Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or its characters.
Author's Notes: Okay, a little heads up about the next chapter or chapters to be more precise. To prepare you guys and avoid confusion, the next update will contain two chapters on the same day, so stay alert and try not to skip the first one.
Oh and going forward, I will be using a lot more of the great trait of music. Not only I think that is a cool addition to a chapter, but it also represents a deeper meaning to the chapter as well (every music is chosen by its lyrics or its name to pass a clear message). So, in a little spoiler... Everything past this chapter will be huge in scale compared to the recent ones.
"Eh… Max? Any news?"
The blond investigator is known for his calm and playful persona, yet, even he feels exhausted and somewhat annoyed by the now thirty repeats of the same question. "No…" He replied drily with a quick roll of his eyes. And instantly felt bad when the red-haired girl looked down and deflated. "Sorry Flannery nothing new yet." This time he said with a bit more sympathy in his voice.
"But, they have been missing for a whole day." She protested, her hand clinging on the end of Max's shirt. "This is not normal, right?"
As the respected beauty, Leader of Lavaridge's Gymnasium, have said, Ethan and Bren- Spiegel vanished at the early morning of the previous day and ever since then no one has seen a glimpse of the pair. Of course, as the hours passed and the boy that shined a different light in her life continued missing, Flannery got more and more worried.
Which sadly for her, she is the only one. After their night of festivity, the people of Lavaridge had the unlucky surprised of being drafted into Looker's mission. The veteran police officer, being short in proper staff support, assigned different roles to everyone he laid eyes on. Mostly the civilian population of the small town got the responsibility of watching and properly guarding the criminal agents of Rainbow Rocket, who got arrested on Kyogre's assault to free the town.
With that, everyone was more than occupied and distressed to even think about the absence of their hero. Leaving poor Flannery to mope around all by herself.
"I don't know Ethan all that well to say anything. But the guy is a genius on the field, he is one of the most famous trainers in the world. I wouldn't worry about them." Max gave the worried trainer a little pat on her back and smiled softly as she looked over to his eyes. "As something he would say; Don't worry cutie, your boyfriend is in good hands."
The girl's face went full bright red, the blushing quickly spreading all over her body as she fidgets and turns away. "He is not… not yet… We just started something…" At each sentence, her embarrassment got worse, and to make matters worse the two of them are standing right in the middle of the street and in the plain view of everyone.
When a sudden uproar erupted from the other side of the avenue, Flannery instantly hid her face behind her hands. She feels a bit silly for being so touchy with this situation, yet can't help herself but get more and more flustered; and if people are to tease her about it, she might as well run away.
A low chuckle came from the blond man. He pulled the back of his hair into a messy ponytail and grinned. "Hey, look at that. Don't need to worry anymore princess, your knight is here." He pointed to the town's entrance, where a group of people is starting to amass in a bulk. Getting a proper glimpse at the commotion he frowned little. "Isn't that…"
Flannery's eyes sparkled with more life than ever before. In the distressed hours she spent worrying, she also wondered and tinkered with every word and reason she could to best talk with that boy she deems so special. Now, she finally gets the chance to speak with him and put all her little rehearsed speeches into action.
As the young Gym Leader stepped forward, lips parted into a bright grin as her eyes are glued onto that boy's silly face, she felt a strong grip on her left arm, holding her in place.
"Wait." Max said in a stern, commanding voice. "I don't think you should do this."
Flannery glanced back at him, even for a moment Max could swear he saw the girl glaring at him. "Why?" She rebutted. "After thinking for so long, I don't have any doubts anymore." She yanked her arm away from his hold and walked even faster towards the brown-haired champion.
Gently pushing her way inside the crowd of people welcoming their hero back, Flannery finally got closer to Brendan, her eyes shining even more as he looked at her and smiled. Still, a little pinch flared inside her chest as she noticed the tanned-skinned girl standing close, very close, at his side; her ruby-like eyes examining Flannery with a caution of a wild Pokémon.
"Flannery!" Brendan called out to her, his voice full of energy and youthful joy. "It's so nice to see you again."
Just the sound of his voice was enough to make the girl blush and the people around her giggle at her silliness. "Hi… I was worried about you." She said a bit quietly, a miracle event considering her thunderous voice of normal.
While the bystanders around them laughed and cuddled next to their beloved leader, Brendan tilted his head to the side a bit confused but managed to laugh away just like everybody else. "Well, I was worried about you too. With Hoenn in such chaos, I was scared that you guys got involved too. Luckily I was wrong." Now, Flannery was the one giving the young champion a weird look, that is until he stepped forward and closer, taking her hand into his firm hold. "Anyway, I want to introduce you to someone." Brendan gave a little space between her and the tanned girl, a bright smile on his lips. "Zinnia, this is Flannery. She is a good friend of mine; we have known each other for a long time now. Flannery, this is Zinnia, she is… She is my girlfriend and the reason I am still standing firm in my life."
Any shred of joy and happiness quickly evaporated from Flannery's expression. Brendan's words echoed inside her head like the deafening drums of a thunderstorm. She stared at him lost, disappointed and saddened. "Girlfriend…" She let the word out with a quiet sob, a lone tear sparkling at the side of her left eye. Out of everything she thought of saying, of all the things she wanted to share with this person, this never crossed her mind. Heartbroken and too shocked to hold her tears, Flannery turned around and bashed her way out of the crowd of people behind her, quickly disappearing from view.
