Hey, guys welcome to the next chapter of HDD. This makes my twentieth chapter of the story since I started it about a year ago, give or take about a week. Since then, I've had this story praised, critiqued, criticized to a certain extent, and loved. I've had people call it a masterpiece, I've had people call it good enough to be an actual anime, and I've even had people say that they felt like they're watching an anime while reading this, and that makes me feel good, knowing that I can do something people enjoy. The last few chapters have had a central focus on Natsu and partially Judai, but for now, these next few chapters are going to take a larger focus on the other students as well as a new character, so be expecting something like coming your way in this story soon. You'll figure it out as you read the chapters, but as a little heads-up, I may be taking a break from fanfic for a couple of weeks while I get ready to put in my paperwork for studying abroad in Japan, so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me in a while.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKÉMON, BECAUSE IF I DID, GHOSTS AND DRAGONS WOULD NOT BE WEAK TO THEMSELVES.
Chapter 20: The Truth in Nostalgia
Everybody does something wrong eventually in their lives, and after the fact there's nothing we can do about it. The idea that people fixate on what happened to them in the past, or what it was that they did themselves, is one as old as time itself. From the first mistake people made as their fall from grace, people have begun to dwell on what they do, and use it as motivation to act the way they do, and there are only three ways people let it affect them. The first is to sulk; diving into your own depression to atone for what you've done in the past is often the most common way people fixate on their sins. The second is to continue; receiving that high from doing something you know was wrong and then trying to continue to achieve that feeling of ecstasy is what really makes a career criminal, but there is one method that other people use. The third is silence. Not doing anything, not saying anything, not even thinking about it, this is a strange and near nonexistent method of atoning. There is no right and wrong way to deal with the sins of our pasts, but what can be made clear is that what happened really happened, moving away from it, is what makes up who you are.
It had been a couple of weeks since the death of Natsu's friend Izanagi, and after their dorms had all been cleaned for the summer, all of the dorm heads moved back into their own places, despite Koichi trying at all costs to keep them in the dorm. Natsu was sad to see them go, but at the same time, he finally had his privacy back for the first time in a long while, and despite how Koichi was acting, he loved the peace and quiet of everything. As the last of the dorm heads, Amira, walked out of her temporary room, she walked down the steps to the lobby, Natsu lying on the couch, sleeping in the sunlight coming in from the open door. As she passed by, Amira kept her eyes locked on the ghost trainer, blushing as she remembered what he had said two weeks ago.
"…Yes, I'm in love with her."
Natsu's voice echoed in her mind as she walked towards the door, slowly closing it as she took in a deep breath to calm down, turning around with Maaya staring directly at her. Jumping slightly, not having expected her, Amira move away so her back was flat against the door, cutting off all escape from her as she moved in closer.
"What did that brat do to you?" she asked, Amira chuckling nervously as she tried to slip away from her friend, Hitmonchan already standing off to her side. "Nice try, Amira. You've been acting weird for the past two weeks, and I know whenever you're acting like this, it's that little idiot's fault every time," she said, Amira peering to the other side of her, Hitmonlee having its arms folded to keep her boxed in. "Either you or that brat is gonna tell me, and I don't care who," she said, cracking her knuckles as she pushed Amira to the side.
Just as she reached for the door back inside the ghost dorm, Maaya heard a small explosion behind her, turning around to see Amira's Kirlia and Duosion both out of their pokéballs, dispensing with both of Maaya's fighting pokémon. Maaya said nothing, merely looking at both of her pokémon as Amira shed a small tear before running off, the fighting trainer letting out a sigh as she returned both of her pokémon, looking down the path Amira ran off in.
"She's gone back to the way she was when I first met her," she said, beginning to walk in the same direction, soon losing sight of her friend. "Amira didn't start school like I did. She came in late by a month," she remembered, her mind beginning to take her back to the day, seated at her desk in her first year with her legs propped up over the table of her desk.
"Hello, class," the teacher said enthusiastically, everyone in the room cringing at the sight of their teacher, Koichi. "Now, first order of business, we have a new student joining our class today from the psychic dorm. She's very shy, and she doesn't really talk to people very much, so bear with me, and please be nice to her, okay?" he asked, the other students all giving a bland chorus of affirmation. "Great, I teach a frozen food section," he said, walking towards the door. "Come in, Khumalo-san," he said, Maaya parting her feet so she could see up to the front.
Focusing her eyes slightly, she lifted her head up as the others did, the new girl's chocolate colored skin tone, her long black hair, and athletic build making everyone surprised by the sight of her. Maaya was the only one not to show it on her face, though, every male student in the room looking at the new girl obviously attracted to her.
"Idiots," Maaya said under her breath as she watched the new girl beginning to write on the board, surprised at how fluid her writing was. "Amira Khumalo, huh?" she said to herself, watching the new girl, Amira, shuffle through her bag for a wide sketch board. "Now what?"
After a few seconds, Amira slowly turned around the pad, the others able to read what she said with the large characters and perfect handwriting. "Hello, everyone. My name is Amira Khumalo; I'm glad to become part of your class, and I'm sorry for having to communicate to you like this, but please take care of me while I'm here." After she felt everyone had enough time to read it, she quickly gave a low bow, the others in the class not quite sure of how to react to her, Koichi walking up behind her after she placed the sketchpad back in her bag.
"Well, then Khumalo-san, I think it would be best for you to sit in the empty spot next to Yoshida-kun," he said, pointing down the way towards Maaya, the fighting trainer closing her feet together. "And as I've reiterated, your desk top is not for your feet!" he shouted, Maaya not listening to him, Amira slightly nervous about going over next to her, but slowly conceded, and turned to Maaya before sitting down.
"'Sup?" Maaya quickly said to at least acknowledge her, Amira simply smiling nervously as she sat down, seeing her new "neighbor" close her eyes before the lesson started, Amira looking back and forth from the front to the back of the classroom, lightly tapping Maaya's shoulder. "What?" she asked, looking up at Amira, seeing her notepad already scribbled on.
"Don't you think it's troubling for the teacher if you don't listen to what he's saying?" she asked, turning over to another page, Maaya looking at her strangely as Amira showed the next one. "The teacher will punish you if you keep acting like this."
"I'm not worried," Maaya said, staring back up at the ceiling. "There are two reasons why nothing that teacher does holds any water. One, the other teachers haven't taken him seriously since the rest of his students all high-tailed it out of his ghost type dorm. They all think he's a nut for even keeping that place going. Two, since I'm one of the dorm heads at this dump, it's like having special exemption from a lot of stuff I'd normally get in trouble for. Kinda like that stuff foreigners are always using, diplomatic immunity, or some other trash like that."
"What's a dorm head?" Amira asked, Maaya staring back at her confused as she kicked herself away from the desk with a single thrust, sitting straight up in her chair.
