Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or its characters.
"Want to talk about it now?" Steven sat on the comfortable but rather old padded chair, right across Brendan, who is sitting on the house the only armchair. After lending his favorite seat to his friend, who is looking rather pale and disheartened, the attentive host had excused himself to prepare a soothing tea made of green leaves, and now after coming back from his kitchen, he quietly slid down a steaming hot mug. The steel-blue haired man stood in silence, just watching as his younger friend grabbed his mug and blow the steam and hotness away from his tea.
"I am tired, Steven…" Brendan sighed, taking his eye down to the mug in his hands. "I am... so, so tired."
"Already tired of being a champion?" Steven said jokingly. He crossed his legs and rested his back against the chair.
A snort and them a short laugh escaped from Brendan. The young champion laid his arms on his lap, shaking his head in answer. "I love being the Pokémon League Champion. Actually, being the Champion is one of the last things I still cherish these days." The younger trainer looked down to his cup and took a short chug from it. "Is a little embarrassing to admit this but, I adore when people call me the unbeatable champion."
The sincere grin, paired together with a warm glint on the brown-haired man's eye, is a relieving sight to Steven, who all this time is watching his friend closely, worried about him. "So that's true then? You never lost to a challenger?" Steven asked with a cocky little grin of his own.
"Never. Some get really close to it. But I was never beaten." Brendan's expression turned a bit cold, the upper part of his face being hidden behind his long hair. "Hell, until Rainbow Rocket come exploding things and attacking me when I had only one Pokémon with me… I had never lost even outside of the League's halls."
"Wow, conceited much?" The older trainer chuckled a little, and then quietly return to study his friend's expression. After that little flicker of life, Brendan quickly returned to his moody and depressed tone, somewhat zooming out and barely hearing Steven's words. "Rainbow Rocket, huh? And the naive me thought we would never have a troublesome bunch showing up in Hoenn again."
While Brendan was closing himself inside his own thoughts, a simple mention of this organization was enough to snap his attention back to his surroundings. "Not only you." He added. "After a group of crazy people trying to burn the entire world. Anyone would expect that to be the worse in our lives… And how wrong I was about that."
"You want to talk about it now?" Steven pulled himself from the comfort of his seat, leaning in closer to Brendan, eying him with a curious, worried gaze. "I received word from the Weather Institute. They said you sounded a bit… obsessed with this Rocket people."
A sigh followed Steven's question. "Hah… For a moment, I thought you just wanted to talk about earlier today." With another long and quiet sip from his mug, Brendan averted his eye away and remained in silence.
"I wanted to, no, I want to." Steven corrected. "But I also had this feeling deep down in my mind that something was not right. After that night in Rustboro, you changed a bit." He leaned in ever closer, barely keeping the edge of his butt still on his chair. "Brendan, what happened?"
Brendan's first response was to click his tongue and place his mug down on the little table next to them. He then looked at Steven, more like glared at him, showing clear discomfort with the inquiry that was coming his way. "I saw him, the man who destroyed your family's building. The person who injured and killed so many people."
"A man?" Steven raised a brow in confusion. "I thought all of those criminals had a hand in that."
"No, it was a single man." Brendan shuffled a bit in his seat. He slid his left back inside his shirt and then lifted that whole part up, showing his entire left side. A certain part of his body instantly caught Steven's attention; on the top of his left shoulder, the younger's smooth and pale skin is now charred with a large burned scar. "It was just a moment; I had barely any time to see him… How could I, so many dead people around me. When I got hold of my senses again, I was attacked by someone and tossed right into the raging fire."
The tale in itself is enough to stir more than a few emotions in Steven's head, but the sight of Brendan's new scar made it all worse, to a point that Steven forced himself to bit his bottom lip so he would not shout in anger.
"I was weak." Brendan continued, this time his eye getting unfocused, dazed. "When I saw his red eyes, staring at me, while he boasted about doing those things… I lost my composure. I never felt so pathetic in my life."
"This person sounds like a lunatic. A psychopath." Steven interrupted. While he felt extremely uncomfortable with the events his friends were telling him, it is Brendan's expression, which is unsettling him. "Anyone would be scared in that situation… you are not pathe-"
"I AM NOT ANYONE!" Brendan growled loudly, glaring daggers at his friend. "I was weak, pathetic, and I will not make an excuse for it!" At each word, his expression is getting more agitated and his breathing faster. "That… will not… repeat…" A glint of red flashed in his eye, a certain little orb tangled by itself on the table where it rests.
With no warnings or hints of movement, Steven darted from his seat and grabbed his friend by his shoulders. "Brendan!" He shouted his name once, with a hispid and dry voice. Which surprisingly enough worked and broke Brendan from his spiral of evil thoughts.
"Dammit… I can barely keep my sanity for a few minutes before going all ballistic again." Hiding his features behind his hair again, the brown-haired youth lowered his head, ashamed of his outburst. "I am so tired of this." He pulled the dark, accursed, Poké-Ball from one of his pockets and tossed it on the table, right next to the red orb.
"I can see that… It's if best we avoid anything that will unsettle you like that." With a heavy sigh of his own, Steven slowly pulled his hands away and sat on his chair again. "Can you talk about this morning, without your eye going all red and scary?"
"The... things I have done today. I…" Brendan buried his face down on his hands, hissing with a tingling pain as his fingers touched the swollen bruises. "Using Zinnia's wellbeing as an excuse, I lost my self to blinding rage. Five minutes after unleashing Groudon I didn't even think of her name anymore."
"Feeling angry and wanting payback. That is understandable, after what they have done." Steven said with a neutral expression, not really buying what he was saying but trying to show at least a bit of support to the distressed man.
"Don't." Brendan raised his head, staring intensely at his friend. "Don't try to justify my actions. I nearly killed Wally today. All because of something that happened years ago…" Flashes of memories came to his mind, the way Wally looked at him, how afraid Zinnia appeared to be as he shoved her away from him… and the moment she flew away, taking the green-haired man with her. This pained him more than the throbbing bump that is forcing his right eye to stay closed. 'I may have just lost her too, just like I lost May.'
For a few moments, the two friends only stared at each other, each one lost to words to give the other. That went on until Brendan looked down to the floor with his shoulders deflating with a heavy thought.
"Steven… Did you ever loved someone?" Brendan felt a bit disheartened with his question, giving his friend a short little smile. "Sorry if it sounded a bit weird to ask."
"I don't mind. You just phrased it a bit strange, heh. I am a lot older than you, would be strange if I never had loved someone, right?" Resting his back on the chair again, Steven cast his gaze to the ceiling, remembering old memories from a certain time. "Yeah, I had a great love in my past."
