Chapter 22
Jason couldn't remember the last time he ran as quickly as he did just then. It had to have been years ago, because the feeling of simply soaring over the ground, legs bounding huge steps and the wind positively attacking his face was like a familiar old friend he hadn't seen in years. At one point, Jason had loved running and done it as much as he could every day, running laps around Sabrina's Pokemon Gym or even the Silph Co. building. Now, however, was different—Jason was running as if a Cerberus straight out of Hades was hot on his heels.
The instant the name "Orion," had been out of Nija's mouth Jason had known. How many other Orion Fremont's existed in the world, honestly? This one had to be him. It had to be.
His brother.
Jason rounded a corner and almost took out an old woman. Shouting "Sorry!" over his shoulder, he pushed on. Jesus, how long had it been since he'd last seen Orion? Six years? Seven?
Unlike most three and six-year-old brothers, he and Orion had gotten along fine. They were each other's sole playmates as both of their parents kept them cooped up indoors most of the time, although for entirely separate reasons. Surge hadn't liked his sons to piddle around with other kids when they should be training themselves and studying up on Electric Pokemon, and Sabrina hadn't wanted them to stray too far, for fear of abductions. That was his mother, though—she always looked at everything with a depressingly accurate amount of cynicism and distrust. She knew that the sons of one gym leader would be ransomed for money or badges at the blink of an eye—but the sons of two leaders? Jason and Orion could scarcely breathe without their mother standing over them protectively.
After Sabrina had left Vermillion with Jason in tow, he hadn't seen hide nor hair from his older brother. He often asked Sabrina when he'd be reunited with Orion, but all she could say was that she didn't know. It disturbed Jason—his magnificent, terrifyingly strong mother who could bend metal with her mind and tell when he was lying at the blink of an eye was powerless to gain legal custody over Orion.
The PokeMart emerged into view and Jason's heart leapt painfully into his throat. Before he knew what he was doing he was yelling like a maniac, the pounding of the pavement under his feet cutting his words into fragments.
"O—rion! Ori—on!" he shouted, screeching to a halt outside the doors and flinging them open. His fevered gaze tore over each face and turned head in the mart in under three seconds—no one in there was blonde. Turning a 180 and ripping out through the door as the clerk shouted something after him, Jason tore out into the center of a pathway and froze suddenly, whipping his head in random directions and twitching with the urgent need to be moving. The fact remained that he didn't know where he was going, though. Jason wasn't even sure how much time had passed since Nija had dropped the bomb on him, but he knew that if he didn't catch Orion before he got into Mount Moon it might take him days to find his brother. Days were things Jason wouldn't stand for and couldn't afford. He refused to let his brother slip from his grasp.
Each blistering second was widening the gap between he and his brother; a gap that had never been so small as it was today.
Where is he? Jason thought to himself desperately, straining his fevered mind for an idea. Okay… okay. If he's not here, he must have been checked into the Pokemon Center at one point or another, right? He had to have been. They'll know if he's still there or if he's checked out!
He suddenly remembered which direction the Pokemon Center was in and shot off like a bat out of hell.
Jason beat down the dusty path even as he felt a sharp twinge in his side that soon escalated into an all-out burning fury of pain and stabbing. He felt his vision fogging slightly and ardently hoped enough oxygen was getting to his brain. If he passed out now, he might never find Orion.
He knew that he would find him about three seconds before he actually did. The roaring of apprehension and excitement in his chest escalated to a cacophony of triumph even as Jason rounded a sharp corner and caught sight of a figure.
A boy standing near the entrance of the Pokemon Center, sipping a carryout drink that was steaming slightly, standing at a slouch and staring down at a sheaf of paper as if checking things off a list. A boy with flaxen blonde hair that was swept back and stuck out at the same odd angles Jason remembered so vividly form his childhood. A boy with pale skin and a nose and chin and mouth identical to his own.
Tiredness was forgotten.
"Orion!"
Jason positively threw himself at the boy's back, which caused the other to jump terribly and nearly spill his entire drink on the floor. He felt Orion's head snap around to try to get a glance at his attacker and laughed as his brother got a face full of green and blonde hair instead.
"J-Jason?" he exclaimed, staggering backward and hitting the side of the Center.
"Orion! Is it really you? Of course it's you," he shouted, pulling back and examining his captive. "You still have the same fruity hair!"
Orion grinned widely and pushed at Jason's forehead. "I see you've dyed yours flaming-green," he commented, and Jason wondered vaguely if someone's face could break permanently from smiling too much. If that was the case, he and Orion were doomed.
It was only then that Jason noticed the girl peering at the two of them warily. She looked to be about Orion's age and appeared to be the exact same height as Jason himself. Her piercing gray eyes seemed to take in all of his features and reach the obvious conclusion: "You're Orion's long-lost brother, then?"