"You really ask a lot of questions, don't you, Khumalo?" Maaya asked, Amira taken aback by how casually she was speaking to her. "Well, you know how the dorms in this place are separated by pokémon elements?" she asked, Amira nodding, already knowing that much given where she was living. "Every year at the start, they all choose somebody to act as a leader for the dorm in case of problems, management, and stuff like that. Those people are usually exempt from certain rules because getting punished a lot tends to hinder that process. We just call ourselves dorm heads because that's all we really represent."
"You know quite a lot, Yoshida-san," Amira wrote down, Maaya blushing slightly as she turned her head away, Koichi looking towards the back out of the corner of his eye, smirking as he continued his lesson.
As the bell for class to end rang, Koichi walked out of the classroom, and listened at the door as the sound of instant shuffling began, a large grin on his face as he walked away triumphantly. Back in the class room, Amira was quickly surrounded by the other students in her class, Maaya accidently cast to the side as she watched them bombard the new girl with questions. Looking off to the side, Maaya could see only one of the male students not completely lovestruck with Amira, making a quick scoff as she turned away from the only person in the room she considered tolerable. Turning back to Amira, she could see that she was in a near state of panic; her breathing had become more erratic, her eyes began to spin with each passing question, and she seemed to be trying to find some place to run away to.
"Come on, Amira-chan, why don't you try talking with us?" one of the students asked, pulling away at her sketchpad, Amira trying to keep a firm grip on it. "You won't get better if you don't actually try to talk to us," they said, quickly stealing it from her as the psychic trainer completely closed herself in, Maaya able to notice tears in her eyes.
Looking back over at the single male student, Maaya could see he was only watching what was happening, his eyes shifting in all direction madly as she looked back at Amira, her eyes beginning to well up with tears. Gritting her teeth, Maaya snapped her fingers, one of the male students trying to get closer to Amira quickly feeling a sting on the back of his head, quickly falling to the ground. Looking back at where he was, Amira saw a fighting type pokémon with boxing gloves for hands, pounding them together as it grinned at the others.
"I'll make this very clear to you idiots," Maaya said. "As long as Khumalo is in my class, if you guys try to hurt her, you get it back tenfold," she said, pounding her own fist into her palm as the others quickly began to shy away. "And you, Sanjero," she said, the trainer that was only watching looking up at her, Amira able to notice how fast his eyes scanned both of them. "You fail as a man if you don't help out a woman like that."
"Luckily we have you to take the male role," Takeru said flatly, every jaw in the classroom hanging wide open by this point, nobody wanting to get in between the two of them when they were like this. "You exhibit masculine traits more often than you do female, with the obvious exception of physical characteristics. By those standards, you fall into the golden ratio that men find to be most attractive, but most are put off by your abrasive, masculine demeanor."
Amira was left in shock as Takeru merely looked up at Maaya, the bug trainer simply staring at both girls, the fighting trainer's fist beginning to tremble as she walked over to him. Without a single warning, Maaya gave Takeru a quick punch to the top of the head, quickly launching the bug trainer into his desk face-first. The two simply stayed motionless, the entire class jumping up out of shock as Takeru lifted his head, a small trickle of blood falling from his fist.
"Too little force, and bad angling," Takeru said, beginning to write down what he was saying in a small notebook. "Yoshida has a similar amount of force as small fighting pokémon using sixty percent of their muscle strength, making her twenty percent more powerful than the average person, so therefore, I'd say you were holding back," he said, Maaya not even bothering to deal with him anymore as she turned away, sitting back down in her desk with her legs propped back on top of the table, Amira looking at her with both shock and admiration, a smile appearing.
"You, on the other hand," Takeru started, both Maaya and Amira turning to him, knowing he was referring to the new girl. "You exhibit several psychological conditions and phobias, including a fear of people and speaking I would assume, it's why you communicate with a dissociative method to keep people from wanting to get close to you. However, the striking features of your body, and the fact that you are considered a foreigner by our standards makes you both attractive physically and socially speaking."
"Do the words 'shut-up' meaning anything to you?" Maaya asked, Takeru shrugging his shoulders as an intercom above began to sound off with its tone.
"Will Maaya Yoshida please report to the headmistress' office immediately?" the voice over the PA system rang out, Maaya groaning as she began to walk out of the room, Amira turning to Takeru, the bug trainer merely shaking his head, alerting her it wasn't going to be good.
Inside of Asuka's office, the young redhead sat in her chair with her legs and back stretched over the armrests, Maaya standing in the center of her office tapping her foot impatiently. As the headmistress shifted her position so she was facing the fighting trainer, she folded her hands under her chin, and began looking at Maaya expectantly, the then first-year trainer looking at her expectantly.
"So, I heard you caused quite the ruckus in your classroom, Maaya-chan," Asuka said, Maaya flinching. She hated to be called "chan." "You know that your brother, Tetsuro, wanted you to come here so that you'd learn to behave yourself, and not always resort to violence. You've been abusing your position as the fighting dorm head for the past month, and I've been giving that idea some thought, and while I think it'd be a shame to have someone as cute as you have to quit, it might be the best course of action."
"Never asked that idiot brother of mine to do this for me," Maaya said. "You want to expel me? I'd be fine with that. If this is all it would take, I would've done it long before now," she said with a large chuckle, Asuka not as amused. "What? Is my punishment having to stay in this place? Because we both know that's not a good idea."
"I'm going to tell you to watch your attitude, little girl," Asuka said. "I heard you also just got a new friend in your class. As a dorm head, you're responsible for showing her that this school is one of the best in both the Unova Region and the entire world. If you continue to show off our ugly sides, it proves to me that you really don't care about this place at all, do you?"
"When you're right, you're right," Maaya said, Asuka sighing, suddenly hearing the door to her office burst open, the headmistress turning to it angrily, about to walk up to the person who did it. "Idiot…," Maaya said as Asuka was quickly stopped by a piece of paper being shoved in her face, the oldest of the three in the room reading it slowly.
"Maaya-chan, you're free to go without penalty," Asuka said, Maaya looking at her confused, looking back at Amira as she nervously clutched her sketchpad. "Amira-chan's explained that you were merely protecting her, and that I shouldn't have any reason to punish you for doing the right thing," she said, sitting back down in her large chair in the original position she was in from beforehand. "You've got a good person for a friend, you know."
Walking towards her, Maaya simply scowled at Amira, the psychic trainer looking at her confused as she followed after her, the hallway leading back to the classrooms filled with a dangerous atmosphere. About halfway between Asuka's office and their classroom, Maaya quickly turned back to Amira, the latter backing away by a few steps.
"Why did you do that?" Maaya asked. "I never asked you to help me stay in the wretched place. I'm not even here because I want to be, so learn to read the atmosphere, idiot!" she shouted, Amira clutching her notebook out of fear, not realizing what she did. "I'm only acting out so that I can get kicked out of here as fast as I can. My brother's been torturing me about this place forever since our mother died."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know…," Amira wrote down, her hands trembling as she held up her sketchpad, Maaya simple turning back around with a scoff.