"What was it like?"
"Strange? Difficult, it hurt a lot too." A scoff soon followed Steven's words, somewhat twisting their meaning. "She was amazing, beautiful, serious, extremely smart… I could keep talking about her all day long and I wouldn't even tire."
"Sound like you still loves her…. What happened?" Brendan noticed as his friend twitched with his question.
"She was busy, with work, research and a lot of other responsibilities." At this part Steven felt bitter and somewhat upset, his expression clearly showed that. "I tried to stay in Sinnoh, to work things out, but every day just made obvious that it was all in vain."
Brendan only nodded and quietly waited for the other man to feel ready to speak the rest.
Steven bit his lower lip, closing his eyes. Maybe he regretted his choice or maybe it is just a silly dream of him that maybe things could work out. "In the end, I came back to Hoenn, then became The Pokémon League Champion and got busy myself… Just like her."
"I am sorry for you two… This world is not fair." A stabbing sensation of pain pushed on his chest, forcing Brendan to bend over and hiss with pain. His eyes instinctively moved over to the small table and the objects on top of it.
"What happened with me is the past and I don't care anymore. But you, why continue suffering like that?" With a genuine tone of curiosity, Steven asked looking down to the Poké-Ball at their side. "If this monster only gives you trouble and pain, get rid of it."
"I can't." A low sigh came right after Brendan's reply. "Groudon is only settled or silent because I am here to suppress him. If for some reason, his Poké-Ball gets away from me, be it deep inside a forest or on the bottom of the ocean. He would break free again."
"Fine, he needs to be watched over, I get that. But you don't need to do this alone." With a confident smirk, the steel-blue haired man jumped from his chair and strolled over to his small table, eying both round objects with a small disgust.
A dark chill raised from Brendan's spine, he jolted out of his seat and tried to stop Steven from getting any of them, but he was too late. With the first touch of the man's fingers on the red orb, it's dark and damp inside, flared up in intense light. The black Poké-Ball felt the surge of power, it began to shake and tremble, jumping restlessly on the wooden surface; the mighty beast desperately trying to escape his prison. Steven screamed loudly in pain, the palm of his hand burning with the heat, but his body not responding at all to his commands, he shook his head in an attempt to awaken himself, but it had no avail. As the pain grew stronger, it suddenly faded away, when Brendan slapped the orb down from his hand, the infernal red thing falling down to the floor and slowly losing its light.
"Ghn… What the hell… was that?" Panting heavily, Steven looked down to the palm of his right hand and cringed after he saw how red and how hurt it is.
"If someone other than me tries to touch this thing." Brendan kneeled down and took the orb on his hand; no glow appeared on it this time. "It will react badly and try to use the person to break Groudon away."
"That's new… I remember touching it when you first got it." Steven said, blowing softly at his wounds which did little to subdue the pain.
"Well, they are too close right now. The orb is somewhat an extension of Groudon and when he is too close like this, is like you're holding him in your hands." Brendan explained, now raising both the orb and the Poké-Ball. "Even I wouldn't be able to hold the orb like this for much longer if it wasn't for Rayquaza. He was the one that asked… more like ordered, me to guard over Groudon."
"Wait, Rayquaza? The Legendary Rayquaza?" Steven's surprise is hardly unexpected, while he knows that Brendan met with the Legendary sky dragon, he never knew much about the event that transpired at Sky Tower. "The dragon roared at you a few times and you took the duty to watch over Groudon?"
"Hah, he did roar a few times, but he also talked to me." The younger trainer tapped the side of his head. "His words ringed inside my head, it was so weird. I didn't really hear any voices, but yet I could feel what he was saying to me."
"That sounds… amazing." Steven said with childish like sparkles in his eyes, the man almost forgetting the throbbing pain on his hand. "To be able to talk with a Pokémon like that, a back and forward trading of words. How truly amazing."
"And painful too." Brendan added quickly, bursting his friend happy bubble. "Each of his words felt like heavy punches, hitting me straight on the head." He chuckled after remembering himself cowering with his hands on his temples. The legendary dragon sure gave an awful first impression when he descended from the sky. "Rayquaza gave me a ride to beyond the clouds and bashed against the meteorite, nearly scaring me to death. But then charged this little ride with the worst toll of them all." He looked down to Groudon's Poké-Ball and frowned. "If I knew what that would cost…"
Brendan who was starting to cheer up again instantly turned moody again after remembering of his duty. Moreover, the pained expression on his face deeply affected the steel-haired man, who racked his brains for anything, any solutions to help him, yet nothing came to his mind. With a sigh of exasperation, Brendan faltered forward, his knees almost giving out on him. If was not for Steven quick reaction, grabbing his friend by the arm, the brown-haired young trainer would have fallen on his face.
"Geez Brendan, you look worse by the minute." Steven commented with a bit of unintended harshness on his tone. He casually helped Brendan back to his seat. "Maybe you hit your head harder than you imagine, I should take you to a doctor."
"My head is fine…" Brendan spoke with a low voice, his healthy eye already closed with the exhaustion. "Takes a lot… to subdue Groudon's rage… It's… the same… as last… time…" His last word came out as nothing more as a faint little whisper, which Steven managed to hear thanks to the silence inside his house. As Brendan falls into a deep sleep, his expression softened up, any trace of pain leaving his features. With him now peacefully breathing slowly in his slumber, his black Poké-Ball also stopped completely, not even a stir comes from the dark object. Groudon has finally returned to his resting state.
"I agree with you, my friend…This world isn't fair at all."
"You shouldn't have done this." Wally said in a comment. His gaze fixed on the back of the tanned woman riding the blue dragon.
"What? You had preferred if I left you there and to get killed?" Zinnia spat in her reply, her voice showing how much she disliked everything in her life right now. "I can always push you out and let you splash down there." She pointed to the heavy forest far below them.
"Brendan will react very badly to this. And with how agitated he was behaving himself, maybe you fleeing with me will be too much for him." Even with the considerable distance between them, Wally could still feel her body tense after hearing those words. "I don't know if you hear about this, but… He had a similar experience in his past."
"I ain't cheating on him!" She cut the green-haired man before he could even start to recall his and Brendan's past. "Don't compare me to that bitch. I would never do that and Brendan knows it." She frowned, biting her lips with the thought. 'I hope he knows that.'
"May didn't cheat on him. I never laid a finger on her and no one else did too." This time Wally was the one replying with spite in his voice. "That didn't change the fact of how things turned out. All the misunderstandings, the bitterness, and distrust that consumed him all these years."
