This peaceful period wouldn't be entirely relaxing. After a week, Aggron's recovery had been taking longer than expected. Evidently, the damage that Groudon had done with just that hyper beam was a lot worse than expected since the doctors were still backed up. Infernape was taking this particularly hard. He was currently sitting in Aggron's room. Staring at the unconscious steel type, Infernape rested his head in his hands. Though he was not a religious man, he was praying. That worry that Aggron could… 'that' struck a nerve, more than it should've, but like the winds on a summer day, there are things that have more impact than you realize.
Lopunny opened the door to see Infernape by Aggron's side. Concerned, she said,
"There you are. I've been looking all over the city for you." Infernape didn't respond. Lopunny then sat down next to him,
"Wow, this is hitting you hard, huh?" she said. Again, Infernape was quiet. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she asked,
"Come on, talk to me." For a minute or so, Infernape didn't say anything. Lopunny was almost alarmed until he finally spoke,
"I'm scared. He's a friend and I…" he sighed in frustration, but Lopunny didn't need to hear the end of that sentence. He had lost so much all those years ago. It made sense that the possibility of him losing someone hit him harder than most. The others were more hopeful about Aggron's condition.
She couldn't just let him sit here. Fear is dangerous when left unchecked, and at this rate, Infernape was at risk of falling down a hole that no one should get stuck in. She said,
"He's going to be okay. I promise."
"You don't know that," said Infernape softly, "You saw how badly he was. Now Gengar's gone and left."
"Gengar can do whatever he wants," said Lopunny. She was furious at him but now was not the time to shove her anger into this. She told him, "Tell you what, why don't we spend the day together? Get your mind off of things." Infernape just shrugged slightly,
"I mean, I guess."
"Hey, we can bring the others if we want to. Let's just go on an adventure for a day! Maybe we'll find some bad guys to beat up," she said.
Reluctantly, Infernape agreed. Lopunny then giggled and dragged him out of the room, but not before waving Aggron goodbye. Unbeknownst to the two, Aggron subtly grinned.
Lopunny rounded up the rest of the group. Gardevoir and Garchomp were talking in their hotel. Ampharos was stress-eating at the bakery from the gym. However, Sceptile couldn't join them for their random adventure. He was working with the Senshi in Hydroton to try and clear out the rubble. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but rubble was strewn about the city. When the group offered to help, Sceptile insisted that the group relax,
"Y'all have saved thousands. You deserve to relax." With that reassurance, the group was ready to do…whatever it is they were going to do. They still hadn't an idea of what they were supposed to do. Luckily for them, Lopunny's adoptive father threw them a bone.
Blastoise approached them,
"You're already on a new adventure already?" he asked. Lopunny nodded and spoke for everyone, "It's just a little fun trip. Do you know any sort of gang or terrorist group that I-we can beat up?" With a furrowed brow, Blastoise shook his head,
"I'm not sure. I don't want you getting others hurt."
"I won't. I promise!" she insisted, "I can handle anything that could come our way." Blastoise thought for a moment, during which, Lopunny turned around to see a mildly perturbed Garchomp and Gardevoir,
"Are you serious? I really don't want to hurt other people.," said Gardevoir politely but firmly. Lopunny stubbornly placed her hands on her hips,
"Oh come on! It'll be fun! Besides, they're bad guys! You two just fought a whole bunch of them." Garchomp stepped forward,
"We did that to protect others. Now we are actively searching for trouble."
"We're searching for bad guys!" said Lopunny passionately. Infernape then stepped next to her and took her side,
"I don't think this is such a bad idea. We'll be getting rid of some evil. Besides, if you want to be a Senshi, Chrona, you'll need the practice," explained Infernape.
Gardevoir paused for a moment, surprising Garchomp,
"Gardevoir, are you sure about this?" The psychic remained quiet. Infernape had a point. She was still inexperienced, hell, she hasn't even attempted the Senshi exam. Perhaps fighting in a more controlled, less world-ending stakes battle was what she needed after fighting for her life on multiple occasions. With some confidence, she looked up at Garchomp and nodded,
"I am. Okay. I will join you." Garchomp reluctantly looked towards Lopunny and sighed,
"If you're okay with this, then I am."
