Hell Hath No Fury

I held her head of glossy purple hair under the crook of my neck, one hand running through the strands gently while pulling her closer, the other around her waist. Even now, she felt so fragile she could break, though I knew the truth of the situation. She had just been too strong for too long.

Hylla rubbed a hand over my elbow and nudged me lightly. I slowly let go her, removing myself from the tangle of limbs I had found myself in.

"Sorry about that," I muttered. "Just the news..." I trailed off.

"Yeah," she commented dryly. There wasn't much to say, after all. Hylla had stage four cancer, and that was that. It had spurred after an incident in the Tandor region. Of course, she only told me what was happening as soon as it all went down, but for some reason, the league wanted her out there, so she went.

It wasn't supposed to take more than a few days at most. Some engineers were experimenting with nuclear forces and, one way or another, Pokemon got involved, and the rest was history. Hylla joined in at a very unstable moment and caught the bad end of it.

Half of the squadron sent from Sinnoh had already died, a few mere minutes after first arriving at the scene.

Had Hylla not figured out the danger in time or not bothered to design quick escape protocols, she might not have even made it back alive. I couldn't even describe it as a bloodbath because of how the people died, but it might as well have been.

And so now Hylla was here, back in Sinnoh and back in my arms. And I could do nothing to help her.

"24 years," she murmured. "I can't believe I only lasted 24 years."

I turned my eyes to her again while she stared down at the backs of her hands before turning her gaze back up to me.

"24 years, Dust. I couldn't even make it to 30."

Her voice held a tinge of sadness and regret, but I mostly heard disappointment.

"No plan to suddenly save the day?" I asked, an odd burst of hope contaminating my tone. "No ulterior motives where you turn the tables and use this opportunity to invent a cure for cancer and save millions?"

She wouldn't meet my eyes.

I rested my hand over hers, rubbing between her fingers gently, pleading to intertwine fingers. She accepted and our fingers interlocked.

A ray of sunshine warmed the bed she laid in in a hospital urgent care room. I sat beside her bedside in a pulled-up chair.

"Four years ago, I woke up in a forest," I began. Was I really going to tell her this? Was I really going to reveal my hand, after all these years?

Hylla never really had figured me out fully. It was a small respite for her in these circumstances, I decided.

She, for her part, remained silent.

"I turned to the sky and saw a Staravia. That was the first Pokemon I had ever seen up until that point."

I stole a glance at her, but her expression didn't falter from its stoicism.

"A day before that, I was nineteen years old and," running a hand through my blue locks, "I didn't have this blue, but instead a black."

She looked more interested at that.

"I came from a world without Pokemon and all these bullshit powers, all the insane physics-defying shit; I came from a world... saner than this one.

"But there was one important difference from just some random dimension swap," I continued.

"In my old world, without Pokemon, humans had gotten really bored. So bored that we basically perfected ways of killing each other, invented devices of mass-destruction that could destroy every piece of land on the Earth and make it uninhabitable for millions of years to come, and, naturally, created video games. Video games like the ones I produce under the pseudonym 'Blank' with the Dream Company in Unova."

Hylla nodded as if I hadn't revealed anything she hadn't known.

"Well, one video game franchise of note that released was named 'Pokemon.' It started with the game 'Pokemon Red,' in which the protagonist, Red, from Pallet Town, receives a starter Pokemon from Professor Oak and begins his adventure. He receives all eight gym badges, beats the Elite Four, and becomes the Champion."

At this, Hylla's eyes widened. Finally something that she hadn't quite guessed just yet. I smiled.

"Then there was the anime, following Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu." Her eyes widened slightly more.

"Well, when I came to this world, I realized that it was similar to the one portrayed in those games and the cartoons."

A deafening silence commenced. I wasn't sure how to continue after that, and Hylla was content to continue her silence in favor of straining me dry for every drop of information she could.

"Ummm, what then? Right, Team Galactic, Alamos Town, all of those. I knew about them before they happened, but despite it all, I didn't make much of a difference."

I brought a hand up to my eyes. They were oddly watery. I didn't think that I'd get this emotional over it all, but then again, Hylla was my first real friend here. I didn't want her to die.

I chuckled darkly. "Well now what? I've revealed my hand to you, and what difference does it make? You're still going to die." I paused. "Maybe I wanted you to have some closure. Maybe that's all."

Hylla undid the bed sheets trapping her and rose to her feet on the other side of the bed from me.

"Dust," she started. "I didn't expect you to tell me that."

