*NOTE: This chapter has a song from the "soundtrack" featured in it! This website does not allow links, so to listen along with the story, please copy/paste the below code into a new tab. In the new tab, write in the address bar: www dot youtube dot com/, and then after the slash, please copy and paste the below code and you'll be directed right to the song. When you see the three stars in the chapter (***), that is the signal to hit play! Also important to note: Please slow the playback speed down on the video to .75 for best results! It sounds better slow!
The copy/paste code to the song, titled on YouTube as "Pokemon Route 11-15 Theme (from Pokemon Fire Red / Leaf Green) - Piano Cover" by Sinta Cahyadiis this: watch?v=c5HkH9uXrPY&ab_channel=SintaCahyadi
...
Down the long hallway they marched, hand in hand.
Maya fought to keep her composure strong; she followed her Dragon Master's lead, holding her shoulders back steady and stern, one foot in front of the other,
Even though every step she took felt so incredibly wrong;
She could feel a strange pressure still aching in her chest, but she swallowed it down.
The darkness of the hallway was suddenly overtaken by the shining morning light of the Parlor as they approached, the beautiful new day's sun shining in from the Elite Estate's garden, pouring into the grand suite of windows that wrapped around the room.
Maya peered over to Lance. His face was stone cold, eyes dark, brows firm as he lead her slowly over to the piano, its black lacquer finish gleaming in this morning light.
Sitting there on the piano's top casing was their pokémon, their guardians of the night, still tucked away in their pokeballs in the sacred little circle where they had left them. Lance slowly reached to lift the leather belt that held his legendary team of six, before wrapping it gently around his waist to clip onto him again, back at their Master's side where they belong.
He then reached to grab Kadabra's pokeball, holding it softly in his hand as he peered over its ruby red sheen, before holding it out to Maya.
As her hand gently grabbed upon it,
A crimson FLASH burst forth, and Kadabra formed from the light out onto the marbled floor before them.
It's solemn black eyes locked onto Lance, and did not look away.
They froze there for a moment; Kadabra knew this was goodbye.
Lance peered down upon it softly,
Before slowly stepping over to it, kneeling down nobly to the little psychic fox's position near the floor, eye to eye.
Lance reached out a gentle open hand,
And after a moment, Kadabra's little golden claw reached to receive it, wrapping around Lance's fingers loosely, its black eyes growing softer with the touch.
Lance's face turned stern; a thick contemplation falling over his brow as he focused his mind, clearing his other worries away for just a moment,
Before casting his clearest thought out to Kadabra, in perfect clarity & lucidity, as crystal clear as the air on the altar of Arceus:
An image of their Maya, his favorite memory of her,
her brilliant smile beaming,
The sun rising behind her in the great Safari Preserve,
Her gorgeous cerulean eyes shining with excitement; alive with the vigor of adventure and will; her spirit glowing as brightly as a teleporting flash as she smiles so vibrantly;
Lance's new words now broadcasting over through his mind:
Thank you, Kadabra.
For watching over her,
When I cannot.
She is... everything.
Kadabra's eyes began to sparkle, growing rounder at the thought.
It nodded its head slowly, squeezing its claws gently around his hand.
Maya looked on in wonder; she had never seen such a fragile face painted over her Kadabra before.
Lance stood back up tall, turning to face the open parlor, soaking in the sunlight on the darkened lines of his face.
Together now, hand in hand again, he and Maya walked over to the double glass doors of the room and opened them slowly, the warmth of the garden bursting across the ivory parlor floor.
As they neared the precipice of the courtyard, Kadabra floating behind them, Maya turned and took one last look at the gorgeous grand piano; the one that had played the song of their love, and guided them in the Dragon's Dance. She looked down at her feet as they neared the edge of the marble, studying closely to the hardened feel of it beneath her bones, praying that the memory of it will imprint on her mind for a future dream in the months to come.
They finally stepped outside together, the sun now hitting their faces. Her eyes fell upon the luscious green garden, so grand & luxurious, the perfectly groomed stacks of hedges towering over them both as they stood on the very same stonetop where they had danced together in the throes of the sacred storm.
But this time, they were still.
She sighed at the memory of it; of him sweeping her around in the rains.
Lance slowly retrieved the pokeball from the first slot in his belt, holding it out firmly in his hand. Without a word, the crimson light streamed out from it, and Dragonite formed proudly in the morning sun, it's towering orange body matching the glow of the dawn's new light.
It peered over to them softly, before matching its Master's soldier-like composure.
It knew what Lance was trusting it to do; this holy errand to deliver her back home to Saffron, that it would have to do alone.
Maya turned to Kadabra softly, nodding slowly as she took a heavy sigh,
Before holding up its pokeball gently to her ace.
And with one last look of reverence at the Dragon Master,
Kadabra collapsed back into its ball once again.
Maya and Lance,
They turned and faced each other now;
Those silver eyes;
Shining in this horrid moment,
His brow holding sharp; his jaw clenched, as he gazed upon her,
And she stared back so softly, those true cerulean eyes now sunk; now welling with the tears.
Their hands came together,
As she took in this radiant sight of him,
A sight that people cheer for from the stands,
One that legends had been written about,
of her valiant Dragon Master,
This brutally brilliant man,
Her Champion, who she loved so very deeply,
As he pulled her into one last sacred kiss:
Lungs shaking; tasting in the other deep,
Her hands coursing through his disheveled locks of garnet,
while his own clutched hard to the silks of her back, squeezing her tight,
Before lifting a hand to her face, the face of his precious Vermillion orchid,
His fingers trailing down the freckles of her cheeks.
