Chapter 58: The Terrible Truth
The first thing she noticed was that something round, cold, and rugged was rubbing against her cheek, pushing it up to her nose. Her eyes peeled open to see nothing but darkness. It wasn't pitch black, as a faint sunbeam came down through a hole in the pile of rocks, brightening it up to where she could at least see her surroundings. She picked herself up from the ground and sat upright. She grimaced, not liking that dirt was getting in her clothes and meshing with her skin. Cleanliness was important to her, and to her, not being clean was too overwhelming a feeling to think much about anything else. But...
Amara! Was she alright? She quickly turned around, eyes wide with worry. There was Amara, lying right next to her. Her chest was rising and falling in tune with her silent breaths, and her light brown hair mingled with the dirt underneath her head. Julia let out a sigh of relief, falling on her rear end. She was alive! She reached a hand out to try and hug her, as her joy at seeing her sister alive was just begging to come out. But as soon as she got close, she froze in place. If Amara were to wake up and find her sister hugging her, Julia assumed she would get mad and force her off, just like she always would. At the last second, she pulled her hand back.
"Thank goodness you're okay," Julia whispered in a low voice. Then she looked around, examining Amara's body. She didn't see any significant injuries, such as bruising or lacerations, nor was there any blood. The young girl couldn't help but wonder how Amara wasn't bleeding. Surely that fall could have sliced their heads open and spilled blood. Maybe they didn't fall as far as they thought? Or maybe something broke their fall? She looked to her right. Hikaru had just gotten up, shaking her body to get the dirt off. Even in the darkness, Julia smiled when she made out her friend's orange fur.
"Hikaru!"
"Pika!" Hikaru leaped into Julia's arms with a smile.
"You're okay!" Hikaru had survived the fall as well. Julia didn't know what she'd do if Hikaru had gotten killed. She lost one Pokemon already. She didn't think she could handle losing one of her best friends again.
However they survived, Julia knew they had to get out. She put Hikaru down, stood up, and reached up toward the pile of rocks to see if she could reach them. No go, as it was just a few feet away. She walked toward the wall and put both hands and feet on the walls, wondering if she could climb it. She had to be careful, as one wrong move could send her tumbling downward. Thankfully, she managed to reach the hole by just climbing three rocks.
"Can I get out from here?" She asked herself out loud. The hole was big enough that her head could get through. It helped that despite the dark clouds outside, a sliver of light managed to get through, illuminating the cave just a little bit. But when she tried to push herself out, her shoulders couldn't squeeze through. It didn't help that the rocks felt quite heavy. They would possibly require heavy duty machines that people would use to free people from being trapped under debris. Worse than that, they were loose. She tapped her finger on one rock, and another almost fell. For all she knew, there were more on top, ready to fall at the slightest touch if she wasn't careful.
If that had happened, the hole would have closed up completely.
"Nope. Too tight. Too unstable." She croaked before pulling herself back down.
What to do? She couldn't scream for help, as from what little outside she saw, there were no houses or people nearby. Nobody would hear her. Then it hit her. She could have Tsubasa fly somewhere and get help! Perrine and Caiseal had to be nearby. They were probably worried sick about her by now. Julia was quick to pull out her PokeBall.
"Tsubasa, come on out please," Julia said as she released the flighty bird from her PokeBall.
"Pijo!" ("What happened?!") Tsubasa trilled, stretching her wings outward as she materialized just outside the hole.
"Amara and I are trapped under here," Julia told her.
Tsubasa cocked her head slightly, examining the pile of rocks. "Wow. You're in a big pickle alright," She warbled in a deadpan tone.
"Listen, we need your help," Julia began, her voice urgent. It was enough to make even Tsubasa pay attention. "Amara and I can't get out of here. Please, go and find someone who can get us out. You're the only one who can do it right now," She explained. "I don't care who it is. Perrine, Caiseal, the police, some random stranger, anyone's fine! Just find someone who can call for help and get us out!"
For once, Tsubasa didn't give her trainer a hard time. The situation was just too urgent for her shenanigans. Julia was right. If she, her sister, and the other Pokemon were trapped in there, anything could happen. They could starve to death, die from being exposed to the elements if mother nature was angry enough, or the rocks could cave in and crush them. Tsubasa gave her a solemn nod.
"I'll try and find someone as fast as I can. Stay put, Julia. I'll come back for you! Promise!" Tsubasa trilled. With that promise in mind, Tsubasa flapped her wings and ascended to the sky. Soon, she turned into a silhouette and raced past the trees, leaving Julia unable to see her anymore.
Part of Julia was slowly beginning to be frozen by the hands of panic. She did not like the darkness, or being trapped in the same place for very long. She yearned to just get out of here already. Just get out and leave. But another part of her reasoned that if she did anything reckless, the rocks trapping them would probably cave in and crush them. Even if she were able to get out by herself, she couldn't just leave her big sister there. This was no time for crying or panicking. She needed to have faith in Tsubasa.
"It's dark in here," She whispered. "I wish there was some way we could light this place up a little."
Hikaru's ears stood up. Light this place up? The mouse closed her eyes, balling her little hands into fists. There had to be something she could do. Anything to calm her beloved trainer and make her feel somewhat secure. Suddenly, her orange body emitted a golden glow, brightening up the inside of the hole significantly. Julia's jaw fell open. What was Hikaru doing, and how did she manage to do that?
"Hikaru! You're glowing!"
"Pi?" Hikaru looked all around herself. She really was glowing! Julia pulled out her PokeDex to see what this was.
"Hikaru, the mouse Pokemon. Special attack: Flash," The PokeDex informed her.
Flash, an ability that allowed the Pokemon to glow in a bright light, illuminating caves. Julia beamed. "Wow, Hikaru! I didn't know you could use Flash!"
Abashed by the praise, Hikaru smiled sheepishly and scratched one of her ears. "Pikapi…" ("Me neither.") Just like that, Julia's nerves began to calm.
"Urgh…" A low groan made Julia's head whirl backward. There was Amara, hoisting herself up by her arms.
"Amara!" Julia ran to her sister and helped her up. "Are you okay?"
"Somehow...yeah...I think…Oww!" Amara croaked before grimacing from a shooting pain. Julia looked down and noticed a small laceration on Amara's arm. Fresh blood trickled out from it, going down to her hand. The younger girl saw a pointed rock with some blood on it, which told her that Amara must have cut herself by accident when she fell.
"You're hurt," Julia wasted no time pulling out a bottle of water and some gauze from her backpack. "Hang on a sec. I'll take care of it," The younger girl undid the cap on the bottle, pulled Amara's arm up, and poured the water on the wound.
"Hey! Watch it!" Amara yelped as the warm water made contact with the laceration on her arm. After that, Julia pulled out a napkin and wiped the remaining blood off before wrapping the gauze around it. All Amara could do was glare at her sister, even as she tenderly tended to her wound. Finally, Julia tied the final knot, securing it in place.
"There we go. You might want to not use that arm a whole lot for a while," Julia advised.
Keeping her intense glare on her sister, Amara pulled her arm back. "I could have done that by myself!" She hissed.
Julia's eyes narrowed into almond-shaped slits. 'Would it kill you to say thank you for once?' Julia thought bitterly. As much as she loved Amara, she wished that she'd actually be nice and say thanks if she did something nice for her. It didn't help that Amara was usually the one to get on Julia's case about saying please and thank you, even when it wasn't needed. But this was not the time for a sister squabble.
"Where the heck are we, anyway?" Amara asked, already losing patience.
"I don't know, but we're trapped," Julia explained. She remembered that Lugia and Hunter J's airship had interrupted their battle. She and Amara tried to run into a cave for shelter, but something knocked them out, trapping them inside. At least for now, they were out of the danger zone. Julia couldn't relax just yet, though. Caves had their own share of danger, and since they were trapped, they couldn't get out.
"I already sent my Pidgeotto out to get help, so depending on who or what's nearby, we shouldn't be stuck in here for very long," She hoped with her whole heart that Tsubasa would find someone. It was the only thing keeping her from losing her composure. The whole situation was frightening and confusing enough as it is.
However, Amara didn't listen. She quickly stood up and yanked out a PokeBall. "I'm blasting us out of here!"
"Don't!" Julia lurched forward to grab Amara's arm with both hands. "Those rocks are extremely unstable! They could fall and kill us if we do anything reckless!"
Instead of listening to her little sister, Amara continued to writhe in her grasp, pushing Julia away by putting one hand on her face. The scowl on her face didn't change one bit.
"I am not gonna spend my entire life trapped in a hole with the most annoying, selfish little brat in the whole world!" She growled angrily.
Julia clenched her teeth together as tight as she possibly could to hide her bubbling rage. Was she still going on about that? 'You're the one being the selfish brat right now!' Julia screamed in her head, wishing she could scream it out loud. One had to wonder how skewed Amara's priorities had become.
"Amara, I'm serious!" She couldn't give up, though. This was her sister. "It's dangerous!"
"Just shut up!"
"I don't want you getting hurt!"
"Pikapi!" Hikaru piped in affirmatively, agreeing with Julia.
However, as soon as Julia said that, something snapped inside Amara. Everything just suddenly came spilling out. Finally, she used both arms to push Julia off, sending her falling on her rear.
Hikaru ran to her trainer, hoping the fall didn't injure her severely. Amara stared down at her little sister with such an intense glare that if it were any stronger, it could kill her. Good thing stares didn't kill and that Julia didn't look her in the eye. Her rear was throbbing from colliding with the rocks, but she helped herself up without any assistance.
"Since when did you care about whether I'd get hurt?!" Amara's yelling was like a barrage of miniature explosions in Julia's ears. Covering her ears didn't muffle it one bit. But Amara didn't care. In fact, seeing this made her anger burn even hotter. "When did you ever care about me at all?!"
Julia stopped to listen. What in the world was Amara saying? Scratch that, she knew that she was saying. But what made her come to that conclusion? Was she implying Julia didn't care about her?
"I do care about you!" She protested. "You're my sister! Sisters always care for each other!"
Amara's fists grew so tight, her fingernails dug into her palms. "Oh, REALLY?!" She shouted, making Julia grimace to the point of squeezing her eyes shut. Hikaru took on a defensive stance, glaring at Amara with her tail facing upward. As usual, Amara paid absolutely no heed, and Amara actually knew Julia was sensitive to loud noise. But at this point, she didn't care. She wanted to shout and scream. "You are such a freakin' liar! You care way more about stupid Pokemon than you ever could any human being you meet! I know how little you think of me!"
