Author's Note: (I'm not even sorry for the chapter title) Hey guys! Sorry for the short delay, but I had finals last week! That means I'm now on summer vacation, so I might have more time to update if I can! So without further ado, here's Chapter 25!
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, but I do own Hynden.
Although I was still shocked from the revelation about my grandfather, I decided to confront the very guy who had started the whole lie in the first place. I quickly turned on my Xtransceiver and dialed up my dad. When his face appeared on the screen, he jumped a bit in surprise when he saw the anger and hurt on my face.
"Hynden, what's wrong?" Dad asked.
"Don't 'Hynden, what's wrong' me, Dad!" I snapped, "I know yours and Mom's little secret!"
"S-Secret?" Dad squeaked, "What secret?"
"You know what secret I'm talking about," I said, calming down a little, "The secret about Giovanni, aka, my grandfather."
Dad's eyes widened as I said that name. Although he tended to be a little on the serious side, I could tell by the way he nervously gritted his teeth a bit and the bead of sweat on the side of his head that I had him pegged.
"H-How do you know that name?!" Dad gasped as his eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"I met a kind man and his family after I helped his wife with her groceries. He basically said that my eyes looked familiar and told me all about his days as a member of some evil group of people called 'Team Rocket'. Then, I told him that my dad is the Frontier Brain of the Battle Castle in Johto, and he told me something about you being the 'heir and son of Team Rocket's notorious ex-leader Giovanni'. Dad, how could you and Mom lie to me about something like this?!"
"...We didn't want to make you worry about having someone like him as a grandfather," Dad told me with a tone of bitterness, "Your mother and I know how much you look up to both of us; so we thought that if we never told you about Team Rocket period, you wouldn't think I was evil too."
"That's not even close to a good reason to lie to your own daughter like that!" I yelled.
"It was for your own good!" Dad snapped.
"Tch, my own good?" I scoffed. "You know Dad, if you're the type of parent who would selfishly lie to their own child, then that not only makes you evil, but it also makes you weak-willed and a coward!"
At the second I said those words, Dad flashed an outraged (yet slightly hurt) face at me.
"You... you have absolutely no right to speak to me like that, young lady!" Dad yelled, "I'm your father and you need to learn proper respect!"
"How the heck could I ever respect such a pathetic liar of a man like yourself?! In fact, I don't ever want to become like someone who distrusts their kid enough to lie to them!"
Without even waiting for a response from Dad, I angrily shut off my Xtransceiver in a huff. I know it was wrong to yell at Dad like that, but I also knew that it was wrong that he lied to me. Remembering my mission to infiltrate Dragonspiral Tower, I went to the Pokémon Center to heal my team and withdraw Ruffle and Kagami (since I knew I'd never hear the end of it from her if I didn't spend time with her), and box Sophia so I could leave. When I got near the entrance, I saw Professor Juniper Sr. there.
"Hynden! It's nice to see you again!" Cedric chirped in a jolly tone.
"It's nice to see you too, Professor," I replied, "So, what are you doi-"
"Hynden, Hynden!" I heard Bianca cry as she came running towards me.
"What's wrong, Bianca?" I asked, "And where's Cheren?!"
"That's what I've come to tell you!" Bianca panted, "He's gone!"
"What?! Do you know where he went?!"
"Knowing him, he probably followed Brycen into Dragonspiral Tower to fight Team Plasma. Hynden, you've got to go in there and stop him!"
"Got it! Professor, you stay here with Bianca while I go get Cheren, okay?"
"Roger!" Cedric confirmed.
I pressed my motorbike's activation button that made it grow to normal size outside of my bag. Once I put on my helmet, I kept driving through the inside of the tower until I felt a huge rumbling.
"What's the hell was that?!" I said, "Is there something going on at the top of the tower?!"
When I managed to drive up the thin staircase, I quickly gripped the brake handle before I could crash into a fallen column. Just as I was about to withdraw my motorbike, I heard a violent grunt from across the room. My eyes widened as I saw Cheren, who was struggling to get up and coughing a bit of blood into his palm.
"Cheren!" I cried, "I finally found you! Why did you come here in your condition; I told you to stay with Bianca!"
