Pride of Your Soul
Chapter 24: Let it Out
AN: And the correct answers for the three scenes that the last two scenes in the last chapter reference/take place were: 1. Before Hilbert confronted Nate after the former's battle against Ghetsis, 2. Back when Nate stole Bianca's wallet, and subsequently making his unofficial debut in the series proper, and 3. The very first scene of PoYS. Many of you got 1 and 3, but almost no one got the second reference. Probably because it's a blink-and-you'll-miss type reference. It's in there, I promise.
What? But neither of the last two scenes take place in answer no. 2? That's why I said reference/take place in. Eh, 2/3's not bad.
Rejoice, we are back in the main plot! Now to see how everyone reacts to Nate's backstory, and how Nate reacts as a result.
Also I don't know if many of you know this, but I did have a poll open regarding the main pairing involving Nate, either Visorshipping (Nate x Rosa) or Transceivershipping (Nate x Yancy). By the time you see this, the poll is closed though. 57% of you voted for Visor, while 42% of you voted for Transceiver. Interesting, asides from why the total only brings to 99%, but I blame how polls on this site works for that. Either way, one side is gonna be pleased.
And now, review replies.
I M Poik: I dunno if you went back to the last chapter, but I did realize that I somehow missed your review for Chapter 22, and promptly made amends and replied to it. But just in case you didn't, I apologize for somehow missing your review then. Now to reply to the review for Chapter 23:
Honestly I could've made it darker than it was, but that would've been unnecessary in my opinion. It wasn't meant to be dark in a gory aspect, but more in a sad, depressing aspect. Glad you liked it though. Honestly the Riches as a whole are a piece of work; more than 3/4 of them are assholes, and the remaining 1/4 can't really do a thing about it and are stuck with the abuse that comes with it. Until now.
I had always made sure to portray Brav as a more reasonable good authority figure to Nate. He just found himself in a sadistic choice back then, and is now following Nate as a means of atonement for not being able to protect him.
TheDarkMaster4000: First of all, thank you for the kind words you sent over PM. I really appreciated them. Yes, the Sawk was not Sturdy. Regardless the sawk was pretty shitty. Nice highlights collection though. But regardless, glad you liked the chapter. Hope you like this one too.
Tony Anderson: Thank you! And you guessed right!
RedPkmnMaster: Interesting. Hopefully you'll still enjoy the story regardless of the outcome!
FantasyLover88: Glad to hear that you're fine with either pairing. Takes a load off my chest, lol.
HenryHPS: Glad you liked Nate's backstory! And that's one point for Transceiver!
ABodandhisBod: OH YES.
AwakeningFates: Yep, the ship is finally being settled!
Guest: Good question. Yes, Nate realized this. And it's one of the reasons why he's basically questioning himself among other things.
Now to see who I paired Nate with.
Everyone just stood in shock, absorbing all the information that they had just heard about Nate's past. Nate, on the other hand, merely looked like he just ate something disgusting.
Hilbert, in particular, looked the most horrified, as he could only stare at his estranged little brother.
"What's the matter?" Nate asked, almost mockingly. "There's your answer."
"I..." Hilbert muttered.
Hilbert tried to comprehend everything his brother had revealed. Ever since that damned tragedy, he had been struggling to live in the wild, only being supported by his braviary. He had to steal, break into, and even kill people in order to survive. He had experienced such hardships from the more despicable humans in society. Nate had his own innocence shattered and became such a twisted and vengeful being. And he was only four years old when it all started. The boy's only twelve right now.
And the worst part was that Hilbert himself was also a contributor to Nate's suffering. He, the boy's older brother, had abandoned and betrayed Nate, when the boy needed his help the most.
Hilbert remembered that incident; he recalled meeting a strange boy who claimed to be his little brother. It came back to him when Nate explained it. Hilbert could have helped; he could have prevented all of this from happening.
...Except he did not. At the time, Hilbert could not remember anything about his past. He could not remember anything about his father, his foster sister, and certainly not his little brother. So the young Hilbert did not believe the young Nate at the time. The boy was too foolish to even confirm the event with his mother. He was such a fool!
"So was that your goal this whole time...?" Rosa asked. "To try and find Reshiram and Zekrom? To destroy Unova?"
"Yeah," Nate muttered, not even bothering to look at her. At this point, he might as well consider the three allies no more after he basically revealed his agenda.
Rosa, Hugh and Yancy looked at Nate in disbelief. As if they refused to believe what Nate had spent the past three hours telling, and that Nate was in fact genocidal, were both the truths. It was as if the boy they knew their whole journey was just one big act that they fell for. Nate, at the very least, had the decency to look guilty. He did feel somewhat guilty. At the very least, he did not want these three to find out.
The man in front of him, however, was a different story.
"So now what? Are you gonna arrest me?" Nate asked. "I suppose so. I did just admit all this in front of a glorified police officer after all. There's no reason for you to feel sympathetic at this point."
"You really think I don't care about you?!" Hilbert shot back. "I do care about you! You're my little brother!"
"I mean now you decide to care," Nate rolled his eyes as he drawled.
"I always cared about you!" Hilbert yelled. "And I still do!"
"Then why the hell did you not help me back then!?" Nate yelled back accusingly. "You forgot about me! You betrayed me! If you claim to have always cared about me, then why did you abandon me like that!?"
Hilbert glared at Nate, but did not say anything. Because from what Nate claimed about him, he was still partially right.
"ANSWER ME!" Nate snarled, his face contorting with anger.
"Wait..." Bianca piped up, gaining everyone's attention. "If this all happened right after you, Hilbert and Hilda were kidnapped, wouldn't Hilbert still have had his memories erased?"
It took a moment for Nate to register what Bianca had just asked, before he turned to her. The three other kids turned to Bianca in confusion as well.
"...What...?" Nate asked. "What do you mean 'had his memories erased'?"
"He had his memories erased?" Rosa asked.
"Right...this part was never actually made public...so of course none of you could have known," Cheren said, deciding to explain. "After Hilbert was rescued from Team Plasma several years ago, his mother had his memories erased to prevent further trauma and potential PTSD. The same thing happened to Hilda, where Colress had erased her memories to prevent her from going after Ghetsis and getting herself killed in the process. Up until two years ago, Hilbert could not remember anything about his past prior to that point."
"So he couldn't remember anything about his childhood?" Hugh asked.
"Well at least the childhood from his original hometown," Cheren replied. "The process was done by his mother's beheeyem, making it so that only that beheeyem could reverse the process."
"Wait...Wait wait wait wait wait..." Nate said, his thoughts racing in his head in a sudden panic at the revelation. "So…does this mean...?"
"He was essentially forced to forget," Cheren said. "If that never had happened, then I highly doubt he would have forgotten about you."
Nate's eyes darted back to Hilbert, who had a guilty and ashamed look in his eyes. Clearly Hilbert was aware that he did forget about Nate, but he was essentially forced to do so. Any other situation and Hilbert would have never forgotten.
'He...never actually forgot about me...?' Nate thought.
"While yes, I did in fact not help you back then because I did forget about you," Hilbert said. "But that was not of my choice. Had it been any other way, I would never forget you by choice. You're my precious little brother. I could never forget you if I had a say in it."
It was as if his whole world began to fall apart at the revelation. Nate's grudge against Hilbert was based on an assumption that the latter would not have done had his memories not have been altered externally. It was as if his resentment was misplaced.
It was as if it was all pointless.
"So...so what...?" Nate asked, his voice breaking slightly. "You saying that you're innocent in all this? You trying to say that my grudge was pointless?"
"Nate, that's not what I'm–," Hilbert reasoned with him.
"Shut up!" Nate screamed at him. "After everything I went through, I'm not gonna let you get away as if you did nothing wrong, you bastard!"
"I'm not saying that! I would've helped you if I could've!" Hilbert managed to say through gritted teeth. "...But I didn't. And I regret it to my very bone..."
Hilbert then proceeded to bow to Nate, surprising everyone in the room. "...I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry, Nate. And I'm truly sorry that this is the only thing I can do."
Nate was taken aback by the action and found his words getting caught in his throat.
"You-You're too late!" Nate managed to stutter. "The damage is done! It's you and the damn humans who destroyed my hope! This kind of society should just be destroyed if you're not gonna change your ways about it! AND I'M NOT GONNA LET YOU SAY THAT ALL OF THIS WAS POINTLESS AND MEANINGLESS!"
Nate could do nothing but glare Hilbert down, who did not meet his eyes out of shame. The tension was rising between them, and the atmosphere around them was borderline suffocating. Meanwhile everyone else was still assessing their own thoughts, and how to feel about the whole situation. While Nate did have his justifications, nothing changed the fact that he was secretly plotting the destruction of Unova this whole time.