Zinnia shifted around wildly, startling Salamence, who did his best to keep his balance and not drop anyone so far in the air. The draconid girl glared at Wally, ready to tear him down with the most vicious of verbal attacks, she hates him almost as much as she hates May, she blames both of them for stealing away the light that she saw all those years in little Brendan's eyes. Yet she holds her tongue, limiting herself to just curse at him mentally, a miracle considering how upfront she is with everything.
She snorted and glanced to the side. The view of little houses far below them caught her vision, distracting her from the thought of really tossing Wally down. "Look Petalburg, that's where you said that you live, right?" She pointed to the town and looked back at him. "Are you a sailor or what?" She asked, pointing her eyes to his firm and well-built arms.
"Gym Leader actually." He responded with a soft chuckle, not failing to notice where her gaze was fixated. "My mentor was the one that pushed me to train my body as much as my mind. But please stare all you want… is not like your boyfriend doesn't follow the same mantra as me."
"Tsk." With a heavy tint of red marking the tanned skin of her features, the draconid woman looked away from the grinning Wally and turned back to her position, enveloping her arms around Salamence's neck. "Just so you know; he looks way better than you."
"That's debatable and your opinions is clearly biased. But I will take that as a compli- AAAAHHHHH!" With the input of his trainer, Salamence did a sudden turn, nose-diving at high speed down toward Petalburg City.
The peaceful daily routine of the residents of the little city once again suffered an abrupt interference. A really big blue Dragon soared down from the sky, gushes of wind spreading all around the streets. With the screaming of the unsuspecting citizens and all the noises coming from the dragon's flapping wings, the entire count of people that lives in here rushed out of their houses just to see their beloved Gym Leader drop down in front of the Pokémon Gymnasium, his clothes and his body way worse for wear.
"Wally!" A little boy with blond hair rushed over to the young gym leader's side. "What happened to you?" The frantic look on Toby's eyes showed how much he cares about his friend and now mentor; this reaction from the youngster trainer brought a sincere smile to Wally's lips.
"Hey, what trouble you got yourself into?" Jan, the dark-green haired female ace trainer stepped out from the Gym, a serious and worried look on her face as well.
"Wally!?"
"Who's this girl?"
"SHE IS YOUR GIRLFRIEND?!"
"You saw the sun, just now? It was crazy."
Then the rest of the people began to bombard him with questions and concerned looks. Everyone pushing each other as they made their way next to Wally, suffocating him, Zinnia and even her Salamence.
"Guys, please! One at a time." With his body still throbbing with pained bruises, Wally squeezed himself out of the masses, a short-lived relief as they began to charge after him as he got away from him.
'He sure is loved here, huh…' Also sneaking out to the sides, Zinnia stepped away from the group, casually taking her Salamence back to his Poké-Ball.
The wave of people was ready to tackle him again, the adults worried and curious about his morning and the kids just pushing to have some fun. However, every single one of them stopped in their tracks when a singular figure approached from behind the green-haired young man.
Norman clapped one of his hands on his pupil's shoulder, making Wally jump in surprise. "How did you manage to get this battered and rugged?"
'Oh shit…' Wally cursed to himself. The previous Gym leader of Petalburg one of the people he didn't want to see right now. "I had a little problem today and as you can see, I struggled to deal with it, heh. You know how it is, the life of a Gym Leader."
"By any chance, your little problem involves the raging sun from this morning?" Norman asked, tilting his head a little to the right, giving a cold stare at his former student. "What… Happened?" Now his question came with a demanding voice, his tone sending chills down Wally's spine.
The green-haired young man, shrinking down under his mentor's oppressive gaze. He truly tried to push this conversation to the casual little accident excuse, but it is impossible for him to ignore this man's judgment. "Norman, I went there by my own accord… Don't put this all on him."
"So it as I thought." The older man frowned, his features getting even scarier and intimidating than it already was. "Look at your bruises, the wound on your face. Was he trying to kill you? Is Brendan out of his mind? How can I now put the weight of this actions on him?!" Norman roared; his fierce voice making even the citizens at the back cower in fear.
"Listen, he is not normal. That monster is messing with his head." Wally stepped in, grabbing the senior trainer by his arms. "Even I got a bit fuzzy in the head when I was-"
"Enough!" Norman pushed Wally's hands away. "This is an absurd, how low has he fallen? I tried to remain calm and just observe, but this is enough. Is time for that man to face the consequences for his own actions, like the adult he is."
The coldness carried in Norman's voice as he referred to his own son as just a man, unsettled Wally to his core. He has never seen his master so angered and disconnected; the father that always held his child higher than himself, just now talked about him like a complete stranger.
"ENOUGH YOU!" Zinnia shouted all the way from the back, everyone gasped and turned to face her. "Who do you think you are to talk about Brendan like that, huh?" She marched pass every shocked person in her way, stopping right in front of Norman. The draconid woman, more furious than ever, lifted her right index finger and pressed it against the man's chest with force. "What gives you the right to judge him? Talking all high and mighty like that, when you know shit about my Brendan."
"You... stop that." With a look of disbelief in his face, Wally tried to pull Zinnia away from the older man, just to get pushed away by her.
"Stop calling me you! I have a name all right, Zinnia! Zinnia, that's my name." With her face burning red with anger, she unleashed half of her fury upon Wally but saved just enough to turn around and glared at Norman once again.
"Okay… Zinnia. Please stop that. You really should not talk to him like that." Wally with his face purple with so much embarrassment he is feeling for her, tried to warn the mouthful girl one last time.
"Why not? I ain't afraid of this old man. I can kick his ass at any time." She snorted at the notion of being scared of some middle-aged man. And once again all the town gasped in horror of how defiant she is being in front of this man.
"Because he is Brendan's father." Wally's words stabbed her in the chest little tiny and sharp blades.
Zinnia's brazen attitude and aggressive stance died out, and as if all the blood rushed down from her head, her face turned impossible pale with her eyes growing as wide as they could and her legs wavering like little green sticks. "D-Dad?"
While Norman is a composed and very calm man, even he found himself dumbstruck with the happenings in front of him. He refrained for speaking anything, but the look on his face, together with a few veins popping on his forehead is more than telling his reaction to this crazy woman's stunts… Dad isn't pleased at all.
"He… he finally stopped. I never saw someone run so much and so fast." Silver wiped the sweat away from his forehead, he never cursed his own 'lazy' body before this day; His lungs are burning up and his head spinning with exhaustion from just a few minutes of running inside the woods.
