Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or its characters.
Author's Notes: Sometimes music feels like magic, right? So I wanted to pour a bit of magic on this chapter. Okay, I will start by saying that I know that a some people don't like when you put Easter-eggs on the story or when you go a bit meta with the stuff. But I tend to do stuff that I like and to feel inspired by the stuff I like too, so I will ask that even if don't like when stuff from out of the "universe" gets in, to first give a chance and then you can give me your honest opinion.
Anyway, let's jump in to the story and see how this goes. (I will leave a PS at the end of the chapter, that you should probably read first before the chapter, so you can fully experience what I wanted to do here).
"Are you sure about this?" Wally raised his voice in concern, but the girl in front of him barely paid attention to him. Ever since they got in Mauville, May has been wandering around furiously searching for a certain someone.
"He has to be here still, right?" She finally turned to look at Wally, his uninterested expression not helping with her bad mood. "Wally!" She said loudly.
"Well, sorry May. I'm not that interest in ruining Brendan's date with some girl." He scratched the back of his head and frowned. 'We don't even know if he is on a date.' He pointed out mentally, as to not anger her even more.
"This is not about him dating someone!" May turned away from Wally, stomping angrier and faster on her way. "We stayed with him all night. We are his friends dammit! This is no way of treating a friend."
"Are we though?" Wally stopped in his tracks, his cold words making May stop as well and shift her gaze to him. "I mean, we are. But is not that simple." He walked forward and placed one hand on her right shoulder. "Brendan made sure to avoid us for all this time, and until recently I thought it was for no reason."
"So what?" May said in an aggravated voice, she glared at her friend clearly annoyed and frustrated. "Where are you getting at Wally?"
The young man with tea-green hair leaned a bit forward getting his face very close to hers, the proximity making his heart beat slightly faster and his legs tremble for a moment. "Have you ever considered what is going in his head? Or even better, what went in his head on the day that you two fought?" He too is feeling frustrated, but not because of Brendan, not now at least. "Think about it, why would he go as far as completely ignore us? Both of us, not only you."
"He is mad with us?" She said unsure, her words coming out more as a question than an answer. "But this is too much, why would he still be angry with me or you…"
A loud sigh escaped his lips and with a soft push, Wally stepped away from her. "Forget about it." He then suddenly glanced behind the worried girl, a surprised expression showing on his face. "Isn't that Brendan?!" He more state than asked pointing with one finger behind May.
May did a quick turn, her eyes glancing full of hope and expectation. Even if she was expecting to land eyes on her ex-boyfriend, she wasn't ready for this. "What is he doing?" She asked surprised.
Before any of them could take a guess, a man fully dressed in black ran pass them, desperately running at full speed, while taking a few glances behind him.
"Stop right there, you thief!" Brendan shouted angrily. Without even noticing his friend standing by and watching as he passed, the young man ran furiously after the strange man, who started to run even faster after Brendan's agitated shout.
"Is he even human?" Wally said with a shy grin. "The doctor said he would be having a few difficulties to walk for a few days… But I guess he can run just fine."
"BRENDAN!" Another agitated voice soon echoed on the street, coming from the same path that Brendan came, Zinnia is charging her way after him whit a very upset scowl. Unlike the former runner, the draconid woman quickly noticed the young pair watching as she runs closer to them. "I know you!" She stopped on her tracks and pointed to May.
"Me?" May raised one hand and pointed a finger to herself. "Hum… Hi?" she then quickly remembered this woman's face from the interview just earlier, an instant frown appearing on her.
"Hey, hi." Wally stepped forward; he always was a sensitive person, and could easily tell when there was a bad situation in the makings. Wearing a sincere smile, he extended one hand forward in a form of friendly greetings.
"Yeah, hi." Zinnia scoffed and ignored his gesture. She eyed him up and down, and then she let out a snort of disgust. "Then, I'll be going now."
"Wait, you're going after Brendan, right?" May grabbed Zinnia's arm and stopped her before she could leave. "Maybe we can go together."
"Okay, I don't like being all subtle and beating around the bush. So I will just say this up front." Zinnia pulled her arm with force, freeing herself from May's grasp. "If you came here after him, you can just forget about it and got away. Brendan doesn't need a bitch like you next to him."
