Icirrus Arc: The New Vision
"What's enough?" Aria's voice went quiet and high as she looked at Laslow in surprise after a moment of stunned silence. "How could you possibly go against me? I...we've known each other for so long... Everything was so wonderful until SHE came..." She sniffed, her voice quivering with anger. "She ruined everything for me... We could have been so happy!",
"Nothing is sadder than the death of an illusion", he replied with a calm, yet serious and obviously angry voice. "But at some points in life, you have to let them go. Illusions never become anything real, no matter how much you wish they would." His eyes were cold as ice and sent chills down her spine. It's as if he had turned into an entirely different person. "You've been clinging to a dream and forgetting reality. This will end now. I didn't send you away yet because I didn't want to hurt you, because I thought you might change, but you've crossed my line.",
"...Pah. You're really taking her side?" Her head turned red with anger. "How can you do this to me...",
"I can... because I will not let you terrorize me anymore. You are disgusting and toxic, Aria, and I'm sorry it took me so long to realize. Maybe I myself have been holding on to false hopes, but these hopes are gone now and I will not mourn over them. You don't have the right to make me do anything. Your jealousy isn't cute, it's abhorrent. Your behavior isn't funny, it's hideous. Go, Aria. Now. I don't want to speak to you ever again." Every word he said was like a sword straight to her heart. "I wish you good luck on your journey... but our ways separate here."
"You..." She exhaled and clenched a hand to a fist. "Fine! FINE! I'll leave you alone. But YOU will pay!" Again, she pointed at Jacky. "I'm going to keep fighting for Laslow! And no one will stop me!" With those words, she stormed off. Laslow snorted irritably. "Tch..."
Jacky felt indescribably bad. The whole situation had overwhelmed her and all the courage she had just a moment ago faded away. Laslow turned away and walked past the girls. "It's getting cold. Let's go inside before we catch a cold.",
"You guys go ahead," Mari said. "I need to go some place.",
"Where are you going?",
"Stargazing.",
"Oh... okay..." Jacky nodded and waved at her as Mari left.
"How do you feel?" Jacky asked Laslow as they headed inside and dropped their Pokémon off with the nurse.
"...I don't know, honestly", he replied. "I wonder if, maybe, I was a little too harsh on her...",
"No, absolutely not!" Jacky shook her head. "She should learn not to try to possess you... You showed her that.",
"It was necessary", he replied. "I'm... kind of a doormat sometimes... I don't speak up when things displease me normally and just suck them up. But... this has become too much and something had to be said. It's clear that she doesn't listen to anyone but me, so... I had to stop her. Even if I don't like to admit it, but... it's a real relief that she is gone now. Sometimes, I was so tense in her presence that it exhausted me...",
"She IS exhausting," Jacky muttered. "All the more reason for me to be happy for you that you've freed yourself from her.",
"Thank you for standing up for me.",
"No problem...",
"I hold it in high regard that you care about other people, even when you barely know them... You didn't HAVE to make yourself strong for me, yet you did.",
"Uhm... o-of course I did! Th-thanks for the praise... So... will you continue your journey on your own or will you join up with Chris instead?",
"Hm..." He sighed. "I'll go on alone from here on out. My school friends and I have this arrangement going that we don't travel together so we can surprise each other in the Pokémon League should we face off against one another. You know, so that we don't end up knowing each other's teams and tactics by heart. We want it to be an honest showdown.",
"...I've heard something similar from some girl we met in Virbank... Is she part of your friend group?",
"Kuraiko?",
"Yeah. That was her name, I believe.",
"Yes, she is.",
"So you're from Striaton, as well?",
"Yes. I went to school there with her and Chris, although he wasn't in my class. We graduated when we were fifteen, and then spent a year working to save up some money for the journey. During that time, Chris' parents moved to Opelucid with him, so we saw him a lot less frequently from then on. Kuraiko's Mom fell ill shortly after she left home, and because her Dad isn't in the picture anymore, she had to stick around to help her with groceries and everything. That's why she couldn't make it to the tournament. It would've been our first great reunion otherwise.",
"That sucks...",
"A little bit... She did come to watch the semi finals, though. So we did end up seeing her, after all. Her Mom is better now, though.",
"That's great to hear!",
"I agree... Anyway... I think that's enough for one day. You should get some rest.",
"Yeah, you're right... Um, Laslow?" C-Can I... have your number?"
