Chapter 34 Echoes of the Past
As they had landed in Opelucid City, Cheren had been astonished to see N and Zekrom standing in the small garden to the left of its Pokémon Center. He and Bianca had landed their matching male and female Unfezant in front of its automated doors, joined shortly by Alder on his Volcarona. A massive crowd had gathered at N's feet. Upon closer inspection, Cheren could see that Ghetsis and some other grunts were standing at attention behind the beastly, black pokémon. They were remaining discomfortingly quiet. Cheren had never seen N giving a speech along with Team Plasma before… just Ghetsis, or any other Sage, and some goons of theirs. Even more concerningly, the group of people surrounding them seemed to be listening to his words. Cheren bitterly set his jaw and his hands flexed at his sides. Oh, how he craved to knock that idiot N down a notch.
Just as he, Bianca, and Alder were disembarking their pokémon, a burly man and a girl with huge, violet hair raced toward them. He recognized them both as Drayden and Iris, respectively. The prior was a gym leader, easily remembered from the pamphlet he'd received back in Striaton City at the start of his adventure, and the latter had assisted when Bianca's Munna was stolen. As they drew closer, Bianca nervously exclaimed, "Iris! It's been so long!" She sounded like she desperately wanted to just catch up with this old friend. Cheren scuffed his shoes frustratedly against the paneling that made up Opelucid City's sidewalks and roads. If there were not a literal legendary pokémon nearby, he might have had time to note the entire city was covered in the solar panels, and built out of a modernistic, minimalist metal.
"Hi, Bianca!" Iris puffed with a distracted wave at her. She turned her attention to Alder quickly. "Champion Alder! It's—"
"How nice of you to join us, Wandering Champion of Unova," Drayden hissed as he smoothed his hair out. Cheren realized the elderly man looked frazzled and his forehead glistened with sweat. "It's just too bad you had to miss N of Team Plasma forcing me into battle in the middle of Opelucid's streets and convince many of my people that what we know of the Ancient Dragons of Unova is wrong."
"Drayden—" Alder started and was cut off with a seething glare from the gym leader.
"Gym Leader Drayden to you," he growled.
Alder's face soured and he pursed his lips. "Gym Leader Drayden," Alder corrected himself slowly, "I'm sorry we didn't get here sooner. But you knew N had to face you and he'd win. We have a plan to deal with N at the Pokémon League. That's why we're here. You know this. Now, we need you to tell us everything you know about the Ancient Dragons of Unova so we can revive Reshiram from the Light Stone."
"Our friend Hil has it and he's on his way," Bianca nodded encouragingly. Cheren could tell she was trying to defuse the tension building between the gym leader and champion. "He says he wants to face N at the League! But that the stone still hasn't done anything, just glowed when he held it…"
"Well, where is he?" Drayden demanded crankily. He sure was a charming old man, Cheren thought sarcastically.
"Looking for me?" the distant, familiar voice of Hil called as a Zebstrika rushed at them. Cheren recognized it right away as Prada due to the characteristic toss of his head as he skidded to a halt at their side, and the smug prance that immediately followed. He jealously narrowed his eyes at Hil as he jumped free of Prada's back and looped an arm lazily around the Zebstrika. Flicking his gaze to N and Zekrom and then back at Cheren and the others, he nervously grinned. "I see I missed a lot…"
"Hil! You're here!" Bianca squealed and launched herself at him, nearly taking him and Prada down to the ground with the force of her hug. Hil, staggering, laughed uproariously and returned her embrace tightly. Anger surged and Cheren clenched his teeth. He was quite certain Hil was gay, especially with the way he went all starry-eyed whenever Church or N was around, but seeing Bianca throw herself at him was upsetting all the same. Hil was now the 'New Hero of Truths,' destined to save the region from Team Plasma's cruelty, and Cheren was… what, exactly? Just Cheren. That's all you are. That's all you'll ever be.
"I'm so glad you're here! I was so worried about you! Where have you been? Prada let you ride him? That's am-a-zing! You still have the Light Stone, right?" Bianca blathered, oblivious to Cheren's private fury.
