Chapter 9

You're Gonna Need It

(A/N: My fanon shippings for the Hoenn Gym Leaders are as follows:

Rocksmashshipping: Brawly x Roxanne

Candlestickshipping: Steven x Flannery

Gracefulshipping: Wallace x Winona

However, in this chapter, two of those have changed:

Fannedflamesshipping: Flannery x Winona

Originshipping: Steven x Wallace

All will eventually be sorted out by the end of the story.)

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Are you really sure?"

"Yeah."

"Are you really, really sure?"

"Of course I am."

"Well, you're wrong."

Giselle puts her hands on her hips and scolds Joe. "You claim to never having a daughter, yet here we are in a room fit for one. Whose bed would this be otherwise?"

"I… I really don't know."

"You're so wrong, Joe. I don't care how sure you are. We had a daughter named Synneva, and she was taken from us by Sabrina."

"How do you spell that?" Joe says. "I don't know how you came up with that name."

"I came up with it," Giselle says. "It means 'the sun's gift.' That we would get a daughter despite all that had happened in this world, that from the sun we were granted the small portion of life just enough to survive so that we could have offspring. And for you to not remember any of this is ludicrous."

"But Giselle, I only remembered I was married to you when Roxanne showed me that picture!"

"Roxanne, again, huh? You know, the next time I see her, I'm gonna slug her right in the nose. She is the bane of my existence."

Janine tries stepping into the argument. "You know, Giselle, instead of arguing, maybe let's think of a way to bring back Joe's memories. If seeing that photo was enough to change reality, then surely there's got to be another way to bring back more memories. And I'm not saying you're wrong, Joe. I'm just saying that it's entirely possible that Giselle is right."

Joe sighs. "Giselle, I love you, but I don't know how to help you."

Just as he says this, a loud sound comes from above the room the three of them are sitting in.

"It must be Falkner," Janine says.

"No, it sounds a lot bigger than just him," Giselle says. "Let me at 'em! I'll send my Cubone and Graveler and…"

But before Giselle can make her move, a line of Pokémon trainers climbs down the ladder into their lair. Falkner is the first in, followed by Giselle's rival.

"Oh, great," Giselle complains. "Roxanne is back."

"With me!" Brawly exclaims, climbing down after Roxanne. Four more trainers follow suit.

"Who invited you?" Giselle says to the other trainers. "Is this some sort of party?"

"If it's a party, I expect cake!" a red-haired girl exclaims.

"Let's see," Janine says. "We've got Roxanne and Brawly."

"And then we've got Flannery and Steven, and Wallace and Winona," Joe says.

"I think you've got that mixed up," Steven says. "It's Wallace and myself, and Flannery and Winona."

"Wait a minute," Janine says. "You mean to tell me…"

"That's right!" Flannery exclaims. "My partner is Winona, and Wallace and Steven are an item."

Giselle puts her hands on her hips. "And since when did this happen? I remember your wedding, Winona. You and Wallace put on a show. As did Flannery and Steven. Tell me that I'm right, Joe."

"That's the thing, Giselle, I can't-"

"Just tell me!"

Joe looks exasperated. "Giselle, my mind is in a fog. I can't remember anything right now."

"Well, it's true," Flannery cuts in. "Winona and I are a couple. We started going out about eight months ago."

"Eight months ago? Where in hell did you go?"

"My Skarmory – which we rode here – has the ability to fly up out of the atmosphere altogether. We could fly above the radiation and beyond it. We were almost in space. And Flannery loved every minute of it!"

"Don't forget the part about you fondling my…" Flannery begins to say.

"Okay, that's enough," Janine says. "Wallace and Steven, you have a different story than these two, I assume."

"Nothing much," Wallace states. "Steven just did some visiting at the Cave of Origin about a year ago, and here we are now."

"And I couldn't be happier," Steven adds.

"Oh, yes, you could be happier!" Giselle breaks in. "The fact of the matter is, you four are all mixed up. Just like my husband Joe here is a little mixed up. He claims that we never had a daughter. But we did! And I'm sure the same problem has happened to you."

Steven shakes his head. "You've been a troublesome one over the years," he tells Giselle. "Next thing you will tell me is that you won the latest Pokémon League championship even though my understudy Liza won it."

"Huh?" Giselle says in confusion. "You've bought into that lie too?"

"He believes that 'lie' because it is the truth," Wallace states. "Liza's the Champion. You're a silver medalist – not bad, but not great."

"Oh yeah?" Giselle says. "Well, take a look at this!"

She rushes over to the corner where she has preserved her Pokémon League championship trophies. In her shock, she finds only two of them – and one silver medal.

"No!"

She breaks down in tears, and Joe comes over to comfort her.

"Giselle, you fought a good match," Joe says. "I was there cheering for you. If you had only used your Graveler-"

"Joe, this is a lie!" Giselle yells. "I know for sure I won three straight Pokémon League championships! The last one I won over Liza! She's got nothing on me! And what's more, is that this is the same lie that says that we don't have a daughter, that you're married to Roxanne, et cetera."

"Huh?"

"You just don't get it, do you, Joe?" Giselle says. "These are all lies! Lies that have been brought on by the distortion that Sabrina caused when eliminating the radiation. And who eliminated that radiation? None other than our daughter! We sacrificed her for the betterment of the Pokémon world. But now, that world is completely changed. It doesn't even resemble the one we had before!"

Steven breaks in. "You mean to tell me that I'm supposed to be madly in love with her?" he says.

"Yeah, and you're saying I'm madly in love with him," Flannery adds.

