Iris was pretty sure that what she'd just witnessed had been the definition of uncalled for. She still didn't know what exactly was going on here, but they'd managed to catch the end of whatever argument had occurred. Whatever had warranted using that child's name to turn the locals against him?
Opelucid had never really been a city for keeping up with the times, and they currently had a lot of Lacunosa's civilians within their midst as well after the fire. They only knew badly of the people associated with Team Plasma.
"What a sick bastard." When she looked at Nate, he had a disgusted look on his face. "That's just—you don't do that. Who does that?"
"Mm," Iris murmured in response, turning her gaze back to the crowd, who were still muttering among themselves. This information seemed to have shaken them up even more than the robotic thing had. "It did seem a little harsh. I… I think I should talk to them. Whether they'll listen to reason about that boy or not, at the very least I might be able to calm them down."
"Yeah. Good idea." Nate seemed like he wanted nothing more than to go out there and snap some sense into these people, but not all of Opelucid's residents were particularly fond of him and he knew he was likely to end up making things worse. "I'll go make sure Ryan's okay. He's been having a rough day, huh."
"Alright. Good luck finding him." Honestly, Iris worried for the child's safety. The people's reaction, as well as the time she'd first seen him… hopefully there was no connection.
She released Evelyn before heading over to the crowd, just in case that pile of metal was actually working still. As soon as an old man noticed her, he looked like all his prayers had been answered.
"Iris, you have to help us!" he begged. "Team Plasma is here!"
"They aren't, it's okay," Iris assured. Drayden had been looked up to as a mayor in this city, and while Iris had never claimed the title for herself, the people here often treated her as if it had been passed down. "N was manipulated and no longer has any ties to Team Plasma; I'm sure his son is no threat."
"You're sure?" the middle-aged woman asked. Her eyes glittered with worry, most likely for her Pokémon.
Iris nodded. She glanced at the blond man; he had simply shrugged. That proved to Iris that he didn't really consider the child's bloodline a problem at all; why the need to bring it up to all these people? "I hope you will consider your words the next time you speak." As much as she wanted to snap at him, she wanted to do her best to solve things diplomatically. "You've caused grief for that child and the people of Opelucid."
The man's eyebrows raised slightly, not expecting to be scolded. Instead of reacting harshly, though, he just bowed his head. "Sorry, ma'am. I will."
Honestly, Iris couldn't tell if he was being sincere or not.
Ryan's first instinct upon leaving the city had been to make a beeline for the forest on Route 9. Whenever he'd had trouble with the other children at school, he'd hide in the woods, the one place they wouldn't dare to follow him because they weren't friends with the wild Pokémon there like he was. In Unova it was different; the Pokémon didn't know him, and he knew in the back of his mind that the Gothorita they'd seen the day they got here was probably somewhere in this forest, but by now his Pokémon were more than able to deal with her if she attacked.
He was still trying to wrap his mind around what had happened. Those people were mad at him, because Jeremy had told them his father was the leader of Team Plasma.
"He's lying," Ryan muttered to himself, irritably plucking the leaves from a half-dead bush and tearing them into small pieces as he tried to think. It was getting late in the day; he didn't want to go back to Opelucid but there wouldn't be enough time to travel to the next town before it got dark. Perhaps if he could find some reason, some proof that what Jeremy said wasn't true, it at least wouldn't be dangerous for him to walk back to the Pokémon Centre.
Team Plasma was a terrible group of people, from what he'd heard. They'd stolen people's Pokémon. The ones in Driftveil had said not all of them even made it away from the trainers alive.
Driftveil. Where Anthea and Concordia lived.
His dad's sisters.
No, they were helping the Pokémon there, right? Besides, if his father really had been involved with Team Plasma, surely they would've known about it.
They did look rather surprised when he asked them what it was, though. And why had Ryan never been told about his aunts before?
This was awful. The more he thought, the more he started to think it might actually be true…
As he plucked yet another auburn-coloured leaf, he paused for a moment, gaze settling on his Xtransceiver. There was one sure-fire way to find out, right? His parents wouldn't lie to him.
Letting the torn leaf flutter out of his grip and to the ground, Ryan scrolled through the list of contacts until he found 'Home'. The usual ringing tone droned repeatedly as he waited for the call to be answered.