"The way he was running, it was like a devil was whipping his back with a thorny whip. Heh, what a mental image, geez." Ethan casually kneeled next to a tree, keeping himself hidden as he watches the man they have been following. To Silver's dismay and irritation, the Johto's Champion is barely showing any sign of fatigue, as if the little marathon they just been through was just a warm-up for him.
"The place… that he is looking at." Silver slowly crawled next to his partner; unintentionally he wrapped his left arm around Ethan's upper body, hiding behind the other man's taller body. "What is that?"
"On the map, it says that this is Mt. Pyre, a place of mourning and spiritual connection." With a discontent frown, the raven-haired man took his eyes to the massive mountain and shook his head. "Yikes, not another of those places… They give me the creeps."
"Ohh… the creeps, you say?" A defiant smirk found its way to the red-haired's lips. "I thought you are incapable of feeling fear, what happened to that part of your fairy tale with Ho-oh?"
"Being uncomfortable with dead people around you, is not feeling fear." Ethan broke his gaze away from the men way ahead of them and looked back to Silver. "You keep talking like this just to get under my skin. And you know what? You've been very successful with that."
"Don't look at me like that; you're the one making up ridiculous stuff and expecting people to believe you." To Silver making Ethan lose his cool and mess with his head never gets old, it is so enjoyable for the red-haired that he is almost forgetting the reason why they are here.
With a fast swirl of his body, Ethan jumped on his feet and bashed his right hand against his partner's shoulder. In a moment's notice, the man who as calming staring down the green hill, shifted his whole attention to his, at this moment, extremely annoying rival, pushing the red-haired trainer against the large tree.
"I don't care if you want to talk shit about me all day, I never cared, if I did… I wouldn't ever tolerate this awful personality of yours." He put even more strength on his arm, to the point of making Silver hiss with pain. "But don't make fun of stuff you don't understand. Heart of Gold is his gift to me, and my duty to Johto. You don't believe it? I couldn't care less, but no more jokes about it."
Here it is again, the sensation that had been stuck inside Silver's head ever since he joined up with his rival in their quest. While he always loathed Ethan for being stronger than him, despite this trainer's goofy nature, he also discovered that he simply cannot ignore the other side of this man. To someone that is always friendly and easygoing, he is also the scariest person in the world whenever his golden eyes stare down menacingly at someone. And to Silver, being under this heavy gaze is a strangely unique feeling.
The large old three shook wildly as the angry man pushed the red-haired against it again. "You got it?" He said more in a royal demand than a simple question. To which his rival quietly responded with a nod, yet never tore his eyes away, holding his ground with the dignity of not showing how much effect this had on him.
Getting somewhat the response he wanted, Ethan released his hold of his partner's shoulder and turned away from him. "Tsk… I lost him." With a frown in his features, the taller trainer squats down closer to the next tree, peeling his eyes to any movement ahead of them.
With a lingering sting feeling on his back, Silver stepped closer to his partner, clearing his throat softly in an attempt to get Ethan's attention. "I didn't mean to… go over the top." Normally Silver would just scoff and walked away with his nose pointing to the sky, showing how little he thinks of other people. But just with Ethan, the person he loathed the most in his teenager phase and most of his young adult age, he finds himself unable to treat him in anything less than his equal.
"Don't stress yourself with this… I got carried away, I guess. You're who you are, no need to change that, and to tell the truth I'm kind of getting used to your nasty comments spinning in my head all the time." With another complete shift of his mood, Ethan glanced back to Silver and gave him a bright and warm smile. Then his left head did a little twitch, his head turning in the direction of the sea. "Hah! There he is. Look at that crazy cookie, he is swimming into deep waters all by himself."
"Why not use an aquatic Pokémon?" Silver raised the question; both rivals returning to their normal behavior in no time. "Wait, better yet, isn't his make-up, or whatever it is, going to fall off because of the water?"
"If he was using make-up and wigs that would've come off way earlier when he tripped and smashed his face on that brush." Running two fingers in his chin, the raven-haired man fixed his gaze on the figure swimming further and further away. "There's… two?! How can this be?"
"Two?" Silver walked next to the edge of the cliff's slop, holding one hand above his eyes to shield them from the sunlight. He scanned all the water and only found a couple of Pokémon swimming peacefully, ignoring the man swimming with an undying vigor next to the base of Mt. Pyre. "Did the heat from that scorching sun messed with your head? I can only see that slippery freak."
"Yes, just one slippery person… but two beings." Ethan saw the look of confusion coming over from the red-haired and chuckled. "Look, this is the best way I can put this. I can feel two presences coming from that guy, it's weird."
"Feel presences? Are you a psychic now?" At first, Silver crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave a judging glare to golden-eyed man. Ethan responded by looking at him seriously and pointing his right thumb to his chest. That gave a slight explanation behind the meaning of his words. "Your heart's power thing?"
Ethan was glad that Silver didn't outright mock him and couldn't help himself but laugh a little with the increasing confusion being so apparent on the red-haired youth's face. "Just so you know my heart isn't really made of gold. But yeah, it's one of the perks I got from Ho-oh's gift." He stood up and strolled over to the edge too. "People and Pokémon, everyone has a little aura about them, something you can feel if you know what it is." He smirked and tapped the back of his hand onto Silver's chest. "You have one too. I can feel this grumpy heart of yours from miles away. But that person over there." He pointed down to the cold seawaters bellow them. "He has two, a larger presence that I assume is his own and something else. A small and confused one, a mess of thoughts coming from him too. Not that I can read his mind or know what those thoughts are anyway." Ethan looked to the side and found a dumbstruck Silver staring at him, more confused than he was before, slightly red and uncomfortable with the casual touching. "Too much at once?" He asked with a silly grin.
"Yes… too much." Silver responded with a small nod. "The more you talk, the less I believe in you."
"Give it time; you will cozy to the idea of how awesome I am. At the start, even I didn't believe it either." Ethan shuffled inside one of his pants large pockets, taking a Pokémon in his hand. "Until I started to hear and understand what Flames was talking." He tossed the Poké-Ball down in the water, a giant and imposing Red Gyarados appeared on the surface. The water dragon roared loudly in his entrance but calmly swam over the edge of the cliff to make way for his trainer. "Look, your favorite slippery creep just turned over the edge. We need to get there." He jumped down on the water, doing a reckless nosedive on the water but safely getting there without any complications.
"Wait… Then, you really understand what they say?" Silver asked more to himself than anything, since Ethan had jumped down on the water and would not hear him. Inside his head, the slowly began to put everything together, every time Ethan interacted with a Pokémon, even with his own Weavile, he always behaved as if he knew more than anyone else… However, Silver never considered the fact that he indeed knew and that wasn't just a stupid façade coming from an overconfident trainer. To know this now changes many things in Silver's eyes.
