Dokukage has been put on the defensive by his sister's powerful pokemon, and now she's offering her hand to him! Will he give in and accept his defeat? Or will he find some way to overcome her and show her she's wrong? The sibling rivalry is starting to really heat up now!

Rowlets and Oshawotts: It's more like two Sasukes. Or a Sasuke and Orochimaru.

KedharS: Oh, you have no idea.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: As enjoyable as the Naruto parallels are, I think things will become a lot clearer with this chapter.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 886

For a moment, Dokukage was tempted to take Shinobu's hand. But he bit down on the temptation and shook his head.

"No. I won't. I'm not a traitor like you," he spat.

Shinobu blinked, surprised. Then she smiled. "I see. So that's how it is, then. You've been totally brainwashed by sensei and the others… I pity you, little brother."

"Pity me all you like," Dokukage said. "But I won't abandon my home and my duties out of some selfish desire for freedom."

It hurt him to admit it, but he could see that he wasn't going to get through to Shinobu. There was just no way to convince her that she should come back home. That thought…

Damn it, Shinobu! Why do you have to be so difficult?! He wanted to scream. Can't you see that home is where you belong?! Back with all our friends at the village?! What can Shima offer you!? Is this freedom you're after really so important that you'd give up everything for it?! That you'd even give up me?! I don't believe that! I can't!

But he didn't say anything like that. Once again, he was grateful for his ability to keep his cool and not let his real thoughts free. Even if Shinobu could likely sense how he really felt anyway, the way she always did, he didn't want to say those words out loud.

Whatever had happened to his sister… right now the only thing he could do was fight. It wasn't about bringing her back at this point. He didn't want to give up on her, but he could see in her eyes that there was no use talking sense.

"Goli… so… pod…" Kagemusha stumbled to his feet, bleeding profusely from his wounds. But he wasn't going to give up.

"Kagemusha…" Dokukage let the mask drop for a moment, awed by his pokemon's resilience. For a pokemon that relied so heavily on sneak attacks and tactical retreats, to see Kagemusha refusing to give in like this made Dokukage appreciate him all the more.

Even Shinobu seemed impressed.

"I'm surprised, Dokukage," she said, shaking her head. "Is that really your little Wimpod? It seems he's grown up to be a bit more troublesome than I'd expected."

Dokukage nodded. "You always made fun of him back when we were kids. But Kagemusha isn't the same cowardly little insect he was back in those days. And I'm not the same weakling that I used to be, either. We've both changed and grown since then! And while you were once the most talented trainee in the village… that was in the past. The shinobi I am today is someone capable of beating you, and my pokemon will help me do it!"

"You're so talkative all of a sudden, you were never like that before," Shinobu mused. "I wonder, is the reason you're talking so loudly and so boldly because you're trying to convince me with your passionate words? Or are you trying to convince yourself…?"

Shinobu tapped her finger against her lips, and a wicked smile crossed her face. Dokukage flinched at the sight of it.

Why? Why can she always see? Even when I don't want her to… even the secrets that I try to conceal the deepest… Shinobu had always been a frustration even when they were kids. Not only was she the most talented, but he had never been able to hide things from her. They were born twins and raised together all their lives, but he had always spent his life as her shadow. That was where the "Kage" in his name came from- because he was nothing more than a shadow of "Dokuro", his sister.

"When you threw away your name and left home, I knew it would be unlikely that I would never see you again," Dokukage said quietly. "That's why I trained. So that if that time ever came… I could bring you back home."

"Liar."

Dokukage didn't know what to say to that. He couldn't process her words for a second.

"Wh… what?"

"You're a liar, Dokukage," Shinobu laughed. "A lying liar. Lying with your silence to others, lying with your words to me, and even lying with your heart to yourself. You didn't train in order to bring me back home. You did it because you wanted to prove that you would finally be able to beat me in battle, isn't that right?"

Dokukage shook his head. "N-No, why would you even think that?" What was she saying?! There was no way that was true!

