Chapter Twenty-One: What You Must
The grasslands of Patagaza, in addition to providing great land for farming, also served as an ideal and isolated base of operations. South America held no notable threats; most of the regions here were within Omega's control anyways, and being at least a hemisphere away from anyone that had nuclear weapons was a major advantage – and one that came at no cost considering two of their legendaries could get them anywhere within the planet in a matter of seconds. Alexander was in the central tent, scanning over the various reports that had been made regarding their initial operations. Every corner of the holographic display was filled. Solgaleo napped idly by his side.
A pink tail swatted his arm playfully, trying once again to lull him into abandoning his work. Alexander scratched Genesis behind her ear, not looking away from the task at hand. So far, everything had gone accordingly. Sovenovsk and Shansu were his primary focuses, the struggles in those regions tending to favor armed conflicts; both regions were well-stocked with nuclear warheads, and obtaining those from highly nationalistic governments was a challenge to say the least.
He had also seen the first reported deaths on behalf of Omega. Half a unit had fallen to heavy artillery fire which had punched through their exosuits. Despite the fact that these things happened during war, Alexander knew that he was in part responsible. Though nobody could have prepared for the event, and the Megalopolans had all accepted the risks of this war, he still felt guilty now that there had been bodies returned to families.
But he couldn't stop this. There was far too much at stake, and never before in the history of the world had one person possessed the opportunity which he now had. The chance to reform it for the better – to remove corruption and indecency from every corner of the earth – was worth any risk they could take. It was for that very cause he was ready to lay down his own life without a second thought.
"Come onnnn," the mew said. "Can't this wait until later?"
"I'm sorry Genesis, but I have to take care of this. Soliera and Zadoc are waiting for my call…"
"Then call them!"
"Not that type of call," he said, rolling his eyes. "You can go play with Lunala, though, and I'll catch up to you in a bit. Or how about the shaymin tribe we found in Sinnoh? They seemed nice."
"But I want to play with you…"
"I know." He brought her to his chest, hugging her and taking his eye off the display for the first time in hours. "But you see, a lot of people are counting on me to get this right. If I do not put together a good summary of events for the legendaries, then heed their advice, I may make a mistake – and mistakes can cost lives."
"Alright…"
"But I'll tell you what – I'll set aside a day this week, and we'll do something then. Zadoc can probably take over things for a day or so." She nuzzled his cheek, purring appreciatively before flying out of the tent.
It wasn't a few minutes later when another person lifted the folds and stepped inside. Speaking of which… "General Zadoc – how are you?" Solgaleo perked his head up.
"Well enough. We were successful in dealing with the majority of the military bases on this planet. After a month has passed, we may shift our focus towards the cities and residential areas."
"And the Z-crystals? How is that coming along?"
"We have obtained most of them," Zadoc replied
"Good, good." He was hoping that the general had only come with good news, but the expression on his face suggested otherwise.
"I have heard that several invaluable mission sites were abandoned yesterday."
"Not abandoned. The trainers won in those specific sites," Alex replied. "I hold fast to my word."
"That's well and all, but why even give them the opportunity to fight?" Zadoc asked, causing the leader to inwardly roll his eyes. This again? "From what the news said, our forces retreated from a power plant that would have given us significant bargaining capabilities over most of Unova's population."
"Yes, but the power plant was never the primary goal. Anville Town is ours – and that allows for us to control many of the supplies that go in and out of Unova for the next year. With naval routes down, trains will be all they have. Diesel can easily last a year, so we have essentially gained control over the majority of shipments that enter or leave the most powerful economy in the world. They may have their power, but we have crushed their consumerism."
"I see… but we could have accomplished this much faster had we not left the plant." Zadoc locked eyes with him, his brows furrowed. Alexander was not unfamiliar with challenges to his judgement.
"The only way the power plant would have been of any use was if I had threatened to cut the power off – and that isn't something I intended to do, as doing so would have similarly left the hospitals without power. That's a great way to have a few thousand deaths on my hands."
"And do you not already have deaths of some of my own people on your hands? This is war, Alex – it happens. Best get it over with as fast as possible. Not… whatever this is." Alexander felt Solgaleo's gaze without needing to turn around.
"We have set forth the conditions of this conflict, and those will not change. I am a man of my word. A year from now, we will have the whole world. For now, we can settle for the half that we do have."
"That's where you're wrong. We're stretched thin as it is, and these people, however uncivilized and barbaric, are a tenacious bunch. If you give them the chance, they can turn this around. They outnumber us thousands to one. My people are far more important to me than whatever this political crusade is to you." Alex swiped the hologram away and stood up.
"Do you seriously think the legends and I led your people to this planet just to die? Do you now, because of some petty disagreement, feel as though I don't have the best interests of your people in mind?"