What? Hikaru's ears pointed upward. The more Julia heard, the more confused she became. Where in the world did Amara get these ideas? "I don't think little of you! What makes you think that?!"
"This is what I freakin' hate about you!" Amara shouted, flinging her arms up and down. "You are soooooo convinced that Pokemon are all sweet, precious widdle angels who can do no wrong! Well, newsflash you little idiot: a Pokemon KILLED my BEST FRIEND!" Obviously, Chanel was whom she was talking about. Everybody knew that. It was pretty much all she talked about. But even Julia knew that it didn't excuse everything that Amara had done over the past few months.
Now Julia was miffed. "Okay, that first thing you said is absolutely not true. I've almost gotten killed by a bunch of Pokemon since I started my journey!" Julia corrected in a sharp, terse voice. "Besides, Gyarados are dangerous a lot of the time, so even I know Pokemon aren't all good and nice, and just because one Gyarados killed Chanel doesn't mean all Pokemon are bad!"
No amount of reasoning could alleviate Amara's boiling hot anger. "Uuuuuurgh!" Amara growled, like she thought Julia wasn't understanding a thing she was saying. Julia's hands flew to her ears once more. She hated it when Amara made that awful noise. But why? Julia gave her an answer. Why was she acting like this? "Are you seriously so stupid that you don't get it?!"
Hikaru clenched her teeth to stop herself from using Thunderbolt on Amara to zap her to her senses. Julia looked away, like she had been slapped. She hated being called stupid. She always did and always will.
"All you ever talk about is Pokemon this, Pokemon that, my Pokemon are sooooo wonderful, Pokemon are my beeeeeest friends, Pokemon abusers are sooooo bad!" She began in a mocking tone, her voice rising with every word she screamed. "It's no wonder you don't have any human friends, BECAUSE YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYONE BUT YOURSELF!"
A brief silence fell upon the two of them, Amara with anger, Julia with absolute horror. The younger girl's pupils shrunk. Her mouth fell agape, shaped like an O. Tears almost came creeping out of the corners of her eyes, but in spite of her utter shock, she held them back. But if words could hurt, they definitely did here. It seemed as though a knife went right through her heart.
"That is not true…" That was all she could mutter at the moment. Even she knew it wasn't enough to satiate her. Why would Amara say that about her? Was this...really how little Amara thought of her?
"Stop deluding yourself!" Amara snapped. "You don't care about anyone! You never have and you never will! You spend all your time playing with Pokemon or drawing or playing those stupid games or whining about how nobody understands you!" By now, she was pounding her fist on the cave wall. "You think you're so much better than everybody else with your whole I-can-talk-to-Pokemon shtick! Get over yourself! The whole world doesn't revolve around you, y'know?!"
Julia couldn't believe what she was hearing. Did Amara truly believe all of this? Why? Every word Amara screamed was like a slap in the face, with each one hitting harder than the last. "No! Stop it! I don't think I'm better than anyone else! Why do you even think that?! Can't we just talk about this?!"
But Amara didn't stop. In fact, she kept going. She wanted Julia to be hurt. She wanted to twist that knife so hard, blood would come right out of her veins. It was time that she learned what it was like to not have anything go right for her. It felt good to finally put this girl in her place.
"Everybody talks about you like you're a perfect little angel, but I know you're no saint!" She continued on, refusing to back down. Julia was sure she could see the veins in her neck bulge. "You've never cared about me! You never comfort me when I'm sad, you're never happy when I actually take time off to spend time with you, you never want to do the things I want us to do together, you never smile or say thank you when I do something nice for you, you never let me talk to you about anything, you always act like my problems don't matter-"
'Who do you think constantly told me to leave you alone when I even TRIED to reach out to you?!' More angry thoughts cut through Julia's mind, but she kept them in check the best she could. "Calm down, Amara! Please!"
But Amara wouldn't calm down. That just made it hurt all the more. This was too much. Just too much. Too overwhelming. The yelling thundered in her ears, and the explosions got louder the more Amara shouted at her.
"None of that is true-!"
"You didn't even cry when Chanel died!"
That did it. Julia fell silent once more. But surprise soon began to morph into undiluted anger. Why would she say that? Why would she say all of those things about her? Was this really what Amara thought of her? All of it?
No, none of it was true. She knew it. They both knew it. But that particular statement shot through Julia like an arrow piercing through her soul. She had no right to say that. No right to say any of those things. Amara couldn't possibly be this...deluded. What was the right word for this situation? She had no idea. But it all made her blood run cold. None of this felt right.
Amara was on a roll, and she liked it. "That's right! I even know why! Because I think you can't feel anything!" Julia's eyes snapped open. "You'll never know what it's like to lose someone you love with all your heart! You're like a freaking robot! You can't feel anything! Do you seriously have no empathy for anyone or anything at all?!"
Can't feel anything. No empathy. Robot. Never know what it's like. Julia could tell she meant everything she said. That she was convinced that Julia was nothing but a callous, selfish, spoiled little sister who was always wrong about everything, who did everything wrong, who wasn't normal, who made everyone angry and laugh with her stupidity. A stupid little sister who felt no human emotions, who could never do anything right in society's eyes, and who could never be like everyone else.
It was just all too much. The cage she kept around her emotions was finally destroyed with the whack of a knife. She couldn't bottle it up any longer. The volcano that was her anger was ready to erupt in all of its glory. It hurt. It really hurt. More than Amara could understand. All of this...all of those blatant lies just made her…
So
Gosh darn
Angry!
Immediately, Julia's hand came rising upward. Her heart told her to keep her hands to herself, but her hands wouldn't listen. In fact, screw the rules this time! Before Amara could say any more, a harsh blow struck her so hard across the face that she fell to the ground this time. Amara was sure she heard a cracking sound the moment she fell on her rear. When she looked up, the sight of Julia's contorted, angry face left her absolutely terrified. Her sky blue eyes grew extremely wide as a hand rested on her swollen cheek. Was this her sister?
Even Hikaru was shocked to the point of being unable to prevent her jaw from dropping. Amara might have been spared seeing her angry little sister if Hikaru hadn't kept using Flash. But the girl standing before her wasn't the sweet, submissive, always shy little sister she always knew. This was a different girl: one with green eyes blazing with rage, baring her teeth, the very picture of anger.
All Amara could blurt out was, "...Did you just HIT ME?!" Her voice almost bordered on hysterical.
"Yes! Yes I did!" Julia shouted. Neither girl could believe what happened. Julia usually would never lay a hand on anyone. She never picked fights, nor did she hit anyone in her entire life, as she was not a violent person. Seeing her hit someone was as rare as seeing Pokemon aliens from outer space. For a brief moment, Amara was sure she was hit by a different person.
Julia thought differently. She had never hurt her sister before. The thought of hitting her sister always frightened her. But now...an odd feeling consumed her entire being, and she knew it. The sting of the slap, her hand shaking...it felt good! Good to finally give that delusional big sister the smacking she felt she so rightfully deserved! She was sure Amara would tell her that hitting someone was wrong.
Yeah, like Julia didn't know that already. She wasn't three years old. Then again, when DIDN'T Amara think her sister was still three years old in her mind? But at this point, Julia felt powerful. Amara couldn't order her around this time. Nobody could tell her not to hit Amara. Not Mom and Dad, not Amara, not even Arceus himself. This time, she wasn't even sorry. Why couldn't Amara be sorry for once? For doing all of those bad things over the past few months? For thinking all of those bad things about her and saying all those lies right to her face?
The word finally came to her mind: Amara was a big fat HYPOCRITE.
"Pika!" Hikaru chirruped, backing away two steps frightfully.
"...You're wrong!" This time, the tears came flowing right out, and she was helpless to stop them. "You're wrong...about everything!" She cried, her trembling voice a combination of both desperation and anger. "I can't believe...that's how little you think of me...how you feel about me…" Her voice trembled in tune with her body. "That you think I'm some evil robot with no feelings!"
It hurt. It hurt so much to be told that, and by her own older sister, no less! One of the many people she respected, loved, and looked up to!
This time, Amara was speechless.
"I can't believe you actually believe all of that!" This was her chance to tell Amara how she felt for once. No more being interrupted or told to shut up. She was going to talk, and Amara was going to listen, whether she wanted to or not. "You're a giant colossal hypocrite!" She screamed. "You say I don't care...but I do. We all do. Me, Mom, Dad...you're the one always pushing me and everyone else away!"
(flashback)
"Julia…" Kassia sat a ten year old Julia down on the couch. Julia could tell from her frown and the tear stains on her eyes that her mother was clearly upset about something. What was it? "There's no easy way to say this. Chanel died."
Immediately, the girl's mind began to search for the definition of die. She found it right away. To die meant to no longer live. Whoever died would go to heaven. Or something like that. But it also meant that said person would never be seen alive again. They would be buried in the ground.
This one...was completely unexpected. Chanel died? Chanel, whom she just saw about a week ago? She couldn't be dead, could she? "She's...gone? How? What happened?" That was all she could choke out. Chanel? It was like she had entered a whole new universe. One where sweet, nice Chanel would never exist again.
Kassia squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could turn back time. "You see...a Gyarados destroyed most of Cherrygrove. Chanel got caught in the crossfire," Julia knew what caught in the crossfire meant. She had seen enough TV shows to know that if innocent people were caught up in conflict, they usually got hurt or even died. "That's why Amara's been crying all week. She's grieving. She's very sad about it."
The girl figured that grieving meant crying at Chanel's death. Some tears came out from her eyes, but she was quick to wipe them away. But Amara's crying could be heard all throughout the house. With Julia's hypersensitive ears, even closing the door and playing music wouldn't be enough to drown it out. She hated the sound of babies crying, or watching people cry. It always made her cry. But she did wonder if maybe Amara needed a hug. It wouldn't bring Chanel back. Everyone knew that nobody comes back from the dead. But she wondered if Amara would like someone to be there for her and cheer her up a little.
She walked up to Amara's room, noticing that her Totodile was standing outside the entrance, scratching his head like he was confused. Amara's wailing was piercing, and Julia covered her ears. It felt as though her cries were scratching her ear drums. But that wasn't the issue right now. Amara sat on her knees, crying onto her bed sheets uncontrollably. Never had she seen someone so sad, so upset, so...broken. Seeing Amara like this wounded the little girl's heart. But what could she do? Even the thought of giving her a hug seemed like it wouldn't do any good.
