Touko and N walked in silence, shoulder to shoulder, to the hospital. They refused to look at each other. Touko was annoyed with N; why had he planned on going by himself? She had a right to know, too. This was her fight, too.
As they entered the hospital, a nurse strode towards them. She was tall, with long brown hair and matching brown eyes. She looked calmly at the two of them. "You must be the two that Alder has been waiting for. He told me to keep an eye out for you and bring you two to his room right away. He was quite insistent on that." She sighed. "But he really should be resting now, so you two will not be allowed to stay long."
Touko nodded. "Understood, nurse…" Touko looked at the nametag, "Hikari. We will not stay long."
Nurse Hikari smiled calmly. "Good. Well, since that is understood, I will take you to him now." She led the pair to an elevator and pushed the button for the fifth floor.
Appropriate, Touko thought.
As the three got out of the elevator, they could hear shouting. "You are not going to give me any damn pain killers! And if you think I am going to let you put another needle in my ass, you will have to explain yourself to lord Arceus. So help me!"
Touko giggled as she heard Alder; at least his spirit had not been broken.
A doctor stormed out of the room, clearly angry with his unruly patient. He stopped when he saw Hikari and her two companions. "Nurse 'Kari, make sure those two don't stay too long. I need to make sure he gets his medication. I will not allow any of my patients getting infections on my watch."
"Yes, Doctor Star," Nurse Hikari said as the doctor walked away. He pushed his glasses up his nose and brushed his black hair back with his fingers, stopping at the pony-tail as he walked. This clearly had agitated him.
Touko turned and watched the doctor leave, then followed after N and Nurse Hikari.
They stopped by the door and Hikari turned to the two visitors. "Well, good luck in there. If you need anything, ring the call buzzer and I will come." And with that, she walked away.
Touko looked up at N. "Shall we?"
N almost looked green-faced, "Yeah, let's."
Touko pushed open the door, and what she saw made her heart break. Alder, the normally bold and powerful champion of Unova looked meek, with an IV sticking out of his arm and his lined face looking extra thin. The time in Plasma dungeons had really done a number to him. His fiery red hair was spread everywhere, making him look like a red Luxray, and his stubble now had grown into a messy red-gray beard.
His eyes turned when heard the door open, a smile creeping across his face. "Well, I'm glad you two got my message. Wasn't sure if Drayden would deliver it."
Touko inched towards Alder while N stood by the door. "Of course we would come. What did you want to tell us, Alder?"
Alder looked between the two trainers, N by the door and Touko by his bed. He sighed and placed a gentle hand on Touko's cheek. "There are a lot of things that I have tried to put behind me, things I wanted to forget. But now I know I can't; I have caused so much trouble for Unova. I will be retiring from my post as Champion after this…"
Touko's eyes grew wide. "Why? Alder, you are Unova's favorite Champion…"
"It is a title I do not deserve, Touko," Alder said, cutting her off mid-sentence. "Before I was Champion, I made many mistakes, too many to count. Touko, if you are going to have a chance at stopping Ghetsis, then you need to listen to what I have to tell you. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
Alder paused and looked from Touko to N. "Many years ago I worked at Castelia University. There I met your fathers…"
N's eyes narrowed. "You knew my father?"
Alder nodded. "Yes. The three of us were working on a theory. We wanted to create a way for Pokemon to harness their best potential." Alder turned to Touko. "It was Ghetsis, myself, and your father, working both together and separately on this project."
Touko nodded, her stomach beginning to clench. She knew how this story ended.
"Well, fairly early on, we realized that one of the best ways to gain that ability was to get a catalyst." He turned back to N. "Your father figured that if there was a child who could understand Pokémon, then we could convince Pokémon of their strength.
"We went to Viridian forest; you see, in the past there had been stories of quite a few children there who could communicate with Pokémon. The three of us found you there, N. It had been agreed early on that Ghetsis would be the one to raise you. We had no idea what he was planning at the time. But as the years soon passed, we began to realize something was very wrong. Shortly after you were born, Touko, there was a fight between the three of us; part of the laboratory we had been working in collapsed. I ended up with a few broken bones; Ghetsis lost his eye and was severely burned all over his body; and your father Touko… Touko, I am so sorry."
Touko lowered her head, trying to hide her tears.
