Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or its characters.
Heated voices, bloated arguments and wandering words without a proper purpose but yelled loud enough to try to cross a pointless point around the table; this is the overbearing mood that has been plaguing these 'meetings' ever since the first one.
For more than too many occasions Ethan felt the urge to raise his voice above all others, to yell, curse and accuse like everyone else. By the number of times they had done it already he figures it must feel really good to do so. Instead of giving in to his frustration, and rattling the group around him even more, the young champion reserved himself to just watch silently in his corner.
"This is ridiculous!" Steven protested loudly, the blue-steel haired scion waved both arms above his head in exasperation.
"What else would you suggest? We can't keep the League's halls closed forever." A just as agitated Drake raised his voice as well. "Steven, you have to reconsider. You have the experience and you were the previous holder of the title."
Apart from Steven and Drake locked in their inflamed debate; Wally, Cynthia, Glacia, Max – of all people – and of course Ethan. All gathered in one of the breakrooms at the League's building, they have been doing this for the past month, getting together most of the people who are aware of Brendan's fate, trying to solve the massive gap the young champion left behind.
Each attendee is seating on heavy padded chairs around a newly arranged wooden table, this arrangement being provided by Drake himself after their initial gathering had taken more than five hours, in which everyone had to be standing for the lack of a proper seat.
"Drake, I passed down the title of Champion to Brendan. I made that decision without any intention of coming back." Steven rebuked.
"HE IS GONE!" Drake yelled angrily. The old sailor regretted his words as soon as they spat out of his mustached mouth, even if the morbid guilty eating inside of him was not enough to make him feel overly sad, the angered glares of everyone else was there to make it even worse. "I feel sorry for the boy, he was brilliant. Not only a great trainer but also an amazing person. However, no amount of grieving will bring him back; we cannot stay like this forever. The League's gates must be open again."
"I will not stop you from doing that, but don't count me as a choice for the 'new' champion." Steven's chair rolled back as he pushed his back against its support; his gaze drifting towards the wall with a glint of annoyance imprinted on it.
Glacia gently made a noise with her throat, getting the attention to herself. "One alternative would be to create a special tournament with the champion title as the prize."
"While the idea in itself is not a bad plan, it is something that would not be right." Drake let out a long sigh. Pinching the sides of his mustache with two fingers, the old man closed his eyes in consideration but still shook his head in disapproval. "Whoever got lucky enough to 'survive' through the gauntlet of dozens of trainers, would only be that; lucky. We cannot choose Hoenn's best like that, not after Brendan standing undefeated for so long."
"What about Spiegel?" Wally's throwaway comment earned himself a stream of curious gazes to turn at him. The young Gym Leader who was already feeling out of place in here and only got more wary of himself after taking the spotlight. He 'calmly' coughed on the back of his hand, regaining a bit of poise as he tried to resume his thoughts. "Aside from a special few, no one knows about… Brendan. Spiegel looks just like him; maybe he would be the best choice for the moment."
The young green-tea haired boy expected his comment to be completely blow off and even get heavily criticized because of it. However, what followed his words was a quiet consideration by everyone listening to him; Well, almost everyone.
Despite his best attempts to be just a shadow witnessing their constant butting of heads and empty ideas, Ethan could not hold in the soundly scoff that flew out of him.
"Want to share something?" Steven eyed the raven-haired trainer, his piercing gaze almost poking a hole at the young man's body.
"Sure… let's share something." Ethan replied with a sliver of sarcasm. "This person lost his 'brother' on the same day that he had to punch a hole through some dude's chest, which by the way left him shaken to his core. But hey, let's ask him to step in and assume his brother's place. That would be grand."
"Is your point of being here just to berate us?" Steven asked with a dangerous edge to his voice. "To this day, I have yet to see you say anything constructive. Is this something common in Johto? To just stand at the side and spew some jokes at others?"
"No… I just spew jokes on hypocritical individuals." A snorting growl escaped the golden-eyed boy, a slightly disgusted grimace appearing on his face. "A little over a month… Do you even know what he did? How he went? Now you're just trying to wash him aside like he is a fucking memory?"