Brendan and Zinnia traded glanced with each other, more confused than anything else. More than quickly, Brendan saw the look of disgust and disapproval on every single person looking at him, the mood and atmosphere quickly changed and it sent chills up his spine.
"You don't have any shame?!" An elderly woman yelled from the back.
"I trusted you, you jerk. The hell is this?" Another heated voice sounded off, escalating things way faster than what they should go.
The oblivious couple had to take several steps back to not get engulfed by the angry mob. Brendan held his arm in a straight line to his left to protect Zinnia from anything, while she held to his back ready to jump onto anyone who would step too close.
"Okay, People you need to stop this right now!" A blond man jumped in front of the crowd, making his voice louder and fiercer than any other. "You guys got everything wrong, so step aside before you do something you will regret." He commanded and the citizens obliged, not to willingly.
"Max?!" Zinnia called out to him. "What you're doing here? And the hell is wrong with these people?"
"Everything in time, Zinnia." Max gave his partner a side glance, his face all too serious. The then shifted his eyes to Brendan's surprised mug. "Hey lover boy, you should go after Flannery. Your face is the only thing that might calm her down. Do you get it?" He said with a clear underline.
Brendan stared at the blond man, mouth agape as he failed to grasp everything inside his head. But as his eyes traveled past the angry mob in front of him, to the figure of his old friend running away, something clicked inside his mind. "I can't be…"
"Yeah… Just go there." Max casually made way for the taller boy to pass and so Brendan sprinted forward, completely ignoring the still furious glares from everyone as he shoved people out of his way. "Okay, guys. Just stay quiet for a moment. I will try to explain this mess the best that I can…" Max got the attention of the angered citizens of Lavaridge, then gave a little look back to Zinnia as if saying; this goes for you too.
Despite Flannery's best effort to dash away to a dark and silent corner, she had little success in hiding herself properly as Brendan easily found the little spot between the Pokémon center and the hot springs' stony walls. Sure, with every person on his path looking exactly to that place helped him find her, but then again she had little choice of places to hide in a small town like this.
Steeling himself for anything at this point, the young champion let his nerves deflate in the rhythm of his breathing, and then he turned the little corner just to find the Red-haired girl sitting down on the ground, her face pressing against her knees. At each step that Brendan got closer to her the more he could hear her pained little sobs.
"Flannery…" He called out to her, his voice low and mellow.
Her shoulders jolted at the sound of his voice, yet her head remained there, keeping her face hidden from his gaze.
Quietly and carefully, Brendan stepped closer to his friend, settling himself against the white wall right in front of her. "Flannery, we need to talk." He tried to reach in with one hand, but she pulled herself away from him, her teary eyes shooting right up to stare at his eyes.
"Why…?" She asked in the midst of louder sobs. "Brendan… if you had someone. Then why did you do that do me?" Her question made the young man frown and bit his lips.
"Flannery, I did nothing." He replied curly and that made her snap.
The fiery Gym Leader shot right up, teeth clenching and fists stiffened hard behind her back. "Nothing?" She said in disbelief. "So that meant nothing to you? I MEANT NOTHING?!" Any restraint she had on her tears, completely vanished just now as she broke down in front of him. "How could you… I thought that… You were…"
Before she could run, before she could fall down on her knees, before she would break down even more; Brendan grabbed her by the arms and pulled her closer to him, close enough to be inches away from her face. "Flannery, stop for a moment. Look at me, look at my eyes." He brought the back of his hand to her cheek, wiping the tears away. "Tell me what you see."
"I see a lying jerk." She said with a pout.
Brendan chuckled at her little outburst; this is definitely not how he remembers the mouthful girl. "Okay, you have the right to be upset but please, just look at me."
She tried to look to the side again, but a pleading hum came from the handsome boy and so she ceded. Her red eyes landed on his features, going from his fair and smooth lips all the way from the trimmed bangs on his forehead. "You look different…" She replied with a trembling voice. "Your hair is a lot smaller than two days ago." Her hands carefully explored the tips of his locks, Brendan eyed her with a watchful gaze, lenient but still not willing to let her touch him more than that. "Your eyes… They are different too…" Her hands traveled down to his cheeks and at that point, he politely pushed her hand away.
"Yeah… My eyes are red, but his eyes are blue, right?" He noted the slight change on her face, going from disheartened to confused and somewhat startled. "I guess you have met my other half and from your reaction… there is more to it than just meeting him."
Flannery quietly took a small folded piece of paper from the back pocket of her pants; she brought it closer to her chest and then presented the letter to the boy in front of him. "Brendan… Spiegel… I don't know what to call you, but please… tell me why you give me this hope."
He smiled as she pushed the letter against his hands again, but he did not take it. Instead, Brendan grabbed her other hand and placed it on top of the little paper. "If this is what I think it is, I have no right to read it. Furthermore, I have no right to tell you his secret, but I cannot really leave you in the dark…. Ah… Okay, Flannery. I will tell you what I can, the rest you will have to ask the guy himself."
Even with the million questions Flannery has in her mind right now, she decided to just nod and comply. She will hear Brendan for anything he has to say and she can only hope that he can make some sense in this maddening turn of events in her life.
"Spiegel, did 'I' asked you to calm me like that?" He lifted her chin up as he asked.
"On our date…" She replied calmly. "You said that Spiegel was your name and asked me to call you so."
"Date, huh…" Brendan pondered about it with a strange little smile. "My name is Brendan, as it is now and always will be. Spiegel is the name of the person you had your date with."