But she had to do something. Silently, Julia ambled over to her still crying sister. "Amara?" She called her name. No answer. Totodile came moseying inside, but didn't do anything, looking unsure. "Amara? Are...you okay?" Julia immediately regretted asking that. Of course she wasn't okay. Her friend just died. How could anyone be okay after that? The urge to hug Amara and tell her it'd be alright seized her.
Julia threw her skinny arms around Amara, wrapping them around her, hoping her love would reach her, even just a little bit. All of a sudden, a slender arm suddenly pushed the girl off, sending her stumbling backward a few steps. Amara whipped her head around, her matted hair and puffy red eyes telling Julia all she needed to know how she was feeling. The scowl didn't help matters.
"Go away! Just leave me alone!" Amara snapped.
"I...I was just trying to help!" Julia protested.
"Totodaaah!" Totodile added, swinging his arms up and down.
"Well, you're not helping! I don't wanna deal with you right now!" Amara went back to crying. Knowing it was futile to cheer her up, both Julia and Totodile left. "Just go away!"
Kassia put a hand on Julia's shoulder the moment she came out. "Let's give Amara some space. She needs time to grieve."
"She didn't have to yell at me," Julia groaned. But she understood. Even big sisters needed time to themselves, just like Julia wanted time to herself sometimes.
(end flashback one, begin flashback two)
About two months after that, Julia had come home from school wearing a frown. She didn't say anything as her mother and father asked her about her day. She just bolted into her room, threw her book bag on her bed, and yanked her shoes and socks off. She had forgotten to close the door, but she didn't notice, nor did she care. As soon as she felt it was safe, she burst into tears with a howl, falling to the floor, not even bothering to cover her face or hold anything back.
It took all of five seconds for Amara to come stomping into her room, her face contorting with anger. "Quit your crying, you brat!" Amara yelled. "I'm trying to do my homework!"
But Julia didn't stop crying. There was no way anything could make her stop at the moment. "Ethan's...not my friend...anymore!"
Amara had no sympathy for the girl's plight, scowling at her like she saw her pick trash out from the trash bin. She didn't even ask what was wrong, or go inside to comfort her. "Get over it, you pest! One of my friends freakin' died!" Amara argued. "My problems are way worse than yours, so don't act like you've got it bad!"
"Amara! That's no way to talk to your sister!" Her mother scolded, firing a stern scowl at the older girl. This time, Amara left her sister's bedroom and went back into her own. But not before slamming the door so hard, it made a loud thud that, had it been any louder, it might have made the entire house shake. "And don't slam the door!"
Julia was in no mood to tell her mother about what happened at school. Or anyone, for that matter. Her mother did ask what was wrong, but the girl was crying so hard, she couldn't put two words together. Figuring she needed her space, Kassia gently closed the door and left, but not before telling her she was there if she needed her. It took the girl about twenty minutes to stop crying. Her chest eventually began to hurt from too much crying, but in a way, she was satisfied. Sometimes a good cry was enough to push the sadness out. But it wouldn't change the fact that Ethan was no longer her friend. Her stomach growled, begging for a meal.
She tried to leave her room and grab something to eat, probably cookies or her favorite blueberry flavored yogurt. The minute she cracked the door open, her sensitive ears were assaulted by yelling coming from Amara's bedroom. Her door was closed, but the voices were loud enough for her to hear.
"Amara. I wish you had told me about this earlier. I'd love to go to Parent's Day with you."
"Are you kidding me?! I'd rather slit my wrists than let you embarrass me in front of all my friends and the entire school!"
Slit her wrists? What did that mean? Julia had no idea, making a mental note to look it up on the computer or ask her mother or father about it later. But it didn't sound good in the slightest.
"Please, don't say stuff like that. Can't we just sit down and talk about this more maturely?" Kassia pleaded softly. "Amara, I want to help you. I want to be there for you."
"Well, don't! You ruin everything! Just get out! I hate you!"
Having had enough, Julia bolted down the stairs, her emotions awhirl. Why was Amara talking to her mother like she was an alien monster out to kill her? Like she was some evil person out to ruin her life? She had no idea. Amara never said those things about her mother before. Surely she didn't mean it. Then again, lots of people say things they don't mean. She had hoped this would be the last of the arguments.
(end flashback two, begin flashback three)
Unfortunately for the entire Parisa household, the arguments didn't stop. In fact, they only grew worse and more volatile, especially so after Amara's conviction. Not even going to the court-mandated therapy helped matters any, if the phone calls to the house were anything to go by. She had heard snippets of phone conversations from time to time. Not on purpose, but her hypersensitive ears could pick up on almost anything. She heard her mother tell her father that Amara wasn't speaking to the therapist at all. From the tones of their voices, she could tell that that wasn't a good sign.
It was all so confusing and frustrating. She knew Chanel's death had hit Amara hard, and she understood that. But she had usually seen people move on after a few weeks, maybe a few months at most. That, or if they didn't, they usually kept a brave face in public or at the very least tried to maintain some normalcy after that. Amara just...stayed angry. Angry at everything. Even little things started to bother Amara that didn't before, like the way Julia used her eating utensils, classmates talking about Chanel in school, Truman making his silly jokes, the Pokemon running around the house, Julia singing to herself as she drew her pictures or danced around her room. Everything just seemed to set her off.
Amara had become a completely different person. But then Julia remembered: Amara's 13th birthday was coming up in a few days. Not only that, she knew exactly what she could get Amara. After all, she had heard Amara talk about getting a certain item for weeks on end. That was it! She could make Amara happy with that! She begged her father to take her to the mall to get Amara that present. He relented, but on the condition that she use her own money to buy it. She hoped it would be there.
Much to her relief, it was! She had stormed into a Gloria's Secret store, as much as she hated looking at all the lingerie, feminine undergarments, and all the big advertisements with half-naked ladies on the walls, and found exactly what Amara wanted: a small, dark blue tank top with the word 'AWESOME HAS ARRIVED' in sparkly silver sequin. When she went to the counter to pay for it, the young clerk looked at her like she had Krabbys coming out of her ears.
"Uhh...aren't you a little young for this?" She asked.
"It's not for me! It's a birthday present for my big sister! She'll be thirteen in three days!" Julia explained, hoping it'd clarify things. The clerk didn't say another word and let her buy it.
Those three days passed, and Julia was all too enthusiastic to give Amara the birthday present. "Amara! Amara! Happy birthday!" Julia wasted no time handing the box to her big sister.
"Jeez! Back off, will ya?!" Amara yelled as the box was practically forced into her arms. She was more surprised at how Julia suddenly popped into the living room so suddenly than receiving the present.
"Open it! Open it! You'll love it for sure!" Julia was jumping up and down, radiating excitement. Amara gave her a quizzical look before opening the box.
Julia could picture the whole scenario in her mind. Amara opening the box, pulling out the tank top and loving it, spinning around with it in her hands. Then she'd hug Julia and say in a kind, loving voice, "I love it! This is so awesome! Thank you so much, Jule! You're the best little sister ever!" Then Amara would be happy all day, and Julia would be happy that she made her big sister happy.
It's a shame nothing ever goes the way someone wants.
When she actually saw Amara pull out the tank top, she stared at it with…a look of disgust? What? Wasn't she supposed to be happy? Instead of being overjoyed, Amara looked at the shirt, and by extension her little sister, like she had just given her a big pile of pokemon poop. Even their parents stopped in, noticeably worried.
"Your sister bought that all by herself," Truman added, hoping it'd perk everyone up. But he could feel the tension in the room.
Finally, Amara found her voice. It wasn't pretty.
"...Is this some kind of sick joke?!" She didn't say it in a joyful manner like her sister expected. Instead, her voice took on a disgusted tone. Julia's smile was completely gone. Why wasn't she happy? "It's a freaking medium!" With a growl, she threw the shirt at Julia's face. "I wanted a small, you idiot!"
"Amara!" Their mother wasted no time stomping in front of Amara, staring down at her with a shocked and disappointed look. "Julia worked hard to buy you that shirt! Didn't you say you always wanted it? And I've told you to stop calling names!"
Julia's smile turned into a frown, paralyzed by the scene unfolding before her. Why didn't Amara like it or say thank you? She remembered her social studies classes acting out scenarios of her classmates doing nice things for others, and she had participated in a few of them. If someone did something nice, the recipient would always smile and say thank you. That was what she had been taught, both from her parents and in school. It was basically a rule, and most importantly, it was just a nice thing to do to make someone feel good. Plus, Amara always liked all the presents Julia got for her before, on all of her other birthdays. She liked the Christmas presents Julia got her, too. But instead of being happy and saying thank you, Amara became indignant and was shouting in a loud voice.
Unfortunately for Julia, Amara looked at her with a hurtful scowl before yelling, "Why do you have to be so freaking retarded, you little brat?! I hate you!" Amara didn't even bother to take the shirt back to her room. With a grunt, she just stomped up the stairs and slammed her door shut.
"Amara! Amara! Come back down here!" Kassia raced up the stairs. Julia could see from the way her mother balled her fists and hear the harsh stomps on the floor that she was enraged.
She couldn't believe it. Julia did something nice for Amara out of the goodness of her heart, like she was taught, and Amara rejected her present and her gesture like Julia had given her Pokemon poop. The shirt she bought laid down on the floor, tossed aside like trash, and the price tag was still on it. Why did Amara act as though Julia's gesture was a bad thing? She never reacted this way when Julia gave her presents before. This was very unlike her. Then again, this wasn't exactly an experience alien to her. Even when people taught her the ways to do certain things, reactions were never what she expected. Some would follow the rule and say thanks, others would just take it without a word, others would look at her like she did something bad but take it anyway, and sometimes others, like Amara, would outright reject it.
This was all so confusing. Not just Amara, but other people around her, even her own parents, would say or do things they weren't supposed to or that they didn't mean. Their bodies would be all over the place, and conversations seemed to follow all kinds of rules, rules that Julia was expected to know but never told her, because they all said she was smart. Even everything Amara said just now seemed fake, and Julia knew it. Not only was it all confusing, but completely and utterly frustrating. She worked so hard...and it blew up in her face. Worse than that, Amara called her a retard!
"Hey there, slick," Truman wrapped his arms around his younger daughter and pulled her close. Now, Julia was trapped in the warmth of her father's embrace. The thick hairs on his arms tickled her skin, and anytime she moved, the hairs would make her skin all prickly. But at this point, she didn't mind. "Sorry about that. I think it's nice that you got that shirt for her. She shouldn't have called you a retard. That wasn't very nice of her."
