The flight home was brutal. Zapdos, being significantly faster than even Bolt, tore through the skies at a faster speed and a higher altitude than either of the Nyna brothers had ever experienced before. It was a monstrous task just to continue breathing, as the chilling winds of January shot past them and threatened to numb their grips to nothing. Yet Kenta refused to have Zapdos slow down to a bearable pace, and it wasn’t until they were somewhere in the northern Johto region that he finally guided the lightning bird down. They landed in a somewhat mountainous region with a great lake laid out a half-mile away. The moment Zapdos had touched the ground and folded his wings, Kenta and Hibiki slid off and fell flat upon the dirt. Kenta breathed in great gulps of air, his body trying to catch up from the thin atmosphere of the sky, and Hibiki clutched his stomach and was sick on the ground.
It was a while until anyone spoke, and Kenta finally managed a faint “good work, Zapdos” before recalling the legendary bird back into his Master Ball. Hibiki exerted a great effort to roll away from his repulsive splatter of vomit, and the two brothers found themselves laying side-by-side, staring up at the sky overhead. There was another long silence before they communicated again.
“You have a Zapdos.”
“That is right.”
“The Master Ball wasn’t empty.”
“Nope.”
“It contained a Zapdos that whole time.”
“Yep.”
“Where are we?” Hibiki asked softly, too tired to be surprised anymore, tasting the unpleasant burn of stomach acid within his throat as he spoke. Kenta moved his head slightly in an attempt to gaze at Hibiki, but he couldn’t do it and just looked back at the sky at an angle. “Route 42,” he muttered, “probably right next to Mount Mortar. I thought I saw Ecruteak City just a little bit back there.”
“Oh.” Hibiki was quiet for a minute longer. “How come we’re here?”
“We can’t go back to Violet City on a Zapdos in broad daylight. So I picked a spot in the middle of nowhere.” Kenta sat up and looked around. A flash of memory burst into his mind, and he smiled slightly. “Well, I guess it’s not really a nowhere, at least not to me. See, this was about the spot where Marina, Juni’chi and I rescued a Raikou from Team Rocket three years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday.”
“Raikou, huh?” uttered Hibiki, sitting up also so that he was still at head level with his brother. “You must have an affinity with Electric-type legendaries.” He let out his tongue, hoping the air would put off the taste of vomit somewhat. Kenta glanced at him. “You okay, kiddo? You look awfully pale.”
“Yeah. I threw up a little, but I’m all right.” Hibiki looked back at him. “Are you okay?”
“Yes . . . no. No, I’m not.” Kenta pulled up his knees to his chest and dropped his head between them exhaustedly. “Remember how I was saying earlier this morning that it feels the whole world is against me?” he groaned miserably. “That feeling is returning to me again.” He buried his face in his knees. “I was so angry when we failed to get that Snag Machine! I don’t think I’ve ever been that mad in my life. It wasn’t even so much the fact that we’d gone through all that trouble and preparation for nothing.” His voice shook, and Hibiki had a shrewd impression that he was trying not to cry. “It’s just that every person we met was an enemy! Krane. Those guards. That Maikeru kid . . . did you see how he reacted when his sister suddenly joined in? He was frantic for her well-being.” Kenta clutched his hair in his fists on the sides of his head. “Like I was going to hurt her. As if I was some sort of monster. That hurts, it hurts so badly . . .”
“Kenta . . .” Hibiki put a consoling arm around his brother’s shoulder, hoping to talk some sense back into him. “Look- be reasonable. We couldn’t go in there under disguise, and just expect them to be friendly after coming out and demanding the Snag Machine.”
“Everyone had an argument against me,” came Kenta’s muffled, trembling voice as he continued to sit in his withdrawn, upright fetal position. “It takes its toll after a while, when you present your case over and over again and everybody doubts or disagrees with you. Even if your argument is perfect, irrefutable, it just feels like the ground is crumbling beneath your feet.” Kenta dropped backwards, once again flopping his torso spread-eagle as he gazed at the sky.
Something purple at the height of his vision caught his attention; there was a creature behind them. Leaping immediately to his feet and twisting around in one quick motion, chest tight with alarm, Kenta went for the Master Ball in his pocket as his eyes fell upon the floating purple pokémon. He relaxed; Hibiki, however, bounded behind him and held him tightly by both shoulders, panic-stricken. “What? What? What is it? What is that thing?”
“It’s a ghost pokémon,” Kenta explained calmly, taking in its appearance. It reminded him of a scrawny woman, possibly a banshee, wearing an enormous wizard hat. “A pokedex fourth-generation called Mismagius, the evolution of Misdreavus. This one seems to be trained . . . I don’t think it’s usual for ghost pokémon to be out in the middle of the day like this.”
“You’ve got that right.”