Finally, a click.
"Hey Ryan. Everything alright?"
It's Dad. Of course, he was calling earlier than usual; his mother was probably watching that really boring show on TV. At least this made things slightly easier.
"Er—hi Dad. Yeah, I… I guess. Can… I ask you something?" Perhaps he should've spent a moment trying to work out how exactly he was going to ask this before he called. It was too late now.
"Yeah. Are… are you sure everything's okay?"
Ryan felt bad for making him worry; it was probably just nothing, after all. Still, he didn't answer the question. "Dad, were… did…" How was he supposed to ask? For all he knew, his father might have never even heard of the organisation before. "Were you… the leader of Team Plasma?"
He expected – hoped – for him to sound confused. To ask what on earth Ryan was talking about.
Instead, nothing. Just silence.
"Dad?" He was out in the forest. Maybe the signal was weak here. It had to be the signal. Right…?
Another click.
Call ended.
Touko knew that Ryan had called. A little earlier than usual, but that wasn't really anything new. N didn't mind answering the phone when he knew it was Ryan, so she'd decided to just leave him to it and continue to watch her show instead. If there was anything important going on, he would tell her.
The sound of the phone hitting the counter made her jump, and immediately her attention was drawn away from the television. N was staring at the dropped receiver in shock. He'd reacted as if the object had burnt him.
"N?" His reaction alone was enough to make her concerned, let alone the look of horror in his eyes. "N, is everything okay?"
He didn't even look at her, eyes still glued to the cordless phone as it spun slowly on the counter and eventually came to a halt. "N-no…" It was impossible to tell if he was actually responding to her question or not. He looked like he'd seen a ghost. He took an unsteady step back.
Then he turned and fled, leaving the door to slowly swing shut behind him.
"N!" Touko called. It was no use; if he'd even heard her in the first place, he didn't come back. Extremely worried now, she hit the power button on the remote and slipped on her shoes, ready to chase after him into the forest and find out if he was okay – and what had caused such a reaction from him.
The sound of the phone again ringing made her pause, though. The ringtone – that was Ryan calling back. Touko didn't know what was going on, whether it was because of something Ryan had said that caused N to panic like that. If it was… there was only one reason that could be. An uneasy feeling clawed at her insides as she realised.
Maybe it wasn't. Either way, she couldn't just ignore her son, even if all she needed to do was ask him to call back later.
When she picked up the phone, she checked the back of it just to make sure it hadn't been damaged – luckily not – before pressing the green button and holding it to her ear. "Ryan?"
"Mum…?" He sounded confused to hear her.
"Ryan, what did you say to your father?" she asked, no time for idle chat.
"I…" There was a brief pause on the other end of the phone, and when Ryan next spoke, the confusion was gone. "It's true, isn't it? Jeremy wasn't lying—Dad really was the leader of Team Plasma, wasn't he!?"
Oh no… She knew it was bound to happen someday. He would find out sooner or later. This wasn't how she'd wanted it to happen, though. In an ideal world, they'd have told him some time after he got back home. When he wouldn't have to worry about how people would act towards him if they found out. Things didn't always way out the way she wanted, though.
She didn't know who 'Jeremy' was, or how Ryan had found out, or how much he knew. But… she couldn't lie. That'd be worse than telling him the truth and it'd only make things worse when he did eventually find out.
"It's… it's complicated," she said, her voice somewhat guarded. She wasn't anywhere near prepared for this conversation.
"How is it complicated!? Was he the leader or not? Just tell me!"
He sounded so upset. Touko hated to hear him like this – especially when it was partly because of her own doing. "… Yes. But Ryan, it's not what—"
"Why didn't you tell me this before!?" Ryan snapped, interrupting her. His voice shook on the other end of the line.
"Like I said, it's complicated." Touko didn't know how to explain in a way that would get through to him. "You think he wanted you to know?"
"Sure, of course he didn't. Then I'd know that more people were going to hate me because of him."
"Ryan!" Her voice was sterner now. "It's not his fault. You can't blame him for things which are out of his control!"
"It's not my fault either! You've lied—all this time, you lied! That's not my fault…!"
