Chapter 6: Promises

Several months ago…

On one night in Seafolk Village, two young men were standing at a railing overlooking the tossing ocean. The moon hung overhead, bright and full.

"Alright, Red, I'm not gonna keep you waiting any longer. There's something I have to admit."

Blue glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were alone. It seemed that none of their Battle Tree cohorts had noticed them leaving the busy luau.

Good. Looks like our only other witness is Arceus himself, Blue thought. He noticed that Red had stealthily gotten closer to him.

"Whoa, dude, and here I thought you'd be half paying attention," Blue remarked, leaning on the railing and shifting his weight to his right hip. "So you did catch how important this talk was going to be. And I…well…"

He paused. Red waited.

"What I have to say might sound crazy, but it's just me expressing how I really feel. And this isn't something you should take personally. This is a me problem. It still has something to do with you, obviously."

Blue lowered his chin onto the railing, exhaling through pursed lips. "And I mean, I should feel accomplished, right? They literally created a new trainer class for me and you. It's just that there've been times where, even if it's my job, I don't... feel like a Battle Legend. A 'course whenever it's time to take on any challengers, all bets are off. But with you being my partner in this whole thing...I haven't been feeling too hot. And you know that's figurative, 'cause I'm way hotter than you, bud.

"And don't get me wrong, it's cool being a co-leader of the Battle Tree, but…I feel inadequate. Y'know? Like, my run can't keep up with your walk."

Red blinked once, very slowly.

"Aghh! Just stick with me, alright!? And I admit I've been feeling like this for years, not days. Have you noticed the time of year? It's almost fall. Something's coming up in September. Tell me what it is."

Red didn't bother to even look confused, but Blue could tell he was by the way his eyebrow lifted slightly.

"You know?" Blue urged, rising from the railing. There went Red's eyebrow, even higher. "Oh, for…it's our anniversary, genius!"

"We aren't married."

Blue almost slipped off the dock and into the ocean. "Idiot! I'm talking about when you beat me at the Elite Four all those years ago!" he yelled.

Red looked surprised, then very amused and a little smug.

"It's not FUNNY, Red. I'm being real with you here and you're—"

Red stopped him with an apologetic cuff to the shoulder. Blue sneered, turning his nose away.

"No one asked you to pity me," Blue said coarsely, pretending that a part of him wasn't dying on the inside. "What I want to do is put that day to rest for good. Yes! It STILL hurts that you beat me! Alright? I just need to move on in a reasonable way. And we haven't even had a serious Pokemon battle in I don't know how long, which is totally your fault since you like to piss off without warning. You OWE me this."

He glared over his shoulder, waiting for Red's nod of agreement before continuing.

"Yeah, you'd better be taking this as seriously as I am. So, to summarize all the sentimental shit I said earlier—we're gonna have a battle."

Blue heard the sound of a Pokeball opening, startled when a group of vines snaked around his arms and torso. "What the hell, not NOW, genius!"

Red shrugged and recalled Venasaur. Blue fixed his clothes, scowling.

"As I was saying, we're going to have a battle, but on the date you beat me. Alright? That's the twelfth day in the month of September. Yes, it is," he added, seeing Red's eyebrow twitch again. "I kept track of that. September 12th. That's not too FAR from now, right? You gonna remember and meet me on Route 22 on September 12th? Yes? You are? You promise?"

Red nodded for the third time, adjusting his cap. That was a motion of his that meant the deal was good as set. Blue felt like he could relax now.

"Good. I'll believe that. It's something to look forward to."

He paused awkwardly. Red waved a hand for him to continue.

"Chill. Don't rush me," Blue drawled. "B-Besides, while I do have more to say, I can save it for when we meet up later. I'm not in the mood to be all deep with you now. It's funny, though, 'cause usually you'd want me to shut up. I guess even for you I can irresistible sometimes, eh Big Red?"

Red seized him by the collar and flung him forward into the ocean.

You told me you would remember. But you left me there by myself.

You stood me up, even after you promised me you wouldn't.

I guess you didn't understand how important that day was for us.

Presently, Blue was leaning on the railing of his upstairs balcony, looking up at the full moon as he reminisced. Pikachu was perched on the roof doing the exact same thing.

"Here you are," Eevee remarked, climbing up into view. She glanced down at her trainer, whispering, "So how's he been doing?"

"Huh? Oh…not good, from what I've been able to tell. How about the egg?"

"It's fine! It'll definitely hatch soon. What do you think'll come out of it?"