Then there was Ampharos. He had remained silent this entire time. He had other things on his mind. All he could think about was ghosts. However, when asked if we wanted to join, he agreed absentmindedly, which surprised Infernape. The fire type quickly asked him,
"Are you okay, buddy?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine," Ampharos insisted. Infernape could sense that something was upsetting Ampharos, but knew now was not the time to confront him about it. They needed to be alone.
Seeing that everyone had agreed to their journey, Blastoise grinned and pointed his thumb back behind him,
"I've heard reports about a group of criminals down near the mines about three kilos out. I need you guys to confirm these reports. If they are there, fall back and tell me. I can tell the Senshi and they can make a move," he said, looking towards Lopunny in particular. She sheepishly grinned, which made Blastoise smile. With that, our heroes then began one last adventure, definitely. Absolutely the last time they will ever fight anyone together again.
As the group left, Infernape finally asked about the red scarf that Lopunny wore around her neck,
"Hey, Bun Bun. I was wondering-"
"Bun Bun?" questioned Lopunny with a little smile on her face, "Did you just call me Bun Bun?" Infernape shrugged,
"Why not? You're a Lopunny, a bunny. It just works. Besides, Pun Pun doesn't sound right to me." Lopunny then giggled,
"Shit, now I've gotta give you a nickname. Let's see…How about Ferny?"
"Why Ferny?"
"You know. In-FERN-ape. FERN-y. It just works!" she explained. Infernape liked the name but questioned why she went in that direction with it. Lopunny answered,
"Because Ape sounds offensive, Inferno's too long for me, and what loser would use the name Infer?" Admittedly, Infernape couldn't fault that logic.
He then realized that he had gotten sidetracked. Focusing, he asked Lopunny,
"I'm sorry, back to what I was saying? Why do you have that scarf on you?" Lopunny's grin then faltered slightly. Infernape recognized that he had messed up and swiftly apologized,
"Y-You don't need to tell me if you don't want to."
"Don't worry about it," said Lopunny with confidence that hid a subdued sadness in her voice, "I'm not gonna share all my secrets just yet. We only met a few days ago." Once she said that Infernape took a moment to think. Wow. They really built this relationship quickly, didn't they? Hell, he was surprised to get the first kiss on the first date now that he thought about it. He chuckled to himself,
"Wow, I didn't even think about that. I'm sorry."
"Heh, don't apologize. I like you, you like me, it's that simple. Besides, I would rather stab myself in the throat than just sit around with my feelings all day."
"I take it you're not a fan of the whole 'girly-girl,' thing, huh?" said Infernape. Lopunny then glanced up at him and smirked,
"You've got a problem with that."
"Eh, I like my women with a little special something," said Infernape, "You have some feistiness in you and I like that. Speaking of which, you really want to fight some goons. Why is that?"
"Because it's awesome!" exclaimed Lopunny excitedly, "The adrenaline coursing through my veins! Making little microdecisions every second! Bouncing back from the pain! There's nothing else in the world that's as fun as a good-old ass-kicking!" Seeing her so passionate about what she loved made Infernape reflect on his own love for music. Finding a nice little motif to craft a whole song around and having that song come out as good, if not better than you imagined was just incredible! He remembered when he as a Chimchar practiced his skills, creating songs with his best friends…
That he could never see again and it was all his fault.
Torterra, Empoleon. They both loved him as though he were a brother and he threw them away when…that happened. He fell silent, the guilt weighing down on him. In his anger, he had pushed away the only two people who tried to help him. Lopunny recognized this shift in his demeanor and immediately looked into his eyes. She quickly pieced together the vague guilt within him and shook his shoulder,
"Hey, Infernape. Whatever it is you're feeling, you can tell me. If you don't feel comfortable, that's fine," she offered. Infernape grinned slightly. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should tell her. However, his heart demanded that he tell her. Necrozma may care if it's too soon. He found Lopunny far too pretty to listen to reason.