He raised his eyebrows. "Sure. Why?",
"Well... should I ever need more advice, I could just text you... Or we could agree on meeting up somewhere, should we want to battle again, you know...",
"... There's some truth to that." He nodded and they exchanged numbers. "Well, I'll be off then. Good night.",
"Good night." She waved after him. "See you!"
She looked at her shoes when she was alone. 'He didn't want to hurt her... He really has a kind heart... I'm kind of sad that he has to travel alone now... I can't imagine what it's like to travel alone, Mari's always been by my side...' She sighed before going outside to loook for her friend. She was sitting on a hill at the western edge of town and looked up towards the sky. "Ah, there you are.",
"Hey." Mari smiled at her. "Well? Did you guys talk some more?",
"A little bit, but not about anything important." Jacky shrugged.
"Okay, whatever you say."
It was quiet between them as Jacky gazed upwards as well, before she asked: "...Can you make out some constellations?",
"I'm not an expert, but I do like astrology. If I'm not mistaken, that one back there is Pyroar. And that one... is Drapion, I think.",
"I just see white dots in the sky", Jacky laughed and Mari joined in. "Yeah, most of them look really far-fetched. I don't blame you." Then, she got up. "We should head inside.",
"Yeah, I'm getting really tir- ... nngh!"
Suddenly, Jacky held her head and her eyes became glassy. She stared into space for a couple of seconds.
"Are you okay...?" Mari asked worriedly. "Jacky?" She didn't respond. "Hey, Jacky!"
Then, it hit her. Jacky was having a vision. Her friend gasped heavily as she came back to reality. Sweat stood on her forehead. "Yeah... everything's... okay...",
"What did you see?",
"A lot..." she gasped. "Can we talk about it in our room...?",
"Of course."
The two of them walked off and Mari unlocked the door to their room. Then, she sat down on her bed. "So... what happened?"
Jacky sat down across from her and wiped her forehead. "Well..." She didn't quite know where to begin. "This time was pretty different... Usually, I see clear scenes in front of me... like in a movie. But this time..." She folded her hands in her lap. "...This time, it was as if I only saw individual sections. Quickly following one after another out of context. I barely had time to interpret it all before it was all gone..." She tried to sort herself mentally and remember the order of the sections she saw. "... First, I saw a shadow towering high into the sky. A... a mountain. In the shadow of that mountain was some sort of building. Like a... castle or a church or something in that direction... it was pretty dark, but I heard someone... a... a girl, I heard a girl scream, but she sounded muffled like she... was somewhere deep underground or something. Or in an isolated room. I heard a group of people mumble something, I heard quick, echoing footsteps as if someone was running around in an empty hallway... As if they were in a hurry. Then, I briefly saw something that I think took place not too long ago... Just a gut feeling... At first, there was a place with old looking pillars. Some kind of... platform somewhere high up. Then, the sky became dark and I could see a person standing in front of a huge shadow that looked like a flying snake with thorns emerging from its sides and back... Like... like Giratina. It looked like this person was demanding something from it. And in the last section I saw, that person was there again... Judging from the silhouette, it was the very same person... In front of an altar, I think... I couldn't make out the appearance, but I could hear them say something. The voice was familiar although somewhat distorted, and what they said sounded like some kind of oath. Something they recited in front of someone else. I don't even know if I saw everything in chronological order, or if it was a hopeless chaos of events that are somehow connected..."
"Hmm... It all sounds pretty bizarre", Mari said thoughtfully. "You saw a mountain, yes? Do you think it was Mount Coronet?",
"Quite possibly, but it could also have been a mountain here in Unova... Although Mount Coronet is pretty close if it was Giratina I saw. The platform in the sky could have been the Spear Pillar. But what would anyone want from it?",
"You're asking the wrong person..." Mari shook her head. "I have no idea.",
"Maybe he or she wanted to challenge it, but what for...? It doesn't make sense... I'm just afraid that something bad will happen soon...",
"Let's hope not. It all sounded super weird.",
"The screams I heard... They... they sounded like whoever they came from was in a huge amount of pain... Those weren't screams of horror. I don't know why, but somehow, something about them chased a chill down my spine... Like, like I knew the voice... It was all pretty distorted and everything but still... That's what makes it all so scary."