Sorry everyone! I seriously just noticed I didn't put the rating in the prologue. It is rated PG-13 for occasional swearing and cartoon violence.
Anyway...
This next chapter was supposed to be longer, but then I realized it would take too long and I was rushing things. This will be an explanation chapter, so no battles and less angst. Yippee!
I am trying to get better with changing people while still keeping them in character.
News: I have gone over the storyline and discovered there will most likely be a sequel. Oh and there's going to be a one-shot that takes place in this story's universe coming out. I don't know when.
I just realized that there's some information I screwed up based on the episodes. Oops! I can't change it though, for plot's sake.
Warning: The word "hell" is used once in here.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.
Here we go!
Chapter 2: Ending
Reiji carefully eased the door open. The pale form on the hospital bed didn’t even twitch. The boy was heavily bandaged. The monitor beeped in tune with his heartbeat.
All of them blinked for a moment at the sight of Chimchar curled on Shinji’s stomach. Reiji then shrugged it off and moved to his brother’s side. He sat in the chair next to the boy, eyes closed and hands clenched tightly as though in prayer. The other three Trainers watched silently, intruders on the brothers’ pain.
Reiji sat still for a moment, head bowed, before sitting up straight and fixing them, Satoshi in particular, with a serious look.
“So,” he queried “What do you want to know?”
Satoshi, Hikari, and Takeshi looked at one another. Where were they supposed to start?
Satoshi decided to ask the thing he had been wondering about since day one, “Does Shinji hate Pokemon?”
Reiji blinked for a moment, processing the question. Then he laughed quietly, a grin unwillingly spreading onto his face.
“What’s so funny?” demanded Satoshi with a slight anger. He thought it was a valid thing to ask! The others did as well, only they were not as enraged.
“Nothing, it’s just I knew you would ask that. Well that, and the notion of him hating Pokemon is rather absurd.”
He became serious again. “Our family goes back many generations. We are called the Mierna. It’s not one you would hear about so don’t ask. There are others in our generation spread out around the world and I’ve met very few of them. There is a tradition, per say, that if there are two siblings, the older will become a Trainer and the younger a Healer for the elder. At least, that’s how it should be.”
“Shinji took to the healing training perfectly. He loved it, preferring to play in the forests and pick berries in place of battling. Likewise, I happily accepted my role as the Trainer in our family. My team and I, like true partners, worked together to achieve victory at every gym and battle area we came to. We never competed in the Leagues but that didn’t bother us at all. However…”
Reiji let out a low growl, the sound rising menacingly from his throat. The other three stepped back, unused to this loss of malice from him.
“We were conquering the Battle Frontier and we had come to the Battle Pyramid. There we faced Brandon and lost horribly. We were devastated. The next day, we went back to our home in Veilstone, called back by the Elders, the ones who lead us.”
…………………
The fire slashed the air, striking his body with smooth, deadly accuracy. He called back his Pokemon, who he had once considered partners. Now he didn’t know what they were to him. He did not know who anyone was to him. All he knew was the fire’s intense hunger for his flesh and that he had to run, run, run!
He crashed through a wall, grunting in pain as the wood jabbed him in the side. Ignoring it, he pressed on, forcing each step onward. All around him, Pokemon and humans fled. For a moment he froze in terror. A glare made of ice was trained onto his back. He looked around and saw nothing. The feeling of fear faded and he took off once more.
Cool air blew slightly near his face. Almost free! Then the pain returned. His injuries began to ooze the sticky, crimson liquid named blood. He grit his teeth.
I will endure it. I must endure it.
The thoughts became an unending mantra, moving him forward. The cool air suddenly engulfed his whole body and he sniffed, smelling the smoke behind him. His vision was blurring, yet he could see a meld of green and brown darkened by the nighttime. In his pockets, the Pokemon shook in their Pokeballs, desperately wishing for freedom.
Shinji smirked weakly. His team, despite everything they had done and all he had done to them, were as sentimental as that Trainer’s. They shouldn’t be worrying, as soon now the blood and fire would take him and he would die. He felt his knees turn to jelly and he collapsed to the ground, releasing his Pokemon.
All of them watched in shock and fear as he gave them their orders. He shook his head when they finally protested. The darkness began to sing, calling him into its embrace. Shinji closed his eyes and fell to the ground and the dream faded into dust.
......................
Shinji moaned softly in his sleep, straining to wake but unable. Reiji took the teen’s hand and murmured softly for a moment. The younger didn’t relax, but the moaning stopped.
Reiji continued, “The Elders who lead our family absolutely despise defeat. Victory or punishment is their rule. Their punishment of our loss…was to completely strip me of the ability to be a Trainer.”
Satoshi felt bile rise in his throat and forced it back down.
“Shinji had come along with me. Hearing the punishment, he protested that they had gone too far. ‘My brother and his Pokemon want to become the best there is,’ he said to them.” Reiji closed his eyes and remembered.
………….
Five towered over the two siblings. They were not truly old but by birthright they were given that title.
Reiji watched his normally soft-spoken sibling glare fiercely at the Elders, refusing to cower at their icy stares.
Shinji spoke, loud enough for all to hear, “You want someone to give up on their dreams just because of one loss? That’s pathetic and cowardly! A loss makes someone stronger, makes them better.”
The most senior of them, Liam, snorted at this defiance. “Pathetic are we, boy? Foolish child, we have honor to uphold.”
“Honor? No one even knows who we are!” he retorted hotly “May I remind you that our family has produced nothing of value except being able to access that power and heal? Others have that power! You elders need to open your eyes!”
The elder sibling winced at the derogatory remarks being made on them, and reflected on the fact that Shinji was right. What use were they as a family?
Liam glared at the ten-year old. “Silence Healer! May I remind you that you have no power here!” Shinji winced and stepped back, remembering his place for a brief moment.
The youngest of them, Hiro, seemed to agree with Shinji. He saw that dreams and bonds were more important than a pure and clean lineage. However, he was only one and would be easily overruled. There might be a way to solve this problem, he thought.
Hiro spoke before Shinji could get himself any deeper. “There might be a way to resolve all of this and restore Reiji’s ability to be a Trainer.”
The second elder, whose name neither sibling knew, spoke in a cold, sarcastic manner, “Please tell us. I’m eager to hear your idea, Hiro.”
Hiro shrugged off the hostility with a smile before continuing, “Shinji wishes to keep his elder brother’s dream alive. Very well. Shinji, you are old enough, so become a Trainer.”
The lilac-haired boy stared in disbelief. “You want me to become a Trainer?”
“For four years. If you can nearly mimic your brother’s accomplishments, he will resume his duties as a Trainer.”
Shinji seemed to be in thought. “There’s a catch, right?”
Liam smiled cruelly and the two brothers resisted a shudder.
“A catch, you say? Well, how about this then? Until you meet the requirements, you are forbidden to remain as a Healer. If you do not succeed at this, both of you will be disowned. Is that understood?”
Reiji watched his brother again, as Shinji’s fists clenched. The boy trembled in rage for a moment before turning his eyes back toward the five elders.
“I’ll do it,” he said coldly, giving the ex-Trainer a chill. “Just one thing: I cut my ties to this family!”
The air froze.
“From today onward, I am no longer a member of the Mierna! If this is your way of living, then I will no longer be a part of it!” With that, the ten-year old left the room, smirking faintly.
A moment of silence, and Reiji heard Hiro faintly laughing. He held back his grin. Trust his brother to be the first to tell the leaders of the Mierna to go to hell. With a sigh, he left as well.
Meh...I don't like this chapter... 3rd one will be out soon. Look forward to it!:)
"Perhaps I misjudged you after all."