"Of course. I'm not that clumsy. What, did you think I'd drop it in a lake or something?" Hil teased her with a smirk.
In fact, everyone's attention was immediately on Hil, and Drayden broke into explanation regarding how N had arrived and threatened him until he battled him for the Legend Badge. Drayden had naturally lost under the might of the fearsome Zekrom and wanted to offer whatever advice he could to Hil. Cheren only grew more and more irritated as they talked over Hil. It was as if they had forgotten that just a few short days ago, N had been dead set on facing Cheren at the League, or that Hil lost almost every match he participated in. He still had a Watchog and Liepard on his main team, for Arceus' sake! He had fled when he was given the Light Stone! What kind of a Hero was that?
Yet, the Light Stone glowed for him and him alone. Cheren angrily dug his nails into his palms. Although he was jealous and frustrated at Hil having usurped what he felt would be the true purpose for his journey, he was torn when it came to voicing his displeasure. Hil had a good heart, even if his battling skill were to be desired, and he knew tearing Hil down at this point would only threaten Unova and the people counting on his success. Once again, he was swallowing his pride and his emotions to keep his friends afloat, to keep their hopes high, to save everyone else. That understanding he had thought they came to on Twist Mountain felt like it was eons away. He had tried to bury his unwillingness to share himself, to put his thoughts and feelings out there more for Bianca, to encourage his pokémon more, to get more 'in touch' with himself… and this was how he was repaid. Reminded that there was always someone out there—usually Hil—with a much worse story than he. Reminded that he was the glue that held up the trio's foundation.
Resignedly, Cheren stepped forward to listen to the plan. The hurt at having what he had been sure would be his destiny stolen from beneath his feet felt like more of a dull ache. How could he have really expected it to have gone his way? Why had he allowed himself to believe in it so foolishly? He was Cheren, the smart one, the one everyone turned to when they needed help. He didn't have problems severe enough to be worth their weight in unhappiness. He knew better. Now, he had to build those defenses back up so he could assist Hil. If not for Hil himself, then for Bianca, and for the rest of Unova. He glanced over his shoulder at the people clamoring for attention from N and the other Team Plasma goons nearby.
There was a much sharper pang of hurt as he realized most Unovans would likely never be aware of his sacrifice, and that Bianca could very well grow bored with him in favor of Hil… What if he was wrong and Hil wasn't gay, or what if Bianca just flatly didn't know, and an attraction to Hil ruined whatever feelings she might have had for Cheren? Turning his attention back to Hil and his stupid, nervous smile, Cheren ground his teeth. He tried to tell himself he had no right to be so bitter, that Hil hadn't asked for any of this either, or maybe that he was overreacting and reading the whole situation wrong…
But it all just… hurt.
Hil had noticed N and Zekrom as he rode into Opelucid City. He'd felt an odd air of confidence as he overlooked him. That usual pang of urgency, the one that made him want to rush over and talk N out of his fervor, had returned with vengeance, but instead of giving in, he had managed to take a deep breath and resist. He knew by now that there was no way to talk N out of his goals. Ghetsis had sunk fangs of deceit deep into his adoptive son; N lived in a house of cards and the only way he was going to see sense was if that structure blew down. After all, he knew N didn't like to hurt anybody. He had made that painfully clear back in Mistralton. If N was nearby, Hil believed they had no reason to fear any physical violence from Team Plasma. He made that clear to a worried and fretful Drayden as he reached him, Alder, Iris, Bianca, and Cheren.
He had been so relieved to see Cheren and Bianca again. Cheren's aloofness wasn't too strange, so he didn't push for any attention from him, but he had loved Bianca's enthusiastic hug. He had returned it forcefully. He was just so glad to see her again and as he embraced her, all he could think of was how so many people just like her would suffer if N helped Team Plasma get their way. Still riding the high of having gotten under Ghetsis' skin, Hil was invigorated by the display of affection. He had known her and Cheren for as long as he could remember. He hoped that after all this was over with, she and Cheren could just focus on each other… He felt a little guilty for getting them wrapped up in all of this.