Those questions stuck at the tip of her tongue, Flannery stared at him with an utterly confused expression. If their conversation was making little sense before, now is just a mess. However, before she could raise her voice, in her Flannery fashion way of doing it, Brendan got her attention with a light tap on her shoulder.
"As I said before, you have met my other half…. In a sense. Spiegel is not me and I am not him. We both are Brendans, but we are completely different people." At each attempt that he tries to ease her mind, the more he confuses her, as is very apparent on the blank look on her eyes. "Listen, I just want you to know that I am not the guy you shared moments with. I am Brendan, your friend. I am not 'Brendan', the person who may mean more than that to you."
Taking her gaze downwards, the flaming red-haired girl stepped away from Brendan, letting her backside rest firmly against the solid and warm rocky wall. "I get it." She said remarkably calm. "You're not the same person that I met two days ago." Despite her deflated postured, her shoulder quivered up and down as she chuckled and then full-fledged laughed. "I have a hard time believing anything you just said, but then… Only this craziness could explain Spiegel's quirks and his letter to me."
"So, you believe me?" Brendan asked.
"I do." Flannery replied right back with a small grin on her lips. "Either you are the worse guy in the planet and is trying to trick me into an awful relationship… or you're being truthful. I want to believe in the latter choice." With that said, she smiled. A bright, colorful and happy smile; a little gestured that did not fail to touch Brendan, washing his worries away. At that, Flannery walked forward again, this time holding Brendan by his arm as she eyed him with wide-open eyes. "Where is him?" She asked.
"He is resting at Ever Grande." As soon as the words left his mouth, Brendan had to quickly step in and grab Flannery by her arm again or she would have darted away without notice. "I came to Lavaridge Town to call anyone able to fight, we are gathering at Ever Grande City. Please, be patient for a little longer and I will take you to see him."
"Fine." She replied drily. "I will gather as much help as possible." Her stern gaze and firm stance made Brendan released his hold onto her, letting the girl step away as she marched towards the little town's center.
"Flannery." Brendan called her name, the fiery Gym Leader stopped and looked back at him. "Why him?"
"I don't know." Her lips curled upwards into a shy little smile. "But he was my hero for a day and now..." She raised the folded letter, taking it at the height of her eyes. "I want to be there for him too. A super cool HEROINE!" Her voice stormed out at the end, but instead of feeling embarrassed or shy, Flannery just grinned.
"A superheroine, huh?" Brendan chuckled, shaking his head just a little "He might need that… Two days before, I would urge you, no, implore you to stay away from that guy." His comment earned a frown from the red-haired girl. "Flannery, he will try to push you away. After what I told him last night, he will definitely try to raise a wall between him and everyone around him."
In silent contemplation, she just watched as Brendan walked closer and then past her, leaving an even more confused but now distressed Gym Leader behind him. After the first step beyond the shadows between the two buildings, Brendan stopped and sighed deeply.
"If he means so much to you that you would cry for him as you did just now… Reach out to him and get past his defenses." He said with a cold serious tone. "He will need a heroine today… He and me both."
Took a long time for the grumpy young red-haired trainer to find this place, after crossing such a great length in his way, crossing the pathless forest and climbing a towering slope, Silver's prize is finally at his sight. "Shitty old man, you are an afflicting curse on this world. The amount of evil you have spread on your path… There is no atoning for that." He cursed with a growl, his boiling anger getting so intense that his winged companion stared at him with a hint of feat in her eyes.
Comet chirped quietly, her voice getting Silver out of his trance as the red-haired glanced at her.
"We will find him, Comet." He brought a hand to the back of the gold bird's head, slowly caressing her soft spot as she reacted fondly of his touch. "I will get Ethan back and I will stop that vile man once and for all."
Giving the beautiful Pokémon one last stroke on her feathers, Silver pushed his knee out of the ground and stood firm, ready to put an end to everything.
"No more running, Giovanni." He growled; his eyes fixated with killing intent at the giant aircraft still sitting on the ground. "As the bastard son of an evil man, I will take responsibility for you." Silver stepped forward, the tip of his shoe dangerously close to the edge of uneven mount.
Taking a single moment as his respite, Silver closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Comet's curious chirp pulled him back and his eyes jolted open, chest puffing with air. He opened his mouth and unleashed his voice. "GIO-"
From the sky above him, a winged silhouette dove from behind the clouds. On the wake of a tempest gush of winds, the shadow of a person landed right behind Silver and latched a strong hand against his face, promptly closing his mouth before his voice could fully get out.
"I was supposed to be the dumb reckless one." Ethan's voice echoed angrily in disapproval.
With a mighty twirl, strong enough to create his own gush of wind and curtain of dust; Silver turned around and gasped as his eyes landed on the figure of the raven-haired champion. "Ethan…" He called with a weak voice. His arms went up little by little, trembling all the way until they reached past Ethan's neck and locked down in a knot at the large of his back. "You are… here? You are safe!" Silver said against his lover's chest, his whole body trembling in their embrace.
Ethan returned the hug of his shaken pale lover, his eyes taking a glance at the motionless machinery at the end of a newly made clearing between the woods. "Seriously, Silver? Are you trying to get yourself hurt or worse?" He said in a harsh voice, sending goosebumps all around Silver's body.
