Another way/Changing paths



Chapter 7: Way we are.



Walking up to the counter to the Pokémon Center where Nurse Joy was standing. Brandon walked up to her and received his Typhlosion back. Kelly was still in the ER waiting for her Cinccino to recover which was most likely about an hour.

With all the tech that's in this place it really doesn't surprise me that it could recover so fast. She didn't want to leave its side though. So Brandon and I left her so she could collect her thoughts.

"This is annoying..." Brandon said walking by my side.

"What is?" I asked him curiously.

"All of everything that we're doing..." He said as he turned his gaze over towards me.

"Hmm...I do not fully understand what you're talking about?" I said in a confused state bringing my left arm to fold across my stomach and my hand up to my chin and rest my right elbow on my left arm. "You mean like suddenly we have to leave the mansion and head over to Nueva Town?"

"Yeah, I mean like doesn't things seem to be moving too fast...like take Ruption for an example." He said as he stopped. "He gaining abilities that I didn't even know he should have and he evolved in the middle of battle."

Now that he said that he actually had a point for the last month that we've been living here everything has been nice and calm. We'd have our maids come by the house occasionally and clean the place. And every so often we'd leave the house and lose ourselves inside the city.

I guess after doing something for so long and getting used to it things become very redundant that a person would become a bit more nervous to change. Our father is a man who didn't mind showering us with many luxuries, but we'd have to work for it.

Work for it we will...

(Brandon's POV)

Walking beside Brian I looked at him from the corner of my eye. He seemed very distracted, but remains calm as we continued. I could tell that he was in heavy thought, though simply because he tilted his head forward and placed his right hand on his chin.

As we neared the front entrance of the center I gazed over to Brian once more to see how he was doing. But then I twisted my face up as I looked upon his. There was this large grin spread across his face and the short walk that we just took shouldn't warrant something like that. Which now have thinking what is that crazy half of mine thinking about?

"What's got you so happy?" I asked him.

"Oh my face must be giving away my emotions." He said as we both walked out of the center to wait outside on a nearby bench. It was beginning to turn dark when walked down the side walk.

Brian had remained silent the entire time we were walking so I broke the silent ice by saying, "So are you going to tell me or not?" I asked starting to become annoyed.

"Well you see..." He said as we slowly approached the bench.

"See what?" I said interrupting him.

"I don't know even though things look pretty messed up at the moment, I can't help feeling that everything's going to be alright..."

"Now, what are you talking about?" I asked as I sat down on the wooden bench.

"I know seeing Ruption in that kind of state seems like a terrible thing, but in truth that means he's getting stronger. And we'll have nothing to worry about when we meet up with father!" He said excitedly as he sat beside me. "How about this, first thing in the morning I'll be training with you, so don't expect a little moment like this will save you from me."

I looked at him in somewhat confusion wondering where he got all this motivation from, but it'll be easier if I were to just go with it. "So what kind of training did you have in mind?" I asked.

"You'll see, when I get done with you, you'll be the next me!" He added smugly.



The next day I awaken to see Kelly was asleep next to me in my bed. I found it hard to believe how quickly she has forgiven me. Then again she could be angry towards my Typhlosion and I couldn't blame her.

As scary as it was yesterday seeing Ruption in that mode yesterday made me realize that there's much more to his strength than I first thought. Hell I think I could say that about all my Pokémon. For now on I think I'm going to try and take a page out of Brian's book and focus on my Pokémon a little more.

Kelly was sleeping quite peacefully on my right side. I lifted my left hand from out of the covers that we both shared and gently placed it on her soft cheek. Her pink hair was shining inside the beam of the sunlight which added to her already glowing complexion.

After a moment or two just gazing at her beauty, I slid out from under the covers and on to my feet. Walking over to a small window just a few steps from the bed, I took a nice long stretch and peer out into the blinding light. I saw the busy street and sidewalks with lots of people walking and talking with one another.

It soon reminded me that I had slept in the Pokémon center last night. And also that Kelly came into my room after I had gone to sleep and crawled in next to me.

Brian should be in a room just down the hallway from where we slept. Knowing him he should be up about now, probably have that damn Glaceon out as well. Now that I think about it he spends a lot of time with his Pokémon, maybe I should do the same. I could probably get more results out of them.

Turning around to examine the room and its entirety, it was much smaller than the room I used to stay in mansion. It only had one window, a mini-fridge, a small bathroom, and a small TV on the wall. To be honest the only thing that looks good in the room was Kelly lying in the bed.

Shaking my head I quietly made my way over to the door that exited the room as to not disturb Kelly from her slumber. Upon reaching the door I saw that it was an old fashion door handle. So I gently twisted it and opened it slightly as to where I could slide myself through.

Once I was on the other side of the door I closed it lightly so it would not make any noise. "Whew, stealth just isn't my style." I said sighing to myself and placing my forehead onto the room door.

