That's it! I finally understood why Ash was so eager to capture a Dunsparce: this Pokemon's special ability is called Serene Grace... Coïncidence? Je ne crois pas.
Oh, and yes, I'm posting this chapter early... let's just say I have something to celebrate today, so I'm marking the occasion x)
Even adenium can wither
Flannery's memory, the one that shimmered on the sand as she listened to Serena's nonsense, was just an insignificant moment. A playground, a friend she'd had a fight with : Solene, fast as an electrike, she could have even beaten the boys at running, but... asthma was a real bitch.
"No, Serena, I'm not lost."
A brilliant Blaziken card, it was all downhill from there. At their age, you let your emotions guide you, you could afford to when your fists and feet weren't big enough to really hurt. Even though her friend had the precision and speed of a hitmonchan, Flannery hadn't gotten away with it.
"What do you think, huh? This compass isn't here to look pretty!"
The birth of a fierce hatred, the tragic story of a broken friendship... Not really, they reconciled shortly after with a lot of cuddling, crying and snotty noses. Then they became rivals, but didn't stop traveling together when they reached the age of ten. There had been a lot of important events since then, and Solene would probably have forgotten the story if Flannery hadn't reminded her regularly. "It really marked you," her friend remarked each time, a little ashamed to remember it only through stories.
"Yes, a compass can only point north. Unless this one likes to play tricks."
It had scarred her like asthma scarred Solene's bronchi, and talking about it had the same effect as salbutamol: it felt good at the time, but it didn't get to the root of the problem. The attacks always returned. At the same time, she may not have been taking the treatment properly. Exhale slowly, inhale, hold your breath for five seconds, or was it fifteen? Solene had no trouble remembering the whole protocol, while Flannery could never tell the whole story. There wasn't much missing, just one detail, a ridiculous detail: "the slow, majestic raising of the middle finger." Strange that a girl of her age should know such a gesture, and yet she had inherited it from none other than her father.
No superfluous ideas, he was a respectable man of integrity. Maybe a bit too much of a fan of the band Obstagoon, which was just being exported beyond Galar's borders, but hard rock was his only eccentricity. That, and to please his old rival with this strange gesture of friendship. "What's that? Ah... Sometimes when he talks to me, it scratches my hand and my finger goes up by itself. It's... the slow, majestic raising of the middle finger in response to stimulation," he explained once.
Flannery had felt the scratch too, and with that fabulous ability that children have to imitate, she proved to be as brilliant as her father. Only the mistress in charge of the guards, or the matron in charge of the inmates, as the case might be, didn't fail to notice and report the matter to the grandfather who had come to fetch her.
She anticipated and feared her punishment, which was made all the more worrying by the fact that the old man didn't say a word on the way home. He demanded an explanation, the father paled, stammered, and made a feeble attempt to scold Flannery, to which she immediately replied: "But so do you!" She didn't know what happened next, but she could only assume that her father never made that gesture again. Oh, and never again did he scold her or say it was her fault... He should have. Because she knew, because she'd always known what that gesture meant. But that had always been his weakness, not feeling worthy of his daughter, believing that everything was his fault...
"Char!"
Ash's terrified howl echoed through the desert. He ran, his mouth full of flame, his tail lifting the burning sand. Serena fell. She slid into a sand pit cleverly prepared by a trapinch. It slammed its jaws into the center of its trap, and Serena screamed. Not yet, not yet, not yet! the shapeshifter panicked. Luckily, the trainer wasn't much of a target for the pokemon, who drove her from its lair with a Sand Attack. Ash fell to his knees, blood still pulsing in his temples, as Serena spat out the sand. He reached out, wanting to touch her, to hold her, but gave up.
"We should take a break," Flannery suggested.
"No!" the coordinator shouted. "If we stop now, we'll never reach Fallarbor."
The leader made no protest, obediently following the coordinator's instructions. In any case, nothing seemed to be able to stop her. Not the stifling heat, not the sand hills that stretched as far as the eye could see, not to mention the water in the gourds that heated and burned the throats of the unfortunate trainers.
"It will be dark soon, we should find a place to sleep," the leader said.