Rosa and Yancy, in particular, were affected the most. The boy they had been smitten by turned out to be much more malevolent than his already cynical attitude had hinted. But what shocked and worried them the most was hearing just how horrible his upbringing was, and how tortured and twisted Nate became as a result.
"...Whatever..." Nate growled. "None of that matters. All I gotta do now is regroup with Kyurem and make a next move–."
"Yeah about that..." Hilda's voice interjected.
Everyone turned around to the entrance to see Hilda, having returned from her trip back to Undella Town. Her rather frustrated expression did not bode well for everyone in the room.
"Did something happen?" Hilbert asked, noting his partner's rather foul mood.
"You could say that again," Hilda said as she walked into the room with a scowl. "First off, Zillion Riches escaped."
"That fat bastard escaped!?" Hugh exclaimed in shock.
"Yeah, but we don't have to worry about him," Hilda said in a mock-happy tone. "Because he's dead."
"Wha–Dead...?" Curtis asked in horror.
"Explain," Hilbert said.
"From what I was able to find, supposedly Team Plasma broke Zillion Riches out, along with stealing a portion of the security footage from yesterday. Specifically the frame when the fatass shot Nate," Hilda reported. "We were able to find what was left of the bastard at the Giant Chasm."
"The Giant Chasm?" Hilbert asked. "Isn't that..."
"That's Kyurem's domain..." Nate muttered.
"I kind of have an idea why it's there...but for everyone's sake..." Hilbert said, figuring out what Hilda was going to say next.
"Supposedly Team Plasma used the footage stolen and Zillion to convince Kyurem to join them," Hilda said. "Odds are they managed to convince Kyurem into thinking that Nate was killed by Zillion, Kyurem killed Zillion, and Kyurem went with Team Plasma."
"What!?" everyone gasped.
"So you're telling me Team Plasma has Kyurem now?" Hilbert asked.
"Most likely," Hilda grumbled.
"Shit..." Hilbert grumbled as well. That was quite possibly the worst case scenario that could have happened. He knew firsthand just how threatening Team Plasma could be if they managed to catch the legendary Pokémon. The fact that it was Kyurem of all Pokémon made it all the worse.
"Wait...Kyurem's with Team Plasma...?" Nate asked, sounding surprisingly fearful and disbelieving.
"I saw their Frigate leave Giant Chasm, and there was no Kyurem there afterwards," Hilda told Nate. "There's no other explanation. They have Kyurem."
Nate's eyes widened with evident fear growing in his expression. Kyurem was gone. Kyurem was with Team Plasma. In spite of the warning he gave him, Kyurem was with Team Plasma. That meant that Kyurem now had Team Plasma to do the job Nate was meant to do. Although he could not really blame Kyurem for switching sides; Kyurem thought he was dead after all. With Team Plasma's resources, Kyurem would have much better odds with getting Reshiram and Zekrom. This meant that Nate was effectively replaced. By Team Plasma, no less. This meant that Nate was abandoned by Kyurem (even if it was not Kyurem's fault).
Nate effectively lost his own purpose now.
"GODDAMN IT!"
Gritting his teeth, Nate suddenly jumped out of his seat and ran out of the room in spite of him still being in his patient wardrobe.
"Wha–Nate wait!" Hilbert yelled out to deaf ears.
"-Don't bother,-" Brav said, getting Hilbert's attention. "-He'll probably head to Giant Chasm from here nonstop.-"
"-To where that Kyurem guy lives?-" Bo asked.
"-Yes,-" Brav nodded.
"-But why?-" Zoro asked. "-If Team Plasma took him, then that place should be empty right?-"
"-Out of desperation, I suppose,-" Brav shrugged. "-Nate refuses to believe what is most likely the truth and wants to confirm for himself.-"
Everyone in the room was left with an awkward tension in the room with Nate having abruptly leaving. Everyone did not know how to take all the information in, or how they thought of Nate now. As everyone was gathering their respective thoughts, Brav turned to the rest of Nate's party members.
"-So now you all know the truth,-" Brav told them in an authoritative tone. "-What Nate has been plotting this whole time was the destruction of Unova as an act of vengeance. Additionally, you are all considered wild Pokémon; Nate is no longer your trainer. With this information in mind, what do you all decide to do now?-"
"-Decide to do now?-" Vire asked. "-What do you mean by that?-"
"-You all can choose to leave Nate here and return to the wild,-" Brav answered, surprising Bo, Vire and Zoro. "-After hearing Nate's own ambitions, Nate and I would understand if you choose to leave. Staying with him any longer would make you all potential accomplices. If you wish to not get involved any further, now's your chance to escape.-"
Bo, Vire and Zoro looked at each other with some uncertainty. Luca glared at them, as if daring any of them to abandon Nate at this crucial moment. Before any three of them could make a response, Deo scoffed, before stepping up.
"-So can you lead us to where he's headed?-" Deo asked.
"-...You don't intend to leave?-" Brav asked. "-Considering your nature, I'm surprised you would continue to side with someone who wanted to destroy Unova. Wouldn't that go against what your teachers taught you?-"
"-By that logic, my teachers are going against their own teachings by being controlled by Team Plasma,-" Deo retorted. "-I had said before that he could be manipulating all of us for all we know. But I still pledged my sword to him, knowing that it could be a possibility. He is still the only human that can understand my own anger. Abandoning him here and going back to my old life of vengeful vigilantism would truly be going against the chivalry my teachers have taught me.-"
"-I see...-" Brav said in understanding.
The next to make their decision was Zoro, who stepped up with his arms behind his head.
"-Well I was told to not regret joining him,-" Zoro said. "-And I still haven't properly talked to Mom and N yet. Too late to turn my tail and run at this point.-"
Brav nodded in response, glad that these two would not abandon Nate in his time of need.
"-I don't even need to ask you,-" Brav said, glancing to Luca, before glancing over to Bo and Vire. "-As for you two. If I recall, you two joined his team while he was in the southwest parts of Unova. If anything, you two are the first two Pokémon Nate went out of his way to obtain after Luca. What say you two?-"
Bo and Vire looked at each other for a moment, before glancing back to Brav.
"-Back when I first met Nate while I was still an elekid,-" Vire reminisced his first ever contact with Nate. "-I was intrigued by him because of the rumors I heard back then. A trainer who kept going around beating up the Pokémon in where I used to live. I was interested in how good of a trainer he was. And he bested me and caught me as a result. That was when I decided that going along with him was a good idea. I knew being with Nate would be interesting. I came this far. There's no chickening out now.-"
"-That's right!-" Bo exclaimed. "-From the day we first met, I knew Boss was special! He just had that aura that made me want to follow him and be by his side! Besides, he's done a ton of good deeds this whole time, so it's not like he's just one total villain or whatever! To abandon Boss here after everything we've been through...that's just not right! I believe in Boss!-"
"-...I see...-" Brav said, glad to have heard the two's thoughts. "-Thank you.-"
"-Thank you...-" Luca said to the group. "-Really...and sorry for doubting you.-"
"-Ah–It's no problem, Miss Luca!-" Zoro quickly stammered, his face flushing. "-We would never leave Nate like that!-"
"-Calm down, dumbass,-" Deo drawled.
"-So can you lead us to where Nate ran off to?-" Vire asked.
"-Yes,-" Brav nodded. "-I'll lead the way.-"
"Wait," Hilbert said, getting the eagle's attention. "I'm coming too."
Bo, Vire, Zoro and Deo glanced at Hilbert as they stopped in their tracks. Luca, having been informed of the 'relationship' between Nate and his brother, with hearing what had actually happened, merely glared at the man. Brav stared back at Hilbert rather critically.
"-...You do realize that Nate would not take too kindly to your presence,-" Brav said.
"Even so, I'm still going," Hilbert declared.
"-...Very well,-" Brav said.
"-Wha–Gramps!-" Luca yelled in objection. "-Letting him come with us!?-"
"-Calm down,-" Brav scolded Luca. "-If he wants to go that badly, then I'm not one to stop him.-"
Luca clearly objected to Brav's decision, but did not say anything further on the subject. She only gave Hilbert a hateful glare, before heading out of the room.
"-You lot go outside,-" Brav told the other four. "-I'll be right there.-"
The four nodded, before following Luca out of the room. Brav merely turned to Hilbert, his brown eyes staring back at the human's own brown eyes.
"-Before you get the wrong idea,-" Brav said. "-No, I do not hate you like how Nate and Luca do. Nor do I blame you for your actions back then. You were a young, confused child back then. It would be wrong to fault a child that much.-"
"Then–," Hilbert started, only for Brav to stop him.
