Author's note: Just a warning, This one's a long one!

Enjoy!

Chapter 13: I will do anything for her

-6 hours before Zennon attempts to break Anastasia out of captivity-

What was he thinking?

Zennon was at a loss as to what he had just said to Marie after leaving her behind with Pichu.

The words he said replayed in his mind like a broken recording. 'I'll personally break her out and bring her to you.' What was he, a superhero!? Zennon grumbled loudly to himself as he marched off the beach of Lilycove City. Why would he seriously consider risking his job?! He shook his head quickly. It was completely nonsensical to think he of all people would be able to break that girl out. He should be a good grunt and just go to H.Q, get his promotion, and be done with it.

Yeah, he thought. That'd be for the best. As he walked up the stairs to go to the Lilycove city sidewalks, he turned to his left, Behind the Lilycove motel, he could see a bit of the building for a 'Contest Spectacular Trainer Fanclub'.

He didn't want to go that way. Contests reminded him of Marie, but there was only one way to get to the HQ… So he begrudgingly walked toward the building. He couldn't help but give a glance or two at the sign, which was decorated with flowers and Pokéballs. Zennon couldn't help but stop to stare at it and scoffed lightly.

The sign didn't look very good to him.

Suddenly, a person burst from the door. It was a blue haired girl wearing a green dress. She smiled and waved. Zennon's eyes widened in shock as he nearly leapt from surprise.

"Hello! What brings you here?" The girl said. She held her hands behind her back.

"Wha- You sprang out of nowhere, were you watching me or something!?"

"Yes, actually, I was. We're looking for new members, and usually the ones that are interested in joining are the ones who stop to stare at our signs!"

"Jeez…" Zennon groaned. "Well, I was just looking. Don't mind me." as Zennon prepared to turn away, he noticed the girl step forward and stopped moving himself.

"What's your opinion on this sign?" She asked. "I designed it myself."

Zennon narrowed his eyes before pushing in his glasses.

"Well, it's too plain if you ask me. Flowers and Pokéballs? That's the most basic design I could think of. It needs to be something different if it's going to be eye-catching."

"I see…" The girl said, lowering her head. She then bounced back with determination "How would you design this?" She asked.

"Well, personally," Zennon stepped forward. "Instead of flowers and Pokéballs, pick a theme and stick with it. Let's say…you're going for a space theme. In that instance, I'd recommend putting the words, 'Join our club, we're out of this world!' and cover the sign in a black blanket, glue in some jewels that represent stars, and add other pretty things like shooting stars, and planets, even… actually, no, scratch that, not planets. Think of the prettiest things you can think of when it comes to space, and that theme. Then switch it up every, I don't know- season or so. Are you following?"

The girl's eyes were wide open and shone with awe, it was like she was watching a meteor shower for the first time.

"Yes! You're amazing! Please, I'm begging you, join our club! We need someone like you!"

"Oh- Um..." Zennon stepped back. "N-No... I don't… I don't think I'm meant for that kind of thing. I mean, aesthetics and style are cool and all... But it's not really my thing. Besides, I'd be bad at it if I tried-"

"You were talking like a natural pro, though! It reminded me of my dad! I bet if you tried becoming a Pokémon contestant or a Pokémon Contest judge You'd be-"

"C-Contestant or judge!?" Zennon shook both of his hands in a surrender motion. "No! No, no, no, no! Becoming a Pokémon contestant isn't something I can do! I'm not creative enough for that..."

"But you were talking to me and giving me such good advice just now."

"That's because I've seen thousands of other signs designed in an amazing way. They're awesome to look at, so I took notes, and learned from them. All I did was just remember some of those notes and recited them to you. It's literally nothing special."

"But it was something special! Haven't you considered becoming a Pokémon contestant or judge?!"

"I-..." Zennon blinked.

"What inspires you, anyway?"

Zennon just stared at her. He knew the answer to that question. He knew it very, very well.

-Flashback-

Zennon kept his head low as he walked among the crowd of new recruits joining the Crimson Foundation. They were all wearing the same black cloak and hood and walking in formation.

