going to believe that Gold was responsible enough to take their only child hundreds of kilometers away? My point is that it's not a convention that brought you here, it's fate. And that's all there is to it. Crystal is giving her speech on Sunday night and we're leaving on Monday morning. You essentially have to decide this: do you want a pleasant fate or an obnoxious fate? It's all up to you."

"...Do I have to make this decision now?"

"Of course not. Sometimes it takes an unexpected event to make someone fall in love. That's what happened to me." Ruby said as he took off his hat and looked at his scar in the mirror.

"So, who was it that you said that you was protecting when you were attacked by the Salamence?"

"Uh... I don't remember." Ruby said as he grinned and sweatdropped.

Ruby and Wally's Room, The Next Morning

The sun started to poke through the curtains. Wally was already awake and out getting something for breakfast. Ruby was still sleeping. There was the occasional snore coming from the head, covered by a sleeping cap, poking out of the covers. The blanket started to move very slowly. Occasionally the snoring would become erratic, causing the movement to stop. After about two minutes, Ruby's foot (covered by a sock) became visible.

A mysterious force inhaled and blew a little flame, igniting the sock. "YEOUCH!" Ruby screamed as he hopped out of bed and around the room trying to put out the foot-fire. There was a little table and a chair occupied by a laughing Gold. The "mysterious force", Gold's Typhlosion (named "Explotaro"), joined in with a little snicker.

"Consider us even!" Gold said as he peeked into the bathroom and started cracking up at the fact that Ruby doused the fire by sticking his foot in the toilet. "You jerk! I sprayed you with water! Harmless water! And... I STUCK MY FOOT IN THE TOILET. NASTY! Get out! Get out now! I need to take an emergency shower, RIGHT NOW. YUCK!" Ruby yelled as he slammed the bathroom door.

While Gold could hear the shower running and Ruby constantly muttering "Not clean! Not clean!", his PokeGear chirped with a text from Wally.

"What time do you want me back up there to help set things up? ~ Wally"

"Don't worry about it. I've got you covered. =) ~ Gold"

"Are you sure? ~ Wally"

"Yeah. Ruby's fired up and ready to go. Have fun. ;D ~ Gold"

Hotel Vending Machine Area

Wally looked at the most recent text from Gold and wondered what he meant by that. He figured that he was better off not knowing and closed the PokeGear. He had the last full day free, but he didn't know what to do with it.

It was a surprise when he saw Sayuri walking down the hallway past the vending machine area. Either she didn't notice him or she had "got the hint" that he wasn't interested and moved on. That wasn't fair to her because he did realize that he was giving her the cold shoulder and it wasn't fair to him because he still wanted her as a friend.

"Sayuri!" he called out as she almost turned the corner to the lobby. She stopped and turned around to him. "Hello!" she said cheerfully. "The guys gave me the day off, so I was wondering if you wanted to hang out at the park like you suggested last night?"

Sayuri's eyes lit up and Wally knew right then that nothing was different. Well, outside of the fact that Wally better understood the concept of fate.

The Park, One Hour Later

It was a bit cooler outside than the last time they were at this park. Sure enough, that tree that mutilated by Butterfree, Kecleon, and Cacturne was nothing but a stump. At the same time, both Wally and Sayuri knew that their battle caused it and that it would have never happened if they both weren't at that pool at the same time.

Sayuri's PokeGear chirped and she opened it up to read a text. She sighed and closed it as they approached the closest shade tree. "Everything okay?" Wally asked as they sat down. "How do you do it, Wally? What's it like to not have to balance being a teenager with being an adult with a 'career'."

Wally didn't know how to answer outside of shrugging. While kids his age were getting simple jobs (like delivering the newspapers), he never thought about doing that. With his recovering-but-still-subpar health, his parents would likely frown on such an idea. "So, what do you do as your 'career', Sayuri?" he asked with legitimate concern.