"Ever since we were kids, you've always hated me, haven't you baby brother? Because you were never able to beat me. You would train and struggle as hard as you could, paying attention to every lecture and absorbing everything there was to know about being a shinobi. And yet with all that training… you were never able to defeat me. Not even once," Shinobu said, shaking her head. "That's why you wouldn't leave with me. That's why you continue to train your hardest. Because you need to prove you're better than me."

"No, it's because faith in our village is correct, Shinobu!" Dokukage shouted, all thoughts of keeping his cool fleeing. The words were spilling out now, and he wasn't even given a moment to think about them first. "Selfishly using our power for our own ends like you and Shima is just-"

"Natural," Shinobu cut him off. "It's natural, Dokukage. There's nothing wrong with wanting to live free."

Dokukage understood her feelings, really, he did. But it didn't make their sin any less heavy. "You… that's…"

"How did it feel?" Shinobu asked suddenly, tapping her cheek thoughtfully. "When I left. You were sad, sure, and I know you felt betrayed. But how did it feel to go from being a failure to the most talented student?"

The question was stunning. Dokukage had to take a moment to process it. The memories came flooding back, the loneliness, the isolation, the despair. "It… isn't important," he muttered out, managing to keep his emotions tapped down. He couldn't lose to those feelings.

"It hurt, didn't it? But not because of the loss, no," Shinobu said, narrowing her eyes. "Because you felt empty without me there."

Empty? Was that what he had felt all those years? Emptiness?

Shinobu shook her head. "You set your sights on me from the start. You made me your goal, and strove to become stronger in order to meet it. Because you finally wanted to defeat me and prove to everyone that you weren't a loser, isn't that right?"

Silence gripped Dokukage. He couldn't deny the truth in her words, but he couldn't see their purpose. Why would she tell him this? What was even the point? Even if he'd wanted to defeat her to prove himself, that was all in the past.

Right?

"When I left, you achieved what you always wanted, but it must have felt hollow, isn't that right?" Shinobu said, her voice taking on a sympathetic tone. "Because even though you were the strongest student in the village after that, it wasn't because you earned it. It was handed to you by Shima and I, when we left. And you were too proud to be happy about something like that."

She was right. Dokukage had taken no pleasure in the new position he'd achieved. It was why he'd devoted himself solely to his training, so he could finally bring Shinobu home in order to-

"You're thinking right now that you trained so fiercely so you could bring me home," Shinobu said, shaking her head. "That's just another lie of yours, little brother. All your training, it was because you wanted to convince yourself that you were still moving forward. So you could continue to believe that if we ever met again, you'd be the one to win. You'd defeat me due to your own merits, your dedication to the village's teachings, and prove once and for all that you aren't just my shadow. That's the real reason for this, isn't it? Deep down, you knew there was no bringing me back. You've known that since the night I left."

Her words pierced Dokukage like a kunai. She carved layer upon layer of him away with surgical precision, flaying apart his tough shinobi exterior to reveal what lay beneath.

Unable to deny her accusation, he thought back to that night in the rain, when Shinobu and Shima broke away into the darkness with the treasures of their village, never to be seen again.

"That was why I asked you to join me, Dokukage," Shinobu said quietly. "Why I'm asking you even now. Don't you want to be free? Free of it all?"

"…Free?" Dokukage stared at his sister and the sympathy that burned in her wet eyes, and for the first time he felt his resolve shake.

"Your loyalty to the village, the reason you try so hard for something so antiquated and meaningless, it's all because you can't accept the fact that you're weaker than me," Shinobu said. Her words weren't scornful or cruel. She was pleading with him. "You turned those insecurities into chains that bound you to a world you don't belong in, when there's so much more for you to see! Just come with me, come back with Shima and I, and you'll see that it doesn't matter if you're not as good of a ninja or trainer as I am! You don't need to define your worth from those things! You can find new reasons to keep going, more reasons than there are clouds in the sky! So… come with me!"

She was practically begging by the end of it. For once, it was Shinobu who had dropped the mask, and showed her little brother the real face that hid beneath. It called to him like it had so many times before, bringing back memories of the past.