Both Kenta and Hibiki glanced over in the direction that the challenging female voice had come from. Coming out of a nearby forest of pine trees, into their field, was the second blue-haired girl Hibiki had seen in one hour. She appeared to be right around his brother’s age, though maybe a little smaller in height and body mass. It was hard to tell, because she wore a cerulean winter cloak that covered nearly all of her body. Something about her voice rang familiar in Hibiki’s ears, but Kenta’s eyes widened in disbelief as he recognized her immediately. The two brothers stared at her as the Mismagius floated casually back to its master, and the girl glared at her ghost pokémon. “What’s up with you? I told you to cast Hypnosis on them! They’re dangerous!”
“You were going to have her hypnotize us?” asked Kenta weakly, pointing at the Mismagius. “Seriously? It’s a darn good thing your former Misdreavus recognized me, then . . . Marina.”
The girl, Marina, stared back at him in utter shock, realization dawning on her face at the sound of his voice. “K-Kenta?! But . . . no, it can’t be. No, you’re dead!”
“Wait, Kenta,” said Hibiki, yanking on his sleeve and pointing at her. “THAT’S Marina? The girl who kept calling me on the phone all the time?”
Kenta glanced down at him, looking a little affronted. “Hold on- she’s been calling you?”
Marina gave a small shriek of realization, pointing right back at Hibiki. “Wait a minute! You’re Hibiki? Hibiki Nyna, Little Kenta?” She gave an even louder cry, and before Hibiki knew it, Marina was pulling both him and Kenta into a tight and relentless hug, exhibiting remarkable strength for a girl her size. Almost as quickly, she was off them, looking horrified. “But . . . but even if you’re not dead,” she reasoned in stutters, looking at Kenta with inquisitive eyes, “why do you look like that? How come you’re in Brendan Birch’s clothing? What happened to your red sweatshirt and your G/S cap? And why-”
“Marina,” Kenta mumbled, his face a very deep shade of red after what she’d just done, “I don’t quite know how to tell you this, but . . . now’s not really a good time for us to be catching up . . .”
He’d expected her to protest, be offended at his apparent indifference, or possibly have her Mismagius blast him on the spot with Psybeam, but Marina instead nodded and held up a pokeball. “You’re right, we’d better get out of sight. Waniwani, go!” She threw the pokeball at the lake’s edge, and from it burst a colossal, muscle-bound blue pokémon; a Feraligator. The gator pokémon dove into the frigid water with an impressive splash, and Marina took a running leap onto its shoulders. “Come on!” she called insistently, waving the brothers over. “Before anyone else gets here!”
Kenta didn’t argue, but he and Hibiki exchanged a confused glance and followed Marina’s bidding. As soon as they’d boarded their pokémon ferry, the Feraligator took off through the water, bound for an islet towards the back center of the lake. Hibiki glanced back; nobody was chasing them, but it felt to him as though they were running away from someone. Once they’d reached the islet, Marina led them directly into a cave opening under Mount Mortar, apparently wanting to waste no time in getting under cover. They’d gone barely a few steps into the cave when Marina stopped, and signaled for them to sit down.
“Okay,” she said edgily, sounding a little out of breath. “Sorry, but I’ve got to check something. If you are Kenta, really, really Kenta . . .” Hibiki watched as she pointed at him; Kenta still looked baffled. “Then what was the name of the machine Team Rocket used to try and capture Raikou three years back?”
Kenta gave a short laugh and scratched the back of his head with an earnest smile on his face. “Sorry,” he said, grinning, “I just think it’s remarkable, how the nostalgia of that event affected the both of us like this. We come to this area of Johto, and within ten minutes we’re remembering the Crystal System.”
“That was quite an adventure you must’ve had,” said Hibiki as Marina put her hands to her mouth, stunned. He felt strangely alone all of a sudden, being the only person present who wasn’t in on the Raikou incident. True, Kenta had told him about it later over the phone, but it wasn’t like he’d been a part of it.
“So it is you . . .” said Marina quietly, her eyes lowered. “I knew it before I’d even heard your voice, when I saw the look of recognition Mismagius was giving you. I always know the signs, when you’re nearby.” She looked up at him suddenly, her eyes brimming with tears. “But why are you acting like this now? You’re back from the dead, and you’ve completely changed into a- a- a . . . a criminal. What happened to you, Kenta?”
Kenta’s eyes widened in alarm at Marina’s comment. “What?” he cried, almost in a demanding voice. “What are you talking about, what do you mean, a criminal?”
She didn’t answer him, but flung down something pink and electronic on the stone floor, something that resembled a watch, only more advanced: a pokegear. The radio was on, and Marina turned up the volume so that all three people present could hear.