After a short chat with her and Drayden, and once N and the rest of Team Plasma finally dispersed, the gym leader and Iris had wearily led the group back to his home. Drayden struck Hil as an eternally tired old man, but wise, and Iris as his bright and intelligent pupil. Although he wouldn't tell anyone, he found the way she affectionately referred to him as 'Grandpa' adorable.
'Grandpa' owned an angular, tall building to the northwest of the Pokémon Center, and the gym leader had to disarm a security system before they could enter. Hil thought that was odd. As revered as gym leaders were, and as powerful as Drayden had to be to count as the eighth gym leader in the challenge, he had to wonder what he needed such an advanced security system for… Sure, the entire city was fitted to the brim with weird, unnecessary tech as far as Hil was concerned, but that one struck him as particularly odd. Who would want to break into the house of a man known for taming Dragon-types with his bare hands?
The inside of the house was spartan. In fact, the bottom floor was empty save for a ceiling fan and a bench lacking in cushions against a far wall. Windows had bars behind them, and the door was littered with locks that Drayden frantically clicked back into place (Hil thought that was even more bizarre; he already had a state of the art security system, what did he need all those locks for?). There was a staircase that led further up the tall building. Everyone awkwardly shuffled into a line as Drayden and Iris took a stand in front of that stairway.
"Nice place you got here," Cheren mumbled under his breath. Bianca issued an ugly snort and then jabbed him playfully with an elbow to wordlessly tell him to behave. Cheren gasped at the strike.
Hil chuckled at them and then took a deep breath as he focused on Drayden and Iris. Noodle, curled up in the hood of his jacket, stirred and poked his head out. The Servine fit much more comfortably in the larger hood of this jacket and the collar of it didn't dig nearly as much into his neck as his old hoodie had. Noodle then raised two vines from beneath him and held up the Light Stone in their grasp, handing it off to Hil's outstretched hands. Once again, it pulsed that amber glow and Hil shook his head. "That's all it does," he groaned to the gym leader. "N had to have awakened Zekrom in… minutes of getting to the top of Dragonspiral Tower. How did he do that when this one just does a light show?"
"This is so unfair!" Iris interjected suddenly, startling everyone else in the room. She narrowed her eyes at the Light Stone and had her fists balled at her sides. "The Ancient Dragons of Unova get along so well… it's not right to make them fight!"
"Iris, please," Drayden's words were gruff but he placed a hand on Iris' shoulder tenderly. She eased and nodded slowly, gesturing for him to continue. "Apologies. Iris and I, much like the rest of Opelucid, feel very strongly for the Ancient Dragons of Unova. They're worshipped here. Hil, was it?"
Worshipped? Hil blinked in disbelief at the phrase. He had only vaguely heard of the myth in school prior to getting wrapped up in Team Plasma's affairs, yet people in Opelucid worshipped these pokémon? Hil nodded a little dazedly. "Yeah. That's my name," he laughed weakly.
"Well, Hil, the Ancient Dragons of Unova were once one pokémon. It… didn't have a name. They just called it the Unova Dragon. This was when Unova was still a monarchy of sorts some 2500 years ago. The king of the time was the sibling to a single younger brother. They disagreed on everything." Drayden sighed. "From how to expand the kingdom to how to take care of its citizens. Ultimately, the younger brother was just an advisor, of course, so when the king started to ignore his advice to suit himself, the younger brother grew angry. The Unova Dragon, whom they had shared since their youth, couldn't bear to see them fight. Its grief grew so strong that it split into two beings. Zekrom, who sided with the older brother, and Reshiram, who sided with the younger brother. These pokémon truly believed in their human friends to the point that they lost themselves."
There was a long pause and Drayden and Iris both dipped their heads. They clasped their hands together in front of themselves. Hil furrowed his brows in thought. Pokémon could do some astounding things, and they were known for evolving and rapidly changing form suddenly, but to split into two entirely separate beings… That sounded farfetched even for the magical creatures they shared this world with. Yet, he'd seen Zekrom, and he was currently holding the Light Stone. He'd seen the proof with his very eyes. He supposed that was why it had been so easy for the people of Unova to brush it off as religion for so long… arguing how a pokémon split itself into two separate pokémon due to sadness would probably mystify professors across the globe.