"Well, now you do, and now that you do, just stay as far away from me as you can!" Maaya shouted at her, Amira looking like she was about to burst into tears. "That peeking idiot, Sanjero, is the bug dorm head, you can just use him to get the information you want! He's got that kind of stuff in spades, so just leave me alone, and don't get involved with me again!" she shouted again, Amira no longer following as the fighting trainer walked on ahead of her.
"I didn't talk much with Amira past that day," Maaya said to herself, alone in her room as she finally let the memory end. "I didn't want anything to do with her after she undermined my entire plan to get out of this place. Bug boy took her in, and helped her where she needed it, but she spent most of her time being tortured by people trying to get closer to her."
Sighing loudly as she walked further into her room, Maaya collapsed onto her bed, staring up at the ceiling, closing her eyes as she began to let another memory fill up her mind, this one taking place during the colder months. Maaya was lying on her bed sick with the flu, staring up at the same spot on the ceiling, completely miserable from the congestion and sore throat.
Hearing a knock on her door, Maaya held her head in pain as she got up from her bed, walking over to the door, hating the feeling in her head as she opened the door. Upon opening her door, Maaya stared directly forward, her eyes sharpening into a glare as Amira stood in front of her doorway, scribbling on her notepad as she flipped it around to show Maaya.
"The teacher asked me to bring you your homework," she wrote down, flipping the next page over. "He wanted to make sure you were okay, and, according to him, you should be watched in case you want to run away," Maaya read as she smirked, walking back into the room, allowing Amira to enter, both of the fighting trainer's pokémon looking at her with a lot of contempt in their eyes. "They don't like me, do they?" Amira wrote.
"Seeing as that feeling is mutual from me, I don't think it's that far of a stretch," Maaya said, groggily falling back onto her bed, lying down on her bed, looking back up at Amira, motioning towards her desk. "Just leave the papers here, and get the heck out of my room. You and I are too different to get along, our choices in pokémon are evident enough of that," she said, Amira noticing her voice beginning to weaken. "Just leave me alone…," she said, closing her eyes at the sight of Amira placing the worksheets down on the table.
As Amira began to move out of the room, she could hear Maaya's breath from her bed. It was heavy, labored, erratic, and incredibly weak, both of her pokémon unable to do anything, making Amira looking back at her, trying to reach for the door, but quickly turned back around. Seeing the psychic trainer moving towards Maaya, Hitmonchan instantly stepped in her way, looking at her with obvious contempt. Glaring back at the pokémon, Amira pushed its arm aside, and placed the back of her hand on Maaya's cheek.
Seeing her cringe at the very idea of touching somebody, Hitmonchan walked away from her, the fighting type watching her intently as Amira looked away from Maaya, and down at both of her pokémon. Her eyes were intense, both of Maaya's pokémon surprised, given their prior knowledge about her.
"She's burning up," Amira said quietly, Maaya able to hear her talking, barely awake as she slowly tried to open her eyes. "Can I ask you two to help me?" she asked, Maaya watching her quizzically, giving up as she completely closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.
Waking up a few hours later, Maaya sat up in her bed, a towel falling from her forehead to her lap as she looked off to the side, Amira cooling off a bowl full of soup with her breath. At first, Maaya believed she was hallucinating, rubbing her eyes before looking back at where Amira was again. Seeing the fighting trainer looking down at her, Amira gave a slight grin as she lifted up a spoon filled with the contents of the bowl, Maaya looking at it strangely.
"You obviously listen as well as you speak," Maaya said, conceding as she opened her mouth, and allowed Amira to feed her. "Hmm, but you're a decent cook, I'll give you that much," she said, taking the bowl as she began to feed herself. "I guess this is the kind of things you always do, this home improvement, cooking, cleaning kind of stuff?"
"It's what I did all the time at home," Amira wrote down. "You should be feeling better soon, I wiped up all the sweat from your fever for now," she showed, flipping over the next page, Maaya quickly realizing she had been changed out of her clothes, blushing slightly. "The clothes you wear aren't very warm, so you should wear more layers when you're sick."
"The only consolation to that knowledge is that I know it wasn't that idiot Takeru," Maaya said. "If it was him, he would've taken detailed notes about me before finishing up," she said, Amira smiling as the two had gotten back to a stage where they could talk to each other again, more or less. "At any rate, I guess I should say thanks for this," she said, motioning towards the bowl in her hands. "And I guess now would be a good time to ask you when you plan to leave," she said, Amira looking at her shocked. "I'm still not very fond of you, you know, and while I'm grateful for you taking care of me because those two don't know squat, I'm still not that keen on being your, or anyone else's, friend."
Amira didn't react at first; she was still in shock, looking towards the floor at the revelation that Maaya still didn't like her. Out of everyone in her class, Maaya was the only "normal" one to her. She was very vocal about her opinions, and she had regular emotions. Takeru was nice, but at the same time, he was near insane, always writing down everything he saw, and the movements of his eye made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Maaya was just a person, angry most of the time, maybe, but she was more honest with herself than other people. Amira choked up a bit as she began writing on her notepad, showing it to Maaya.
"I'm sorry for bothering you," she wrote, Maaya reading it curiously. "You obviously don't want me around, so I'll just leave you alone from now on," she showed, flipping to the facing page before leaving the room, not showing the tears beginning to form in the pockets of her eyes.
As soon as the door to her room closed, Maaya shrugged her shoulders, slurping up her soup, not even paying attention to her pokémon watching her. As she looked up, she could see Hitmonchan staring down at her with a lecturing look on the pokémon's eye, and even Hitmonlee looked at her disapprovingly. Maaya, instead, paid it no mind, continuing to eat the food Amira made for her, but found herself looking down at the change of clothes the psychic trainer gave to her. They were about a size too big, Maaya standing up to get a better look at them. At least a few inches were shown on the leg, and the sleeves covered her hands.
"She actually went back to get these for me, didn't she?" Maaya asked, Hitmonchan nodding. "That idiot; I keep telling her that I don't want anything to do with her, and she just doesn't want to listen. She just has to help me out, doesn't she?" she asked, a small lift in the corner of her mouth appearing as Hitmonchan smiled widely, Hitmonlee showing a smirk in its eyes.
"Amira didn't come to class the few days after I got better," Maaya remembered, still staring up at the ceiling as her memory of that day ended. "Nobody thought much of it," she said, reaching over to the other side of her, a small photo album on her nightstand with the front picture showing her, Amira, and Takeru all posing for the camera, Takeru's look as flat as it ever was, Maaya chuckling at the nostalgia, wondering how Amira was doing after she had ran away from her, staring out her window to the adjacent Psychic dorm. "Bug boy, there were times I hoped you were wrong about Amira having psychological problems. I never wanted to believe in that day, and if that brat does anything to hurt her now, I won't ever go easy on him."
