Ch. 87
Imported from SF2 with no description.
Tempest - Trainer's Lycanroc
It was late in the afternoon when I finally had him to myself. For the longest time I just laid my head in his lap, and let him pet me. I'd been tense all day thinking about it. I knew it was the right choice, if we were going to go make it our problem, it was really the only choice we had.
"I know... it's going to be a lot harder." I admitted sullenly. "Might have bitten off more than I can chew. No... maybe almost definitely did." I said, as the doubts began to hang over my head. "I'm glad that girl has better sense than I do. What, I was just going to go waltz onto that stage like I owned the place?" The idea of getting some actual training was such a relief I could have cried. Had almost cried, when I had a few moments alone earlier. I'd work harder than anyone... but then again, I'd have to. I had more to overcome than anyone else.
Master chuckled, and shrugged. "I mean, if you can't blind them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit, right? It's worked before. Surprisingly frequently, actually." He said, as he scratched behind my ears just the way I liked. I knew on any other day his joking would have calmed me down, but today it just agitated me. I found myself growling, and grumbling.
"It's not funny." I said angrily, but relented after a few moments. "Okay. It's a little funny."
He sighed, and took hold of my hand. I found myself staring down at it, at my claws, at all the memories I had of them. More bad than good, it seemed. Darkness, and pain. Doubt and despair. Maybe it was just the mood I was in, but I found it hard to pin down good memories with my claws. I sure could remember what it was like before I had them, though.
"You know why it needs to be the big event, right?" I asked, as I closed my eyes, trying to block out as much light and noise as I could. I just wanted to hear his heartbeat. But I couldn't hear much over my own, racing in my chest.
He admitted he didn't, and for a moment, my mouth felt dry. I wasn't sure I even wanted to explain, but he needed to know. He should have known sooner. I should have been honest with him a long, long time ago.
"I understand Sharon better than you do." I said softly. "A lot better."
"I was the runt of my siblings." I said softly. "Not by a little bit, I was a lot smaller. A lot weaker. I didn't want to fight. I wasn't good at it. I wasn't strong or brave. I'm still not. Not really." I hated saying it, breaking the illusion he had of me all this time."Training with you brought out the best in me. But sometimes I feel like it should have been my big sister. She could have done more for you. Gone further. Not been so damn afraid. Arceus, but if she'd met you, you'd probably be taking on the champion circuit by now." It bothered me to say it. To admit I was afraid of anything. But he needed to know, because I needed him to understand. "Back in the mines... I... I don't think I ever really got out. Zorah... Zorah was just me being afraid. Still. I can't even look at him sometimes. Not because of what I did, but because of what he is."
"It wasn't the first time I was ambushed in the dark, either. My brothers used to bully me. 'Toughen me up' they'd say... but I never felt any tougher. I just felt small. Helpless. I felt it all over again back then, trying to find you." I admitted, quietly. "Sometimes I still do. When I don't have a way to help. When I'm not sure if I can protect you. When you get lost in your own fears and I'm not enough to save you." Master gave my hand a reassuring squeeze, and for a moment I faltered. I tried to collect my thoughts, but I wasn't sure where I'd been going with it to begin with.
"So I'm the runt. I'm terrified of screwing up. I charge in, because I'm afraid I'd just freeze up if I didn't." I paused and sighed. "And I know what it takes to make a bully stop. It's not enough to just win a little scuffle. That doesn't mean anything except they bring more friends next time." I paused and sighed, then growled one terse and unpleasant 'no'.
"You have to show them that on their own damn ground, win or lose you're going to fuck them up so badly it isn't even worth testing you." She said resolutely. "We have to show Sharon's sister she can't hold the girl down anymore, or there's no point even showing up. It won't fix everything... I know that. You know that. But we can still do a little good, and you've taught me what a little good is worth."
"I know where she is right now. I know ... something of what she must have gone through. Not having a place in her own family. Not having a place to go home to. Bullied, abandoned, neglected. I know what she's feeling." I hated to admit how well I knew that. How vulnerable it still made me feel. "I know what she's about to face. What she's really preparing herself for."
"There were reasons why I was alone when Claire found me. I couldn't have gone back if I wanted to. Joining you? It was about survival. I don't regret it. I found love with you. But I'd have played along just to not go hungry anymore." I acknowledged quietly. "It's why I'm not mad at Sharon for clinging to you like she did. I did the same, back then. Held on to the same kind of empty, distant hope."
