Chapter 14: Broken Heart

Two days later, I was getting ready to leave. I would have preferred more time to get prepped, buy gear, and—most importantly—mentally prepare myself. Everything had just happened too quickly. The reveal of my malignant typing, the mysterious Absol, the life altering conversation with Oak, Joker’s deceptive reveal. A week or two to just sit and process it would have been nice.

Alas, Daisy was determined to get her first gym badge as quickly as possible. Thus, I found myself tightening the straps of a truly massive backpack. It was a fancy space compressing model from Silph CO, with ten times more room on the inside. Despite that, it was filled to the absolute brim. Not that I had that much stuff, I was just carrying all of Daisy’s supplies too; she traveled with a complete wardrobe. As much as it frustrated me, I couldn’t complain; it was her bag.

I did have more than I was expecting, though. Several items that had been stolen were miraculously returned. Turns out Joker had sticky paws, and her den—an empty guest room in a far corner of the Pokémon center—was packed full of her misbegotten spoils.

As her future trainer, I had been her main target. Thus, my old backpack, water bottle, solar flashlight, pillow, and a massive pile of clothes were returned. Socks were her favorite target, but only one of the pair—the monster.

She’d strutted about with pride when revealing her secret stash of treasure to me, but hadn’t minded when I made her return everything. I’d gotten the impression that her true love was the thrill of the heist, and found great amusement in watching people's distress once they realized something was missing. With her ability to turn invisible, she could hide right under the victim's nose, so long as they didn’t have a strong enough Pokémon that could sense her. It’s why she predominantly focuses on vulnerable targets like me and my friends.

Part of her trove consisted of Pokémon trainer cards that had gone missing from Ash’s collection. I found it funny that in my original world we’d made cards with the Pokémon on them, while here it was the trainers that were collected. He’d practically cried when I gave him back his holographic Lance, the pride of his collection.

Gary had a similarly powerful reaction when I returned his diary, or “trainer’s journal” as he insisted on calling it. Oh, the blackmail potential of that book had been powerful. I felt my malignant heart bubbling with desire. Sadly, I respected his privacy too much to read it, but watching him turn red as a Magby had been a good consolation prize.

The other stolen goods were returned by Joy. It was still unclear who had attacked the Pokémon center, so everyone had to be treated with the utmost caution. Besides, with my new reputation, they’d probably think I’d been the one stealing their things.

With a heave, I lifted the massive bag to my shoulders. Even with the weight reduction technology, it was well over a hundred pounds. At least I'd be getting practice with my aura strengthening. I had a feeling I'd be needing it.

Daisy had given me a basic summary of what she wanted to do in Johto. This wasn’t going to be a jaunty trip along the main routes. The darkest caves and deepest forests would be our destination, with the occasional excursion to civilization so she could complete a gym challenge.

By myself, this would be dangerous to the extreme, and was only slightly less so with Daisy there to guide me. We weren’t going too far off the main routes, so it wasn’t a suicide mission, but the oft neglected edges and abandoned places of the patrolled areas could become similarly treacherous.

However, I’d rather be in the deepest wilderness than where I was right now. For what happened next would likely be the most unpleasant experience of my new life.

//////////RtP\\\\\\\\\\

“P-p-p-pweaaase d-d-d-d-donnn’t g-g-goooowww!” Dot bawled against my chest.

“I’m sorry,” was all I could think to say, as I hugged her tight. I’d tried explaining the situation to her, but she was too young to really understand.

“Y-y-you b-big m-m-m-meawn-nieee!”

“I know,” I really was a meanie. Not only was I leaving, her best friend was going with me. Joker pressed into my sister's side to try and comfort her, but it was similarly ineffective.

“W-w-when w-will y-you be b-b-b-bawck?”

“I don’t know, sweetie.”

“C-cowme to m-m-my n-newxt teew p-parwty.” she looked up at me hopefully.

“No,” dashing it was one of the most painful things to ever happen to me, and I'd literally died before, “It’ll be longer than that. I’m so sorry." I had to be honest with her.

“It’ll be alright, Dorthy,” Joy tried to reassure, “Laiton and Joker will call whenever they can.”

“Yeah! And we’ll get you a gift from everywhere we go!” I said, hoping it would placate her.

“P-prowmise?”

I thought for a moment, “Hear me Ho-Oh, for this I swear. To be diligent and kind, respectful and faithful, compassionate and honest… and to bring gifts for Dot and call her whenever I can,” I solemnly vowed.

The little girl’s hiccupping sobs morphed into giggles, “Youw’re nawt a kneight, sillwy,”

That little speech, minus the addition at the end, was from her favorite show The Knights of Ho-Oh. A cartoon based around a group of kids who defend the world from invading monsters with powers gifted to them by Ho-Oh. That oath was the activation phrase for their transformation.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“How do you know? I could be out fighting evil every night while you are sleeping,” I stuck my tongue out at her.

She giggled some more and gave me another hug.

“I wove you,” she mumbled.

“I… I love you too,” I had to desperately hold back tears.

Pushing out of her hug was soul crushing, but I'd been saying my goodbyes for a long while now. I was surprised Daisy was still waiting patiently.

Hoisting the ridiculous bag back onto my shoulders, I returned Joker and joined the older Oak sibling in the middle of the room. I gave a final wave to Ash, Gary, Joy, and Dot—and tried to ignore my brother’s absence.

I shouldn’t have been surprised, but after the others had been so accepting of me, I’d assumed he’d be the same.

