Final Choice, Final Goodbye
"Fai! Fai!" yells Mint as he runs into the living room. He's made his decision and needs to tell her about what he plans to do. He stops in the middle of the room, in front of her TV. He looks around but doesn't find her anywhere in here. He has no idea of where she could've gone, but he knows that she probably didn't go far, she wouldn't just leave him all alone to do whatever he wants to do, he may be trustworthy in her eyes, but it's still her apartment and she's the one that calls the shots.
"Crap! Where'd you go!? I gotta tell you so I can get outta here and go back! Every second I spend here gets me closer and closer to the end of the day!" he thought to himself as he walked towards the window. He reaches it and takes a look outside, the only things he sees are the streets below, the people and Pokemon walking on the sidewalk below, and no sign of where she went.
He bounds away from the window and quickly thinks about where she could've gone. "In her room maybe? I'll have to knock, I can't just barge in, she said I'm not allowed in there. If she's not in her room, then maybe she's outside once again…" he says to himself. He walks over to the door that leads to her room. Unlike the other doors in the apartment, this one is painted black, white, and yellow. This color scheme is exactly like the colors on her body, why she decided to only paint her bedroom door and not the others is something he doesn't care to know.
He raises his left paw and knocks on the door a couple times, then waits. He stands there, bobbing up and down slightly, a bit impatient and raring to tell her so he can hightail it out of Castelia. Almost a minute goes by and the door doesn't open nor does he get a response from the other side, so he assumes she's not in there. He walks away and heads for the front door, turning the knob with his left paw, pushing it open, and being greeted by the somewhat unfriendly wind now blowing across the land. "Aww man! What's with this wind?" he says as he puts his right paw up in front of his face in response to the big gust that blasts its way at him. The wind calms down and he puts his paw down. Now that it's not howling, if she's nearby, she'll hear him call her name, so he does just that. "Fai! Are you out here!?" his voice echoes slightly.
"I'm here! C'mon up!" she says, but her voice seems to come from nowhere. He looks around for her but can't see her. She's not on the awning, nor does she seem to be below him.
"Where are you? I can't see you!" he yells.
"Climb the ladder that's next to the stairs! It'll bring you up to the small balcony that I have." she yells in response.
He looks to his left and next to the stairs is a ladder that goes up quite a bit. He goes to it and starts climbing it as fast as he can. About 30 seconds of climbing later, he manages to reach the top and now stands on a metal, scaffolding-like balcony that's almost on the roof of the building. The view from up here allows him to see not just the street and sidewalk below, but all of the ocean and a perfect view of both the Skyarrow bridge, and Pinwheel forest. Fai seems to have her arms leaning over the railing of the balcony, her hands dangling over. She's looking out over the ocean at something in the distance but it's not clear what she's exactly looking at. Mint walks up to her and stands next to her, for a few seconds, they both look out at the same thing, but since he came looking for her for a reason, she breaks the little silence that settled between them and asks him. "You were calling my name before, is there something you want to tell me?"
He looks her right in the eyes. "Y-yeah… It's about w-what we talked about from e-earlier."
She keeps her eyes locked with his. "I'm guessing you thought about it long and hard, otherwise you wouldn't be up here with me."
He nods. "I… I've made my decision."
She stays silent. She wants to know what he's thinking about doing. He starts to tell her. "If I w-were to tell myself back when I was a-about to run away from home, "You're going to meet someone that will tell you everything that you need to know, but they'll also show you what you already have." I w-would've looked at myself, laughed, and not believed a single word that I said. K-knowing what I know now, my past self would look l-like even more of a fool with that type of r-reaction…"
She nods. "It would sound like it."
He continues. "What you told me about the p-perspective that you had on my life story, it really changed how I saw those e-events. Sure, it hurt a lot… but t-that's beside the point. E-everything you said was t-true, I really wouldn't be here if it wasn't for what h-happened. I wouldn't be w-who I am today if I wasn't b-bullied and hurt. I have a lot to thank t-them for, because they helped shape me into m-myself, my personality."
She nods again. "Mhm… so you see it differently now?"
"Y-yes… it's because of you that I see it l-like this."
This slightly surprises her, but she couldn't say to herself that she wasn't expecting him to stay the same after such a long explanation. "I find it funny… After I told you that, I said to myself that you wouldn't change. You kept that life story locked up tight and were very secretive about it, I also have a feeling that you purposely watched what you said to avoid revealing anything about your life as well. With you being so stubborn about it, I felt that perhaps you wouldn't be able to see it in a different light. I'm clearly wrong about that after what you just said to me."