"Why didn't she like it?" Julia felt it redundant to ask, but did it anyway, if only because she knew why Amara hated it. Amara said it was a medium, not a small. But all Julia heard was that she wanted that shirt no matter what. She never mentioned a size preference. Then again, Amara always expected people to know things that they clearly didn't. Lots of people did that.
However...in the back of Julia's mind, she couldn't help but wonder if there was some other reason why Amara rejected the shirt. Did she hate the fact that it was Julia who bought it? Would she have liked it to be from someone else? She hated feeling so confused and frustrated and...angry.
"I don't know," Truman crooned softly.
It was at this point that Julia realized that Amara was beyond reason. Nothing she did would ever make her happy. Nothing her parents did made Amara happy. Nobody could ever make her happy as far as Amara concerned. Nothing anyone did worked. As much as she didn't want to lose faith, she was out of options.
She finally gave up. Trying to get through to Amara was like using every battering ram available to break down a titanium wall that seemed virtually indestructible.
(end flashback three)
"...Everything you said just now is a lie and you know it!" Julia cried. All Amara could do was stare at this brand new Julia. Her sister, who in the past would barely ever say a mean word about anyone and would always cry at the littlest thing, was now screaming her feelings out, calling Amara out on everything she did. For once, Amara couldn't fire back.
Her sister continued on. "Mom, Dad, and I have tried everything to make you happy! Everything!" She stamped her foot, almost crushing a small rock on the ground. It was too thick and strong for her weak foot to crush, even with her sturdy sneakers. "We tried everything to make things easier for you! But all you did was reject us and treat us like we were aliens out to kill you! That's what you've been doing to us for the past year and a half!"
Everything Julia said hit Amara like a freight train. It was all true. Everything she said was true. Amara had always denied all of it, focusing more on herself and her own pain than anything or anyone else around her.
"We get it, okay?! We know how losing Chanel hurt you! Nobody said you weren't allowed to feel sad or bad about it!" Julia shouted, her weak fists shaking. "But...unlike you, I don't use Chanel's death as an excuse to hurt the people around me and do bad things!"
She knew what she would say would hurt Amara. Hurt her in the worst way she thought possible. This time, she didn't care if Amara's feelings were hurt. In fact, let them be hurt! It was time that Amara receive a well-deserved reality check.
"This is what I hate about you! The current you! You always act like you're the only one who's hurt and suffering! You do nothing but yell at people you love and treat them like punching bags and act like your pain is so much worse than all the world! You make up lies and twist things around to make everyone else around you into bad guys when all they wanna do is help you! Like you're doing with ME RIGHT NOW! You're just not the same anymore, and I don't like this new you!"
There was truth to Julia's words. All Amara could do was look away, in a last ditch effort to deny everything she had been pushing back all this time. But the shame that came with it was instantaneous. Julia could see it. Good. Because Amara really wasn't the same as she was before, and nobody liked it at all. Not even Amara.
"And don't you DARE say I don't know what it's like to lose someone I love!" This time, the tears sprung forth. "One of my Pokemon freaking died from a heart attack!" Saoirse flashed through her mind. Saoirse, smiling, donning her little red dress. "I had to give another one of my friends to a rehabilitation facility so they could help her! I couldn't handle or help her no matter how hard I tried!" Geraldine returned to her mind. Geraldine, her red Gyarados, who was so traumatized by what Team Rocket did to her that she would lose herself and attack others despite not wanting to. She never wanted to hurt anyone. The fact that she wanted to go with Lance and get better, knowing that the separation would hurt them so, said a lot about her. Julia respected that about her friend.
"Liar-"
"And I DID cry for Chanel! But who was it that told me to get over it and said I was just being a baby about it and that I had no right to cry for her? You did!"
Everything that she kept bottled up inside her, all because everyone around her said it was inappropriate to yell at someone or to let the adults handle it, came spilling right out. Boy, did it feel good to finally take charge for once! Julia didn't feel one bit bad about anything she said. Why should she feel bad? She was sick of just standing there getting yelled at all the time, being helpless to call her out or say anything back. No more little miss nice girl this time.
"How do you think we feel about all this?!" Her small hands slammed onto her chest to empathize her state of mind right now. "We never wanted you to feel like you weren't loved or being taken seriously! That's why Mom and Dad kept fighting for you back at the courthouse! That's why you got court-mandated therapy instead of jail, because Mom and Dad just wanted to help you! Heck, that's why I went on this journey in the first place! We all want to help you! But all you do is push us all away, and for what?!"
She went on to remind Amara of every bad thing she did since Chanel's death: treating her parents like burdens who leeched off of her. Willingly turning her back on all the friends she had, hung out with misguided, potentially dangerous older people who drank alcohol, skipped school, and did drugs which exacerbated not only her anger towards the world but her unfounded hatred. Abused her own Pokemon, stole a Totodile from Professor Elm's lab, caught and abused more Pokemon, and assaulted other people with them when they dared to call her out on her actions. All Amara had to do was calm down, listen, and maybe consider what everyone had to say to her, that maybe, just maybe, being angry all the time was only going to make things worse, not better. All she had to do was break those walls she put up for herself and let people in her heart. But no, Amara did the opposite and treated everyone around her like garbage, all because she felt like she was the only one who was hurt from Chanel's passing and that everyone else didn't care about anything or anyone but themselves and whatever was convenient for them.
Julia even went on to contradict everything Amara just said. Everyone in her family cared about her, appreciated the things she did for them, liked the time she took to spend with them, comforted her when she was sad, celebrated her achievements, let her talk to them about her problems, even crying when Chanel died. Julia was sure Amara deluded herself into believing the opposite so she could have a reason to continue to be angry. Amara didn't want to let anyone love her or accept their help. They both knew everything Amara said to Julia just now were nothing but lies. Amara just didn't want to accept it.
All everyone wanted was for her to be Amara again. The real Amara. The joyful, happy, outgoing, amiable, friendly Amara. The Amara who would always stick up for her sister if someone dared to bully her. The Amara who would spend hours chatting with her friends, sharing funny stories, and talking about Poka Poka Pretty. The Amara who loved her Totodile and treated him like he was her baby. The Amara who just loved life in general. The Amara who loved her family, friends, Pokemon, and everything life had to offer.
"All we want is for you to stop all this! That's all! Please...reconsider what you're doing! If you keep doing all this, hurting innocent people and Pokemon, you're not gonna be able to fulfill your dream or be the Pokemon trainer you want to be! You'll be on the blacklist forever!" Julia wailed.
Her voice grew hoarse from so much yelling. She had no idea she had so much to say about all of this. But the lid was already long ripped off, and there was no turning back.
"We know how much you want to be a trainer! We really do! We just want you to be happy again, like before! I...I don't know about you, but I'm sure...I'm sure Chanel would be really mad at you, knowing that you did and said all these things…" She made it very clear that everything Amara said to her really hurt. Amara could see it in her entire being. She knew it all along, but refused to believe it.
"You don't…"
"None of this is gonna bring Chanel back, and you're not the only one who's hurt by her death! And didn't it ever occur to you that you're only hurting Chanel's memory by doing all this?!"
Good thing Julia managed to finish that sentence. Anything else she tried to say was silenced when Amara finally snapped. All of the truths she tried so hard to deny, the accusations, the reality of everything she did, a shiver of uncontrollable rage ran up her spine, seizing her. In the course of a split second, her reflexes reacted. Like an angry Houndoom, Amara pounced onto Julia, sending a fist flying into her sister's face. Hikaru's ears twitched the moment she heard a sharp crack upon seeing the first strike. The girls were in a full-on catfight.
Soon, Julia was flat on her back. Months of traveling and dealing with wild Pokemon had prepared Julia for a situation like this. The moment Amara's fist met her face, Julia screeched as she threw one of her hands out, yanking on a good chunk of Amara's hair, pulling on it to the point of making Amara screech herself. Too bad that wasn't enough to make Amara stop punching her. At one point, Julia dredged one of her feet into Amara's abdomen, finally managing to push her off.
Not even that made Amara stop. As soon as Julia stumbled to run, Amara pounced on her once more, clawing at her sister's arms. Reeling from the pain of those long nails digging into her skin, Julia's knees buckled. She waved her skinny arms all around in a futile attempt to hold her off. Of course, that didn't work. Amara scratched Julia's cheeks twice before the latter finally threw a fist underneath Amara's jaw. It wasn't so powerful that she broke it or sent her flying, but it was enough to hold her off for a moment.
"Pikapi!" Hikaru pleaded for the girls to stop fighting. Neither girl paid any heed. "Pikapika!"
"Get off me!" Julia howled as Amara savagely pulled on her hair this time. Julia's hands locked around Amara's fists, but that wasn't enough to make her older sister stop pulling on her hair. Already, she could feel the roots about to be pulled right out.
"Stupid...little...miss...I-know-everything-about-nothing!" Amara growled like an Ursaring. All the anger in her heart finally consumed her fully. Julia made a fist and smacked Amara's cheek with it. The blow made Amara's grip on her hair loosen. But once again, as soon as Julia tried to bolt, Amara pounced on her once more. This time, Julia fell flat on her stomach, with Amara right on top, slamming her fists onto the girl's upper back in rapid fire speed.
"Stop it, please!" Julia pleaded, her voice growing more shrill with every word she screamed.
"You always get everything handed to you on a silver platter!" Amara screeched, refusing to stop punching her kid sister. "Everything's always about you, isn't it?! It's always Julia this, Julia that! Julia's so smart and nice, Julia always gets good grades, Julia loves Pokemon soooo much, Julia's autistic so we don't need her to do anything important, don't be mean to sweet widdle Julia 'cause she's sooooo delicate and fragile!"
The condescension in her voice made Julia's blood boil even hotter. The old Amara never treated her like that. Not once had Amara ever treated her sister like she was a burden, an inconvenience, a simpleton who didn't understand the real world, a fragile flower that needed constant protection...Words from the past echoed.
"Julia! You're not hurt, are you? Thank goodness. Those bullies are dumb. You're way better than them."
"You're gonna have to stick up for yourself sometime, Jule. I won't be around to protect you a whole lot, so you need to start learning to stand on your own two feet. I know it's hard, but I know you can do it."
"You're my favorite sister! We'll always be sisters forever and ever!"
