A/N: Hey guys! Second to last chapter! For some reason, this was horribly difficult to write. I knew exactly what I wanted to say, but I couldn't put it into words. I still got it out pretty quickly, though! And I'm hoping to have the last chapter out on Tuesday night. No guarantees yet, though.
So, this chapter could technically be the end. The last chapter is to serve as a sort of epilogue and also to tie up loose ends. It should be good, though! I'm excited to write it (by the time you read this, I've probably already written it).
Anyways, enjoy! So much love to everybody who's reviewed on here or sent me nice messages on tumblr about it.
The Sky Pillar is calm. The flight up there, however, was not.
May had wondered many times why it was necessary to go through the process of waiting on someone to unlock the gates, climb the ladders, and battle high-leveled wild Pokemon in order to make it to the top and to the Sky Pillar. Seeing no problem with just skipping the obstacles and flying to the top, May did just that. Upon completing the shortcut for herself, however, it became clear as to why exactly this had never been attempted- or, at least, had never been accomplished.
The winds were fiercer than any other area May had flown in before, and she had flown through snowstorms, sandstorms, and the like. She wasn't sure exactly why the weather got so rough above a certain elevation in that area. Maybe it really just was the physical geography of the area, or maybe there was something mystical protecting the Sky Pillar from lowly travelers who wanted to skip the challenge. Probably the latter.
The obstacles that led up to the Sky Pillar were meant to test something. They were meant to make sure that the trainer was strong enough to take on whatever lies on top of the Sky Pillar. It was similar to how Victory Road was strategically placed before the Pokemon League. If a trainer who didn't have all eight badges somehow managed to sneak past the guards and into Victory Road, they would quickly be defeated by the high-leveled wild Pokemon and trainers and be forced to turn back.
The winds surrounding the Sky Pillar obviously were not very happy with May taking a shortcut. She knew she'd be fine; she had made it to the top of Sky Pillar honestly before, after all. And she had caught Rayquaza already, so there wasn't much up there to be feared anymore. Rayquaza itself now resided somewhere in the region with Zinnia, who had vowed to train it well and make sure it lived up to its full potential. May had been chosen as its rightful trainer, but she wasn't about to throw out one of her team members simply because a legendary dragon Pokemon had come to her. After she battled and defeated Deoxys, she immediately entrusted the Pokemon with Zinnia and got her Skitty back from the PC box it had temporarily been sent to.
Somehow, May managed to make it through the fierce winds. She had nearly been knocked off of Latios several times, though. She is sure that the trip would have been impossible without the strength and speed of the legendary Pokemon. After Latios lands and May steps out onto the dirt, she wraps her arms around the dragon Pokemon's neck and leans her head against its for just a moment, whispering, "Thanks, buddy." It cries out happily in response.
May takes in her surroundings. The sun is just now starting to rise on the horizon, so she has hardly any light. Her eyes should be well-adjusted, considering the length of the flight, but she had had to keep her head pressed firmly into Latios' neck for the last stretch of the journey due to the wind, so they're now once-again straining to adjust to the lack of light.
In the darkness, though, she can see the outlines of the broken walls around her. The dirt floor is still scattered with rubble and debris. She leans down and picks up a piece, running her thumb over the broken concrete. When she applies a bit more pressure, it crumbles and falls through her fingers in pebble-form. If I were more poetic, I would compare that to my life at the moment, May thinks.
She digs out the small throw blanket she had bought from out of her bag and spreads it on the ground. Before flying here, she had flown to a nearby town that actually had a grocery store. She stocked up on small food items, bottled water, and some more winter items- thicker jeans, boots, and the aforementioned blanket.
It had been a long flight from there to here. May had had Latios take a longer route so as to divert anybody who might be tailing her. She had Latios fly in circles for a while before finally getting en route to Sky Pillar. May is relieved to finally be sitting on a solid surface that's not moving; she still feels like she's swaying back and forth. When she closes her eyes, her world spins.
She digs a protein bar and a bottle of water out of her bag. She isn't hungry, but knows it's probably good to get something in her stomach to help her think better.
Once she's eaten and rehydrated, she looks around again. The sun is higher in the sky now, and there's enough light that May can fully take in her surroundings. May is about to stand, but hesitates when she glances down at her broken hand, still wrapped in the sports bandage from Steven's house that she hasn't taken off yet. Hesitantly, she unwraps it. Her hand won't be fully healed for another few weeks, but it feels much better than it did a few weeks ago. It burns when she removes the bandage, though, because it had been confined inside of it for so long.