He smiles. "Well, it's a change that I'm glad I was able to undergo. I could also say the same about my evolution… I treated it as the worst thing ever when it first happened, but looking back on it now, I feel that maybe this is for the better as well. If I didn't evolve, I don't think I'd be standing next to you right now, which goes right back to what you said to me." he breaks eye contact and looks out across the ocean over at Pinwheel forest. He doesn't look at it for too long because to his east, he notices that the sky in this direction is nearly pitch black due to some extremely thick, heavy clouds looming in the distance. They seem to be fast approaching and whatever is coming along with them isn't fucking around.
He frowns, this storm isn't going to be snow, it's going be very heavy rain, thunder, and lightning alongside high winds. He can't stay here for too long, otherwise he'll have no chance of beating this thing out. He looks back at Fai, who is also looking at the clouds in that direction. "Doesn't look too good… Those clouds aren't the friendly type and I know which ones are friendly. We're gonna get a nasty fucking storm."
Mint's tone deepens slightly. "Y-yeah… speaking of that…" She turns to face him. "If it wasn't for y-you, I also wouldn't have ever seen that I-I had everything I wanted in my life. I came h-here for no reason in that sense, but i-if I didn't, we wouldn't have ever met."
She smiles. "That's true, and I kinda don't know how I'd feel knowing that. If I knew you existed and I wouldn't be able to meet you, knowing what I know about you now, I'd be a bit upset." she holds her hands in front of her body while saying this and she looks down a little.
He chuckles. "W-well, at least we ended up meeting each other." his tone lightens up. "You know, there's s-something that I was told by someone before I evolved, something that while I didn't really u-understand then, I fully understand the true meaning behind it now after everything that's h-happened."
She looks up at him. "What's that?"
He quotes elder Naomi. "Life isn't always about those you've grown to know, but sometimes, it's about those you meet along the way." he then explains it. "It means that no matter what, the ones that you've lived with for your entire life won't always have the answer to the questions you have, it's the ones that you meet along the way that give you the answers to those questions… at least, that's how I see it." upon saying this, he catches the bright glow of the pendant around his neck from the bottom of his eye. He looks down at it. "If the pendant glows, then it also agrees. She agrees as well…"
Fai is a bit confused on who he's talking about. "Who do you mean "She"? Who's she?"
He chuckles. "I-it's not important… it's s-someone who's helped me in more ways than one over these last few days yet I didn't a-acknowledge that they were trying to help at all. As much as I would be w-willing to tell you about her, I can't. My time here is p-precious, and if I waste too much, I won't be able to beat out that storm."
She understands, and from this, she has an idea of what he's going to say. "I see… so I guess that means you're-"
He completes her sentence. "Going to head home. Y-yes."
She quickly gets upset and her tone reflects it. "I had a feeling…"
He smiles a little. "...I-I know you're probably upset about it… but, I have to go back. The life I-I want to live is waiting for me back a-at home, and I have to f-face whatever it is that's waiting for me when I return no matter what it is."
She nods and a couple tears begin to well up in her eyes. "I know… but it only feels like yesterday since I met you. I'm going to be a bit lonely again once you leave, and with Scott constantly traveling around Unova, I won't have anyone to talk to or see for a long time…"
He takes a deep breath that's audible to her. He enjoyed her company even though things have been rough, and the same can be said for her. She wasn't without problems, she had been beaten up and harassed by those Pokemon and if it wasn't for him, she would've been victim of something far worse. They've gone through it all together, and have grown a bit from it as well. The relationship they have with each other is more than amicable in every way. It's sad for both of them, but this is how it has to be. Mint knows that he has to go back, and if he could, deep down, he'd take her with him but this is impossible because she has a job and an apartment to maintain. He sighs and she does the same thing. They both look out across the ocean again, not saying anything. They want to enjoy these last few moments together because once Mint leaves, he'll probably not come back, at least, that's what Fai thinks.
