Brian's Tale - Chapter 5: Mind Games
Brian's Tale
Chapter 5: Mind Games
"This. Is. So. Boring." Sarah stated. Right now, she, Brian and Jenna were all walking through Eterna forest, Brian saying he was looking for a new member for their team - A fire pokemon to have a type advantage over Gardenia, Eterna's Grass-type Gym Leader. Unfortunantly, the forest was covered in a thick fog and was completely devoid of life, so the trio was just aimlessly lurking about, hoping one pokemon would cross their vision. Not one. Not a single pokemon had been seen so far. Added with the fact that the scenery barely changed, it made for a very boring trip. If they didn't find one in the next hour or so, they'd continue until they would reach Eterna City.
"We'll only be out here for another hour, so just be patient." Brian contiued with Jenna as Sarah just meandered about, looking for something that would actually be interesting. He could hear the Shinx ruffeling about in the bushes. As Brian continued, he heard an 'oooooh!" from Sarah. Looking to his left, he saw that Jenna had joined her and the two were staring at something. Going over to the two, he saw them crouching over a small bush "What are you two looking at?" they didn't move, just kept staring at something. "What is it?" He gave them a little shove as he found what they were staring at.
On the small bush was a single berry. It had the shape of a Rawst berry, but it's color scheme was different. It was green with stripes of blue in it and the top grass was a darker shade of green. By the looks of things, it was that only berry on the tree. "What type of berry do you think it is?" Jenna asked as Sarah contiued to stare at the berry. In the morning, the three had a light breakfast of a couple berries for the two pokemon and half a sandwhich for Brian. "Maybe its the sweetest, most wonderful berry in the world..." Sarah said, her eyes glued on it. She was about to lunge at the strange fruit but was stopped by Jenna's strong (but still kind of stubby) hand. "We don't even know what kind of berry that is! For all we know, it could be poisonous!"
"Don't care. If i die, i'll die happy!" She then turned to it to see the berry gone. "Hey! Where'd it go!" She turned to her left seeing a human chewing something. "Did you eat my berry!" She yelled. "Listen, it could've killed you! You know that if i didn't eat it or destroy it, you would have done anything to get it- OW!" Brian yelled as he was bit in the leg. Looking down, instead of seeing a pissed off Shinx, he saw... a pissed off Raichu. "What in the HELL do you think you just did!" "I think i just saved us from digging a grave for a friend." He then looked at the Shinx who had a sorry face on. "And futhermore-" Brian began before stopping abruptly. He began to have a huge headache - it just hurt so much. He dropped to his knees from the pain. He heard two voices yell out a "Brian!" before he fell face first into the mud
........
Brian's eyes began to flutter as he awoke from his slumber. He sat up, his face full of dirt. Looking around, he saw he was in the exact same place, but there was one problem - there was no one else around. He was alone. "Jenna! Sarah!" He yelled as he stood up. He started walking around, looking for some sort of landmark. After 20 minutes, he began to feel hopeless. "Hey... Psst hey Buddy." He heard a strange - very strange - voice yell. Looking towards it, he found a strange figure leaning against a rock. It had black as night skin, it's appearance like a human. It wore a large (unsurprisingly) black trench coat. On top of it's head was a bowler hat. It's face held no mouth, no nose, nothing but one item - a single, completly white, pupiless eye.
"M-Me?" Brian asked, obviously spooked
The black figure started to look left to right. "No mate, i'm talking to that rock that looks like the 10 other @#$%ing rocks around it. Who do you think i mean!" The voice belong to it, its voice irish.
"What are you..."
"Woah mate, thats hurtful!" The figure said with a bit of shock "Nah, i'm just kiddin', What i am confuses alot of people... Anyway, i'll answer ya question. I'm called 'The Wiz' and i'm... something i don't get."
"You don't get?"
"I know what happened to me, it's just... i don't know why what happened made me the way i am."
"Where am i?"
"Geez boy, It's all questions with you! Ask me a personal question like... how my day was. Today there was this little-"
"Ya 'Wiz', i'm don't know where i am, so the question 'where am i' is more important than your day right now!" He yelled
"You got a little fire inside ya guy, I like that in a kid! Where you are... Can't tell ya that. The location keeps changin'"
The location keeps changing... Brian thought to himself What does that mean?
"What do you mean the location keeps changing?"