"Ahh—you could say that, yeah," Jason said, grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of his neck. "You and he friends? Cause any friend of 'Rion's is a friend of mine!" Hyped up on his triumph, Jason didn't hesitate to pull the girl into a one-armed embrace while he still had his other hand clasped onto Orion's shoulder, pulling the three of them into an uncomfortable group hug. The girl stiffened and pulled away slowly, in a way that made it obvious that she didn't want to be rude.
"Oh, jeez, how rude of me," Orion said, clearing his throat and presenting the girl to Jason. "Jason, this is my friend, Azrael," he turned and presented Jason in the same manner. "And Azrael, this is my kid brother, Jason."
"Aw, jeez, man, you make me sound like I'm an infant or something!" Jason laughed, but shook his head and sobered up remarkably fast. "Dude, what's been going on with you in the past—I dunno, forever? We got a lot to catch up on my man!"
"That we do," Orion said, eyes nearly shut from the magnitude of his smile. "Azrael, would you mind terribly if Jason and I took a walk for a bit? You can head back into town with us and chill at the café if you like, so you don't have to be here alone."
"That's alright," Azrael said, smiling with something a lot like sadness in her calm countenance. "I might do some training with Eevee out here. I'll be here when you get back."
At that precise moment, Nija tromped up to them from around the corner of the building. Orion jumped maybe two feet in the air and spun around in mid-descent, seeming ready for an ambush or natural disaster. Jason wondered why his brother was so twitchy and burst out laughing at the sheer state of disarray that seemed to have befallen Nija. Her normally messy hair looked as if a tornado had swept through it, and her face was smeared with streaks of dirt.
"Jason Fremont," she said slowly and menacingly. "I am going to kill you."
"What'd I do?" Jason managed to force out through waves of laughter. "And what the heck happened to you?"
"Well, I was trying to follow you down the God-forsaken pathway to Mount Moon and ended up walking through a nest of Beedrills! And now you're right here in front of the Pokemon Center! Why the heck did you run off so damn fast—oh." Nija seemed to catch sight of Jason's companions and scratched her head. "So you two are related."
"Ahh—oh, hey," Orion said, as he seemed to have recovered his wits. "You're that girl from this morning. You know Jason?" When Nija nodded once, dumfounded, Orion chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "Small world."
"Microscopic," Jason said, pulling on Orion's arm. "C'mon man, let's grab a drink or something!"
"Jason, really, you're notoriously rude!" Orion griped at him good-naturedly, and motioned to Nija. "What about your friend here?"
"Her fault for getting lost." Jason said, sticking his tongue out at Nija who did the same. The childish exchange seemed to be too much for Orion, for he started laughing again and appeared unable to stop.
"Well, I'll stay here with—with Azrael, was it?—while you two go have your boy talk," Nija said, rolling her eyes and blowing a strand of scruffy black hair out of her face. "Brother bonding and all that. Really, you guys act like you haven't spoken in—"
"Six years?" Jason supplied, and Nija's eyebrows shot up into her bangs.
Orion, from beside him, added in, "Actually, it's closer to seven."
"Always the accountant!" Jason quipped. "But you're right. Nija, you and Azrael want to like, go into town or something?"
Azrael spoke up for the first time in a while. "I feel like I'm living through one big spell of déjà vu. I'm fine with staying out here. You all do whatever you feel like doing." It wasn't said in a mean way, but the remaining three could tell immediately that Azrael was uncomfortable in the emotionally intense situation.
"If you say so," Orion said, looking at her with some concern. "We won't be long—" he winced. "And I'm not supposed to hold you up, either… dang."
Azrael smiled wanly. "Don't worry about that. A promise is a promise—I said we'd travel together, and I don't go back on my word. I mean, you're not going to stay out all night until six tomorrow morning, right?"
Orion's face split into a grateful smile. "Of course not. You're the best," he said, and then, turning to Jason, straightened up and beamed. "So, shall we be on our way?"
"Huzzah!" Jason cried, punching the air with a fist. "See ya, ladies!"
Nija rolled her eyes at him again and waved him off with one dirt-smeared hand. "See ya, ya twat."
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Jason and Orion had decided to hit the café where Orion had gotten his coffee—that had been the steaming substance that Jason had successfully robbed him of earlier—and pulled up two barstools to the edge of the table. Orion ordered another cup of decaf and Jason ordered a chocolate shake. Orion grinned ear to ear and mentioned that he remembered that chocolate had always been Jason's favorite flavor, then proceeded to order vanilla coffee creamer just to egg him on. Jason had whapped his brother fondly on the head and said that vanilla was for wussies. Orion had retorted by stating that chocolate was for women, to which Jason had "oooh"ed and conceded defeat.