May's jaw dropped, she stared agape at the tanned woman in front of her. "Excuse me?" Slowly her surprised expression changed into one of pure anger. "Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?" She stomped forward, reading her right arm to swing at Zinnia.
"Wait, calm down you two." Wally once again stepped between them; he held his friend by her arms and slowly tried to push her away.
"Say that again to me, you foul-mouthed runt." May shouted. She pushed Wally's shoulder down, so she could stare clearly at the draconid woman's face.
"I will say how many times I want, bitch." Zinnia retorted with an angry face of her own. "Forget about Brendan, you don't deserve to be close to him."
The girl with pale skin almost mounted on top of Wally, trying to get past him, she is fuming with anger, an unfamiliar emotion to her. "Again, who are you to decide that? You don't own Brendan; he is not your pet.
"I'm warning you." Zinnia shot a menacing glare, her voice getting seriously aggravated. "Stay away from him." She turned to leave, but stopped and turned to look at the pair again. "After cheating on him with the lemon boy here, you have no right to be with him." With her anger completely vented out, the draconid woman spared not a single glance more to the other girl; instead, she went ahead on her way.
"Cheated?" May finally calmed down enough making Wally release her on the ground. Then a harsh and terrible realization hit her. "He thinks that I cheated on him?"
"Probably…" Wally said in a low voice. He noticed her arms shivering and her shoulder slumbering down with the weight. "That can't be helped. May, even I would think the same."
"But I didn't." She said with teary eyes. "I would never do that, never." She covered her face with both hands, sobbing as the tears began to slide down her cheeks. "I can't believe he thinks that."
With a swift movement, Wally pulled her to a close embrace, letting May rest her head against his chest. "We don't know what the thinks for sure; we can't take that girl's words to heart." May warmed at this, taking away the hole that was forming on her chest. "However, to tell the truth, I think she is right in a way." Wally continued.
"Wally!" May pushed herself away from him and glared angrily.
"But it's the truth." He raised a finger, so May would not lash out at him before he could finish. "She doesn't want you to go near Brendan, because she is scared of you."
The young woman with blue eyes only stared in silence, feeling a bit confused but a lot better after hearing this bit. She then nodded her head, a little sign so that Wally would go on with his thoughts.
"The way I look at this, she knows that Brendan would probably waver if you showed up." He gives a little wink and a smile. "You are a kind, pretty and very warm person, that is scary to any rival. So she just made that entire scene to scare you away."
With that, May finally broke a smile, a very warm one, while rubbing the tears away from her eyes. "But that was just rude." She shook her head and placed her hands on her hips. "I don't want to be close to Brendan like that. I just want to be his friend."
'Is that all May?' Wally looked at her, a fuzzy feeling stirring inside of him. 'Then why did you get so worked up about that girl and him?' He thought to himself while forgetting that his gaze was still locked on her image.
"What's wrong?" She felt a bit conscious as his gaze was ever so intense on her, a slight line of red crossing her cheeks.
"Nothing, nothing." He waved off with one hand. "I think today is a bad day for this, and I need to go back to the gym. Say, why don't we leave and come looking for Brendan another day?" He raised one hand to her. "I will walk with you home."
May took his hand and giggled. "I think that is for the best." She turned and began to walk away, pulling Wally with her. "You're the best friend ever Wally, you know that?"
Holding his head down, Wally was able to hide the pained expression on his face. "I'm not that great. Believe me." He forced a short smile to appear, but it was enough for May to not suspect a thing. Moreover, for the moment, just being close to her like this, is more than enough for him.
"Thank you, thank you!" A teenage girl clapped her hands together, jumping with joy as Brendan returned to her with two Poké Balls in his hands. "I don't know what I would have done if that man got away with stealing my friends from me."
"I only did what is right." Brendan smiled and handed the items back to her. "To think that someone would attempt to steal someone else's Pokémon."
"Sadly we have that kind of people looming around. We can never be too safe when those punks start to show their faces." Zinnia walked right behind Brendan, stopping by his side. She noticed his gaze changing towards her and then grinned at him. "But I gotta say that was amazing. I've never seen someone run so fast like you."
"Yeah, you bolted like a lightning fast Pokémon." The girl made a swoosh movement with her left hand. "That was so amazing to watch."