"Back then I dreamed of being on stage, because I dreamed it was different. Nobody frowned in those videos." I sighed, and sat up again. "Everyone was happy. Everyone was smiling and singing along and dancing to the beat, and it was ... it was different. I wanted that."
"Going with you, and having you smiling at me? Acknowledging me? Relying on me? that was the same feeling in a different way. I'd have done anything to keep that feeling. I was afraid of losing you, so I never wanted to be apart. Rain or shine, or whatever fight we got into, I was with you, because you made everything better. You made... all of this feel okay."
"I'm not an idiot. I know a girl like me doesn't belong on a stage like that. Even if I hadn't been a runt of a rockruff, there still just isn't anything glamorous about me. I know that." I said softly, looking into his eyes. "They're not going to fawn over me. Nobody's going to rush over for a photo or a signature. I'm not that girl, and I know that."
"But I'll be absolutely damned if I'm going to let someone spit on a little girl's dreams like that!" I snapped, and growled as master pet me, settled me down again. "So it has to be a big show. I have to put on a show that means something. Otherwise, there's no point. Sharon will be as invisible as she ever was, and only worse off for trying." I growled again, but there wasn't any feeling in it anymore. I was tired, and the day stretched on in front of us all the same. "I don't expect to win. Even if the contest wasn't rigged, I'm not stupid. I don't expect to win. But I'll settle for spitting in Sharon's sister's eye all the same."
I'd settle for it... yeah, right. It was the best I could possibly hope for, and pretty far beyond what I had any right to expect. I was going to be lucky to simply not make a fool of myself. But this was my dream and now it was my fight, and I was going to do everything I could to make it mean something.
Trainer
And she said she wasn't brave.
Honestly, I didn't think I'd ever been more in love with the girl in my life. Tempest was every bit the force of nature her namesake suggested, and for once, I was actually quite content to follow her lead. "I'm with you." I said, as I held her. "Wherever this leads us, I know it's the right thing to do. I was worried I was dragging you into it... but I was the one dragging my feet, wasn't I? I'm sorry." I apologized.
"We'll do this, together. I don't quite know how, I don't have a plan this time. But I think I'm not supposed to. This is your show, this is your moment. I'll do whatever I can to make it happen, okay? You can rely on me, just tell me what you need, when you know."
I knew I was in for some busy and difficult days, but in a strange way I felt relieved. To be able to do something, or at least try to. I asked so much of my girls, and rarely had the luxury of repaying their care for me. This was exactly what it needed to be. For once I felt like I was almost exactly where I should have been.
Although, I wasn't quite sure where that was. Sharon had booked a beachside resort cabin for us. I couldn't imagine how much it must have cost. I didn't want to. She'd said something about needing a couple of days to make arrangements, dropped the key in my hand and off she went. I knew there was a lot that had to happen that I couldn't do anything about but it was disconcerting, to experience it so starkly.
Tempest had asked for some time with Claire, and I was glad to give her the space and company she needed. I knew they'd give me the gist of it later if I asked, but I wasn't feeling left out, regardless. There were things I couldn't be for her, and I was glad she had them, all the same. Claire would take good care of her, and she probably mostly just needed to cry it out a while. That's how it felt, when she asked.
Penance carried me along the beach for a while, alternating between a slow walk along the water's edge, and a sprint through the sands, leaving deep tracks as she brought me the wind. It was nice to have a chance to just be, and relax a little. We'd made up our minds about what we hoped to do. All I could do was wait until I knew more.
That evening we roasted meats and marshmallows over a gently crackling beachside camp fire. We had an entire kitchen to ourselves, but somehow we all seemed in lock-step over the idea of hanging out beneath the stars for a while anyway. Tempest and Claire made a brief appearance, but went off on their own early. I kind of missed them, although I knew they weren't too far away. Cocoa and Mira had settled in not long after, content to sleep outside of their pokeballs tonight. Penance ate her fill, and got sleepy from the weight of a full belly, slipping by me with a playful brush of her tail against my cheek before padding her way back to the cabin to sleep it off with the others.
As I went back to the cabin with Belle, Helena and Sybil, I felt a kind of restlessness I hadn't since I was a boy. Not anxiety, but a kind of happy impatience. I wanted to know how we were going to handle this. What we would end up doing. What I'd learn or see along the way. I was about to do something I'd never even thought about before, not in any depth. Yet, being worried I'd fuck it up was the furthest thing from my mind.