Ethan had gone too far, everyone else in the room recognized this, but no one expected the furious reaction on Steven's part. Both of his arms bashed violently on the top of the large table in front of him, the strength of his outburst being so big that the entire thing trembled with a ringing sound.
"Don't you dare… N-Never, never insinuate anything like that ever again." Steven glared at Ethan with furious eyes, his blood-red gaze unsettling even the veteran Drake. Ethan, however, just continued to look at him without a slight shift in his spot. "Brendan was my best friend; he was one of the closest people I ever had. Trying to wash him aside? YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE TWO OF US."
"Maybe… maybe I don't." Ethan replied rather calmly, turning his gaze away in a completely uninterested manner. "But one month is way too soon for me to give up on him." Having his share of this non-sense, Ethan pushed himself away from his corner and stepped out of the room.
Steven watched the other man leave, both his arms trembling with the raging indignation pulsing within his body. As the heavy door closed behind Ethan's back, Steven snarled and whipped his head to the side, gritting his teeth in exasperation. "Too soon to give up? What else I am supposed to do then?" He said deflated, his gaze going down as the feeling of utter failure and sadness took over him.
The blond woman at his side, pulled her chair closer to his, taking one hand to his arm and caringly giving her support for him. "Maybe we should postpone this decision for a little while longer." Cynthia suggested with her compose manner of talking, addressing both Drake and Glacia with her sharp grey eyes.
"That would unfortunate but understandable." Drake gave in, pinching the bridge of his nose as he relented. "Wally, could you at least attempt to converse with this Spiegel person? Even if only by his appearance, he would greatly help the League solves this manner."
Wally readily nodded, but deep down he has no idea of how he would do this. He tried to get in touch with Spiegel multiple times, each with less success than the other did. Even May had failed to get a hold of the mysterious doppelganger; it is as if he has vanished from the world.
As the other four gave their farewells to the remaining two, Steven fell even more in his depressed trance. In the privacy of this room, Cynthia pulled him over to her and wrapped the heartbroken man in a warm, lovingly embrace; whispering sweet words at his ears.
"I still can't accept it either…" He confessed in a sobbing whisper. "My friend is… gone. He saved us one more time, putting himself on the line for everyone else. He didn't deserve this, he more than anyone deserved to be happy."
"I know…" Cynthia breathed the words against Steven's ear.
"If I only could see him one last time…" At the memory of their last encounter, their last friendly chat, the silly banter traded with each other; Steven broke completely. Letting his head sink on top of Cynthia's lap, the blue-haired scion let his tears roll down, his desperate voice flowing in its painful cry. He misses his friend so greatly, a bleeding wound in his heart that will never properly heal.
Silver always thought that getting stuck in the past is a clear sign of weakness, lingering with what should have been done and what should be prevented will never solve anything. After weeks of wrecking his brains over the events during and following his father's invasion, the young red-haired has learned to rethink that opinion of his.
Holding the already cold mug of coffee on both hands, he keeps staring at the half-full container as the darkened liquid danced in waves at each subtle movement. Never caring for his father in the least, or so he thought, for so many years; Silver finds himself hurting with the idea of never seeing that man again. Still unable to point this as growing guilt over the atrocities that vile man will probably commit in who knows where or just a dormant family bond that was inside of him all along.
Taking the latter consideration as an offense to his entire being, the pale young man scoffed. 'As if…' He hissed mentally.
"Are you feeling well?" A slightly worried Looker called out to him, the veteran investigator sitting across the table with a few files sitting in front of him. "Maybe we should leave this conversation for another time; when you're feeling better." Messing with the knot of his tie, the older man was feeling rather apprehensive about the boy, something that was very clear by his intense gaze.
A low and soft curse slipped by Silver's lips behind a longer breath. He had been so distracted by the maelstrom of conflicting thoughts inside his head that he has forgotten the whole reason why he was sitting in this small café to begin with.
