(I am so sorry. Feel free to shoot me.
Oh, my god. This hasn't been updated in forever, and then...I'm SO SORRY. Really, really. I was working on Fatal Error with Abyss, and then I just neglected everything else because I was reeling from Akira and Anna's deaths, I'm so sorry.
DUN DUN DUN! I bring the suspense in...well, okay, like, two paragraphs, but I had to get things back on track again...so sorry if this chapter sucks. Oh my god. I swear I'll update more.
Yes, they're leaving. But it's not permanent. I love those two. But the others have a whole arc dedicated to the ghosts of their pasts...so yeah. I'm not giving this away, just read the chapter, okay? I don't own Pokemon or whatever.)
A thin plume of smoke trailed from the cigarette Tristan listlessly smoked, as Olivia and the surviving members of the raid departed the League. They looked incredibly calm and composed, but Tristan knew for a fact that Olivia literally had to be yanked away from her dad mere minutes ago.
Morgan watched as they left, and refused to cry. "Tristan," He said quietly, "look at me." The younger man did so, and cocked his head towards the Champion. "Sir?" Morgan smiled to himself.
"As you know, the Resistance Order is a group whose members are to be put to death upon immediate capture, yes?" Tristan was confused.
"Yes, sir, I do know that, but...what does that have to do with anything?" He said. Morgan turned away, and headed back in.
"They were never here."
Tristan suddenly knew that it was now going to have to be his job to public relations the hell out of the fact that there was a raid on the League Headquarters...
"You bastard!" He howled in rage. "I'm going to fucking kill you!"
Morgan's hysterical laughter, however, soothed his temper.
Tristan, however pissed he may be, had a secret.
He was currently in control of the entire headquarters' supply of handcuffs. Hooray for being in charge of surveillance.
"Oh, sir, your ass is mine..." He grumbled, not even stopping to consider the implications of his choice of words...If he did, it probably would've meant the same thing, anyways.
"I'm leaving the Order."
Gold spit his coffee out, soaking Crystal thoroughly in a double shot of espresso.
"You can't leave! You're our adorable-yet-insane mascot! You're the fresh new start of the Order! You're...you're...you're the protagonist!" He said.
"Yeah, we were actually going to ask you to lead. So you can't leave."
My head snapped in the direction of the voice that had spoken. I gasped softly.
Besides Red, he had been rumored to be one of the most powerful Trainers in the Order. He was proud, unfeeling, and unflinching.
"Lance..." I whispered softly. He nodded.
"Now, considering the amount of good it would do to have the Champion's daughter as our leader, and also, your very interesting display on the raid...I personally endorse you as a leader." Gold waved his hand.
"Me too! Silver does, but he's..." Silver was asleep, snoring loudly. Gold sighed.
"...He does that at meetings." I raised an eyebrow, and laughed. But then the reminder that everyone was hanging onto my every word got back to me.
"I accept." I said, shoving my hands in my pockets. Jack stood on my shoulder, tail wagging.
"And as your new leader, my first official act is to disband the Resistance Order."
My words came out of my mouth before I could stop them. I didn't know what I was saying at this point...but...it seemed right.
Everyone stopped short. "...What?" Yellow whispered. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and she was clutching Pika to her chest. I nodded.
"...We...we can't hide any longer. Don't you see why we failed?! Because we hid in caves like animals! We need to fight back! I mean, sure, we need to stay together in a group, but we need to do more than just sit in this cave and do nothing! What have we done, really, but kill?! We need to educate!"
I stopped.
"Yellow." I said quietly. She looked up at me, and I felt a stabbing pity for her; she was so young, and she'd loved Red with all her heart, if not always like a lover, than an older brother. She didn't deserve any of this.
"Yellow, I leave you in charge of everyone. I need you do make a difference, stir shit up. Can you do that for me?" She nodded, sobbing openly now. I nodded slowly.