Somehow it just felt like it was overdue, if anything.
Sybil - Trainer's Weavile
Once we started, really started, there'd be no going back. That meant there'd be no holding back. Helena and I were on the same page, and Belle was quick on the uptake. Master would handle the contest just fine. He had the confidence to pull it off, and Sharon seemed to know what she was talking about. He and Tempest would get the training they needed to at least not embarrass themselves on stage. But that wasn't the problem.
The problem was he was as honest as they came, and he was apparently going up against a human shaped arbok. She'd know immediately that her meek little sister was up to something, that he was a threat. Given half a chance, she'd bind him up in her coils and crush him. Helena and I thought so, anyway. We had to be ready for it. Even if we misread her, it wouldn't hurt to be wary.
Still. That's what turned me on most about him. Why I followed him to begin with. Humans were full of crap, always trying to twist things up to get their way, and he just... didn't have that in him. I'd even heard from Alcyon what he had to say about Sharon. He just wasn't capable of using someone. Not like my old trainer, or any of the dozens of drooling idiots she kept bringing home.
So we'd have to be what he wasn't. And I didn't mind the idea that it meant the three of us were going to be very, very close to him for a while. We'd keep him out of trouble. As long as we weren't the ones causing it, at least. No way we were going to spend that much time with him and not take the opportunities we could get.
We'd talked about trying to get Sharon's haunter in on it, the little bitch was conniving enough to be useful, but none of us really had a read on her, even Belle couldn't pick up much from her aura. She was as guarded as they came, which meant we couldn't trust her. Not with master, at least. Still, she'd look after Sharon well enough, so at least we didn't have that to worry about along with everything else we'd invariably have to deal with.
As we settled in for the night, we all seemed to be on the same wavelength. About a lot of things. It seemed like the three of us had found our stride together. Sisters in crime. Or something like that.
It felt out of place for me. The idea of trusting them, or protecting him. Take your pick. But there I was, laughing and chatting away with them like we'd known each other our whole lives. Our conversation drifted from worries about tomorrow to all the fun we were all apparently thinking of having tonight. After all, we had the room and the space to really enjoy ourselves, there was no point letting it go to waste.
And besides, he'd been so distracted lately it wasn't even funny. It was only going to get worse, too. What was the saying the humans used? Strike while the anvil is hot? Something like that. Point was, there wasn't a point in wasting time.
I could feel the grin tugging at my cheeks as I began to indulge in my nasty plots. Helena took one look at me and laughed, a short bark of sound that was somewhere between approval and agreement. She didn't know what I was thinking exactly, but she knew the look. We shared the look.
Oh, master... we have a surprise for you!
Sharon - Trainer's gloomy friend
Sitting astride Alcyon, I found myself reminiscing on a day a long time ago before I realized how things actually were. Looking back, I couldn't believe my own naievete, that I didn't realize how fake father's smile was as we watched the lapras swim around his yacht. But back then, all I saw were the beautiful pokemon diving and frolicking. I wanted to join them, but ... well, father wasn't a man who tolerated that kind of behavior from his children. So I stood at the railing and watched quietly, while my heart lept in my chest at the sight of them.
They were beautiful, graceful swimmers, and watching them play took my mind off of having been scolded twice already that day. My sister brought me a sweet in secret and back then... back then she meant it when she was kind to me. Before everything had changed. Before everything had gone so wrong.
I wished I could have gone back to that moment. To try and fix things. But those days were long gone.
It was a long swim, and somehow it felt like the currents were against us. A storm blowing in, maybe. I could only hope we'd get a positive answer at the end of it all. The woman we were about to ask a favor of... was like a cactus flower. Beautiful, elegant, and one to keep her distance. I had to believe she'd agree. It was ... we all had unfinished business, and she more than most.
But that didn't mean we were friends, exactly. After everything that happened, that was one word I'd never have given us. It was different. Mutual enemies between us, but that didn't mean we were on the best of terms. Maggie was a complex problem in and of herself.
It was a long swim, too much time to think. That was always my problem, according to my sister. Too much time to think and make problems that didn't exist. Maybe she was right, but I still thought it was better than her lack of thought creating problems that did exist. I was giving myself a headache just thinking about every time she gave a half-hearted apology for crap she should have known better about to begin with. Apologies she never meant.