"I wonder what Pokémon they'll give us..." One rookie said.

"Hope the boss's nice..." Another said.

Zennon stayed quiet as he stared at the ground. Crowds were definitely not his thing. Zennon hoped that his missions as a new recruit wouldn't involve having this many people around. He would rather not be here, but the bills couldn't pay themselves. Zennon sighed deeply as he continued walking along the dirt road leading to the Crimson Foundation HQ.

"I hate this," someone said. Zennon turned his head to a man who had long raven hair. He looked disgruntled. "We're just a bunch of sheep being herded. Doesn't anyone think we deserve better?"

The entire crowd looked at the black-haired man, then looked away. The man grumbled as he crossed his arms. His eyes glided around the crowd as though he were looking for a target. Zennon lowered his head in an attempt to not be noticed by him. For a split second, the loner turned his head to see if the man was still scanning the crowd, and their eyes met. Immediately, Zennon spun his head away, silently murmuring words of panic under his breath. Zennon didn't dare turn around. Suddenly, he felt a hand touch his shoulder. Zennon turned around, and there stood the dark-haired man.

…Ugh. Social activity, he thought.

"Don't you agree?" The man said. "This leader's guy's definitely going to get us to shine his shoes or something. If the roles were reversed... I would-" He stopped short. Zennon sighed.

"I'm going to be honest. I don't want to listen to your rambling," He said. "Leave me alo-"

"What would you do if you were the leader of this foundation?" The man asked. Zennon raised his eyebrows.

"What would I do...?"

"If you were the one who owned this entire building, owned every single person in it- what would you do?"

"Well, I can't really think of anything as of right now."

"I've spent most of my life being looked down on. Being belittled. Being someone I'm not. At the very least, can you relate to that?"

Zennon pushed in his glasses. "A little, yeah. I don't want to be here. But I gotta pay the bills, and no other job wants me.."

"Don't you want to be your own boss? Don't you want to have underlings to do your dirty work?"

"...Having people do the meaningless tasks we're assigned to do would be nice..." Zennon said. The ambitious man smiled.

"My name is Aiden." He said, extending his hand to Zennon. "You and I should stick together. We'll both rise through the ranks and get the power we deserve... What's your name?"

"R-Right..." Zennon scratched the back of his head before shaking Aiden's hand. "It's Zennon."

"Good to meet you, Zennon. I hope to be partners with you in the future." Aiden walked away.

Zennon sighed.

That guy seemed to know what he wanted in life. He wished he knew his calling.

The entire day flew by like a bullet.

Zennon wasn't assigned to do much. It was his first day on the job, after all. As he went on to go home, he made his way over to Lilycove City, and noticed he was enroute to the Contest Spectacular Trainer Fanclub. There was a small crowd, and a sign next to it.

It was the most gorgeous looking sign he'd ever seen; the decorations were made in such a unique and amazing way, he couldn't help but just stare at it.

"Marie, that sign you made was absolutely fantastic!" A man with a white buttoned shirt and black pants walked out of the fanclub building alongside a gorgeous blonde wearing a long-sleeved black shirt with a black and white checkered skirt. Zennon felt his heart pounce at the sight of her, and instinctively stepped back, away from sight.

"Yeah, the twentieth time's the charm, right?" The blonde said with a light chuckle.

"It's absolutely stunning, better than anything I've seen, Marie! You should consider becoming a designer… or maybe a Pokémon Contestant!"

"...Maybe I'll do that." Marie said. "It sounds fun."

He watched her from afar and raised his eyebrows at the response the girl named Marie had said. She was going to try something brand new? Just like that? She's going to be bad at it- it's something new! It's nothing like making signs. And yet she leapt onto it like it was nothing. Why, he thought, why would she do that?

"So how would I start on becoming a Pokémon Contestant?" Marie asked.

"Well, instead of fighting tactics, you'd have to think about how to make your moves look really cool!"

"Okay! Sounds simple enough!" Marie shouted. Zennon shook his head. It's not that simple, he thought. She has no idea what she's heading into.