"Ooii, Silver! Jump down already." The goofy raven-haired trainer shouted from below. He is standing on top of his Gyarados' head, waving with one hand and smiling casually.
"Damn it… you really are interesting, aren't you?" Silver looked down and smirked, feeling lucky to have found such an intriguing rival.
"You saw that? What a rude person!" Glaring angrily towards the ladder to the next floor, a woman with long and fluffy dark blue hair stomped her left foot on the stony ground. "He didn't even look at me when I asked for a battle... So, so rude!"
"Maybe he is just grieving or something like that." Another female trainer is standing next to the blue haired one. She is caringly rubbing her friend's back, trying to calm her frustration.
However, just as two newcomers entered the building under the mountain, the angry woman's eyes sparkled with life once again. "Hey, you!" She shouted pointing to the first to step in, a red-haired young man with smooth features. "Let's face each other in a proper battle and experience the connection with the spirits."
His red eyes locked their gaze unto her, the brows frowning and a heavy clicking sound of his tongue echoed inside the room. "Fuck off." Silver growled his response, his tone making the smaller girl with pink hair, who is standing next to her blue-haired friend, jump backward startled.
"What was that! Is everyone rude these days?!" She jumped forward, fists at ready to tangle with this rude person… Well, at least she tried to appear menacingly but failed miserably as even the stance of her arms is completely off.
"Hey there, pardon my friend here." The second man, a raven-haired handsome young trainer walked forward. He greeted the furious woman with a sparkling smile, practically extinguishing her bad mood. "I think what he tried to say, is that we cannot afford to battle in the middle of this fire."
Both girls looked at each other, wondering if this second one is just as messed in the head as the red-haired one. "What fire?" They asked in unison.
Ethan responded to their question with a sly grin and then a giant wave of fire exploded on the leftmost side of the room, the red scolding flames going as high as the ceiling and instantly making the entire place a blazing inferno.
"Oh God! FIRE!" An elderly bald man, dressed in a white kimono, jumped from his little hiding place next to the stairs and dashed as fast as a Rapidash thought the exit door. Following his record time escapee, every other person on this floor, trainer or not, ran after him; some even jumping straight into the seawater, scared to death with the sudden explosion of flames.
When only Ethan and Silver remained inside the first floor, the flames changed their direction and like a living thing, they serpentine their way to the door and explode to live again, but all the rest of the fire on the room died out as fast as they came to life. With his job done, Ethan's Typhlosion walked out from behind one of the large grave tombs, giving a questioning look to his trainer.
"Great stuff, Flames." Ethan gave his trusted partner a thumbs up paired together with an approving nod. "Just don't forget to extinguish the flames from that door, when we scare the people on the other floors." Flames gave him a mean look and mumbled something softly. "Stop being grumpy, geez. You always loved to do this trick when you were a Cyndaquil."
Truly being a grumpy Pokémon. Flames rolled his eyes to the side and began to walk up the stairs by himself, leaving the two trainers behind so he would not accidentally spit some fire at them.
"What a charming fellow…" Silver smirked as he watched the Typhlosion walk away.
"He just likes to complain…" Ethan tried to explain, but it did nothing to faze his rival's mocking grin. "Tsk. He will get the job done. That guy has yet to fail with me, despite his moods sometimes."
Going from floor to floor, the pair of trainers successfully scared everyone out of Mt. Pyre. Even the most dedicated person to their mourning rituals flee out at the sight of red raging flames consuming the walls of the crypts. Tough the fake conflagration was wild and spooky to see, Flames did his best to but his strength only on the showing part and avoiding doing any real damage to the place.
After assuring one hundred percent that everyone else had escaped away from the mountain interior, they headed out to the last floor. Finally catching up to the target they follow for more than a few hours inside forests and sea.
"I warn you. This is not only a simple bed-time tale." An old woman with grey robes, and holding a long wooden cane in her hands, stands next to a stone altar. She is pointing down to the man with long brown hairs, poising herself between him and the shiny little blue orb behind her. "As they carry the power to sooth the legendary beasts' anger, they also carry the means to awaken such a terrible catastrophe."
"You already told me this. But you fail to realize one fact." The man replied with a dark façade in his face. "I don't care. Your story speaks of everything, except the fact that this little blue thing is the key to my absolute power. My rightful power!"
The woman froze up, looking down at him with a pondering face. "You seek no to unleash the beast, but to control it?" She asked incredulously of his words. "Then your fate is already sealed." She slowly walked down the stone-made steps, her old legs carrying her with patience and difficulties; the old sage stopped next to him, taking a long and tired breath. "I may not be able to see with these tired eyes of mine. However, I can still perceive that you are not Hoenn's Guardian. Take the orb in your hands and you will perish… maybe all of us will." She then casually walked away, the tapping sound of her cane getting lower and farther, and then completely dying out as she exited the area where she guarded for so long.
"Perish… Crazy old hag." Rush, disguised with Brendan's face, clicked his tongue and shook his head. He slowly climbed one-step, getting closer and closer to his objective. "This is the answer to everything, I don't need Giovanni anymore, and I don't need any of them." He climbed other two-steps. "I will control Kyogre and then Groudon. No one will be able to stop me."
"Take… the orb…" The same ghostly voice echoed inside his mind, urging him to lunge forward and claim what he deems as his.
"Don't worry… I will." Rush jumped the remaining steps, getting face to face with the blue orb. His fingers twitching in anticipation.
A loud and piercing whistle sounded from behind, startling the crazed-eyed man. Rush turned around, his eyes landing on two unknown figures staring directly at him.
"Yo, mister slippery bastard." Ethan taunted him with a confident grin. "Don't know about touching that thing. That lady sounded very sure about the bad things that could happen."
"Who the hell are you?" Rush spat out, an angry scowl popping up in his features.
"He doesn't know me?" Ethan looked to Silver, real disappointment showing his face. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Sir kicks your butt." He immediately chuckled after saying that. "And this loving person here; is Mister spanks your ass, the second."
"I don't want to spank his ass…" Silver replied with a frown of disgust.
"Oooh, so you want to spank someone's ass." With the focus of an energetic child, the raven-haired trainer completely shifted his attention to his rival's statement, for a second even forgetting the person standing in front of them.
"Hah… Hahahaha. Now I remember." Rush took one hand to his face, cracking a huge smile on his lips. "You're Johto's guardian. Hehe… Hahahaha. To think that the mighty Ethan himself would be here for my ascension. What a wonderful surprise."
