Steel (Poke)Ball Run
Chapter 29 – VS A MOTHER'S LOVE
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In Kalos, nestled in the south-east of its geography, is a town renowned for the river that flows through it and is called Aquacorde Town. It isn't exactly an impoverished region but people do overlook it on account for its remoteness and the fact it isn't a major landmark. It is a rural area with much agriculture.
In the town of Aquacorde were the two parents of a newborn baby boy. However, this child was not born to a fortunate family. The parents were unable to care for their child so they resolved their wills and came to a conclusion. Their child must perish. Having grown weary of their poverty-stricken lives, they thought themselves able to commit such an act.
It was a terribly dark and starless spring night, the night the infant had been born. It had been towards midnight and a storm was slowly closing in on the area. It would be the perfect cover for their deeds. They wrapped the baby in white cloth and his father dug him a grave. His mother lowered him into the shallow hole and the child did not stir. The mother placed the corner of the sheet over the child's face and his father began to shovel dirt back into the hole.
They finished their job then attempted to proceed with their lives as though the child had never been born at all. As they turned their back of their slowly suffocating infant, it was as if divinity itself had decided to intervene. The clouds in the sky wretched and lurched. A vicious downpour began to lash the countryside. The river was swift to flood and as it charged through its winding ditches and through the din of the ferocious rain, a crying baby could be heard.
The mother's heart stopped. Her cold will wrenched and was softened with maternity. The woman turned her back on her grave husband squinted through the darkness and rain. Despite it all, she was able to see a small and chubby arm rise through the waters. She was horrified at the sight, at her husband, and at herself.
"Diego!" she called out.
Her husband grabbed her before she could leave his side. He hugged her close but she continued to reach out towards her drowning child. Much like the river rose, as did an anger inside of her husband for she had called out a name but this was a slow and bitterly cold anger.
"You had a name for that child?' he asked. "Don't! Once we have a stable life, we can have as many babies as you want! This one is dead: it's died in the flood!"
She began to weaken at the knees; collapse.
"We'll have another but this one died in the flood!"
It may have been the rain that streaked down the sides of her thin face but no, it was too warm. Tears clung to the side of her face, wet and salty. She clutched at her husband's hands. Her voice cracked as she begged and pleaded with him.
"We were wrong! I don't need money!" She sucked down a hasty breath. "If you could just quit your drinking…"
"What?!" her husband yelled. He raised a fist her face as his other hand clamped around the back of her neck. His anger flashed like lightning and his action became as violent as the storm. "You dare scorn your husband like that?"
"I-I'm sorry!"
The mother tried to squirm away but it was useless. She was only let go once her husband had struck her face hard enough for blood to be spat from her mouth. She was knocked to the ground and injured but her maternal determination gave her enough strength to continue defying her husband's will.
She crawled into the fearsome waves of the flooding river. She called the name of her child. The name she had chosen in the spur of the moment. Prior to the action, she had been confident with abiding by her and her husband's plan but the theory was so much different to practice. That was her child… She couldn't let him go.
"Diego!" she called. "Dio! Dioooo!"
Her breaths turned sloppy with exhaustion as her dress drank in the river water. The river accepted her as she paddled out to what was going to be her death. She sputtered and choked as rolling waves with foamy crests dunked her under but she persevered. Cold to the bitter bone, she reached out as her legs kicked futilely.
It was terribly hard to hear and see but she was determined even though she was drowning. Dying. Even as her head went beneath the water's choppy surface, perhaps for the last time, she continued to try. She saw her son, his hand bobbed above the waves. Imbued with a last burst of maternal determination, she reached out and she saved him.
"She's drowning…" her husband seethed. "Hah! Now I've gotten rid of both of 'em. Good riddance."
She kept his fragile body above the water whilst she tried not to sink. Her smile was weak but her heart swelled. She heard her baby boy make noises. Tired and exhausted but he was alive. The gurgling and crying was proof that he was alive and well. It revived some strength in her and it affirmed her spousal rebellion.
She burst to the surface and inhaled deeply. She raised her infant high.
"He's alive!" she proclaimed. Tears, warm and regretful, streamed down her face as the rain began to lighten. "Thank the stars! Thank the stars! I'm sorry, I won't ever abandon my son again - ever! I'm sorry!"