"-However, while I do not blame you,-" Brav said sternly. "-The fact remains. You not helping him back then was what caused Nate to finally snap. You were his last hope back then. And you were the one who destroyed it.-
"-While I did say that I do not blame you for your actions, you still chose to not help him. Even if you did not believe him, there were still many things you could have done. You could have heard him out. You could have brought him home from the weather. You could have asked your mother about him. You could have done anything. Yet...you didn't. You left him there. You contributed to Nate's descent to madness and despair.-
"-Did you really need a reason to help a child who desperately needed it, boy?-"
Hilbert stared back at the bird with widened eyes full of guilt and horror. Everything the bird was saying was true. Hilbert could have done anything else; simply hearing Nate out back then would have done wonders. But he did nothing. He just left the boy to himself. Hilbert had abandoned his own little brother back then. And Hilbert could not say anything to defend himself here. He could only stand there in silence as he gripped his hands into tight fists. Brav merely stared at Hilbert, before sighing.
"-Pull yourself together, boy,-" Brav sighed. "-You're the Hero of Unova, are you not? Don't fall into such a wreck from one old bird.-"
Hilbert snapped out of his guilt to stare back at Brav.
"-Moping over the past is pointless,-" Brav said. "-What's done is done. If you really feel guilty about it, then try to make up for lost time.-"
"You..." Hilbert muttered.
"-Come on, let's go,-" Brav said. "-Although I do advise you stay behind slightly. I doubt Nate would be open to your presence.-"
"Alright then," Hilda suddenly interjected. "I'm gonna assume you're done with bashing Hilbert."
"You're coming too?" Hilbert asked.
"Even if we aren't connected by blood, he's still just as much my little brother as he is yours," Hilda said. "And I didn't do anything to help him either, even after finding out. I'm as guilty as you are."
"-Very well,-" Brav nodded. "-Follow me.-"
Brav flapped his wings and hovered off the ground, flying out of the room, with Hilbert and Hilda following closely behind.
"Now what...?" Curtis decided to ask to break the silence that loomed in the room after Nate's party and the Warren duo left.
"Well, we'll wait for Hilbert and Hilda to come back," Cheren said in behalf of him and Bianca. "There's still much to discuss with them. And I suppose we should inform Professor Juniper about everything that happened."
"Right," Bianca said, before turning to the kids. "So what will you all do now?"
"...I suppose we would just continue our journey," Hugh said. "We still need to get the last two gym badges after all."
"And about Nate?" Bianca asked.
The three had conflicted expressions on their faces upon the mention of Nate. Honestly they did not know what to do with Nate now. They were not sure if things could go back to what they used to be with the knowledge of him in mind.
"I..." Hugh muttered, lost in thought.
"...It would look like we're not the only ones who need to wait," Cheren said. "...Y'know, I kinda understand how you three must be feeling right now."
"You do?" Rosa asked.
"Well, back when Hilbert, Bianca and I were on our journeys, things didn't exactly go as smoothly as expected," Cheren said. "We ended up fighting among ourselves early on, and Hilbert traveled separate from us for a while. We made up midway, but then certain events happened, and then Hilbert revealed to have joined Team Plasma."
"What!?" Rosa gasped.
"Well it didn't really last too long," Cheren explained. "His mother essentially bailed all of us out from making grave mistakes, and beat some sense into Hilda afterwards."
"Now that you really think about it," Bianca said. "All of that was more or less Hilda's fault, huh."
"Yeah," Cheren shook his head. "Hilda and Hilbert...their damn crushes on each other. Honestly, you'd think he would think twice about trying to woo over a damn terrorist, but NOPE."
"So...what happened afterwards?" Yancy asked.
"We talked," Cheren said. "And then we made up. Again. We were friends for so long after all. Even after everything we went through, we couldn't truly be mad at Hilbert. In the end, he was just trying to do everything. Look out for us, try and get Hilda to go on our side, take on Team Plasma...Maybe it was a bit selfish of him to assume that everything would go as he wanted, but he only meant well. I think a part of us understood that."
"What Cheren is getting at," Bianca interjected as Cheren was about to go down memory lane. "...Is that you shouldn't just immediately write Nate off. He had his motives, he had his reasons, and honestly his own...cynical nature is justified. Of course none of that justified him trying to destroy the country, but it isn't like Nate did it for kicks."
"So...are you saying we should give him a second chance?" Hugh asked.
"Yep," Bianca smiled. "I mean you all like him right? Otherwise you wouldn't be having this much of a hard time on what to do with him now."
...Bianca did have a point. In spite of all the facts surrounding Nate, they were still hesitating on their decision of him. That alone was enough proof that they still cared about Nate; if not, then they would not have to hesitate to consider ditching Nate. A part of all of them still believed in Nate.
"...For now, we should wait for them to get Nate back," Bianca said.
"How are you sure that Nate will come back?" Rosa asked.
"I'm not," Bianca replied. "We're just gonna have to wait and believe."
"...I see..." she muttered glumly. "Thank you for the advice Professor Cheren, Miss Bianca."
"I'm not really your teacher anymore," Cheren chuckled.
"You'll always be Professor Cheren to us," Rosa insisted.
"Awwww look at you!" Bianca giggled. "You're quite the good teacher, huh?"
Cheren grumbled in embarrassment, before the two of them excused themselves from the room to get what little sleep they could salvage. It was still rather early; it was almost 5 AM. They had found Nate awake back at 2AM.
"...I'm gonna head back to my room," Curtis said. "Might as well catch some shut eye."
"You're right," Hugh yawned. "We were staying up for three hours...hopefully Nate's back by the time we wake up."
"Alright then," Rosa said. "Goodnight, you two."
Exchanging goodnights, Curtis and Hugh retired to their rooms. Now all that was left were the two girls who pined for Nate's affection: Rosa and Yancy. The two girls sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts, not even bothering to speak to one another. Eventually, Rosa broke the silence by letting out a tired yawn.
"We should get some sleep too," Rosa suggested.
"Yeah..." Yancy agreed.
The two remaining girls left the break room where everything had happened and headed back to their rooms. Yet they could not help but think about everything that had happened on the way back.
'To think...Nate was hiding that much...' Yancy thought. 'I mean Nate wasn't exactly the nicest person...but still...it's like he was hiding a whole different person in there. Was he simply hiding it from us? Was he lying to us this whole time?
'...Did he truly care about us? Or were those lies as well?'
Yancy kept thinking about Nate and his actions. With the knowledge of Nate's hidden agenda, some of Nate's questionable actions make more sense now. Such as back at Chargestone Cave and when he abandoned them. He must have found one of the dragons there and immediately sought it out. It would certainly explain why he did that, and why he never explained himself back at Mistralton.
But then...which one was the real Nate?
Yancy would assume that the one who wished to see Unova burn would be the real Nate, but she did not wish to believe that. Believing that would mean that the Nate she knew and fell in love with was nothing but a lie. She did not want to believe that. Especially after everything Nate had done for her. But she could not deny that Nate had every reason; every justification; to try and become a villain bent on destroying society. After hearing what Nate had to go through, she honestly would have been surprised if Nate had somehow forgave society after everything it did to him.
So which was the real Nate?
The one who Yancy and the others had traveled with and gotten to know?
Or the one who had been hiding everything behind their backs and wished to see Unova in flames?
'A facade and a hidden true self...' Yancy thought. 'Funny...this almost sounds like...'
...It almost sounded like her own personal demons.
The deceitful idol 'Nancy' that Unova cherishes so gullibly, the façade.
And the loner 'Yancy' who was forced into the mask to save herself, the hidden true self.
Nate had offered the solution to her own problems; simply move on from both personas and build a new one that she can be proud of. It was a solution Yancy was glad she heard, and words of advice she followed to heart.
...If the two situations had such similar premises, then could the same solution be applied?
Furthermore, was everything Nate had revealed the full extent to why Nate did everything he did?
Of course, Nate gave away plenty of reasons to want to seek revenge from his backstory alone. But what if he was hiding something further. Something that not even he wished to admit or reveal, simply because he refused to acknowledge it.
"So what if it didn't go so well the first time? Just get better, and try again, damn it! It's your life! Treasure it! Live it to the fullest! Don't throw it out so easily just because everything didn't work out in the beginning! Dreams aren't meant to be easy! They're meant to give your life meaning, so you wake up the next day and work hard to achieve that dream! Life is meant to be hard, but it's your one and only life! So keep it!"
"If you want people to know the real you, then I'll be the first step for you. The first person to get to know the real you. Not 'Nancy' Unova's lying sweetheart, or 'Yancy' the loser no one seems to want, but you, the person who wants to be true to yourself."