"My sister and I can be your judges! She and I are experienced. Plus, my dad can watch, too. But be warned- he's a stickler when it comes to judging."

"Okay! Awesome! Gimme a day to prepare!" Marie hurriedly ran off with excitement.

A slight smile came to Zennon's face, he couldn't help it. The thought of seeing this girl, Marie, have her dreams crushed by reality… gave him a slight twinge of happiness himself.

Zennon immediately snapped out of it and battered himself for having a thought like that. He then breathed a saddened sigh. He wanted to come back to watch, because why not?

Misery loves company, he thought. Nevertheless, Zennon decided he was going to come back tomorrow to see this woman's attempt. Maybe he'd get a bit of a laugh out of it. He sighed deeply as he walked off, preparing himself for the next day of work.

-The next day-

Finally, Work was over, Zennon thought, as he made his way over to the Fanclub in Lilycove city. Once there, he noticed that the woman named Marie was nowhere to be found. He looked around, then heard cracks of lighting far ahead of him.

In the midst of the beach side of Lilycove city, Zennon saw a large bolt of lightning that looked like a spinning shuriken floating in the air. Soon, it disappeared, and two silhouettes that looked like a person and a Pokémon fell to the ground. Zennon sprinted to go closer. He saw three people standing in front of that girl Marie and a Pichu who stood triumphantly on the blonde's shoulder. The people standing in front of her must have been the judges- he recognized the boy with the buttoned shirt, but the girl with the blue hair and green dress was new. So was that older looking man with a white T shirt and blue jeans and the long white mustache. That must have been the stickler father.

The two kids looked impressed at Marie's stunt, but the older man didn't.

"So, how was that?!": Marie asked.

"It was awesome!" The boy said.

"Amazing!" the girl said.

The older looking man looked disgruntled. He sighed.

"It's much too simple," He said.

"Huh?" Marie's eyebrows rose.

"Using lightning to create a shape like that…" The man shook his head. "It's too simple. I've seen it a thousand times. I'd be crazy to give this a score above 3 out of 10."

Ouch.

Marie looked disheartened upon hearing that. The old man turned and left.

"Sorry, our dad can be really… tough on people." The boy said. "How're you holding up?"

"I'm fine," Marie said. "Just uh, reeling a little bit from that. That hurt."

"I can understand that," the girl with the green dress said. "We can uh, leave you alone for a little."

"Sure, go right ahead," Marie said, looking sad. The two siblings turned and walked away. Marie fell to her knees and sighed. Pichu hopped off of Marie's shoulder and nudged her with a worried look. Zennon sighed as well.

"That's reality…" He murmured.

"..Well," Marie said. "If that didn't work out… we can definitely try again." Pichu's eyes brightened as he nodded quickly. He went on all fours and wagged his tail with excitement as Marie stood up again.

"You don't get it.." Zennon murmured as he watched from afar. "Reality's harsher than you think. You'll try again and again only to fail, and then do something else." The green haired man shook his head. The way she was acting was starting to tick him off a little. He wanted to see her learn how badly burnt someone like her could get. So he decided he'd come back tomorrow.

-The next day-

The next day came, and work had ended once again. Zennon made his way over to the beach all over again and watched Marie practicing.

"Gaaah! C'mon, Pichu! Twentieth time's the charm!" She cried. Zennon saw as Pichu leapt into the air and exploded with electric energy. The electricity took the shape of a surfboard as Marie hopped onto it. They surfed the ocean waves ahead of them. Marie's blonde hair was flowing wildly against the wind as the mixture of lightning and water surged with the waves that rose next to her.

Zennon was absolutely starstruck.

As though she were controlling the waves, the water launched her into the air, and Marie flipped and spun gracefully in the air, but as she came closer to the ocean, she let out a distressed scream and fell into it. Zennon gasped. Was she okay!? Soon, Pichu and Marie's heads rose to the surface. Marie shook her head wildly to get some water out of her hair.

"Ugh.. I never stick the landing…" Marie said. "Let's take a break."