How many times had he seen his sister's face? When was the last time she'd made that expression? When they'd parted that night? What face had she worn then?

He thought back, and remembered Shinobu's expression. And that was the moment Dokukage remembered what had made Shinobu such a skilled shinobi in the first place.

"…That's another lie, isn't it?" Dokukage asked coldly.

Shinobu blinked, taken aback. "N-No, it's not! That's the truth! That's how I really feel!"

He shook his head. "No. You don't feel that way. I know you, sister. I know you all too well. And not even you know how you really feel. Those… are Shima's words, aren't they?"

Shinobu flinched.

"I still remember, you know," Dokukage murmured. "Back when we were kids and we were all given our first pokemon. Mine was Scyther. Do you remember yours?"

"…Heracross," Shinobu said.

Dokukage nodded. "Shima and I were so envious of you. You were given a pokemon from the Johto Region! And we just got bugs from Kanto. It was a sign of how much respect sensei had for your abilities."

"And now you have a Scizor," Shinobu scoffed. "So it looks like you got a pokemon from Johto after all, didn't you?"

"I remember that, too," Dokukage admitted. "Seeing you again, I'm remembering so many things. Like catching Kagemusha for the first time, remember that? How he would run away from me constantly, hiding under rocks and in bushes because he was afraid of getting caught?"

"And you chased him," Shinobu remembered. "Just like you've always been chasing me. Even though he was a worthless coward, you still made things harder on yourself by catching a pokemon that fled at every opportunity, and was nearly impossible to train."

"Remind me, what was your first pokemon again?" Dokukage asked, narrowing his eyes. Shinobu flinched.

"That… was Burmy, of course," she said, sounding just slightly defensive.

"Of course it was. A pokemon that was just hanging on a tree. It took you, what, two whole seconds to catch her?" Dokukage scoffed.

"Our goal was to catch our own pokemon. It's not MY fault you wanted to make things so difficult," Shinobu glared at him. "That's why you could never defeat me. Because you always kept making things harder, when you didn't need to! That's why everyone praised me for my speed, and laughed at you for failing over and over again!"

"You did what sensei asked," Dokukage agreed. "Because that was as far as it mattered to you. You said you could see through me, sister, but I can see through you, too. Sensei told you to do something, so you did it. You were the perfect shinobi, always following orders."

"And now you're perfect shinobi," Shinobu spat. "Look at who's obeying the village like a good little soldier now?"

Dokukage ignored her. The fact that she was saying things like that meant he was cutting in close to home. Right now, Kagemusha was on the mend, and he wanted to give him as much time as possible before fighting again. He needed to keep Shinobu talking.

And it helped that this was something he'd always wanted to tell her.

"The reason I wanted to catch Kagemusha wasn't because I was making things intentionally difficult for myself, to give myself a challenge or whatever you're thinking," Dokukage revealed, shaking his head. "It was because I knew that Kagemusha was the perfect pokemon for me."

Shinobu was taken aback by that statement. "What? Because you're both weak and cowardly? Because you felt like you were worthless?"

Dokukage couldn't deny that. "All those things… are probably correct. As much as I wanted to beat you, I did feel more secure, standing in your shadow. And I was afraid of you, too, almost definitely. Even now, in my pokemon battles, I focus on planning and caution. Because… you're right. I'm a coward, big sister. I feel better when my pokemon and I are safe."

Well, yeah. But it's also just good strategy. It's not "cowardice" it's "tactics". But making her see that would be pointless.

Dokukage kept going. There was still so much more he wanted to say, and he might never get the chance again. "But just like I saw in that Wimpod, I saw in myself, too, the potential to be better than that. To train those cowardly, cautious feelings of mine into weapons to grow stronger. And now both of us are."

Shinobu glanced at Kagemusha and raised her eyebrow. The pokemon was bleeding and half-dead. He didn't exactly look stronger.

"I can see why someone would think that the village was a prison. Why you thought you were chained to it," Dokukage admitted. "But I don't think that you ever saw it that way. That's how Shima always saw it."