"I never said that," Zadoc countered. "But your actions here come with risks that are absolutely foolish if you want to win this war."
"We will win. Once I've secured their warheads, these people will pose no threat to your own. As for now, I need you to stick to the plan as was agreed upon. Is that understood?" His voice was flat and uncompromising. The general met his glare with one of his own. For a moment, he said nothing, swallowing slightly. Alex wondered if he was about to offer another retort. Instead, he raised his right hand to his chest, bowing slightly before leaving the tent.
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!" Robert yelled over the phone, causing Aaron's team to flinch. "I'm getting in the car now! You better have your damn bags packed by the time I get there!"
"No, Dad – we're doing this. I'm sorry you're upset but we aren't backing down. Someone needs to stand up against this guy."
"Then let someone else take care of it!"
"So we should just stand by while he takes over Unova?" Aaron asked. He was starting to sound like Nora.
"You know what? Fuck Unova – it's already destroyed itself as far as I'm concerned. I'm more worried about whether or not you get locked up and taken away to some Arceus-forsaken corner of the world."
"Then I guess we'll have to make sure we don't lose," Aaron replied. It was then that he did the single most stupid thing he had ever done in his entire life. More stupid than nearly failing out of college, even.
He hung the phone up.
The trainer paused for a moment, the reality of what he'd done sinking in, and looked back at his phone. They could've heard a pin drop in the room.
"Well, it's been nice knowing you, Aaron…" Aster said. Immediately the phone began vibrating again, but Aaron just shoved it into his pocket.
"What now?" Krista said. "Do we wait here until your dad comes and beats on the door?" Robert, while anything but abusive, was a scary sight when angry.
"No. We're leaving for a few days. Maybe Nathan will let us crash at his place. If not, I'll take the tent."
"Alright," Marcus murmured. "Just like the good old days… well, sort of…" They hurriedly grabbed a few things, stuffing them into a gym bag, and locked the door behind them. Robert could easily be here any minute, so Aaron wasted no time in returning the pokémon and getting in the car, speeding out of the driveway.
For the first time in his life, Aaron had to take the backroads to circumnavigate the blocked city roads. Vehicles of every shape and sort had been abandoned, some turned over or destroyed completely. The inner city was a nightmare, people moving about with shopping carts full of stolen items, battling each other for dwindling supplies or simply out of the usual political disputes. Aaron clenched the steering wheel tightly. It's the end of the world, and you idiots would rather fight each other than the bigger threat.
Fortunately the bridge had been cleared, and this time, Delta wasn't there to intervene. He made it to Undella, retracing the path Nathan had taken, and soon found the seaside house. The silver truck was not there. "Well shit," Aaron said aloud. He pulled out his phone and called the older trainer.
"Hello?"
"Where are you?" Aaron asked. "I'm at your place."
"I'm at work," Nathan replied. "And why? Is something wrong?"
"Aside from the fact that my father is probably out for blood? No." Nathan laughed.
"Ah, so he isn't too keen on your little stunt at Tao Creek, is he?"
"To put it lightly…"
"Well, like I said, I'm not home right now, but Aiden and Naomi should be. If they went out, then there's a spare key under the flowerpot on the back porch." Aaron knocked on the door, and not long after, he saw a familiar orange movement.
"Yep, Aiden's here."
"Great. I'll see you when I get off work." With that, Nathan ended the call. It was strange to think that there were certain jobs that were still going on right now. Power plants still needed to be maintained for as long as Omega may allow. At least Nathan wasn't one of the employees at the Tao Creek station.
Aiden opened the door with a wide smile. "Hey Aaron!"
"Hey – Nathan said we could hang out here for a bit."
"Awesome!" He opened the door fully, allowing the trainer inside. Aaron released his team a moment later. "Hey guys!"
"Hi Aiden," Krista murmured.
"Oh… you don't sound too happy…" The charizard's smile dropped.
"Dad's pretty pissed about us getting involved in the fight against Omega." Aaron took a seat on the couch, setting the car keys on the coffee table.
"…Yeah," Aiden murmured. "But I saw you on the news. You guys fought really well! And you were really clever, Marcus!" The lucario's tail happily twitched in response.
"I got to wipe that stupid grin off that zoroark's face – I'd do that for free any day."
"I'm sure you would," the trainer replied. Naomi slid into the room as they were speaking, quickly graining Aster's attention.
"H-hey!" he said, receiving a smile from the milotic.
"Hello Aster. What brings you all here?"
"Aaron's dad wants to kill him!" Aiden said, though his jubilant tone was misplaced this time.
"Oh dear. We can't have that, can we?"