"I threw away a perfect shot at achieving my goals for this! Like hell I'll let that decision go to waste. We're all getting out of here alive. Got it!?"
Yancy thought back to the various times Nate had went out of his way to help someone. Although most of them involved herself, she remembered what Nate had said. Back when he scolded Roxie's father for easily giving up his dreams of being an actor. Back when Nate had consoled Yancy about her own inner problems. And back when Nate gave up his opportunity to achieve his goals to save her, Rosa and Hugh from falling to their deaths.
Every time Nate said something that sounded sagely, there were some underlying meanings to them. Nate urged Roxie's father to not give up his dreams so easily. Nate advised Yancy to create a new Yancy that she could be proud of. And Nate pledged to save them from death, especially after giving up such a prime opportunity to do so. All three times, they helped the intended target. In her and Roxie's father's case, it gave them new hope; a new purpose.
"You trying to say that my grudge was pointless?"
"AND I'M NOT GONNA LET YOU SAY THAT ALL OF THIS WAS MEANINGLESS!"
Back when Nate snapped at Hilbert, at some point, Nate had begun to worry about whether his actions were justified or not. More specifically, whether any of Nate's actions had any purpose. Given the truth that Hilbert was not entirely at fault, or forgot him out of maliciousness, Nate was quick to defend himself; that his actions, his grudge, his motives, they all had a purpose. He vehemently defended it. And back when Hilda had informed everyone that Kyurem had sided with Team Plasma, Nate had suddenly acted differently; much more desperate as he ran off to see if Kyurem had truly left or not. Even though Hilda had nothing to gain from lying, Nate wanted to see if his accomplice had simply abandoned him. If Kyurem was now with Team Plasma, then he would have no need for Nate (even if Kyurem was tricked into doing so). Nate would have lost his main backer, and lost the whole point of his whole journey–.
...Could that be it?
Could that be what Nate was hiding? Was Nate simply afraid of losing a purpose?
Did Nate want to feel needed?
Well, the only way to find out was to ask him directly.
"Is everything alright?"
Yancy snapped out of her thoughts and turned to Rosa, who had been staring at her the whole time.
"Huh–Ah yeah..." Yancy stammered. "I'm fine..."
Rosa stared at Yancy with narrowed, skeptical eyes, before turned around.
"You mind if I try to guess what you're thinking right now?" Rosa asked.
"Huh? What do you...?" Yancy asked.
"You wanna go see Nate, don't you?" Rosa guessed.
Yancy visibly looked shocked; how did Rosa manage to figure that out?
"Your expression means I'm right, huh," Rosa giggled. "Kinda figured he would be what's on your mind."
"Yeah..." Yancy mumbled.
"At least that means you still haven't lost faith in him, right?" Rosa asked.
"Of course not!" Yancy exclaimed, before she covered her mouth. "Ah...sorry..."
"No, if anyone needs to apologize, then it's me," Rosa shook her head. "I was acting like an asshole this whole time. To you and to Nate. Hell, we got in that situation because I was acting like an entitled asshole. So I'm sorry. Really. I know this isn't enough for everything that happened..."
"Rosa," Yancy said, stopping her. "It's alright. I mean you couldn't have possibly known all that would have happened. I forgive you."
"Yancy..." Rosa murmured, before smiling. "Thanks. Now to see if Nate's any more forgiving..."
"I'm sure he'll forgive you," Yancy insisted.
"Hopefully," Rosa said. "...But y'know, you and I both know that we both love him, right?"
"Yeah," Yancy nodded.
"And even if I know that Nate probably wouldn't wanna see me, I still do wanna go comfort him," Rosa went on as she walked a few steps away from Yancy. "...And in case you haven't realized, I don't like to lose."
"Eh...?" Yancy asked.
Before Yancy could press on, Rosa took out a pokéball and pointed it at her. Even if Rosa was not a full-fledged competitive Pokémon trainer, she knew what that gesture meant.
"I challenge you to a battle," Rosa declared. "...Call this a way to settle the score once and for all."
Yancy gawked at Rosa. Honestly this was not really necessary. There was definitely another more reasonable way to settle it. And time was not of the essence. Nate could simply just abandon everyone here at any moment while they waste time by disputing in an excessive battle.
But Yancy saw the fire in Rosa's eyes. She was serious. Rosa wanted to use this battle to settle the rivalry for Nate's affection that had formed between them throughout their journey. And if Rosa was willing to go so far, who was Yancy to reject her challenge? Yancy could not just keep running away from such obstacles in her path. There was no Nate this time to deal with it for her. She needed to start taking on the hurdles herself.
"...Alright," Yancy agreed. "I accept your challenge."
Yancy faced Rosa outside the laboratory. The concrete field outside of the lab made a suitable arena for their battle.
"Y'know, I always was curious about your skills as a trainer," Rosa called out on her side of the field. "You showed that you can fight back at Nimbasa with Nate and on the Plasma Frigate."
"Right..." Yancy muttered as she took out one of her pokéballs. "So? What're the rules? You know I don't have as many members as you do."
"A simple one v one," Rosa explained. "Time isn't really of the essence after all."
"Okay," Yancy nodded as she tossed her pokéball into the air. Out of it came out a tall, bipedal bear-like Pokémon with rectangular extensions of fur on its shoulders and a large tan circle on its belly.
"An ursaring," Rosa muttered, recognizing the ursine Pokémon as she sent out Nina.
"I'm counting on you Teddi," Yancy said, with 'Teddi' nodding in response as he exchanged feral glares with Nina.
"The first attack's mine!" Rosa yelled. "Nina, Flamethrower!"
Nina spewed a stream of fire at Teddi, who brought his arms up to defend himself from the flames.
"Now, Extreme Speed!"
"Ah–Teddi Close Combat!
Nina then suddenly stopped the Flamethrower before ramming into Teddi with bulleting speed, pushing the ursine across the ground as he blocked the attack. Teddi saw the opportunity and grabbed Nina by the head, before proceeding to lift her up and repeatedly smash his other claw curled up into a fist into Nina's gut. Teddi then lifted Nina up into the air, before slamming the Fire-type into the concrete ground.
"Now, Shadow Claw!"
"Flamethrower!"
Teddi's claws surged with a shadowy aura as Teddi lunged for the attack, but Nina immediately blasted Teddi with another Flamethrower, forcing the bear away from her as she was able to jump back to Rosa.
"Now, Thunder Fang!" Rosa yelled out.
"Ah, Stone Edge!" Yancy shouted back.
Nina's fangs surged with electricity as she charged for Teddi. Teddi, in response, brought his arms together and slammed the ground, causing several jagged rocks to emerge from the ground and advance towards Nina. Nina managed to avoid the Stone Edge by jumping up high above the ground, before nosediving straight into Teddi, sinking her fangs into Teddi's head. Teddi winced from the pain and backed away, as Nina jumped away to a safe distance.
"This isn't good," Yancy muttered. "Nina's too fast for Teddi. Nina needs to get close for Teddi to even land a hit."
Teddi managed to land a Close Combat on Nina specifically because Nina decided to come close and personal. But now Nina was overwhelming Teddi with her superior speed and range with Flamethrower. Teddi's entire arsenal involved either slow but strong strikes or close-range combat. Now that Nina was all the wiser, unless Rosa commanded her to do so, Nina would favor a hit-and-run style, something that Teddi would definitely lose to.
"Flamethrower once more!" Rosa yelled out, which Nina obliged by spewing another fiery breath at Teddi.
The bear brought up his arms to defend, but suddenly winced in pain, bringing his arms down. This left him wide open for the Flamethrower to hit him directly.
"Teddi!" Yancy cried out as the flames died down after scorching him for a good minute. "Are you alright?"
Teddi was panting as he stood his ground, wincing in pain as electricity coursed through his fur.
"You're paralyzed...?" Yancy asked. "Ah, from the Thunder Fang! Wait...you're paralyzed..."
"Now! Extreme Speed!" Rosa yelled out in confidence.
Nina roared as she sped for Teddi at a blinding speed, ready to try and finish the battle with a decisive blow.
"Shadow Claw!"
Teddi gritted his teeth as his eyes widened, where his claws instantly burst with a shadowy aura. As Nina was about to strike Teddi, the bear swung his claws out in a backhand slash, parrying the attack and sending the arcanine straight into a wall behind Rosa.
"Nina!" Rosa gasped.
The dog was embedded into the wall, before sliding down out of it. Nina managed to get back onto her feet, but she puked out some blood.
"What was that?" Rosa asked herself. "That Shadow Claw was stronger than the Close Combat! But how...?"