"Yikes, the man his crazy as Mankey." Ethan cringed at the look he is receiving from the brown-haired man. "Just do us a favor and before you start with the insane bad guy speech, tell us who are you and how come you look exactly as Hoenn's champion."
"This?" Rush ran two fingers on his left cheek. His creepy smile getting even worse. "I handy tool, that I once thought only as a mean to upset dear little Brendan." He grabbed the bottom of his chin and roughly pulled his "skin" out. As the first bit tore away from his real chin, the entirety of the mask came off, turning its color back to a powerful white and the man's face behind it changing to his normal self, even his hair changing back like a magic trick.
Silver looked sickened with the sight of someone almost literally ripping his own face out, while Ethan is just watching him with curious eyes.
"But now I know better." Rush trailed his fingers on the white surface of his mask. "I don't need to pretend to be Brendan… Not when I can become Brendan entirely." He popped the mask back on his face, long brown bangs of hair falling down on his face again. "Guardian's privilege included." He smirked once again, as his body completely changed back to Brendan's form.
"Is this my father's plan?" Silver shouted in an uproar. The red-haired beyond disgusted with the showing of shapeshifting. "It has been too long since I held any respect for that man… But to start cloning people." He bit his lower lip, regretting ever allowing his father to disappear out of his sight.
"You couldn't be more wrong, young boss. Giovanni is a fool! He handed to me this mask without even realizing how much power it has… without even…" Rush took a long breath, his eyes losing some of its focus, staring high up to the sky.
Ethan sighed and slapped one hand onto his forehead. "Oh boy… Here it comes the speech."
"I am the strongest member of Rainbow Rocket's enforcers! Now, I will become the strongest trainer in the entire world. First, I will take control of Hoenn's legendary beasts, and then I will roam over from land to land, clamming every and each one of those overgrown monsters. No one will be able to stand against me. The one to unite the world under their grasp will be me and not that delusional Giovanni." Rush stopped for a moment after spitting word after word without a break, and after getting his breath back, he motioned to continue. "Then I-"
"Fire Blast!" Ethan shouted louder than Rush's words. A powerful ball of fire flew from just above Ethan's head. A nasty explosion of fire erupting on the altar, that almost engulfed Rush in its wake. Luckily, for the fake brown-haired man, he grabbed the blue orb just and ducked to the side just in time. "Sorry man. I grow bored of speeches way to quick. Nothing personal."
"Always the funny man…" Rush growled, clenching his hold on the tiny thing in his hands. "I will break that smile of yours. Then we will see how funny you can be." He shot his arm forward, pointing the orb out into the duo direction. "Come Kyogre! Come and destroy this rabble without any mercy!" He shouted on the top of his lungs, the orb on his hand began to glow with a faint little light.
Silver sheltered his eyes from the light; he took a defensive stance, taking one Poké-Ball out of his pockets. Ethan whistled loudly again, pointing to his left side; to which his Typhlosion responded by jumped forward and standing where his trainer ordered to, right in front of Silver. Then the raven-haired man grabbed a purple looking Poké-Ball out of the lone pocket in the left leg of his pants.
The air grew heavy as the light from the orb got stronger and stronger. Both trainers held their breath in anticipation, waiting for the impeding monstrosity to appear and wreak havoc upon them. Time began to pass fast, no one moving from their spot… still waiting for Kyogre's appearance… but began quite apparent that nothing was happening despite the blue orb showering them with its blue glow.
"WHERE THE HELL IS HE?" Rush angrily roared, his face twisting with panic.
"Got a little problem there, friend?" Ethan relaxed his stance. He chuckled at the desperate glared he received from the imposter. "Try blowing it over or maybe give it a little wipe. Heh, maybe the ball is just a bit rusty."
Rush gritted his teeth fiercely to a point that they could even break from that much pressure. He pulled two Poké-Balls out of his pockets and tossed them in the air. "YOU WILL STOP MOCKING ME!" He roared loudly again, a blue ferocious Hydreigon and a particularly angry looking black Haxorus, landed in front of the mad trainer.
"Aahhh, I made him angry." Ethan did a little pout, clearly mocking even more the irate man. "Want to take one?" He turned his head to the side and asked his partner-rival.
"Hmph. I will take the Shiny Dragon." Silver tossed his Poké-Ball forward, calling out a mean-looking Rhyperior.
"Fine by me." Ethan put his purple Poké-Ball back in his left pocket. "Flames, that Hydreigon is yours." With a mighty roar, Flames stomped forward. Getting ready to engage his opponent in battle.
"Haxorus and Hydreigon! Keep those two occupied until I work this damned thing out." Rush shouted out, turning his back to the battle. And with his orders, the impatient Shiny Haxorus dashed forward at full speed, aiming to the first thing in front of him; which ended up being Ethan, instead of any of the two opposing Pokémon.
With a defiant smirk, Ethan stared at the black wingless dragon charging at him; he neither moved nor showed hesitation in his stare down. Just as the vicious red claws were flying at him, Rhyperior's large body landed in front of him, stopping the shiny's Pokémon attempt.
"Your opponents are us. Stupid lizard." Silver glared at the Axe Jaw Pokémon. Who responded by glaring back at the red-haired and his rock-ground Pokémon.
Not fazed by Rhyperior's size and robust body, Haxorus began to dish a fast-paced stream of attacks with his claws. The rocky emperor replied with the same intensity, but instead of attacking with a fast combo of attacks, he reserved himself to block most of his opponents attack, occasionally tabbing forward with his heavy fist and knocking the black dragon a few meters back with each punch.
By this point already ignoring the first battle that exploded behind him. Ethan walked forward, pass his Typhlosion and closer to Hydreigon. The dragon of three heads growled in warning, poising his middle head, ready to bite the man in front of him. Yet the blue dragon could not do it, the golden gaze coming from this trainer shook the large Pokémon to his core. "Sorry little guy. Normally I refrain for hurting any Pokémon even when it's necessary." His golden eyes flared a look of intimidation, his face never as serious as now. "But you will get out of my way."
A red blur flew from the side, Typhlosion moved like a flash of light. His small but heavy fists flared with fire and the Volcano Pokémon shot a barrage of flame infused punches onto Hydreigon. Each punch echoed like a clap of thunder, each hit making the blue dragon screech ever so loud; a torrent of pain taking over the poor Pokémon's senses. With just one sequence of Flames' attack, Hydreigon got thrown into the air; dazed out of combat and bruised at every bit of his extensive body.
