Chapter Twenty-Six: Out Of This Gravity

Night seemed to tear through her hair—no, her very soul— as if it had taken the spot of the breeze that danced through the open meadows with fleeting grace.

The darkness, however, seemed yet more captivating than the unseen gale—it was colder than the slight chill that the wind had swept with it, sending tiny pricks of numbness through her skin; faster than the draughts that came and went as they please.

As obscure as it seemed, she deemed it much worse than the day, whose light could obscure all the wrongdoings and ugliness of the world. The night was different—it was ruthless, unveiling everyone's flaws and scars and having nothing to cover up this vast earth's loneliness.

"Frogadier, come out." Her voice was soft as she held up the sphere, her Pokemon appearing next to her and regarding his trainer with a concerned expression. "No, I'm fine. I just want to do some late-night training today. That's all."

The creature held her gaze in a bout of silence, but decided not to pry further—as much of a prick he could be, he did understand Celeana to some extent. He knew the girl was down—about what, he couldn't tell—and he decided to be an understanding partner for once.

Following his trainer, the Water-typed Pokemon left after the teenager, webbed feet padding gracefully along the dew-dampened blades of grass and leaving no trace of sound.

"There's a c—cluster of trees there," she pointed out, and her Pokemon could not resist the urge to let out a private snicker just meant for his ears at the stammer. "I want you to attack and cut them down with Scald and Water Pulse—we'll work on combinations later."

Knowing that the coordinator wanted to be left on her own for a while, Frogadier replied with an obedient nod, leaping off and making his eventual disappearance into the ironic cloak of shadows that the night brought. Before that, however, he glanced back at her—he would come back later to make sure she was better.

Maybe I could even surprise her with an evolution or something, the Pokemon mused. I'm not too far away from evolving—all of that battling against Legendaries when we were stuck in time did me good. Perhaps evolution wasn't possible there—I don't know, but I am pretty close to becoming a Greninja.

With that, he made his way down the bumpy surface of the hills, a smile painted over his face—and he left his owner behind, thinking that it was the best choice for now.

The blue-haired girl, now having some fragment of time alone and to herself, tucked her knees to her chest and gave the patch of dying grass in front of her—dimmed and chilled by the murkiness of the night—a hard stare.

Her mind had started to wander—she didn't know justwhen she'd picked up the habit—launching itself into another philosophical ramble. This world really is confusing, she admitted to herself. And it hurts, too. There's just so much information to take in—and I don't know what to do with this information.

For example, Ryou... Celeana's heart clenched—he was the entire reason why she had been driven into such a mood in the first place. I don't even know what to call him anymore. I don't know what I should see him as now...a Trainer or some heir?

Steven...Her thoughts trailed off at the memory of the Champion; how calm and collected he had been throughout the entire situation—he'd explained part of what was going on to her, anyway. He says that Ryou has to go back.

Maybe she didn't want to admit it, but she was scared. She didn't want him to leave; after all, he'd been her first travelling companion. Sure, he'd been a massive jerk at times, but she knew he didn't want to be one—she'd rather him be a jerk than the terrified child she'd seen back then.

He's scared too, she affirmed. After their encounter, her friend had left at once, leaving her with Steven without even saying a word—and she knew that fear lurked somewhere in that empty expression of his.

"You've certainly become a thinker," a voice interrupted, and she didn't have the strength to push away or even groan at the familiar tone. "Maybe it's my influence...? No offence meant, but you didn't have this sort of intelligence the last time I talked to you."

Too tired to even resist the snarky remark, the teenager just sighed, the exhausted noise coming not from her throat but rather the very depths of her diaphragm. "What do you want?" she queried. "You haven't dragged me to the void yet."

The figure responded with a laugh. "And you're also being quite observant today," she commented. "Maybe I'm just in a good mood today—I don't feel like inflicting any form of mental pain on people. Who knows? Perhaps I'm just not bothered."

Though, if you really insist... An image of her replica formed in her mind, the pair of dull purple optics staring straight into her soul—and they reminded her of those amethyst irises that Ryou possessed—they had been as blank and as void of feeling as these eyes were. I guess I could show you the third chapter of the story I was telling—it has been some time."

Without even waiting for her counterpart's consent, images had been painted out into the night sky in front of her, crafted on an invisible screen and forming a movie before her eyes.

• • •

Loneliness—confusion. A cloak of shadows obscuring the beast's true form, ruby eyes grieving and just...lost. A sharp look in those flaming optics that held such a fallen, despairing look—and the space stretching out around him was black and cold—just like the very void she'd hated.

