Also, just in case I never mentioned it, Pikachu is always staying with May on her shoulder unless said otherwise.
Gain Of Trust
CHAPTER 13
"Are you sure you can trust her on her own now? She does know where we're going..." Cynthia said hesitantly, May giving a worried glance back behind them.
"I know, I'd bet she's still gonna help Ash, no matter what I could have or will say..." May trailed off, her lip slightly curling into a smile. "...Although, she cares about Ash too. And if she can help figure out what exactly he's planning, then I'll take the risk of trusting her."
"Um, May...?" the champion asked, feeling the younger woman's grip around her stomach grow tighter. "It's alright, Garchomp won't let you fall."
"I know, it's just...I wasn't really expecting to be travelling like this today..." May said with a nervous chuckle, the champion giving a chuckle as her dragon continued carrying the pair on its back a short distance off the ground towards their destination. Spear Pillar.
"Oh boy, why am I nervous all of a sudden...? He's your father figure, he's your father figure, there's nothing weird about meeting his mother..."
"Hello?"
"Oh?" the girl's attention was brought back to the screen, snapping her from her nervous rambling to the older woman looking back at her. "...Hi there."
"Hello, I heard from Professor Oak that you're a friend of May's. And that you needed to speak to me?" she asked, the younger girl giving a nod.
"Right...The truth is, I...I'm actually a friend of your son's, as well."
"...Oh, I see. Well, he has made a lot of friends in the past, I'm sorry that I don't recognize you, I'm sure he's told me stories about you before."
"Well...I doubt that he has...I only met him this past year."
"...This year...?"
"...That's right...It's a long story, and I understand you're confused, but I-"
"Do you know where he is now?" the girl flinched, hearing the older woman's tone show a slight desperation in her voice. "Do you know where my Ash is?!"
"...Yes...And I know you want to see him, but he's involved in some...complicated stuff right now," the girl hesitated, taking a pause before continuing. "...I can help bring him home, but that's the reason I had May call Professor Oak to reach you...I need you to tell me about some things."
"...If it's to bring my Ashy home...What is it you need?"
"...I need to know about your other children, besides Lead- Ash. I'm not sure if it's your son or daughter, but they have a son named Jack. I need to know about his past, so I have to know about your child that had him."
"..."
"...Ms. Ketchum...?" the younger woman asked, giving a worried look as the older woman's face on the screen showed something she wasn't expecting. Sadness.
"...I suppose I knew someone would learn about him, eventually..."
"Are we there yet?"
"I swear, Jack, I will hit you."
"Yeah, right. You're way over there."
"Swanna."
"Come on, like you would really- Whoa! Hey, Swanna, don't do that! You could kill us!"
"This is no better than Krystal and Gina's arguing..." Mason gave a sigh, Webb sighing in agreement. The icy-blunette glared at them.
"I heard that, you know," she said, glancing back at Leader behind them. "Hey, Leader, I was just wondering...why did you want to travel at the back? It's just that you're usually at the front..."
"Just a change of pace," he replied calmly, the girl looking forward again, feeling slightly dissatisfied with that response. Leader, however, maintained his focus on one person of the group in particular.
"Man, this traveling really wears you out..." Jack stretched his arms out, giving a slight yawn.
"And no surprise is that coming from you..." Trevor quipped, the shorter-haired man giving a slight glare.
"Very funny. If we're not almost there yet, I think I might catch a few Zs..."
"You're gonna sleep on Salamence's back? In the air?"
"Yeah, why not? I've done it before..."
"Seriously? Do you know how dangerous that is?"
"Meh, Salamence knows how to keep me on his back," Jack gave a friendly rub to the dragon's neck, who gave a friendly growl in response. The man lowered his head against the dragon's neck, holding its neck securely. "Besides...It's been a while..."
"Leader? Should we actually let-"
"We'll wake you when we're there, Jack. Rest as much as you can," the man said calmly, the others exchanging confused glances as they looked back to Jack, who only closed his eyes and began to rest.
"Gina..." the silver-haired girl glanced over her shoulder to the whisper in her ear, noticing her female friend riding behind her looking over at Jack with a worried expression. "...He's never slept like that before, right...? Or am I just forgetting?"