"Alright, I'll tell you."
"When I was growing up, I had these two incredible friends. Mitsurin Tomodachi and Shinshi Tori. Shinshi was a gentleman and a half. His mother was a Kalolian diplomat and his father was a…doctor if I remember correctly. so he was quite well off, but he was never spoiled. Always did worry about germs, though. He never went anywhere without hand sanitizer and a face mask. He and I met when we were very little…"
Chimchar carried a toy keyboard around his hometown. He was mostly just messing around with it, pressing on keys with no rhyme or reason. His mother had gotten him it for his birthday before immediately heading out with her friends. Chimchar didn't mind though, he had a new toy to try out. Eventually, he found a riff he really like and began to play it. Fully absorbing himself into the music, he failed to notice that he was walking into the gated community. The guard would have stopped him, but he was too busy messing around on his WristOn, doing everything within his power to avoid doing his job.
Playing this beat over and over again, Chimchar began to develop it into a full-blown song. It didn't sound the best. After all, this keyboard wasn't designed to create an entire song. Chimchar was still having fun.
"Hey there!" a voice called out. Frantically, Chimchar hid his keyboard behind his back and looked for the source of the voice. His eyes laid upon a Piplup staring at him from out the window. The fire type's worry about being yelled at by a grown-up was quickly dissuaded by the presence of a fellow kid, and he was quickly distracted by the giant home before him.
"WOW! That's a big house!" yelled Chimchar excitedly, "I'm Son Lieyanhou!"
"Thank you! I am Shinshi Tori" yelled Piplup, "That is a cool rectangle thingie!"
"Mom says it's a keyboard!" said Chimchar as he held up the instrument so that Piplup could see it. Piplup's eyes then went wide in recognition,
"OH! My dad got one of those! He calls it a 'T-Rex!'" he yelled, "Come inside!"
Piplup disappeared into his room to open the door. Chimchar then distracted himself with his music to pass the time. As he waited, he looked around and fully took in where he was. Various homes made from brick and stone united to create these beautiful homes. Chimchar wondered why these homes were so different. Well, Piplup's dad managed to get a keyboard. Maybe this place was where people with a lot of birthday presents live. The front door then opened. However, instead of a Piplup opening the door, there was a rather tall Empoleon.
Chimchar was a little worried when he saw Piplup's father. However, this worry was quickly eased when the Empoleon then smiled. Strangely, he handed Chimchar a pair of gloves, a mask, and hand sanitizer. The little fire type was confused but Piplup's father soon explained,
"I'm sorry, but I don't want any germs in my house." Chimchar put on the mask and gloves and stepped inside the house. What he saw made his mouth hang open in awe.
Before him was a massive living room and kitchen area. A large sofa sat alongside two small couches to form a square within an ornately designed carpet. This gave enough room for about ten people to all gather to watch TV and movie on a massive 90-inch television. The kitchen was beautiful as well, with marble counters accenting cabinetry and two ovens one on top of the other. The stove top was large enough that an entire person could lay on top of it. Overlooking all of this was a flight of stairs against the wall, with a balcony that watched over the entire space, where Piplup was currently waiting.
"Lieyanhou!" yelled Piplup excitedly as he descended the stairs. Chimchar started to run towards him and the two met halfway, standing in the middle of the stairs.
"What do you wanna do?" asked Chimchar,
"I've got a bunch of toys!" said Piplup, "Want to play doctor?" Piplup's father then got a text and looked alarmed,
"Oh! Sorry boys, I've got to perform a sudden bronchoscopy today. I'll call a babysitter." The two boys then nodded and ran into the kitchen to get some snacks before playing doctor.