Rosa glanced back to Teddi, who let out a tremendous roar as he got ready to fight once more. The ursine looked even more intimidating and ferocious in spite being paralyzed.
"Wait...is its ability...it can't be!?" Rosa asked, slowly realizing what had happened.
"Yes," Yancy nodded. "Teddi's ability is Guts."
"The user's attack power is doubled when inflicted with a bad status ailment," Rosa muttered. "This is bad...Nina! Flamethrower!"
"Stone Edge!" Yancy quickly called out.
Teddi roared as he slammed the ground with one arm, where jagged rocks even larger than before shot out from the ground and advanced to Nina. Nina spewed another Flamethrower, but the larger rocks powered through them with ease, forcing Nina to jump away to avoid the attack.
"This is really bad...!" Rosa grumbled, cursing her own luck. "Ursaring has enough power to brute force through Flamethrower...We need to finish this now!"
"So that's how it's gonna be..." Yancy mumbled. "Teddi! Let's finish this!"
"FLARE BLITZ!"
"FACADE!"
Putting all of their faith in this final attack, Nina roared as she surrounded herself in a brilliant and intense flame, before charging at Teddi. Teddi roared at a similar magnitude in defiance as an orange glow covered him, before he too advanced for Nina, intending to meet her finishing blow with his own. The two attacks collided, causing a massive explosion of energy and fire and smoke to form from the collision.
"Nina!" Rosa called out.
"Teddi...!" Yancy gasped.
Neither Pokémon seemingly responded to their respective trainer, causing both of them to worry. The smoke slowly cleared up, revealing the outcome of the clash of the two Pokémon. The tension was high, as the two girls anxiously awaited for the smoke to disappear so that they can see who had prevailed in the final exchange, which would definitely determine the outcome of their battle.
The smoke completely cleared up, where the victor stood tall, while the loser was lying on the ground unconscious.
Nate panted as he reached Route 13, having ran all the way from the Poké Transfer Lab to here, running past through everything that was between there and here. He did not care for the strange and bewildered looks he got from the people he ran past. He needed to reach the Giant Chasm. He needed to see Kyurem. He needed to confirm if Kyurem had truly left him or not.
Nate had to stop to catch his breath. He had been running nonstop since the crack of dawn for several miles. Furthermore, he was not wearing his wetsuit, so he did not have any enhanced stamina to work with. The boy found himself at his limits much faster than he wished.
"Damn it..." Nate wheezed. "C'mon..."
"-Nate!-"
Nate looked up to see Brav, flying down to him. The bird looked at him with a worried expression, before glaring at him disapprovingly.
"-That's too reckless of you!-" Brav scolded. "-You haven't even healed fully yet, and you ran through two settlements!-"
"It's fine..." Nate panted. "We're almost there..."
"-Honetly...-" Brav said, before he grabbed Nate by the shoulders and ascended back to the air. "-It'll be faster if I took you there.-"
Nate glared at Brav but did not argue with him as Brav took flight to the Giant Chasm. Nate's breathing eased from being able to rest, before he glanced up to his caretaker.
"Where's Luca?" Nate asked.
"-She's following us,-" Brav replied. "-She'll catch up soon enough.-"
"...And the others...?"
"-They'll catch up soon enough. Luca's leading them.-"
So his Pokémon decided to stay with him. Nate sighed in relief. Truthfully, he was happy that they decided to stay by his side and not leave him after all his crimes were revealed. While he would have been understanding if they chose to leave, he was relieved that they still chose to believe in him. He would not know how he would have reacted if they left him.
Nate narrowed his eyes as he glanced behind him and spotted an archeops and a latias following them from afar, both carrying rather familiar figures.
"-Sorry, but they were insistent on coming along,-" Brav apologized. "-Even if I said otherwise, they would've followed us regardless.-"
Nate groaned, deciding to drop the subject altogether. There were more important things to worry about than his own grudge against his brother (that happened to be slowly being questioned).
Soon enough, Nate could see the internal forest of the Giant Chasm. The once majestic and maze-like forest looked devastated, and reduced into an open field. As if a giant ship landed on it and flattened everything underneath it without a care in the world. Nate's heart dropped in an instant at the sight. Brav immediately spotted the entrance to Kyurem's lair and soared to it as fast as he can. Meanwhile, Hilbert and Hilda reached the forest not long after, witnessing the sight of the ruined forest.
"-The hell happened here...?-" Archeops asked, horrified at the sight of the forest.
"This has Plasma's calling card all over it..." Hilbert muttered.
"Over there," Hilda pointed to the cave that Nate and Brav entered, before flying over to it.
Unbeknownst to them, Nate's party had reached the forest, emerging from the entrance cave to be shocked at the sight of the flattened forest.
"-What the–!?-" Luca gasped, not expecting the forest to be in its current state. "-What happened...!?-"
"-No doubt it's Plasma's doing,-" Deo shook his head.
Vire looked around, before spotting Hilbert and Hilda heading for the cave afar. "-I'm gonna assume that's where we wanna go?-"
"-Yeah,-" Luca nodded. "-C'mon!-"
Luca rushed on ahead, with the others following closely behind, headed straight to the cave. While the forest being flattened was disheartening, it made traveling to the cave significantly easier as a result.
Brav and Nate entered the cave. It was just as cold and vast as they remembered it being. But that was not important. What they wanted was the even bigger room in the back. Brav bulleted for Kyurem's room. Nate braced himself, begging that the dragon was still there, waiting to greet him, and that the room was in fact NOT empty and that Kyurem had NOT went off with Team Plasma.
All of Nate's remaining desperate hope was shattered when Brav barged into the gigantic room of Kyurem to find that it was empty. There was no gigantic ice dragon waiting for him there. No twin cryogonals that always were by the dragon's side.
Just one giant, ice cold, vacant room. Just as vacant as Nate's heart was at the moment.
"-He's gone...-" Brav muttered as he let Nate on the ground.
"No...No, he's just hiding..." Nate blubbered in denial. "He has to be!"
Nate ran ahead into the room, darting his eyes everywhere in hopes that the dragon had somehow hid himself in the giant room.
"KYUREM! IT'S ME! NATE!" Nate yelled out, letting his anguished cries echo through the room. "C'MON SHOW UP ALREADY! PLEASE!"
Nothing. Nate's desperate pleas echoed throughout the empty room. There was nothing left here for Nate.
Kyurem had gone with Team Plasma.
Nate dropped to all fours as he could only stare at the ground in defeat.
"...GODDAMN IT!" Nate screamed as he slammed his fist into the ground futilely.
"-Nate...-" Brav mumbled sympathetically.
It was there when Hilbert and Hilda decided to enter the room, spotting Nate in his current turmoil.
"Nate..." Hilbert muttered.
"Kehe...Ahahahaha..." Nate cackled silently, his tone despondent and demented. "...Looks like this is the end of the road for me...There's no point for me to go for your fucking dragon now that there's no one to give it to."
Nate then turned to his two elder siblings. His eyes were empty and void of light; just like back in his childhood.
"I lost," Nate muttered hollowly.
Hilbert and Hilda could only give Nate rather sympathizing, pitiful looks, as the boy could only continue to cackle at his own damned fate.
"So now what? You gonna arrest me for all the crimes I committed, agents of the Interpol?" Nate asked them. "Or are you here to laugh at someone whose plans got ruined in an instant? Whatever. Do as you please."
"What do you plan to do now?" Hilda asked instead.
"Hell if I knew," Nate growled, although it had none of the kick it usually had. "C'mon...Laugh at me. Everything I've done was pointless. Me trying to hide my intentions from them. Trying to kill you. Spending the past years hunting them down. Everything. POOF. I wasted my time. My hopes. All for nothing."
"Nate..." Hilbert said. "We would never laugh at you. You're our brother."
His words did not reach Nate, however. The boy was too depressed to even register his brother's sympathy.
"After everything you've done, now you decide to care," Nate muttered. "Because I'm in this pathetic state, you can't help but take pity on me. Might as well laugh at me while you're at it."
"I–!" Hilbert tried to object, but Nate did not want to have any of that.
"I don't wanna hear it," Nate snarled. "Just...Just go...If you're not gonna take me in...Just leave me here. You go deal with Ghetsis."
"But–."
"STOP! Just–Just leave me alone..."
Hilbert tried to argue, but Hilda stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Let's just give him some time alone," Hilda said. "Clearly he'd much rather be alone right now."
Hilbert glared at Hilda, but begrudgingly complied. It was obvious that nothing Hilbert could say right now would make Nate so much as budge. Which frustrated Hilbert to no ends, as he wanted nothing more than to cheer up his little brother. The only thing they could do was give Nate time to (hopefully) recover from his own despair.