"It is… nothing." He said calmly, waving one hand in dismissal. "Just the idea of 'him' getting unscathed out of this, makes me sick."
"I share the same sentiment." Looker practically spat his utter disgust with the idea of Giovanni getting away after so much destruction. "The idea of someone crossing some kind of barrier between time and space to flee into another world… I have to admit, it is still a bit difficult to believe."
"Difficult to believe or not, it doesn't change reality. Giovanni has eluded us, worse than that; he managed to escape in a way that we can't follow him." Once again, that depressing feeling sunk Silver's heart to the floor. For so long he wanted to 'get hid' of Giovanni and the stigma that is being related to that man brought to the young trainer's life; yet now that he is gone, it feels like a huge part of Silver's life is missing.
"What do you think that is his goal? A twisted plan to conquer a world without Pokémon with his army of them?" Rummaging with his files, Looker tried to find an answer in his notes or even some reports. Nothing that touched his fingers brought him closer to solve this mystery.
"At best, Giovanni will just try to seize control of this new world and fail." Shaking his head quietly, Silver had a hard time believing that his father would go down that easily. "Or he could succeed in terrorize the people there, then come back here to spew his venom at us again."
Looker nodded at that, the veteran also has a feeling that this was not the last they have seen of the crime lord. "In my selfish whims, I do hope that he tries to attack us again. Fighting another 'war' with him feels a lot better than letting him to fate. Giovanni has to pay for his crimes."
"That he does…" Silver smiled, even if faintly. He eyed Looker with a mix of his natural smug face and a sincere smile. "I feel you old man; If that bastard never comes back, I feel like my life will be just a constant stream of maybes and what-ifs."
Eyeing the younger man with a quirked eyebrow, Looker just shook his in a playful manner as he addressed Silver's comment. "You're a good kid, Silver. Maybe a bit grey on the inside and sarcastic to a fault, but you are a good person."
Silver groaned, rolling his eyes in an upward swing but still holding a friendly smile on his lips. "Don't get emotional on me old man. We just share a common enemy, nothing to be deep and overly friend about."
'Defensive to a fault too.' Looker kept this comment to himself, seeing as the boy is rather feisty about getting involved with anyone. In their previous encounter a few years ago, Looker wondered if the boy would turn out to be okay in his life. Raised in a troubled home, running after the shadow of his evil father and instinctively pushing anyone away from him at the first opportunity. Lost in coldness, how could this boy turn well in any shape or form? Looker always wondered.
"How about his goons? Did you manage to squeeze anything of use out of those clowns?" Silver asked, not troubling himself to hide his distaste for the black-clad criminals.
"A fruitless endeavor as ever. Giovanni is like a puppeteer, controlling those people from the shadows." In his jaded facial expressions, the older man is showing clear signs of exhaustion that this headache of a case has brought to him. Way too many years dedicated to catching one single individual and he has failed yet again. "Some of his 'victims' were willing to share any information they had with us, after some incentive of course. As you can imagine, your father never told them anything of importance, so they are as clueless as we are, maybe even more clueless if that is possible. However, there is this girl. The blonde one, responsible for the atrocities in Rustboro. She knows something about her master's plans, I know she does. But to this day she has yet to say anything that is not offensive words or complete delusional reveries"
"If she was brainwashed as every officer of Team Rocket is, you will never get her to talk." Silver scoffed. "Have you moved them yet? Or are you planning in transforming Lavaridge in some sort of prison's backward?"
"We already moved most of the people arrested in Giovanni's little crusade. They will be housed somewhere in Sinnoh, I can't say where. You understand." Despite the funny look he received from the younger trainer, Looker appreciated his understanding nod. "The more dangerous ones, like that Scarlet girl. We will be transporting them soon enough, the people of Lavaridge have been of great help to us, I want nothing more than to relieve their little town of this burden."
"Heeeyaa, Looker!" Ethan's booming voice stormed from the main entrance of the building; if his loud entrance had not been enough to get every costumer's attention to him, the light of the noon sun invading the building through the open double door helped in that quite a lot. "Can I steal my boyfriend from you for a moment?"