"Beats me." Pikachu said, folding his paws behind his head. "It's pale pink, and there's a ton of pink Pokemon in the world. And hey, you're the educated one. I thought you'd be able to tell me!"

"Just guess!"

Pikachu thought for a moment. "A Chansey."

"They can't hatch from eggs, and the color's too washed out for a Chansey to have laid it."

"Well, sor—ryyy! What do you think's inside?"

"My best guess is Igglybuff."

They both watched as a humungous cloud covered the moon. Down below, Blue lowered his head into his arms.

Pikachu's cheeks sparked and he twitched an ear in agitation. "…Vera," he lowered his voice even more. "…alright, I've been thinking hard about something strange I saw."

"Regarding what?"

"Blue. I actually saw him get hit earlier."

"You did?"

"Yeah. Remember? That's why I rushed to get done eating so I could go out into the storm."

"You don't think you accidentally attracted lightning, do you?" she asked skeptically.

"That's what I thought at first. Y'know, even a distinguished Pokemon such as myself is capable of making catastrophic mistakes on occasion," he said with fake loftiness, placing a paw on his heart. "But I've never messed up that badly, not even when I was a Pichu. And besides, when I look back, I'm thinking he never got struck by lightning in the first place."

"What? What else could he have gotten hit by?"

"That's the thing. What I saw looked like lightning, but didn't feel like it. I noticed when when Arcanine and I were checking on Blue, his body wasn't even emitting any static charge. The way that bolt-thingy came from the clouds and honed right into him honestly makes me wonder if it was a Pokemon that'd attacked him. I don't know of any kind that could make fake lightning bolts."

"Oh…!"

She held a paw to her mouth, looking off with a doubtful glare.

"Oh, boy, I recognize that tone," Pikachu joked. "What, did you figure it out already?"

"Well! What you've been saying lines up with something familiar. During our recent visit to Sinnoh, we were studying a few things to prepare for a series of workshops across the region. Said workshops are now canceled, but whatever. Cynthia was one of the researchers we were working with, and she was telling us that since she'd gotten back from Alola, Sinnoh had been experiencing something strange. Sinnoh and Johto," she added. "There's been these…weird weather patterns that've been popping up in both regions. Storm systems. But what's been noticed is that during these storms, large quantities of psychic energies are being released into the environment."

"Eh, so they're like psychic storms or something?"

"Exactly…well, that's our unofficial term. No one had any record or knowledge of them before recently. It seems to be a new phenomenon. But from the data we've gathered so far, psychic storms are far more dangerous and unpredictable than normal thunderstorms."

"So that's it, we got a psychic storm. Hey! That's why the air wasn't ionized! For all the lightning we were getting, the charged particles in the air were not strong enough! Heck no, they weren't!" Pikachu cried. "But what I hate the most is that some moron left a Pokemon egg out in the middle of all that craziness."

"Yeeeeah, Blue's distracted. He definitely hasn't realized that someone had to have snuck onto our property to drop the egg off. He'll flip his lid when he does, trust me. He's super paranoid about crazy fans finding out where he lives," Eevee said. "And whoever it was picked a rare time where Arcanine wasn't posted up outside."

"You think…someone's been watching?"

"I really hope not. I hope it's just someone who had this spur of the moment plan and got lucky they weren't caught. I'm just glad Anya arrived when she did. Someone who leaves an egg out in a storm like that doesn't sound like the cleverest person around."

She sighed, dropping her ears in sadness. Pikachu rubbed behind his head.

"Yeah," he said finally. "Uh, speaking of Pokemon eggs…you know."

"Yes, Chuey. I still want to have one," Eevee drawled. "You know we could've set some time aside in Alola. That would've been perfect."

"Aw, I know…I know I didn't jump at the call. I'm here now and I don't know how long I'll be around, but, heh," he grinned, saluting her. "I'm ready when you are."

Oh, now he wants to be enthusiastic, Eevee thought, mentally rolling her eyes. "Well, now we've already got a little one on the way. Let's not hit Blue with another surprise so soon."

"I mean, it's not like you're about to pop one out now."

They stared at each other, and then back down at Blue.

"…what do you think he's thinking about?" asked Pikachu.

"Red. I can tell by the way he's standing."

"Ha! I can tell when Red's thinking about Blue, it's in his eyes. Ah…I wished we hadn't missed our anniversary meeting, but…"

"Uh huh. You both are lousing up big time," Eevee said crossly. "So why did that happen? The only correct answer is that the world was ending and you went off on some epic journey to save it."

"Epic journey indeed! You'll never believe this, Vera. We saw one. A real one…"