I blinked. What the hell was she saying?

"But I guess it worked out even better than I thought," she spoke mysteriously, a shadow of a grin hiding behind her now obviously fake stoicism.

The fuck this bitch say to me?

"Motherfucker," I spat as I realized her ploy. "You weren't sick at all!"

For her part, she looked guilty as hell, but she didn't deny it.

"I was sick," she countered. "Just not stage four cancer sick."

What? "But the girl told me-"

"The lady outside was a nurse cosplayer, and you walked in while she was getting ready for her set on Jubilife City Theatre Stage 4, asking 'is it stage four?!'"

"What the fuck," I droned. "There is no fucking way you put a cosplayer here."

This fucking bitch! She played me like a toy!

"What the hell happened with the cancer?!" I cried.

"It was just some cursory background radiation. Half of the squadron did die," at this she lost her spunk, "but it was due to an unexpected nuclear explosion, not the radiation. My cancer was easily removed yesterday."

I blanched. This world had never seen deaths to nuclear-related troubles other than radiation leaks. No one except engineers-and me-really even had the idea that it could blow up.

This was bullshit. "What the hell have you done," I said under my breath. "I can't believe you."

"I didn't plan this so that you would tell me all your secrets," she began. "At least, not those secrets."

I squinted my eyes, barely containing my fury. If I hadn't left Luna to play with the others and Ash's Pikachu, then she'd have been storming in my now. It took all my strength to avoid strangling the woman I saw before me.

"I planned it so you'd confess your love for me," she finished.

...

wot?

...

"Purple girl say what?"

"Purple girl say that you like me." That smug-ass bitch smirked. "And I wanted to hear it come from your lips."

I put a hand to my head as I felt an intense headache coming on.

"Holy fucking shit, Hylla. FUCK," I cried. You've got to be kidding me. "No one fakes having fucking cancer to do that!"

"I didn't fake having cancer," she commented. "I technically never lied."

"Have you tried, for once in your life, to just ask someone for something?! You don't need to plan them into fucking Tartarus to get your way!" My fist clenched and the knuckles grew white.

She actually avoided my glare at that, as if she were ashamed.

"Fuck, Hylla." I let out a heavy breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

She looked up at my again. "Well then, Dust, I'll ask. Do you like me?"

I hesitated. I set her up for that, didn't I? I cursed.

I needed a break, and I told her such. Getting up, my feet carried me to the door, though my eyes barely caught glimpse of it, and my thoughts overpowered any consideration of the outside.

What was hell was she thinking? And what the hell was I thinking, telling her that? My trump card had been revealed. The truth behind my mystery, my intrigue. I hadn't thought all too much about ever telling anybody about my unique situation when I first came into this world, but I was certain that I'd never tell it to someone I couldn't trust. It just so happened to be that I never trusted anyone very much. So sue me.

I barely noticed the hillside I approached where I knelt to look up at the now-emerging stars.

But why had I told her that? Did I trust her that much? I barely even put much thought into it when I told her. I told her like I was explaining my grocery list. Like nothing at all. I doubted it was mind control, but I guess everyone under mind control would tell you they weren't.

Maybe I really was that comfortable with Hylla. She sent me through hell several times, I recalled. And yet I still trusted that damn woman. She was manipulative like a snake, but it always worked out in the end, didn't it?

Where are you going with this, Dust?

A body clad in dark clothing sat itself in the grass beside me. Purple hair shined in the moonlight.

"I'm glad you survived," my mouth said. The words felt foreign to my tongue, but I knew I meant them.

The woman hummed in response. A beat passed before she spoke again.

"I'm sorry I misled you."

I snorted. That apology stunk.

Fingers reached and grasped mine, as if silently asking for an invitation.

"Misled is an understatement, Hylla."

"Lied? Deceived? Confused? Surprised? Regardless, I'm sorry for making you feel this way, Dust."

I pursed my lips. That apology was a bit better.

After a moment, I relented and allowed her to hold my hand.

"Why do you care, Hylla?" I asked suddenly. "Why do you care so much about this supposed confession of my alleged affection?"

Though our faces were lit by the dim glimmer of the sky, it was too dark to make out her expression, and yet I knew it to be a smirk. Was she winning? Fuck.

"Because this theoretical confession of love would come from a guy I hypothetically like."

I froze. The sounds of the wind and the quiet noises of crickets and cicadas grew tenfold as I considered her words.

I wasn't sure what I expected when I first came to this world, but I had a feeling like it wasn't this.