"I wasn't just going to sit by and let you take Team Plasma alone, Hynden," Cheren grunted. "Besides, I'm totally healthy enough to fight!"
Despite his words however, Cheren knelt to the ground as he coughed up more blood into his palm. I carefully climbed the columns to Cheren's area and helped him up.
"Cheren, please," I pleaded, "If you were to try and help me in your condition, you'd die! You have to go back to the hospital!"
"ACK-ACK No, Hynden!" Cheren insisted stubbornly as more blood seeped from his mouth, "I'm going to take on Team Plasma and that's final! Trust me... I'm... fine..."
Cheren's navy eyes then grew dull and rolled to the back of his head as he collapsed in my arms. Panicking, I called Ruffle out to fly Cheren back to the Icirrus General Hospital as fast as he could. Once Ruffle took Cheren away, I summoned my motorbike once again and rode up to the next floor where I drove off of several ramps to get to the other side of the room.
"Okay, that was pretty cool!" I remarked as I drove up the stairs.
When I reached the top of the stairs, I saw Brycen and his Pokémon fighting off several Plasma Grunts.
"Need a hand, Brycen?" I asked.
"Don't worry, Hynden," Brycen insisted, "I've got everything covered! You just focus on getting to N at the top of the tower and fast!"
"Got it!" I said as I began to rev my bike up again.
Not even close to reaching the steps to the next floor, I was stopped by two Plasma Grunts.
"Not so fast, runt-girl!" one of them exclaimed, "Anyone who tries to interfere with Team Plasma must be eliminated!"
While one of the Grunts sent out their Liepard, the other called forth their Watchog. Seeing this as an easy battle, I decided to send out Piko and Kagami.
"Piko, use Arm Thrust on Liepard!" I cried.
Piko repeatedly jammed his hands into Liepard until it collapsed to the ground unconscious. Kagami was looking determined and excited, but had no idea what to do. Suddenly, the Watchog charged at her with Hyper Fang.
"Kagami, dodge Watchog's attack and use Icy Wind!" I cried.
As soon as she heard my command, Kagami quickly rolled out of the way of Watchog's bite and released a freezing current of ice and snow from her mouth.
"Watchog, attack with Super Fang this time!" the Plasma Grunt exclaimed.
"Kagami, dodge and attack with Fury Swipes!" I commanded.
When Kagami thrust herself backwards, Watchog accidentally managed to take a bite out of her large drip of icy mucus. As Watchog spit out the drip and wiped its tongue off in disgust, Kagami left it critically weaker with her Fury Swipes attack.
"Alright Kagami, finish with Icy Wind!" I cried out.
Unfortunately, all Kagami could manage to produce was a small breeze of cold air rather than a burly Icy Wind attack.
"Gah! Kagami, what's wrong with your attack?!" I shrieked.
"M-My ice mucus!" Kagami exclaimed, "It's the source of a Cubchoo's Ice power!"
"Hmph, what's wrong, Ice Princess?" Watchog taunted, "Can't use your little powers? Well lucky for you, I can!"
Watchog attacked with another Hyper Fang. Kagami jumped backwards again, but her opponent's tooth managed to scratch her tiny body. With a slightly bleeding cut in her side, Kagami managed to defeat Watchog with a Brine attack.
"Are you okay, Kagami?" I said as I sprayed her wound with a Super Potion.
"Yeah, I think so," Kagami said, "But... it's too bad about my ice mu- mu- ACHOO!"
Much to her delight, Kagami's large ice mucus came bouncing out of her nose. Once she tested out a successful and powerful Icy Wind, she jumped for joy at her newly-returned Ice-type attacks.
"Alright, Kagami," I said, "Let's go kick some Plasma ass!"
Shrinking my motorbike and putting it in my bag along with my helmet, I ran further through the tower; flawlessly defeating each Plasma Grunt I encountered. After defeating one female Grunt with a Scraggy and a Watchog, I climbed the steps to the fifth floor. However, several walls obstructed my view of the next staircase, so I had to take many pathways around until I finally found my destination. Upon reaching the next floor, I jumped as I heard a loud roar and a familiar voice.