"Don't give me that crap!" Silver quickly spat back, gaining some of his composure. "You were the one that vanished… I thought that they… I thought that you have might-" His voice frozen as he pulled back and finally inspect Ethan's face properly. His thin pale hand traveled up, gently touching his boyfriend's cheek, his fingers carefully running on the ugly markings of a deep scar that tarnishes his once-perfect skin.
"Sorry, Silver… I guess my face is not that pretty anymore." Ethan said with an abashed reaction, his eyes slowly drifting away from those piercing red eyes.
Silver grabbed the other boy's chin and made him look back at his eyes. "Who did this?" He asked, still shocked and baffled.
"Well… you were kind of right." Ethan said with a playful grin. "They got me on Rustboro. They tried to force me to tell where Lugia was, they really tried. Who would have known that by making fun of your torturers, they would get pissed and jam a burning hot needle at your face." He laughed at his own expense, one hand scratching the back of his head in his usual carefree demeanor.
Silver is sharing little of his boyfriend's mood, none of it to be precise. His teeth-baring out in sheer anger, arms cocking backward as his fists trembled furiously. "I will fucking kill them." He spat with no hint of exaggeration in his words and that became all too clear as he simply turned around ready to march at his father's flying fortress.
Fast in his reaction, Ethan moved ahead and wrapped Silver in a tight embrace, passing his arms from behind him and linking them at the red-haired boy's abdomen. "Please, stop… Giovanni is doing something big and awful, even worse than what you imagined. He will not stop nor will he treat you with any sympathy if you get in his way."
"Screw him and his sympathy!" Silver shouted angrily. "They've hurt you. I'll be the one not showing any sympathy for them." With his eyes sorely focused on his target, he continued to shiver and tremble in pure anger, only feeling somewhat at ease when Ethan rested the top of his head against Silver's back.
"Funny… this is the first time you ever showed this side of you to me." Ethan said in a soothing whisper, making the furious young man cool down, steaming out his temper in long and harsh breaths. With a careful and cautious move, Ethan pulled his arms back and grabbed Silver's waist, making him turn and face him properly again. "So… how do you feel about it?" He asked with a rare unsure tone in his voice. "You don't mind it?"
"How can you ask something like that? Of course, I mind! I am livid right now, how can another human being do this to someone?" Silver blurted out, pressing one of his hands on Ethan's new painful physical trait.
"That's not what I was… Silver, look at me." Ethan pulled Silver's hand down, letting the red-haired see his new scar in all of its 'glory'. "I am damaged goods now. Half of my right cheek is now tarnished with this ugly thing… You don't mind that?"
"What? You expected me to look at your face and push you away?" Silver said, raising one eyebrow as he stared at Ethan. "Wow, I had no idea that you picture me as such a shallow person."
"I am just saying that I would not blame you." Ethan replied, still showing hits of an uncanny hesitation. "Seeing this crap on the mirror, even I felt disgusted."
"I don't." If a glare could hurt, Silver's piercing gaze and furious frown would hit Ethan harder than any of Raz's punches. "I feel disgusted, yeah I do. But at them, I feel disgusted and irate at the monsters who did this, not at your appearance."
Drawn by those golden gems staring at him, Silver got closer to his lover, embracing him once again; caressing Ethan's once pale now marked skin at his cheek. A fleeting idea crossed the smaller of the lovers' duo, not something core to his character nor something that he would even consider in a normal situation. That is exactly why Silver ignored his normal senses telling him to stop and let his body move on its own in this little whim.
Ethan's eyes widened in surprise, a pleasant one. A silky sensation grazed the tip of his lips, the tender texture pressing more and more onto him as his stiffness melted away, and his own lips took the form of that kiss. In an automatic reaction, the raven-haired boy closed his eyes, arms wrapping at the firm of his partner's waist, pulling him closer against his body. With a little smacking sound, Silver parted away from their exchange, face red as Cheri Berry.
"Does that clear your doubts?" Silver quietly asked, way too embarrassed to look at the other boy's eyes after his bold display of affection.
Ethan hummed, sounding a lot happier than moments ago. Still, the golden-eyed champion let out a soft chuckle as his lips parted in an impish grin. "See… I still have a little bit of doubt." He felt Silver shuffle in his arms, his head darting right back to glance at Ethan's face, whose grin grew even more. "One more or maybe two more kisses like that and I would be golden."
A muffled punch sound echoed from Ethan's body, being followed by a very loud 'oof' coming out of him. Seeing that stupid smirk vanish from his boyfriend's face made Silver himself grin devilish. Despite feeling how he could stay like this for the whole day and even more, the red-haired felt his mind being pulled back to the existence of that immense aircraft down in the hills.
"They are right there." Silver said. "Giovanni is right down there… What we do now?"
Ethan sighed, his golden gaze looking down at that unnerving thing. "We back off." He said calmly, letting Silver grunt in displeasure as much as he wanted before continuing. "Brendan is gathering a large group of trainers back in his city. The little greenhorn is assembling an army to fight your old man's invasion. Let's go back there and see who we can deal with this for good."
"Aa… I can accept that. I just want to put an end to this madness." Silver said back.
"Rainbow Rocket's little charade ends today, I will see personally to that. Then, when we finally get all this bad stuff out of our heads, there will be a lot of stuff to settle…" He paused, leaning down just enough to press his lips on the side of Silver's head, most accurately against his ear hiding behind his long locks of red hair. "Like where we go with us." He whispered in a sweet, yet daring voice, making the poor boy jump back with his heart beating twice its normal rate.