They sat in silence for a bit, sipping their beverages, enjoying each other's company too much to tarnish it with intense and unpleasant conversation so soon. Jason knew that Orion's story wouldn't be a nice one—and knew that his retellings of life with Sabrina would probably cause no small deal of lamentation. It was no contest at all who was a better parent between their mother and father—and it was just Orion's luck that he'd gotten the short end of the stick. Jason silently hoped that Surge hadn't put Orion through too much crap over the last six-seven years.
Struck with the sudden realization that his brother was actually outside in public without Lt. Surge, Jason opened his mouth to ask him if he was here on his own at the precise moment Orion began a question of his own. They simultaneously cut themselves off, urged that the other go first, then laughed. A pretty young waitress smiled warmly at them as she refilled Jason's half-drunk water glass and topped off the few sips Orion had taken from his.
By unspoken agreement, Orion asked his question first. "I take it you're on your journey, now?"
Jason beamed. "Yup. Got my starter and my first catch and everything. All I'm missing is my first badge."
Orion smiled, lifting a pale eyebrow in interest. "Well, this is certainly the perfect place, no?"
Jason nodded solemnly. I meant to head over there today actually, but, well," Jason didn't have to finish his thought. Orion clearly took top priority in his list.
His brother smiled at him, crinkling the corners of his eyes as he did so and Jason could suddenly picture Orion as an old man in a rocking chair with enormous rivets etched out from the sides of his eyes from smiling too much in that manner. "Well, there's no reason we can't head down there still… the only thing I'm concerned about is Azrael and Nija."
"Nija wants to get a boulder badge, too," Jason commented offhandedly, and suddenly was gripped with a thought that he hadn't had before. "So, is Azrael your girlfriend?" he jabbed, poking Orion in the side and grinning as his brother squirmed out of range of his attacks.
Laughing, the taller rolled his eyes. "No, she's not. Just a friend I met along the way."
"But you'd like her to be, I bet!" Jason was all grins now, leaning over his mug of cocoa. Orion then accused him of liking Nija, to which Jason allowed himself a theatric display of shudders and convulsions. "Aw, man, no way. She's like my—my sister or something now."
"You two are an awful lot alike, from what I can tell," Orion agreed, sipping his coffee thoughtfully. "Do you plan on traveling together long?"
Jason shrugged. "Well, I guess so. We never really decided on it, I just met her in the Pokemon Center in Viridian and we were both headed out to the forest soon anyway so we decided to stick together and—well, we never really got around to un-sticking." Orion snorted into his drink and Jason kneed him in the leg, which caused Orion to reach over and mercilessly attack Jason's spikes. Scrambling out of the way and assessing the damage to his hair Jason shot his brother a venomous look which melted away almost instantly into more laughter on both the brother's parts. They had been making a spectacle of themselves in the café for a while and finally decided to pay their tabs and go.
"Dude, we have so much to catch up on," Jason was saying as they sat outside the café on wrought-iron benches. "I could spend weeks recapping the stuff that's been going on back home, and I'm pretty sure you could do the same—unless you're just as boring as ever," he sniped in good humor, jabbing his brother in the ribs through his long-sleeved white shirt.
Orion crinkled his eyes at him again and elbowing the hand away, said, "You're right—we have a lot of catching up to do… and I wouldn't have a problem with just loitering around and doing nothing but that for a while, but…"
Jason frowned, not sure what was bothering Orion about this seemingly fine plan.
"But what about the girls?" Orion questioned, brow furrowed in a manner better suited for someone twice his age. "I don't want to inconvenience them any."
Jason sighed and ran a hand across his spikes absent mindedly before realizing that by doing so he would mess them up. It was just like Orion to be so freakin' responsible all the time. Dropping his arm to his side, he began, "Well, the only reason Nija and I are even here is to beat the gym leader… after that I don't think we need to stick around here."
Orion nodded, face taking on a contemplative air. "How ready are you for said gym leader?"
Jason blinked at him, obviously confused. "I guess I'm ready enough with Bulbasaur… that is, if the stupid guy decides to obey me." Jason rolled his eyes up into his skull at the memory of his incorrigible Pokemon and the disastrous training session they'd had earlier in the day. "Why?"
"No reason! What say we go back and inform Nija and Azrael that we'll be making a stop to the gym today?"
Jason had opened his mouth to say something, although he suddenly couldn't remember exactly what it had been. "You—what?"
Orion laughed, clapping Jason on the back and giving him a shove off in the direction of the Pokemon Center. "If you and Nija make good time with getting your badges we can all head off to Mount Moon together!" He put on a grave face that only barely hid the beginnings of a grin. "I wouldn't dream of letting my baby brother go through the big, scary cave all by himself…"
"Hey!"
Things were looking pretty good so far, Jason mused to himself as he socked Orion in the shoulder. The two brothers laughed and began to trot their way back to the two girls that waited for them outside the Center.