"I… I know," Touko sighed in defeat. "I know, and I'm sorry, Ryan. We didn't mean to – we had to, okay?"
"Just… shut up! Stop it, stop making excuses!"
She could hear the distress in his voice, hear that he was crying and almost choking on his own words. Touko wished she could hold him in her arms to comfort him like when he was younger, but he was so far away now – and he probably wouldn't accept her consolation even if she were there.
"Ryan, please, just listen to me…"
No use. The call gave way to a monotone note. He'd hung up.
Touko lowered the receiver slowly, hesitating for a long moment before pressing the red phone button. In the span of a few minutes, everything had become such a mess. With a helpless groan, she pressed a hand to her forehead.
Maybe there was no hope of having a normal family when the past wouldn't leave you alone.
Her lip quivered, and she took a deep breath. There was nothing she could do for Ryan right now other than hope he might calm down enough to speak to them later. In the meantime, she'd just have to go out and look for N and hope the fresh air would clear her head before she found him.
As soon as he ended the call, Ryan curled his fingers into his hair and screamed.
He couldn't believe it. They'd kept this from him all this time. And so what? So he wouldn't think badly of his father for leading a team that stole and hurt people's Pokémon?
Well, it was too late for that now.
Ryan half-sat, half-collapsed onto a nearby boulder, and buried his face in his hands. His whole body shuddered every time a sob pulled at his chest.
It wasn't fair.
The heavens had finally begun to open after looking so threatening all day, and the leaves above rustled as the rain hit them. As much as Ryan longed to have one of his Pokémon with him right now, to know that not everyone had turned against him, he didn't want them to get soaked, and he'd probably caused Mariana enough worry for one day.
Besides, it wasn't as if he'd been able to do much to stop them from getting hurt.
The weeping soon gave way to a quiet sniffle as he wore himself out from crying. He didn't know what to do now. He just felt lost.
There was no way he could show his face in Opelucid. Ryan felt a brief wave of homesickness, one which wasn't unfamiliar after being away for so long but was then immediately crushed by the reminder that home wasn't quite what he thought.
He didn't feel up to traveling, either. It was a long way to the next city. Maybe he could stay in the forest? Pokémon slept here all the time, it couldn't be that hard…
It was dangerous in the forest, though. Especially unguarded.
Ryan sighed, pulling his arms closer to himself as the rainwater dripping from the trees hit his skin. It was cold out here.
It crossed his mind to maybe look for the raincoat in his bag, which he'd dumped against the side of the rock when he got here – the garment wasn't particularly warm, but it'd at least keep him dry. It seemed like such an effort, though, to hunt through everything in his backpack and drag it out while also trying to make sure nothing else got wet in the process. Perhaps he could find a more sheltered area or something instead.
Before he could make much of a plan, however, something fell on him. Something heavy.
Ryan almost jumped out of his skin, yelping in surprise and scrambling to fight off whatever it was. Some kind of trap? Had the people from the city followed him out here to capture him!?
The weight was lifted a moment later. "Hey, hey, it's just a coat! It ain't going to bite you."
For a moment, Ryan wondered if Nate was really there or if he was just imagining things. He was snapped out of his momentary daze as the champion let go of the coat once more and the hood fell down in front of his face. Ryan pushed it back up so he could see, unable to respond and suddenly very conscious of his tear-stained face.
"Of course, I'm pretty sure that thing used to belong to Drayden," Nate continued, casually leaning back against a nearby tree and crossing his arms across his chest. "So I can't guarantee that it doesn't smell like an old man."
Ryan was silently glad that he didn't immediately ask what had happened, or why he looked such a mess. He had a feeling the champion knew, anyway. That was why he was here – and why he'd thrown a coat at him. "What about you?"
"Hey, I just took a shower, like, an hour ago. I'm pretty sure I don't smell like an old man."
"No, I mean…" Of course he was joking, trying to lighten the mood since he could tell Ryan was upset. That was what Nate did. Ryan wasn't really in the mood for humour, though. "It's raining. You don't have your coat." He was wearing a completely different outfit than usual, actually. Considering his usual attire it almost seemed odd to see him in brighter colours.