No reply. Serena walked straight ahead, ignoring her companion's advice. Had she not heard her, or was she just pretending to ignore her? If the coordinator wanted to walk until she dropped from exhaustion, the leader wouldn't stop her but... At the top of the dunes, where the sun was beginning to set, the desert scarecrows were awakening. They were gathering, calling out to other scarecrows with their shrill cries. They had noticed, they knew, they were ready to open their arms wide to welcome this reptile with its hungry muscles. Flannery ran and grabbed Serena's shoulder, forcing her to face her.
"Now stop your tantrums! We'll stop, eat and leave tomorrow."
"The contest..."
"You won't get out of this desert if you keep going!" the woman shouted.
Serena gritted her teeth. It wasn't her wounded shoulder that Flannery was holding, but she felt the same pain, as if the woman had dug her fingers into the wound.
"He's healed," the girl murmured. "And I give him what the nurse..."
"He throws it away! Just like before, just like he does with the rest of his food. Whatever Joy gave you doesn't change anything!"
"You lie... You... You said you'd wait, that you wouldn't do anything..."
Serena pulled away, resuming her walk without trying to answer or justify herself. A speeding train that couldn't even stop. Angry, ignoring the dragon's scream begging her to stop, not to hurt her, Flannery struck. A violent blow to the stomach just as Serena turned. The leader saw the terror, perhaps even the image of Archie, for a brief second in the coordinator's eyes. Too bad, her knuckles hurt, but at least...
"We're stopping. We're stopping now, Serena."
The young trainer coughed and sputtered, sprawled on the floor, tears streaming from the corners of her eyes. Ash knelt beside her and put his hand on her stomach to keep it warm. He hadn't moved, he'd reacted too late and once again it was Serena who suffered. He lifted his head and opened his mouth wide. Maybe she'd hit for him, maybe even for the best reason in the world, but... She had no right, there would never be anything that could justify this!
No torrent of fire ravaged the desert, no Flamethrower burned the leader. The thin flames faded from the monster's lips. He couldn't do any more, not in his condition, not after a day's march through the desert, not with the few reserves he had left. Serena coughed, clutching the monster's clawed hand, her eyes misty with pain. For a moment she thought she saw her sweet Charmeleon again, but he was gone, never to be seen again.
"It's okay, Serena, it's okay," Ash kept repeating.
"What a waste," Flannery muttered.
It took a while for the coordinator to regain some color. More than enough time for Flannery, with Magmortar's help, to set up camp and prepare the meal.
"You have to eat Charizard," Serena tried again.
He was too worried to leave the girl alone, even for a few seconds. So he preferred to stay in front of his full bowl, admitting that this time he wouldn't be able to get rid of it discreetly.
"Just one bite, you ate it yesterday," she begged.
No. He'd never touched it, but this time Serena could tell. Ash sniffed at the cream, which resembled the one his mother sometimes bought him. He sniffed, if only he had a spoon... He licked the surface. To please Serena, because he couldn't stand to see her with that suffering look on her face. The cream was so thick and sticky that he thought he was going to choke. He hurried to swallow, feeling the lump sink slowly into his stomach. He would vomit if he took any more, that was for sure. He pushed his plate away. Don't worry about me, I'll eat tomorrow, or maybe the day after, anyway, one day more or less doesn't make much difference.
"It's no use, I've already told you," Flannery reminded her.
Serena clenched her fists and picked up a few grains of sand.
"You're no leader," she squeaked. "The ones I've known have encouraged, helped, done everything to bring pokemons and trainers closer together."
"Have you ever fought one?"
"I've seen enough battles."
Flannery smiled mockingly at the coordinator.
"We just want to teach what we've learned. The way we do it is different, but basically we're not that different."
"No... They'd never..." She brought her hand to her stomach, forcing herself to gather her courage. "I'll make it across the desert, and I'll get to Fallarbor in time. So please, go back to Lavaridge, let me sort things out, and... I don't want to travel with you anymore."
Ash listened intently. The fond memories he had of the leader when he was a trainer no longer weighed much. Now there was only distrust and fear of what she might do. He didn't want her help anymore, even if the situation with Serena didn't improve, even if it got worse. But the leader took no notice of his pleas. She buried herself in her sleeping bag, muttering:
"It doesn't change the fact that we need to sleep now."