"Awaken, my friend, awaken!" the voice shouted.
"That sounds like N!" I exclaimed, "I've gotta get to the top of the tower before something terrible happens!"
Just as I was running ahead, I stopped as I saw a quartet of Plasma Grunts and Giallo (one of the sages).
"Our moment of triumph has come!" Giallo announced, "Lord N has finally awakened the spirit of Reshiram, and now he will be the new Hero of Truth!"
"No!" I accidentally shouted.
"An intruder!" Giallo gasped, "But it's not just any intruder; it's the girl who keeps meddling with our affairs! Plasma Grunts, seize her at once!"
All four Grunts surrounded me with their Pokémon teams (which consisted of two Watchogs, two Krokoroks, a Trubbish, and a Liepard). Not feeling the least bit of scared, I sent out Piko, Kagami, and Bianca to fight. Piko quickly took down the two Watchogs with Arm Thrust, and Bianca KO'd the Krokoroks with Energy Ball.
"Alright Kagami, you ready?" I asked.
"I was born ready, Hynden!" Kagami exclaimed.
"Use Brine on Trubbish!" I commanded.
Kagami opened her mouth wide and sneezed out a powerful torrent of water at Trubbish, knocking it into Liepard as well.
"Liepard, use Slash and Trubbish, attack with Sludge Bomb!" the female Grunt exclaimed.
"Kagami, attack with Icy Wind!" I shouted.
Kagami released a cold blast of wind at both of her opponents. However, despite being hit, Liepard managed to slash Kagami's chest with its claws, reopening her earlier cut and making it larger than before.
"K-Kagami!" I shrieked, "You've gotta get out of there!"
But before Kagami even had a chance to escape, Trubbish managed to strike her down with its Sludge Bomb attack. I rushed to go help my wounded Cubchoo, but before I could, Liepard brutally attacked Kagami with another Slash attack, making blood fly everywhere.
"No!" I screamed as I tearfully rushed to Kagami's side. "Kagami, please please be okay!"
When I held Kagami's body in my arms, tears escaped from my eyes as I couldn't feel a pulse or hear her breathing. After Piko and Bianca finished off the Trubbish and Liepard, they immediately came to my side trying to comfort me. I simply told them that I was going to keep to my word as always and not let a teammate's death slow me down. Wiping my tears, I returned Piko and Bianca to their Poké Balls and ascended to the next floor with Kagami's lifeless body in my arms. But, what I saw upon climbing the stairs truly shocked me:
My eyes grew wide with a strange combination of terror and amazement as I saw the room was nearly engulfed in flames and in the middle of it was N standing in front of a ghostly version of a large and mystical white Dragon-type Pokémon with glaring blue eyes.
"Holy Arceus," I breathed, "He's actually summoned Reshiram?!"
Hearing my outburst, N slowly turned around to face me. However, he looked a bit different. His eyeballs were glowing with the same blue aura as Reshiram's and he was surrounded by a faint white aura. I also noticed that Reshiram's spirit was attached to N's feet as if it were his own white shadow.
"Well, Hynden?" N said to me in a slightly distorted voice, "Aren't you amazed at what I can accomplish? My dearest friend Reshiram has acknowledged me as the new Hero of Truths, and together, we shall take on Alder!"
"N, stop this!" I exclaimed, "If your plan gets too out of hand, you'll end up destroying the world Pokémon and all!"
"Heh, silly Hynden," N chuckled, "My plan will never get 'out of hand' as you put it. You see, with Reshiram's spirit at my side, I will rid the world of those who wish to hurt Pokémon. You know, people like you!"
"Me?! I thought you said I was trustworthy!"
"I did... that is until my Shadow Triad came to me telling me of your ancestor, Giovanni, the ex-leader of Team Rocket. They told me that your father Castle Knight Nico is his one and only child. And anyone who has any ties to tyrants like Team Rocket is absolutely untrustworthy!"
"I may not care about anything that has to do with the liar I call my father at the moment, but me being Giovanni's granddaughter doesn't mean I'm evil too!"
"Oh really?" N scoffed as he gestured towards Kagami's corpse in my arms, "If you're not evil as you claim, then how come your innocent little Cubchoo died in your so-called 'care'?"