I was grateful when Shizuka sent a chill up my spine, shaking me out of it. I was brooding again, and it wasn't helping. "Yeah, you're right. I know." I said, as I looked to the horizon, the quiet port coming into view over the rolling waves. "No point in thinking about it now. Just have to take our chances and hope it works out."
Felt like the story of my life lately. Taking chances and hoping it didn't blow up in my face. Again.
Wendy - Trainer's friend
Sprinter and I had been thick as thieves since our conversation the other night. Somehow it just felt like some invisible barrier had come down between us, and we were laughing and playing like old friends. We'd started digging up as much as we could about the islands, and finding more to be excited about. The last message I had from my best friend was a little cryptic, but it didn't seem like he was waving me off, just warning me he'd be really busy and need as much help as he could get.
Twist my arm, why don't ya? I was already in a hurry to get to him, but knowing he could use my help? I'd have saddled up that night, if I thought Stacky could've swam the distance. Well. Okay maybe not, but the sentiment was there. Rein had seemed excited about the food, she'd been a voracious little eater lately, and Sage was probably worse! The dratini would eat her portion, and whatever leftovers anyone had to offer, had me worried she was gonna get fat. Could a dratini do that?
I was looking forward to seeing him again. Hell, I was looking forward to introducing him to my new friends, and showing off that third badge. I was technically ahead of him in the league rankings. Although I got the feeling he'd still kick like a mudbray in a match. I was getting better in a fight, too. Maybe good enough he could start teaching me things, too. At least, I was fit enough for it now. I'd trimmed down and was honestly getting a little buff. I wasn't sure if I liked that, but it felt good to be stronger, even so.
The boys at the ranch hardly recognized me, but ma spotted me immediately, doted on me somethin' fierce too. It was good to be home for a while, and it felt like nothing had changed at all. I helped with chores around the house a bit, and it was looking like if we kept our noses to the grindstone we'd be able to fly out soon. I wasn't sure if I should surprise him, or not. Part of me wanted to see the look on his face when I was just there, all of the sudden. But the idea of being welcomed at the gate? I kind of liked that too.
I was looking forward to seeing Penance again too. Making sure he'd been taking care of her, been good to her. I wasn't going to let him slack off with my first friend, after all! We could go for a ride together, catch up, like old times. I missed the easy banter we had, and having him translate for me was something I was definitely looking forward to. I really wanted a chance to get to know my new friends better. I had a lot of selfish reasons to want to go, but I'd make up for it, and help him out however he needed me to.
What were friends for, right?
Alcyon - Lapras of Alola
I'd been doing a lot of ferrying them between islands the past few days. My flippers were sore from the extra work, but I knew it had to be done. It was like a constant cramp in my side, but nothing for it but to work through it for now. I'd have time to rest soon enough. Then it'd be right back with Sharon and and news. Good or bad, we'd know.
I felt like it was an offer that couldn't be refused though. There was so much at play here. So much more than my new friend could have guessed at. I wondered if he'd ever know. Ever truly understand the way of it. I was torn. I knew it would help him to understand... and I knew it would hurt him to, just as much. Some things... sometimes they're better off buried. I wasn't sure if this was one of those things. But it could have been.
I hated being apart from him, as necessary as it was right now. We'd had such an easy friendship I guess I'd begun to take it for granted. But here I was, with Sharon on my back, heading to meet an old friend... an old rival? It was hard to say. There was history there, and we were both caught up in it. It was hard to think of. Difficult to accept what had happened. What those humans did, what they all did. What they made us give.
Somehow... I knew it had to be this way. Like it was destiny. I could feel it like a song inside my chest. A thundering drum propelling me forward to a fight that was years overdue. I was coming back to repay what they'd done to me. What they'd done to us. I was coming back, and this time I wasn't alone.
So I swam. Through the pain, and the doubt, and the steadily rising waves as a storm blew in, I swam. I wasn't going to stop. This was my fight, too. After everything that happened, I wasn't going to stop now. I couldn't stop. I'd had enough of trying to pretend it didn't happen. Trying to pretend I didn't know the truth.
Maggie was a good bet. Sharon was right to try and bring her in. But at the same time... what a horrible thing to do to someone now. After everything she'd been through. After everything that had happened.
I wasn't the only one hurt in all of it. I wasn't the one who was hurt worst.
So I swam.