Back in Amira's room, she was left huddled alone in the corner, both of her pokémon looking down at her as she continually shuddered. The words Natsu said from the start of this still echoed in her head. The idea of Natsu admitting that he was in love with her, while feeling good for a while, was slowly bringing a plethora of different images in her mind. As she held her hands to her head, even covering her eyes didn't keep every sound from entering her head.
"How troubling, to see such a beautiful maiden as yourself in such a troubled state," a voice said from behind, piercing into her ears as Amira, making her turn around to the window, the panes opened up with a strange man in the opening. "Such a beautiful thing shouldn't have to go through this kind of pain," he said, holding a dark colored rose to his nose before throwing it into her room, making her flinch away from him. "Relax, I'm here to help. Haven't you ever heard the stories of beautiful men coming to the aid of princesses when they are in peril? Well, that is who I am," he said, stepping into her room. "In the world of underground battling, I am named the Prince," he said, his long blond hair flapping in the wind. "The Don has sent me to help."
The mere mention of that name made Amira go into near shock, thinking about everything this man had done, and from what Sienna had said, they were all after Natsu. With that in mind, Amira quickly snapped her fingers, Duosion jumping down from its perch and sending a charged Energy Ball attack at the dainty looking man. With a simple movement to the side, the Prince was able to dodge the attack, lightly touching Duosion's body, and pushing it to the side, effortlessly sending it off to the side of Amira's room.
Now in front of Amira, the Prince clasped her hand, and planted a small peck on it, the psychic trainer's eyes trembling as she let out a loud shriek, running out of the room, both of her pokémon following her. Left alone in her room, the newest of the Don's henchman looked at her confused, brushing off any dust from his shoulder with a white gloved hand, and sneered into the distance, his eyes slowly becoming more evil.
"I love the thrill of the chase," he said, quickly taking off after her, swiftly walking through the hallway, catching sight of Amira as she did the same, letting out another scream as she ran down the stairs. "Whatever is the matter, my princess? Wouldn't the sight of a man like me make any woman scream with pleasure, not with fright?" he asked, the sound of the word "princess" making Amira cover her ears, shouting at her pokémon to attack, both Kirlia and Duosion sending out their attacks to at least slow him down.
However, despite their best effort, the Prince quickly jumped like an acrobat, sliding down the staircase past both pokémon on the banister. With a single leap off of the wood siding, the young man landed in front of Amira, the psychic trainer seeing him motion to her with his hand. The evil in his eye was obvious to Amira, forcing her to push past him, letting out tears as she stared down at both of her hands, knowing how much she was touching him. Launching him against the side of the staircase, Amira clenched her hands as she ran out of the dorm.
"Heh, quite the interesting one," the Prince said, insatiably licking his lips.
On the outside of the dorm, Amira was left panting, staring back at where she ran from, not seeing anybody coming out, letting her breathe more easily, the sound of his reference to her making her shake in terror. As she held her head in pain, the sound of the word "Princess" continued to repeat itself in her brain, bouncing through her mind as the unmistakable stink of liquor began to fill her nose, a large man appearing in the shadows with a longneck bottle in his clenched hand. Looking up at him in her mind's eye, Amira could make an old smile as his evil chuckle filled her eyes.
"No! Leave me alone!" she shouted to herself, shaking her head violently from side to side as the form of the Prince walked out, a pokémon walking to the other side of him. "P-Please stop," she began to plead in her mind, the memory of her getting tossed around the room with the older man showing itself more vividly. "You didn't win!" she continued to shout, not even noticing the Don's henchman beginning to walk towards her with his Zweilous walking beside him. "You can't win!" she said, the large man wiping his mouth with his forearm before crushing the bottle in his fist, Amira shrieking in both her memory as well as her present.
"There's no reason to fear, princess," the prince said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "A maiden like you is very much fit for a prince like me, and I will prove my devotion to you even if I have to force it on you," he said, wrapping her arms around her neck in a large embrace, Amira's eyes continued to stay wide in shock, her eyes beginning to release more tears. "I will make you mine," he said, a large chuckle escaping his lips.
"Over my dead body, pretty boy!" a loud, brash voice called out, the Prince looking up confused as he was quickly flung back, Amira finding his visage replaced with a large boxing glove. "Amira isn't going anywhere with an idiot like you. I'd sooner go out with that Goth geek down the way," Maaya said, folding her arms across her chest as the Prince lifted up his head from the dirt, looking up at Maaya as he licked his lips.
"Such a delicious looking woman, don't you agree, Zweilous," he said, gangly standing up as he stared straight forward. "Royalty like me is only as fit as the women we choose to serve us, and the two of you are so much more delectable as a pair than as a single one. The Don's orders are to only take Amira with me, but how could I ever pass up the chance to have two lovely ladies such as yourself waiting on me hand and foot?" he asked, Maaya's anger obviously growing as she looked at this idiot. "If Amira is to be my princess, I guess that would make Maaya more suitable for the role of chambermaid," he said.
"I say we beat him up now, and make him cry home for his rich mommy," Maaya said, cracking her knuckles, looking down at Amira, her eyes still wide with fear as she fell to the ground, completely unconscious. "Amira! Get a hold of yourself! What did you to her?"
"Perhaps my princely ways were too much stimulation for her," the Prince said, readjusting the crown sitting on his head, tensing his hands as he began walking towards the both of them. "She's a good girl, so she must understand that women are for men to control, and that a woman who decides that that's not the case gets what's coming to her," he said, pounding his fist into his open palm. "She is such a submissive princess, I believe that taming her will be no problem," he said, about to reach down for Amira to stroke her cheek, Amira simply punching him across the cheek. "You, however," he started, holding his jaw in place as he turned back to Maaya. "You are going to much more fun to break. Women always think they have this chance to fight against a man, but in reality, it's a fruitless effort. Even from the beginning of time, it was always going to be a woman's fault."
"Not how I think," Maaya said, Hitmonchan standing up in front of her opponent, Zweilous about to step out in front of its trainer. "The way I see it, all of you underground battlers are just scum who don't know what it really means to have a battle. All of you coming after us, using kidnappings, blackmailing, hypnosis, or some other junk to get what you want. In a real match, you wouldn't stand a chance against someone like me."
"Ah, such a beautiful Aura," the Prince said, looking at Maaya's complete figure. "An aura with a light brown tint represents strength. While I was not born into royalty, I know that it is my place to tame such wild flowers like yourself and turn the entire world into my servitude, sitting high atop the throne with even the great Arceus himself at my feet. I was born with the ability to see a person's Aura, and that is why I know the kind you possess. The Aura of your friend though, such a terrifying pink radiating from her. She lives her life in fear."