"Come on, Jule! Wanna hang out with my friends?"
"Julia...listen. Those boys didn't want to be your friends. They were tricking you the whole time. I've seen it happen with other kids. They were using you. But I'll give them a piece of my mind! Nobody messes with my sister!"
Where had those precious days gone? Where did the old Amara go? The old Amara she used to love and trust with her whole heart. Was this...how it was going to be from now on?
"Every single day I get compared to you!" Amara howled, her voice swelling up several octaves as she slapped her sister across the face. When she tried again, Julia managed to grab her arm with both hands, holding her off. But she knew her sister was stronger, and she wouldn't be able to hold her off long. "I'm not smart like you! I don't get good grades like you do no matter how hard I study! You always get what you want without even trying, but I had to work hard every single day, until my eyes bled, and none of it even mattered! You never get in trouble! You never got detention! You're always the good little girl! Everybody around me always made me feel like I had to be like you in order to amount to anything!"
Julia's eyes widened. So...this wasn't just about Chanel? Amara felt like she had to measure up to Julia? What happened to make her feel like that? Who convinced her to think that way? She honestly had no idea. She definitely knew her parents never treated her like that, and she was sure that she herself never intended for Amara to feel the way she did. She just wished Amara would stop yelling. The noise was too much for her ears to handle.
"You always did flaunt your successes to everyone who wouldn't listen! Well, here we are! Are you happy now?! Huh?!" At this point, Amara's sky blue eyes were completely bloodshot, likely from the gravel. "DOES THIS MAKE YOU HAPPY?!"
"That's not true, Amara! You don't need to be like me!" Julia pleaded. She knew it was pointless, but she had to get through to her somehow. "You're my sister, and you're just fine that way! Please, don't! Can't we just stop fighting?! I don't want to fight you!"
None of Julia's pleas did anything to stop Amara. Her hate-filled blue eyes and her gnashing teeth made her the very picture of rage. "It's too late! I don't believe you anymore! I'm so sick of always feeling like I don't matter compared to you! I HATE YOU!"
"PIKA!" Finally, Hikaru had had enough of watching this pointless brawl. The shiny electric mouse leaped onto Amara's arm, baring her teeth before sinking them into her wrist.
"Ow!" Amara let out a pained yelp as Hikaru's sharp teeth dredged fresh holes into her skin. The pain was enough to make her stand back in alarm, giving Julia another chance to escape. Hikaru fought back the urge to electrocute this stubborn girl. Doing that would only make things worse. Julia made a beeline for the nearest wall, right as Hikaru finally let go, falling to the ground feet first. But Hikaru's stony stare made Amara freeze in place, her long ears arched back.
"Pika! Pikapika!" For once, Julia didn't translate. Amara didn't need to understand Hikaru's tongue to figure out what she was saying. "Don't you dare hurt my friend!"
"Hikaru, don't," Finally, Julia's voice swelled down to a soft, timid whisper. "That's not nice."
Amara found herself wide-eyed. Hikaru's anger still simmered, but she heeded her trainer's request. The shiny electric mouse's stance relaxed and she returned to her trainer's side. "You shouldn't have bit Amara like that."
Amara's mouth fell agape. "I…I thought...you'd allow it."
Julia crossed her arms. "You actually think I'd want my Pokemon to hurt you? Absolutely not!" The girl scolded in a terse tone. "Even I know that it's against federal law to make Pokemon attack another, unarmed human! Besides, Hikaru did that on her own. I didn't make her do that."
For a brief moment, a tense silence fell between them. Hikaru stood by her trainer's side, her eyes still scrutinizing the older girl. Amara took the intense glare as saying that Hikaru was not going to show any mercy, should she attack her trainer again. Soon, Julia's saddened expression morphed into one of despondent frustration. The tears came forth, stinging her already inflamed, reddening cheeks.
"...Where did you even...get that idea?" Julia accused, her voice trembling. "...That you had to measure up to me? I...I'm not even worth measuring up to! If anything...I wanted to be more like you!"
Finally, Amara fell silent. Even Hikaru's body relaxed as she dropped her guard, looking up at her trainer. Her tiny fists were shaking.
"Everything you say you felt...is exactly how I've felt since I was seven years old!" Julia confessed. "I don't know why you believe all of this...and I won't judge you...but...do you really think I get everything just handed to me?! Well, I didn't! I had to work hard too! I used to be jealous of you! In fact, I even used to hate you!"
Both Amara and Hikaru fell silent as Julia finally let her own feelings out. No one expected to hear what they heard. Julia used to be jealous of Amara. Amara was normal, while Julia wasn't. Amara made friends easily, lots of them, while Julia couldn't no matter how hard she tried. Amara was never made fun of for being who she was, but Julia was bullied by both kids and adults just for not being like everyone else. Amara had all the time in the world to make friends and do what she wanted, even in school, but Julia sometimes had to go to speech lessons, even during recess, just to learn social skills and basic communication skills, such as how to construct sentences in the proper way.
In fact, in her earliest years, Julia barely understood the concept of studying and taking school seriously, and even wound up getting two detentions in fourth grade because she either forgot her homework or couldn't finish it, even with Amara's help or her parents' help. Even when she did master studying and began ace-ing tests and all of her other assignments, she still hated school. She hated doing schoolwork, taking tests, talking to other kids, etc. The same kids who didn't want to be friends with her, who didn't like the things she did and liked what she didn't, who always made it a point to always tell Julia, no matter what, that she would never be normal, which in their eyes was more than enough reason to be shunned and made an outcast.
Even now, she hates taking tests and doing homework, and the only reason she studies, pays attention in school, and gets A's, B's, and even a few C's is because she has to. If she didn't get good grades, she would fail, and past experiences told her that failure was disgraceful, something to be openly ridiculed and ashamed of. If she failed at anything, she would never fulfill her dreams, do what she wanted, or even be considered a normal person. Mrs. Amoretto abusing her about it certainly didn't help matters. Plus, she didn't want to disappoint her parents, or even Amara. It was bad enough being hated by the world just because she was autistic, and therefore, "bad" in their eyes. She could barely understand anyone and how they felt, even if she tried as hard as she possibly could.
"I never meant...to make you feel that way…" Julia quivered. "If I did, I'm sorry. I never…"
Instead of seeing anger on Amara's face, it was replaced by a look of despondent surprise. Amara looked like she needed a hug. Badly. Oh, how Julia yearned to hug her older sister and tell her everything would be alright! But she refrained, remembering all the other times she tried to do so. She didn't want to make Amara angrier than she already was with affectionate gestures that she knew she would reject, no matter her intent.
"You keep chasing me, wanting to put me in jail…" Amara's voice kept cracking. "You report me to the police every single time you see me! Even Mom went on TV and told me to turn myself in!"
"I don't want you to go to jail!" Julia finally admitted. "I mean...I wanted to before...but not anymore!" She went on to explain that she only wanted to make sure Amara didn't do anything that would put her on the blacklist permanently and make things worse for her. Sure, Julia did want to put Amara in jail before, when she began her journey, when she was naive and still had a rather black and white view of justice. But all of her experiences and encounters with Amara over the past few months made her really reconsider what she wanted for her sister. Plus, as much as she hated to admit it, with everything Amara had done since stealing the Totodile from Professor Elm's lab, Amara going to jail was inevitable no matter what they'd do, since she technically brought all this on herself. She certainly didn't help her case by not cooperating with the court's rules and not talking to the therapist they assigned her.
"Amara...I do want to see you be a trainer, like you always wanted," Julia's voice was nearly gone. It was a wonder she still had any portion of her voice left from so much crying. "We all do. We don't want to stop you from fulfilling your dream. Your and Chanel's dream. But doing all this...it's just gonna make things worse for you. I won't say that I understand what you're going through. But...are you really okay with all of this?"
Both girls were completely overcome with agony. The pain they bold held gripped their hearts and threatened to rip it out from their chests. Julia wondered if even saying all that she said was even worth it. Even Julia knew she couldn't possibly understand what Amara had been through. All those months on the run, with no friends to share in her joys, sorrows, pain, and victories. Going on a journey completely alone with a desire to fight the world for its lack of concern for Chanel. Still, she wanted to ease her sister's pain so badly. But for all she knew, she could already be failing even at that.
Amara cast her gaze downward. Regret washed over her. Now she wished she hadn't said all those lies and terrible things to Julia, her own sister. Right to her face, and things that were completely untrue. Amara knew it all too well. She knew none of what she said about Julia was true, but said it all anyway. She didn't even hate her. How could she hate her little sister? All of this anger was inside her, and it had to go somewhere. She felt like this anger was never going to go away no matter what. It seemed infinite, maybe even bigger than infinite, if such a thing was possible. But now her conscious was telling her that nobody around her deserved all of this.
Those gym leaders didn't deserve to be assaulted by some kid they didn't know. The Pokemon she caught and stole didn't deserve to be abused and used as little more than her sentient punching bags. Debbie and Emily didn't deserve to not only have their personal, most private secrets disclosed to strangers out of spite, but tossed aside like garbage just because they weren't as close to Chanel as she was. They didn't deserve to be cast aside because they didn't understand the depth of her grief. Her family didn't deserve all of the insults, yelling, and shouting she subjected them to, nor did they deserve to be vilified just because they wanted to help her in any way they could, even if they weren't necessarily good at it and sometimes went about it the wrong way. They certainly didn't deserve being completely sick with worry as Amara ran away from home, traveled all across Johto alone while being pursued by police at every turn, and continually put herself in possible mortal danger.
It finally hit her right then and there. Debbie was right. Amara didn't want to heal. She just wanted to be angry at everything and everyone. To stew in her anger and let it grow until it was as big as the universe, like anger was the only thing keeping her alive. She didn't care if other people were hurt. All Amara cared about was her own pain, her own hurt. Nobody else seemed hurt by Chanel's death...no, there were others. Chanel's mother and siblings. Chanel's mother lost a child. Actually, she lost two. Her other children lost a sister and a brother. How could she have forgotten them? Amara had thought she was the most hurt by Chanel's death, but the pain her mother must be going through...Amara couldn't bear to imagine it. And to think Amara had the nerve to tell Julia she had no right to cry over Chanel. Chanel was Amara's friend, not Julia's, she had told herself. Julia needed to find her own friends. But Chanel was nice to her. Chanel never teased Julia or was mean to her like other kids. Chanel actually treated her like a human being who deserved love and respect, like everyone else. Amara thought only she had the right to mourn Chanel and lashed out at anyone who even so much as looked at her wrong. Being sad over Chanel's death didn't justify all of the pain she had inflicted on everyone around her, especially her family, even complete strangers who knew nothing of Chanel.