"Sarah!" A feminine voice called out to the girl. "Something happened to you? It's already a few minutes pass scheduled time!"
"Lisia!" Sarah jumped on her spot, looking a lot more nervous after seeing this woman. "Sorry, a strange man tried to steal my Pokémon. But this cool guy helped me get them back." She pointed to Brendan and smiled.
The sparkling gem of Sootopolis, Lisia is a beautiful and very joyful young woman. She, like her famous uncle Wallace, has turquoise colored hair and eyes, fair skin and an incredible sense of fashion. Her trademark scheme of colors for clothes are always bright and flashy, making her the center of attention every time she enters the scene.
"Brendan!" Lisia squealed loudly at the first sight of her former comrade and rival. "I can believe that I found you."
"Hey Lisia, it's good to see you too." Brendan replied with a simple wave and a polite nod.
"Good to see me? You jerk! You can't just vanish like that and be all strange with me." Lisia stomped forward and then, to everyone's surprise, she jumped at Brendan, tackling him down with a head-butt. While the scene looked tense and serious, the girl with turquoise hair has a wide smile and shining happy eyes as she attacked her friend. "That was for leaving us behind."
"Ouch… I didn't leave you guys behind." Brendan slowly got up again, her head strike remembering the current state of his body with a fierce pain on his chest. "I just moved towards my real ambition."
"Tch, you league champions are always like that." Lisia turned her face away, pouting and glaring angrily at nothing.
"Have you met many champions?" Zinnia asked with genuine curiosity.
"No." Lisia responded plainly. "But I assume they are all like this." She pointed at Brendan and turned her face away again. "Wait, who are you?" She looked at Zinnia with a puzzled look in her eyes.
"Name is Zinnia." The draconid woman smiled. "I'm Brendan's bride." She walked forward and gave Lisia a firm handshake.
"Oh, nice to meet you… BRIDE?!" Lisia jumped backward, her eyes almost jumping out of their sockets.
"Ah… Lisia, shouldn't we get going?" Sarah said in a low voice. "Mister Wallace will probably get mad."
"LISIA!" Speaking of the devil, Wallace quickly appeared from the corner of the street, his head fuming after waiting alone for so long for the girls to arrive. "Oh, is this who I think it is?" The gym leader of Sootopolis tilted his head to the side, his anger completely vanishing.
"Hi, Wallace." Brendan gave him the same greeting as the one he gave Lisia.
"Hello there Brendan. It's nice to finally see you again." Wallace nodded back at him and smile. "Are you taking a little time away from the league with Lisia? I heard you two haven't spoken with each other for a while."
"Actually, he was helping me catch a thief that tried to stole my precious friends." Sarah jumped in, explaining a bit of the situation to Wallace.
"Oh, he did?" Wallace turned to the girl and nodded. "Isn't he an attentive person? Just like someone I know."
"Hey flash guy, from where do you guys know Brendan?" Zinnia called Wallace in a very unusual way and fired her question. And while all of this is going, Lisia still is frozen in place, a shocked expression stuck in her face.
"Hm? I got to know Brendan ever since he was a little trainer making his way to the league and saving the world while at it." Wallace then noticed a certain spark of curiosity in the woman's eyes, which make him grin. "However, if you are referring to him and my niece Lisia. They are old friends and Contests rivals."
"He is Lisia's Rival?!" Sarah asked surprised, she looked at Wallace and then to Brendan her jaws dropped with this sudden information.
"Not any rival, the one that defeated her." Wallace said with a nod.
"WHAAT! No way!" The teenager squealed wildly. "This is so cool."
"You used to participate in Pokémon Contests?" Zinnia looked at Brendan and tilted her head to the side. While she can't picture this Brendan doing any of that, her mind is going crazy with all the things she is imagining him doing on stage.
"Well, I used to." Brendan gave an uncertain response. "But that is in the past now."
"Really? That is a shame. I would love to see you making a performance on stage." The draconid woman said a bit dejected, having her crazy ideas taken away from her.
"THAT'S IT!" Without notice, Lisia unfroze from her trance, jumping ever so high with excitement. "We are going to Verdanturf Town; a Pokémon Contest is going to be held there today. Why don't you guys come with us?"