Alder continued, "Your father and I were trying to stop Ghetsis. He was convinced that free pokemon were the strongest and that humans simply hindered their growth. He planned on forcing all humans to release their pokemon, but worse, he planned on using N to create an army of Pokémon so that he could make all humans his servants. We had no idea what he was planning when we started. Your father and I managed to delay him, but we could not stop him. He had been planning this for years, and now he seems to be nearly ready to finish his plans. I hate to do this to you two, but you are our best hopes in stopping him."
"How… how dare you…" N growled. Touko and Alder both turned to N. "How dare you ask that of us." Fist clenched, he punched at the door frame. "You failed and now you expect us to clean up your mess. Ghetsis tried to turn me into a monster and now I have to stop him! He destroyed my life! What the hell were you doing all those years, anyway?! Sitting on your throne at the top of Unova's Elite Four, that's all. You knew he kept me prisoner and you did nothing to stop him!" N was shaking now, rage clear in his eyes. All those years of torture and abuse... Ghetsis had destroyed N again and again, leaving something that was barely a shell and now he knew that all those years someone had known about him. That was worse than the torture…
"N…" Touko said, standing up, but Alder placed a hand on Touko's arm.
"No, N, you're right. I didn't stop Ghetsis, but I swear it was not for lack of trying. Look, child, for years I tried to find Ghetsis's hideout; as soon as I became Champion, I did everything within my power to try to find and stop him, but he was so well hidden for years…"
"The castle was right under the Pokémon League, the Elite Four, all that time! Did no one look there? Did no one ever question why that mountain was so hollow?"
"We did, N, but there was a maze of tunnels there. Rangers got lost; many vanished during that time. I never stopped looking, but Ghetsis made his move before I could make mine… N, where are you going?"
N had opened the door again and his back was to them, "I'm going out. I don't need to hear anything else from you." And with that, he slammed the door as he left.
Touko winced as N slammed the door. "I should go after him…" But Alder held Touko's arm firm.
"Before you go, Touko, you need to know one last thing. I made a terrible mistake all those years ago, but that does not mean I ever stopped trying to find Pokémon's potential. Your father would never have forgiven me if I had. So I want to tell you what I finally learned."
Touko sat back down and looked at Alder. "What did you learn?"
Alder sighed. "It is hard to explain, but you and your friends proved to be perfect study subjects. Don't look so shocked; that was part of the reason that you and your friends were given your first Pokémon. Professor Juniper has been assisting me in my research. And the studies have proved conclusively that it does not matter how well a Pokémon is bred or even how long it has lived in the wild; a Pokémon with a true companion is the strongest of all. In other regions, I have heard there are Pokémon that can manifest this strength and take it to the next level, but even if you can't, the bond between you and your Pokémon is what makes them strong. Do you understand that?"
Touko nodded. "I think so…"
"Good, now go. I think that that doctor is going to come back any second and try to stick me full of needles again."
Touko stood up. "This time you should let them. They are trying to help you get better."
Alder sighed. "I hate needles…"
Touko walked to the door and gave Alder one final look before she left. Nurse Hikari and Doctor Star were standing by the elevator. Touko walked towards them. "Did you see which way N went?"
Nurse Hikari nodded, but she looked rather cross. "Yes, as we were getting out the elevator, he pushed past us. So rude."
"I'm sorry; he heard some bad news… Do you know which way he went?"
"Down." Doctor Star answered curtly.
"Thanks." Touko ran towards the staircase next to the elevator and took them two at a time. She hoped she would be able to meet N at the main floor before he left the building.
As she exited the stairwell, she looked around. N was, in fact, on the main floor, walking towards the exit.
"N!" Touko called.
But whether he simply did not hear her or was ignoring her, he walked out the door. Touko ran towards the exits, desperate to catch up with him. By the time she made it outside N was half way down the lane, walking away from the hospital. Touko ran towards him, calling out to him as she ran. Before she could get close to him, N pulled out a Pokéball from his belt and released Reshiram.
Touko watched as he climbed onto his dragon's back and flew into the air. "N!" Touko cried as she reached the spot where N had stood. "Damn it… Zekrom, Go!" She called out her own dragon. "Follow N and Reshiram" Touko said as she climbed into the dragon's back. Soon they were in the air, racing after the Hero of Truth and his dragon.
End of Chapter