Silver wanted to die, the red-haired boy truly wanted to put his head inside the ground and stop breathing. That would be better than having to deal with this embarrassing nightmare. Of course, Ethan would not only shout that ridiculous fraise at the top of his lungs, no, he also had to point at him to make clear to everybody of whom he is speaking of.
Stunned for quite a bit at the brazen presentation, Looker stared at Ethan with a speechless daze. However, a single glance to the young man in front of him had the man snorting out the start of a laugh. The cool, distance and sarcastic boy who seemed so untouchable by everyone, is burning red with the blush taking over the color of his entire face. To make the scene even funnier, he is curling against his seat, covering his face with both arms, just a little space left to peak at the other boy. It was too much, Looker just lost himself to full heated laughter, something that made Silver's suffering get worse as the boy tried to completely hide behind the table.
'You found a light for your life, didn't you kid?' Looker mused in his inner thoughts, his exterior self-still laughing away quite loudly indeed.
"Come on, Silver. It's kinda lame to be hiding under the table." Having skooched his way to their table, Ethan stared down at the little mound on the table's light-red tablecloth, the most impish grin flourishing onto his lips. "Didn't you missed me? I missed you quite a lot!" He boasted loudly, making sure that everyone could hear his voice. "All I thought when getting over here was the idea of snuggling onto your fluffy hair and all that."
If people weren't gossiping about them before, they sure have started now, some eyeing them with a deep frown of disapproval, while others are giggling excitedly in between their quiet gossips.
Part of the tablecloth went flying high as the pale boy jumped from his spot, his face almost at the same color as his hair. He practically smacked his hand onto Ethan's arm, grabbing a firm hold of the loudmouthed piece of work. "Stop talking already!" He hissed in annoyance and without daring to take a look at any table around them, Silver began to stomp toward the exit while dragging the source of his profound mortification.
Succeeding in his task of riddling up Silver's emotions, Ethan let his lover drag him away; turning for a brief moment toward Looker's direction to give the veteran officer a flashy grin and a wink. Looker waved back at the boy, letting them go to their young and spirited escape.
"Why you pull this kind of crap?" Silver snarled lividly. He is dragging the raven-haired boy across the peaceful streets of Lavaridge Town. Despite how unusual it is for any commotion to be happening at this time around here, the citizens of Lavaridge have already learned to just ignore whenever that specific young man is involved.
"I wasn't lying, I missed you a lot." Ethan said innocently, his tone managing to grit even more at the poor red-haired boy's patience.
Silver stopped and turned around, making clear eye contact with those golden shining eyes. "That isn't the point!" He snarled angrily again. "Why do you yell t-that type of stuff? It's weird, and people will look at us."
"Weird?" Ethan asked. He was fully aware of what his boyfriend was talking about, but there is still to be a day where Ethan will pass up the opportunity to tease Silver. "I don't get what was weird about that."
"Not that… you're just making fun of me again aren't you?" The realization quick came to Silver after a glimpse of that stupid grin on Ethan's face. Sighing out in exasperation Silver let go of his hold on Ethan's arm and slowly walked toward the pair of benches at the edge of the warm sands close to the open hot springs. "You know that this is weird, right?" He brought his gaze to Ethan as the boy walked closer and sat by his side.
"We already had this talk before, remember?" Ethan said in full seriousness, dropping his playful persona. "Someone might find it strange, two guys that like each other. But I don't care. Why would I give more value to a stranger's opinion over our feelings?"
"Not everyone has the life hack of not feeling fear over anything." Silver gave out a faint smile, pressing both of his hands in a tight hold in between his legs.
"Woah, are you telling me that the 'gives no fucks' Silver is afraid of what people will think of him?" Ethan replied with a hint of sarcasm in his tone. "That isn't like you at all."
"When I am sulking at the corner is a lot easier to be like that. Not so easy when you're at my side, shining like the sun and getting everyone's attention to us."