Johnny was different, and I knew why. While I had enjoyed life as an orphan, and never longed for parents, he hadn’t.

We once went stargazing together as kids. It’d been a nice relaxing evening at first, but he’d forced me to stay out with him for hours after I'd gotten bored. No matter how I asked he wouldn’t tell me why. He just desperately needed to stay there.

A part of me was starting to get quite worried. Why would a little kid be so determined not to go home? Luckily, it wasn’t as I feared. He was just looking for a shooting star.

When one finally flashed across the sky, he’d clasped his hands together and bowed his head, whispering the same thing over and over again.

“Please bring my mom and dad back.”

His wish had gone unanswered. Johnny’s parents were just average trainers who were conscripted in the latter years of the war. They were killed in the battle for Lavaridge Town, or the Lavaridge massacre as it was called. Sidney caused a volcanic eruption that trapped Indigo’s forces in the valley and slowly cooked them alive. Johnny’s hatred for dark types was well founded.

Unsurprisingly, he couldn’t stand to see me. A letter was sent instead, in which he explained that—while he didn’t hate me—he was convinced it was only a matter of time before I lost my mind. So, for all intents and purposes, I was dead to him.

‘Ready?’ Alakazam was suddenly between us, with furry hands resting on each of our shoulders.

“Let’s do this!” Daisy cheered.

Before I could reply, an intense tingle washed across my frame and locked it in place. The sensation built in intensity over a moment, in which my friends and family gave a parting wave. My focus was mainly on Dot, who had started crying again.

With all my power, I wished things were different. I’d gotten Ash and Gary to promise to stop by and help her out whenever they could, but I knew they’d be busy with their aspirant training. A little push of aura allowed me to force my lips up into a smile to try and reassure her, and then we were gone.

My stable footing was suddenly replaced with something soft and uneven, causing me to stumble to my knees. Warm, humid air assaulted my senses, and I nearly coughed from the sudden change in climate. We were on a beach, with some sort of town or city about a mile up the coast.

“Ah. Cinnabar Island. I’ve missed you.” Daisy crowed, seemingly unaffected by our displacement. She flopped down next to me, “Oh, if this sand could talk. The stories it could tell." She winked at me while making a sand angel.

‘Samuel instructed me, to remind you, that the ship leaves at six, and that he will not pay for rebooking should you be tardy’ the powerful psychic warned, before disappearing in another teleport.

“Why are we in Cinnabar?” I recovered, “I thought we were going to Johto.”

“Alakazam is scary strong, but my Grandpa’s not a psychic prime. The fact he can teleport us here is already insane.” she continued rolling in the sand, “Besides, going across the Victory mountains would be suicidal. The league monitors tons of reintroduced mastery level Pokémon on just Mount Silver, and there's three fully wild, violet density Pokémon!”

“There are fully wild Pokémon in the violet?!” That shouldn’t be possible! Reintroduced was the name for Pokémon who had returned to the wild once their masters had died. Cultivation extended the human lifespan by hundreds of years at the highest levels, but there were some Pokémon species that lived for thousands. They’d be around for a long time after their trainer died.

Fully wild, however, were those that had never been captured. Public teaching claimed they couldn’t reach mastery without human assistance, let alone the stage above, violet level!

“What do you mean? Of course there… Oh… right,” Daisy sat up and glared at me, “pretend you didn’t hear that.”

“What!? You can’t just say something like that and expec-”

She pressed her finger to my lips, “Now, now, Laition. Don’t make me call Alakazam back to erase your memory.”

“Bu-but, psychics can’t erase memories!” I stuttered around her digit.

“Is that so?” she gave me an innocent smile that sent the hairs on the back of my neck straight up.

“…Did you say something? I think I had an inexplicable case of acute deafness for a minute there.”

“Good boy,” she patted me on the cheek, “as a reward, I shall help you with your cultivation.”

“Really!” I’d been pestering her for that constantly these last few days.

“Yes. I can’t have my servant losing any more battles in the future,” she proclaimed with hands on her hips, “Your showing against my brother was awful!”

Ash, Gary and I had a round robin tournament yesterday. Joker had completely stomped Ash’s Pichu. All she had to do was turn invisible and attack from blind spots with basic scratches. She hadn’t even been damaged. The natural illusion power of Zorua was just too OP.

We’d expected to do the same to Gary, and had gone in with too much confidence and no backup plan. So, when Squirtle layered the floor with water and then attacked my fox when the ripples revealed her location, we were caught flat footed. A couple jets of compressed liquid later, and she was knocked out.

“I’ll get him next time,” I grumbled

“Sure you will,” she rolled her eyes, “just as Ash said about you and Gary said about Ash,”

Yes. Shockingly, Ash beat Gary. Pichu’s type advantage let him dispatch Squirtle with minimal difficulty, leaving all three of us with a 1-1 record. Funny that I was now the “evil” rival Ash had vowed to overcome, instead of Gary.

Actually, now that I thought about it, I was the perfect future villain for the anime protagonist. I was a childhood friend with a tragic past whose unfortunate circumstances would send down the road to darkness. It practically wrote itself!

No! This world was real. It wasn’t a show, and even if it was, I refused to be some cliche trope!

“So, what have you been having troubles with?” Daisy brought me back to the moment.

“Um… I’ve tried the normal condensing method with Joker, but the core keeps bursting apart,”

“Huh. That’s odd,” she scratched her chin, “You cleansed her first, right?”

“Uh… no?”