She used to hate the fact that Julia was honest and matter-of-fact on just about everything, even when she shouldn't have been. Now, Amara thought that her being brutally honest and blunt was one of her better qualities. No, it had always been her best quality. At least Julia was being straight up with her, not mincing words even when she tried really hard with her word choice and often failing at times to put things nicely. Julia never did hide her feelings. She never made any attempts to sugar coat anything, even when it was necessary to do so. Amara squeezed her eyes shut. Why did she ever think she could hate her sister, and just for being herself, at that?
"...You've really grown up," Amara finally whispered.
"Huh?" Julia looked up, her vision still blurry.
Amara sat down, pulling her knees to her chest. "Look at you. You traveled all over Johto, made it all the way to Mt. Silver on foot, overcame your fear of Pokemon battles, and even fought gym leaders."
Julia wasn't sure how to respond to that. But Amara was right about all of those things.
"You did the same thing, y'know," Julia told her. "And you can do it again, if you come back home and do what you can to get off the blacklist."
Amara said nothing. In response, Julia held her hand out. "Let's go back home. Let's end this."
"Julia!"
The girls lifted their heads up. A voice? Julia climbed back up to the hole to hear it better. Her name was called out again. Caiseal and Perrine were nearby!
"Heeeey!" Julia cried out. "I'm in heeere!"
To her relief, she could see Perrine's maroon skirt fluttering in front of the hole. Caiseal kneeled down to get a better look, and thanks to Hikaru's glow, she could make out his facial features perfectly. "Whoa! How'd you get stuck in there?" Caiseal asked.
"It's a long story. But Amara and I are trapped. Can you get us out, please?"
"No problem!" Perrine exclaimed.
"Be careful. The rocks are kinda loose and unstable," Julia warned them. Inside, her stomach was doing joyful backflips, and she wanted to jump up and down. Tsubasa pulled through, and her friends were here!
Thankfully, the process of getting them out proved to be easy thanks to Caiseal and Perrine. The latter had Florian come out and use his vines to remove some of the more unstable rocks. Caiseal had Apollo and Mallow move some other boulders, allowing the entrance of the cave to return to its original form. As soon as the hole was big enough, Julia crawled right out of there, with Amara following from behind. Of course, Julia did have to take her by the hand and pull her out. But with that, the girls were freed. The sky was still marred by dark, heavy clouds, but it was much better than total darkness. Hikaru's body stopped glowing as well.
Julia wasted no time throwing her arms around Caiseal. "Nnngh! You guys are the best!"
"Where the heck were you?" Perrine asked sternly, crossing her arms. "When we woke up, you had disappeared. We thought a Pokemon had snatched you."
Guilt settled in her chest. Her desire to catch Amara made her friends worry. "I'm sorry," Julia told them. "But seriously, you're not gonna believe what happened to me over the past-!"
She wasn't able to tell them anything that had happened. Out from the sky came a yellow beam of light that flew right over them, landing a direct hit just above them. Rocks and boulders exploded from the mountain in a dusty spume. Perrine was quick to pull Caiseal away from the explosion, as did Amara with Julia. A guttural roar cut through the air, splitting their ear drums in half. Everyone looked up. Lugia soared overhead, with J's airship still in pursuit.
"Holy crap!" Perrine yelped. "Is that-?!"
"We need to get out of here!" As awestruck as he was about seeing Lugia, he could tell from a glance that it was J's airship. This was not the time to be gawking at a legendary Pokemon. He took Perrine by the hand and made a mad dash for it. Similar to before, Julia took Amara by the hand and ran for her life. Hikaru leaped onto Tsubasa's back and the bird Pokemon flew on ahead of them.
Behind them, the airship fired a barrage of large, black rings that flew all around Lugia. The diving Pokemon fired off several beams of light behind itself to keep them away, but they managed to evade every attack. Lugia's body cast a shadow over Julia and Amara, who were struggling to keep up with Perrine, Caiseal, and their Pokemon. One of Lugia's wings brushed against the side of the mountain, taking out a huge chunk of boulders that fell all around the kids. At one point, the rings finally made contact with Lugia, coiling themselves around the silver avine, trapping its wings, preventing further flight. One of the rings flew towards Amara and Julia, blocking their path and dragging them towards Lugia, melding into one of the other rings. They found themselves restrained against Lugia's underbelly.
Perrine was the first to turn around and see it. "No! Jule!" She shouted. Caiseal stopped in his tracks, and his mouth fell agape. Julia and Amara were trapped.
The rings sent an electrical current, sending searing pain through Lugia, Julia, and Amara's bodies. All three of them screamed in agony before falling unconscious. Before long, the rings floated up to the bottom of J's airship, taking Lugia and the Parisa sisters with them.
Inside the cockpit, J smiled. "Mission accomplished. Let's see if we can get some information out of it."
"Master J," A male pilot exclaimed. "It seems we caught something else as well. Come see," He pointed to a screen in front of him.
With a grunt, J walked over to the control panel. The pilot zoomed in the image. J leaned over to get a closer look. Two girls were caught by one of their electrical rings, trapped against Lugia's underbelly, their heads drooping downward as their bodies were in a vertical position.
"I'll handle them," J answered. "In the meantime, turn on the invisibility cloak and get one of the Dark Balls and put Lugia inside. Our airship is too small to handle its weight. I'll have the others take the girls out and put them in the storage unit."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Outside, the airship turned invisible, blending right in with the sky as it turned around and made its way westward. Perrine and Caiseal could only watch as it disappeared.
"We have to do something!" Caiseal exclaimed.
Perrine nodded in agreement. "Tsubasa!" She turned towards the bird Pokemon. "Take Hikaru and follow that airship!"
Tsubasa gave a sailor salute before taking off with Hikaru on her back. The airship may be invisible, but Tsubasa was confident she could find it. Pidgeotto didn't have great eyesight for nothing.
Caiseal pulled his PokeGear out. "I'll call the police!"
The first thing Julia noticed was that she felt something hard and cold beneath her. Her eyes peeled open, and she was greeted by titanium walls that shined under fluorescent lights. Blurs of gold swept across her vision. Gold? Julia rubbed her eyes with her fists. Blinking, her vision began to clear up, and the gold blurs turned out to be statues of various Pokemon. Julia gasped. She was on J's airship! She swiveled around, finding Amara lying next to her, unconscious. Julia stood up, her legs trembling as she used the wall for support. How did she wind up here, on J's airship? But as she got a better look at the statues, she recognized them with just a glance.
Raikou. Suicune. Entei. Frozen in various stages of fear and surprise. Raikou had his claws in the air. Entei was crouching down, and Julia could see a visible gash on its side. Suicune's body was in a circular arch, like it was trying to jump away. All three of them were petrified in golden stone, just like Raikou was back in Olivine City. She looked around the room to see if anyone else was here. Other than herself, Amara, and the three legendary beasts, nobody else was here. Not even other trapped Pokemon. That was when she noticed. The room was completely empty, save for the five of them. But where were Ho-Oh and Lugia, and didn't J normally imprison more Pokemon than this?
Julia ran over to Raikou and pushed the lever down on the docking unit that held him. Raikou's body returned to normal, and the electric Pokemon looked around, bewildered.
"Raikou! Hi there!" Julia greeted it warmly. Raikou looked down, eyeing the girl with suspicion. But upon closer examination, this was the girl who took care of his ward Hikaru. Raikou's stance softened, and he gave a low growl in greeting. "Looks like you're in a pickle again, huh?" She stole a glance at Entei and Suicune. "What happened to you guys? What does J want with you?"
"Uuugh," Amara groaned, finally waking up from her unconscious state. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Julia, can you please keep it down? Arceus, you're so loud—whaaaaaaa?!" She complained before she processed the image of a giant electric tiger in front of her little sister, yelping like she saw an axe murderer coming her way. Of course, Julia paid her no heed; as she was too busy listening to Raikou telling her how they got here.
"She has both Ho-Oh and Lugia?" Julia repeated. "That's terrible! Do you know where she's keeping them?" Raikou gave another quiet growl. "I'm not surprised. Anyway, do you think you can get out of here? My sister and I will handle things here."
Raikou nodded. Julia stood back six feet, going back to where Amara was. Just then, Raikou let out a roar and fired a powerful lightning bolt at the ceiling. It cut right through the thick armor, leaving a hole just big enough for Raikou to jump through. Soon after, the electric tiger leaped to the ceiling and crawled out of the hole. Julia ran towards the petrified Entei, knowing what she needed to do. But before she could run any further, Amara's hand grabbed her shoulder.
"What are you doing?!" Amara scolded her on the spot.
"I'm gonna set them free, that's what!" Julia snapped back, writhing in Amara's grasp.
"No you're not! They'll kill you!"
"No they won't! I'm not gonna leave them here!"
"Whoever brought us here is gonna kill us! If you set them free we're dead meat!"
"We're dead meat whether we do anything or not, and I'd rather go down fighting than sit by and do nothing!"
After some struggle, Julia wasted no time setting Entei free. The volcano Pokemon looked up and saw the hole Raikou made before making a big leap towards it. Then, Julia pressed the lever on the mechanical dais Suicune stood on. Once Suicune was free and saw Julia, the north wind Pokemon backed away, snarling its teeth at her. Julia kept her hands up to show Suicune she meant no harm.
"It's okay. It's okay," She cooed in a dulcet voice. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm trying to help you."
Suicune took a moment to sense her intentions. There was no malice in her heart. Gradually, Suicune's pulse slowed to a steady drumbeat, and its expression softened into a calmer look. Suicune's stance relaxed as it walked closer to the girl. Amara's jaw dropped once again. Was she actually seeing her little sister attempt to calm a large, dangerous Pokemon? And a legendary Pokemon, at that? Suicune sniffed Julia with its muzzle for a brief moment.
"I already set Raikou and Entei free, so they're safe for now," Julia reassured the north wind Pokemon with confidence.
Suicune looked over to its left. Raikou and Entei were nowhere in sight. It looked up at the hole in the ceiling. That must be how they escaped. But before Suicune could act, a beam of light coiled around its neck, preventing movement. Two more followed, one around its muzzle, and another around its leg. Suicune staggered to the ground. Julia and Amara looked over to the entrance. Three Team Rocket grunts had guns aimed at Suicune, only they weren't guns as they fired laser-like ropes around the struggling north wind Pokemon. Julia didn't have a name for them. The girls bristled as Hunter J herself walked over to them with all the grace of a model walking down a runway, only she was frowning. Julia knew this wasn't going to be pretty.