As soon as Piplup's father left, Chimchar looked towards the top of the cabinets. There was a cookie jar sitting near the edge of the rightmost cabinet. Piplup looked up wistfully at the jar of sugary goodness and commented,
"Mother said I couldn't have any," he said sadly. Chimchar looked at his new friend incredulously,
"That's not fair! They can't keep all of the cookies!" As children, they didn't exactly understand their parent's logic. They just saw this as an unjust act of hoarding the most valuable goods for themselves. This was on par with war crimes. Now determined to get their sugar fix, Piplup thought out loud,
"How do we get up there?" and began to wonder if they could stack things on top of each other until they could reach it. However, Chimchar had a different method.
What if, instead of going up to the jar, the jar went down to them?
Chimchar looked around for something. That was when he saw a box of reusable gloves. He grabbed it and took aim, before throwing it at the jar. It smacked into the side of the jar and pushed it towards the edge. Chimchar then climbed up onto the counter with his monkey agility, raised his hands high, and managed to catch the cookie jar in his hands. Piplup excitedly exclaimed,
"THAT WAS SO COOL!" Chimchar snicked mischievously and began to open the jar.
"What are you two doing," asked a feminine voice. Chimchar and Piplup turned white and looked behind. A Leavanny was standing in the doorway. She was the babysitter that Piplup's father had requested. Upon seeing the two children touching something they clearly were, she giggled lightly. Chimchar meekly confessed to his crime, allowing Leavanny to grab the jar and place it somewhere more out of the way. However, Chimchar then giggled excitedly and revealed to Piplup that he snuck two cookies out of the jar, one for himself, and one for Piplup. Piplup suppressed his excitement as the two went back upstairs.
"Dr. Shin! The patient is very sick! We need to give him the medicine thing!" yelled Chimchar as he handed Piplup a plastic pizza toy. Piplup then placed the pizza onto the face of a Swampert action figure. Piplup then yelled,
"We need to give him a braky-scoopy!"
"Yeah! Braky-scoopy!" The two then fell silent for a few seconds before asking simultaneously,
"What's a Braky-scoopy?"
Chimchar then pointed out,
"You have a lot of Senshi figures, Shin." Piplup looked at his room. Indeed there were about thirty different toys of various Senshi. Mostly Nihoneran heroes, although there were two or three from the UR. Piplup then smiled,
"Of course. They're cool! They save people, just like my dad!" he declared. Curiously, Chimchar then asked,
"Do you wanna be one?"
"I think so," he looked towards the floor and grinned, "Dad told me that he helps the people that the Senshi can't save,"
"What!" yelled Chimchar incredulously. He had never heard of Senshi never saving anyone. Immediately, Piplup shook his head,
"It's not their fault. Dad told me everything. Sometimes, they don't see the guys on the side. That's where he helps," he said with surprising maturity. A surreal sentiment for a child to have if it weren't his father. Chimchar was surprised by this opinion but figured that it made sense. Mom couldn't always make him dinner while she was out with friends.
"...And we hit it off from there," said Infernape as he finished his story. Lopunny smirked at Infernape,
"Wow, what a bad boy," she flirted, "You can steal me any day of the week." Infernape then blushed violently red. He sputtered around with the world's stupidest grin,
"O-O-O-OKAY! WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO!" The ice-type grinned cutely at Infernape, who reciprocated that smile.
"What about Mitsurin? You mentioned him." Infernape's eyes lit up with nostalgia, memories rushing through his head.
"Oh my god, Mitsurin! You'd really like him. He was so kind and charitable. I've never met a guy like him. Humble to the very core and made you feel like a million bucks. God, I remember the day we met like the back of my hand."
Back in the past, Chimchar and Piplup were playing around near the entrance of Piplup's gated community. They were playing a good old fashion round of tag. Chimchar had just been tagged by Piplup and the two tumbled onto the floor.
"Got you!" said Piplup excitedly as he helped Chimchar up, "I'm tired. Let's get some ice cream!" Naturally, Chimchar loved the idea and joined the water type in begging his parents to go. Piplup's mother and father were reluctant but agreed. They also agreed to get them lunch. Eventually, both children had karaage chicken in one hand, and an ice cream cone in the other.