Then, a small figure appeared in front of him—one so tiny but yet radiating such a tempting glow; the creature wasn't able to even resist moving towards the glimmer of hope that had appeared like a rare crack in this eternal world of icy darkness.

"Arceus?" His deep voice was distorted as he recognised the elegant ridges adorning the Legendary's back, tone lifting as he broke into a desperate sprint. "You are here," he breathed in amazement, "I thought I would be alone. I thought I was alone..."

Silence filled the space once again, and even though a smile had been plastered upon the Lord's face, that expression didn't quite reach his eyes—emerald optics that were duller than he had remembered and more aged. "Has it been such a long time?" The monster gazed up, red eyes unusually dim and fearful—mirroring that of a panicked child's. "How long has it been? You have matured so much..."

"Please stop," the creature replied in a quiet voice, his voice holding an air of such strong command that he'd never heard of before. "I am sorry...I do not want to do this. Fate has ordered me to."

With that, he turned around, and with reluctance, he tore his gaze from the beast and uttering a final spiel. "I will give you your answer," he then stated. "It has been twenty years. The sense of time in here is distorted without Dialga's assistance...and I have come to deliver Fate's message.

"You will remain here for an indefinite amount of time—then, as the Guardian of alternate dimensions, you will live in the Distortion World for eternity. I'm sorry. I don't—I do not want this as well." Arceus tripped over the last word, but then took a step in the opposite direction—

And then, as if he had been transported out via some ethereal means, the Legendary was gone.

• • •

"So, how was it?" The voice's words floated between them, the perkiness in her tone uncanny for such a morbid scene having played out. "Longer than the last chapter, wasn't it? This is what hierarchy does to the world. It drives us apart—it makes us lonely."

Celeana let out a drawn-out sigh in reply to the figure's question. "I didn't need you to give me that information," she argued. "I have enough on my plate right now—I have no idea if Ryou is going to be OK, and..."

Deep down, however, she knew that the chapter had been the spirit's own special form of therapy. She had been given a distraction to forget the troubles that had been plaguing her, but she couldn't just admit it to her replica—she was bound to ramble about something else, and after all, she had gone quiet in her head.

Her counterpart had left her with a little present, and a final sentence lingered—"Some of that boy's memories," she had stated. "Maybe you should learn something about him."

As the bushes rustled, she leapt to her feet in an instant, dropping her guard once again as the familiar shape of a frog-like Pokemon approached her.

Except, this Pokemon was a tad bit larger and sleeker, and was different from the Frogadier she'd remembered—his skin had seemed to darken even further to a dark, rich shade of midnight blue, and the yellow-sclera eyes were gone, now replaced with red irises against a white background.

However, his most prominent feature would have to be the lengthy tongue wrapped around his neck, concealing his mouth and flowing out behind him.

"You evolved?" At her voice, she could feel the smirk growing through his hidden mouth. "For me?" He nodded, and she gave him a small smile, wrapping her arms around him. "Thank you...Greninja. Thank you for doing everything."

A grunt was her only response, and the tired creature before her rummaged through her belt with webbed hands, finding his Pokeball and returning himself so that he could have a long rest for the rest of the night. The coordinator did feel better now—he had achieved his purpose.

Standing up, Celeana felt that she had done enough moping—she would just go back to the Pokemon Center. It was only about twelve, after all, and none of the group had anything much planned. She could sleep in—no one would mind.

On her way back, however, she spotted a blurred figure alone on one of the building's scenic hills—and as she recognised her friend's pale hair—striking against the dark hues of the night—she walked over, not just curious but concerned about him.

"Hey," she whispered, and he startled a little, but as he looked up with wide eyes, he calmed down again. She frowned—he wasn't the type to have been scared by that little noise. "So, um...what happened with Quinn? I didn't see her with you..."

Both of them knew that she was just searching for a topic to start the conversation, but the teenager beside her pretended not to notice, not even bothering to hide his melancholy with a smile as he replied. "I left her at the library," he muttered. "The girl liked reading, and she said she didn't mind spending the day there. I swear, she's going—"

The blue-haired girl interrupted with a slight nod, sliding into a sitting position next to him and cutting off the rest of his speech. "Ryou, Steven told me what was going on," she sighed. "At least, most of it. Um—do you want me to call you Shion instead? Because he said it's your actual name..."

He lifted his head. "Please don't," he tried to say between a burst of forced laughter. "I'd much rather you just call me Ryou. Shion was the name the Devon Corporation gave me."

"Alright," she agreed, and another wait of tense silence followed as neither of them spoke, each not wanting to interrupt the other. "According to what I know, you're some heir to the company or something, right? And you're Steven's brother?"