"...No, he certainly hasn't," she responded quietly, Krystal giving a slight nod as she looked ahead again, ignoring Leader's eyes look away from Jack and towards herself.
"They can't be too far off now, Misty wasn't that far away..." Brock said to himself, looking back towards the cave entrance that leads back down into the mountain. "...Although, I suppose we could have left May a flying-type to use..."
"She has Kyurem, I'm sure it can float."
"Do you realize how suspicious that would look in Sinnoh?"
"...Fair enough..."
"But doesn't Cynthia have any flying-types? They should still be moving faster than Misty..." Max commented, noticing a figure appear in the entranceway. "Hey, there she is!"
"Man...I should try jogging instead of swimming...for a change..." Misty panted, dropping her palms to her knees to support herself as she breathed heavily. She noticed figures up ahead, moving to join them. "...I still beat May and Gary? How...?"
"Well, they were a lot further away," Dawn stated.
"Still...I'm not a runner..." Misty huffed, her breath starting to return to normal. "...So? How'd it go with the lake guardians?"
"They're in the middle of contacting some more help," Brock pointed behind him, Misty looking ahead to see the three small figures floating with the gems in their bodies glowing.
"Ah...Cool..." the redhead said, looking around. "So this is Spear Pillar...Pretty interesting place..."
"Yeah, it's got a lot of history- Hey...I think that's Gary there!" Max exclaimed, pointing into the distance off the side of the mountain to a bird-like figure in the distance.
"Good timing, 'cause it looks like May was pretty close behind you, Misty," Brock stated, pointing towards the entranceway, where a dragon was seen with two female figures on its back heading towards them.
"...Well, where do I begin...?"
"It would be a lot of help if you could give as much as you could. From their growing up, to Lead- Ash's birth, then what happened to them."
"Well...Ash's father and I, we really wanted to have a baby. So when we finally found out I was pregnant, we were ecstatic. I was looking forward to finding out the baby's gender, but...he wanted it to be a surprise. For both of us."
"The father didn't want either of you to know the gender?"
"That's right. In fact, he managed to convince me from attending most of the regular checkups as well. But...That's where it started to go downhill."
"He...didn't get mad about that, did he...?"
"I'm afraid he did. I snuck away to go for a checkup at the hospital, and was so excited and nervous to hear about my baby for the first time. But the doctor told me more than what I bargained for..."
"How so? Was something wrong?"
"No, nothing like that. The doctor said that they were perfectly fine baby boys."
"Well, that's good to hea-" Lexi cut short. "...Wait...They?"
"That's right. I wasn't just carrying a baby...I was carrying twin boys," the older woman said with a happy smile, Lexi staring in disbelief. "To be honest, I had never even considered that possibility. More than one baby, I mean, I was so happy just to be pregnant that I never thought about if it were twins or even more."
"So then...If they were both boys, then it was Jack's dad...Please, ma'am, I need to know how to find Lead- Ash's twin brother."
"...I'm sorry, dear..." Lexi watched the woman's expression grow grim. "...I can't help you there."
"What do you mean...?"
"Not long after that day, their father found out about the hospital visit, that I went behind his back against his wishes. Like you said, he got angry about that...and left."
"He...left...?"
"Yes. I managed to take care of myself until that day...The day all of my luck with those two had run out."
"...What do you mean...?" Lexi was beginnin to get a sick feeling in her stomach.
"I was still just over a few weeks before my due date, so I went in for a checkup to make sure that things were still going well. But..."
"...What happened...?" Lexi felt sick for asking her to continue, but she needed to know. Delia frowned, her hand moving over her stomach as she glanced down.
"...The doctors said there was...a complication..."
"Hm...I was kind of expecting a welcoming party from your old friends..." Mason stated, glancing around at the entrance to Sinnoh's Pokemon League.
"Same here...Wonder if they're inside...?" Webb thought out loud, Leader planting his feet on the ground and recalling his flying-type. He glanced over at the blue dragon landing gently near him, moving towards it.
"I can't believe Jack actually slept all that way..." Trevor said quietly to himself, glancing over at the still-sleeping man as Leader approached him.