"I can tell that it's not." A familiar voice echoed from behind me.

My head quickly jerked up and my eyes widen in surprise and turned quickly to examine who it was. The urgency quickly died away as I then saw that it was Brian with his Dewott standing right behind me, both with a smile on their faces.

"What are the two of you doing out here?" I asked with a bit of annoyance.

"We were coming to wake the two of you up...but seeing that you're already up guess we can be on our way out then. Meet you outside in say...thirty?" He replied excitedly.

I gave him a slight nod as I turned my head back towards the door of the room. Sighing to myself after realizing that the whole stealth thing earlier was for nothing, I could hear Brian and his Dewott both making their way down the hall.

An hour went by before Kelly and I realized how long we were taking up stairs and knowing Brian he would be very pissed. We only had a brief conversation about what we were going to do about what had happened. Though in the end we decided that it was better that we forgive and forget instead of drawing something like this out any longer.

As we made our way towards the entrance of the Center, I could see Brian standing outside on the sidewalk with his Dewott through a fairly large window. People were passing them by though no one was really paying them any mind. His Dewott was striking a pose with both its arms crossed in front of it pointed down on its side reaching for its calm shells.

His Dewott was standing in front of a small metal pole about half the size of it. Brian lifted his right hand up with his fingers in a snapping position.

Using my left hand I tapped Kelly on her shoulder and pointed towards Brian so she could see what kind of trainer he was and what kind of level his Pokémon were fighting on. She looks towards him with great interest and curiosity.

He then snapped his fingers signaling his Dewott into motion.

And just like in a flash of lightning his Dewott was on the other side of the pole with its arms spread far apart from one another. Its head was pointed downwards as if it had to have had complete focus on what it was doing.

After waiting for a moment or two Kelly tapped me back on the shoulder and asked, "So what was I supposed to see?" She said with pouting lips.

I turned my head in her direction and nodded back towards the window. I then turn back to face the window and saw that a white line slid across the pole, followed by a second one which formed an 'X' mark. The pole then slid apart into three separate fragments.

Astonished, Kelly eye's grew wide and said, "That was amazing!"

"Yeah Brian's on a whole other level than I am when it comes to Pokémon." I said with a hint of pride in my voice.

Though from the looks of it I have a lot of catching up to do with Brian...even so I would never give him the satisfaction of telling him.

Looking back to Kelly I asked, "You have everything ready?"

"Yeah, I got Cinnamon back last night she's much better now just need a little more rest. Hopefully by tomorrow she'll be back to her fastidiousness to almost everything." She said smiling.

With a nod I turned back to face the sliding door where Brian was standing. Hastening my pace to make sure I reach the door quickly, even though it wouldn't make up for the extra thirty minute it Kelly and I to actually get here. It felt like if I reach the door quicker Brian wouldn't mind.

"You're late..." He said as soon as I stepped outside.

I figured that wasn't going to work, "Kelly and I had something to discuss, sorry bro." I said apologetically.

"Whatever, if anything it just making the training for you and your Pokémon a lot tougher." He said looking at me.

His Dewott had a wicked smile on its face as it folded its arms and leaned back against Brian. Its eyes were fixed on me with a certain level of malice that I've never seen before on the usually calm and collected Pokémon.

"So what do you have planned today?" I asked.

With a slight bend of the knees Brian reached down and pet his Dewott on the head and looked towards me and said, "Well we're going to have a battle."

"Gee whizz Professor, it took you a whole night to come up with that..." I said sarcastically. Hearing a light giggle from behind me I could tell that it was Kelly standing there.

"Laugh now cry later! Osha here is going to kick your ass all the way to Nacrene City, literally." He said with a smile growing on his face. "Basically Brandon I want you to pull out one of your three Pokémon and defend themselves from Osha. While we make our way toward Nacrene City no stopping I want you to solely focus on defending. The attacks will range from anything that she knows so be prepared."

I took a deep breath and then sighed faintly at his whole convoluted plan. With a quick thought I decided which Pokémon I was going to use. Most likely he'll be expecting me to use Ruption, but for this I'll use Foo and throw him off.

"Come on, Foo lets show him what you can do!" I yelled as I grabbed the Pokéball from my back pocket and tossed it into the air.

A burst of energy rained down as Foo appeared striking his obligatory fighting pose. He looked quite angry; I guess it was from when he was in the fight with Diamond previously.

"Foo, I'm going to need to you focus." I said calmly as I approached him from behind and knelt down onto the hard concrete.

I rested my right hand onto his small shoulder to further relax him and leaned closer to him. I told him what all to do and not to attack back just focus on defending himself, and I told him that he's allowed to counterattack if the opportunity presented itself.

Standing back on my feet I nodded towards Brian to signal him the start. Taking a step backwards I could hear a Pokéball expanding behind me. Turning around to face the noise I could see Kelly holding the red and white ball in her hands. She had a smile on her face that was pointed directly at Brian, and he gave her a smirk back with a slight nod of approval.