They both laughed together, cheerfully enjoying their time together. Why wouldn't they? They were about five years old, they deserved to enjoy their youth. However, one downside of childhood is that you remain oblivious to the struggles of others, not that it's necessarily a bad thing. You shouldn't bare the burden of knowing someone's else pain at that age. Despite this, children are more mature than you may think. When presented with someone in pain, their natural kindness pushes them to help.
A Turtwig then approached Chimchar. He bowed before him and humbly asked,
"I'm sorry. Could you give me some of your chicken?" Chimchar was initially confused by the question,
"What do you mean? Your parents can buy you chicken," he asked. Turtwig looked back in sadness,
"Mom says it's too 'spensive," he explained, "You don't have to. I'm sorry." Chimchar had never heard of adults not being able to buy food. He thought that adults could get anything, but just refused. Now, however, Chimchar's entire worldview had been changed, and he decided to help. Starving was no fun.
"Here," said Infernape, handing Turtwig the rest of his chicken. Turtwig's eyes went wide with gratitude. He gleefully took the chicken and immediately embraced Chimchar and Piplup with vines,
"THANKS, FRIENDS!" At that point, Turtwig's parents, a Torterra and Megainium, managed to find their son.
"There you are! Don't scare me like that, Misturin," said Megainium as she embraced Turtwig with her vines. Turtwig simply smiled and showed his bounty to his mother,
"I got food from my new friends!" Turtwig's father then looked ta the two kids and grinned at them,
"Thank you. You're good kids."
Piplup's parents then start talking to Turtwig's parents as the three kids ran outside to play. Chimchar then asked the grass-type,
"What do you want to play?" Turtwig then excitedly jumped around before stomping the ground,
"I wanna play playground race!" before trees and vines rose from the ground. A small forest then grew from nowhere, branches stretched around to form various paths and structures. Piplup and Chimchar looked up at this in awe as a restaurant-sized forest grew in front of them, contorting into a playground for them to play on. It resembled your normal neighborhood playground, with a bunch of paths and stairwells that lead up to a central tower, where Turtwig was currently standing. Piplup yelled out,
"WOW! YOUR AMAZING, TURTWIG!" Chimchar then repeated this sentiment. Turtwig looked so happy to see his friends so happy.
The three played together for what felt like hours. They played games like hide-and-seek and tag across the branches and brambles of this playground forest. Eventually, the game changed to a classic round of pretend. Turtwig had suggested the idea of being pretend Senshi. He and Piplup would be the Senshi, and Chimchar…
"GAHAHAHA!" laughed Chimchar manically as he painted an evil dirt moustache onto his face, "IT IS I…What's a good bad guy name?"
"Blasticus!" yelled Piplup from across the makeshift playground.
"BLASTICUS, AM GOING TO BLOW UP THE CITY!" screamed Blasticus. He quickly made a pile of dirt to perform as the damsel in distress, grabbing an abandoned pair of swim trunks to use as a crown. "YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO SAVE PRINCESS TRUNKS!"
"NOT IF WE CAN HELP IT!" yelled Piplup, I mean, Waterman and his fellow superhero: The Dirt. To be clear, it was Turtwig who named himself that. He thought it sounded cool. The two jumped from the top of the central tower and landed safely on the ground. The Dirt then declared,
"STOP, EVILDOER, OR I'LL HAVE TO USE MY ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE!" Blasticus simply laughed at the notion of being stopped.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" he then pulled out a broken calculator, "This device will detonate the bombs that will destroy the city!" Waterman then stepped forward to oppose this evil,
"I will use Bubblebeam to take that button out of your hands!"
"Well, this is a special button, THAT IGNORES BUBBLES!"
"Oh yeah, what if I used a special bubble that captures bubble-ignoring buttons!"
"EGADS!" yelled Blasticus in panic. Waterman then breathed in and blew out pathetically. A bubble then grew and grew from his beak until eventually breaking free and floated towards Blasticus. Blasticus then cartoonishly freaked out, animating around in fear as the slowly moving bubble floated at him. Of course, Waterman's bubble managed to swallow the button and lift it out of Blasticus's range. The fire type panicked and looked to see The Dirt charging toward him. It was The Dirt's ultimate technique,
"MUD SLIDE!"