"What of it?" Maaya asked. "What does this stupid Aura bit have to do with anything?"
"Why, it is the very reason that the Don has begun his revenge," the Prince said, Maaya looking at him confused. "All this time, and you never thought why he would bother plotting revenge against a helpless, pathetic child?" he asked, Amira flinching at the comment against Natsu. "The Aura is a force that binds all people, and everyone has a certain virtue or extremity they represent, such as strength and fear, but by compressing this energy, there have been people who can project their Aura as a way of increasing a pokémon's bond and strength. That boy apparently has an Aura so chilling that the Don wishes to cultivate it, and use its power to exact revenge on the one person he could never defeat."
"The Reaper," Maaya said, the Prince nodding as his response. "Good luck, that weakling never shows up, and even when he does, it's always at the worst possible moment. The Reaper's nothing but a coward like the rest of you underground battlers. You try to think of yourself as powerful, but in my opinion, even shattered and afraid, Amira is much stronger than you are."
"Really?" the villain asked. "You think that that pathetic excuse for a person is stronger than myself?" he asked. "As far as I can see, that kind of woman is only good for one thing, and you know what I'm talking about," he said with a loud slurp along his lips, Maaya's anger well above its boiling point as Hitmonchan quickly made a fighting stance. "Come at me, then, unless I intimidate you like a man such as myself should."
"I promise, Amira, I won't let this guy take you, nor will I let you go into that state again," Maaya said staring back at her opponent, Zweilous growling as the Prince smirked with elitist pride. "Hitmonchan, Mach Punch!" Maaya shouted, Hitmonchan suddenly dashing across the field, its fist glowing a bright blue before thrusting it forward.
With a single flip of his hair, the Prince focused his eyes, the dragon and dark mix opened its jaw, and instantly chomped down onto Hitmonchan's fist the second it reached its opponent. Taken off guard by this, Hitmonchan pulled against the pokémon's clenched fangs, both it and Maaya noticing a bright blue beginning to radiate from inside Zweilous' opposite head's throat. Without a chance to react, Hitmonchan was launched from a close range Dragon Pulse attack from, able to keep its footing as it reached Maaya's side.
"With being able to see a person's Aura, I am also able to sense how a pokémon will attack, and transfer this into my pokémon's mind," the Prince explained. "There is no way for you to be able to defeat me. You may as well as give it up, and decide which outfit you'll be wearing as you serve me," he said, an evil smirk coming across his face as he twitched his head to the side. "Zweilous, attack with Dragon Pulse, double strike!" he shouted, two different attacks appearing in the twin maws of the pokémon in front of Hitmonchan.
Bracing itself for impact, Hitmonchan stood its ground in front of Maaya as Zweilous released its two attacks. Without a second though, Hitmonchan held out its two fists, both of them instantly encased in ice, punching against the attacks. Upon impact, the attacks began to splay outward from the impact with the ice element, Maaya placing her arm up in defense to keep the wind pressure from the attacks from blinding her. Looking behind her, Maaya saw that Amira was still unconscious, wondering just what was going on inside of her head at that moment.
Amira, inside her mind, was left in completely darkness; her head held in between her knees, huddled in what she hoped was a corner. She was crying, either from the fear of everything that the Prince did to her, the confusion she was under after Natsu's confession, and Maaya's sudden anger at seeing her in a troubled state. As she opened her eyes, tears still apparent in the pockets of her eyes, she stood up, a small pink light shooting across her vision, making her look in its path, holding out her hand for whatever it was that passed by.
Taking off after it, she could hear the sounds of Natsu's, the Prince's, Maaya's, and a gravelly man's voice all mixing, overlapping over the other, trying to make their voice the loudest one heard. "I'm in love her…," "Leave me alone…," "Princess..," and a dark chuckle filled her ears as she no longer tried to block out the noise, and merely panted as she ran across a seemingly never-ending space. From the side, it looked as though she wasn't moving at all, the sight of where the pink light fell from beginning to enter her sight more vividly, the voices from before beginning to dim.
Panting as she reached the sight, Amira looked down at the tiny pink light, and touched it lightly, seeing it completely erupt from its original size. Falling over from the increase in pressure, Amira looked up in amazement as she saw the pink figure take a similar shape to her body, the pink light fanning off from the figure like fire.
"W-Who are you?" Amira asked, the figure placing a finger on her lips to keep her from talking.
"In a way, I am you," the figure said; its voice was almost a distant and ghostly version of Amira's, echoing with every sound it made, ripples of the pink light escaping as it as it spoke. "It is said that only special people can see their own Auras, and unlike many of your friends, you couldn't identify who I was. You didn't need help in determining what Aura controlled your life, and that is why I can appear to you like this."
"So, you're like my psyche?" Amira asked.
"Essentially," the figure stated. "But I find that in times like this, the people who are lost often come to their Auras for help," she said, Amira quickly understanding what it was talking about. "You are afraid. It is why you have the Aura of Terror and Fear, symbolized by the same pink color that represents psychic pokémon. Why do you battle with psychic types?" she asked, Amira about to answer, but was quickly shushed by the spiritual figure. "You choose to battle with them because they keep you far away from others. The powers of one's mind far outweigh a muscle-based power, and yet even with this cushion, you are still afraid."
"I've been afraid of things my whole life," Amira said, continuing on what the Aura said. "I'm afraid of just about everything, and nobody seems to think that it's okay to be afraid."
"Which is why you are so drawn to the Aura of Death, is that right?" the Aura asked, Amira looked at her confused. "The Aura of Death is not one that people are born with. Death isn't something people are automatically hardwired for. It was a blessing that was given to them after knowledge of what was truth and what were lies. People who have this Aura have died once in their hearts, and are living without having known that love. Fear and Death are merely two pieces that fit together."
"Are you saying that Natsu-kun has an Aura of Death?" Amira asked.
"Heh-heh, amusing how you assume he is the topic of this," the Aura said, Amira looking away with a face completely red. "But yes, your hopes are realized in the young man you call Natsu. His Aura of Death, though, is something that can hardly be contained with just one host. This is a truth unknown to most men, and even if your nemeses can cultivate this power, they will never control death. No one man by himself can. But you must learn to control and cultivate your Aura if you wish to move past your fears."
"Which ones?" Amira asked. "I'm afraid of so many things. I'm afraid to get hurt by the people I trust. I'm afraid of speaking my mind in front of them because I know that nobody will listen. I'm scared that one day everyone's going to forget about the quiet girl in the back of the class. But I'm so afraid that I'll have to feel such a disgusting person touch me again," she said, beginning to break down into tears as she fell to her knees, sniffling as the Aura picked her up by her chin, and slowly helped her to her feet.