"Pi.. Pichu." Pichu said, sighing a breath of relief.

"You're exhausted, aren't you?" Marie asked as the two swam to shore. As soon as Marie's feet touched the sandy ground, she turned and sat right back down on it to stare at the sea. Pichu climbed up Marie's body to lie down on her head.

"We did good today, though. We did it twenty times straight."

Zennon was at a loss for words. She was absolutely breathtaking when she was surfing those waves. He'd never seen anything like it. The green haired man felt his hands twitch with anticipation. Whenever he saw something fascinating, he couldn't help but want to write it down. He sat down and pulled out a notebook and a pen from his pocket and sat down on the grass. He pulled the hood from his black Crimson Foundation cloak and got to writing.

"Sometimes it feels like I'll never get it right..." Marie mumbled. "Battling is so much easier than showing off moves for judges…But… I'll never get it if I just stop now! Okay!" Marie cried, shooting back onto her feet. "I'm all fired up again! Let's go!"

"Pichu!" Pichu cried. Zennon's eyes widened. She had a lot of determination. Zennon couldn't help but be interested in this.

Zennon watched the two practice again and again. Zennon watched Marie as she surfed the waves all over again, and her beauty flourished. As she saw the blonde looking like she was having a great time, the glasses-man felt his heart begin to race.

Marie and Pichu kept going until nightfall, and Zennon stayed the entire time. He looked down at his notebook that lied on the grassy ground in front of him and sighed.

"What're you doing?" Zennon nearly gasped as he spun around to see a man in the same cloak and hood he was wearing. The man's hooded face was covered in shadow. He pulled his hood to reveal himself.

It was Aiden.

"I- Uh," Zennon looked at his papers, then back at Aiden. "Uh, Nothing! I was just- uh… watching the ocean!"

"Okay...?" Aiden said. "Didn't figure you for an ocean-watcher type. Wait-" Aiden squinted to look over Zennon's shoulder to see what his partner had written. Zennon gasped and tried grabbing the notebook off the ground, but Aiden was faster. The raven-haired man swiped the notebook from the ground and started to read it.

"Extensive note writing," Aiden said as his eyes skimmed the notes. "And it's about a girl named Marie...?" Aiden turned his head to the beach in front of him. He saw Marie and Pichu watching the starry sky together. "That girl used to be the Champion of Hoenn. Did you know?"

"Thats-..." Zennon turned his head to the blonde in amazement. He wondered to himself, if she's already good at battling, why is she trying something new all of a sudden? The way she thought was so different from his... the way that she jumped and embraced something new so quickly... it was-

It was awe-inspiring.

"So why are you writing notes about this girl?" Aiden asked.

"I- Uh.." Zennon scratched his head. "It's because… I already knew she used to be a Pokémon champion. I was just uh… making notes…"

"Notes to learn how much of a threat she'd be if she was to become a threat?" Aiden asked.

"Y-Yeah! Yeah, that's it..." Zennon looked back to see Marie staring up at the stars with a smile on her face. His heart began to bounce as his face became red. "Y-Yeah..." He said.

"All right. I'll leave you to it." Aiden dropped the notebook in front of Zennon before turning to walk away. Zennon sighed.

It was getting really late, but Zennon wanted to stay longer. The sight of Marie staring up at the stars made him smile, and instinctively, his pen began to move on his paper without once looking away from the blonde. After a while, he looked down at his paper.

He realized that he drew a picture of the blonde sitting and staring at the stars alongside Pichu, and nearly gasped. He tore the piece of paper off of the notebook and stared at the picture.

He didn't want to rip the paper up, so instead he stuffed it into his pocket.

–The next day–

Work felt like it took forever. Zennon couldn't stop thinking about Marie. The moment work ended; Zennon found himself running to go see Marie practice all over again. And once he went to take his seat in the grasslands, he saw Marie surfing the waves with Pichu acting as her surfboard. Standing on the sandy beach were the three judges from before. Zennon watched with awestruck glee as Marie launched herself and stuck the landing. She'd failed that landing approximately 50 times over- he knew that for certain. And she finally stuck the landing. Zennon was jumping in the air with joy. He wanted to shout out, 'Great job,' at the top of his lungs- but he couldn't. So instead, he mouthed the words without saying it and pumped his arms in happiness.