Hylla was insane. A fucking sociopath. But she cared for me-or at least about me-and she had feelings, too. Was it really possible that, through my antisocial antics, I somehow managed to allure a dumbass? My mind flashed back to the times when I saw Hylla at her lowest. The Fangs, the Snatchers. A2. Then I remembered her at her highest. Was this mastermind of a woman secretly... a girl?

I almost felt shocked at the realization then immediately kicked myself for not seeing it before. Hylla was just like the rest of us. Vulnerable and powerless against a world so insane it shaped a psychopath like her. Now that I had seen past her mask, she reminded me a little of both Luna and Fay. She obsessed over still holding the ever-escaping thread of control she had over her situation.

Then I remembered her parents' death. The Hylla nowadays would never have let something like that happen. I couldn't imagine it being much different in the past. I never asked for details on the event, but seeing how Hylla protects her sister now, it couldn't have been pretty.

Hylla was a product of this insane world. A world where civilizations could rise and fall in a matter of an evening. A world where a child could lose their parents and no one would bat an eye. A tragedy, they'd say. But nothing more because everyone experienced it. Everyone lost something. That's just what happened when powers like those of Pokemon were thrown around like confetti.

The world had made Hylla, and the world had hardened her. And now, she was left in its wake, scrambling to hold the pieces she had close to her heart.

I wondered if my understanding of her was right or not. I doubted she'd ever tell me if I asked. But that was Hylla. Forever an enigma, and yet so close to the touch.

I tightened my grip on her hand and turned to her. A dumb song I had last heard over four years ago decided to pop up at this exact moment, but it compounded the feelings I had at that moment.

So I decided to sing along.

"You were out of my league," I began low. I was never much of a singer, but I didn't think that I sucked at it. I just never practiced. "All the things I believe..."

I paused, trying to remember the next line.

"You were just the right kind. Yeah, you were more than just a dream," I continued the lyric. Hylla didn't utter a word.

I stopped. "Sorry, just a dumb song."

But she looked on with interest. "I'd like to hear the rest of it," she whispered into my ear. I wasn't really doing this, right?

Ugh, this was so cheesy.

"You were out of my league. Got my heartbeat racing.

"If I die don't wake me, 'cause you were more than just a dream."

I could've died of embarrassment. The only semblance of pop music in the Pokemon world was from Unova, and even there, it was only just beginning to be birthed. In my world, it thrived.

Pop music wasn't my favorite genre, but I didn't hate it, either. But, well... this song just fit the moment. I cringed at the thought. I didn't want my life to become nothing more than a slice-of-life romance fanfiction.

Then again, I could take the break. Eh, 1-1. It's a tie, so I'm waiting it out to see.

"Was that a song from your world, Dust?" Hylla asked and I jumped. I had almost forgotten that I told her about that.

"Yeah," I replied lamely.

"I think I like it," she murmured, her thumb drawing circles on the back of my hand. "I think I like you."

Her lips puckered a little and her face inched closer to mine. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

What the hell do I do?! The only dating sim I played was DDLC! Wait, why am I thinking about dating sims right now when a beautiful girl is right th-

Her lips tasted weird. Maybe a little metallic? Well, I didn't know what to do. I had never kissed a girl before. Or a boy, for that matter.

I didn't believe in the whole "true love's kiss" fantasy sold by Disney to little girls where an electric spark would fire between the two soulmates and yada yada yada.

But I did believe the kiss to be more than nothing. It was something. It was a good something.

And, looking Hylla in the eyes, a shine of luminosity reflected from the moon turned purple in her irises, I decided.

I wouldn't mind trying that something again.

Omake Author's Note: Hey all, Delta6697 here. This was my attempt at ShiningWildfire shipping, and I thought I'd share. If I can convince Moon into adding it to the Omake fic, then my goal will have been successfully accomplished! Also, this is not canon, and I don't know how the next four years are going to go for Dust at all, if he even survives them, so don't think this is spoilers at all haha. It's all just speculation and some fun fantasy.

Anyways, maybe the technical quality of this chapter will be enough to convince the Cap into letting me edit Insane World! I've been re-reading it (hence this) and I'd love to help improve the quality so that even more can enjoy it the same way I have!

Until next time (I hope)

-Delta6697-

A/N CaptainMoonShine note:

A lot of thanks to Delta for the amazing Omake. Look mom, I finally made it! I have people writing amazing fanfics of my fanfic!

Also, join the discord server. Link in bio XD

-CaptainMoonShine-