"Excellent idea Lisia." Wallace nodded and smiled. "If we get Brendan to show up, it's going to be a Contest to be remembered for years."
"Ehr… I don't know about that." Brendan took a step backward; he is showing an awkward little smile while trying to get away from them. "You see, I have to show something to Zinnia. She really wanted to see… my new shirt…" He slapped himself mentally for that weak excuse, not even he bought that one.
"Come on, it's going to be fun." Lisia insisted, she then turned to the draconid woman and smirked mischievously. "Zinnia, did you know that they keep all the photos from previous Contests?"
"They do?" Zinnia quickly fell to the bait.
"Yep, especially the ones from famous participants." Lisia slid a bit closer to Zinnia and hiding her mouth with the palm of her hand. "Brendan used to wear these really wild and flashy clothes. There is even one that is a lot provocative… very showy, if you know what I mean."
"We are going with you!" Zinnia shouted loudly, raising one fist to the sky.
"YES!" Lisia shouted just as loud, a victorious smile on her face.
Wallace and Sarah both smiled happily as well after hearing the good news. The only one with a dread feeling of hopelessness is Brendan. "I really don't like this…" He shrunk down to the ground, with his eyes showing a dead gaze. After so long, the past that he left behind is now crawling its way back to him, and the worst part of it; Zinnia is going to see all of it.
With a quick and very lively trip, they reached Verdanturf within minutes. Sarah went ahead of the group as she is the only one really participating in the contest and she still needs to do a lot of preparation before her presentation. The rest of the group entered the flashy building and with Lisia guiding them, they went straight to the special staff room, where all the promised photos and a lot more important stuff are kept.
Lisia wasted no time in finding a big yellow book with a hard case around it, a bit dusty and worn out after a few years locked in a drawer. "Look at this one first." She gave the book to Zinnia and sat at the couch next to her.
The draconic woman opened the book and her eyes widened at the first picture she laid eyes on. "No way." She glanced to Brendan and then back down to the album. She immediately took one hand to her mouth, trying ever so hard to hold her laugh in.
"I knew this was coming…" Brendan sighed and rolled his eyes. Still, his curiosity got the better of him and he leaned a bit closer to Zinnia in an attempt to see exactly what is in there. For his surprise is a picture of his first contest when he was a kid. On the old image, he is using a red leather jacket with silver spiky thingys on the shoulders, a black undershirt and a pair of red leather pants with black patterns on the side. He is holding a simple microphone on his right hand and a happy little Trecko is dancing at his side.
"You remember this one?" Lisia looked at him and asked.
"Yeah, I do." Brendan looked at the picture again and smiled tenderly. "It was the first time I got up on the stage. Hah, look how happy Ekkisu is while dancing." He grabbed one Poké ball out of his pockets and placed it on the floor. "Come on buddy. I will not be the only one getting made fun of."
Ekkisu came out of his Poké ball and looked at his trainer with a disinterested gaze. The big Sceptile looked around him and found a very interesting item, he quickly walked over to the left side of the spacious room and grabbed a familiar musical instrument on his hands.
"Aw, you look so cute on this one." Zinnia pointed to another photo, her face warming up at the picture. "Aster was stealing all the show, look at her."
On this one, Brendan is wearing an Azumarill's costume with Aster wearing a Marill's costume. Both trainer and Pokémon are dancing while holding tiny fluffy cords on their hands.
"Wait, it gets even better." Lisia began to flip the pages looking for a specific photo. "There we go, this is the prized one."
"NO! Not that one." Brendan lunged on top of Zinnia, trying to snatch the album away. However, much to his dismay, she was faster than him and jumped away from the couch, still holding the large book on her hands.
"Let's see what you are so afraid of." Zinnia pushed the book open again, a very eager and wide grin on her face. As the last page flipped to the side, her eyes landed on Brendan's forbidden photo, and her face went completely red.
Pictured on the piece of paper, Brendan is standing in front of the stage, he is shirtless with just a large green ribbon going from his left shoulder, down to his waist on the right side and doing a whole turn on his back. He is wearing a large pair of grey pants while standing with his bare feet on the stage's floor. On the moment of this photo, he was holding a flute on his lips as he played a song and in front of him a beautiful Swellow and an imposing Honchkrow, both in midair in a stance that resembles a coordinated low height flight or dance.