"I'm saying it because it happened!" Giselle exclaims. "I was at both of your weddings. And you were at mine, which was quite obviously much more extravagant and elaborate than both yours put together. But the fact of the matter is, you four are all mixed up!"

"It's not fair to call us 'mixed up,'" Wallace says. "That's not the case at all."

"Besides, why the hell did Falkner bring us back all these people?" Giselle says. "We barely have enough room down here for all of us."

Falkner clears his throat. "When I landed in Rustboro City, there they were all talking to each other."

"So?"

"So then Winona tells me…" Falkner begins.

"… that I know the location of Cynthia," Winona concludes his sentence.

Everyone goes silent for a moment.

"Well…" Joe begins to say.

"What do you mean, you know her location?" Giselle asks. "Do you have some sort of GPS tracking system that lets you know where everyone is? If you do, let me buy one off you. I could really use some help making sure that this bitch here never shows up on my property."

She points at Roxanne, and Brawly immediately gets angry. "You want to go at it, Miss Gravelpot?" he says, reaching for a Poké Ball. "No one messes with my Roxanne!"

"Relax," Roxanne says, holding back his arm. "Remember, Giselle and Joe are…"

"Yeah, yeah, the pure-hearted ones," Brawly says. "You've said it so many times that I almost believe it. But I don't. I don't see anything pure-hearted in Gravelpot!"

Janine waves her arms, looking to get everyone's attention. "Look, I know there's a lot of reasons to be angry, jealous, inquisitive, even sad. But we've got a lot of problems on our hands, and we've got to fix them soon."

"What problems?" Brawly asks.

Janine clears her throat. "First, we know that there are millions of Pokémon on the loose in Johto. We escaped just in time before they rampaged over us. Since Johto is connected to Kanto, and since Indigo Plateau where we are right now is part of Kanto, we are in considerable danger."

"But we still have some time," Falkner breaks in. "For those Pokémon to make their way from Goldenrod City to here will take quite some time to reach here. The only ones to be concerned about are the Flying Pokémon."

"True, but time is of the essence," Janine says. "Now, there's also the problem of distorted reality. Right now, no one is sure what is real and what isn't. Giselle has her opinions, Joe has his, Roxanne has others, and all of us are confused. If we're going to find out what the truth is, we can't just sit around."

"Makes sense to me," Wallace says.

"Finally, there's the issue of Cynthia," Janine says. "Winona says she saw her. Now where did you see her again?"

"In the desert of Orre," Winona replies.

"Okay. So, Cynthia is out there, and we need to find her."

"Why?" Flannery asks.

"Because she's the one who brought on all this destruction on us," Janine says. "If we could find a way to defeat her, then perhaps everything will go back to the way it was pre-Judgment Day."

Everyone looks around at each other, nodding their heads.

"Okay, so how are we going to do this?" Winona asks. "I can fly up to four people on my Skarmory."

"And Giselle and Falkner both have a Pidgeot," Janine adds. "Let's split up like this."

Janine splits up the room by gently pulling each person over to a different corner of the room.

"Wallace, Winona, Flannery, Steven, you all go together," Janine says. "Giselle, you, Joe, Roxanne, and Brawly go on your Pidgeot. Falkner and I will go on ours."

"Oh, sure, stick me with Roxanne again," Giselle complains.

"Giselle, it's okay," Joe says. "Remember, I'm married to you – not her."

As everyone begins talking to each other around the room, Janine waves her arms to get everyone's attention.

"One last thing," she says. "We are going to fly in separate directions. If we all fly in to greet Cynthia at once, and she destroys us all, then there's no hope left. We have got to arrive at different times and in different locations around the same area."

"And that's where I come in," Winona says. "I know exactly where to go. It's at these coordinates."

She pulls out a piece of paper and rips it in half, handing one half to Falkner and the other to Joe.

"Falkner, you stay to the west," Winona says. "And Joe, you stay to the east. We're going to go head-on. We've got two former Hoenn League Champions here. We can hold our own in a battle against Cynthia."

"Oh, come on!" Giselle exclaims. "I have more championships than the rest of you put together!"

"Never mind that right now," Wallace says. "Instead, you need to follow our directions. If the four of us get destroyed by Cynthia, then we still need the rest of you to save the world."

Flannery bites her lip. "So, essentially we are going on a suicide mission?" she says.

"That's right," Steven says. "If we don't come back, then at least the rest of them can figure out how to fight back against Cynthia. Otherwise, if we all die together, Cynthia will have no one left to oppose her."

"What about Sabrina and the others?" Giselle asks. "Don't they have a chance?"

"If you're referring to the Johto Four – Jasmine, Silver, Whitney, and Gold – then yes, you're right," Janine says. "But it would be foolhardy for us to pool all our resources into one direct attack that may or may not work."

Winona puts on her goggles, then reaches out to shake Janine's hand.

"Good luck," she says.

"You too," Janine replies. "And don't forget about them."

Winona walks over and clasps Giselle's hand. She then leans in closer and whispers in Giselle's ear.

"You're right," she says in the softest of whispers. "I do love Wallace. But I can't split him from Steven."

Giselle looks stunned, but she regains her composure and shakes Winona's hand.

"Good luck," she says. "Try not to get yourselves all killed, please?"

Winona laughs. "We'll try not to."

The ten trainers all exit the cave one by one, going up the ladder. Giselle is the last one out, and as she climbs, she looks back at her Pokémon League trophies.

"I'm getting that third trophy back," she thinks. "And when we're finished, I'm going to win myself a fourth."