Their chests; they throbbed,
As the kiss finally broke open,
And the space between them grew.
But their embrace still held on strong;
His arms wrapped about his lover tight, his heavy cape surrounding her; shielding her in this little moment from the fires of their parting light,
with his solemn breath now shaking into her ear in disbelief, as he held to her so close.
Their bodies finally parting, he slowly led her over to Dragonite's position, where it's wings spread wide,
Where he helped her climb aboard, and she took the lead up front.
But on the grounds of garden, his feet remained.
Glued to the stone of the tile, watching her gaze down from the perch,
Her cold, cerulean eyes, with new tears now streaming down,
He could barely stand it; the heartbreak on her stunning face.
He took a step back; committing this to memory, of the ruin he had caused.
And for the longest moment they gazed upon each other; steeping in this pain,
As it was all that was left of them, for now,
Before Lance's fists closed tight,
His veins surging, his brow sharpening, the tears stinging at his eyes as he swallowed them down.
And with a hearty nod from the Dragon Master,
Dragonite kicked off from the ground,
Taking Maya up with it,
Up into the air above the green Elite garden,
And as she watched down from the wings of his Dragon, her hands bracing at the warm scales of its back,
A RIPPING,
Horrid,
SHOCK
Shot through her lungs.
Her face twisted with the pain; the tears still streaming down in the sunlight,
His hand suddenly reached up,
A SEARING,
STINGING throb,
Rippling through his chest,
But his silver eyes never left her,
As she ascended into the clouds,
Far and above the golden gate of the Estate house,
Far above the winding mythic caves of the Plato,
The pain growing stronger and stronger,
Deeper and deeper in the bones of them both,
In the true silken tear of their Longing,
as the dragon kept on with its climb over the currents of Kanto.
Maya broke into tiny sobs, holding tight to the scales of Dragonite's back,
As she watched him get smaller, and smaller,
Further and further, his body down below now blurring with her tears
As the Dragon's orange wings cut up into the blush of the clouds,
Her tears raining down now over the region's rolling forests below, to drizzle over the routes and nourish the soils of the roads of victory and valor,
In this first true storm of their Longing.
...
Lance stood where she left him,
On the stonetop quad of the lush green garden,
Alone.
His body trembling,
Knees weak; paralyzed, in this strange and holy pain that plagued in his chest.
As he watched Dragonite disappear with her up in the clouds above.
After a long moment of silence, the morning wind casting through his hair,
He turned around and limped back inside the parlor,
The pain searing with every step,
As he marched steadily over to the grand piano,
And collapsed himself to sit onto its velvet little bench, his hands bracing hard to its black lacquered edges.
He raised his hands up; arms shaking, fists clenching as he beared through each second of this pain,
Inexplicably growing worse and worse with every passing moment.
And as his eyes fell upon the ivories before him,
His mind could only think of one single thing that could relieve him:
Her gorgeous face,
Those curious cerulean eyes,
When she had appeared through the blackened trees of Route 11,
Such a sacred place...
Where they had sparred over the burnt russet grass;
Where he had scared her away,
And where she had dared to venture back;
Where her gaze had watched silently from the sidelines,
Filled with marvel; astonished at the sight,
Of his fireworks igniting over the great Vermilion bay,
And the absolute joy; the awesome inspiration he had felt in that moment,
From the look on the face of the woman who he loved,
As a slow, steady tempo
Began counting out from within him;
A beat; a song,
A melody in his heart that he needed to play,
and so he began to count out this rhythm,
as to distract himself from this pain;
one, two,
three, four,
And so his fingers found the ivories,
And he began to play: ***
A brand new song pouring out from him,
One of an uncharted adventure; daring and bold,
Of a journey, lined with curiosity and Kantonian spirit,
Louder and louder his fingers hit the keys, recalling the orchids who had watched on from the grass,
And the look on her face,
As the turquoise sparkles rained down over the fields of the Route,
The cool, courageous melody edging out the pangs of pain,
As the sounds of the intrepid song began drifting through the wider grounds of the Estate,
Reaching far into the other quarters of the manor now,
Where it hit the ears of Agatha, where she and Gengar meandered through the far-off paths of her own mansion's gloomy gardens,
Where it hit the ears of Bruno, as he lay beneath the weight bench of his private gym, his spotter Machamp standing above him, a tiny grin crossing his face with the thought; Lance must be in a good mood today.
And where it hit the ears of Lorelei, where she sat in her office alone, as she smiled to herself; she hadn't heard the Champion play like this in years.
As the song came to an end, Lance sat there quietly.
His bones were still so tired; the muscles of his stomach still so sore from the night's holy dance.
It felt so good to rest,
But this new sacred pain in his chest,
was still there.
And so his fingers found the keys again;
With his silver eyes closing, the memory of the night of their union pulling the sly smile back over his face,
As he played out the song once more.
...
...
Thank you all SO much for reading! Here's a sneak peak for this Friday's chapter, entitled: "A Year Without Him (pt1)" -
And beneath the warming Paldean suns, Maya found herself inspired.
She had only been there a month or so now, but her skin was already beginning to tan, her muscles starting to tone up with her and Kadabra's many hikes through the winding valleys and cliffsides of the Southern province. The colors of the earth were so different here, Maya thought; though the occasional rainstorm blew in over the ocean, the sun was shining and warm just about all year round, which had baked the layers of towering cliffs around them into a darkened firespin's orange, and the clay beneath the rocks to a Blaziken red.