J took a brief moment to size her up. "Huh. You're that girl who foiled my plans in Olivine City," J mused, her voice cold as ice. "And I see you're foiling my plans yet again."
"WHAT?!" Amara shrieked. "You've met her before?! And what's this about you foiling her plans?!"
"This isn't the time for that now!" Julia barked before turning back to J. "Let us go!"
J scowled. "And have you spill your guts to the world and put me in a compromising position? Not a chance, kid," She sneered.
Another Team Rocket grunt came running up to her, holding what appeared to be two small, black PokeBalls with red and purple markings on them. "Master J! Ho-Oh and Lugia keep acting up in the Dark Balls! I can't get them to stop rattling!" He explained sheepishly.
Dark Balls? Julia stole a glance at them. The PokeBalls were shaking and rattling in the grunt's hands. Were those the Dark Balls he was talking about? Ho-Oh and Lugia were in them! Probably because they were both too big for the airship to carry, even if they were petrified, she hypothesized.
"Put them in my quarters," J told him tersely. "They can't possibly break out of them."
The hapless grunt hobbled away, balls in hand.
Julia bristled as an arm touched her shoulder. "Jule, this is really, really bad," Amara whispered, her voice trembling with fear. "We need to get out of here."
J looked over at the other grunts. "Get Suicune under control! I'll deal with these brats," J shouted as she came closer to the girls. She then yanked Julia up by the arm. The sudden force made Julia yelp from the pain. In response, the girl kicked J right in the shin, which was enough to make the woman release her. J only grunted from the kick, but scowled again as Julia ran right back to Amara.
"Jule! Stop this! You're gonna make things worse!" Amara hissed.
"You got any better ideas?" Julia retorted. "Things are gonna get worse no matter what we do."
The Pokemon hunter took her shades off and put two fingers to her forehead as she let out an exasperated sigh. "Oh, for Arceus' sake. You're even more difficult than that Gyarados I mind controlled in Cherrygrove City last year."
What?
The girls' eyes shrank. What did J say? Any concerns Amara had about the whole situation melted away as soon as J finished talking. A Gyarados? In Cherrygrove City? Last year? And she said she mind controlled it? Amara stood up in alarm, her ponytail nearly hitting her face as she did so. J's words hung suspended in the air before clattering down around the Parisa girls like raging, ice cold hail.
"That was...you?" Amara's voice softened to a low, pathetic whisper. "You...made that Gyarados...kill all those people?" Another revelation hit her like a Rock Slide attack. "You killed...Chanel, too?"
"Yeah, that Gyarados attack was my doing," J admitted with indifference. Julia cringed from the casual way this woman was talking about a terrible tragedy. No emotion and no remorse, like she was talking about having gotten a soda from a vending machine. "It was my first attempt at testing out the first version of our radio signal," She continued. Julia knew right away what she was talking about: the radio signal that was meant to forcefully evolve Pokemon or mind control them.
Julia bared her teeth at the woman. "That was you?! You made that Gyarados kill all those people?!" She screamed, letting loose the volcano of anger in her heart. "How could you be so cruel?!"
"Tch," J barely reacted to Julia's outburst. "They were but a small price to pay in my grand plans. I don't know why you're getting all worked up about it. Sacrifices are needed in order to make progress in everything."
Sacrifices? Julia's blood boiled red hot. She thought those innocent people she killed were little more than sacrifices? A means to an end? An inconvenience to be purged in order to achieve her own selfish goals? This was far worse than anything she could have imagined. The realization hit both girls right then and there. The Gyarados attack last year wasn't an accident at all, and everyone died because of her! Chanel died because of her! And here J was, confessing her horrific deed like it was little more than a trip to the store! The anger that simmered inside her exploded outward.
"What is wrong with you?!" Julia screamed as loud as she could muster. For once, Amara didn't scold her for it. Amara fell to her knees, unable to move, her vocal chords having completely shut down. Good thing Julia did all of the talking for her, and she made her opinion loud and clear. "You killed so many innocent people for your own personal gain! Some of whom were our friends! Our neighbors! Our classmates! You...you...you're a monster! A big, fat MONSTER!" Julia's red, contorted face snarled as she yelled at J, not caring at all about the grunts who were giving her the stink eye for daring to talk to their boss in such a manner. Julia saw red, and in front of her was a criminal. Someone needed to give her a verbal lashing. Why not her? More than that, she wanted to give this evil woman a good punch in the face!
"Chuuuuu!" Lightning bolts shot through the hole in the ceiling, nearly striking the three grunts who held Suicune captive. Hikaru came bounding into the room, cheeks sparkling with electricity. Tsubasa zipped in right afterward, speeding past the grunts and knocking the rope laser guns out of their hands. The light ropes faded, and Suicune took the chance to bound right out of the storage room. Not long after, Hikaru leapt towards J and glowed in a harsh, white light. J winced, holding her arm in front of her face, blinded by the light. The sudden Flash made her unable to quickly put her shades back on.
"Come on!" Julia took Amara by the hand and sprinted out of the storage room.
Titanium corridors greeted them as the girls made their way through the airship. They needed to find a way out. But how, and where could they find one? Hikaru ran up next to them with a confident glint in her eyes. "Pikapi!"
"Hey, girl! You and Tsubasa were great!" Julia exclaimed, panting with each breath she took. She and Amara found a brief moment to stop and catch their breath. "Ho-Oh and Lugia are inside some black PokeBalls, and a grunt has them."
Hikaru smiled. In the distance, a young man screamed in agony, and a bird's squawking and howling bounced off the walls. Not long after that, Tsubasa came flying towards the girls, with black PokeBalls in each foot. The bird wasted no time handing them to Julia.
"Thanks, Tsubasa! You're the best!" Julia cradled the Dark Balls in her arms. Two legendary Pokemon who were revered as Gods, and here they were, trapped in tiny capsules against their will, and all because of some terrible woman's greed and malice. "Don't worry, guys. I'll set you free soon. I promise," She whispered, hoping they heard her. The Dark Balls wiggled in her arms, as if they were nodding. "Tsubasa. Can you drive away any TR grunts in case they come after us? We need to get out of here."
Tsubasa nodded, pointing further down the corridor before flying ahead. Julia put the Dark Balls in her backpack, took Amara by the hand, and ran, with Hikaru by her side. She needed to find an exit. They all did. Getting out through the hole Raikou made in the ceiling would be risky, and J was probably still on their tail. It didn't help that none of the Pokemon she had were big enough to fly and carry two kids at the same time. But she wasn't going to be stuck here and be J's prisoner. Not after what they learned about her.
As they made their way through the airship, Tsubasa and Hikaru both drove away any grunts that tried to hinder their escape. Tsubasa did most of the work, using Gust to throw them into walls or in general knock them out. Some of Julia's Pokemon weren't in good enough shape to handle Team Rocket since her battle with Amara earlier. Finally, Julia saw what looked like an exit: a big, square door. She placed her hand on one of the cracks. Air brushed through her fingers. But how could she get it to open? A card reader caught her eye. A little black card reader had been built into the wall, and a clear part of it was glowing red. She turned to her right. A female grunt was lying behind her unconscious. A black plastic card with a red R on it dangled from her neck by a lanyard.
Could that be what she needed to get out? Julia kneeled down and slowly removed the lanyard from the woman's neck, taking care not to wake her up. When she got it loose, she walked over to the card reader and placed the black card over it. The clear strip on the reader glowed green, and a hissing sound echoed in the airship. The hatch opened outward, revealing a vast blue sky and a sea of green trees before her. Julia didn't dare look down, as she was just two feet from the edge. One push would be all it took to make her fall to her potential death. The wind wasn't very strong, and the airship wasn't moving very quickly, so the girls were thankful that they didn't get sucked out. But the question remained: How in the world were they going to get off? But Julia had an idea. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out the Dark Balls.
"Now we can-" Before Julia could finish, she saw a white web flying towards her. She leaped out of the way just in time, away from the entrance so she didn't fall backwards. J and an Ariados had the girls cornered. Julia stood close to Amara, clutching the Dark Balls tightly. Hikaru and Tsubasa adopted battle stances. Hikaru was on all fours, her tail in the air, and Tsubasa was airborne, ready to battle.
"I didn't spend months searching for the legendary birds just so you could steal them from me!" J bellowed.
"They were never yours to begin with!" Julia snapped back.
"You will give them to me right now!"
"No!"
J scowled. "Then you leave me no choice. Ariados, Poison Sting!"
"Aria!" The giant spider fired a flurry of poison stingers at the girls.
"Tsubasa! Blow them away with Gust!"
The bird Pokemon flapped her wings vigorously, generating a gust of wind that sent the poison stingers scattering in different directions. Julia was quick to get back on her feet, her arms protecting the Dark Balls like they were precious jewels. All Amara did was stand at the edge, wind thrashing her hair and face as she continued to process J's awful revelation. No words came out from her throat. Her entire being had shut down. She saw nothing but darkness, not even as Tsubasa and Ariados exchanged attacks and blows right in front of her.
Before J could call out another attack, the airship began to shake. The floor shifted sideways, and everyone fell to their knees, losing their balance. Something made the airship sway from the inside. Julia slipped, the lower half of her body hanging off the edge of the entrance by her torso. She grabbed Amara's leg with one hand, but all that did was pull Amara down with her. Amara shrieked as she attempted to grab the ledge, throwing both hands outward to grab something, anything, but the flooring was too smooth and slippery for her to get a good grip. Tsubasa and Hikaru could only cry out in horror as they watched the two girls fall. Amara shut her eyes as she and her sister were pulled downward by the forces of gravity, descending towards their deaths.
Was this how her life was going to end? How their lives would end? All these months, Amara had tried so hard to do something for Chanel. To make up for not being able to save her, and yet...it had all been for nothing.
"COME OUT! HELP US!" Julia shouted into the air.
Amara kept her eyes shut, resigning herself to her fate.
...But there was no impact.
Something soft cushioned her fall. What was it? It felt like fluffy down feathers, softer than even her comfy bed at home. Gathering her courage, Amara peeled her eyes open. She saw Julia right in front of her, lying face down on something...orange? Never before had Amara been so relieved to see her sister alive and safe. She was about to ask if she was okay, but Julia stirred and woke up not seconds afterward.