The stars began to appear, as if they were parting the sky. Ash lay curled up on his stomach, discreetly watching over the girl curled up in front of the fire. Sylveon had already fallen asleep, and it wouldn't be long before the coordinator did the same. Ash waited a while until the trainer rested her head on her crossed arms. He listened carefully to his friend's breathing, and when she was completely still, he stood up and gently laid her down before pulling a blanket over her. He focused on the leader; he was the only one awake now, the only one who could smell the sweet scent of flowers and the humidity in the air.
Staying close to Serena had become oppressive and burdensome. Every time she looked at him, every time she spoke to him, and again when Flannery had knocked. He no longer expected her to apologize, he no longer even expected her to understand, but at least...
"At least stop thinking I don't care if you get hurt."
He stood up, careful not to spill the bags with his tail or wings, holding his breath as he passed the sleeping Magmortar. He'd be back before Flannery woke, but in the meantime... His paws pressed the sand as he walked away. The cold scratched his face, but the sweet scent of the desert soothed him and urged him on to find a quieter place to rest.
They were waiting for him, with their holey smiles and star-shaped thorns. They would be happy to integrate him, to make him a part of them. And maybe in a few days they'd invite the young girl to join them.
A red glow emanated from Serena's coat, accompanied by a loud pop and a diffuse crackling sound. Not a very discreet exit, but not enough to wake up the exhausted humans and pokemons. Minun surveyed the landscape for a moment before noticing the tracks left in the sand by a large reptile.
"I really wasn't very good," Minun scoffed. "But you've been just as bad and useless as me."
He addressed the footprints, as if they were somehow connected to the shapeshifter. The rabbit's shoulders shook, the last time they had spoken... Had he talked to him at all? Or had he been complaining to a mirror, a distorted reflection of a giant fire-breathing lizard that looked exactly like him. Pity, a reptile and a rodent, it wasn't hard to tell the difference.
"You couldn't be satisfied with being a pokemon that sweeps up its opponents in one fell swoop, leaving me behind in the hope of catching up to you someday. You didn't want to remain a role model, no, you had to... Without trying to understand or even see what was going on. Isn't that what I said? Honestly... if you steal my thing, we're going to have a hard time getting out of this."
"Are you talking to yourself?"
Noticing his brother's relieved smile, Minun couldn't help but feel a hint of guilt. Not just a hint, but a whole blade slicing through him, a clean cut through and through.
"I had to think."
A poor excuse.
"It's good to see you again."
And that was all he could come up with? Plusle could at least yell at him, it would give him a good reason to avoid him. And it would justify the fact that he was leaving right now.
"Minun."
He didn't run away, so it was easy for his brother to follow.
"Minun!"
The blue huffed, sat down in the sand and waited. Not another word from his brother, who came to sit down so that they remained back to back, unable to see each other's faces.
"Have you understood yet?" Minun asked, his eyes lost in a blur.
"I think... Contests will be good for us."
"You never told me that."
"I was still thinking the same as you... more or less."
"Less, right? "
"But I preferred more. That way I could stay close to you."
"Would that have lasted?"
The red scratched his cheek, causing a few sparks.
"I don't think it would have. We would have ended up pushing each other away. We'd already started pushing each other away."
"That's why you left me alone when I locked myself in. But you took a risk by bringing me to Wattson. Did you know what he'd say?"
"Since I'm the oldest, it's obvious that..."
"Don't dream, I'm the oldest."
"We'll never know."
"No doubt..." Minun lowered his ears before continuing:"Will Pancham be able to make the next contest?"
"I don't think so with his knee, and he must have understood that himself."
"Can he bear it?"
"He has to. Serena won't let him participate anyway, let alone Braixen."
"She was the only one who still had her wits about her. She had no choice. I gave her no choice when I was pissed off about Sylveon..."
"I've already taken care of making up for your mistake," Plusle clarified.
"Um... I should apologize," Minun started, but when he saw the look on his brother's face, he hastened to add: "She looks tired."
"She's trying to calm Serena down, but it's not really working and... Sylveon is wearing out."
"Anyway, our trainer, she feels responsible. And Ash doesn't help!"
"He's clumsy."
"He's especially crazy about her!" exclaimed the blue rabbit.
Plusle stifled a laugh. It wasn't untrue.