With a gentle flick of the wrist she sent her Pokéball into the air and with a burst of energy rain down a new contender. From the sight of the Pokémon raised my confusion as to what Kelly was thinking, because it was her Cinccino.

"Umm, Kelly isn't your Cinccino still recovering from its injuries?" I asked confused.

Brian interrupted my question by yelling, "Dewott Scald let's go!"

Instantly the small otter Pokémon took a deep breath and released a powerful blast boiling hot water directly at the four of us.

Kelly Immediately jumped backwards, while her Cinccino jump up and grabbed on the Pokémon center sign that was hanging on the side of the building.

I quickly took a dive to the sidewalk to avoid the oncoming stream of boiling hot water. I could feel the steam of the heat pulsing from the water. Taking a quick peek up to see where my Mienfoo had gone too. I quickly stood to my feet once I saw what he was doing, and that was taking the Scald with both its hands and holding it off.

"Cinnamon use Grass Knot!" I could hear Kelly yell.

Her Pokémon was holding on to the sign when its eyes started turning green. Vines began to emerge from out of the crack of the sidewalks and around Osha feet.

Osha must have realized what was happening, but it was too late because she tried to jump backwards and lost her balance mid landing. But she manage to catch herself and break her fall with a back flip.

Quickly jumping to her feet she looked towards Brian and nodded, he gave a slight nod back. Just like that they both took off running down the street. Kelly and her Cinccino ran after them right on their tails.

I looked towards my Mienfoo to see if he was alright. His hand was slightly burned, but the fire in his eyes told me that he could keep going much longer. "If you're done feeling sorry for yourself and your paws, get your ass in gear and let's go!" I yelled to him as a moral boost.

With a low growl he nodded to me in agreement and followed my orders and started running where Kelly and Brian were heading. Knowing I was faster than him I took off running to slight jog in order to keep pace with him.

Brian and Kelly weren't too far ahead of us, I think Kelly was set on seeing what all Brian could do because she was on top of him and wouldn't let up. Cinnamon was throwing attacks on top of attacks towards Osha and wasn't showing any signs of letting up.

When Foo and I caught up to them, we were all just down the street of where the Pokémon center was, there weren't too many people on the street today. Those that were quickly got out of the line of fire I saw Brian quickly tap Osha on the shoulder and they both took off running down an alleyway. Kelly and Cinnamon quickly followed.

When Foo and I rounded the corner where they were, we were ambushed. It was Kelly and her Pokémon Brian was nowhere in sight. Foo stood out in front when Kelly called out for a Night Slash attack.

"Foo quickly dodge it and counter with Force Palm!" I yelled just as the Cinccino neared my Mienfoo.

Foo quickly side stepped its vertical slash as I then saw a small blue bubble appear in both its hands. What seemed like lightning Foo took a hard step forwards and used all it's body momentum to slam the Cinccino hard in the face. Sending the small white creature flying backwards and almost colliding into Kelly as it hit the ground roughly.

"Damn I forgot that Cinnamon was still recovering...Sorry about that Kelly!" I quickly said to her very apologetically.

Once I said that I saw that there was a shimmer in the background where Cinnamon had landed. It looked as if though the creature was fading in and out of existence. As it stood back up there was huge blurry aura surrounding it, Kelly just remained silent as and kept her eyes on me.

I on the other hand was completely confused by what was going on. I never saw anything like it before with my eyes or in any of the books I read. My Mienfoo on the other hand remained completely focused and not taking its sights off its opponents, I was proud to see how unshaken he was about our new opponent.

Once the blurry effect faded and everything came back to normal, I then saw a Pokémon that I've never seen before. It was tall black bipedal fox with red hair. Its arms were long including its claws and it had this large grin on its face.

"Umm...Kelly what the hell is that?" I asked quizzically.

"Use your Pokédex to find out." She answered back coldly.

"To bad I don't carry one around with me." I replied back to her while crouching down low to Foo level to whisper to him, "I want you to keep your distances away from that thing ok? Only go for evasive counters till we can get a read on it."

Slowly standing to my feet I quickly added, "Foo lets back out the alley slowly just so we won't be trapped in here." Slowly I started to back out of the alley.

With a small nod Foo obey my order and began to back out behind me.

With Foo right behind me, I started running until I came across a bridge. "If I'm not mistaken this should be The Skyarrow Bridge." I muttered to myself as I quickly examined my surroundings.

That's when I saw Brian standing in front of me blocking the way towards the bridge. He had a smirk on his face as if taunting me...I can only hope that he knows I'm ready for anything that he can toss at me. Kelly shouldn't be too far behind me, though not being able to attack either of them is starting to become a pain.

But in the end I know that it'll help me out much more simply because that's the way we are.