"I… I don't know why, but…" Zinnia kept staring at the photo, her face warming up even more. "But this looks amazing."
"And it was amazing indeed." Wallace walked over to the same side of the room where Ekkisu is sitting. "On that day even I voted for Brendan over my favorite niece." He took a small musical instrument from a drawer and turned over to the group. "Do you still remember? The feeling, I mean."
Brendan stood up with a conflicted expression. He saw Wallace getting closer to him and reaching over with one hand. "I do." He raised his right hand and accepted the flute that Wallace got for him.
In an instinctive manner, Brendan brought the flute to his lips. He blew a few notes on a whim, the sound that it made was not the best one at first but didn't took long for melodically rhythm to appear, a little piece of a song he once knew so well.
On the corner of the room, Ekkisu began to play on his bongos and the sound he was making was in a way complementing the one that Brendan did. The large Sceptile with a large grin on his face, his eyes shining with happiness.
"Haha, look at you Ekkisu. You don't seem so grumpy now." Brendan threw a dirty smirk to his Pokémon partner, to which Ekkisu ignored and kept playing his bongos.
"Of course my friend." Wallace jumped in; he did a quick spin in front of Brendan and then ended with a flashy pose, pointing one finger to the young man. "Music is magic, even the grumpiest one will crack a smile at the sound of pure art."
"You know Brendan, I still got your old uniform stored here somewhere." Lisia tilted to the side, glancing to Brendan with pleading eyes. "Why don't we do a quick performance on stage, for the old times?"
"Lisia, I'm can't." Brendan looked sad and a bit angry with himself as he started to talk. "This is… too much for me now."
"Non-sense." Wallace stomped one foot on the floor. "You can say that you don't want to, but that you can't? Ridiculous." He stepped closer to Brendan, glaring angrily at the champion, but then his lips parted in a warm smile. "Play with us, maybe music can appease to what is hurting your heart."
"You're coming too uncle?" Lisia asked surprised, but beaming with happiness. "Brendan, please you have to participate."
Even with a displeased expression and impending rejection, Brendan wants to. Deep inside his heart, he wants to take it all out, to stand on the stage at least one last time and on that place let go of everything that is consuming him. He bit his lips, the words that he so wants to say, never coming out until his eyes met Zinnia's gaze.
"Why don't you do it?" She asked plainly. "I will be watching, so put up a great show for me too."
And just like that, all the tension inside of him phased out. Brendan shook his head and grinned. "Ok, but I will not wear that stupid thing again. Not in a million years." He pulled another three Poké balls out of his pockets and called out the rest of his team. "Naito, Layla, Violen; I will leave you guys with Zinnia for a little while okay?"
Naito the dark blue Honchckrow cawed and flapped his wings in response. Layla, his trusted Swellow only tilted her head to the side a few times acknowledging what he said, and then Violen, his fierce Gallade nodded with his head and walked closer to Zinnia.
"Oh gosh. I can't wait, I can't wait!" Lisia jumped around, the excitement rapidly getting to her. "We are going to get the public by the surprise, they will never expect this."
"Then you better tell the staff quickly or they will start the Contest before we can even say anything." Wallace said to his niece.
"Oh yeah, the staff!" Lisia turned and dashed towards the door. "Uncle, Get everything ready, I will be back in a moment." She ran as fast as she could out into the hallway. "THIS IS SO COOL!" However, they could still hear her voice inside the room.
"This is splendid." Wallace said in joy, a wide grin on his face. "Are you ready to make history?" He asked Brendan.
"Maybe a good and memorable story?" The young champion scratched the back of his head, a little awkward smile showing up.
"Don't be silly." Wallace replied waving one hand at him. "We will make sure that they will never forget this day."
A large crowd has already gathered on the main hall of the building, something that is quite a common occurrence, all the fans of the show that is Pokémon Contests eagerly waiting for the participants to start with the show. Zinnia wasted a few good minutes trying to find an empty spot for her and the rest of Brendan's team and when she finally got a seat for herself and new companions, the giant room went almost completely dark, with only the main stage still illuminated with a single spotlight.