She calls Latios back into its Pokeball and lays her stuff down on the blanket before getting up to walk around. She runs her hand over one of the broken pillars and gazes out at the sea raging hundreds of feet below her. She steps back wearily from the ledge. The floor isn't completely solid by the edges, and one wrong step could mean the end of her.
Not that that would be so bad now, when she had no where to go.
May isn't sure exactly what she was expecting. She's at Sky Pillar now, and she's still no better off than she had been in Mauville. She had thought maybe, by coming her, she would realize what she needed to do. This was the last stop of her Pokemon journey. This was the last place she had felt alive.
After that, she became the Champion, and her life was never the same.
May thought that maybe, just maybe, being in this place again would stir some sort of emotion in her. Still, she just felt empty. She felt dirty, used, disgusting. Why would someone ever want somebody as damaged as her?
Wingulls squawk in the distance. May looks out to the sea again.
When Steven comes to, the first thing he is aware of is the cold feeling of ice pressed against his forehead. The second thing is that his hand hurts, a lot.
He furrows his brows and looks around, trying to figure out his surroundings. It takes him a moment to realize that he's sat up in a chair in the bar with a bag of ice on his hand and a bloody towel sitting on the table in front of him. He curls his fingers and cringes. His knuckles are bloody. He's sure it's not broken, but it'll probably sting for a few days. Maybe he hit the guy more than he thought.
"Well, look who's awake," a voice says, and Steven looks up to see the bartender walking over to him. There are no other patrons in the bar.
"What happened?" Steven asks, and frowns at how his voice comes out in a croak.
"I kicked those guys out," the barkeep says, leaning up against the table next to Steven. He can't be older than thirty-five, but there's a tiredness in his eyes that makes him appear much older. "You're damn lucky I didn't call the police on you. Only reason I didn't was because you passed out. I hate fighting in my bar, but what I hate even more is unfair fights."
Steven sets the ice on the table before he stands up and grabs the chair for support for a moment. He hurts all over, but he's sure he's just bruised. He raises his fingers to his face, and the soreness of his cheek and the puffiness of his bottom lip confirm this. "Thanks for not throwing me out on the sidewalk," he mumbles. He needs to find that bastard. Now that he knows what he looks like, he needs to go to the police. He can't let him get away. Not again.
"So," the bartender drawls, "You wanna tell me why y'all were fighting?"
Steven studies the man for a moment. He wants to say no and be on his way, but maybe this man could help him. "I need to find the leader of that group. The man I punched. Do you know his name?"
The bartender raises one eyebrow. He doesn't look angry; in fact, he looks rather interested. "I do, but that's not really information that I can be giving out. Especially not to someone who just punched him with guns blazin', with no apparent reason."
Steven takes a deep breath before deadpanning, "He raped Champion May."
The barkeep stares at Steven for a moment before he takes in the words and his eyes bug out comically. "No," he whispers, horrified. "That's not why she...?"
"Went missing?" Steven offers. "Yeah, it kinda is."
The barkeep looks down at his hands, wringing them. "How can I believe you?" he asks, staring at Steven accusingly. "That man is one of my best customers, and if you're lying..."
"I'm Steven Stone," he says with confidence, knowing that that'll do the trick. He hates playing the name game, but he knows that most people in the region know his name for one reason or another, whether it's from his father, from his Championship, from his work with rocks, or from the thousands of dollars he's donated to small businesses' startup funds.
Sure enough, the man's eyes widen once more. Then he furrows his brows, saying, "Hey, I thought I heard on the news that you two were-"
"We're just friends," Steven interrupts with a sigh. "She came to me for help, which is why I need to take that bastard down. So, can you help me or not?"
The bartender takes a deep breath. "Cooper Whitaker," he says. "I can get you his address, too. I've had to hail a cab for him on more than one occasion. Let me write it down for you."
Bzzzzz.
May glances back from the sea to her PokeNav, which is sitting on the blanket with her bag. Hesitantly, she walks back to it and drops down to her knees. Steven's name is on the display screen, once again. It had rang many times on the flight over, and the day before. She continued to let the calls go to voicemail. She wondered how Steven felt, getting the same voicemail over and over again. "Hey, it's May! I can't get to the phone right now, so leave me a message! ...Or text me! Whichever one of those! Bye!"
She's amazed that he still cares enough to call.