"How much do you want to bet that as soon as Ash becomes human again, they'll have an egg?"
"An egg?"
"You're right, let's bet more on a dozen eggs."
"It wasn't really that, but... Do humans lay eggs? I've never seen one."
"Hmm... I don't see how they could do otherwise. We'll just have to ask Ash!"
"When he's in a better mood... By the way, where is he?"
"In his pokeball, I suppose," Plusle sighed.
"Ash? In a pokeball?" Minun repeated doubtfully.
Impossible, Plusle soon realized it. The two brothers hurried back to camp to check on the fading footprints.
"He should be back soon," Plusle tried to explain.
But neither of them believed it, and for good reason: Hoenn's great central desert had a history of people and pokemons disappearing without a trace. Sylveon opened one eye, disturbed by the murmuring of the two companions. For once, Serena was sleeping peacefully, and she wanted to keep it that way until morning. She crawled out of her trainer's embrace. Surprised at first to see the blue rabbit, she soon noticed the absence of the fake pokemon.
"Where's Ash?" she asked.
If her trainer ever woke up to find a certain reptile missing, the rest of the night would undoubtedly be divided between worry and searching for the missing one.
"That's the problem," Minun squeaked. "Sylveon? What are you doing? Come back here!"
Her ribbons undulated as she ran, her slender paws bouncing on the disintegrated ground, imprinting their shapes next to the footprints the fairy type was following. She was amazed that on this dry land, devoid of all vegetation, she could feel the scents that reminded her of her former home vibrating on her snout.
Sylveon stopped; the scent had become so concentrated that it stung her nose and eyes. But the real problem was the dragon's footprints, which no longer ran in a straight line. They overlapped in a small area, reappeared farther away with a much larger trail at their epicenter, drifted left and right, sometimes sharp, sometimes long. The pokemon's ears twitched, and she could hear grunts and the sound of sand being swept away just behind the dune. She swallowed, stepped back and shook her head. This was no time to be afraid; her trainer wouldn't hesitate if she were in her place.
Her paws slipped every time she moved forward, the gentle slope proving much harder to climb than she'd thought. When she reached the top, she noticed a small flame below, spinning in all directions. A perfect circle of cacturns materialized Energy Ball and Pin Missile. In the center, Ash rolled to avoid the attacks, skinning himself on the pin as it mingled with the grains of sand. A child of the desert broke the line, its speed unrestrained by its stiff legs, and its fist slammed into the ground like a sledgehammer, narrowly missing the wing the dragon was trying to extend. Ash spat his flames back; only at this distance, almost at point-blank range, could he hope to do any damage. The cacturne didn't stick around any longer. Its task accomplished, it retreated back into the ranks while its fellow creatures launched a new volley of attacks.
But the scarecrow hadn't expected the wind to blow so hard tonight, let alone topple it. It stood up, sand dripping down its green body, as it discovered its true attacker. A pokemon that vaguely reminded it of an espeon, but without the distinctive features. Awkwardly, its species tended to prey on the weakest prey, the ones the desert would finish off without their intervention. It hissed, consulted its brothers and sisters, but forgot to listen to their response when the unknown monster passed in front of it. Instinctively, its quills lengthened and it flung its arm at the fairy-like creature's face. Sylveon gritted her teeth as a Protect premise formed, though she didn't know if it would solidify in time.
They're clearer than Serena's.
Sylveon in her arms, the tip of the quills in his side. Ash was surprised that it wasn't the trainer who had thrown herself into the middle of the cacturns. The hunter twisted, half of its limb inside the blue barrier while the rest of its body remained trapped outside. Serena's eyes are darker. With its free arm, the cacturne struck the vise holding it, once, then twice, before the barrier gave way and it fell backward.
All the better, if it had been you, if it had been you who had come... I don't know, I don't want to think about it.
The scarecrow hissed through the holes in its face. There was no response; its fellow creatures had already retreated. An attack alone... Impossible.
"Are they gone?" Sylveon asked, shaking.
Ash looked around. There was nothing left of the monsters, not even a footprint.
"Why did you come here?" the fake pokemon breathed, putting her down.
"I didn't want Serena... And why did you leave? Can you imagine what would have happened if I hadn't gotten there in time? Ah! Now's not the time, we have to find Serena and fix you!"