"The split was very hard on those pokémon. Zekrom was full of hopes and emotions. It could only see the future and hoped alongside the king, its Hero of Ideals, for a vast empire where people were happy regardless of the cost it took to get there," Drayden said softly.
"Reshiram could see the past and everything that ever was. It understood the truths and reasons behind all past decisions made by all humans. It sided with the younger brother, its Hero of Truths, and they both had realistic views of the world. They, too, wanted to shape Unova into a utopia, but they understood that the way the king wanted to get there would cause so much pain before it became what they hoped it would be," Iris picked up. She sounded so sad… "Reshiram… is very literal. Thanks to the split, it became very hard for it to understand what-ifs."
Drayden didn't look up as he spoke. He was staring at his clasped hands. "The brothers clashed violently when they realized the power they had at their side. Citizens of Unova realized both were right in their different ways, but they were powerless to try to tell the king and his brother that. And after so long of fighting among each other, the king and his brother refused to compromise. The battled and battled and Unova began to fall into disarray. But they could never best one another. The battles only came to a stop when Zekrom accidentally injured the younger brother and nearly killed him. Reshiram was infuriated by this slight and in that moment, it's believed that Reshiram saw the truth about the future that eluded it before: that if they kept battling, they'd only hurt each other in the process and Unova would become more divided."
Again came Iris. "Zekrom was deeply hurt. It believed it was betrayed by the king and had been tricked into bringing harm to Reshiram and the younger brother. Zekrom, in its pain, destroyed… a lot of Unova. It's the reason there's that big U-shaped pattern around the region, you know… Where the two rivers run deep into the region? Unova didn't have those before Zekrom's rampage… Hurt by the king and upset with itself, Zekrom curled into the Dark Stone and was eventually sealed in Dragonspiral Tower with no entrance. Unovans believed it was too dangerous and that Zekrom deserved to rest for what it endured…" Iris took a shuddery breath. "Zekrom never meant to hurt anybody, I'm sure of it…"
"The king and his brother were of the Harmonia line," Drayden said clearly as he raised his chin to face them at last. "King Naturalis Harmonia Gropius and his brother, Prince Miles Harmonia Gropius. The Ancient Dragons themselves were both believed to have turned to stones—the Dark and Light Stone—even if we only ever knew the location of the Dark Stone."
It seemed Unova had a much more violent history than Hil could have ever imagined. All he had been taught about from the times of the monarchy was how Relic Castle had originally been designed as a refuge for pokémon and people following a nasty series of earthquakes some time long in the past. There had also been a civil war. He had thought all of that was bad enough, but to learn that Zekrom, the same beast at N's side, had shattered the very earth they stood on apart, wide enough to make rivers throughout the region? Hil overlooked the Light Stone in his hand. "Found it," he chanced a joke dryly. He felt Drayden's harsh stare before he saw it. He shrank from the force of it. He had never really spoken with a religious person before… He had just been hoping to lighten the mood. Iris seemed rather upset and everyone else in the room, bar Bianca and Cheren, looked grim, too. Bianca was clearly stifling a laugh and Cheren had a slight smirk pulling at his lips. He supposed he hadn't failed entirely in that endeavor, then. "Sorry," he offered to Drayden.
"Anyway," Iris reigned the conversation back in, "you want to know how to wake Reshiram up, right? The truth is, the Ancient Dragons themselves choose when they wake up. There's a lot of theories on who they'll wake up for… Some say they'll only respond to people hailing from the Harmonia line because they'll identify with their energy, or something. Others say it's up to the Ancient Dragons themselves, just whatever they feel like."
"Hil," Drayden ambled forward and planted a heavy hand on Hil's left shoulder, "if that stone is glowing for you, then I believe it'll wake up for you when the time is right." He nodded and patted Hil a few more times on the shoulder. "The Ancient Dragons of Unova have had a hard life. They're incomplete, hurting creatures. They can't maintain their physical bodies forever. It may be storing all of its energy so that it may be useful when it is needed most." He then dug in the left pocket of his gray jeans and presented Hil with a jagged, pronged piece of metal. "This is the Legend Badge. With this, you'll be able to get through the Badge Gates and into the Pokémon League."
