Chapter 9: Sibling Rivalry

Lyss, Kai, and I walked back through Nova HQ. I was admiring my new badge that I had gotten. It looked like a spider web with a fly caught on it. The badges of the Nova League were really intriguing. I had won that battle against Luzige with my Bisharp. It was almost exactly reminiscent of the battle Marcus and I had, except this time, I won. Guess Luzige couldn't quite get a grasp of Scizor just yet. Can't say I blame him, either. Marcus was an exceptional trainer. I really do miss him…

Anyway, as we walked, we went back to the check in gate. All of us swiped our cards. We registered together as a travelling group. Luckily, Kai, too, had fought Draco first, so we can all stay together no matter what. Good thing, too, because Team Cataclysm was really beginning to scare the crap out of me. I had no idea what they were up to. I had a feeling, though, that Lyss did. She seemed to know an awful lot about that group. So I decided to ask her. Yeah. Big Mistake.

"Hey, Lyss…" I began

"What's up, Andrew?" she said as we waited for the next area to be assigned to us.

"Well, you seem to know a lot about Team Cataclysm… Um, why is that?"

Silence. Lyss stared off in the distance. She seemed to be thinking about the question.

"I just…" she began

"Yes…?" I was growing a little impatient

"I just… You see my s… I have had a lot of terrible encounters with them. That's all."

"Wait… You're what? You started to say something that started with an S. What was it?"

"M-my sister…" Lyss said, tears welling up in her eyes now. "I lost my sister to Team Cataclysm"

Lyss turned away and began to cry.

"Oh… Lyss, I'm so sorry, I didn't…" I began, but I was soon cut off.

"Will you shut up, already?" Kai said harshly. "Can you not see that Lyss is upset? You wait here and get our assigned region. I'm going to go comfort her. Come, Lyss."

And with that, Kai took Lyss and the two went off somewhere. The name of the region popped up on the scream. The Darkness Region. Perpetual night. We were looking for a pale, long-haired, well dressed young man named Tristan, a dark type user. Guess it fit with the mood and what I just did.

Later

I walked down the the streets of the HQ. They were really rather large. It was a big place. I couldn't find where Lyss and Kai disappeared to. I guess I would call them later.

As I walked, I saw a familiar looking face. Well, three actually. I walked passed them as I tried to completely ignore them. Of all the people, I didn't want to be seen by them.

"Whoa, bro, is that you?" said the Greg, my oldest brother and sibling in general, as he took notice of me.

Greg was an all right guy. Never had a care in the world. Always laid back. Kind of a surfer dude. He always had on a blue Hawaiian shirt with a white floral pattern that he wore unbuttoned to expose some of his tanned chest. He had on a large pair of sunglasses, a straw, tourist hat, flip-flops, and a pair of khaki Bermuda shorts. His sandy, blonde hair was a mess and his strong face was in a comfortable smile. He started his journey in Unova, almost twelve years ago. Our family moved around a lot due to Dad's job as ranger. When it came time for him to begin his journey, Greg was in Unova, and there he stayed.

"No way!" squealed Hanna, the second oldest, and my oldest sister. "I can't believe it! Little Drew, you're actually here, too!"

Out of all my siblings, I think Hanna was my favorite. She was a typical girly-girl, but she always treated me just fine. She wore a pair of yellow sandals and a nice, pink sundress that showed a little more leg and cleavage than I'd like to see on my sister. Don't get me wrong, she's very attractive. She has long, straight brown hair, big, beautiful, blue eyes, and a really nice figure, but, it's my sister, I can't think of her in that kind of way. She was only about two years younger than Greg, but by the time it came for her to start her journey, our family was living in Sinnoh. So, she was powerful trainer from the Sinnoh Region. Of all my siblings, she treated me kindest of all of them. Not to say that Greg didn't treat me fairly, he just treated me like a little kid all the time. Hanna didn't. Now, it was the third person they were traveling with that I was dreading to see.

"They actually let a runt like you in this top league, huh?" sneered Skylar, the brother closest to my age. He was only three years older than me, but he always, ALWAYS looked down as if I were some stupid little kid. "If they let you in, then this league MUST be easy."