Nate shrugged, unfolding his arms and shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans instead. "Eh. I'm weather-beaten enough to be pretty much immune to rain by this point."
There was a short silence, broken only by the quiet sound of rainfall.
"That guy didn't know what he was talking about, huh," Nate said eventually. "Kinda harsh."
"He knew," Ryan muttered. He shifted the coat to his shoulders so it'd stop blocking out his vision. "Didn't you use to know Dad? You knew he was the leader of Team Plasma, didn't you?"
"Well, yeah. So did most of the region. But it's not like…" As he looked at Ryan his expression suddenly turned to one of surprise, as if he'd just realised something. "You didn't know about it, did you?"
"No," Ryan said bitterly. "I do now."
Nate watched his reaction quietly, as if thinking what to say. "I guess I can understand why he wouldn't want you to know."
He's taking their side!? That wasn't what Ryan expected at all, knowing what he now did. "If you knew, why were you friends with him? Didn't you care about the awful things Team Plasma did!?"
"N had already left Team Plasma when I first met him," Nate said matter-of-factly, not taking offense from Ryan's tone of voice. "I don't know all the circumstances. The place I'm from wasn't bothered by Team Plasma when they first appeared. Your mother did a pretty good job of sorting them out back then from what I hear; I just cleaned up the mess that was left a couple years later."
The hurt look in Ryan's eyes disappeared slowly, replaced by surprise. Mum had a part in stopping Team Plasma?
"Don't get me wrong, Team Plasma did some awful things. And I'm sure N feels guilty about a lot of the stuff that happened when he was their king. His father put a lot of lies into his head to make him think he was honestly helping Pokémon."
"His father?" Ryan echoed. He'd rarely even heard mention of his dad's parents before. Was that why? "What happened?"
"Like I said, I don't really know," Nate said with a shrug. "It's something he didn't tell you about; he never gave the whole story to me either. Ghetsis was the real leader of Team Plasma, though, I can tell you that much. He was just using his son because he was naïve and could understand the voices of Pokémon." He scowled, clearly not fond of this person.
"He sounds awful." Ryan was starting to see the whole situation from a new angle. Assuming what Nate said was true, it would explain why he knew nothing of his father's family, and why Anthea and Concordia hadn't told him anything; Ghetsis was their father too. "Is he still in Unova?"
"No, no, you're safe." Nate gave a half-hearted smile to reassure him. "He's six feet under by now, and honestly I'd say that's where a man like him belongs. He won't be hurting anyone else."
Ryan's shoulders relaxed slightly. If Ghetsis had been his grandfather… that was one family member he definitely didn't want to meet.
"Y'know… actually," Nate added as an afterthought, eyes lighting up with an idea as he unclipped one of the Poké balls from his belt. "I might not know much about what happened, but there's someone who probably does. If you want to know, that is."
"I… I think so," Ryan nodded. He wanted to understand all this mess. His head was starting to hurt from trying to work everything out on his own.
The red flash of light reflected off the damp grass and leaves, and at first Ryan was a little confused to see Marth appear in a space among the tree roots. After a few seconds and a quick glance at the surroundings, the area around the Samurott seemed to warp and shake, the illusion quickly dissolving to reveal Zoroark. The fox gave his trainer a questioning glance.
"I'll leave you to it," Nate said, gently scratching Zoroark's ears. He cast a glance at Ryan. "This doesn't have much to do with me, and besides, trying to work out what this guy is saying would be next to impossible." Giving his Pokémon one final pat, he strolled off into the forest, hopping over any protruding roots as he went.
"I must have missed something," Zoroark mumbled, a rather deadpan expression on his face as he watched his trainer leave. His gaze shifted, first to the sky then to Ryan. "I hope you were planning on sharing your shelter. It's raining."
A small smile pulled at the corners of Ryan's mouth. Nate's Zoroark may have looked different from the Zoroark he knew, but his attitude definitely carried some similarities. "Sure. You can have the whole thing; I have my own raincoat anyway." Maybe he should have mentioned that to Nate before he left.
When Zoroark hopped up next to him on the rocks, Ryan threw the coat over him; the fox didn't react much, settling down on the cold surface with only half his face and an ear poking out from underneath the old parka. "So what am I doing here again?" he asked, nose twitching as a drop of rain landed on his muzzle.