"Jack," Leader said quietly, gently putting his hand on the sleeping man's shoulder. No response. "...I want you five to go on ahead, start the Elite Four challenges for me to move through faster."
"Really?" Krystal asked, slightly surprised. Leader didn't respond, nor did he even look back at them. "...uh...Okay, then, we'll just...meet you in there..." the icy-blunette hesitantly started towards the entrance, slowly followed by the rest of her friends.
"You're worrying about that too, huh?" Krys' glanced at Mason, giving a nod to his hushed words.
"Well, glad to hear I'm not the only one...Since when could he ever sleep on Salamence's back mid-flight...?" the girl asked in confusion, the others exchanging curious glances.
"As I said, that was the first time he's done that," Gina glanced back discreetly, seeing Leader still standing beside the blue dragon. "And being picked by Leader for my senses, I would be a disgrace if I wasn't able to tell there's something about that that's not right..."
"Jack..." Leader whispered again, not taking his eyes off the sleeping man. Salamence turned its head to glance back at its trainer in worry, Leader taking notice. "Sorry, Salamence...I guess you've known that he's been keeping quiet with me, huh?"
"Saal..." the dragon growled gently, looking worried as he gave the man a nod. Leader smirked weakly.
"It's alright, you listen to him before me, after all," the man stroked the dragon's chin, making it happy.
"Nng...Hn..." Leader's eyes moved back to Jack, who began to stir in his slumber. The man turned his head, Leader noticing that he slightly cracks one eye open before seeing him and closing it again. "...How long was I out...?"
"Just under an hour," Leader told him, the man groggily sitting up and stretching. He turned his legs off the side of the dragon. "Hold on, take a few seconds-"
"Nah, can't waste time now..." Jack replied, rubbing his eye as he planted his feet on the ground, holding a hand on the dragon's side as he moved his support into his legs. "Besides, you sent the others ahead, I'm guessing. We can't keep-" the man removed his hand from the dragon's side, his balance becoming shaky.
"I said wait," Leader said firmly, taking Jack's arm to keep him from falling. Jack pulled a pokeball from his belt, returning his dragon, and shaking off Leader's grip. "Jack, you and I both know you're not like this after a nap-"
"Then you also know that the others will start arguing if we take too long..." Jack flashed him a smile with a short chuckle, walking away from him towards the entrance. Leader stared at the man in worry, giving a quiet sigh before following him.
"...Complication...?" Lexi felt a sharp pain in her chest at the woman's words. She may not have understood the feelings of motherhood, but something like that...there's no way it could have felt pleasant.
"Yes..." Lexi noticed the woman choke on her word slightly, the terrible feeling in her stomach growing more intense.
"Okay, I'm very sorry," Delia watched in surprise as the girl lowered her head on the screen, looking back up with apologetic eyes. "I'm sure you don't want to relive that experience, so I won't force you to go into detail about it. You've actually been more than enough help already."
"...You said you were looking to find Ash's twin, right?" Lexi gave a nod. "...Well, I mentioned that their father had left. And...The boys were actually born a few weeks earlier than expected, which led to some more complications..."
"They were born early?"
"And after spending a few nights at the hospital, so the doctors made sure that the babies would both be okay, I was given the okay to take them home. But that's when their father came back."
"Came back?"
"He saw that it was twins, not just one baby, and started yelling about me betraying him. It's safe to say that on that day, me and him were through, from that day onward with no chance of recovery," Delia smiled weakly to herself, rubbing her thumbs together on her lap. "...But, he also wanted his chance at parenthood. So he suggested that we each take one son."
"He wanted to split them up?" Lexi asked, bewildered.
"And so, that day was the last day that either of my boys saw each other. It wasn't long before I decided on naming Ash, but as for what his father named his brother, or even where they went...I never knew."
"...So you really...have no idea about him..." Lexi sank slightly into the seat, watching the woman nod. "...So...my only chance to learn...about Jack..."
"I'm sorry, dear..." Delia apologized, Lexi snapping herself from her daze.