"If I shine like that, it is because you're the one standing at my side."
The same violent blush from before returned to Silver's face, covering even the tip of his ears. He had to avoid his gaze away from Ethan because if he looked at that grin for any longer he would lose his mind. "Jeez… stop being so corny."
Distracted by his thumping heart and the need to avert his thoughts to a different place, Silver didn't notice the quiet shuffling happening at his side. Only when one of Ethan's hand slipped on top of his hands that Silver jumped slightly in surprise.
Moving carefully and patiently to not startle the red-haired away, Ethan grabbed Silver's right hand into a firm but comforting grip. They joined hands and laced their fingers together, the red tilt on Silver's face only getting brighter. "I have seriously been thinking about this, especially with these days I've been away…" Ethan let the sentence hang in the air from a little while, drawing Silver's genuine attention, curiosity is more than evident on those red eyes. "I think I am in love with you."
Silver's breath came to a full halt, his eyes widening a lot in his surprise. Have those words ever been traded between them? He cannot remember. If so, it was never like this; raw and pure emotions with no sign of Ethan's usual antics.
Ethan chuckled, shaking his head weakly. "It's a funny thing. It took me a whole week away to notice that every spare thought I had, it was devoted to you. Were you okay? Were you hungry or sleepy? Were you missing me as much as I missed you?" He sighed, bending his body forward, letting his gaze fall onto the sand in front of the bench. "Please, don't say that 'us' are weird or wrong. It only makes me feel like I am a fool; like I am the only one invested."
"You're not!" Not what? Silver considered the words very carefully and when Ethan raised his head to look at him, it only made his throat go dry and his heart to go faster. "You're not the only one… thinking about you is the only reason I was able to keep my sanity these past days... I missed you, you doofus. I missed you a lot." He tightened the hold of their hands, the warm sensation coming out of the touch making Silver feels like butterflies were swirling the inside of his belly. "Where were you anyway? You just left me here and went away without a single warning."
Ethan's big smile lasted a little longer, his eyes remained on the features of his lover's face, studying every little aspect of him. Then, a shadowy look took over his eyes, as if his shining happiness had fled him as he immersed himself deep in thoughts.
"I've been trying to… find Brendan." He said with a low and conflicted tone. Silver's demeanor also changed, the overly blushing boy getting back the paleness of his skin, together with his stern face, attentively waiting for Ethan to continue. "First I asked Celebi to take me back to that day, where everything happened…"
Silver frowned; he didn't like that one bit. He saw how much Ethan was troubled and deeply shaken that day. Even the bight gold color of his eyes had disappeared back to their original grey, something that he has never seen before. "And?" He asked, not too thrilled to know the answer.
"He was not there." Ethan replied grimly. "Everything was playing exactly the same, that aircraft crashing on top of me, the battle… the destruction. But Brendan was not by my side, he was nowhere to be found."
"Is that… normal?" Silver asked slightly confused. He never had the pretentious notion of knowing what is normal or abnormal in Ethan's life, now more than ever. So, in the passing weeks, Silver has learned to treat things with a trusting sense of causality, as if anything and everything is possible for the young Guardian.
Ethan shook his head. "No, on the contrary." He pulled himself up, straightening his back against the bench and turning his body to be facing to Silver. "I can even see myself when I go back in time, not even my current self injected in there interferes with me of the past. Brendan not being there is abnormal in every sense."
"So, he was removed from existence or something?" The red-haired asked.
"I thought of that for a moment, but if it that was true, we would have no recollection of him. He would not exist so there would be nothing for us to remember him by." Ethan pushed his back even more onto his seat support, his head tilting backward letting his gaze travel to the bright sky. "Silver… I think I found a way. I think I can bring him back."
"But you don't look so happy about it. What's the problem?" Silver eyed him with a watchful gaze, noting even the small changes in the corner of Ethan's lips.
"I… If I am right, I don't know if I am fully right on this one… But if I am, we would have to lose one to bring another back." Ethan alluded to his other friend, one that also needed some salvation himself. "How I am supposed to choose between them? This doesn't feel right."