After these events unfolded, the father of the child abandoned his family. They were about as good as dead out here, drenched as they were so he left. Once the rain stopped, it was safe to return to the banks. The mother crawled up to the height of a grassy hill and collapsed, keeping her son safe and close. In the morning, the unconscious mother and son were found by a man.
The man was employed by a farm nearby Santalune City. Having found the woman and her child, he took pity on them and rescued them. It was there, the woman changed her and her son's name to "Brando" and she began working on the farm. It was a large operation that reared many Pokemon of both dairy and meat purposes along with crops as the land was fertile and large.
The five years of service to the farm that followed were hard but it did improve their poverty-stricken lives somewhat. Watching Diego grow up the biggest pleasure in his mother's life. He was such a happy child and he had some endearingly peculiar habits. As a child, even when things are terrible, things can be beautiful and Diego he certainly sees the world that way and sometimes, when the excitement overwhelms him too much, his hands begin to flap. It's oddly adorable but sometimes, it can be exhaustive as his tantrums are just as spectacularly intense. His mother supposes it is all is a part of childhood.
Even at age five, Diego seemed to have this bright spark within him. It's admirable in such a situation. Though he is small and scrawny, he was unafraid of even the biggest Pokemon. He had a talent for handling them. The Pokemon were naturally gentle around him and whatever he asked of them, would be performed by him. It was rather magical.
Despite it all, his mother had high hopes for him. However, she had her concerns.
"Dio, did you grow thinner?" she asked. "Here, eat my portion too."
She offered him her mug of stew. Diego laughed as he denied his mother her generosity. He pointed above his mop of curly blonde hair. He tipped forth his empty mug; emptied of even the thinnest scrapings of sauce.
"I'm already full!" he told her. "Besides, I didn't grow skinnier. I grew taller."
His mother worked from dawn to dusk to provide for them both. Though the job was secure and provided a roof over their heads, the facilities they were given access to were limited. The slept on blankets and hay. There was little to be eaten and what could be eaten, they ate from mugs with old and bent out of shape utensils. However, they had nowhere else to go so they lived as they could make the most of what little they had.
However, that changed one day when his mother was cornered in the barn by the same man who had brought her to this farm. He pressed against her body and she scratched against the walls. She had tried to revile him but he was forceful. He kissed her neck and forced her leg over his.
"St-Stop! Please don't, please!" she begged him.
She struck his face and he dropped her. She remained firm against the wall but she trembled. There was terror in her blue eyes.
"St-Stop it!" she yelled.
"Wh-What, I like you… C'mon, just a little bit. It's been five years now, is this how you treat the man who you owe your life to?" he replied, alarmed by her behaviour.
She grabbed at her slipping sleeve and hugged herself. "I am truly grateful but please stop. If my son finds out that I'm having a relationship with you, a married man, then what would he think? What would your children think?"
Huffing, the man turned his back on her. "You're right. I was mistaken. I must have misunderstood. I'm truly sorry."
He walked off and Diego's mother regained her composure. She was haunted by a terrible feeling brewing in her guts. She feared that there might be unexpected repercussions to this encounter. It was a dreadful feeling and one that was soon proven correct by dinner when Diego had gone to fetch their mugs and made a discovery regarding them.
Their bottoms had been punched out. He lifted them up and inspected them. He couldn't comprehend why they would be like this. Broken with their bottoms unfurling like the petals of some sort of exotic flower.
Not a moment later, a loud voice burst through the barn: "Dinner time!"
Diego's Mother was chilled by the voice.
"Gather 'round everybody, time for your meal! Line up!"
Diego podded up the man who was serving stew from a piping hot cauldron of a pot. Diego lifted up his cup and before he could speak, the man looked down on him - patronising and endeared - and spooned a larger than usual portion of stew into the broken mug Diego was trying to draw attention to.
With a great slap, the stew fellow onto the ground. Diego gasped. Words caught in his throat.
"Oh no, laddie," the man patronised Diego with a high pitched and whiny voice, "there's a hole in your cup, there. What a waste! One person's worth was spilled. Now I can't give you the nice warm stew. Oh dear, and these utensils are the landlord's. We need to be careful."