Having already defeated the Pokémon in his way, Ethan stepped closer to Rush, who is already next to the edge of a dead-dangerous cliff. "Look, Fake-face." He spoke loudly, getting the man's attention. "No more games between us. Put that thing back or you will get more punches in that head of yours than that Hydreigon did." Flames stomped next to his trainer, cracking one of his knuckles, standing more than ready to follow through with Ethan's threat.
"ETHAN!" Silver shouted from the back, his out of character and agitated tone, startling the golden-eyed trainer.
Ethan looked to his back only to find Silver engulfed below a massive shadow looming over him. He took his eyes up and saw a massive, seemingly never-ending wave of water coming onto Mt. Pyre's summit. In an instant reaction, Ethan called his Typhlosion back to his Pokémon just in time, before the wave crashed on top of everything.
Having withstood the impact of that tide wave, only thanks to his Rhyperior's sturdy body, who held to his trainer and shielded him. Silver coughed desperately the water that invaded his mouth; his eyes frantically searched his surroundings, finding only the destruction left behind that absurd event. No rocks were left in place, even the grassy ground became nothing more than brown wet dirt. However, the more important fact is that Ethan is nowhere to be seen.
"Eth- gah… Ethan?!" Silver got back on his feet, he tried to shout his rival name, but only a low voice escaped his mouth.
"I said that he would pay the price for mocking me… That I would break that smirk of his." Rush who also barely managed to stay on the high surface looked down on Silver and raised both arms, the blue orb glowing even more on his right hand. "Behold my new little toy!" He pointed to the other side of the mountain, to the giant creature, who in an impossible feat, is riding on top of a standstill torrent of water, staring down at them.
"That is… Kyogre?!" Silver stared high to the ancient beast, he felt a cold shiver run down his spine as Kyogre's eyes fixed down onto him. "Holy crap... he is bigger than that other red monster." Despite the shaking feeling on his leg, Silver stood his ground with his Rhyperior at his side. They both only stared up to the monster who could squash them at the whimsy of his will.
"This is the third time you summon me in a free fall. Have you also received the gift of stupidness?"
"I know, I know. Sorry about that Lugia. But this time I have an even match for you." In a boom of air, a giant white bird soared the sky. Lugia dove down to the massive torrent of water and passed just below Kyogre. He and Ethan managing to pass by the aquatic colossus with easy. "See, I told I found an even match you."
"I don't remember asking for an even match." Lugia responded, but to everyone else besides Ethan, he just roared as usual. Johto's Lord of the Sea eyed down his much bigger opponent with a pondering look. "I expect you to know the fact that despite having reign over the seas, I cannot control water like that."
"And you won't need it." Ethan replied with a grin. "Just this once, I will allow you to go all out. Ho-oh won't hear a thing about it."
"Allow me? I'm surprised of how courageous you are to be able to speak like that." Lugia roared even louder and angrier. "One day I will bite your head off for saying that cursed thing's name."
"You're not deceiving anyone Lugia." Ethan tapped the white legendary on his neck, much to his annoyance. "I can feel your excitement. You of out of everyone knows that you can hide it from me." Changing his playful expression to a cold serious one, Ethan glared at Kyogre. "Let's take him down."
"Huh… conceited child. I will destroy that false ruler by my own volition." With a stronger swing of his wings, Lugia ascended higher in the air. Smaller torrents of water sprung from the sea, Kyogre aiming to take down his opponent with one strike, but missing at every attempt. As he reached the clouds, Lugia did a complete turn of his body, spreading his wings wide and long, the Lord of the Seas opened his mouth and a ball of pure white energy began to form inside of it. "Aeroblast!" A beam of white flashed down in a moment's instance, hitting Kyogre directly into his body.
A loud screech came from the blue titan; Kyogre waved on his spot but managed to stay floating high on top of this torrent. Four others mini torrents flew from below, spiraling in a ragging rebuke. In a gracious swoop, Lugia evaded all attacks easily and fired another beam of white energy down at his opponent. Aeroblast after Aeroblast, Lugia withered down Kyogre's resistances and toppled the giant legendary from his tower of water. An unbelievable splash flying up, creating an artificial little rain down on Mt. Pyre's summit.
"How can this be…" Rush fell down on his knees. The sight of his new "toy" being trashed like nothing in front of him only served to throw the young man down into a pit of desperation. "He is supposed to be the strongest… I am supposed to be the best. I will not accept this!" He shouted furiously, cursing at the image of Ethan flying far high with his own legendary. Then a stinging pain appeared inside of Rush's head.
"Neither will I." A dreading voice echoed inside his head, just these three words where enough to make Rush grab his head and scream with pain. "My hated enemy has returned to his primal form… This INFERIOR being is overpowering this husk of a body… RELEASE ME!"
Rush arched his back in an unnatural way, both of his eyes losing their color and becoming entirely white. "Gaahh… Stop… STOP!" He crashed down on the ground, rolling from one side to another. The orb in his hand flaring up with its light, forcing his will upon the already fragile mind of the young enforcer. "AAAAHHHH" Rush screeches pierced the wind, his pained voices going as high as to reach Ethan's ears. His right eye that was white and soulless, flared up in blue light, a blue alpha pattern coming to life where once was his iris.
"RETURN MY POWER TO ME!" Kyogre's voice exploded inside his head, the unbearable pain causing Rush to bleed from his nose and from his ears. But even in his word of pain, Rush served as the beacon Kyogre needed and the once depowered primal exploded in a bright light, a sphere of water surrounded him and his body changed back to its former glory.
"That looks bad." Ethan said with a unsettle voice.
"Grandiose observation. He is twice as huge as before." Lugia responded with a cynical comment of his own.
"Not that, you big mouthed bird." With a concerned frown, Ethan stared down to the summit. He noticed Silver trying to hold Rush in place, but having little success in stopping the screaming coming from below. "The guy down there, this thing is ripping him apart."
"Then focus on taking it down." Lugia also averted his attention to the commotion below and even the legendary Pokémon couldn't help but cringe at the agonizing voice coming from the little human down there. "I will take on your offer and use everythin-" A massive waterspout, bigger than Mt. Pyre itself, raised from the sea. Its raging spiral waters swallowing Lugia and Ethan inside itself as if they were no more than little flies.
Silver found himself agape and out of place. He always thought of himself as a stellar trainer, but this cataclysmic fight is beyond even himself. The red-haired could only watch in despair as Ethan and Lugia disappeared behind humongous tornado made out of water. He looked down to the man screaming in his arms and cursed. "You made this mess yourself, you jackass. Now wake up and stop this!" He shook Rush violently, but to no avail. He reached down to the glowing orb on the man's hand and tried to take it away, but his fingers didn't even manage to touch that thing as his hand got repelled back before getting to close. Silver's red eyes wandered up to the impostor's face and noticed a large crack running down from his nose to his cheek, and something clicked inside his head.