"Then don't choose." Silver simply state, his words making Ethan look at him with a quirked brow. "Tell him about it, let him choose. If this will put him in danger, he should be the one choosing, no?"
Letting out a pensive hum, Ethan considered that carefully. "Maybe you're right. Let's just hope that this is not a mistake."
Working passionately has always been one of Flannery's joys and escape tools. Being in charge of Lavaridge's Pokémon Gymnasium is a handful task, but a deeply rewarding one, now this feeling is present in her life more than ever. But with Hoenn still healing from the crazy events of one month ago, barely anyone has come to the gym to challenge the trainers there, imagine to challenge the fiery leader herself.
It is in this troublesome dilemma that Flannery is finding herself spending more and more time inside her house. Gazing patiently at the closed door on the other side of the room; just like yesterday and the day before that, she is sitting on the floor of her living room, staring at that bedroom with a worried look in her face. She would be there, sadly lost in her own thoughts most of the time, if it was not for a new pair of friendly 'intruders' that had made her house their home.
A soft biting itch flared at the side of her left foot, lively squeals sounding from the small creature desperately trying to get her attention. She looked at the little rodent still nibbling at her little toe and smiled.
"You're very clingy, aren't you?" She is still surprised that she can talk in such a teasing manner with anyone, even a Pokémon. But the little guy has grown on her, the little stunts he pulls for attention manages to amuse her every time. "Are you lonely too?" She asked him, leaning to the side and picking up the feisty Linoone on her arms.
The striped brown Pokémon squealed even louder in protest, wiggling energetically in her hold so desperately trying to get away. But apparently, Flannery misunderstood his intention and just squished him even harder in a hug. "Why won't he talk with us?" She asked sadly.
Thud, thud, thud. Three soundly knocks banged at the front door, by the rhythmic pace of them, the person is ever so politely losing a bit of their patience after knocking so many times and not getting a response. But thankfully, Flannery has managed to hear the knocks this time around after Linoone pulled her away from her deep thoughts.
She frowned at the entrance hall of her home; she doesn't really feel like receiving anyone at this moment. "I'm coming." She announced just loud enough to stop the person from knocking another time, then she stood up and walked over to the door still holding the Linoone on her arms.
"Hello there, cutie." As soon as the door slipped open, Ethan greeted her with one of his bright grins.
Seeing him again brought a sincere wide smile to Flannery's lips. She giggled at his flirting wink, shaking her head to him in a playful manner. "Won't your boyfriend get angry if he sees you flirting with people?" She asked in jest.
Ethan raised both hands and shrugged in good spirits. "What Silver doesn't know, he can't punch my face about it."
Flannery giggled at his antics again. She turned towards her living room and invited the boy in. The small Pokémon in her hand, however, was far from happy of that development as he kept glaring at Ethan with wary eyes.
Making himself at home is never a hard task for the golden-eye boy; this time was not different either. He just strolled in and took a seat on the comfiest chair on Flannery's living room, eyeing the girl suspiciously as she has chosen to just sit on the floor again. "Your plushy toy seems a bit scared of me." Ethan pointed at Linoone, giving the Pokémon one of his famous smug smirks.
Now Linoone was wiggling furiously in the girl's arms, his squeals now twice as loud. "I told you to stop hugging me! I was just warning you about the door, not asking to be cuddled to death."
Glancing downwards into the frantic little guy, Flannery frowned slightly. Saying calming words to the Pokémon in hopes of calming his erratic little body. To her surprise, Ethan's healthy laugh echoed around the house, the raven-haired trainer looking very amused by the exchange.
"I don't think he wants to be held like that." Ethan suggested.
To which Flannery eyed him with a quirked brow and then eyed Linoone again. "Why you say that? He loves hugs."
"No, I don't! It's you that keeps hugging me all the time." Linoone protested very loudly her grave 'accusations' of his cool and composed self, but to the fiery Gym Leader, his words were nothing more than adorable little squeals.