"Nate said you might be able to tell me what happened before," Ryan said, fishing the dark blue raincoat from his bag. "With Team Plasma… you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, though." He needed to know what happened, but he wasn't going to force the Pokémon to recount the story, especially if it was a painful one.
The fox seemed rather surprised to hear him say that. He sat up, only just able to keep his temporary rain shelter from sliding off. "Why? What did you want to know?"
"I don't know," Ryan admitted with a sigh. "I just—I… didn't know that Dad had anything to do with Team Plasma until today. Everyone in town seemed really angry about it. But Nate said that he wasn't really the leader, that… that his father just tricked him into it. Or… at least, I think that's what he was saying. I-I don't know." He looked helplessly at Zoroark.
"… I know what happened. I was one of the Pokémon who was brought to the castle," Zoroark muttered, as if that was something Ryan would understand. "I can tell you what happened, but I can't promise it's what you want to hear. Especially if N hasn't told you."
N. He called him N, not Natural. Ryan gave a determined nod. "I'll listen."
"I'll hold you to that, then. Don't complain to me later if you change your mind."
It was only five minutes before Touko eventually tracked down her husband, sat at the base of a tree with one arm hugging his knees to his chest. His free hand ran repeatedly over Zoroark's mane; the fox was curled up beside him, occasionally casting a worried glance at his old friend over how much he could feel him shaking.
Touko hesitated for a moment before cautiously walking towards him. Usually her presence comforted him, but this time she was unsure whether it would.
N glanced up as she approached but didn't meet her gaze. His eyes were swollen, face stained with tears.
She slowly sat down next to him on the other side of Zoroark, reaching one hand out to the old fox just to make sure he wasn't holding any of this against her; he nudged the back of her hand with his nose, a sign that he understood.
"He knows." N was the first to break the silence. "He knows, Touko."
"Yeah," Touko nodded solemnly, knowing that any attempt to reassure him would make her feel like she was patronising him. She was sick of stretching the truth; it only ended up hurting her family more in the end. "I spoke to him. He was… upset."
"I lied to him, Touko." N looked at her with an immeasurable amount of guilt and fear in his eyes, which were already starting to water again. "I hid the truth. A-and now something's happened to him, and he knows, and he hates me for it, I know he does. And he should. I'm an awful father— I'm no better than Ghetsis was!"
"No! That's not true, N. You know it's not," Touko insisted, placing a hand on his arm. "Ghetsis didn't care. He lied to you because he wanted to use you to gain power. You do care; you wanted to protect Ryan."
"But I also—I didn't want him to know. I didn't want him to hate me for what I did. He— he'd tell me about things that happened and I just – I'd worry about if he was going to find out rather than if he was okay." He buried his head in his arms. "That's not how a real father would feel."
Touko didn't know how to console him. She couldn't convince him otherwise. In the end, she just sighed. "I guess that makes me awful too, then. I avoided telling you about things because I didn't want you to worry that he might put two and two together." As N lifted his head, staring at her in fear of what she might be about to tell him, she continued. "When he called a while back, when he was talking about dragons – he'd met Reshiram. I lied and said he was talking about the gym instead. I'm sorry."
She didn't want to return his gaze, fearful of the look of betrayal she might see in his blue-grey eyes. His reaction surprised her.
"It's okay. I understand—you didn't want to hurt me."
"You're not upset that I lied to you?"
N gave a small shake of his head, rubbing at his eyes with one hand. "I would have liked to know, but… I trust your judgement more."
His words send a wave of affection to her heart, and Touko couldn't keep back a slight smile. No matter what hardships they might face from now on, at least the bond between them wouldn't be broken because of it. "If you understand and forgive me for that… don't you think Ryan might feel the same way once he understands what happened?"
Logic was always a good way to get through to him. N finally had the slightest glimmer of hope in his gaze. "I… maybe. I hope so. Do… you think he will?"
"I do," she nodded, laying her arms around his shoulders and pulling him into a hug. Much to her relief, he returned the embrace a moment later. "Once he's calmed down and ready to listen, I'm sure he'll understand. If Reshiram didn't make toast out of him, he's definitely capable of handling the truth."