"Good afternoon to all of you, fans of the most beautiful and amazing show of Hoenn." A caster lady walked over to the bright spot on the stage, holding a microphone on her hand. Just her sudden appearance making the crowd go wild. "I know that all of you are eager to see our new challengers make their best efforts, but I will have to ask for your patience." Then her voice shifted to a more formal and less energetic tone. "Unfortunately we had an unforeseen event happening. But don't worry Lisia will come here personally to tell you about it." With that, all the staff worker walked out of the stage, leaving an unsettling silence behind her heels.
"Wha-what?" One person said aloud. "We won't get today's contest?" They asked confused.
"She said that Lisia will come to talk to us." Another one said right after.
"LISIA! Just that is enough to make me happy." A third one commented, but before the whole mass of people could start to make a racket, the single spotlight shut down making the whole all go into a complete veil of darkness.
The melodic sound of a guitar echoed around the large space, one of the spotlights of the stage turned on flashing light on top of Wallace. He is sitting tall stool, playing the guitar with masterful skill.
"WALLACE!" Someone on the seats yelled, but various angry hisses flared up making the person shut up.
Then a second spotlight flared light on the stage, revealing Brendan standing on the right part of the floor, a flute ready on his lips. As the notes flew out in the air, everyone present could not help but gaze agape and in awe with what they are witnessing. With a burst of light, two more spotlights flared up, revealing Lisia on the center of the stage an adorned violin on her hands and at the back a large Sceptile sitting down with bongos ready at his feet.
As an explosive rhythm came to life, so did the crowd's reaction. They began to cheer loudly, each one of them standing up from their seats. In a surprising reaction, Naito flew away from his spot, going directly to the stage, stopping just in front of Lisia. Then a pretty Altaria flew right after him, as the two bird Pokémon made eye contact, they got entranced by the song and like the most natural reaction, both of them began to fly next to each other in a dancing form.
The burs of the fans would not die down, for every magic moment that the song lasted; they all cheered and clapped in unison. All enamored by the show that they didn't even know that would happen, but everyone is incredibly glad that it did happen.
As the last cord of Wallace's guitar stopped vibrating, a huge and loud round of applause followed.
"I, what… This was amazing!" A person yelled loudly.
"Encore!" Someone else followed.
Then a third one. "I can believe I almost turned down your invite to come here. Please, Encore!"
"My. looks like they liked it a bit." Wallace said in a playful manner.
"Of course they would love. Even I am ecstatic with this."
Brendan stood in his place, his eyes going at each spot on her crowd; his heart is racing so fast and his mind going at full speed. But he never carried a more genuine and large smile on his lips that the one that he has now."
From her little spot on the sea of people, Zinnia noticed how happy and overwhelmed Brendan looks. Even her felt taken by their performance and even more, by how much Brendan seemed to shine on that stage. "You really are amazing, my champion." She whispered to herself.
The requests for an encore continued to come, the cheering never going down. "Hahaha, as spending as I imagined it would be." Wallace looked to Lisia and then to Brendan. "I'm feeling the urge to play another one, what do you guys say?"
Lisia only nodded and then jumped forward making the crowd go crazy again.
Brendan looked to Ekkisu at the back of the stage, the Sceptile nodding and smiling. He then looked for Zinnia and quickly spotted her on a far back seat. The draconid woman smiled to him and blew a little kiss, making him get a few red spots on his cheek. "Yeah… I can feel another one as well." Brendan responded to Wallace, preparing himself to start another song. And just like the master of contests and lover of arts said, this is a day that will be remembered for a long time.
PS - The little easter-egg that I put on this story, is the song that they will play at the end of the chapter, No lyrics, so I hope that its okay for me to put it here. And just to be clear, I don't own the song, this awesomeness is all thanks to Yasunori Mitsuda.
First I will leave a link to the original song - youtube watch?v= J46RY4PU8a8
And this second one, if you want to see (or listen) on how the song would be with just the musical instruments that they have here in this chapter - musescore user /9405616 /scores / 5292881 (You can turn off a few instruments to get it as "accurate" as you want)
Well, that is about it. Enjoy the show =)
Reviews:
JohnAnonUnDoe chapter 5 . Feb – Thank you for your support and kind words. I try to correct as many errors as I can, but English is not my first language (I know, a lame excuse, sorry) so some things just end up slipping away from me. But I hope I can get even better and have less and less errors as the story moves forward.