"Well, it's mostly little odd-jobs that my dad wants me to do for the company. Sometimes it's bring him coffee, copy papers, clean the break-rooms, clean the bathrooms..."

"So you're like a secretary?"

"I guess you could say that, but secretaries aren't on-call twenty-four seven. Like I said before, I cannot travel outside of the region as I have to be able to be back at Veilstone within a day. I've always dreamed of seeing other regions. My dad has a worker who was born and raised in Kalos and he would tell me of all the beautiful things that were over there. But, as long as I have a 'career', that will always be a dream."

"Doesn't your father take vacations? He's a higher-up."

"That's the thing. While his executive peers often take exotic trips, he always insists on staying in Sinnoh. It's almost like he can't leave for reasons that he's not telling me."

"That's too bad. When Kakeru passed away, my dad was able to secure a couple of vacation days for us to come out to Sinnoh."

"I'm jealous. You have a small house with a Mom and Dad that are there every morning when you wake up and are there every night when you come home. You have wonderful people for friends like Ruby and... Gold."

"You don't have friends you can hang out with?"

"Well, I had one friend, her name is Maylene and every day she would talk to me about her dreams of being a Gym Leader. Her dad used to work for my dad, but one day he stopped showing up to work and started hanging out at the Game Corner, just like Uncle Kakeru..."

Sayuri's voice was starting to break. This conversation was getting a bit difficult, but Wally was starting to understand. He put an arm around her (the best thing he could do to keep it friendly) and asked her "So, what happened to her?"

"I really don't know. My dad found out and I was never allowed to talk to her. Maybe someday if she does become a Gym Leader I'll know what happened to her. But until then, this is just how it is."

"But it's not going to be like this forever! It'll get better!"

"That's what everybody says! Nothing was normal after Mom died and nothing will be normal!"

At this point Sayuri was sobbing. Wally knew exactly what she meant. Years of treatment only to hear the doctors (mostly Kakeru) tell him "It's not very effective...", and he felt that nothing was normal. Until Kakeru saved him. Now it was his turn to save someone.

He wrapped his arms around Sayuri and she cried into his shoulder. He felt himself start to cry also. Kakeru saved his life, but couldn't save hers? Did Kakeru know that his brother-in-law was going to force Sayuri into a life of forced-labor? What stopped him from interacting from his niece instead of a Slot Machine? Why Wally? Why not Sayuri? Why not both? Why not neither?

They both sat there for what felt like an hour. "Thank you, Wally." Sayuri said. They sat there looking at the clouds and talked about what felt like everything. "So, when are you leaving?" Sayuri asked. "Monday morning. Crystal gives her speech Sunday night." Wally replied.

"That's terrible. I find this wonderful person and they just up and leave." Sayuri said with a sigh. "I've only known you for a few days, but I'm going to miss you for a lot longer." she said as she looked at the green-haired boy.

"Yeah, but I'm not the only Magikarp in the sea." Wally said with a laugh. "But after you run away from the fiftieth one you start forgetting!" Sayuri added as she giggled.

"Well, how could I forget you? I'll never forget what Kakeru did for me."

"But what if I forget?" Sayuri asked.

"I can't help that! I'm not a Psychic!" Wally said as they laughed again. It was nice to see a friend laugh after so many tears.

Sayuri then acted on emotion by grabbed him and kissing him on the lips. Wally's eyes widened to their largest and Sayuri had the same reaction when she realized "WHAT DID I JUST DO?!"

They broke apart and Sayuri blushed and started apologized profusely to him as he started coughing and getting out his inhaler. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. I'm so, so, sorry." Wally held his hand up as-if to say "It's okay." as he took a couple of puffs off of the inhaler.

He sat the inhaler down and laughed. "I know exactly what came over you." he said as he coughed a couple more times as he chuckled.

"You're not going to forget. You're going to remember that your first kiss was with a boy named Wally at the Sinnoh Pal Park. And he's going to remember that since it was his first kiss, too."