Sighing in defeat, Hilbert conceded and left the room with Hilda, leaving Nate to sulk in the cold room. Brav refused to leave Nate's side, wishing to make sure Nate does not to anything drastic. His emotions were completely unstable; there was no telling what he might attempt in his state right now.
Brav would NOT take any chances. Never again.
The duo left the cave, where they saw Nate's Pokémon having just arrived at the cave.
"-How is he?-" Zoro asked Hilbert.
"As much as you'd expect," Hilbert muttered.
"-We need to see him!-" Bo exclaimed.
"No," Hilbert said. "At this rate, the best we can do is give him some time alone to think and cool off."
"-And who are you to decide that!?-" Luca growled as she grabbed Hilbert by his collar.
"-Oi, you bitch–!-" Archeops growled as he was about to strike Luca, until Deo got in his way.
"...This is Nate's wish," Hilbert said, unfazed by Luca's murderous growl. "At this rate I doubt any one of us can do anything to cheer Nate up. He needs time right now."
Luca did not let down her intense glare or loosen her grip, until Vire grabbed one of her shoulders.
"-C'mon, cool it,-" Vire said. "-There's no point killing him. Thinking long terms, killing him is NOT a good idea.-"
Luca glared at Vire, before she clicked her tongue and let go of Hilbert, obviously still frustrated.
"-Fine,-" Luca grunted. "-Where's Gramps?-"
"If you mean the braviary, then he's with Nate," Hilbert said. "Most likely to make sure Nate doesn't do anything severe."
"-Well that's good,-" Zoro sighed in relief. "-But...so now what? We just wait here?-"
Before Hilbert could say something, he suddenly darted his eyes up to the sky, sensing a new visitor to the forest. From above, a Flying-type Pokémon that Hilbert recognized descended down, carrying with them a girl that he recognized as one of Nate's traveling companions. The Flying-type landed on the ground, letting their trainer get off and rush up to Hilbert.
"Where's Nate?" she asked.
"...He's in the cave. Not exactly in the best of moods right now," Hilbert said. "...Do you wish to speak to him?"
She nodded in response, causing Hilbert to sigh.
"He's currently not taking visitors at the moment," Hilbert said.
"Please! Let me see him!" she begged Hilbert.
Hilbert narrowed his eyes at her. Honestly Hilbert was not too keen on letting her be with Nate when the boy was not in the right mind. He could not predict what Nate would do if she somehow managed to set off Nate's internal fuse. He'd rather not imagine what Nate would do in that case. For her safety, Hilbert wanted to keep her away from him.
But he saw her eyes. They were filled with determination. It did not matter whether she knew the risks or not; she wanted to go see him anyways. And then again, while Nate loathed Hilbert at the moment, perhaps he would open up to someone he was closer to. Perhaps this girl could help Nate in his time of need. Perhaps she can do what Hilbert failed to do.
"...You're sure about this?" Hilbert asked.
"I'm sure," she replied with gusto. "Please, just trust me on this. Let me see him."
Hilbert glared at her uneasily, before sighing, yielding to the girl and her stubbornness. "Fine. He's in the deepest part of the cave."
She smiled, rejoiced that she got her chance to tend to Nate. Luca, on the other hand, was outraged.
"-That's bullshit!-" Luca snarled, before Bo had to restrain her from trying to assault her out of sheer anger. "-Why does she get to go and not us!?-"
"-Calm down, Lady Boss!-" Bo tried to calm Luca down. "-If it's her, then I'm sure Nate'll feel better!-"
"-Bo...-" Luca grumbled.
"Seriously," Hilbert muttered. "Try trusting your allies. Your master was able to do it, so can't you?"
Luca glared at Hilbert, before grumbling under her breath, conceding and letting her pass.
"I leave the rest to you," Hilbert told her. "Please help ease his pain."
"I will," she replied firmly as she entered the cave; her Flying-type waiting outside.
"...I do hope you know what you're doing," Hilbert said after she entered the cave, praying to Arceus that he would not come to regret this decision.
Footsteps echoed throughout the room. Brav perked up at the sound. Someone was coming. Brav turned to Nate. The boy was still curled up in a ball of despair in the same spot for what seemed like hours now. Thankfully he did nothing severe and opted to simply sulk quietly to himself. But Brav wished he knew what to do to cheer the boy up.
Brav walked over to the entrance, before spotting the new visitor. Brav recognized her. The bird felt internally relieved. It was merely a hunch, but he was sure that she could help, knowing their relationship. At this point, Brav would be open to anything, so long as it could snap Nate out of his despair.
All odds are placed to her now.
"-Nate,-" Brav gently said to the boy. "-You have a visitor.-"
Nate did not budge in the slightest, as the visitor walked up to him and glanced down at his depressed self.
"Nate."
The boy recognized the voice. It definitely was not Hilda, and it most certainly was not Hilbert. The boy looked up, eyeing the girl he was most certainly familiar with in front of him.
"Yancy..."
Rosa sighed as she stared up to the morning sky. She wondered if Yancy had made it to Nate by now. Considering the speed of her togekiss, Rosa was positive that she should have at the very least reached the chasm by now. Now it was all up to her to bring Nate back.
...Rosa did not know how to feel. She had lost. It was close. It was narrowly close. It was so close that it would not have been strange if the opposite result had occurred instead.
But no. After the two collided in one decisive clash, Yancy's Teddi managed to barely survive the Flare Blitz, while Nina found the overwhelming power of Teddi's Façade (which had been both boosted by Teddi's Guts ability and the fact that he was inflicted with paralysis) to be too much. Teddi ended up fainting right afterwards, but since Nina fainted first, Yancy had won the battle. And thus, Rosa had told Yancy where to go, and sent her off quickly after the battle had ended. Between them, their rivalry had been settled, with Yancy emerging victorious. Whether Nate would object to that or not, or whether he even cared or not was another matter entirely, but between the two girls, Yancy emerged as the victor.
Rosa kneeled down to Nina, who looked dejected and ashamed for losing an important battle.
"It's alright," Rosa assured Nina as she ran her hand through Nina's mane. "You fought so well."
Rosa would never fault Nina for losing. She put her very best to try and defeat Teddi. It was just that Teddi simply managed to last slightly longer than Nina.
As Rosa got back up, she heard footsteps from the side. She turned to see Curtis, who had a sympathetic expression on his face.
"From the looks on your face," Rosa said. "I'm gonna assume you saw the battle at the very least."
"It was a great battle," Curtis admitted. "Honestly I was surprised at just how strong Yancy had become ever since I last saw her. I guess I'm gonna need to step up my game now, haha."
Rosa let out a giggle, before she lowered her head. She tried to make the best out of it, but honestly Rosa could not help but feel some melancholy.
"...Are you sure you're okay with this?" Curtis asked. "You love him, don't you? Are you really okay with letting Yancy have him?"
"So you heard that much too," Rosa managed to chuckle. "Honestly? I wished I was the one who won. I wished I was the one who was headed to where Nate was. But in the end, Yancy's conviction was slightly stronger than mine.
"...My own crush on Nate...it was selfish. I only ever thought that he should only have eyes on me and only me. I never really thought about the others around him. So long as he looked at me, then the others were insignificant. That was my train of thought. And in the end, it almost landed us in an irreversible situation. One that would haunt us for the rest of our lives."
Curtis listened intently as Rosa reflected on her own actions within the past few days.
"I have to thank Yancy," Rosa went on. "It was her who made me realize just how bad I was acting. She called me out on everything I did and how much of a bitch I was. And you wanna know how I reacted? I couldn't defend myself and just snapped. I threatened to kill her. And that was where it really clicked in my mind and made me realize that I was an idiot.
"My crush on Nate wasn't really 'love'. It was more me clinging onto him after he helped me. After he avenged my honor and dignity from Miles back at the Driftveil Tournament. I wasn't really in 'love' with him; I was in 'love' with him protecting me. You can probably say the same thing for Yancy, but she is more genuinely in love with Nate than I am. Nate helped her more than he helped me. And Yancy respected him and his personal space. Meanwhile I tried to barge into it because I thought I deserved to. I feel like she understood Nate better than I did, while I 'thought' I understood Nate. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Nate hated me after everything I caused. I know I'd be pissed off at me if I were in Nate's shoes.
"So...yeah...I guess I'm alright if Yancy gets to be with Nate. She deserves to be with Nate more than I do."
Rosa let out a sigh, before she turned to Curtis.
"I also have to apologize to you," Rosa said. "I ended up manipulating you and your trust to get rid of Yancy, which ended up orchestrating everything that happened in Undella. So I'm sorry."
Rosa ended up bowing to Curtis out of apology, causing the lime-haired boy to get flustered.