"All of those fears are definitely inside of you, but there is another fear that you are forgetting," the Aura said. "You are afraid of falling in love with somebody," she said, Amira widening her eyes in surprise by her revelation. "All your life, you have been the subject of torture, abuse, isolation, and even in having friends, you are considered different from them unfairly. But something you aren't used to yet is having somebody look at you, and not only think you are beautiful, but that you are still a wonderful person even with all of your faults. You are afraid of having a feeling you've never had before because of how your life has had to be lived. This fear is not always something to be afraid of or cautious of. Fear is your power. Do not let it control you, control it, cultivate it in others, and heed my words…," the Aura said, Amira watching her fade away, reaching out to her.
As she touched the pink figure lightly, Amira saw that she was gone completely. Thinking on her words, the words of the Prince were beginning to come into her mind, as were Maaya's, the psychic trainer's consciousness beginning to return. Opening her eyes slightly, Amira could see that Maaya was continually being pushed back by Zweilous shooting continuous Dragon Pulses at Hitmonchan, the fighting type punching them back with its fists engulfed in ice.
"Don't think that just because you've got me pinned down for now that you've automatically won! I've seen even the weakest of opponents fight back with barely any chance at winning!" Maaya shouted at her opponent, her opponent chuckling at her declaration.
"You mean that pathetic excuse for a man?" the Prince asked. "A boy like that isn't even fit to go into the same washroom as other men. Someone like him should just make it clear he's more of a woman," he said, making a loud chuckle, but was quickly cut off short by a sudden blast speeding past him, a blast of air following a couple seconds after. "Huh?"
Sharing his confusion, Maaya looked back at where the shot fired out from, Amira standing up while panting as Kirlia held out its arms with its eyes still glowing blue. Upon looking at Amira, the fighting trainer bit her lip at the sight of the obvious anger in her eyes.
"No…," she growled to herself as Amira motioned for her to move. "Please, Amira, don't do this again," Maaya pleaded, Amira turning to her with wild fury as even the fighting trainer had to admit was terrifying. "Well, it was nice knowing you, pretty boy."
"What?" the Prince asked, looking over at Amira, only noticing the anger in her expression, but nothing else. "What's so dangerous about a weak, and defenseless little girl?" he asked, making a loud bought of laughter, but was cut short by another psychic blast. "What the heck?"
"Fear isn't the only thing that controls Amira," Maaya said regretfully. "When she gets angry, it's hard to keep her from attacking everything around her. Her natural talent mixed with blind rage, you think you still have a shot?" she asked, the Prince looking at Amira with a small bit of fear in his eyes, quickly shrugging it off to focus on the battle.
"I will be your conqueror! Zweilous, Dark Pulse!" he shouted, Amira quickly shifting her neck to the side, the crack in her bones unmistakable as Kirlia made a quick dash into the attack.
Confused by what the psychic was about to do, Zweilous shot the two pulses from its twin jaws, Kirlia beginning to spin on the end of its toe, the two attacks, in effect, veering away from it from the sheer circular motion. Standing flabbergasted by what its opponent did, Zweilous began shooting more Dark Pulse attacks like a fixed cannon, its two heads shooting off the attacks in all directions, Kirlia continuing to spin, leap, and completely dodge all attacks made against it.
Eventually, Kirlia began shooting off its own attacks, a flurry of psychic blasts, that, while impacting with Zweilous, did nothing to actually damage it, but the pressure from the attacks was still present making the dragon and dark mix flinch more than once. Seeing his pokémon have to brace itself from psychic attacks, the Prince gritted his teeth and turned back to Amira, seeing her continue to stare directly into his eyes, all signs of her fear completely gone, making him take a step back, his heart beginning to race, and his breathing becoming more erratic.
"Zweilous, Dragon Pulse, now!" he said desperately, the dragon pokémon changing its attack style, and shooting out a mixture of red and blue light in the form of its Dragon Pulse attack, the same thing happening as Kirlia continued to act more like a prima on a performance stage.
As Kirlia made a quick leap into the air, dodging one of the attacks, though, the second head from Zweilous shot out another Dragon Pulse, putting the psychic type in direct path of it. With no way of changing its direction, Kirlia was quickly struck from the front by its opponent, sending it back as Amira continued to stare straight forward, not paying any attention to the battle, and just stare at her opponent. After not even giving a flicker at what happened to her pokémon, the Prince just looked at her in disbelief.
"How can you keep yourself so calm with everything going on around you!?" he shouted, quickly losing his composure. "Stop looking at me like that, it's creeping me out."
"Fear is not meant to be bared alone," Amira said. "Fear is meant to be spread. Without fear there is no order, and I will show you how to cultivate that same fear into others," she said, snapping her fingers once, the sound resonating throughout the field as Kirlia quickly jumped out into the open again, not even panting, or showing any sign of damage.
"What?" the Prince said, staring directly at the state Kirlia was in. "That's not possible."
"Kirlia and its evolutionary family have had a strange resistance towards dragon types that a lot of pokémon have shared over the years, and it wasn't until the Kalos Region submitted its findings that we now know why," Maaya said. "These pokémon are classified as fairy types, and they have an immunity to dragon attacks, and resistances to bug, fighting, and dark attacks. This is the worst possible situation for you," she said confidently, looking back to Amira, still upset by seeing her the way she was. "I promised, I would never let you get that angry again, and I guess I've already failed you so many times by keeping you away from that brat."
Not even paying attention to what they were saying anymore, Amira held out her arm, and quickly twisted it to the right, Kirlia accepting the silent command, its eyes glowing a lighter shade of pink than the kind used to identify psychic types. Without another word, Kirlia brought forth a giant gale wind, holding out its arms to point towards Zweilous. With that, the wind began to mix with a bright powder in the air, cultivated by Kirlia's power. Upon being struck by it, Zweilous was placed under intense pressure, instantly giving out from under its feet, and being launched far past where its trainer was standing.
Complete in shock by the development, the Prince looked back at his pokémon, and saw that while it was damaged, it was ready for more, something Amira was going to gladly give it. With a single stomp not the ground, Amira stared directly forward, Kirlia matching her as two glints appeared in its eyes.
"First it was Fairy Wind, and now it's Dazzling Gleam," Maaya noticed, remembering the different kind of fairy type moves people had talked about. "I've had to learn this stuff since I use fighting type pokémon. This is just another way that she can one-up me, though."
With a small grunt as the command, Kirlia shot the two shining forces from its eyes like a laser beam from an old comic book. Trying to find some way to dodge, Zweilous two heads tried to run in opposite directions, both growling at each other as they found their legs trembling, both of them staring directly at the attack. Just like before, Zweilous was launched from its spot, having both of its heads hit by one of the beams from Kirlia.
