First Flight - Chapter #2
The second of my multi-chapter fics.
First Flight:Chapter #2 - Clockwork Hearts~
Disclaimers: I do NOT own Pokemon, its characters, its locations or
anything associated with it. It all belongs to Nintendo. Brendan opened his eyes, his body lying stiff and straight
on the mattress.He had barely got any sleep last night, again. Two hours at
most.But not only that - he had also lost his appetite. Worse
still, he found that he could not battle well anymore, having lost most of his
recent matches. It had been nearly a week since he had said his goodbye to
Bagon and during that interval he had departed Rustboro City and traveled on to
Oldale Town where he had rented a room at an inn for a few nights while he was
staying in town. He could not understand it. The Bagon had been no different
than any other wild Pokémon he had encountered. He had simply cared for it
until it had recovered to a working healthy state again because it had needed
someone to protect it, and then that had been the end of it. So why? Why was he
wracked with such a terrible, sinking guilt?
Shaking his despondency off like a heavy blanket, Brendan
forced himself to get up off the bed to get ready for the day. He washed his face, brushed his teeth and changed into his
daywear, pulling his cap meticulously over the ghoulish scars on his head,
going through all the motions automatically and lifelessly, as if he weren't
really there.Numbly, he left his room to go downstairs for breakfast,
closing the door softly behind him and making sure to lock it. At the Poké Mart there were two schoolgirls chatting amiably with
each other while browsing the shelves. As he passed them on his way to the
counter to pay for the items he had come for, he happened to catch a few words
of their conversation."...heard that there was a Bagon over on Route 104 that's just
sitting there on its own. Apparently, it's been there for about a week now..."Brendan's head whipped back around to stare at the girls in
shock.No...it couldn't
be...you're kidding...He stopped dead in his tracks as he listened to them, his
heart rate accelerating. "A nurse from the Pokémon Centre in Rustboro City went down
to try and bring it back, but it won't budge at all."Something inside Brendan snapped. Dumping all the goods he
had gathered onto the nearest shelf, he turned around and ran out the store.
Outside, he seized his bike which had been resting against the wall next to the
store entrance.Kicking it around, he vaulted himself onto the seat and took
off, cycling heedlessly down the road, forcing pedestrians to hurriedly vacate
his path as they hurled angry shouts at him.He pedaled without stopping all the way back to Route 104.When he finally arrived, it was sundown. Throwing his bike
down into the grass beside the dirt road, Brendan dashed toward that pond where
he had left Bagon behind without even looking back once.He could already see the Rock Head Pokémon looking up and
smiling, brightening at the sight of the trainer, not having moved even the
slightest from the same bench where Brendan had left it.But that wild, desperate illusion was dispelled in an
instant and Brendan blinked rapidly, only seeing an empty, deserted bench.A lump lodged in Brendan's throat, hampering his ragged
breathing. Hollow disappointment swelled inside him like a crushing weight,
spreading to his very nerves and making his hands tremor uncontrollably."A nurse from the Pokémon
Centre in Rustboro City went down to try and bring it back..."Breath hitching sharply with a spark of hope, Brendan
sprinted at once in the direction of Rustboro City.The nurse stared at him with her eyes widened in surprise
when he burst through the front doors of the Pokémon Centre. She was the same one
who had checked up on Bagon when Brendan had brought him in. "What are you doing back here?" "Bagon...the Bagon...where?..." Brendan wheezed.She gave Brendan a cold, hostile look."He's gone."Brendan could only gaze at her, blank and uncomprehending."G-Gone? What do you mean, 'gone'?""Gone as in I went down to visit him two days ago, like I
did every day once I heard what he was doing, and he wasn't there anymore."He did not want to believe it. "What kind of a
trainer are you? Just leaving your Pokémon behind, abandoning them like that?""He wasn't mine...He-He was wild..." Brendan could only stammer
out. "Would a wild Pokémon
sit there and wait a week for a person to come back?"Brendan shrank back, wounded, recoiling from the nurse's
words that pierced him like a knife."Get out of this Pokémon Centre.""Please...you must have seen where...something...anything. Please,
tell me!""Get out."Brendan knew that it was pointless to continue pushing her.
He slowly turned around and dragged himself back through the glass double doors
he came in. As soon as he was outside, he let himself slump to the
ground in inconsolable dejection. He balled his hands into trembling fists and
pressed them tightly against his closed eyelids.* * *Days passed. Weeks passed. And then months. The healing process was agonizingly slow. He did not
remember exactly when but sometime after that day he had returned to the
Pokémon Centre in Rustboro, Brendan had begun to write letters to the only
person he felt would understand his predicament, sealing these letters in red
envelopes before posting them. Brendan didn't even realise that he eventually began to
subconsciously avoid wild Pokémon unless absolutely necessary, keeping his
distance from them. He started to sleep and eat again, and even regained the
majority of the glimmering battle form he had lost. One day, as he was crossing through Route 115 just by Mt.