A curious cry sounded from behind the startled trainer, making his body jolt and turn in messy disarray towards that voice. Comet, who stood quietly watching the exchange between those two, now flew forward, pressing her peck on Silver's back as to take him closer to her trainer again.
Seeing Comet's effort to help him out, Ethan laughed lively, his voice quite literally storming out the peacefulness of this mount's summit.
In an attempt to reset not only his mental state but also his heated body; Silver cleared his throat loudly, turning his attention almost completely to the golden bird. "No time to waste here, then. Let's go back to Ever Grande." He announced hastily, trying to persuade Ethan away from his lewd ways.
Until Ethan clicked his tongue a couple of times, shaking his head at the proposition. "As much as I love to fly with Comet. We are not going there on her." He smiled in child-like energy, poising one demanding hand in front of Silver.
Frowning in an uninterested tiny curiosity, Silver swiftly understood what his partner was demanding and in that, he presented the purple Poké-Ball that he kept safe while he was worried sick for the golden-eyed menace. "Weren't you the one who said that a legendary Pokémon should not be used so freely?"
A healthy snort sounded off, Ethan taking his Poké-Ball back in his care. He looked at Silver and the shadiest smirk ever crossed his lips. "We are running late, which means that everyone else is already there by now." His eyes sparkled just with the thought, his ingenious idea was forming at a rapid pace inside his mind. "Time for a great entrance."
A numerous amount of people and Pokémon have gathered close to the shores of route 122, most of them standing out in smaller groups of good acquaintances and close friends, all of them waiting for the next step after heeding the call of their Invictus champion. While this mass of people is chatting away and gossiping the events of the past weeks, three little dots are standing out far away from them, standing still and collected at the edge of the water.
"Holy sh… I heard about the damages, but that is ridiculous." Wally said in a dumbstruck manner, the young green-haired trainer stared at the massive pile of hubris and stone still standing at the tip of the ocean where Mt. Pyre once was.
"Is this related to that 'incident' you told me before?" Steven asked with a mixed reaction of awe and concern.
"That's not on me." The trainer standing in the middle of the trio responded. "For what Ethan told me, Lugia destroyed Mt. Pyre in their fight against Kyogre." Wally and Steven grimaced at the horrific vision of the ruins of a once sacred place.
"This Ethan… You trust him?" Asked the steel-haired man, his gaze trailing off to his left side.
"At first, I didn't. He is cheeky, mouthful and very odd in his constant flirting with people." Brendan had to suppress a little snort from escaping his mouth when he remembered the instance where Ethan tried to flirt with an oblivious Phoebe, just to get punched by his grumpy partner. "But Ethan is a good person at heart, and a fierce trainer at that too. He is Johto's Pokémon League Champion, that region's guardian and even more stunning is the fact that he surpassed that legendary trainer Red… Although Ethan always gets moody when you talk about that, I don't know why."
"Jeez, If I didn't know you well enough, I would say that you fell in love with this guy." Wally's jest earned him an eye roll and low grunts from his friend. "Come on, I never heard you talking about anyone like that."
"He's right." Steven jumped right in. "A bit strange, hearing you of all people talking about someone in such high regard."
"Are you two seriously getting jealous about this? Really mature… Just wait until you meet him, then you will see."
"Well, talking about meetings. What happened to you and that other you?" Wally's question picked Steven's maximum interest, his silvered eyes traveling toward Brendan's neutral face.
"Nothing much, we just nearly destroyed Hoenn…" An awful joke to make considering that they indeed almost torn the region apart, and his two friends frowning at him also helped to add at his guilt. "We made peace… Spiegel helped me save Mr. Stone from that crazy person, he also agreed to help against Rainbow Rocket. He is waiting for us in Ever Grande."
"I am still bashed by the idea of existing another you." Steven commented with a nervous little chuckle. "Before I left Hoenn, we were thinking that it was only an impersonator using a mask or makeup. How can there be two of you?"
"That first one was indeed a faker. He was using some type of mask to completely shapeshift to my appearance. Apparently, he died a long time ago." Brendan replied in all seriousness, pointing towards the ruins of Mt. Pyre. "Spiegel… that is more complicated. Rainbow Rocket found the remains of Deoxys and used it to create a clone of me. In fact, they used the same process to make that mask that the other guy was using."
Wally and Steven both took some steps backward, staring at Brendan's back with mouths agape.
"Deoxys?! That Pokémon-monster thing that almost crashed on the planet?" Steven said in utter horror and disgust, his reaction only getting worse as Brendan turned to him and nodded.
"T-that… that guy was Deoxys?!" Wally said right after, a little less disturbed than Steven but still shaken. "But we talked… we shared so much that day, he even cried… It was all a lie? A twisted joke?"
"Once he was Deoxys, a long time ago. Even then, he didn't have any idea of what he was doing." Brendan walked close to his friends, who looked outraged by his words.
"That thing almost killed all of us." Steven raged loudly. "Brendan, you stopped that monster yourself years ago, and now…"
"HE IS NOT A MONSTER!" Brendan roared in a full outburst, his angered voice surprising and silencing Steven's voice.
The people standing a bit far away from them all turned and glanced at the trio, some just got startled by the loud voice, while a few others felt too intrigued by it, walking closer and closer to get a glimpse of their conversation.