The girl in the green dress and the boy with the buttoned shirt looked impressed again, but the old man… he didn't look impressed at all.

"That was absolutely breathtaking!" The boy said as Pichu and Marie ran to approach the judges. "Ten out of ten! You've outdone yourself!"

"I have to agree!" The girl cried. "Ten out of ten!"

"...Five out of ten." The old man said. "Before, you were below average. Now, you're simply average." He turned and walked away. The two children looked at their father with a surprised expression. They then turned to Marie, who lowered her head in sadness.

"...Are you okay?" The girl asked.

"I'm… I'm fine.. I…" Marie sniffled a little. "I… Just need a minute."

"...Okay.." The boy said. The two exchanged a glance before leaving. Marie fell to the ground and buried her head onto her arms.

"P-Pi…Pichu.." Pichu tried nudging Marie's side with his tiny arms.

"..I tried so hard… I practiced all day… and it's still not enough...!" Zennon could hear the blonde's voice become sadder. She had to be crying at this point, there was no way she wasn't.

Zennon stared in absolute shock.

From the very beginning, he was waiting for this moment, for the reality to kick in. This would be the part where he would laugh, He was supposed to start laughing. But he didn't. He felt intense emotions boil up from inside of him as he clenched his fists.

"You can't give up.." Zennon said. He crouched down and started writing on his paper as quickly as possible. He wrote down as many words as he possibly could, describing the feelings that he had when he watched her practice again and again. His pen was moving like crazy.

Marie had come too far to give up, she'd worked too hard to give up. The road ahead of her is tough, but with every bump, she'll become tougher…! She had to be strong- because if she kept going, she'd definitely improve. Zennon knew this.

He believed in her!

After writing his heartfelt letter, he ripped the piece of paper out of the notebook and folded it into a paper airplane. Zennon stood up, and ran close to the beach, almost dangerously close. Marie's back was turned, so this would be a good chance. As his feet dug into the sandy ground, he came close enough to be within throwing-distance. He threw the paper airplane as hard as he possibly could. It flew gently in the air as Zennon spirited away as though his life were in danger. He hid behind a distant bush and watched the paper airplane hit the back of Marie's head. Marie turned around and saw it. She picked up the paper, and she began to read it.

Her eyes were lighting up. Zennon saw tears began flowing from her eyes as the blonde began to shake and tremble. She clenched the paper as she lowered her head and sobbed. She wiped her eyes, and slowly nodded, folding the piece of paper and putting it in her skirt pocket. "Pichu?" Marie said, turning to look down at Pichu, who was hugging her leg. "Someone was watching us… they said they didn't want us to give up. So… I won't give up. Hey!" Marie turned around, and Zennon nearly cried out in fear as he sunk deeper into the bushes. "Whoever's watching... Thank you! I'll never forget what you did for me!"

"J-Just get back to practicing...!" Zennon whispered to himself. "And stop looking this way, dang it..!"

Marie smiled and turned back at the Ocean. "Let's do this," She said. "Pichu, today we're gonna practice a million times if that's what it takes to impress that old guy!"

"Pichu!" Pichu cried out and nodded, fired up all over again. Zennon watched on with a proud smile.

-The next day-

Zennon sat down on the grass. On the beach, standing in front of the blonde were the three judges. The girl and boy looked excited, while the old man started with a grumpy look.

Marie was wearing new attire at this point. She was wearing a long elegant red dress, wearing sunglasses along with red lipstick, as though she was ready to go to a party.

"Do you think you can impress me today?" The man asked cynically as he crossed his arms.

Marie lifted her sunglasses up and winked.

"I don't think I can, I know I can," Marie said before lowering them back. She tossed her Pokéball into the air before backflipping her way toward the Ocean behind her. Pichu emerged from the pokéball and met with her trainer once Marie leapt high into the air. Pichu's body exploded with electricity, and the lightning took the shape of a fish's tail fin and merged with Marie.