Doing just as he saw how Rush did before, he ran two fingers down the man's chin and grabbed hold of something akin to a loose skin. With a lot of force, Silver pulled it up and tore the mask out of Rush's face. The screams stopped instantly, the pattern in his eye disappeared and the orb's light died out as if it was never there. Broken, but extremely hot, the white mask began to tremble in Silver's hand, it lost its form changing back to a strange goo made of blue and red. Without even a moment to spare and understand what was happening, Silver just watched as the once mask liquefied itself and wiggled its way into the edge of the cliff, following down to the sea.
The waterspout exploded, water running out everywhere, even to the forest far away from the sea. Kyogre fell down to the ocean again, his surrounding bubble of water going away and his body powering down to its weakened state. However, the blue titan would not tolerate this; he towered up high above Mt. Pyre again, riding on top of another torrent, his eyes furiously staring down at the red-haired man and the unconscious Rush laying in his arms. A second torrent of water raised up, larger and longer than the one Kyogre is riding, the tip of this torrent turning down and aiming at the summit, ready to smash everything in its path.
"Shit… No way out now." Silver breathed hard, his only choice was to call his Rhyperior back and wait for his fate.
However, out of nowhere, Ethan fell down at his side, rolling away as to break his fall. "Go!" Ethan charged back to his friend, grabbing him by the arm.
"What are you doing?" Silver shouted his question, more in a surprised way than an angry one.
"Just run!" Ethan shouted back, pulling Silver's arm with even more force. "Dammit, we are out of time!" Just a few feet away from the edge, Ethan turned around and enveloped Silver around his arms; he threw both of them backward in hopes of being pushed back for what was soon to follow.
In a moment, everything around them vanished. In just a moment, all was consumed by a white light.
On this day, a dome of white appeared like a massive dot on Hoenn's map. A devastating explosion so loud that it was heard on the most distant town, yet to those who were close to the point; all that they could hear was a deafening ring clouding their ears.
"E… Et… Ethan!" Silver pulled his friend closer; his voice desperately trying to reach him, trying to wake him up, the red-haired is swimming with a lot of effort trying to make both of them stay afloat. As the raven-haired man slowly opened his eyes, Silver's lips parted in a smile, a glad and relieved one. "You moron, for a moment… I thought we were dead."
"I… had a plan… ghh…" Then hissed in pain, his left arm broke as he used his left side to protect not only himself but also Silver from the fall. "I told Lugia… to blast that bastard away…. It… worked…" Once again his eyes closed down, maybe the pain on his broken arm got to him or another injury instead. However, Ethan went out cold and he is not awakening anytime soon.
Silver took a deep breath, he held even closer to his unconscious friend. The giant shadow of Lugia towered over them as the legendary bird stood victorious in the air. The red-eyed youth looked all around them, he cursed the day he convinced himself to bring Ethan with him, but he also never felt so glad in his life for having this annoying person with him.
"Your plan worked… but maybe…" His eyes glided over to the place where once stood , now nothing more than rumble and broken stones. Kyogre was nowhere in sight and by the look of everything; he was probably in no shape to continue fighting. "Just maybe, you overdid this." With the corner of his eyes, Silver also noticed everyone they scared away from the mountain, standing at the shores, watching the scene in horror, but all of them safe and sound. "Hah… Did you knew it would end up like this?" Glanced down to Ethan's peaceful features and a short grin appeared in his lips. "Never a half-done job huh? Johto's Champion."
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Inside the dark room of the abandoned Rainbow Rocket labs, the strange little blue and red blob pushed itself against the window. Its insistence somewhat influencing the water to move together with it, after minutes and more minutes of banging at the clean window, the glass finally cracked and broke off, water pouring down inside one of the last safe rooms inside the submerge underground level.
Faint rains of light echoed from inside the little blob, in the form of a signal, this glow got picked by the large mass of blue and red inside the big container. This mess of blue and red that maintained itself still and silent for this whole time, began to shake violently, going from one side to another, bashing in the same manner its smaller counterpart did to enter the room. As the water raised to the point of filling half of the room, another cracking sound echoed on this confined space, the big container finally giving up.
The big blue and red reunited itself with the smaller one, both glowing lights fusing back into one whole thing. As the ocean' water swallowed everything, making the entire room dark and silent once again.
On the dark stairs from the first floor on the base, the water began to stir. A shadow slowly emerging up from the lower levels. A man with pale skin emerged from the water, long brown hair sticking on his face as he coughed water desperately trying to breathe, something that he never did before, but found himself wanting it like a bestial instinct. "Wh-Where…" The man coughed even more water and some strange fluid together with it. He fell down with his knees on the metal floor, holding his upper body up with both hands.
"Who… Am… I?" He raised his head, looking up to the dark place surrounding him, a sparkling light coming from below caught his attention, forcing his gaze to go down. It the shallow water next to his hand, he saw a reflection of himself; a handsome young man with a red left eye and a bright blue right eye. "This… is…"
Then a violent pain surged from within his brain, flashes of memories coming to life all at once.
A vision of him taking his first Pokémon, a tiny shy Trecko.
Another vision from his first battle against Wally.
His final battle against Steven, riding Rayquaza to save the word, his first date with May.
Every and each little trace of his being pouring up at the same time into his head.
"I know… My name…" He said in a pained whisper, as more and more memories rushed in. "I am… Brendan."
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Mr. MogiGaming chapter 15 . May 15 – That Primal Groudon is messing with everyone. Zinnia and Wally being one of the victims as well… Now with two 'Real' Brendans, I wonder how these two will react to that.
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Guest chapter 15 . May 16 – I feel like I expanded on this topic for a little too long, lol. But like I said I get why that was strange for you, but I still have to say that Josh, despite his silly normal name, is not a no-name goon and he will have a very big role on this one. I will also say that I appreciate your comments. Even if I'm in denial here a little bit, criticism always helps. Thanks ;D.
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DOOT76 chapter 15 . May 17 – As you can see in this chapter not only Groudon can be a little rude in his manners. Kyogre also has that in him, despite not awakening, as Groudon did, at least not for too long. And I will give you something about "The Big Green". He is not forgotten, but is also way too important to show up now and when he shows up… it will be like what X says in Mega man X4 – "Time to get serious!"
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Thanos chapter 15 . May 19 – Meu deus, o próprio Thanos aqui... Wait, sorry... I reverted a bit to Portuguese there... I blame the shock.