"...Lance. You take Subakami and Ragnarok. Jupetta, you go with Sabrina, Lucifer, you go with Karen. I want Yellow to take care of all of Red's Pokemon." I turned on my heel, and went to leave, almost reaching the door—and then I stopped.
"See you in hell." I grinned, giving them a two-fingered salute before heading out.
It was silent for a second.
Then a raucous cheer rose up from the ashes of the Resistance Order.
I laughed quietly, and started off down Mt. Moon, Jack at my side, knowing that I was alone now. It didn't feel as bad as I'd thought...but...I didn't know anything anymore.
I didn't even know if walking away from this stuff was worth it. Was it? Or was I just in for a world of hurt, fighting alone?
"HEY! HEY! LIVVY!"
Opal, Gold, and Silver all raced up to me. Gold grinned.
"Look, I like Yellow a lot, and I don't want this to fail; Silver and I are going to stay behind for a bit to help her get things going, but we promise, promise, promise, we'll meet with you in about a week." I nodded, hugging the both of them.
"You don't have to follow me." I whispered. Silver shook his head.
"No...but it's our pleasure to fight with you, Livvy. Look, the hell with hiding in a cave!" His eyes shone. "We can fight!" I nodded, heart firmly lodged in my throat by this point.
"I'm coming with you." Opal said softly, taking my hand, and gazing into my eyes. My cheeks warmed, and I mentally swore.
"...Okay." I mumbled. Amai frowned, but said nothing.
I closed my eyes as Silver and Gold left to head up to help Yellow become the new leader of whatever the hell they were doing now. I didn't want to see them leave. I hoped they meant it, and they were going to be back soon.
Opal nodded at my Pokemon. "Okay. We're back to where we started from. Look, we'll just take Myrtle; she's an Altaria, she can carry both of us. But we'll have to recall everyone else. We need to get back to Celadon, right?" I nodded.
Opal called out Myrtle, and I recalled everyone, including a rather put-out Jack. Amai was recalled as well, much to her chagrin.
Opal took my hand, and helped me up onto Myrtle; I tried not to blush again, but when he sat me in the juncture between her wings and neck, he came from behind and settled in back of me, hips firmly clutching my back.
I wanted to alternately kill him and jump him, whichever came first.
We lifted off into the air, and soared off for Celadon. I was in a state of half-sleep for the entire ride, and let Opal take over the reins and control Myrtle.
I noticed about an hour later we were above Celadon. I nodded, and said, "Bank down, okay?" Myrtle nodded, and we dove down to the city, as we both lightly jumped off Myrtle. I turned to Opal.
"I'm going to get my Badge; why don't you go explore around for awhile? I should be done in awhile. See you later?" I asked. Opal nodded.
"Alright; I'm just going to go look around in the forests around here; if there's any cool Pokemon, I'll let you know." I nodded, and turned to my Pokemon. "Let's go!" They all cheered happily, and with a light heart, I set off for the Celadon Gym.
Opal strolled down the street, heading towards the glades surrounding Celadon. The trees glimmered with rain, leaves trembling with the weight of the drops. Opal sighed in happiness, and slouched against a tree, laying his head back, and going to sleep.
"My son...my son!" Opal looked up. Where was he? Certainly not in Celadon, that was for sure. He observed the place.
It looked like a jigsaw puzzle someone had put together by cutting off pieces to make other ones fit; everything was colliding into each other, and seemed so out-of-place.
He looked up, and saw his mother, Celeste Trent.
"...Mom?" He whispered softly, unsure of what was going on. She nodded. "Oh, oh sweetie, Opal..." He felt arms wrap around him, and pull him close. He pulled away, and looked at her.
"What's going on? Why are you here? ...You...you're dead!" He cried. Oh god, don't let this be a dream; he'd missed her so much... She nodded.
"I'm dead. But you're dreaming, and I came to talk to you. I'm in the Torn World; the Reverse World, as some call it. I can reach you from there. Listen to me, Opal," She said, suddenly becoming stern, "I need you to get the Pokeball." He looked confused.