"It's okay, Ms. Ketchum. Regardless, I still want to thank you for all the help you've been, I've learned some things from all this."
"I'm glad to hear it, dear, so long as you promise me one thing."
"Yes?"
"...Please...Make sure my Ash comes home again..."
"...I'll certainly try my best," Lexi flashed a smile to the woman, who smiled back, before the pair ended the communication call. Lexi frowned, staring at the blank screen. "So Jack's father...Leader's twin brother...Where could he have gone...?"
"And that makes four," Mason stated with a smirk as he recalled his pokemon, watching his opponent do the same in defeat.
"Alright, Lucian, looks like your time's up. Let us through to Cynthia," Leader told the older man, earning no response. Lucian only stared at the ground silently, giving a shift of his glasses. "...Lucian, I'm in no mood for games. Open-"
"I'm afraid that won't do you any good," the man finally replied, confusing the group.
"What are you talking about? Conquering Sinnoh is why Leader is here, and refusing to open that door is not enough to stop him from that," Trevor told the man, Lucian giving a shake of his head.
"I'm afraid you misunderstand me, I don't mean it to say that you cannot defeat her," he said, Leader giving him a curious look.
"Then what do you mean?"
"I mean that you cannot battle her. She's not here."
"..."
"...Guess we should've seen that coming..." Krystal muttered to herself, crossing her arms with a frown and a sigh.
"Then where is she?" Leader asked in a terse tone, the others recognizing that he was losing patience.
"I'm afraid I don't know, nor do the rest of the elites. Cynthia made sure to keep us in the dark for this very encounter, to make sure you do not find her," Lucian explained, Leader taking a deep breath.
"...Mason, Webb, go ask the other elites, just in case. Krystal, Gina, find the guards and as them as well, and find the surveillance room, I'm sure they have cameras in here that might've caught Cynthia leaving. Not to mention confirming my suspicion..." Leader stated, Trevor crossing his arms.
"There's no doubt it was that group, Leader," he told him calmly, the others giving surprised glances to the man. Leader turned to look at him. "You're suspicious it was them that tipped her off? I guarantee it was, and I can prove it."
"...Go right ahead, then," Leader replied, Trevor cracking his neck.
"Lucian, you mentioned that Cynthia kept each of you elites in the dark on where she was going?"
"Right, none of us know where she is at the moment."
"And you think that we won't be able to find her?"
"Precisely."
"And I suppose that you would never tell us if she had any visitors or not prior to us getting here?"
"I'm afraid I can feel in this circumstance, that would be against Cynthia's wishes."
"Of course it would...Then tell me, she was never had any male visitors?"
"None that I'm inclined to share on."
"Nor did she have any female visitors?"
"I'm afraid it's the same response."
"And just to clarify one more time, you believe that we won't find her no matter where we try to track her down?"
"I assure you, she knows this region much better than you do. If she wishes to not be found, she will not be found."
"Even if we were to look it up on a map?"
"There is nowhere to look up that she will not already know of."
"Hm...Very well, I appreciate the time," everyone save for two was surprised at the man's calm words, even more surprised to watch him turn away from Lucian and start towards the exit.
"Wait...What? Trevor, what are you doing?" Krystal asked, bewildered at the man's actions.
"It's pointless, he's loyal to Cynthia like we are to Leader. There's no breaking him," Trevor replied calmly, the icy-blunette glancing at Lucian with a worried glance.
"...I suppose he's right," Krystal was shocked once again to see Leader move towards the exit, beckoning for the rest to follow him. Reluctantly, they did, meeting up again at the entrance where Trevor had stopped.
"...Mind if I ask what the hell that was?" Webb asked with pure confusion, the others nodding in agreement. Except for two.
"I'm disappointed that the rest of you didn't see the point to that, but at least Leader and the one needed were able to," Trevor replied, the others looking confused and slightly insulted.
"Needed?" Webb asked, Trevor giving a nod as he looked at the one he meant.
"Am I right, Gina?" the silver-haired girl stared back at him silently in response, before giving a brief nod.
"Wait, hold on a sec. What is going on? What are you talking about?" Krystal asked, looking back and forth between Trevor and Gina. The man crossed his arms.