Chimney, he happened to pass by a Swablu lying in the grass next to the
footpath, letting out shrill and dire squawks while its fluffy white wings
fluttered feebly. As he passed by, the Swablu peered forlornly up at him with
its beady black eyes.Brendan hesitated for the barest of seconds before he
squared his shoulders and forged resolutely onwards, ignoring the Swablu. As he
walked away its mournful cries, fading gradually, continued to ring in his
ears, sounding almost accusatory. After nearly seven months, Brendan found himself back at
Meteor Falls, at last. Brendan had arrived in Sootopolis City a month ago and had
been caught up in the middle of the cataclysmic incident involving the
legendaries Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza. Following the narrow aversion of the
crisis, Wallace had given him the HM05 technique, Waterfall, as a token of
gratitude. In the back of his mind, Brendan had remembered how on his
initial expedition of Meteor Falls that there had been unknown areas at the
higher levels that he had been unable to reach. But now that he had acquired
Waterfall...Brendan was not the type to put a place behind him unless he
had seen utterly everything that it had to offer. That had been a large part of
his motivation for becoming a Pokémon trainer in the first place - he wished
with all his heart to travel as far as he could reach, going anywhere he
wanted; to see quaint beautiful towns, wondrous breathtaking landscapes and
amazing exotic Pokémon. For him, being a trainer promised an endless generation
of vibrant sights and colours that he could only dream of back in Littleroot
Town. Even after obtaining the HM, Brendan had deliberately put
off returning to that place for another month. However, a part of him deep down
still knew that sooner or later, he could not go on ignoring Meteor Falls no
matter what personal feelings he held. The longer he delayed, the heavier it
weighed on his thoughts and the worse his inner turmoil became.While in Slateport City, Brendan stayed up the whole night
in his waterfront hotel room mulling over it while staring out at the brightly
lit, merry harbor bustling with people and listening to the breezy lapping of
the waves until he realised that not a single day lapsed where he did not think
about going back to Meteor Falls to finish exploring the areas that had been
inaccessible to him the first time. Finally and begrudgingly, he accepted the
fact that it wasn't a problem of if he would go back but of how long until he
did. In the end, he relented and decided to go back the very next day. Brendan now stood outside at the base of the cave where he
had once been mowed down by the most spirited and bullheaded blue bowling ball
he had ever encountered. At the memory, a ghost of a smile flitted across
Brendan's lips but evaporated as quickly as it had formed when Brendan felt a
subsequent pang of guilt shoot through him. Steeling himself both mentally and physically, Brendan strode
forward and entered into the pitch black darkness that awaited. Like crooked rows of jagged teeth, the interior of Meteor
Falls was filled with speleothems from fragile, spindly ones to massive conical
columns like oak trees, all formed from a purple salt-like mineral that
glimmered like crystals. Even the grey stone of the walls and ceiling sparkled
with the same substance so that it seemed as if the entire cave was clouded in
a gentle violet haze. Calling upon his Milotic, he clambered atop it and together
they steadily cruised up the waterfalls throughout the cave, fighting against
the surging, frothing torrents that hammered mercilessly down upon them. Once he set foot on the coarse black sand of the shoreline
that ringed the brink of the highest waterfall, Brendan disembarked from his
Milotic and thanked it for getting him to the top. The majestic and elegant
creature gracefully bowed its head in reply and was recalled into its Poké
Ball.Almost at once, he was ambushed by an unnatural chill that
had nothing to do with the icy cave air that made him spin around, his pupils
magnifying in shock. He had explored dozens of caves before and none of them had
given him the feeling of trepidation and unease that this part of the domain
which he had not tread upon before did. It felt almost like a speechless menacing
threat coming from the very core of the upper cave itself.There was movement behind the veil of darkness and slowly,
warily, Brendan took a few steps forward, trying to define what it was. It
seemed as if something was approaching him. And then out of the gloom, it emerged close enough so that
Brendan could see what it was in full and a horror unparalleled by any other he
had experienced in his entire life fell upon him, rooting him to the spot where
he stood. A Salamence. The huge and terrifying dragon Pokémon crouched toward
Brendan on all fours, baring its fangs with a hissing snarl. Its body swung
around and its tail lashed out like a whip, knocking the trainer right off the
edge of the waterfall and back down to the floor below.As he crashed and tumbled along the ground like a tossed toy,
Brendan felt his backpack slide off and skitter away from him. The top cover
came off and the five Poké Balls of his current party spilled out.The Salamence leapt down to where Brendan had been thrown; the
impact of its earthshaking landing marked by a shockwave of air that made the
boy shield his face with a hand.As Brendan scrambled to back away and put more distance between
them, he felt a second chill on the nape of his neck and turned his head as
slowly as he dared.No...Another Salamence was looming behind him at a distance of
about thirty metres. And even as he stared, unable to tear his terrified gaze
away, yet another crept out of the darkness to join the second, both breathing
out rattling primal growls. Brendan was frozen still, paralysed with panic and fear. His
Poké
Balls and bag were scattered far out of his reach with the
advancing trio standing between him and his five best tools to defend
himself. As the Salamence closed in on the trainer, boxing him in, an
unearthly bestial roar split the current atmosphere like a peal of thunder
making them hesitate in surprise. Amidst a vortex of wind and beating wings, a fourth
Salamence descended upon Brendan. However, unlike the others, the newcomer landed with its
back to him, facing its three fellows with its red axe-shaped wings raised and spread
to their utmost in a display of warning. Somehow, instinctively perhaps, Brendan knew who the late
entry standing in front of him was and his dry throat could only manage a
hoarse, incredulous whisper."...Bagon?"