"Wha? What just…?" Julia was afraid of what she might see. But she could tell she and Amara were alive. Her hands felt something soft and warm. She and Amara looked up, and in that instant, they saw a sight that they never thought they would ever see. Or feel. Or experience in their entire lifetime.
Ho-Oh's yellow crest feathers glimmered like stars under the morning sunlight. Julia and Amara were laying right at the end of Ho-Oh's neck, on her back, high in the sky. They hadn't fallen to their deaths after all! Ho-Oh turned her head back to cast a glance towards the girls. Her red eyes were luminous and full of careful tenderness. Not at all like the godly beast spoken of in myths and legends. Ho-Oh's wings caught the sun's rays as they flapped, glowing in a rainbow of radiant color unmatched by anything else in this world. Julia swiveled behind her. A rainbow trailed behind them from Ho-Oh's yellow tail feathers, stretching far into the sky. J's airship was nowhere in sight, but she could see a small vapor of smoke coming from a pile of fallen trees down in the forest.
Amara looked down. Lugia soared just below them, its silvery wings outstretched, sparkling like sunlight reflected on a vast ocean. The girls couldn't believe what they were experiencing. They had just survived a fall from a wanted criminal's airship, and suddenly they were not only seeing two legendary Pokemon, but riding on one of them. Their eyes shrunk in awe, their bodies completely weak from the wonder of it all. The large avines flew slowly, with Ho-Oh in particular taking care to make sure the girls didn't slide off her back and fall yet again. Mt. Silver stood before them in all its glory, but Ho-Oh's wings reflected sunlight, which struck the mountain with a prism of wild, lively hues. Any words Julia could even hope to come up with to describe the world of beauty around her in that moment were stuck in her throat, but as far as she was concerned, they weren't needed. She and her sister were alive, riding a majestic phoenix alongside her shimmering silver friend, having avoided danger.
What more was there to say?
"Pikaaaa!" Hikaru's voice pulled Julia out of her awestruck reverie. She turned to her left, seeing Tsubasa soaring right next to her, just above Ho-Oh, with Hikaru on her back. Awe melted into relief. Her friends were alive!
"You guys are okay!" Julia exclaimed, her eyes moist with tears. As soon as Hikaru jumped in her arms yet again, the tears spilled outward, trailing down her cheeks and melting into the orange mouse's fur. Then she opened her eyes and saw police cars down in a clearing. A familiar wave of orange hair stood out amongst the people below.
Perrine and Caiseal!
"Ho-Oh?" Julia called out. "You can drop us off down there!" She pointed to the clearing where Perrine, Caiseal, and various police cars were gathered. "Thanks so much for everything!"
The phoenix nodded affirmatively as she slowly descended into the clearing. Everyone cleared away as they let Ho-Oh land. When her talons met the earth, she extended one of her wings down, letting Julia and Amara slide right down. Tsubasa and Hikaru followed suit, and as soon as the girls got off, Ho-Oh quickly returned to the sky in all her rainbow majesty.
"Jule!" Caiseal was the first to glomp her, and Perrine followed suit. The force of their hugs were so strong that all three of them fell to the ground. Julia yelped from the fall, but the pain didn't faze her one bit. She was just so overwhelmed with joy and relief that she didn't care about anything else.
"You were actually riding on Ho-Oh's back?!" Perrine exclaimed.
"I know, right?!" Julia yelped right back. "It was soooo awesome! Never in my life did I imagine I'd wind up doing that!"
"I saw J's ship go down, and I saw Suicune escape!" Caiseal clamored. "You could have died! We were so worried about you!"
"Sorry, guys."
"But man, did you see Lugia?! It looks absolutely amazing! I can't believe we actually saw the legendary birds!"
"I know! I know!"
Once the kids sat up, they were so busy trying to process what they saw and experienced, laughing throughout the whole thing, that they completely forgot that Amara was even there. Amara stood up and hobbled into the forest like a drunk person, swaying from side to side as she made her exit.
"Excuse me? Kids?" An officer Jenny approached them. Her voice pulled the kids out of their excited chatter, and they all met her eyes. "Sorry to interrupt your reunion, but we'd like to talk to you."
Only then did Julia remember why she was even here in the first place.
She stood right back up in alarm. "Amara! I found Amara! She's right here-!" She swirled around to point them towards Amara…
...Only she was nowhere in sight.
"Huh?" Julia's hand fell halfway down as she processed Amara's disappearance. Where was she now? "No! She was right here!" She couldn't have disappeared that quickly. "Amara! Amara!" She called out as loud as she could, her voice growing hoarse from all the yelling she did today. But there was no answer.
But in her heart, she knew why Amara left just now.
"AMARA!"
This couldn't be true. It just couldn't be true.
But she knew in her heart that it was.
Amara's lungs burned, her legs straining with every step she ran. Before long, they felt limp like noodles. She fell to her knees, and her hands met the ground, her hair obscuring her face as she stared down at nothing. Nothing but the awful truth that had blown everything she knew out into the stratosphere, never to return again.
That Gyarados didn't just randomly kill Chanel in a fit of anger after all!
J had mind controlled it!
Just as she finally let the gravity of that revelation sink into her soul, it brought a mountain of guilt down with it. Everything she had believed and done had turned out to be for absolutely nothing. All this time, she had yelled at and driven away so many people and Pokemon, under the notion that they were all somehow responsible for Chanel's death or just didn't take it seriously. She hated them, fought them, took her anger out on them, ditched them, and spited them every chance she had...and they had done nothing to deserve it. J admitted to having killed Chanel, merely dismissing her death as just a means to a cruel end, like she was little more than roadkill on the street. Now that she knew…where could she go from here? What could she do? How could she possibly face her family? Her friends? The very people she turned her back on for no other reason than misplaced hatred?
She had driven away her friends, family, and the Pokemon she loved for absolutely nothing.
A guttural scream escaped from her throat as waterfalls of tears cascaded down her cheeks. Remorse finally kicked her hatred to the curb as she let herself cry openly for the first time in what seemed to be forever. What had she been fighting against this whole time? She turned her back on her family, ditched her friends, broke several laws, assaulted complete strangers, abused the Pokemon she caught, and ran wild all throughout Johto. How could any of these crimes be forgiven? Amara cried even harder, realizing that she had no reason to have done any of it, especially towards the people she loved, who only did what they could to be there for her, support her, and help her, even as she rejected them and treated them like crap. For the first time in years, she felt sorry.
Overcome with contrition, Amara lay down on the ground, her hair mingling with scattered gravel. Normally, she wouldn't dare lie down on mud and dirt, as she was too conscious of her appearance to do so. Before this, she always took time out of her day to make herself look pretty, whether it was putting on makeup or taking a long shower. She hated being dirty in any fashion. At this point, she didn't care. Let me be dirty, she told herself. Considering how terribly she treated the people in her life, she considered it fitting. Amara hated herself, the person she had become, and worst of all, she hated the fact that she basically desecrated her and Chanel's dream to become Pokemon trainers together.
Chanel was gone, and the person responsible would be forever out of her reach. She wished she could tell everyone she ever hurt how sorry she was for treating them all so terribly. How she would take it all back now that she knew the truth. But she knew they wouldn't just forgive her just like that. How could they? She stole badges, assaulted people and Pokemon, and a whole bunch of other things. At this point, she was all but guaranteed to be stuck on the blacklist forever. Amara's sobs died down into sniffles. Maybe it was better that way.
As she pulled herself back up, she realized: There was one thing she could do. She pulled out her PokeBalls and threw them into the air. Instead of shooting out from the capsules in white lights, all of her Pokemon appeared as blue lights before materializing before her. Feraligatr, Gengar, Shuckle, Gligar, Beedrill, and Fearow. All of them froze in shock when they saw Amara's red, blotchy face, her tear stained cheeks, her glassy, sorrowful eyes, and her messy brown hair. This was not the trainer they knew.
"Everyone…you're all free," Amara whimpered, her voice little more than a pathetic squeak. But they heard every word. "I've released you all. You can go and do whatever you want now."
The Pokemon exchanged confused glances. Was she saying what they thought she said, or were their ears playing tricks on them?
"Just go!" Amara cried. "I'm sorry for treating you all like crap and beating you and yelling at you and…abusing you and everything! I know what I've done to you all is wrong, and…" She couldn't look them in the eye. "This is the only way I can make it up to you. Please go and be free. You don't have to put up with me anymore…"
Beedrill was the first to fly away. Fearow and Gligar followed suit. Shuckle trotted off into a bush, and Gengar disappeared into the shadows. Oddly enough, Feraligatr didn't move a muscle.
"Why are you still here?!" Amara cried. "Just go already!" Turning on her heel, she ran away, leaving Feraligatr behind.
She didn't want to be here. She wished she could just disappear. Crawl into a hole and die. Just as that thought ran through her head, she saw something about twenty feet away. It was an old, dilapidated shack of what used to be a little house. All of the wood had rotted with age, with many of the planks having turned orange or white, or both. The entrance tilted to the left slightly, and some stray two by fours lay in a haphazard pile nearby. Amara saw that the roof had caved in, leaving a hole big enough for a Feraligatr to crawl through. The windows all had a thick coating of dust, with one having a fist-sized hole in the glass. Shards lay scattered underneath it, crunching under Amara's boots.
This was perfect. Amara staggered inside, sat down on the floor, and cried until she couldn't cry anymore.
"I'm sorry, Chanel…I'm sorry, everyone. I can't…do this anymore…" Amara's voice was drying up, and at this point, she didn't care. She struggled to breathe beneath the weight of her endless sorrow pressing down on her from every direction. This was the perfect place to just lie down and die. Amara wished she could just disappear.
Amara had nothing left. Nothing but guilt and regret.
A/N: Happy (belated) Fourth of July! Also, here's chapter 58! Man, I had a lot of fun working on this one, though I think I could have written the final scenes better. I guess that was because I had worked on the scene where Julia and Amara were stuck in the cave last year, long before I got through a majority of the fic, as I had that scene in my head and wanted to get it down on paper before losing inspiration for it entirely. Oh well, I'm just happy I got this one finished. The next chapter will resolve things, so don't worry. Amara's saga is finally going to end, but that doesn't mean MarJour is going to end right away. I still have a few more chapters to go for that one! Look forward to how things will finally get resolved in the next chapter!