"What, mom? The Pokeball? But...what does a Pokeball have to do with it?" She sighed.
"Mew's Pokeball. I...I kept a secret from you. Opal, I'm sorry. I...before you were born, I hunted down the Goddess of all Legends, Mew...and I caught her. After I died, she escaped, taking the Pokeball with her. Now...it's in the possession of the Eevee your friend owns. Jack, his name is?" Opal nodded, still trying to take what she was saying in.
"...You're...you're telling me you caught Mew? THE Mew?" Celeste nodded.
"Indeed I did. Now, since Jack has the Pokeball, all he has to do is touch the thing, and he can summon Mew. Imagine, Opal, the power that you could have at your fingertips! Mew, at your beck and call!" Opal looked confused.
"But why do you want it back? What use does it have for you?" Celeste frowned.
"With it, you could take down the entire League. Mew is one of the most powerful Pokemon in existence; with her at your beck and call, you could do anything you wanted! Anything, Opal!" She stood still. Then she stroked his cheek, and grinned eerily.
"Like be with mommy forever. Would you like that? You could bring mommy back to the real world, and she could stay...forever and ever. Don't you want to be with me forever, Opal?" He nodded slowly.
"...I...I guess..."
"OPAL!" A new voice thundered. Both humans looked up. "Amai?" Opal whispered.
"IT'S A TRAP! SHE WANTS YOU TO KILL JACK! COME BACK, OPAL!" Opal faltered.
"...I...I don't know what to do..." His mother turned to him, and as she reached for him, he felt Amai's psychic threads pull him out of the abyss, and he was reaching for his mother's hand, but she was too far away and—
"OPAL!" His eyes shot open, and as Amai stood over him, he blinked.
"What...what happened?" Amai frowned. "The Reverse World...somehow, without Giratina's doing, she managed to contact the living...it's...almost unheard of." Amai gazed at him. "You're...not actually going to take the Pokeball, are you?" Opal faltered.
"...No...no, of course not...come on, let's go look for some other Pokemon..." He set off, and, sighing, Amai followed him.
But the nagging voice in his head had no intention of leaving any time soon.
I sighed, as I stared up at the gym. "Eew. It's all flowery." Lev sneezed, as did Jack. I grinned.
"Looks like someone's allergic to pollen..." Grimwald looked up from the flowers, a mouthful of honeycomb in his mouth.
"Hey! These Combee share! C'mon, it tastes really good!" I grinned, and looked at the tiny colony all around the front of the gym.
/Hello!/ I called with my thoughts. They buzzed, and as I touched one, it cooed, /Hello, Human Speaker!/ I blinked.
"...Does Human Speaker mean one who can talk to Pokemon?"I whispered. The Combee nodded. I grinned.
/I see. Then hello, Pokemon Speaker./ They buzzed happily, as we all selected a few sections of the waxy honeycomb that were all packed with honey.
Sweetly smelling, we blended in with the massive amounts of flowers that bloomed readily in the Gym. Even though the flowers were almost painful to look at, I enjoyed the scenery. It was so calm and peaceful in here...
Santi flexed his shoulders. "I'm itching for a fight, aren't you?" I nodded.
"Of course!"
I walked up to the center of the Gym, where a young girl my age sat, picking flowers with a Meganium. I was a bit stunned. "Aren't...aren't the Gym Leaders supposed to be a bit...oh, how do I put this...should they REALLY be jailbait!?" Grimwald remarked. I shrugged.
"Hello?" I called out. The girl looked up, soft red hair bouncing down to her shoulders.
"Hi! I'm Melia!" She chirped, as the Meganium eyed us. "It's nice to meet you! Are you here for a battle?" She asked, suddenly getting serious. I nodded.
She grinned.
"Okay!" She called, summoning a Pokeball. "Ready whenever you are!"