Ethan laughed again, but this time for just a while. "He just said that he doesn't like it." He explained pointing to the feisty little fellow. "But if I were you, I would keep squishing him against those mounds of yours just to annoy him a little more."
Blinking in mild confusion, Flannery stared at Ethan for a while and then gasped quietly. "Oh… you can understand them too." She said weakly, letting go of the little menace in her arms that happily jumped away from her, zooming around to another room. "He looked so comfy in our hugs." Her shoulders deflated at the rejection, it felt like she lost a little squeezing buddy that she had for the past days.
"Nah, don't let it get to you. He is probably shy and doesn't want to admit that he likes to be cuddled. He could just easily scratch you with those long claws of his if he detested the closeness so much." Ethan dismissed her worries, his words bringing back a shy smile to her face. "I don't remember you having a Linoone. Where did he come from?"
"I didn't… I don't. He just showed up one day, he and Leon." She saw Ethan raise his brows and slapped herself mentally for leaving the information out. "Leon is one big Arcanine that joined my official team recently. Spiegel says that he is close friends with 'little troublemaker'." She giggled at the mention of that name. "After a few days of living together with them, I asked Leon if he wanted to battle with us on the Gym and he accepted to enter my team."
"Spiegel… how is he doing?" Ethan saw the warmth happiness of her face slowly fade away with his question.
Flannery drifted her gaze back to that closed door she watches so much in her spare time, her heart sinking low at the quietness of that room. "He is getting worse. Before Spiegel would spend the afternoons with me, we would talk, sometimes he rested his head on my lap and cried. Now he doesn't eat, he barely gets out of the bedroom… I'm scared, Ethan. Scared that someday he will just give up on living."
"That bad…" Ethan wanted to punch himself on the face. He has been so focused on Brendan that he has neglected the 'Brendan' that is alive and in desperate need of help. "You think I could see him?" He asked Flannery with a pleading tone. "Maybe I can get him to walk outside again."
She presented him with a thankful smile, nodding gladly to his question. "He always responds when I talk with him. I am sure he will be happy to see you." Getting up to her feet, Flannery motioned to Ethan to follow her and walked them to the door of Spiegel's borrowed room.
But as the two young adults were to reach the door, a blur of brown flew past them, leaving them in a bit of a daze. As they followed the trail of fur that flashed in front of them, they found a self-imposing Linoone barring the way to the room. He just stood on his back pawns and spread both little front claws to the sides.
"Hey… what are you doing?" Flannery scolded him with a deep frown, it did little to shake the small Pokémon from his resolve.
Ethan gave the girl a small pat on her shoulder, getting her attention to him. "Let me handle this." He said with a confident grin. Receiving an unsure nod from her, Ethan took the chance and approached the Linoone, crouching in front of him. "What's the problem, tough guy?"
"I can't let you enter this room unless you know the password." Linoone boasted firmly at the tall man in front of him.
"Password?" Ethan said back with a funny face. "Hm… how would I know that you know the password?"
"Wait… What?" Linoone said utterly confused by that dance of words.
"You see, if you don't know the password, then I could say it to you but then you wouldn't be able to tell if I am right." The ingenious golden-eyed trainer shook his head in a theatrical fashion, making a dramatic scene as only he could. "So, you know the password?"
"Of course I know the password!" Replied in a fit, the outraged little Pokémon. "I just made it up, stupid face!"
"And you expect me to know a password that you just made up?" Ethan commented with a sheepish grin. "That doesn't seem very fair, does it?"
"Ah… hm… Forget the password then." Replied the little furry ball with a loud grunt. "You're still not allowed to enter."
"Listen, Mr. Troublemaker. The guy in there is my friend, I guess he is your friend too, right?" Ethan slowly leaned closer to Linoone, tapping two fingers at his furry forehead. "I just want to see him getting better, I know you would want that as well. Just let me talk with him, maybe I can help. Even if a little bit."
Linoone paused. He eyed Ethan for long seconds, studying every little bit he could see about the man. "You can enter…" He said in a small squeal, slowly lowering his arms and getting on his four legs again. "But stop calling me Troublemaker. That's not my name."