Shinobu scowled. "Who are you to tell me how I feel? You, of all people, who keep lying even to yourself?"

"I'm honest that I'm a coward," Dokukage said. "And I know that you never resented sensei's lessons."

Shinobu snorted. "Of course I did. But unlike you, I can hide my feelings."

Dokukage shook his head again. "You didn't resent them. You didn't care. You just did it. 'Dokuro the ninja prodigy' who was capable of doing everything that was asked of her down to the letter, no matter how complicated or difficult. You've always been talented at being exactly what everyone wants from you, sister."

Which I have to admit is better than a certain someone I know… He added silently, suppressing a smirk. "Shima was always the one how hated the village and its rules. He was the one who wanted to leave, not you. You just went with him."

"No, I-" Dokukage wasn't about to let Shinobu speak. For once, he finally had the upper hand, and he was going to make use of it.

"I know a girl," Dokukage said, "who used to act just like you did. She just did what everyone asked her to do. And she was good at it. Better than you, even. You might be talented and smart, and a ninja prodigy, but this girl… she's a monster. A real genius. But you're nothing like her. Because she wasn't happy with following orders. She became someone who only did what she wanted. The kind of person that Shima always wanted to be, the kind of person that you're trying to emulate."

"Shima's right!" Shinobu shouted. "In that village, all we were doing was following orders! We were told to be loyal to the village because that's all we knew! Indoctrinated to be soldiers in their ninja army, not allowed to think for ourselves, serving a master who had done nothing for our loyalty!"

"And what master are you serving now, big sister?" Dokukage asked.

Shinobu froze. "I-I don't serve anyone, I-"

"You're loyal to Shima, aren't you? You're devoted to him," Dokukage reminded her. He'd always felt that way, even back then. His big sister had always been attached to their friend. And because she was the way she was…

She couldn't see just how much she'd been dyed in his colors.

"I believe in Shima and his dream," Shinobu answered. "He wants to live life freely, and I want that too, that's why I'm following him! And you can have that too, little brother, if you just come with me! We can all be together again!"

"You were always so good at that, Shinobu," Dokukage said, shaking his head. "You really are far better of a ninja than I am. You don't really have anything you believe in, do you? I might have been like my Wimpod, but you, you're just like your Burmy."

It took Shinobu a moment to understand what he was talking about. "Like… Burmy? Huh?"

"Burmy are pokemon that perfectly adapt to their environments, gathering together their cloaks from the surrounding area to form new appearances," Dokukage reminded her. "And you're the same way. When you were loyal to the village, you put on the mask of the perfect student, doing everything the teachers expected of you because you were following orders. And then when Shima swayed you over, you put that mask away for a new one, believing in him completely and following his orders. You're like a Chatot repeating everything your master trained you to say. You might have been indoctrinated by our village, sister, but I looked at what we were learning, understood it, and embraced it. And I've never seen it as a chain."

Shinobu couldn't answer him. She knew that she and Shima were correct. Why couldn't her brother see it? Had he been so brainwashed by the village that he actually believed that SHE was the one who wasn't making sense?

If only Shima was here. He'd be able to convince Dokukage.

Dokukage felt sad. "Even your battle against me… trying to defeat me and show off how you're still better than me, the more skilled shinobi and pokemon traier… that's just because you know that's what I expect you to act like, isn't that right?"

Shinobu knew her little brother was wrong. She wasn't some thoughtless tool. She had left the village so she wouldn't end up like that! But she didn't know what to say to convince him he was wrong. He just didn't see things the way she and Shima could.

So she had to make him see. If she beat him, then… he'd understand, right? That Shima was right all along.

Dokukage would understand. He'd come around. She'd force him to accept that living a life of freedom from the village was the right path!

Well now, this sibling dynamic just developed an odd little wrinkle, didn't it? Dokukage managed to gain the upper hand in his debate with his sister, but what's going to come of it? Will he actually be able to defeat her and get her to see reason?