"So we're staying here for a few days," Aaron added. "Though I'm not sure where everyone's sleeping. I didn't really plan ahead all that well. We were kinda in a rush to leave and all."
"Everything should be fine," the milotic replied. "Only Aiden and I will be here, meaning there is a bed free for Nora and Krista. Marcus can share with Aiden, and the couch actually pulls out into a small bed." Aaron looked down and saw the handle.
"Huh, didn't notice that." But they did have a relatively large family, so it made sense that they'd have multiple places to sleep.
It didn't take long for everyone to go about their own way. Aiden and Marcus held a mock fight in the front yard while Krista watched them, eventually dozing off. Aster and Naomi remained inside, and a quick, almost pleading glance from the serperior seemed to ask for privacy. For that reason, Aaron found himself outside, seated on the dock with his back to one of the wooden posts. Nathan's boat rocked gently with the waves.
It was nice to be away from Nimbasa. Away from scattered gunshots and people yelling all the time, from garbage littering the street and the wreckage of an ongoing invasion. Out here, there was just the sea, calm as it was prior to human settlement. No violence and no judgement. He could see why Nathan had purchased a house here.
A perfect place to get away and think. And there was a lot of that to be done. Aaron had disobeyed and even disrespected his father – someone he knew wanted what was best for him. Robert likely didn't want him to end up as just another statistic; many people had died in the various political clashes that had gained traction the past twenty years. And now, professional trainers were at risk if they engaged in the very conflict he was now involving himself in.
Below the surface, a remoraid caught his eye, swimming close to the bank and likely looking for food. Did the wild pokémon know what was going on? Did it even matter to them? As he watched the water-type drift about, seemingly without any destination in mind, Aaron came to the conclusion that they did not. What he would give to be one of them right now, to escape everything altogether and go his entire existence without concern of the state of the world.
A light pair of footsteps broke the silence. Nora hugged herself tightly as though she were cold, wrapping her arms around her midsection. "Hey…"
"Hey Nora."
"What are you doing out here?"
"Just thinking," he said quietly.
"Oh," she replied. "I'll leave you to that, then."
"No – please feel free to stay. I think I'd like the company right about now."
"Okay…" She took a seat against the post opposite to him. He just now noticed that aside from walking like a human, she even sat like one.
"You know, I'm not sure I ever asked you what life was like before Sofia." As a topic of conversation, that one shouldn't drift close towards anything too awkward.
"I'm afraid there's not much to say there," the typhlosion replied. "We were a small tribe – the type where you'd run into the same person multiple times a day. Something like Nathan was familiar with, I guess…"
"Okay – tell me about it." Nora had her eyes fixed on the wood planks between them, almost studying them intently.
"Like most people in Johto, we were very traditional. Not like what your people are out here. In fact, I'm pretty sure my parents would be upset with the fact that I'm living with three single males right now." She laughed at the thought.
"Huh, so this is a very different world than what you're used to."
"Very. But I got used to it living with Sofia."
"Do you prefer the way things were back in Johto?" the trainer asked. She paused for a second, but managed a meek nod.
"But… there is something nicer here," she said. "When someone's doing the right thing… you know it's because they're doing it out of the goodness of their heart. Back home, I think it was more along the lines of caving to social pressure…"
"Huh… I never thought about it that way," Aaron said. Sometimes he wondered if she was smarter than him. There was a good chance of it at this rate. Ha… maybe this is what Nathan feels like. "Is that why you're so intent on fighting Omega?"
"Yeah." He nodded, understanding where she was coming from finally. "So it's not just about opposing authority."
"Not all authority is bad," she answered. "Some is really good, actually. I'm sure Adira can back me up on that."
"So do you think he's right?" Aaron asked. "Alexander, I mean. Take authority out of it altogether."
"…Yes. But anyone who wants to force people to do the right things is taking 'right' out of the equation completely. When there's no other option, it isn't a matter of right or wrong anymore."
"Makes sense."
"What about you? You've never really said how you feel about all this."
"He's crazy."
"I'm well aware of that," Nora said. "But a crazy person can be right."
"Well other than that, I don't know. Maybe he's right about what he's saying, but I'm not really keen on kneeling to some random guy with a couple of legendaries just because he said so." She nodded. "I think you said it best: we need to do the right thing because it's right. Not because we're told."
"I think… maybe that's why things turned out the way they did," she said, looking downward. "You were the first person who was good to me for no reason, and… well, you know…" Aaron rested his head against the post, closing his eyes. The gentle crash of the waves against the dock was the only sound at that moment.
"…I'm not a good person, Nora."
"Don't say that!" she protested.