"It just means what it means. If you'll excuse me, i have to go." The Wiz said as he began to fade away
"Wait!" Brian ran after the stranger "Sorry boyo, Gotta run!" The Wiz said before disappearing completly
"Don't leave me... Alone" He said to himself softly with his head down. Looking around, he noticed something that wasn't there before; it was his house. His house, in the middle of Eterna Forest. He gave a laugh of disbelief, His house - A building in Sandgem - was in the middle of Eterna Forest He ran up to the house, his laughing continuing. Knocking on the door, he found no reply. Knocking again, albeit a bit harder, he found the door creaking open on its own. He stepped inside, going into the foyer and still found no one. "Hello?" He asked, trying to see if Jenna or Sarah - hell even Melody or Mom - was home. He found no reply, the house seemed empty. He hung his head down, thinking he'd found something that could explain where he was only to have it torn away from him. He started to seach the house, all the rooms being empty and devoid of life. Upstairs he found the same - except for one room; his room. The door leading to it was exactly the same except for one thing, it had a strand of tape over it that read 'Fears'
Fears.. I wonder what it means... He creaked the door open to find something... odd. There, in a bed, layed a six year old boy. It looked like he was in a hospital room. How? His old room wasn't in a hospital room. Who was this kid? He had black hair, and a thin frame. At the moment, the boy was sleeping, his chest slowly rising and falling.
Brian walked slowly to the bed, being careful not to wake the kid. He looked at the boy, wondering why he was here. The door said 'Fears' but he didn't remember fearing a little boy... As he looked around, he noticed the chairs were empty. Why would that be? It looked about mid-day, so why wasn't anyone - his family, maybe - here? He saw the boy starting to shift, Brian expected to be asked why he was here. As the boy's eyes began to open, he prepared for the worst. "H-Hello?" the boy asked, obviously afraid of something. Brian was about to answer him, but was cut off by another person entering the room. "Ah, You're awake!" The man in scrubs - obviously a doctor - said to the confused boy. "Where am i?" The boy asked as the doctor walked next to Brian. "You're in Burnstun Pediatric Hospital, Washington D.C." The boy began to mumble a few things that Brian couldn't hear, but he definantly heard 'crash' and 'si-'. While the boy went on his mumbling, Brian began to wonder why no one could see him. "Can anyone... see me?" He asked as the two didn't even flinch. "Where are my parents?" The doctor gave a big sigh and a few taps on his clipboard, obviously wanting to get this part over with "I'm sorry to say this... They... They didn't survive the crash" The boy then started shaking his head, tears soon followed as he just repeated 'no' over and over again. The doctor, not wanting to cause him anymore strife then he had, left him alone.
Brian watched as the boy contiued to cry. After a few moments, he stopped his tears and looked somewhere Brian didn't expect him to; Right at the 16 year old.
"W-Who're you?"
"You can... See me?"
"Uh... y-yeah..."
"Oh, uh... I'm... Brian"
"I-Ian" The boy said before breaking into tears. Ian? Brian was... viewing the moment when he woke up after the car crash; the one that killed his family "I'm sorry for crying-"
"Hey, Hey, it's okay, everyone cries."
"I- I know, it's just- i keep telling myself to be strong, to be brave - and i can't even do that..."
"I know you can be brave."
"But what if i can't!"
He snapped back After a few minutes of awkward silence and tears, the boy began to appologize "I'm sorry, i didn't mean to-" The boy stopped short by Brian giving him a hug "Hey, it's okay, i know you were just... overwhelmed" The boy began crying into Brian's shirt "I just miss them so much"
"Can i tell you something?" Brian asked as Ian just nodded
"I lost my family when i was your age."
"Really?"
"They... died in a fire when i was eight, but... I learned to live with it. It wasn't easy, but when i went to the orphanage, the people there... they were really kind and... they helped me"
"Why aren't you with them now?"
"About i month ago i left... to go... live my life. I left them, and i might not ever see them again."
"Are you sad?"
"No, because they'll always be in... here" He said, pointing to his heart
"What do you mean"
"I mean that they became like family to me, they were very nice to me, and i'll always have good memories of them..."
"Will they be nice to me too?"
"I'm sure they will"
"Excuse me sir?" a strange, familiar voice asked. Brian looked up and was greeted with the kind, dark, evil-looking face of The Wiz. "Uh... Uh-" Brian got out "Something wrong, sir?" he said the last word with a strange sweetness. Brian got up and went with the mysterious figure dressed in scrubs. Once they were out of hearing range, Brian gave The Wiz a shove "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Eh mate, just checkin' up on ya."