"Someone put holes in our cups. It was me or my mother." Diego informed the man.
"Oh really? Who in the world did then, hm, tell me if you find out who did, young lad…?"
Diego's Mother swallowed. She came closer and guided Diego away from the man.
"May we just borrow a couple of cups? Me and my son… we can't eat without them."
The man paused and considered the woman's plea. He sighed, as though about to give into the woman's request.
"Alright, but since you broke the landlord's utensils, you must buy new ones. That'll be…. Three hundred PokeYen."
"I… I don't have that much." the woman replied. "Once I receive my salary, I can pay you back."
"Well, we've known each other for years. Perhaps we can work something out. Oh, but I'm afraid advances are permitted here… I'm deeply sorry."
Diego left his mother's side even though he was afraid. He grabbed a pail and brought it back to the man. He pointed to it.
"In here!' he piped up bravely. "Could we have the stew in here? Even just one person's worth."
"Don't be a fool, boy! That's a Pokemon's pail! The Miltank and Mareep don't want the smell of gravy in their bucket!"
Diego looked around. He tried his best to think of a solution as the other works began to draw in closer.
"Sorry, but could you two stand aside? Everybody else is waiting for their feed."
Diego looked up at his mother with watery eyes. He held onto her apron for comfort.
"Mother, I'm not hungry anyway." he told her. Lied.
She listened to him tersely but then saw his eyes light up.
He let go of her and took off one of his shoes which were to big on him.
"But I just thought of something terrific! We've got our shoes, we could pour soup in them!"
"No, baby, it's fine."
His mother strode past him. Diego didn't know why but he felt awful. He watched as his mother approached the man. She raised his hands to him, as though asking for communion.
"Please, could I have some stew."
The man looked at her as though she were crazed but she spoke calmly. A fierce determination glinted in her eyes. It was a sort of determination that left the man scared - though slightly - of her.
"Dio's portion, please. In my hands." she said. "Go ahead, please pour the stew."
The man poured her out a portion of stew. The burns were immediate. Her hands turned red and raw. The smell of burning flesh was odorous and inescapable. Diego's Mother accepted it all unflinchingly. She didn't even s much as blink at the pain of her hands blistering.
Diego shouted but it was too late. His mother's will was absolute.
"Thank you very much."
She turned around carefully and without spilling a drop, she knelt in front of her son. She offered him her hands.
"Mother! I'm not hungry, Mother! Let go!" he yelled at her, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Now, I've gotten you something to eat. Go on and have some, Dio."
"No, I'm not hungry!"
"No matter how poor we become, we must not forget our dignity. What about tomorrow? The day after? Eat this and grow big and strong… so that you can protect your mother."
Diego gurgled. His fists clenched tightly. He trembled and shook. But, he put his hands beneath his mother's and lapped from her palms.
"We can buy cups next month. But, until then, go on and eat this."
Diego sobbed as he ate from his mother's hands.
His mother continued to work tirelessly on the farm where they were given pittance. She continued to work and work. A year later, she passed away. She contracted a disease known as tetanus and died at the young age of twenty-three. Diego believed that the germs that came in through her burns were the cause of her disease. Before she passed away in her bed with Diego by her bedside, his mother used her last breath to give him guidance for the life he ought to lead.
She tucked a curl of his golden hair behind his ear. Her fingers were fat and bandaged: permanently damaged because of what she had done. She smiled fondly.
"Don't be sad, dear. It's all because of my sin. It's not your fault. But Dio… Even the most untameable Pokemon on this farm will listen to you. They will eat from your hand when they bite the others. Not to mention, they let you ride them. When you are a little older, you should go out and Train your own. I believe that it is your talent..."
She took another breath and rested in her bed. Another breath but then none. Her eyes fluttered and she had breathed her last. She peacefully passed away. Diego took her words to heart.
He intuitively believed that man to be the cause of her death. As he grew older, he swore to get revenge. Be it through personal satisfaction or other means, he would get his revenge. He was going to show them all embarrassment. He would show that man, he would show that damnable father of his, and all the other workers on the farm who had ignored his and his mother's suffering. He would show them all humiliation far greater than allowing stew to spill. He was going to take their pride and scatter it all. He would never forgive any of them. All of them are guilty.