"It's true. Do you have any idea what I did to my team?" She hesitated, unable to answer. "I stole their dream from them. I ended our league competition because I wanted to go to college, even though they had prepared for that day for two years. And then I almost failed out; I would have had it not been for Nathan. And I can't even tell you how many people I slept with." That last statement was the one that made her wince. He knew what he said was true, and for that reason, maybe it was for the best that someone like Alexander was in charge – to keep people like himself in line. To keep them from hurting others in the very way he had done for so long.
"…I can look past all that," she said quietly. "And you should, too. If Nathan could move on and be better after everything that he left behind, then you can as well." A slim smile appeared on his face. Aaron looked up, making eye contact with her, and saw that her own expression became timidly happy as well. At that moment, he realized that, for a pokémon, she was quite beautiful.
But she wasn't human. For a brief moment, he wished that she was.
"Thank you, Nora."
Nathan deactivated the alarm before it went off. Like usual, he had woken three minutes prior. The clock read 5:57. He yawned, then looked aside, seeing his wife's eyes staring back at him. 'I win today.'
"Hurray for you." Nathan sat up and stretched, tossing the covers off and standing up.
'What should we do with Aaron's group?' she asked. 'Perhaps we could ask them if they would like to attend the service with us.'
"Sounds good to me. He could probably use it. I'll wake him up." Nathan joked. She jabbed him with a gleaming claw between his ribs, earning a quick laugh from him.
'Then put some clothes on. I doubt your friend and his team would like to receive that invitation while you are in your birthday suit…'
"Probably not." He slipped on some clothes, tucking his dress shirt in. Adira wrapped her arms around his waist, buckling his belt as he fixed his collar, then holding their current position. Nathan felt her head against his neck, where a small kiss was planted.
They assumed the usual morning routine. He woke Aiden and Naomi before making coffee. Adira was cooking breakfast, and once the clock struck 6:30, Aaron was still passed out on the pull-out sofa. Nathan knelt by the younger trainer and prodded him in the shoulder.
"Hey. Come on, time to get up." Aaron let out an unintelligible noise. "Aaron."
"What?" he moaned.
"Did you have any plans today?" His eyes finally opened, albeit only slightly.
"…No?"
"Great. We're going to church."
"…You woke me up for that?" He checked his phone. "At this hour?"
"Yes, now get up, heathen. Adira's made breakfast." Nathan left his side, helping Adira set the table, even though they were two chairs short. He and the latias set their own plates on the counter; they could eat there.
Aaron joined them along with an equally sleepy team. The trainer had bags under his eyes. Only Nora actually seemed to be awake; she glanced at her trainer and cracked a grin. "What time did you turn in?"
"I dunno," he murmured. "Probably two? I wasn't expecting to be woken up so early…"
"What were you even doing?" Nathan asked. "Internet and cable are both down, so I'm not sure how you could even keep yourself entertained until such an hour…"
"I was playing a game on my phone."
"…How productive," the older male said, earning a laugh from his charizard.
"Shut up," Aaron replied. "You too, Aiden."
"On a more serious note, were you planning on wearing that t-shirt? It's a church, not a college frat party." Aaron set his fork down, cutting a glare towards the older trainer.
"Well I wasn't expecting to go, so I'm sorry I didn't bring a suit and tie."
"Fine. You can wear one of my shirts. Might be a tad bit tight, though."
Aaron watched as eventually the attendees dispersed from the building, emptying the pews. The sermon had been about keeping the faith during this time and looking out for one another's wellbeing. That was definitely something he could get behind. Nathan showed no immediate intent to get up.
"This is the fullest this building's been in years," he said. "And it took someone threatening everyone's comfort for that to happen…"
"…Yeah." Of the members of his team, Krista seemed to be the only one somewhat distracted, though that wasn't out of disrespect as much as it was difficult for the audino to remain still and quiet in any scenario. He wondered what the congregation's response would have been had they seen through Adira's disguise.
Aaron sighed. This had been the first time he'd been in several years, and while he hadn't exactly felt guilty for that, part of him felt like this had merit. Nathan rested his hand on Aaron's shoulder, then spoke some of the most thought-provoking words he'd ever heard from the older trainer. "There is no such thing as an atheist, Aaron. We all worship something. For some, that may be Arceus, for others, it could be fame, sex, or power. At the end of the day, whatever it is that you worship is what will claim you."
He didn't have long to dwell on the statement, though, before his phone vibrated. Sofia's number appeared on the screen. Aaron quickly answered it. "What's up?"
"Where are you?!" His expression dropped upon hearing the concern in her voice.
"Undella. Why? What's going on?"
"Get to Nimbasa's city hall now! Omega's here!"
"Oh shit…" He looked over his team, each member being ready to go, and then towards Nathan, who sighed. A single shrug came.
"Go do what you must."
A/N: Special thanks to FuryWrites for beta reading this chapter.