"Spiegel is me in almost every aspect. He has my memories; he has my fears and hopes… He even has the same weakness as me. He is afraid of being alone but way too stubborn to seek people on his own." Brendan wore the most conflicted and saddest façade when he spoke about his other-self. Feeling his chest heavy and his throat dry, the young champion turned away from the other two, his gaze landing on the calm ocean ahead of him. "Steven, just give him a chance before making up your mind. Even if it is not for our friendship, do it for your father. I would not be able to save your father if was not for him."
Steven was ready to protest, even his arms were standing up as if ready to argue in a heated manner. But his friend's words eventually got to him, making him frown and deflate from his angered reply. So instead, he lowered his head and nodded.
"Wait, so you are aware of your shitty antics about being alone and all that? Talk about being stubborn." Wally said with a goofy grin, making Brendan look at him and smile.
"Shut up, grassy head." After giving his 'smart' come back at his childhood friend, Brendan felt a strange presence popping up right in front of him, the sensation starting small as a little droplet but quickly raising up like an ever-expanding sea. "Go call everyone here." He said looking down at the little bubbles forming at the ocean's surface. "Our ride has arrived."
Wally and Steven trailed down the short grass path, calling every group as Brendan had asked and soon after everyone gathered around the brown-haired champion. People from every corner of Hoenn answered his call and that made Brendan feel proud and static, everyone is putting their faith in him and he will not fail them, not again.
"First I would like to thank everyone that came here today, everyone who has chosen to fight against this enemy." His eyes traveled from right to left, making sure to properly glance even for a second at each face he could see. "Now united at this place we will make our last detour until we can properly organize and strike back. Please, follow me."
His request got a couple of confused reactions from the crowd, that is until the young champion turned around and walked onto the cold waters. First, everyone thought he was going to ask them to swim all the way to the giant waterfall, something a lot of people frowned and was ready to reject. But then, he continued to walk and walk, each step taking him further away from dry land, yet his feet remained steady above the water.
Brendan noticed the gazes of awe coming from everyone, some were even drooling with how open their mouths are right now. Getting such an extraordinary reaction from everyone made him chuckle and feel fuzzy inside his chest. 'So, this is how it feels... Now I understand why Ethan behaves like that.' He shook his head twice before he could start a change in his personality that he would not like later. "Come." Brendan called his audience to come closer, one hand waving at them like a charming spell.
The first brave soul to step onto the water was Steven, he walked in with a confident grin on his lips, still feeling surprised when his feet remained steady and firm. With a little glance downward, he noticed why he could stand like this.
One by one, every trainer walked forward and stepped closer to Brendan. Letting cries of surprise and content after seeing that they also could stand on their feet on top of the water. After waiting for the last one to hop in, Brendan whistled loudly and a massive blue body erupted from beneath their feet. Some people fell on their bums, others on their knees; but every single one of them excluding Brendan, could not stand properly as Kyogre raised from the ocean, revealing his massive body.
At first, people panicked and tried to jump out of the blue titan's back, only to get whiplashed back by a tendril of water; something that made them panic even more. But as the massive Pokémon began to travel in a bearable speed, their nerves cooled down and instead of trying to jump in the cold waters below, they just enjoyed the view on this one in a lifetime opportunity of a trip.
"You managed to control Kyogre." Steven said with an approving and proud look.
He glanced back to his friend and smiled "Spiegel did." Steven's smile died out a bit, but he remained neutral in his reaction, Wally just raised a brow and May just nodded looking a somewhat lost. Flannery, standing at the edge of one of Kyogre's side, looked over to Brendan and then looked down to the massive beast, a shy little smile parting her lips apart.
"No one controls me, ignorant brat." Kyogre said in protest, but to everyone save from Brendan, he just roared randomly. And at his protest Brendan stormed out a healthy and thunderous laugh, just to make people stare at him even more confused.
It's funny how a sense of security can change people's perspective in less than ten minutes. The collective thought of every trainer from the moment of Kyogre's appearance forward was the idea of getting the hell out of this situation. The normal and safest idea to the average person in this situation; yet the sight of Brendan so carefreely standing in front of them, made way to a new wave of a single focused reaction, a reaction of pure enjoyment.
At that, from the moment they crossed the tight passage to the wider sea, the trainers, women and men, older and youngest, they all began to find and spot new little curiosity at the region they already know so much. Pictures got taken from impossibly beautiful views, normally unreachable but now so accessible because of Kyogre's height; Even a few more artistic trainers pulled out small sketchbooks and began to draw away the marvels available to them. This mood and atmosphere continued all the way through, only getting amplified as they reached the gigantic waterfalls which gatekeep Ever Grande from the normal public.
"That was one hell of a ride." Wally chirped in with a goofy happy grin. "But what now? You're not telling me that this massive dude here will swim upwards that current, are you?"
"That would be something else." May said with a child-like curiosity glinting in her eyes.
Brendan acknowledged their words with a short chuckle, as he kept his gaze focused high up instead of giving anyone else attention, all of his friends followed his line of sight and looked up to the summit of that massive fall. Looking down and back at them, a lone figure is standing on top of a single rock formation at the top end of the waterfalls. Standing against the sun, it is impossible to recognize this person, save from a few really standing out traits such as; their long locks of hair going as far down as his lower back, a tall physic of his stature and the most appealing and dangerous-looking one, the piercing gaze of two glowing sapphire blue eyes staring at them with a deadly focus.
"Boy, warn your flock. I will not be responsible if they jump to their death." Kyogre's voice echoed in the air, stunning the normal bystanders by the sheer force of his roar and also warning the one trainer standing on top of him that can actually understand his words.