2 minutes of more silence before he finally speaks up. "... I… I'm… I'm glad to have m-met you… y-you've been so nice a-and understanding of me… Y-you helped me so much…"
"I know, and you've helped me equally as much. I'm really going to miss you, I don't know how much I'll miss you, but I know it's going to be quite a bit." she stops, putting her hands together and looking down, her tears starting to drop and wet the ground below her. "I… I hope everything turns out the way you want it to, I know you said they might not be so welcoming, but you seem like you're going to face whatever it is with courage and take it on full force, so I hope things turn out okay…"
He notices that she's crying and this further upsets him, but he knows that it's not because of something bad, it's because she's probably not gonna see him again. For the first time, instead of it being her that initiates it, he gets close to her and wraps his arms around her, hugging her. While he's much more comfortable with her, he's still embarrassed by hugging her and his cheeks quickly grow a deep shade of red. This surprises her and her eyes widen a little in shock. She never expected him to do this but she gladly takes it and in response, she returns it and tightly hugs him. They stay like this for what feels like 5 minutes but a powerful gust of wind hits them and like a signal from the heavens, Mint takes this as a final warning of sorts to hurry up. He doesn't want to let go of her and a few tears form in his eyes as well, but he has to go. As much he doesn't want to, he has no choice and he slowly drops his arms. She does the same. They look into each other's eyes for the last time. Mint speaks, his tone quite upset now. "I… I have to go Fai… I won't forget what y-you've done for me…" he then breaks away from her and slowly starts to walk towards the ladder.
Fai holds her hands up to where her heart is and watches him slowly walk away. Before he reaches the ladder, she yells to him. "Mint! Stop!" she then runs up to him.
He turns around, a bit confused on why she'd stop him and she stops right in front of him, their mouths and faces literal inches away from each other. She speaks to him, tears rolling down her face. "W-wait… t-there's something I need to know…"
"W-what is it Fai?"
She taps her hands together. "Tell me… tell me where you live. You're heading back to your old home, and depending on where that is, I might be able to see you in the future."
"I live in Pinwheel forest… It's not that far from here…"
She looks over her shoulder and out over the ocean directly at the forest and her eyes widen a bit. "You're literally a simple glide away! I could easily visit you when I'm not busy!" her tone lightens up a bit, but she's still very upset. She grabs both of his paws. "I promise to visit you, I don't care what I have to do, but I'm going to keep that promise, okay?" He smiles and nods slightly. She lets his paw go and he begins to turn around but once again, she stops him. "Wait…" he looks back at her, now completely confused as to what she wants.
Their faces are still literal inches apart, and even though she'll be able to see him some day in the future, she doesn't know exactly when and because she doesn't want to let this opportunity pass by, she decides the time is now. "I… I have something to give you before you go…" she says a bit quieter than usual. Her cheeks quickly turn a deep shade of red and Mint becomes a bit curious.
"You have s-something for me?" he says, his tone curious and completely unaware of what she's about to do.
With no warning, she firmly presses her mouth up to his, giving him a kiss, something that nobody's ever done to him in his life besides his parents but the last time he was kissed by them was years ago. This kiss isn't a normal one either, it seems to have a bit of passion in it. Her eyes close but his don't and instead, they open as wide as they could possibly open and his heart starts to beat extremely fast. His entire face turns an extremely bright shade of red and all the thoughts in his head except for his decision completely disappear. This kiss from Fai doesn't last long, because she knows that he has to beat out the storm, and she pulls away after about 8 seconds. He looks at her, completely dumbfounded and she giggles at his reaction to it. This kiss has also awoken a strange feeling inside him and it slowly starts to take control.
Fai sees this and as much as she'd love to, she can't because he has to leave and she quickly becomes serious, reminding him of what he's racing against. "That's my way of saying thanks for everything you've done for me… but you need to hurry. That storm's coming fast and I don't think you'll want to be caught in the middle of it."
He shakes his head a couple times quickly to snap out of this strange new feeling he's slipped into and realizes that what she said is true. They share their true last look at each other before Mint turns around and instead of climbing down the ladder, he jumps off from the top. He lands on the ground with no issues, goes down the stairs, and once he reaches the bottom, he gets on all four of his paws and takes off running towards the Skyarrow bridge gate entrance. As he does, he hears Fai yelling to him. "Good luck Mint! I promise to visit you in the future!" she also waves him good-bye as well but he doesn't see this.
He wants to yell back to her, but because he's racing against the storm, he can't afford to waste more time. His face becomes covered a bit by a slightly dark shadow and his eyes become intense and serious. He's focused on getting back home and as he runs through the crowd of people to get to the bridge gate, the wind blows hard and violently. His fur fluffs are pushed to the side and his tail is also kicked out as the wind snags it and pushes it in the direction it's blowing in. As he runs closer and closer to the bridge entrance gate, another bad feeling starts to form inside him, not because of his choice to leave, but because of something else, something far more sinister.
PD: Sweet and adorable, right? I just had to make her do that before he left. Anyway, for anyone that guessed he would be leaving and going back home, you win... well... I dunno, a cookie or something? That's beside the point, Mint and Fai part ways and Mint now has to race against the storm and as you saw in the ending of the last chapter, something else that nobody could foresee coming... I hope you enjoyed and I'll Seeya in the second to last chapter of the story!