Finding that this was a losing battle, the Prince quickly recalled his pokémon, and stared directly in Amira's eyes, finding that she wasn't going to let up at all, making him even more fearful than ever before. Trying to back away, the Don's henchman tripped over himself as Amira began to walk over to him, holding out her hand like before, Kirlia beginning to charge another attack, making him cringe, waiting for the inevitable.
"Hey, Amira!" Maaya shouted. "That trash isn't the time it would take to crush, so why don't you just stop!?" she yelled at her friend, Amira staring back at her with the anger still apparent in her eyes, Kirlia suddenly lunging at her out of instinct, and the synchronization between itself and its trainer. "Oh dang," Maaya said, quickly jumping back, dodging a blast of psychic energy that exploded directly underfoot. "Come on, Amira, this isn't what you want to do."
"Disappear…," Amira said cryptically. "Disappear. All of you, DISAPPEAR!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, holding her head in pain as Kirlia shot another beam identical to the one that ended the battle from before, Maaya quickly ducking down under the attack, throwing a pokéball in the air, grinding her teeth, hoping it would work.
As the pokéball exploded open, Amira looked at the pokémon strangely, not quite recognizing it as it began to spin on the very end of its head. As it stood up, the psychic trainer could see it was much shorter than the other two pokémon her friend always had on her. The top of its head was decorated with a short spike, a large grin on its face as Maaya looked towards her friend.
"Hitmontop, let's do this!" she shouted, the fighting type grinning as it began to spin on the top of its head, picking up speed as it began to travel across the grassy plain, ripping through the dirt as it did. "I've had this pokémon for months now, but I could never bring myself to use it because it was so weak. But now that Amira needs my help, I'll use whatever I can."
"Disappear…," Amira said again, her voice sounding even more ghostly as she held up her finger towards Hitmontop, Kirlia beginning to twirl around in the same way, the difference in their speeds obvious as they collided.
As the two began to push against each other, it was obvious that Kirlia was the stronger of the two, but as Hitmontop continued to spin on its axis point, its speed continued to increase instead of slowing down, eventually holding out its hand. With a single tap on Kirlia's thin legs, the psychic type was caught off balance, and was quickly caught up in Hitmontop's rotation, getting thrown from where it was next to Hitmontop, and down next to Amira.
With a single twist of her arm, Amira commanded Kirlia to attack with the same Fairy Wind, the gust blasting out at Hitmontop, who continued to spin, trying to keep from being blown away, but its rotation speed began to decrease as it was quickly swept away with the wind. As it flew through the air, Hitmontop fell directly against Maaya, both trainer and pokémon looking up, seeing Amira still completely enraged, holding her head in pain as she shouted out for everything to disappear once more.
From where he was still seated, the Prince opened his eyes, and stared at Amira, noticing that her Aura had changed. It was almost pouring out of her body, burning on her like fire, fanning itself in his vision. It was out of control, but even in that kind of dangerous situation, there was no way he was going to run away. His legs couldn't move anymore out of sheer terror of the girl he had been so adamant about.
"Amira, please listen to me, it's Maaya, your friend here!" Maaya shouted desperately, Amira not listening to her as she commanded her pokémon to use another Dazzling Gleam attack. "Please, Amira! Don't do this again, and make everyone afraid of you like before!"
"They all look at me the same!" Amira shouted back. "None of them know my pain, and my fear keeps me alive! If they all love me so much, then have them prove it to me!" she shouted, Kirlia shooting out the lasers from its eyes.
Quickly seeing the attacks, Hitmontop quickly ran back into the battle, and began spinning furiously. The velocity from its rotations began to increase so that its body was nothing more than an actual top, no discernible features aside from its color. As it spun faster and faster, Maaya looked down at it, and noticed it was beginning to burrow into the ground, the attack passing directly over it. As the Dazzling Gleam exploded behind Maaya, the fighting trainer looked down and saw that where Hitmontop was, there was nothing but a large hole.
Taking in a deep breath, Maaya closed her eyes, and focused on the slight sounds from Hitmontop's drilling straight through the earth beneath both of the trainers and the single pokémon still left out on the field. Looking from side to side, Amira furiously watching the ground to see where Hitmontop was coming out from.
Seeing a small pile of dirt from underneath, Amira alerted Kirlia, the psychic and fairy mix watching it intently, not noticing Hitmontop coming from behind until it exploded out of the earth, still spinning faster than it had from before. Looking up to attack it, Kirlia was quickly struck three times from the side by its outstretched leg, and then from the other side with the same number of kicks, eventually kicking the pokémon a total of thirty times before Maaya called off the attack. Despite it having little effect on Kirlia, the psychic pokémon was placed under so much pressure that it slowly fell to the ground, Amira looking at it as she fell to her knees, still holding her head.
"Keep away from me!" she shouted, noticing Maaya walking towards her. "I told you all to just disappear!" she shouted desperately, Maaya quickly wrapping her arms around her, Amira's eyes welling up with tears.
"This is how it ended last time as well," Maaya said, remembering the last time Amira had gone near crazy, clutching her tighter in the embrace. "Bug boy gave her some of her medicine to actually calm her down, but everyone else is convinced that even with her fear of being touched, even with her being afraid of anyone that comes near her, I was still supposed to be her friend. We were supposed to be friends no matter what happened to each other, and I finally understood why she did all of that. She didn't want to be popular, or strong, or even remotely different from who she was," she said with a small grin and a tear. "She wanted a friend."
"Well, isn't this touching," the Prince said, walking up from where he was, now knowing that it was safe to approach. "But with both of your pokémon tuckered out from battle, there's really nothing to stop me now, is there?"
"I wouldn't say that quite yet," a voice said from behind, the Prince turning around with a pair of moth wings suddenly in his face, Takeru's Mothim cuddling up against him as it chattered happily. "You should do more research on your targets. Amira-san has many friends, and they're all willing to protect her," Takeru said, holding up a small bottle of pills for Amira. "Let the medicine work," he said, his voice much more soothing than it usually was. "Besides, I don't think he's going to like what you planned to do to Amira-san," Takeru said as the Prince backed away from Mothim, finding a large, solid structure behind him.
"What's this?" he asked, turning around, looking straight up at a nine foot tall figure staring down at him, Golurk's trainer directly next to the giant pokémon, staring at him with rage-filled eyes. "Y-You're the one that the Don wants?"
"I couldn't care less about that now," Natsu said, Lampent and Pumpkaboo floating behind him as Golurk cracked its knuckles. "But when you try to hurt the people I care about, that's when I start to take notice. Go back and tell your idiot of a boss that I'll be waiting for whatever he wants to send against me, no matter how terrifying it might be," he said with his eyes burning like the fire around Lampent.
Without another word, the Prince quickly ran off into the distance, looking back at Natsu, staring directly at his Aura, becoming even more frightened. It wasn't like the others, that much was for sure, but it seemed to take a different shape, horns appearing at the very ends of it, much like the horn decorations on Natsu's hood. What was more, it seemed to be pointing at him, the Prince tripping over himself as he looked up at the devilish figure, seeing it almost reach out for him as he let out a giant scream before running away.