"Ah–No, you don't have to apologize!" Curtis stammered. "Besides, no one could have predicted all of that to happen anyways. Well except Nate, but then again he didn't really say anything, I assume."
Rosa got up and stared at Curtis bewildering, before giggling. "Y'know, you are like Yancy. You two have the same personality. I can see how you two are siblings."
"Y-You think so?" Curtis asked.
"Yep," Rosa laughed. "You two are both goody-two-shoes who stammer a lot."
"Hey!"
Rosa laughed at Curtis' embarrassed expression, before sighing and looking back up to the morning sky.
"...I said that Yancy deserves Nate more than me," Rosa said. "And I know I already made up my mind. The score was settled. I basically folded out of the competition. And I don't wanna regret it or anything. But..."
Tears began to stream out from Rosa's wavering eyes, as her voice became faultier.
"It still hurts, y'know..." Rosa blubbered. "Realizing how much of an idiot you've been acting...how you've been making everything worse around you...how you shot down the chance to try and redeem yourself because you know you did enough...and knowing you have no one but yourself to blame for it all...it hurts to try and not feel any regrets..."
Before Rosa realized it, Curtis had enveloped her in a hug, catching her by surprise.
"It's okay to cry," Curtis told her gently. "We're all human after all. You did well, Rosa. You shouldn't regret doing what you felt was the right thing. The pain you're feeling will heal. So for now, just cry. Let it all out and let yourself feel better."
Rosa's eyes widened, before she found herself no longer capable of containing herself any longer. Rosa returned the embrace as she let out all her tears and sadness. Curtis merely let Rosa cry to her heart's content. He let Rosa let out all her anguish. Because deep down, Curtis believed in Rosa. He knew she would be alright.
The girl he fell in love with was much stronger than she herself believed, after all.
"...What do you want?" Nate asked in a monotone.
Yancy gulped. Seeing Nate lifeless and depressed was completely foreign to her. She could have never imagined seeing Nate in such a state. It was only further motivation for Yancy to mend Nate's heart. She needed to stay strong. She could not falter here.
"I came here to see you," Yancy replied, making sure her voice did not show any sign of weakness.
Nate merely snorted. "How curious. You actually bother with me, even though I've been lying to you this whole time? Even though I've been plotting to destroy the region?"
Yancy hesitated, but went on. "Yes I do bother. Because I can help you."
"Oh, you can help me?" Nate asked, his tone condescending but hollow. "What the hell can you do? The girl who had to be babied up to this point because she couldn't face her own damn problems."
Yancy internally flinched. She knew he was capable of it, but Nate's words were rather scathing and harsh. It was like Nate, but at the same time, it was not like Nate. Yancy wanted to believe he was saying these things due to his own depressed state.
"I admit...I was just running from my problems," Yancy replied. "I relied on you to save me from my problems this whole time. But it's because you helped me so much, that's why I want to help you here. Now, when you need it the most."
Nate merely leered at her, before turning away. Yancy felt slightly disheartened, but she knew she had to keep going.
"...Looking back at it, you helped a lot of people out, you know?" Yancy asked. "There's me, Rosa, Hugh, Roxie's father, that boy from the mansion...You helped out a fair amount of people. If you really did hate humans as you claim, then surely you wouldn't have bothered to help us back then."
"What do you know...?" Nate growled.
"...I wanna say I understand somewhat," Yancy replied. "Surely you realized it. That not all of humanity is bad. I'm not gonna say that there are no bad people out there, but there are good people out there. People who just want to help. Surely you've noticed that too, having traveled with the humans you 'hate' so much."
"...What if they were flukes?" Nate countered.
"Flukes don't happen that often," Yancy shook her head. "...Back in Nimbasa, when you heard me out. You listened to my problems; how I wanted nothing more than to get a life I was proud of. Not of the girl who suffered from constant bullying and parental neglect, nor of a fake idol whose only purpose is to keep the family away from poverty, but of someone I can proudly declare to the world without fear. And you offered your advice. And then you helped me out so much. You let me join you guys on your journey, when in reality I was just running away from home. You gave me a purpose to strive for.
"Looking back, when you raged at Roxie's father for giving up his dreams as an actor back in Virbank, you were angry that he would give up. That he would throw away his own purpose because things didn't go as planned. You gave me a purpose to try and reach. And back then, you kept saying how you didn't want your grudge against your brother to be pointless. In fact, you came here to see if Kyurem hadn't left with Team Plasma. You're pretty hung up on that 'purpose' idea.
"That's what got me thinking. Maybe...just maybe. Are you afraid of losing your 'purpose'? Are you afraid of being considered pointless?"
Brav looked at Yancy, rather surprised and curious about her claims. Nate dropped any pretense of conceit and glared at Yancy. Yancy smiled. Progress was being made.
"Maybe you don't really care for humanity's destruction. Maybe you really don't want to destroy the region," Yancy claimed. "You have a goal. You have a purpose from Kyurem. Maybe you're just afraid of losing that purpose. Maybe you're just afraid of becoming pointless. Without Kyurem, then there's really no point for you to continue hunting down Reshiram and Zekrom. There's no point to pursue the goal of Unova's destruction. You just don't want to feel like you wasted your time for nothing, and feel like everything you've done was pointless. You simply wanted a purpose."
Yancy found herself being pinned down to the ground by an enraged Nate. To her credit, she managed to keep her expression fixed and not flinch in fear at Nate's hateful glare. She already had a similar experience with Rosa, and honestly, she had expected some kind of violent reaction from Nate.
"-Nate!-" Brav cried out in disapproval.
"...Am I wrong?" Yancy asked, staring into Nate's brown eyes.
Nate gritted his teeth, doing nothing but glare at the pinkette below him. Eventually, he sighed, removing himself off of Yancy and letting her get back up.
"Is that so wrong? To want a purpose in your life?" Nate hissed.
"Of course not," Yancy insisted. "But...do you mind telling me why?"
Nate glowered at Yancy. If it were any other person, then Nate would not even consider the request. If it were Hilbert, then Nate would already have a fist shoved into the bastard's face. If it were Rosa or Hugh, then maybe. But more so for Hugh than Rosa.
But it was Yancy. She did nothing but show kindness and compassion for him. Even during some of Nate's lowest moments. Surely she deserved an explanation at least.
"...Have you ever felt despair?" Nate began. "A crippling despair that you can only feel, when all your hopes and dreams that you dedicated your life to and looked forward to every waking day, are shattered one by one? That's how I felt when Brother rejected me. Back when I was still a small kid, I had hopes and dreams. Hopes and dreams, where I would reunite with my family. They would welcome me back with open arms, provide me with warm food, clothing, and a nice, warm bed, just like back home, and we would be together again, as one big happy family. But all that was dashed. My dreams were crushed. And from there, only a gut-wrenching, soul crushing despair was left. Because I realized there, that my existence was brought down to nothing. I didn't have a place in the world. I didn't even have to exist, and nothing would have changed whether I was there or not. I found myself as a pointless existence.
"Until I rescued Luca, and met Kyurem, I felt this despair my whole life. Knowing that you had no hopes and dreams left to look forward to. Knowing that the world was cruel and unfair, and you couldn't do a thing about it. Knowing that, you won't make a difference whether you lived or not. Because without a goal or purpose, you're no different than an unnecessary part of a machine that could be easily removed without any repercussions. I lived and grew with that feeling. The only reason I never considered offing myself was because Old Man Brav would never allow it. And I'm grateful for everything he did for me...but he couldn't do anything to help me with the most important part.
"When I met Kyurem, he said that he understood me. We were both wronged and betrayed by people we trusted. By humans. Even among that despair, hatred for humans was the only emotion that stood out. Because humans ruined my life. Humans like Team Plasma destroyed my home, killed my dad, and destroyed my family. Humans like Hilbert ruined my hopes and dreams. Humans like those back at Castelia who hurt their own Pokémon because they couldn't live up to their expectations, and those who would simply idly watch by and do nothing. Humans who would treat me like some kind of alien monster, just because I was different from them. All humans only think about themselves. Humans by nature are selfish, and we were the victims to their own greed. That's why he liked me. Because I was a human, yet I could understand the hatred and rage he felt.
"But in reality? That's not what won me over. It was because he tasked me with something. He wanted me to help with his vendetta against mankind. He wanted me to help. I had a purpose in life again. I had something to look forward to, and to actually put effort to try and accomplish. I felt needed. Even if the goal in mind was something malevolent or catastrophic, it was because he gave me a purpose in life was why I decided to follow him. It just so happened that vengeance against those who screwed us over was a good plus. But by accepting Kyurem's request, that despair was gone. I had a purpose. I had a place in this world. I was needed. I wasn't pointless."