"Kagami's death wasn't my fault!" I objected, "It was your stupid Plasma collegues that took her life away from her!"
"Hmph, you're even so selfish and irresponsible that you would even blame my comrades! Hynden, no matter what you say, Kagami's death will always be your fault! Maybe if you weren't such a careless excuse of a Trainer, your other Pokémon would still be alive along with her! But you know what? I expect nothing less from Giovanni's precious descendant! Face it, Hynden; you were born a monster."
N's harsh words pierced every bit of my heart. I kept chanting in my head over and over that I wasn't a monster and that everyone's deaths weren't because of me, but my heritage ended up destroying said hope. Defeated, I slumped to the ground with a grim stare to the floor.
"No... no... I'm not a monster..." I whispered.
"Hmm, it is quite a shame that your own ideals of being flawlessly strong overcloud the truth, isn't it?" N asked coldly, "But, I'll tell you what; If you are good like you say, Zekrom's spirit will reawaken and recognize you as the new Heroine of Ideals."
"Zekrom?" I asked.
"Reshiram's counterpart that represents Ideals. If you want to redeem yourself, you must retrieve the Dark Stone and face me at the Pokémon League. So make that your next mission other than obtaining the Legend Badge. Farewell!"
N then flew away on Reshiram's surprisingly solid spirit out the gaping hole in the wall. I tried to chase after him, but a large piece of the floor collapsed underneath me. I screamed as I plummeted through the air, but as if on cue, I was caught by Ruffle.
"Are you alright, Hynden?" Ruffle asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, "Let's go back down to Icirrus to see the others!"
When we reached the ground, I saw Brycen beside Professor Juniper Sr., and Cheren being wheeled in a wheelchair by Bianca.
"Hynden, you're safe!" Bianca exclaimed, "We saw you falling from the tower until your Tranquil caught you in a swoop!"
"What happened up there?" Cheren asked.
"...N has reawakened Reshiram's spirit," I sighed with a grim look on my face, "He told me that if I want to stop him, I have to find some kind of Dark Stone and reawaken the spirit of Zekrom."
"Zekrom?" Bianca asked, "Is that another Legendary Dragon?"
"Why yes, it is," a voice said.
We all turned around to see Alder approaching us.
"Ah, if it isn't Champion Alder!" Cedric greeted, "How are you today?"
"There is no time for casual greetings, Cedric!" Alder exclaimed, "What's more important is that Reshiram's spirit has been resurrected and is in the hands of Team Plasma's king! If they use it for their own gain, it could mean the world will be plunged into utter discord and destruction!"
"And along with that, N has said to look for the spirit of Zekrom as well!" Brycen exclaimed.
"If they both fall into Team Plasma's hands, then the legend will happen all over again!" Alder shouted. "I must go to Relic Castle, in case the Dark Stone is there!"
Once Alder flew away on his Volcarona, I decided to follow him and began to climb on top of Ruffle. Before Ruffle could even spread his wings, Bianca put a hand on his back.
"Are you going to help Alder, Hynden?" Bianca asked.
"I have to, Bi," I insisted in a calm, but determined tone, "If I get the Dark Stone before N does, I could stop him."
"I have the utmost faith in you, Hynden, but this is a dangerous mission," Bianca said.
"I know that. But to me, being a trainer is about being brave and not letting anything stop you from accomplishing your dreams! Bianca, I have to be the one to stop N."
"...Okay, good luck Hynden!"
"Thanks, Bianca! Oh, and before I leave, make sure Cheren doesn't try to follow me, okay?"
"Okay!"
Once Ruffle took to the skies once more, I looked down at Kagami's body and felt a huge mental sting of guilt and shame in my heart. But, I quickly suppressed it as I reached the secret entrance to the buried Relic Castle. Seeing this as a good place to put Kagami to rest, I buried her near the stone border and descended into the caverns below.
Pokémon obtained: None.
Deaths: Kagami the Cubchoo, Lvl. 28-30
Boxed/Unboxed: Sophia the Darmanitan (Boxed)
Author's Note: I'm actually finishing up the next chapter as I'm typing this, so stay tuned for it!