"What.. is this? Why am i here with a six year old version of myself?"
"Maybe it's time travel. Maybe its all in your little head
"But what if someone sees you" He whispered to him
"That's the beauty of it, no one knows what i am! They think i'm some" He looked at his ID badge "Peter Artic. Weird name. You know, i knew a Peter-"
"Not important. Where are we?"
"Don't know."
"Then why are you here?" Brian asked as the wig simply shrugged.
"Whatever, i'm going back to see... me, i guess." Brian left The Wiz there as he pushed open the doors. Stepping in, he noticed something... strange. He wasn't in the hospital, now he was in a house - he was back in his house in Sandgem, but it seemed different. It was more... clean and it seemed to be nighttime. Brian Wondered why he was here and how he got here. He began to hear feet coming down the stairs. Brian headed out of the foyer and found a man creeping down the steps. The man wore a rugged jacket and a pair of jeans. In his hand held a briefcase and in the other a car key ring. He seemed to be sneaking out - like he didn't want to get caught by someone. Brian could hear his heavy breathing as he tip-towed down the stairs. "Can you see me?" He asked to which the man stopped for a second - almost like he saw him - then went back to sneaking. Once the man was down the stairs, he went to the kitchen and started grabbing various things. Brian had watched him thw whole time, wondering why he was sneaking and why he seemed to be in a hurry. The man was soon at the doorway, all packed. He gave a large sigh before turning the knob. The man was just about to head out before-
"Dad?"
Brian and the man's heads snapped towards the stairs as they were greeted with an six year old boy in pajamas. He had the same general look as the past Ian - but he looked a bit different. "Dad, what are you doing?" The boy asked as he made his way past Brian and was now facing his father. The father bent doing, now at eye-range with his son. "Brian, i'm just... going on a business trip, you what a business trip is, right?" The man asked him and the boy, Brian, just nodded with tears in his eyes "Well this business trip will just be... a bit longer, but i'll be back, okay?" Brian just nodded again as the man wiped away a few tears. The man then simply got up, and just started walking. "Wait, dad!" Brian heard - not from the boy, but from... himself. His dad just walked out the door without saying goodbye. As the man got in the car, younger Brian ran after him "Dad, don't go!" He yelled as the man just... drove off. Brian just watched him, tears steaming down his face. "Dad!" Brian yelled
Brian began to feeling himself moving, but he didn't care. He contiued to cry as he felt a cold hand on his shoulder. Looking to his left, he saw The Wiz looking down at him. "What do you want..." He said softly "Look mate, i know i do the whole 'jokester' schtick, but... i'm sorry..." "It's okay... thank you" he said as he got up "No problem mate, now-" The Wiz pulled out an old-timey pocketwatch "I got other places to be. I'll see ya pal, and i hope we meet again." The Wiz disappeared in the same fashion as before as Brian blacked out
........
"Brian!" Brian heard something yell. He slowly opened his eyes "I keep telling you to stop doing that! He'll wake up sooner or later" He heard. Wait, that was Jenna's voice! "J... Jenna?" Brian said as Jenna's head shot towards him "BRIAN!" He heard them both yelled as they tackled him in a hug "Hey you guys... What's up?" He asked, nonchalantly. "What's up is that if you EVER do something so stupid like that again, i'll rip that smug smile off your face!" Jenna practically screamed at him "Okay, okay. Now, where are we?" The girls started to explain "After you showed your... intellegence... you slipped into... a coma. We took you to the Pokecenter, here in Eterna." Jenna explained "That berry..." "Ya, that berry's called... Vuridan berry! Your Pokedex said that it causes Hallucinations in the mind, putting them into a deep coma until..." Sarah trailed off "Until what?" Brian asked "No one knows... appearantly it's just random." Jenna said, finishing Sarah's thoughts. There was a silence for a while, until...
"So what did you dream about?"
"Nothing... that i want to speak about." Brian said, wincing at the memories. "Oh... Well, Nurse Joy said that you'll be able to get up in a couple days, with some nice... R&R, i think?" Jenna told him. "Girls, i think Brian needs go back to sleep." The familiar tone of Nurse Joy called out from the doorway. They both scurried out before Jenna turned back to him "Oh, and Brian? If you ever do anything so stupid again, you won't need some 'hallucinogenic' berry to wind up in the hospital, got it?" Brian gulped and nodded. "Good." She said as she continued out.