The blonde looked like a mermaid as she dove into the ocean. A strike of thunder followed as her body dipped into the waters, and suddenly, Marie burst into the air as a twister of electricity and water flowed up along with her and trailed behind her as she drove back into the ocean again. The combination of the sun's rays and the electricity made the trailing waters carry the colors of the rainbow. Marie sprang back up into the air once again. The electric waters that swirled around her began to coalesce and gather around the blonde. It was like she was protected by an electric-charged water barrier. Marie shot her hands out in an embrace as the water and electric barrier exploded in a brilliant explosion.

The old man slowly uncrossed his arms as he stared up in sheer shock. Marie landed on the ground in front of him, her legs now back to normal and smiled once Pichu climbed to stand on her shoulder.

"So.. how was that?" She said.

The old man's eyes were wide open, his mouth was agape. Without saying a word, the old man slowly began to clap.

Marie grinned and shot her hands in the sky in triumph. "YES!" She cried. "YES, YES YES!" Pichu dropped off of Marie's shoulder, and Marie caught him and embraced him. The blonde started spinning about while holding the electric mouse Pokémon close to her chest.

Zennon wiped away tears forming in his eyes. There were no words to express how happy he was on that day.

End of Flashback

"So it was you..?!" The girl in the green dress cried, staring directly at Zennon who stared at the ground shyly. "Marie said a spectator inspired her to keep going when she was thinking about quitting... that person was you!"

Zennon blushed and looked away.

"Don't mention it to her, okay!? Ugh... it's embarrassing enough- just- don't tell anyone, okay!?"

"You said she inspires you... she inspires me too. I wanna be just like her. Do you want to be just like her, too?" The girl asked.

Zennon's eyes widened.

"I- I could never. I have a job already. I work… as a Crimson Foundation grunt."

"But is that something you really want to do?"

Zennon didn't answer.

"What is it that you want to do?" The girl asked again.

Zennon remembered the words he said to Marie before leaving the Lilycove beach, the same one she practiced and practiced on.

'I'll personally break her out and bring her to you.' He had said. Marie's face looked so surprised at that moment. He had said that so naturally.

She showed him that the jail that he made for himself could be broken. That if he wanted to, he could do anything he wanted, as long as he put his mind to it. Being bad at something you just start is normal, for anyone. But as the road becomes tougher... so do you.

"I want to make Marie happy." Zennon said. "She inspired me so much... so... I'm willing...! I'm willing to put my job on the line for her-...I love her...!"

"You do..? Wh-Why not tell her about how much you admire her!?" Zennon took in a deep and sharp breath.

"...I can live with her not finding out," Zennon said. "I want her to be happy. That's all... and because of those feelings, I'm about to do the stupidest thing of my life," Zennon said, turning and walking away from the girl.

"Wha- What do you mean!?" The girl cried. He dug his hand into his cloak's pocket and pulled out the picture he had drawn of Marie and Pichu staring at the starry night sky. He nodded in affirmation.

He was going to break that Anastasia girl out, even if it was the last thing he'd ever do.

As the girl watched Zennon run off into the distance, she sighed.

"Did you hear all of that...?" The girl said, pulling out her Poképhone from her pocket.

"...Yeah.." Marie's voice spoke through the phone. "I feel bad, though."

"It was your idea..." The girl said. "You saw him coming here while Pichu carried you over to the Pokecenter, and told me to keep the phone on while talking to him to make sure he wasn't up to anything bad."

"Still.. though..." Marie sounded like she was about to cry. "I can't... I can't believe it was him... I'm so happy... I finally know who my hero is... Ugh... If the poison wasn't... so strong, I would go after Anastasia with him..."

"Stay in the Pokécenter for now," The girl said. "Anastasia...I feel like she's in good hands."

"Yeah... I will... I uh...I... Yeah. Goodbye." Marie hung up. The girl sighed and lowered her phone.

"It's up to you, Zennon." She said.