Brendan nodded and turned his attention to the crowd standing behind him. "Attention everyone, please remain calm and stand quiet for a moment." He mulled an idea for a moment and then decided to share it. "This may be scary for the first moment, but just trust me on this one. To help keep your focus sharp, take your eyes up and look at the person up there." He pointed to that shadowy silhouette at the top of the falls and people quickly raised their gaze there.
Seeing the overwhelming and eagerly-reaching attention of those people, this mysterious person closed their eyes and slowly in a rhythmic pace, began to raise one arm in front of them.
From the firm skin of Kyogre's back, a thin line of water poured upwards. This line grew in a flash to cover the entirety of his backside, then it expanded in a weird manner, engulfing everyone inside its wet grasp, but putting no pressure on their body. Soon, a massive bubble had formed above Kyogre, this watery ball having swallowed each trainer inside of it.
Slowly and safely, this bubble began to raise up in the falls, leaving the sure and steady ground that was Kyogre's body. A few trainers ignored Brendan's advice and they looked down, instantly regretting and curling into a scared ball, the others after hearing such reactions decided that it was more than the best option to keep their gaze sorely focused on that lonely person above them.
Getting past the worse past by having floated above the crashing waters, they finally bypassed the natural gate of Ever Grande. Now standing above that person and they now standing against the sunlight, everyone could see a second Brendan, a long-haired one with a casketed arm pressed against his chest, standing on top of a not so big boulder with no barriers between him and the running water. Still he remained calm and with eyes closed, his hands moving slowly and patiently as if he is the one guiding their bubble to safety. Even now out of danger, people remained stuck gazing at that boy, mostly because of how can be two Brendans at the same time? Also, because how beautifully that scene looked to anyone seeing it.
Sadly, it took little time for the bubble to reach land and touch the ground, making them fall on the grass and behind the tree lines, losing any vision they had of that person.
"Well…" Brendan said calmly, getting their attention back to him. "Welcome to Ever Grande." His smile sparkled with a truly warm welcome. "Let's go to the city, everyone else is waiting there." He turned to the other side and began to walk.
"Wait!" Flannery raised her voice. "W-what ABOUT him?!" She asked, letting slip a bit of 'Flannery' in her words.
Brendan stopped and glanced back to the fiery girl. "Don't worry about him. He knows the way." He replied a little coldly, but gave his worried friend a special look as if to say only to her, 'He will be fine'.
Brendan is standing in the middle of the crowd with Steven, Drake, Wally and the blond woman named Cynthia, all of them speaking at turns and adding bits and pieces of information. To say that this meeting is of ultimate importance is an understatement, but a certain red-haired is paying little to no attention to their insights.
It is not right to say that Flannery does not care for Hoenn and the horrible state that everything is right now. However, she didn't come all the way here for that and the central point of her interest, the only point of her interest to be true, is sitting all by himself on a bench at the other side of the plaza, his back turned to the commotion as if he had no part in it.
She is watching him intently and has been like this ever since he made his presence known, which was a good half-hour ago. Not even once has he glanced towards her way or anyone's way to be precise, he has been just sitting there, quietly and in a depressive solitude.
A glance at Brendan and then back at Spiegel shows a clear difference between the two at the moment. Apart from the obvious difference in their hair length and the color of their eyes, there is also the most subtle of contrasts. Brendan is somehow radiant, brazen and confident, even his standing posture shows that. Spiegel, on the other hand, is gloomy, distant and hollow.
Staring at his back, the way his shoulders are hanging low and even the occasional sigh coming out of him. It is all too much to bear in silence and Flannery had enough of this. Quietly stepping back and away from the mass of people, she did a walked around the other street and got over to the same bench the boy is sitting.
Spiegel felt her presence as she stepped next to him. His head casually went up and his gaze met hers, a simple smile threatened to show on his lips but it did nothing more than just that as his head went down again and his eyes away from her.
"You could at least say hi." Flannery said as he stepped closer, taking a seat right beside him.
"Ah… Hi." He responded very weakly. "You should be back there. Don't you want to save your home region?"
"Don't you?" She quickly threw the question right back at him.
He shrunk even more on his form, his knees pressing against each other and his back arching forward. "This place means nothing to me."
"Do I mean nothing to you too?" Her question hit him like a flaming knife and she noticed how he jolted and froze at her words. Seeing a hint of anything as a reaction, Flannery continued. "And this, it had any meaning to you, Spiegel?"
Hearing his name broke any pretense of being tough that he has going for him, paired with the folded piece of paper on her hands, it was too much. Spiegel put his feet on the bench, completely curled down against his legs. "Forget about this… Flannery, you… You deserve better than me."
"Says who?" She replied with a frown, his sobbing words staring to grind on her nerves a bit. "What are you doing here? After that night you just vanished and now this? If you regret going out with me just say it."
He shook his head violently against his knees, his long hair dangling freely against the wind. "I would never regret that night, I couldn't even forget about it."
"THEN?!" Her voiced flamed up without her even noticing.
"You don't know what I am!" Spiegel jolted himself away from his leg, slamming his feet on the ground as he did. "You saw him, didn't you? I am not Brendan, I told you before, I. AM. NOT. HIM."
"I called you Spiegel, didn't I? I saw him and talked to him, but I still came here, didn't I?" Flannery got closer to him; she brought one hand up and rested it against his healthy arm. "Spiegel, what are you? Talk to me. Tell me… I am here for you."