Skylar was a jerk. He always was. I hated him because he treated me so horribly. His neatly cut, short black hair was always so perfectly styled. His sharp, green eyes always judging and looking down on me. His condescending sneer always upon his face. He had on a light, green windbreaker, a darker green, simple t-shirt, a pair of black and green sneakers, and standard, un-ripped blue jeans. Skylar was what was known as a "New Unova" trainer. Whereas Greg was just a trainer from Unova, Skylar started after what was known as "The Great Unova Migration," where hundreds of Pokémon species not native to the region at the time Greg started his journey, all migrated to Unova for unkown reasons. We were living back in Unova at this time, and this was when Skylar started his journey. It was only one month before we moved to Hoenn, where Dad, Mom, and baby Kenzie live now and where I began my journey.

"Oh, come now, Skylar, be nice, we haven't seen little Drew in ages!" Hanna said, excitedly. She ran up and hugged me very tightly. Greg came up right behind her, and gave me a big pat on the back. It was true, I hadn't seen them in a while. If Skylar weren't travelling with them, I would've certainly said hi to them the instant I saw them. But, it seemed as if the three were travelling together.

"Ohmygosh, Drew, I can't BELIEVE, you're here! This means all four of us are here now! Oh, this is so great, we can all travel together, hang out, and it will be so much fun! Whaddya say, Drew, sound like fun!?" Hanna said incredibly fast. She was very excitable and a very, very fast talker.

"YEAH bro! That would be totally rad if you joined us, man!" Greg said in his surfer voice.

"Yeah, no, I don't think so. We don't need a weakling like him dragging us down" Skylar said, bluntly.

"Oh!? And why not, huh, Skylar!? You know, I haven't seen you guys in a long time, and here you are, being such an ASS. What the HELL is your problem!?" I screamed, Skylar was really pissing me off. I've dealt with his shit before, but now I'd had it. I prepared a pulled out my Friend Ball and sent out Ampharos.

"Oh, I see you want to prove yourself, huh? Alright then, let's go. Come on out, Flygon!"

Skylar sent out a large, green Pokémon, with triangular shaped wings, a long tail, and what appeared to be red goggles over its eyes. Ampharos readied himself for battle, as did the giant dragon.

"Alright, Power Gem, now Ampharos!"

"Flygon, use Dragonbreath!"

Ampharos shot a powerful beam from the jewel on his head. It was powerful, but not powerful enough to take on the Flygon. Flygon shot out a stream of purplish, flame something or other. It hit Ampharos head on. With the attack, Ampharos was moving very little now.

"Now, finish this with Earth Power Flygon."

The ground shook as spout of flame hit Ampharos. It was a combined fire, ground attack. Ampharos was out that quickly now. I recalled Ampharos. I went in to get another Pokémon, but Skylar stopped me.

"Don't even bother, we both know that I will win with just my Flygon" he said.

"Why you…"

"You what?" he asked. "Are you going to insult me? Well, let me teach you a lesson."

Skylar walked up to me. Suddenly, I was pinned to the ground by him. Greg and Hanna looked on in horror. Skylar made a fist and then slugged me right in the left eye. He then punched my jaw. Both parts began to swell. Greg and Hanna were shocked.

"Let's go. Leave him be, we have our own agenda." Skylar said as he stood up and walked off.

"That was harsh, bro, I'm so sorry" said Greg as he followed Skylar.

"Mom's defiantly going to hear about this. I'm so sorry Drew, but I need to go. I'll teach him better" Hanna said as tears formed in her eyes and walked away, following my two brothers.

Two hours later

I had finally found Lyss. I sat down next to her and handed her a Castaliacone as an apology. She gladly accepted and it happily. She was a lot more cheerful now.

"We're going to the Darkness Region next. We should get flashlights and go as soon as Kai gets back." I explained.

"Okay, cool. We got this!" Lyss said, back to her cheerful self.

"Hey, Lyss, I'm really sorry, I made you cry. I didn't mean to. I'm truly sorry" I said, as I turned my head to her. She took notice of my swollen jaw and my black eye for the first time.

"Whoa, Andrew, what happened to you?"

"Well, losing your sister made you cry. But, it's the opposite for me" I said. "Being with my siblings just makes me want to cry."

A/N: Haha, long night, and I couldn't sleep, so I wrote and posted a new chapter only a few hours after my other one! I'm still accepting Area Leader OCs! I hope you guys are still enjoying my story. :)