Ethan nodded and smiled, giving space for Linoone to walk past him. "What is your name then?" He asked and the small Pokémon stopped to glance at him.
"I have no name. I am just me." Sounding a lot cooler than what he intended, the small rodent turned away again and vanished away inside the house, leaving his friend in the care of those two, hoping that they would manage to bring back Spiegel's smile to his face.
Flannery quietly pulled the doorknob down, pushing the door open with care. "Spiegel?" She called out to him, her eyes going to the empty bed and panicking momentarily after not seeing him. But a quick gaze to the and she found the shirtless boy laying down on the cold naked floor. "Spiegel! What are you doing there?" She quickly rushed to the bed, taking the heavy pinky blanket on her hands and kneeling over to him.
She moved the comfortable cover on top of him, her fingers grazing against the rough skin of his changed arm. To this day she still winces at the touch of his grey-colored member, feeling the texture of those pieces of stones stuck in his arm makes her wonder if it hurts him when she touches them or if they feel like just a part of him.
"Hey… why are you on the floor?" She asked again, this time gently whispering it at his ear.
The boy groaned lowly, jerking his head to the side to look at her. As if he has only now noticed that Flannery is at his side, his eyes grew bigger and his lips pressed in a thin line changed to a soft smile. "I had a nightmare… I felt like I would sink inside the mattress, it's too soft…"
"It's okay… you can stay here. I will keep you warm." Flannery felt his hand touch and softly caress her cheek, it pained her to see him so broken like this but her heart still warms seeing how sweet and caring he still is despite his own situation. "Spiegel… Ethan is here to see you."
"Ethan?" Spiegel's features softened up a lot more, a long-lost sparkle returning to his eyes as he gazed over to the door to see the figure of his tall friend.
"Hey there buddy." It is so hard for Ethan to not feel pity as he looked down at the lighter body of his friend. Flannery's account of him barely eating is true, seeing how much skinnier he is now. But pity will take Spiegel nowhere and Ethan knows that; he knows that better than anyone else. So, he refused to look at his friend with anything less than a warm acknowledging smile. "I know I've been distant lately. I feel like an ass for not coming over as often, but I had a good reason. That reason is why am I here today.
"What reason?" Spiegel asked curiously.
"I want your help." Ethan said with a serious tone. The words making Flannery look at him with a worried look and Spiegel to at least force his upper body up to better look at his friend.
After feeling so lost and without a purpose, Spiegel looked at Ethan with focused attention. For some reason, he felt his heart throb with anticipation like this was the moment he was waiting for the entirety of this last month.
Ethan hesitated for longer than what he needed and wanted. He brushed the back of his hair with one hand, he had underestimated how hard this would be. Seeing that glow on Spiegel's eyes, that determined certainty only made everything worse. Would he be doing a grave mistake? could he only be dooming his other friend?
"Ethan…" Spiegel called out to him, desperate to know what he would say.
Letting out a deep sigh, Ethan relented. There was no going back after getting all the way here, so he closed his eyes and spoke. "I want to bring Brendan back."
A brooding silence was all that remained after those words.
Reviews:
DOOT76 chapter 35 . Jan 7 – You really like Persona 5, huh?
Yeah, Beneath the Mask was more than perfect because of the lyrics. Still listening to this song to this day, lol.
While I do appreciate the songs, I really do. I won't be putting a lot more of them, seeing as the dramatic effect of them would be lost in the more peaceful chapters that are coming. But I will say this though, the very last chapter I will use a song to its theme will be special and there is no way I can use song that is not that one. Too fitting to the scene taking place.
Mr MogiGaming chapter 35 . Jan 7 - I guess there is no need for me to keep "hiding" this part now. Giovanni was never meant to be the final antagonist of the story, and he would eventually succeed in his plan and someday appear on Pokémon Ultra Sun/Moon. That's the whole reason why I've chosen the name Rainbow Rocket instead of the normal Team Rocket.