With a quick sigh, Natsu's expression softened as he quickly fell unconscious, Maaya, Takeru, and Amira all looking at him in disbelief until all of them let out a large burst of laughter.
"Well, all's well that ends well," Takeru said, Amira slowly beginning to relax until she began to close her eyes, letting the medicine drift her off to sleep, resting against Maaya. "You always were right for each other as friends. Some, though, keep thinking you're more meant to be lovers," Takeru said, quickly feeling a sting against the back of his head as he looked back, Maaya's Hitmontop huffing with anger after having kicked him. "Great, now I gotta deal with two of them. At least Hitmonlee's more mellow," he said, beginning to walk away.
"Wait a minute, bug boy!" Maaya shouted, Takeru turning around. "Thank you. If you hadn't have been there last time, I don't know what would've happened to Amira. I learned she was my friend, but at the same time, I learned she's one of the most important people to me."
"I wonder who the other might be," Takeru said mischievously, Maaya quickly erupting red as she grabbed a rock next to her, and threw it as hard as she could as soon as Takeru turned around. "Okay, that hurt," he said, falling over with a small trickle of blood coming from his forehead, Maaya taking a deep sigh as she looked down at Amira.
She was finally comfortable again, and for some reason, no longer afraid of Maaya touching her. Maaya slowly began to pet her, hugging her a bit more tightly as she looked down at Natsu, seeing all of his pokémon, looking down at him, Pumpkaboo jumping on his stomach to try to wake her up.
"He's a lucky kid to have all of you looking out for him," Maaya said. "Don't ever let him know that I said this, but I don't exactly hate him as much as I used to, and if he is the best person for Amira, I wouldn't be much of a friend if I didn't support her in her love life," she said, Golurk blushing slightly as he kept his hand to his face, Lampent doing the same as Pumpkaboo simply looked at them confused. "Shut up, already," she said, looking at the other pokémon in the vicinity, both of her pokémon letting themselves out of their pokéballs, all trying to keep from laughing at her given her revelation. "I said to shut-up, all of you!"
Still panting as he reached an old warehouse on the outskirts of Nimbasa, the Prince was left gasping for air, still unable to believe what he saw from Natsu as he opened the door, and entered. Inside, all of the Don's henchman were in there, Hatter, Scarface, Blade, Shinobi, and Megumi were all illuminated with the other six cast in darkness, the Don, himself seated amongst them. As the Prince stepped in, he lowered himself to one knee, the Don anxious to hear what he had to say.
"I-It's not possible," he said. "That boy you want. His Aura is too terrifying, no man could ever command that kind of power. It's like he's not even human."
"My dear boy," the Don started, his voice low to calm him down, the others watching him as he moved deeper into the warehouse, only his evil smile present on his face. "Power isn't something for the faint of heart. I know that that Natsu boy isn't any ordinary person, none of them are. It's why I never expected you to defeat that girl, even with a pokémon stronger than it. I want you to torture them. Make them feel weakness, and make them work even harder. You forget, I was once called a champion, and when they truly believe that they can defeat me, I will show them the true power of the Don!" he shouted into the sky, laughing maniacally.
Back alone in her room, Amira was still groggy from the medicine she had to take, flipping through a photo album similar to the one that Maaya had. All of the pictures showed the two smiling, Maaya a bit more enthusiastic than Amira, but they were both happy. Towards the back of the book, she found some of the pictures at the beach they took as a large group, eventually turning to one with both herself and Natsu.
They were both blushing, looking away from each other, but the sight of him with his shorter hair made Amira blush slightly, remembering how much more confident he was in the battle of that tournament a few weeks ago. Seeing that more manly side of Natsu made her blush again, looking over at her cell phone, quickly picking it up, and beginning to tap away at the keys. Without even thinking, she sent the send button, and held the phone up against her chest, quickly realizing what she just did, and reread the message she just sent.
"If you're free next Saturday, would you like to go out?" she realized she had written, hearing a loud thud from somewhere.
"Natsu!" she could hear Koichi shouting. "What happened!?" he asked as she saw him running around the ghost dorm, trying to figure out what was wrong with Natsu, seeing that he was unconscious out on the wooden porch to the dorm, his entire face red as she giggle lightly.
"Is it possible I did something wrong?" she asked, looking into her room with both of her pokémon watching her, sneers on their faces as Kirlia gave what looked like a thumbs-up.
Characters:
Amira Khumalo: Kirlia & Duosion. FlyPandaBear
Maaya Yoshida: Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, and Hitmontop. Emmausgirl94
Takeru Sanjero: Mothim & Heracross. Moth's Aflame
Natsu Kohashigawa: Lampent, Golurk, and Pumpkaboo. NightFall00
Chapter twenty complete. I always feel good after a milestone chapter, and this is definitely one of them. This time the idea was Amira and Maaya's past, and some of what it was like for Takeru, but not a whole heck of a lot. We also got a bit more into the whole Aura bit, but that's going to take a long time before we can really take off with that. I have quite a few author's notes to talk to you guys about, so please bear with me for this.
First off, about the last chapter, I do apologize for a possible misnomer, saying that you would probably cry through it. It was easier to use an extreme emotion like that to cry about it, but aside from that my main goal was to have you feel at least something, since the death of a loved one is something most people have experienced in their lives.
Second, as for this chapter, I do want you to make note of the fact that I did introduce Maaya's third pokémon, albeit rather oddly given how I've been doing it so far, but if what I'm planning for the next chapter is any indication, simply catching them, then and there, won't be the norm for any of this I assure you.
Third, as of this chapter, I'm going to start looking for people to make characters for the other five dorm heads currently not at the school. This was something I planned for after I found out how popular this story was, and I hope I can find five people fairly quickly. Some of you have expressed concern given the fairy element, and since I started this story last year in January, the type was not discovered, but just as I am bringing in sixth gen pokémon, and fairy type moves to previous pokémon, I will be including a trainer with fairy type pokémon, but at my own discretion. I will be making a character for the fairy type, and they will debut eventually, in the near future in this story. I have three people I plan to make these extra characters already, and am looking for two more, so if you haven't made a character for this story, but still want to, I can take your name in for consideration, but as for RookieNeir, StattStatt, and Detonator Liberation, I have placed them on the short list for this.
Finally, about what I said about not being able to update, well, aside from study abroad and declaring my major, my school is also having a Pokémon League all throughout our campus that I'll be participating in, so if I am using X and Y as the medium, I'm going to be preparing my party for battle (yes, I'm an EV Trainer). Also, I'm picking up a few more hours this week, so I'm giving this chapter to you a bit sooner than I anticipated. At any rate, I hope you enjoyed this, and until we meet again, ja na.