He sighed in defeat, his sapphire gaze going upwards to her fiery red eyes. "An abomination, that's who I am." Disgusted at his own words, he scooted a little to the side letting her hand fall down on the hard bench. "A dead monster brought back to life just to be a clone of someone else. I… Gh…. I am not Brendan. I am his clone. A clone made with the remains of an evil being called, Deoxys. That is who I am."
"Deoxys…?" She stared at him in silent contemplation, the name while familiar to the young Gym Leader, does not strike any memory to her. "A clone… you're Brendan's clone then." She glanced back to the middle of the square but failed to see her friend. "How?"
"Rainbow Rocket made me. They probably wanted to create an evil clone of Hoenn's golden boy. A crazed monster ready to tarnish people's faith in their hero."
"They failed, and by a lot." Flannery moved closer to him again, this time putting her hand on top of his thigh. "You're not evil. You're not helping them. And I don't see a monster right in front of me." She got even closer, leaning in and resting her forehead on his shoulder. "I see a scared and silly boy, who wants to push everyone away and I don't know why."
"Because I am-"
"No, you're not. And stop saying that." She cut him quickly. Taking her hand up, Flannery pinched his cheek and then moved his face to look at her again. "And that is not why you're doing this, is it? If you were so scared of being hated, you wouldn't accept my invitation that day. You wouldn't get closer to me; you wouldn't… kiss me as you did. What is it? What are you hiding from me?"
Spiegel looked down at those charming eyes, feeling lost and astounded by her observation. He trailed his eyes away from her for just a moment, the words vent out from his mouth but just in a tiny lost whisper. Right then his mind traveled to recent memory, a very recent memory.
'Do you believe him?' Spiegel asked Brendan, his eyes never more stern.
'I… I do.' Brendan replied with all sincerity and as much as his chest ached right now, he had accepted the truth. 'Rayquza has no reason to lie to us.'
'I don't. I may be biased against that blasted dragon who killed me before. But I don't believe him.' Spiegel rested his back against his chair, letting the information sink and a dread feeling pooping up from inside of him. 'But if he is right… It should be me.'
Spiegel's mind snapped back to reality to the present. He looked down at the girl next to him, her expression betraying her curiosity and her beauty making his heart flutter.
"I am not hiding anything…" He replied with a sad little grin.
"Promise?" She asked with puppy eyes.
"Yeah… I… Yeah…" He leaned closer to Flannery, pulling her a bit closer and kissing her right cheek. "Thank you, Flannery. I truly don't deserve you."
"You don't." Flannery giggles echoed like a sweet lullaby on his ears. Seeing a mellowing of his expression, she took the hard win she achieved and moved into a quick but sweet kiss. "So you better do something to be deserving, right? How about we start with this letter."
He gagged and shrieked in panic. Spiegel desperately tried to yank the damned thing out of her hands, but Flannery just laughed away as he pushed him away with one hand and held the letter far away from him with the other. With one of his arms completely immovable, the poor boy had little success in his attempt to overpower her and didn't help his case the fact of how strong and fit the girl is. At this point, Flannery is just teasing him with their little tug game.
Unknown to the young couple sharing a sweet moment, a pair of ruby watchful eyes witnessed most of their exchange. Seeing how Spiegel got pulled out of his depressing spiral of thoughts, Brendan felt relieved. As he turned to walk away and leave those two alone, he was surprised by another pair of red eyes, these ones watching him from very close by.
"Satisfied with how it went?" Zinnia asked both hands on her hips.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Brendan replied and quickly passed by her, with Zinnia turning and quickly following him.
"Really Brendan, you two locked yourselves in the bedroom for hours, talking about something I couldn't be part of for some reason. Then you watched him from the moment you woke up until now." She grabbed his arm and forced him to look at her. Her face showing her burning emotion quick clearly. "What's wrong? Share with me, what's happening with you two?"
Brendan looked at her eyes, his lips quivering with the same intention that Spiegel had before when the question was asked to him by a different person. His other self didn't give in, so he would not too. "Nothing, Zinnia. Ethan just asked me to see him as my brother… That just shook me a little bit." He walked forward and embraced his angry lover in a tight hug. "I promise you, love… Nothing is happening between us and nothing will happen… I promise you..."
If you are liking the story so far, please leave a review. :)
Reviews:
DOOT76 chapter 31 . Oct 10 – Yeah, writing horror is a challenge isn't it? I am glad that you liked it. I wanted and needed to show that chapter, but I needed to do something that would not make it just 'another chapter' to read to until the good stuff came back, so yeah.
Oh, Violet is one of the five Enforcers of Rainbow Rocket, you know; Raz, Violet, Rush, Leyla and Josh. She likes to wear cutesy dresses and behave all friendly and child-like to strangers, but she is a sadist that likes to see people suffer, hence why she wanted to show Brendan that tape of Spiegel and Zinnia. She also wanted nothing more than to make Spiegel go evil and witness the despair of Hoenn's people seeing "Brendan" attacking them. Anyway, that is the basic about her. Her whereabouts right now is the same "jail" that the other members of Rainbow Rocket, who attacked Ever Grande, are locked in.
Mr MogiGaming chapter 31 . Oct 11 – Come on, I could not kill Steven's father like that. I would feel bad if I did that. And you really predicted the hallucinations and the Dusknoir? I didn't think it was that predictable =/.
Anyway, why don't you try to guess what will happen on the next two chapters. If you get it right, I will be amazed.