"I simply asked him specific questions to narrow down the search, that's all," Trevor said, Leader crossing his arms.
"And he wanted Gina to act as a lie detector," Leader stated, the others looking at Gina in confusion.
"For each question that Trevor asked, Lucian gave his answer, but there were subtle differences in his tone and physical reactions that made it clear whether he was being truthful or lying," Gina said calmly, Krystal's eyes beaming at her friend. "As we all know, Leader recruited me for my senses. That little interrogation was child's play."
"Right. So, for the elites not knowing where she is?"
"He was honest with that answer."
"And any male visitors?"
"Honest."
"Female visitors?"
"Lie."
"Wow, you're amazing, Gina!" Krystal hugged her friend happily, who glanced at her as if insulted. Krystal laughed nervously. "Well...I mean I knew you were awesome, but this specifically...Don't give me that look, I never doubted you!"
"So she had a female visitor, probably one of the friends from your group. But that leaves three possibilities, so how is that supposed to help us find Cynthia?" Webb asked, Trevor giving a slight shake of his head.
"That's why I asked multiple times if we would find where she was."
"...I'm still lost here..."
"Gina, the first time I asked."
"Honest."
"Second."
"Honest."
"Third."
"Honest."
How does that help us?!" Krystal asked incredulously, feeling embarrassed as she suddenly got everyone's attention. Trevor gave a sigh.
"Honestly...Gina, were they all the same answer? Exactly the same?"
"No."
"...What?" Krystal blinked, staring at her friend oddly. Gina looked at Trevor.
"They may have all been honest, but the integrity behind his words varied with each answer."
"...What does that mean...?"
"The first time I asked, Gina."
"He was fully honest about that one."
"But when I asked if we would track her down?"
"His confidence changed on that one. He got cocky with his words."
"Cocky?" Webb asked, the Trevor and Gina giving a nod.
"See, Lucian is strong in terms of psychological warfare, meaning he chooses his words very specifically in conversation so as to not let others know what he's truly thinking."
"So...He hides his thoughts...You saying he was doing that with you?"
"Exactly. He got cocky when I asked that time, but Gina, when I asked about looking up on a map..."
"He got nervous."
"What?" Mason asked, looking oddly at the girl. "If he was confident the first time, why would he get nervous the next time?" Mason inquired once more, before noticing Leader smirk, putting a hand on Trevor's shoulder.
"Good work, Trevor," he said, the blue-haired man smirking back.
"I'm sorry if you expected anything less, Leader," he said, Krystal rubbing her forehead.
"Okay, confusing talk aside, does that mean something? Him getting nervous?"
"As I said, Lucian chooses his words very specifically. Meaning he reads into other people's words as well. Sometimes quite literally."
"Okay, but how does-" Krystal stopped, everyone realizing it at the same time. "...He was confident we couldn't track her down..."
"Yep."
"But got nervous about if we could look her up..."
"Yep, now tell me," Trevor took a step away, turning to face them and pointing a finger up into the sky with a smirk. "Where do you look up, in Sinnoh?"
"...Clever..." everyone smirked, all their focuses turned towards a particular Sinnoh mountain in the distance.
"Misty, how did it go?" Gary asked, looking at the redhead in question. The girl flashed a smile, pointing over her shoulder.
"You were right, they had pretty damn good security on it too, so I'm feeling it's the real thing," she replied, the young researcher giving a sigh of relief.
"It was just a hunch, but I'm thankful it paid off..." his gaze drifted away from the group, towards the trio of legendaries nearby. "...Is that...?"
"Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie," Cynthia spoke up, looking at the trio. "It's been quite a while since I've seen them together again in one place...I suppose it was that day, wasn't it, Dawn and Brock?"
"Yeah, sure was," the blunette commented with her hands on her hips, smiling as she turned towards the blonde.
"It feels so long ago now..." Brock trailed off in thought, revisiting his memories of their Team Galactic encounter.
"So, Cynthia, you really just believed May's word on all of this? It's kind of a farfetched story, so I'm surprised you took her word this quickly..." Max told the woman, the blonde flashing a smile.