“-still searching from the sky, but no luck so far. This just in, and possibly a clue: a multitude of citizens in Ecruteak City recently reported seeing a gold-colored bird flash through the sky above Tin Tower. Though many of them have stated claims that it’s the second coming of Ho-oh, the legendary phoenix of Ecruteak, some admitted the possibility that it may have been a different legendary bird-”
“Oh, crap,” breathed Hibiki, looking at Kenta with worry. “Do you think any of them know about Za-”
It was a while until anyone spoke, and Kenta finally managed a faint “good work, Zapdos” before recalling the legendary bird back into his Master Ball. Hibiki exerted a great effort to roll away from his repulsive splatter of vomit, and the two brothers found themselves laying side-by-side, staring up at the sky overhead. There was another long silence before they communicated again.
“You have a Zapdos.”
“That is right.”
“The Master Ball wasn’t empty.”
“Nope.”
“It contained a Zapdos that whole time.”
“Yep.”
“Where are we?” Hibiki asked softly, too tired to be surprised anymore, tasting the unpleasant burn of stomach acid within his throat as he spoke. Kenta moved his head slightly in an attempt to gaze at Hibiki, but he couldn’t do it and just looked back at the sky at an angle. “Route 42,” he muttered, “probably right next to Mount Mortar. I thought I saw Ecruteak City just a little bit back there.”
“Oh.” Hibiki was quiet for a minute longer. “How come we’re here?”
“We can’t go back to Violet City on a Zapdos in broad daylight. So I picked a spot in the middle of nowhere.” Kenta sat up and looked around. A flash of memory burst into his mind, and he smiled slightly. “Well, I guess it’s not really a nowhere, at least not to me. See, this was about the spot where Marina, Juni’chi and I rescued a Raikou from Team Rocket three years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday.”
“Raikou, huh?” uttered Hibiki, sitting up also so that he was still at head level with his brother. “You must have an affinity with Electric-type legendaries.” He let out his tongue, hoping the air would put off the taste of vomit somewhat. Kenta glanced at him. “You okay, kiddo? You look awfully pale.”
“Yeah. I threw up a little, but I’m all right.” Hibiki looked back at him. “Are you okay?”
“Yes . . . no. No, I’m not.” Kenta pulled up his knees to his chest and dropped his head between them exhaustedly. “Remember how I was saying earlier this morning that it feels the whole world is against me?” he groaned miserably. “That feeling is returning to me again.” He buried his face in his knees. “I was so angry when we failed to get that Snag Machine! I don’t think I’ve ever been that mad in my life. It wasn’t even so much the fact that we’d gone through all that trouble and preparation for nothing.” His voice shook, and Hibiki had a shrewd impression that he was trying not to cry. “It’s just that every person we met was an enemy! Krane. Those guards. That Maikeru kid . . . did you see how he reacted when his sister suddenly joined in? He was frantic for her well-being.” Kenta clutched his hair in his fists on the sides of his head. “Like I was going to hurt her. As if I was some sort of monster. That hurts, it hurts so badly . . .”
“Kenta . . .” Hibiki put a consoling arm around his brother’s shoulder, hoping to talk some sense back into him. “Look- be reasonable. We couldn’t go in there under disguise, and just expect them to be friendly after coming out and demanding the Snag Machine.”
“Everyone had an argument against me,” came Kenta’s muffled, trembling voice as he continued to sit in his withdrawn, upright fetal position. “It takes its toll after a while, when you present your case over and over again and everybody doubts or disagrees with you. Even if your argument is perfect, irrefutable, it just feels like the ground is crumbling beneath your feet.” Kenta dropped backwards, once again flopping his torso spread-eagle as he gazed at the sky.
Something purple at the height of his vision caught his attention; there was a creature behind them. Leaping immediately to his feet and twisting around in one quick motion, chest tight with alarm, Kenta went for the Master Ball in his pocket as his eyes fell upon the floating purple pokémon. He relaxed; Hibiki, however, bounded behind him and held him tightly by both shoulders, panic-stricken. “What? What? What is it? What is that thing?”
“It’s a ghost pokémon,” Kenta explained calmly, taking in its appearance. It reminded him of a scrawny woman, possibly a banshee, wearing an enormous wizard hat. “A pokedex fourth-generation called Mismagius, the evolution of Misdreavus. This one seems to be trained . . . I don’t think it’s usual for ghost pokémon to be out in the middle of the day like this.”
“You’ve got that right.”
Both Kenta and Hibiki glanced over in the direction that the challenging female voice had come from. Coming out of a nearby forest of pine trees, into their field, was the second blue-haired girl Hibiki had seen in one hour. She appeared to be right around his brother’s age, though maybe a little smaller in height and body mass. It was hard to tell, because she wore a cerulean winter cloak that covered nearly all of her body. Something about her voice rang familiar in Hibiki’s ears, but Kenta’s eyes widened in disbelief as he recognized her immediately. The two brothers stared at her as the Mismagius floated casually back to its master, and the girl glared at her ghost pokémon. “What’s up with you? I told you to cast Hypnosis on them! They’re dangerous!”