Ash sat up, coughing up some steam. He pressed his hip, imagining that the pain he felt was just a banal stitch in his side.
"You didn't want Serena to notice I was gone? Anyway, she was too tired to..."
"Nightmares don't care if she's tired!" yelled Sylveon. "If you'd at least stay by her side, if you'd be there every time she woke up... But you just do what's on your mind and spend your time worrying her."
"Then make her stop," Ash murmured.
Sylveon's fur bristled. Serena cared about him, couldn't he understand that?
"How can you be so selfish after everything she's done?"
"What she's done..."
He stood up, towering over the pokemon. Sylveon arched her back, her ribbons vibrating with a rosy aura.
"She protected you, she protected us all, she sacrificed herself for us. And even now, if she had seen you, she wouldn't have hesitated... She's brave and... I'm proud that she's my trainer."
Ash didn't answer, but started to walk, his tail dragging on the ground and his hand glued to his side.
"I wasn't wrong, it was Serena, it really was Serena."
"Is it wrong to want to protect your friends? Is it wrong to think of others? It's you, Ash, it's you who taught her all this, and yet it's not enough for you... Do you want her to do more? Tell me Ash, tell me what the great trainer you were would have done in her place!"
"Tell me how Serena would have felt if she'd been in my place! "
They walked side by side. The dragon took one step while Sylveon took four, but her movements were far more fluid than the big monster's. Their cadences balanced each other out, so to speak, so that neither had to slow down or hurry.
"Can you believe it? You're almost the only one who manages to piss me off," Sylveon sighed.
"Almost?"
"Plusle is... more formidable than he lets on," she replied evasively.
One slow step. Four quick steps. Their footprints lined up behind them.
"You know, Sylveon... We could have escaped up there, on the volcano," Ash grumbled, looking at the stain blackening his side.
"You're blaming her for what you're doing yourself... Don't you think that's unfair?"
"She blames herself when she sees me, she spends all her time blaming herself, I know, but... Me too, when I see her shoulder, it hurts, I can't stop regretting, trying to imagine what I could do if I could go back to that moment. I've even started to think... Celebi or even Dialga, if I could find them again, I'm sure they would agree to send me back."
"There are pokemons with that power?"
Ash smiled slightly. He had seen some extraordinary pokemons during his adventure. Superpowered beings who could cross dimensions, millennia-old creatures who could control the elements, monsters created by humans who had gained their own free will. But in the end, for all their abilities, they were unable to hear the simple wish of a boy who had been transformed into a pokemon.
Ash would have preferred to simply wake Flannery. But Serena was already up and pulling on her shoes when they arrived.
"What happened to you?!" she exclaimed.
She reached into her bag to get some medicine for the monster, while Flannery noticed the dragon's miserable condition. The leader had asked Magmortar to stand guard while they rested. Only, from the way he was sleeping, she suspected he hadn't been very effective.
"Don't move," the young girl warned.
Ash jerked back when he saw her so close to him. Serena lowered her head and clenched her hand around the potion.
"You'd rather it be Flannery," she observed sadly.
The shapeshifter took a deep breath and gathered all his courage before sitting up and revealing his wounds.
"Up there, you thought it over, you knew exactly what you were doing..." Serena brought her trembling hand closer, careful not to touch the monster's scales too much as she applied the gauze. "You keep thinking about it. You keep thinking about what I want without ever asking me, without ever believing for a moment that I, too, blame myself for what happened, blame myself for not living up to it." She put away what she hadn't used and turned away from the fake pokemon, his claws grazing the thin squares of cloth that stuck to his scales. I hate myself for staying, thinking that maybe one day I won't make you suffer anymore.
Serena decided not to go back to bed, preferring to leave immediately without worrying about what Flannery would think.
"You don't have to come with us," the coordinator reminded her, pulling on her sandy coat.
"I'd like to."
Once again, the sun beat down hard and the sand burned the travelers' feet. A monotonous landscape of cactus and dead trees, even the pokemons seemed to have left the place. Flannery frowned. The strange fog she could see in the distance, obscuring the sky, told her nothing.
"Charizard, you can fly over the area and look for shelter," she asked.