She sighs and holds the PokeNav in her hand until the buzzing stops. She pictures Steven standing in his living room, listening to that same message. Or maybe he's not home. Maybe he's out looking for her. She doesn't understand why, though. Why would he continue to worry about her when she had just pushed herself onto him? He should hate her.
She looks up at the sky. It's beginning to become a beautiful eggshell blue. She lets her eyes un-focus for a second, just to see what it looks like when it's blurry. Then, something flies across the sky, and she blinks back into focus. A Pokemon with rainbow-colored wings and a trailing tail of gold is flying out of her field of vision, and May leaps to her feet to stare at the magnificent Pokemon for just a second longer. When it's gone, she feels lighter. The sinking feeling in her stomach is gone.
She picks up her PokeNav.
Steven has never flown on a Pokemon faster than he does on the way to Sky Pillar. Still, the journey feels agonizingly long.
When he reaches the fierce winds surrounding the tower that May warned him about, he ducks his face into his Latias' neck and holds on for dear life. The winds are cold through Steven's thin suit jacket.
He keeps his face tucked down for so long that he jerks up in surprise when Latias lands. He gets off the eon Pokemon shakily, looking around for May.
She's standing out near one of the edges, gazing out at the sea. He approaches her silently, then stands next to her. She doesn't say anything, but he knows she's aware of his presence by the way her shoulders relax slightly when he stands next to her. He notices that she doesn't have the bandage on her broken hand anymore, and he frowns disapprovingly.
"It's so beautiful," May says after a while. She's still gazing at the sea and hasn't looked at him.
Steven stares out at it, too. It's pure blue for miles in all directions. Off to one side, he can just barely see the outline of the walls surrounding Sootopolis City. Out another way, he can see the outline of Pacifidlog Town. "Yes, it really is," Steven murmurs in response, but now he's trained his gaze on the girl with eyes the same color as the water down below.
May seems to pick up on what he was implying and looks at him with a flush in her cheeks. When she finally lays eyes on him, her eyes widen and she gasps, horrified. "What happened to your face?!" she exclaims.
"You should see the other guy," Steven says with a crooked smile.
"Steven, what the hell?" May puts her hands on her hips angrily. Now that's the girl that Steven knew.
"Found the bastard that ruined your life," Steven says softly. He reaches out a hand, slowly, like approaching a baby dear. May stares at it with fear in her eyes before finally taking his hand in hers. "He's locked up, now. Gone for good. And I paid the cops enough to guarantee that none of this will be leaked to the media. Your secret is safe."
May's mouth gapes like a fish. Steven smiles. "Wha... What? How did you find him? Is he the one who did this to you?"
Steven explains the story of searching for her and how he ended up at the bar. He leaves out the details about exactly what that horrible man had said about her, instead just saying he "overheard them mentioning her." He continues on about how the bartender had given him the man's information and how he took that straight to the cops, and how he got to watch as the cops entered his house and slammed him down onto the floor.
He also leaves out the part about how he had called Brendan. The boy's words are still ringing in his head. Has he really hurt May that many times? Is he really going to do it again?
No, a voice in his head says, defiantly. Not again.
Using the hand that's still holding May's, Steven pulls the girl close to him. He doesn't make any more moves and instead waits for her to relax enough to wrap her arms around his waist. He smiles and wraps his arms around her, too, before resting his head on top of hers. "No more leaving with just a note, okay?" he murmurs into her hair.
"That goes for you too, y'know," she mutters back.
"I know, dear."
"Dear?" she pulls away and looks up at him with a look that's half-confusion, half-amusement.
He shrugs. "I dunno," he says, trying to play it off.
May inhales a deep breath and then lets it out, straightening up and pulling away from his touch. "What are we, Steven?" she asks, returning to the edge of the platform to look at the water.
Steven feigns confusion. "What do you mean?"
May glares. "You know perfectly well what I mean."
"Well, what do you want us to be?" Steven approaches her and wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her up against his side.
May sighs dramatically. "Well, I know you'll never think I'm as pretty as your precious rocks, but..."
"Hush," Steven mutters, and pulls her into a kiss.
"Got everything?"
May zips up her backpack. She adjusts her belt, situating her Pokeballs on the side. She reaches up to straighten her hair, back in pigtails once more. She meets Steven's smile with one of her own and reaches up to grab the ticket labeled, "TO: Jubilife City."
She grins back at him. "Yep."