Before she could say anything, his PokeGear started ringing. He excused himself, got up and walked off of the side to answer it.

"Hello? … Oh, hey, Emerald..."

Sayuri noticed that Wally left his inhaler sitting on an empty bag of chips. She looked up and made sure that Wally would be too busy with the call to notice before taking a cable out of her purse, using it to connect the inhaler to her PokeGear, and start the transfer. There was a progress gauge on the PokeGear's screen and it felt like it moved like a snail.

"So, you guys are coming in tomorrow in the late afternoon? Crys wasn't kidding about going from the airport to the podium." Wally said as he started to turn around. His head was only a few degrees away from Sayuri being in his line-of-sight.

Sayuri, being a bit nervous about doing this, was feeling a lot more comfortable knowing that Wally would likely understand what was going on if he caught her in the act. However, she was afraid that the situation looked like she kissed him because she wanted him to freak out and use the inhaler so she could copy the data off of it. Truth be told, her "task" was buried deep in her mind as she wept into his arms about the fact that her "career" was destroying her life. Luckily, the gauge reached 100% allowing her to disconnect safely at the same time that Wally disconnected the call.

Gold's Room

Gold's PokeGear lit up and beeped as he exited his shower. Ruby was quite angry with Gold's little prank and got his revenge by using Zuzu to give Gold a "swirlie". However, Gold was contempt with waiting until he was in the privacy on his own room before freaking out at being shoved head-first into a commode.

He checked the email that was pending.

"I checked with Prof. Oak, Elm, and Rowan. Gliscors do not normally hiss and spit. ~ Crys"

Gold's eyes widened as he sent a text to Wally saying that something came up and he needed him back at the hotel NOW.

The Hotel, Fifteen Minutes Later

"Thank you, Wally." Sayuri said as she smiled. "Are you coming to the presentation tomorrow?" Wally asked. Sayuri smiled and nodded.

Sayuri's Room

Sayuri opened the door to her room and almost shrieked when she saw a man sitting on her bed next to Gliscor. She calmed down when she realized that it was her father, Hanatzu.

"Did you get the data?" he asked. She nodded and handed her PokeGear over to him. He quickly uploaded the data to a laptop and started to go through it. "DAMN IT!" he bellowed as he hit the bed with his fists.

He brought up the revision log to find this:

Software for Advanced Medicinal Delivery Mechanisms for Respirator Suits
Last edited by: Blue Oak (September 30)

The Pokedex data was found and deleted.

"Well, that's just great. Mister Oak, Mister Viridian City, Mister Earth Badge, well-played." he mumbled to himself as he slammed the laptop closed.

"Are you okay, Dad?" Sayuri asked.

The man got up, shook his head and said "Get some rest. Tomorrow I'll have a lot of work for you." before leaving.

Sayuri was puzzled by what he meant by that. Was something wrong with the data? Does this mean that they would have to get another copy through the proper channels? She didn't know why, but a sense of fair was starting to overcome her.

The Next Afternoon, Jubilife Convention Center

"Please don't screw this up." Ruby said as he walked with a slight limp. "Cross my heart and hope to die." Gold said as he was without his trademark yellow cap. Wally was standing nearby. He said absolutely nothing about Sayuri, let alone the kiss, because he would genuinely never hear the end of it.

A cab pulled up and Wally hoped that Sayuri would be inside. Instead a girl with black hair climbed out of the driver's side and helped her crescent-haired "brother" out of the other side. "Hi!" Emerald said as he walked over to the group. "Why are you missing your hat and why are you limping" Crystal said, curious to find out what happened to the group. "Don't worry about it!" Gold and Ruby said as they nervously grinned.

"Is everything set up?" Crystal asked. Wally nodded as he was the one to put the papers and the Pokeballs in the conference room since Ruby and Gold were really not allowed. "Great job, Wally. Let's do this." Crystal said as they walked into the conference center.