Ash obliged. From the air, he could see the approaching sandstorm better. His head spun a little and he hurried back to the ground, pointing to a rock that might offer shelter. They arrived just in time. The grains of sand whistled around them, trying to reach them despite the thick wall of rock. Ash had closed his eyes, enjoying this forced stop.
"Did he eat this morning?" Flannery asked, raising her voice.
"Yes," Serena murmured.
A bite or two of what she had prepared for him, she could count that as eating, couldn't she? The leader hadn't heard anything because of the whistling wind, so she took a quick look at the monster's condition before speaking:
"He's tired, and I don't think we can go on much longer."
"'He must be thirsty," Serena cut her off.
The storm was still raging outside as the false pokemon nodded his head in rejection of the gourd the young girl held out to him. Flannery watched the poor trainer, not knowing what to say or do to appease her monster. Serena gave up, stepping back to consult her navi-map and count how much more time the desert would waste on them.
Ash growled, his tail flame flared, his wings spread to make sure not a single hair on the trainer's head was visible. This was no mirage.
Flannery rested her hand on one of her pokeballs, her mouth twitching as she scanned the expanse of sand before her, then turned to make sure there was nothing but the coordinator behind her. It couldn't be a mirage, not this close. And if it was, it would be in very poor taste.
"Do... do you know this person?" asked Serena.
Her two companions remained silent. The question made no sense: how could they recognize someone whose face was partially hidden by the edges of a hoodie?
"No, I recognize that uniform," growled Flannery.
Pale red, with small horns and a slender appearance, their new friend stood upright at the top of the dune. And clearly, the shapeshifter had fully understood the danger, unlike his trainer.
The figure nodded, then took off running as if taken by surprise. A prey too good for the leader, a risk that the enemy would call his fellow creatures for Ash. They both took off in pursuit.
"Wait for me!" Serena called.
Together, the Charizard and the leader ran off, ignoring her. Serena ran, her shoulder aching, her feet burning, but it would be worse to stay behind.
Ash thought it would be easy to catch the henchman. From the air, he should have had no problem intercepting him, but every time, the brigand jumped to the side. The shapeshifter couldn't decide if this was luck, survival instinct, or something perfectly calculated. Either way, the fake pokemon always ended up with his nose in the sand. And unfortunately, he'd just used up his last chance to do so. Ash stood up and shook his head to clear the sand from between his scales. Flannery and Serena soon joined him, both out of breath.
"Where is he?" the leader asked immediately.
He'd gotten close enough to know that 'she' would be a better adjective. But he didn't want to bore the leader with details, and in any case, she must have already found the answer to her question. These stones must be as old as the region, these few columns still standing and this pediment with its faded bas-reliefs. The Desert Ruins, a place that would make an excellent refuge.
"You can wait for me here."
Flannery had noticed her companion's pallor and trembling legs. But she knew the answer already.
"I'm coming with you."
Of course, otherwise it would be an admission of weakness. Proof to the fake pokemon that there was a better trainer.
Notes : I received a comment about the fear that the future chapters will take a long time to be published, or that the story be discontinued. It's something I understand very well, and in a way I'm flattered that someone has that kind of fear for my story ^^. Promising that chapters will continue to be published on a regular basis or that the story will have an ending is impossible in fanfic. It's a bit creepy, but I can't promise that I won't die today in a car accident or fall down the stairs and break my neck (so this will put an end to my fic), that's life and it's unpredictable ^^'.
But if it helps, here's some information:
- Regarding the story, are all the chapters written? No, not yet, at the moment I'm only about ten chapters ahead in terms of formatting, but the general framework of the story is in place: I've planned my ending and my various adventures, so I don't think I'll stop the story for lack of inspiration.
- Will I have time to write the sequel? There will be changes in my personal life that will mean I'll have less time to publish, that's for sure... And I think that once these ten or so chapters are out, the publishing will slow down to one chapter per month (and there will be a few weeks of slack in October-November).
Now that you have the information, I'll let you decide what you want to do. A fanfic is a gamble for the reader in the sense that there is only an implicit moral contract, with no obligation for the author other than the desire to share his stories (and for the ego and cheer yourself up, no doubt, let's not lie x)). And I'll just say one thing: "If you're ever hesitating, then get yourself moving! Even if you fail, you'll still be left with something. Nothing you do is ever pointless." ;-)