Hil guiltily accepted the badge. He turned it over in his fingers as Noodle grabbed the Light Stone from him again with his tendrils. Hil shakily pulled his badge case from his pants and tucked the Legend Badge into its slot. For a moment, Hil frowned at the soft black padding that encompassed all eight of Unova's badges. It felt much less satisfying to see them all together when he knew he hadn't really fought for three of them. Lenora's hadn't bothered him so much, but Brycen's and Drayden's did. He knew he was being silly, though; the fate of Unova was at stake, and he had a much more important and likely much more difficult battle than any League match ahead of him. He just wished he could have earned his way to the League with his team legitimately. Nothing could ever beat the rush or the bonding that followed finally persevering against a gym leader after repeated failures, finally cracking the code to defeating their hand-crafted teams…
"Thank you, Gym Leader Drayden," was all Hil said aloud. He glanced back at Noodle who clutched the Light Stone to his belly. It was still flashing with color and Noodle seemed to enjoy the slight heat it gave off. With a twinge of worry, Hil wondered if Reshiram would even like him when, or if it ever, awakened for him. What if it was too convinced from all those years ago that the world was beyond saving? That further fighting between it and Zekrom would only bring further destruction to Unova? Maybe that king and his brother had fought out of malice for one another, but Hil hoped Reshiram would understand that he only wanted to protect Unova and save his friends… and he hoped it recognized N wanted to do the same, just for pokémon… he hoped that Reshiram recognized that even if they were acting as if they were enemies, he and N were far from it. Hoped that it recognized Hil saw N as a friend in need of help. He sighed and looked away.
The Light Stone, unseen by Hil or anyone else in that room, glowed a deeper, red-orange than it ever had before. Noodle squeaked and leapt away from it, scrambling to Hil's right shoulder. Hil rubbed Noodle's face and asked him what was wrong, but the Servine only cuddled up close to Hil's neck. Shrugging, Hil stroked the Servine's smooth skin while Drayden and Alder launched into bitter discourse.
He had wanted to tune it out but then he realized they were discussing whether Hil should leave for Victory Road right then or not. It felt as if all the muscles in his body went limp and Hil realized just how exhausted he was from the day's events. Most of his tiredness, he was sure, came from his meeting with Ghetsis on Tubeline Bridge. Hating someone took so much energy.
After some pleading with the gym leader and Champion of Unova, Hil was able to convince them to let him have a night at the Pokémon Center. They warned him that it only left him with five days to traverse Victory Road, but Hil had tersely reminded them that he'd have no days to traverse it if he passed out and was eaten by a wild Deino on his way there. Cheren agreed to battle Drayden before he rested for the evening so he, too, could join Hil on Victory Road. Satisfied with the game plan, Hil and Bianca left for the Pokémon Center hostel, leaving Cheren with Drayden and Alder.
"I knew you'd come back to face N," Bianca interrupted the tired silence between them as they headed for the Pokémon Center.
"Really?" Hil raised a brow. "How's that?"
"I just knew," she sang at him. Out of nowhere, her eyes widened, and she rapidly tapped his shoulder, and then thrust a hand out in front of her. "Look! Professor Juniper!" Louder, she added, "Professor Juniper! It's you!" Then she raced ahead. Indeed, Professor Juniper was idly flicking through her Xtransceiver just outside the front of the Pokémon Center. At Bianca's excited screaming, she looked up and laughed. Bianca managed to stop herself just short of enrapturing Professor Juniper in a massive hug. Her arms bounced eagerly at her sides as if she were actively fighting the instinct.
"Nice to see you, Bianca, Hil," the professor mused as they both drew near. When she spotted Hil, her face softened, and she frowned. "Hil? Can I ask you a question?"
Hil cocked his head at her. "Yeah, I don't see why not. What's up?"
"Do you regret setting out on your journey?"