Blasticus could only gape in horror. He screamed as The Dirt created a path of mud to slide on. The Dirt then tackled Blasticus. With that, Blasticus was defeated and Princess Trunks was saved. Blasticus then rocketed up into the sky and declare,
"CURSES! LOOKS LIKE BLASTICUS IS BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"
Chimchar and Turtwig got up and laughed together as they stopped acting.
"You're really fun, Turtwig! What's your name!"
"Mitsurin Tomodachi!" he said excitedly, "And I wanna be a Senshi when I grow up!" Chimchar's eyes went wide with happiness,
"WOW! So does Piplup!" Piplup then ran towards Turtwig and Chimchar upon hearing this,
"You want to be a Senshi too! That's amazing!"
"Yup," said Turtwig, "Those guys are so cool and they save people! Mom and Dad need saving, so I'm gonna become a Senshi!"
"From that day on, we were inseparable. We would spend hours just having fun, enjoying our lives, being kids. Everything was simple back then. Then everything happened," finished Infernape. Lopunny was silent for a few moments. It was a lot to take in. He had been talking for quite some time. However, something clicked for Lopunny. Now it all made sense to her. But there were still questions that needed to be answered. More somber questions that were probably too invasive for Infernape, but she needed answers.
"After you were framed, where were Torterra and Empoleon? If they were so amazing, then where are they?" asked Lopunny with a hint of reluctance. Infernape looked over at her and frowned. At first, she took it as a sign to stop asking questions, but Infernape provided the answers she wanted. He sighed,
"I was furious at them. I thought they hadn't done anything but I was too blind to see that nothing could've changed the school's reaction. They went off to the UR to train to become Senshi and I…I abandoned them. Completely separated myself from them. I changed my phone number, I moved, and lied about the address," Infernape began to well up, "I threw away the only friends I had left." He couldn't hold back the tears anymore and collapsed against a tree, trying to stifle his sobs. Lopunny immediately fell onto her knees and embraced Infernape.
Infernape cared about Aggron. He really did. However, when he lay on the hospital bed Infernape didn't see Aggron there. Instead, he saw memories long since passed. His childhood was unconscious in front of him, on the brink. He saw Mitsurin and Shinshi on that bed, with the knowledge that he never got to apologize.
As Lopunny hugged the fire-type, her mind raced to find a way to make him feel better. But how to rebuild a bridge when there's no wood? Empoleon and Torterra were Arceus knows where. As far as she knew, they weren't even in the country. So how could she fix this? She was just so…helpless. She hated that word with a burning passion. She hated not being able to do anything as her friend cried in her arms. But you can't punch guilt away. Guilt stays and lingers within your mind, slowly tearing you down until you feel worthless, stupid, unforgivable.
"We'll always have each other's backs!"
That voice rang out in Lopunny's head. She then grabbed her scarf tightly and took a breath. If she remained quiet, she'd be abandoning him, and she never abandoned her friends. With careful but determined vigor, she told Infernape,
"That was eight years ago, Lee," Infernape then froze. She had used his actual name. Immediately, he locked eyes with her as she continued.
"Yes, you messed up, but that was way back then. You are here now, and you now have the power to fix everything. But you need to start by fixing yourself. Let go. Move on from what happened. Torterra and Empoleon have probably moved on and forgiven you by now," she said.
Infernape looked up at the ice type with a saddened grin.
"You don't need to justify for me. I know I fucked up," he said softly. Lopunny adamantly shook her head,
"But it's been eight years. Besides, when they see you again after all these years, they'll be so happy to see their brother!" she remarked. That sentiment seemed to strike a nerve within Infernape. His eyes widened subtly as he fell into thought. He would remain silent, just thinking. Lopunny sighed, she should've figured that this issue wouldn't solve itself that easily. But she gave it her honest attempt. Of course, she had no reason to believe that wouldn't believe. That was what was going to happen when she found her parents. The two then continued on their way, reuniting with the rest of the group.