"Of course, I was already contacted by Alder not long ago. If this man truly wanted to liberate pokemon across the globe, I knew he would have to travel here to Sinnoh as well. I just never imagined that it would be the same Ash that I met all those years ago..."
"Yeah, that took us all by surprise..." Gary trailed off, crossing his arms. "But, it's not gonna shake us. We will stop him."
"Damn right!" Max exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air. The others smiled. "And then after we get Ash back, we'll take care of those other people of his!"
"We are not just 'people', kid."
"Sure you are- Huh?" everyone looked over to the nearest pillar, surprised to see a familiar blonde figure standing beside it. "Y-You?! No way! Ash can't already be here!"
"That's because he's not. It's just me," Lexi responded, stepping towards them. Everyone but May and Cynthia stepped back defensively, looking oddly at the pair who didn't do as the rest did.
"May, what are you doing?! She's the enemy!" Max exclaimed, the brunette giving a shake of her head and moving towards Lexi. "May!"
"So, did you get what you needed?" May asked, the blonde giving a frown.
"Some of it, but I still don't know how to track Jack's dad down...This sucks, we really need him to figure out Jack's past..." the blonde responded, ignoring the shocked looks they were getting from May's friends. "...No offense, but I don't have two heads. You don't have to stare like that."
"But...But you're one of them!"
"Them?"
"Sorry, Lexi, she doesn't mean offense," May sighed, noticing the blonde's change of tone and glare towards the blunette who had spoken rather...rudely. Even if without meaning to. "Look, guys, she's alright now. I helped her before I came here-"
"You helped her?!" Dawn asked incredulously, Lexi crossing her arms and arching an eyebrow at May.
"Not a very trusting group, huh?" she asked, the brunette only giving a sigh in response.
"Anyway, she had an idea for figuring out what Ash's secret plans are. Supposedly the partner he mentioned last time is Jack, and that Ash chose each of them for a reason based on their past. But none of them actually know Jack's past, except for Ash and himself, but neither of them will agree to talking about it. So Lexi had the idea of finding out Jack's past through Ash's family."
"Ash's?" Max tilted his head in confusion.
"Right. Leader is Jack's uncle, meaning that one of Jack's parents are Leader's sibling. And thanks to May, I figured out that it's Jack's dad who is Leader's twin brother," Lexi explained, earning confused looks from the others.
"Ash has a twin?"
"Right. Although I couldn't find out how to contact him, which sucks, 'cause that's what I was relying on in learning about Jack."
"Hang on a sec, how did you find this out exactly?"
"May got me in contact with Leader's mother."
"You let her talk to Ash's mom?! May!"
"What? She's helping! Did you want me to refuse help?"
"If she's the enemy!"
"Could you stop calling me an enemy? I have my reasons for being a part of all this, you know."
"Yeah, she's definitely not a bad person. I can tell you that now," May put a hand on the blonde's shoulder, the others staring at her in utter confusion. "So, how's the progress with whatever the lake guardians are up to over there?"
"No idea, we won't know until they tell us," Dawn replied, glancing over at the legendaries. "At least we have some time to do this before Ash gets here. If he were already here, we would be screwed."
"Well, don't count on too much time," Lexi told them, crossing her arms again. "Leader's more clever than anyone here, or almost anywhere, I'd bet. Once he gets to the league and discovers Cynthia is gone, he'll find a way to find her, guaranteed. There's nowhere you can hide that Leader won't find you."
"Wow, sounds like you got competition, May..." Max shifted his glasses with a sly grin, earning a prompt fist on the top of his head from his sister. Lexi laughed nervously.
"No, not exactly, kid..." Lexi told him, the boy giving an odd look.
"So, what do you suppose we do while we wait for them to finish?" Dawn asked, glancing at the legendaries again before clapping her hands together. "I spy?"
"How about giving up the Sinnoh champion title?"
...
... ...
... ... ...
"...Crap..." Dawn cursed herself, everyone looking over to the entranceway they had come from to see a group of seven, one man in particular standing in front of the rest arms crossed with a grin.
"It's been a long time, Cynthia. I think it's about time you take a step down from being the Sinnoh champion, don't you?"
END