Yancy kept quiet, listening intently as Nate went on.
"...But after I met you, I started to question my convictions. You acted nothing like how I expected. You thanked me when I helped you back at the Virbank Complex. You didn't freak out when you learned that I could understand Pokémon, and instead complimented that ability. You acted nothing like all the humans I witnessed. You were completely different from the idea I was sure was absolute. It was from there, when I questioned whether I was wrong or not. That not all humans are such terrible creatures. That there are those who are like you; who are selfless and wish to help others and are kind and caring. Really, something like that sounds simple and easy.
"But I couldn't bring myself to truly believe that. Not after everything that had happened. I questioned whether I was doing the right thing or not. I could have chosen to abandon Kyurem's goals of genocide based on the anomaly that you were to me alone. But I didn't. Because I came too far at that point. Turning back would just be an insult to me and all the effort I invested in the past three years. It would be an insult to Kyurem, who entrusted me with the job in the first place. It would be an insult to Luca, after everything she's been through in the past three years.
"And above all, if I had turned back, I would have essentially thrown away the purpose Kyurem gave me. I would have basically insulted all of Luca's efforts. I was afraid. I was afraid that if I did that, the crushing despair I was familiar with would return. That I would go back to being a useless, pointless being. I was too afraid to go back to being someone without a purpose. So I continued with Kyurem's request as to not disrespect Kyurem and Luca. I was afraid to go back to that damned emptiness I lived with my whole life."
Nate snorted as he glanced to the ground in defeat. "Laugh at me. I'm a coward. In the end, I'm just a worthless coward who needed something to think otherwise."
Yancy stared at Nate's self-depreciative self as he slumped down. So she was right. Nate's own hatred-filled crusade was all just a front; all he wanted was a purpose in life. It just happened that the purpose he found was a malicious one.
"...You're not a coward," Yancy said. "...It's understandable. You were desperately looking for a purpose in your life, after losing everything important in your life. You just happened to fall in with the wrong crowd. But if there's anything I do have to say about that, then it's this. I'm gonna borrow something that you'd probably say..."
Yancy looked at Nate straight in the eyes as he glanced up.
"...You're a dumbass," she told him straight into his face.
It took a moment for what Yancy had just said to register into their brains, but both Nate and Brav looked at her with gobsmacked expressions. They were not sure what surprised them more; the fact that Yancy just called Nate a dumbass or the fact that it was Yancy who called Nate a dumbass.
"I figured that would get your attention more," Yancy giggled. "...But seriously Nate, you're dumb. If you wanted to find some meaning in your life, then you didn't have to do all this. You act as if you have nothing going for you if you suddenly stop trying to destroy the world, but that's not true at all. You're strong, smart, understand Pokémon, really good at battling, pretty kind behind that brooding and cynicism, and, ironically enough, pretty good at helping others who need advice on their own issues. I mean you helped Rosa, Hugh, and me. I'm sure if you kept looking for something you can contribute to, you would've found a calling in life you would've liked."
Nate was about to object to her claims, but Yancy kept going, denying Nate a chance to self-depreciate himself.
"I know you probably can't bring yourself to trust everyone," Yancy said. "But that doesn't mean you have to hate everyone. There are people who want to help you. Like us. Whether you're afraid of being meaningless, or you just hate humanity that much; just know that there are people who want to help you. People who aren't as bad as the ones you've met."
She had a point. Nate had realized that his whole hatred was faulty; because he believed that all humans were bad, when at this point he knew that that was not the case at all. The people he met on his journey subverted his own grudge.
"...Back at Nimbasa, you told me to make a new life out of my old life," Yancy said. "Not one of the old 'Yancy' or that of 'Nancy', but a new life that I could be truly proud of. You gave me a purpose to go after instead of acting as an idol that lied about themselves to please the masses. So, why can't you follow that same advice? Make a new life out of your old one. Not one from your hatred against mankind, nor one from your own fears of being useless, but one you, the real Nate, can be proud of, and not have to hide and lie about. Then from there, you can find a purpose in your life that you can genuinely be proud of, without question. Find your happiness with your own bare hands that you won't doubt, no matter what."
Nate just stared at Yancy, dumbfounded. He did not know how to respond to her. It felt quaint, how Nate had consoled Yancy all those months ago about finding a new life to pursue. And here she was now, giving him the same exact advice he gave her.
"...And...What if I can't?" Nate could not help but ask. "What if I can't find something worth living for?"
"Let's see..." Yancy said as she placed a finger on her lips. "Even after all that, if you're still doubtful that you can't find something to be happy about...then how about this?"
Before Nate could realize it, Yancy leaned forward and placed her lips on Nate's own unsuspecting lips, kissing him.
"HMGHGH!?" Nate blurted in a muffled tone, before Yancy leaned back with a flushed expression on her face. "You..."
"We'll find a purpose for you together," Yancy offered, before she leaned in and wrapped him in a warm embrace. "It doesn't matter how long it'll take...we'll find your purpose in life together."
"...Why...?" Nate could only mumble. "Why are you saying all this? Why are you doing all this?"
"Because I love you, silly," Yancy confessed to him as if it were an obvious statement she was making. "I fell in love with you all the way back at Virbank, and even after everything you've done, I still love you now. Even if you can never bring yourself to trust me. Even if everyone in the world forsakes you, I'll always be by your side. Forever. Everything they rejected about you, I'll accept. So please, don't think that you're worthless, Nate. Because you're not."
Nate was speechless. Several emotions were rampaging in Nate's mind. Yancy had just confessed to him. Yancy had loved him for so long. Yancy had just countered everything Nate had doubted in his mind. Yancy told him that she would never abandon him, no matter what. Yancy had accepted him, when countless others simply rejected and despised him.
Yancy gave him a purpose in his life. Just when Nate thought his life was over, she gave it new meaning.
It was as if she was the light he found at the end of the tunnel that was his own, miserable life.
Nate's eyes began to water, until he could no longer contain himself. Nate returned Yancy's embrace before tears fell uncontrollably onto her shoulder. It was as if a lifetime weight was lifted off of him, and finally, he felt peace within his ever-troubled soul.
"Thank you..." Nate bawled silently as he continued to cry. "Thank you...Thank you...Thank you..."
Yancy merely smiled gingerly, as she kept the embrace tightly and let Nate let out all the tears his misery had kept in him up until now. She would not be going anywhere. Not now. Not ever. Nate had helped her so much in the short amount of time they had known each other. Now it was her time to help him. She would stay by his side for eternity if necessary.
Anything for the love of her life.
Brav stood there in silent as he had watched everything unfold. Frankly he had no words. The kind girl just confessed her love to Nate. She accepted Nate for who he was, in spite of his countless flaws. She told him everything he desperately needed to hear; something that Brav (and Hilbert) had failed to do, and regretted his whole life.
But now, all Brav felt was immense joy.
Because in spite of the boy's wailing, Brav knew for certain they were tears of joy. Tears of joy from finding someone who gave him the acceptance, meaning and love that he had been yearning for all this time. Such things that he had always wanted, but was denied since he was a child.
Finally, someone saved Nate.
To be continued
AN: And the winner is Yancy! The 42% wins! Truthfully, Transceivershipping was the main shipping I had decided on for a long time, ever since Yancy's debut. Building it up, along with the love triangle made for good character development though.
And since last chapter was depressing to write, this chapter (particularly the last part) made me feel giddy. It was like giving Nate peace in his heart. Or a very elaborate therapy session that Nate needed. Yep, all Nate really wanted was to feel like he was needed. And that's exactly what he got at the end.
Sorry, but due to the nature of the chapter, it went pretty dialogue heavy. Hopefully you all could still enjoy the chapter.
Nate: Luca (Lucario) / Bo (Emboar) / Vire (Electivire) / Brav (Braviary) / Deo (Keldeo) / Zoro (Zoroark)
[All are technically wild, but have essentially pledged their loyalty to Nate]
Rosa: Eve (Eevee) / Ottavia (Dewott) / Nina (Arcanine) / Mandi (Mandibuzz) / Gustav (Amoonguss)
Hugh: Flygon / Servine / Magmortar / Carracosta / Heracross / Tornadus-Therian
Yancy: Audi (Audino) / Teddi (Ursaring) / Snor (Snorlax) / Toge (Togekiss)
With that out of the way, the next chapter, will unfortunately be slightly filler-ish. I figured after all this, a (in-story) break is in order. If you all read CoYS, think of it like the chapter where the CoYS crew went to Castelia to take a break. So the closest thing to filler this story will get up to this point but with main plot points and lots of character development. Look forward to that.
Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter. I'll see you next time!