At age six, Diego's personality had become completely twisted.
To do so, he would need strength the likes of which had never been seen before. He was determined to prove himself and become fabulously wealthy. He was going to climb to the top of society and there was no easier way than through training Pokemon and become a Grand Duke of the Battle Chateau.
It was a dangerous journey to make as a child so young but to go west and find his wealth, that was his only option. He refused to remain on this farm. Diego swore to get his revenge by any means possible.
He stole away on wagons. He stole Apricorns and food. He even stole a new identity.
In shoes too small and with matted hair, even with an Axew by his side, Diego was rejected by the staff of the Battle Chateau without second thought. Even though with his team of Axew and Bagon had won plenty of battles - against even the Baronesses and Barons of the Battle Chateau who were five to six years his senior - he was rejected until fortune strutted his way.
"Oh dear, my poor and silly nephew. He always gets so carried away training his darling little Pokemon."
Diego looked up at the eccentric man who had suddenly grabbed his shoulder as he tried to receive entry into the ancient and prestigious building of battling.
He had thick, blonde hair and blue eyes. He painted his lips pink and wore mascara. He was rugged up in a thick hooded coat decorated with roses. He smelt of flowers and in his free hand, he held a PokeBall.
He smiled thinly at the staff - a maid and butler - who quivered before him.
"What? Can't you see the family resemblance? He has my nose, don't you think?"
The maid giggled. "O-Of course, how can I not? It's very striking."
"Now, tell me, my darling nephew but how many times have you introduced yourself to these disrespectful ignoramuses."
"S-Six, Uncle." Diego replied.
"Well, now it's seven. Let's try again, from the top with proper etiquette."
"My name is Diego Brando and I am this man's nephew."
"Tell me, Diego, my darling, how is my sister doing?"
"Sh-She passed away three months ago…" Diego replied.
"I should have collected you sooner but, she insisted she was fine. Oh, how i'll miss how she used to call me her dear older brother, Francis "Franny" Ferdinand but she was always fond of the nickname "Franny" for me. I still don't understand but that's part of being an older brother, going along with the whims of the younger sibling. Now, tell me, Diego. Do you wish to become a Baron of this good establishment?"
"Yes, Uncle Francis."
"Good, good, now as a Grand Duke of the Battle Chateau, I can vouch for my nephew's prowess. He's a prodigy, I tell you."
"We would be overjoyed to have such a child in our good establishment." the butler replied.
"Now, this is the respect my nephew and I deserve."
At that point, Diego did not understand why this man had taken him under his wing. Let alone, adopted him as his ward but it further their own agendas so the mutual benefit was to them both. For Diego, through the eccentric Doctor Ferdinand - his make-believe "uncle" - he was able to travel further and safer. Through him, Diego was able to attain a team most fitting for him.
As for the geologist and paleontologist that had adopted Diego as a ward, Doctor Ferdinand's agenda was that he wanted to be the one to 'discover' Diego's talent. It was not out of charity that he adopted Diego. It was simply because the child had talent and the disrespect it was receiving from the Battle Chateau staff was utterly infuriating.
Still, Diego was quick to prove himself as a worthwhile investment to Doctor Ferdinand. Though he could be adverse to travel, especially jet-setting between his homeland of Kalos and Doctor Ferdinand's homeland of Unova, he had plenty of virtues to make up for such a vice.
Diego had a cruel passion for battling and he was eager to learn about the origins of Fossil Pokemon and the like. It was something of a notable interest for him; he was able to talk about it for longer and more thoroughly than Doctor Ferdinand could at times. Better yet, he was strong. He ruled his Pokemon with an iron fist and made much reputation and coin for himself through both battling and riding. Moreover, there was only one other who could beat him and it was that Unovan prodigy with Joestar blood. Johnny or whatever he called himself.
When the announcement of the Steel Ball Run race broke international news coverage, Diego was drawn to the glory. It was a race with enough influence that it could shake the tongues of even the royal family of Kalos. To win such a race would prove a most delightful revenge against all those bloody country fucks.