While the convention didn't officially start until Monday, the main hall was starting to get packed. The four Dexholders (and Wally) walking in a line towards the panel room felt like something out of a movie. They entered the room and, to Wally's surprise, Sayuri was in a seat in the back row next to an older-looking man. Wally smiled at her and while she made eye-contact, her look was that of fear and despair. She didn't have to say, that man next to her was her father and trouble was brewing.

The clock struck six and Crystal moved smoothly to the lectern with Emerald by her side. There were some murmurs in the crowd at the blonde kid with the weird hair and the stilts, but everybody quieted down as Crystal shuffled some papers and...

Click.

Crystal looked around the room. Click. Ruby, Gold, Wally, and Emerald looked around the room. Sayuri didn't have to look around the room. She knew that the sounds were: two Pokeballs opening up.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen." the man said as two Scythers took form and blocked the only exit from the room.

"You are Crystal, am I right?" the man asked the now-nervous girl standing before them.

"Y-Yes, sir."

"Gold, Ruby, Emerald, am I right?" the man said as he pointed to the other Dexholders in the room.

"Uh-huh." Emerald said, nervous at what was going on.

"Here's how this is going to go down. You four are going to give me your PokeDex machines. And you're going to give me access to the prototype data that originally was on this boy's respirator machine. You do that and you all get to leave in one piece."

"Like hell we will!" Gold said as he readied several Pokeballs. "Explotaro, Ataro, Utaro!" he cried out as he threw the Pokeballs out. Triple Battles weren't an official league thing, but when it comes to life or death the rules don't count.

"Donphan! Dragonite!" Hanatzu shouted as two more Pokeballs went flying. The spectators crowded in fear as this epic battle started.

"Zuzu! Nana! Ruru!"

"Archee! Hitmonee! Xatee!"

"Sudowoodo! Dusclops! Sceptile!"

"Cacturne! Flygon! Kecleon!"

"You're outnumbered." Gold said, his voice almost a growl as these Pokémon stared down Hanatzu.

"Oh, but aren't you right?" Hanatzu said, nonchalantly waving his hands back and forth. "My babies aren't going to attack your Pokémon. That would be suicide. They don't stand a chance. But, the moment you all attack, the people in this room will die. One by one."

Hanatzu stopped and looked directly into Wally's green eyes. "They'll die. Just like others have died. By my hands."

"That's enough!" Sayuri said as she took a chair and tried to fling it at her father. He grabbed it with his hand and pushed it back at her with enough force to knock her down. As he did that, he saw a flash of gray heading for him. He squeezed forward at the last minute to avoid an attack from Sayuri's Gliscor. "You traitor. You want to die with these people, I'll personally finish you myself."

He took the chair that he was holding and jammed the back of it into his daughter's windpipe. A woman in the crowd screamed and every Pokémon in the room (outside of Hanatzu's, of course) was ready to intervene. At this point Wally didn't have to think twice and took off running for the man. It wasn't love that fueled him, it was the feeling that he had to return the favor: Kakeru saved his life and while he couldn't save Kakeru's, he was going to save the one that Kakeru loved the most.

The distance reduced itself more and more as he approached Hanatzu. Ten meters. Five meters. One meter.

Then everything stopped. Hanatzu was not getting any closer. What went wrong? Wally looked down and it all became clear as day: at about half of a meter away a Scyther stuck his bladed arm out and into Wally's left lung.

He heard screaming and some crying, but the sounds were starting to fade away as he tried to catch a breath that was running away from him. He crumpled onto the floor and blood started to pool around him.

He saw Hanatzu, and everything went white.

Author's Note: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. I do apologize for these ridiculously long chapters. The final two chapters are much more reasonable in length.

Next Time: Chapter 7: Eternal Friendship

Translation Guide:

Chuang Yi = Viz

Explotaro = Exbo

Ataro = Aibo

Utaro = Sudobo

Zuzu = Mumu

Ruru = Rara

Hitmonee = Monlee

Arckee = Archy