“You were going to have her hypnotize us?” asked Kenta weakly, pointing at the Mismagius. “Seriously? It’s a darn good thing your former Misdreavus recognized me, then . . . Marina.”
The girl, Marina, stared back at him in utter shock, realization dawning on her face at the sound of his voice. “K-Kenta?! But . . . no, it can’t be. No, you’re dead!”
“Wait, Kenta,” said Hibiki, yanking on his sleeve and pointing at her. “THAT’S Marina? The girl who kept calling me on the phone all the time?”
Kenta glanced down at him, looking a little affronted. “Hold on- she’s been calling you?”
Marina gave a small shriek of realization, pointing right back at Hibiki. “Wait a minute! You’re Hibiki? Hibiki Nyna, Little Kenta?” She gave an even louder cry, and before Hibiki knew it, Marina was pulling both him and Kenta into a tight and relentless hug, exhibiting remarkable strength for a girl her size. Almost as quickly, she was off them, looking horrified. “But . . . but even if you’re not dead,” she reasoned in stutters, looking at Kenta with inquisitive eyes, “why do you look like that? How come you’re in Brendan Birch’s clothing? What happened to your red sweatshirt and your G/S cap? And why-”
“Marina,” Kenta mumbled, his face a very deep shade of red after what she’d just done, “I don’t quite know how to tell you this, but . . . now’s not really a good time for us to be catching up . . .”
He’d expected her to protest, be offended at his apparent indifference, or possibly have her Mismagius blast him on the spot with Psybeam, but Marina instead nodded and held up a pokeball. “You’re right, we’d better get out of sight. Waniwani, go!” She threw the pokeball at the lake’s edge, and from it burst a colossal, muscle-bound blue pokémon; a Feraligator. The gator pokémon dove into the frigid water with an impressive splash, and Marina took a running leap onto its shoulders. “Come on!” she called insistently, waving the brothers over. “Before anyone else gets here!”
Kenta didn’t argue, but he and Hibiki exchanged a confused glance and followed Marina’s bidding. As soon as they’d boarded their pokémon ferry, the Feraligator took off through the water, bound for an islet towards the back center of the lake. Hibiki glanced back; nobody was chasing them, but it felt to him as though they were running away from someone. Once they’d reached the islet, Marina led them directly into a cave opening under Mount Mortar, apparently wanting to waste no time in getting under cover. They’d gone barely a few steps into the cave when Marina stopped, and signaled for them to sit down.
“Okay,” she said edgily, sounding a little out of breath. “Sorry, but I’ve got to check something. If you are Kenta, really, really Kenta . . .” Hibiki watched as she pointed at him; Kenta still looked baffled. “Then what was the name of the machine Team Rocket used to try and capture Raikou three years back?”
Kenta gave a short laugh and scratched the back of his head with an earnest smile on his face. “Sorry,” he said, grinning, “I just think it’s remarkable, how the nostalgia of that event affected the both of us like this. We come to this area of Johto, and within ten minutes we’re remembering the Crystal System.”
“That was quite an adventure you must’ve had,” said Hibiki as Marina put her hands to her mouth, stunned. He felt strangely alone all of a sudden, being the only person present who wasn’t in on the Raikou incident. True, Kenta had told him about it later over the phone, but it wasn’t like he’d been a part of it.
“So it is you . . .” said Marina quietly, her eyes lowered. “I knew it before I’d even heard your voice, when I saw the look of recognition Mismagius was giving you. I always know the signs, when you’re nearby.” She looked up at him suddenly, her eyes brimming with tears. “But why are you acting like this now? You’re back from the dead, and you’ve completely changed into a- a- a . . . a criminal. What happened to you, Kenta?”
Kenta’s eyes widened in alarm at Marina’s comment. “What?” he cried, almost in a demanding voice. “What are you talking about, what do you mean, a criminal?”
She didn’t answer him, but flung down something pink and electronic on the stone floor, something that resembled a watch, only more advanced: a pokegear. The radio was on, and Marina turned up the volume so that all three people present could hear.
“-still searching from the sky, but no luck so far. This just in, and possibly a clue: a multitude of citizens in Ecruteak City recently reported seeing a gold-colored bird flash through the sky above Tin Tower. Though many of them have stated claims that it’s the second coming of Ho-oh, the legendary phoenix of Ecruteak, some admitted the possibility that it may have been a different legendary bird-”
“Oh, crap,” breathed Hibiki, looking at Kenta with worry. “Do you think any of them know about Za-”