She knew that the topic would make him more than uncomfortable, but that was what she had to do—she needed to drag the problem out and smash it. He burrowed further into his jacket, shifting away from her, but he replied. "Adopted brother," he corrected in a reserved whisper. "Devon Corporation adopted me after my mother died."

"And you don't want to be the heir, right?" She was treading on thin ground, and she didn't want to ruin the friendship they had. "I mean, judging by your reactions..."

A cold laugh escaped the boy's throat. "I just don't want to go back to them," he sneered. "Is that simple enough to understand? I don't want to have anything to do with that business—and my mother always wanted me to be a trainer..."

The teenager tightened her lips into a firm line. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. "But I'm not sorry that you're not in her care anymore. All she did was hurt you—and how could you just twist that until you thought that she did love you?"

"Because she did love me!" the white-haired boy's tone was terse and rising at a dangerous rate, but she ignored that fact. "Because—because even though she hit me, she did love me. She was just hurting inside, and it was my fault. That was all. Because—"

"How long are you going to keep up this act?" Her reply was loud as she tried to shout over his voice, but it'd frightened the boy by accident, causing him to jump back and clamp his hands over his ears as his eyes went blank. "Stop deceiving yourself, Ryou..." She trailed off as she saw her friend's vulnerable state. "Please..."

She watched as he uncurled himself from his defensive stance, and he spoke in that dreaded empty tone once again. "To fool others, one must always start with self-deception," he whispered, the raspy words almost inaudible. "It's not easy, you know—pretending you have such minimal flaws..."

Deciding that enough was enough, she reached out, pulling him into a hug—rather, half of it—and deciding not to give a flying Magikarp about his shocked expression. His eyes wandered away, uncomfortable at their closeness, but she locked his gaze with her own amber optics.

"No one needs you to pretend that you're something else," she consoled, and grasped the messy hair at the back of his head to prevent him from moving.

Unable to move, he relaxed into her grasp, accepting his position and giving a hesitant reply. "I have to," he answered, his pitch dropping even further. "If I want to keep people around me, I have to. Everyone just left me—I didn't want that to happen..."

She gave him a reassuring smile and pulled him even closer, touching her lips to his for a fleeting moment—she could hear his heavy breathing and palpitating heart, but she maintained her hold on him before pulling away. "Did that cheer you up?"

"W—What was that for?" The boy's face was red as he made no attempt to cover up the flush spreading over his cheeks. "Why—Why—"

She tilted her head. "That word—kiss—was in the dictionary," she explained, not understanding his reaction. "It means 'touch or caress with the lips as a sign of love, sexual desire, or greeting', no? Isn't affection a synonym of love?"

Across her, the pale-haired boy buried his face in his hands, mumbling a soft "Oh my Arceus" before forming a more audible reply. "That's not what it means nowadays," he replied. "I really regret giving you that dictionary."

"Really? I'll search it up later," she murmured before pulling the younger boy into a proper embrace. "Anyway...you've been sitting here for quite a while, right? The view is nice...we're so high up, as if we can go out of this gravity and all our troubles will be cut just like our weight."

She didn't know where these words were coming from. Perhaps it was from her heart and the night before them, perhaps the voice had taken over her and was speaking in her place—she didn't know, and she didn't care.

A choked sob sounded beside her, and while it was horrible seeing Ryou so broken, it was also a good sign—it meant that he was letting his defences down. He seemed small—well, he was, but he just seemed so much like a helpless child that it was all she could do to hold on to him.

"I'm glad you can't see my face right now," he muttered, his tone shaky as he spoke. "I'm sorry for doing this—I never thought I could have the capacity to cry."

She could gather a mental image from the sad, empty smile in his words, and she shook her head, shifting him so she got a view of the boy's tear-stained face, empty eyes wide in shock and filled with tears. "I didn't need to see it, but I wanted to confirm it," she replied. "I'm sorry—let me make a promise here. I promise not to forget this face of yours again."

Celeana held the teenager as he cried, and she felt bad that all she could do was whisper reassuring words as he collapsed against her touch, muttering incoherent apologies and strings of messy sentences she couldn't understand.

Finally, he straightened up, wiping away any remaining traces of his tears and aimed a tiny smile at the girl. It was smaller than all the other false grins he had maintained over the course of their journey, but it was his first sincere one, and that was all that mattered. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she acknowledged. "Now, it's g—getting late—how about we go back now? You look as if you haven't slept in ages."

"...OK."

• • • 

「The song in the media is 1/6 -out of the gravity-, a Vocaloid song produced by Vocaliod-P and sung by Hatsune Miku. This English cover was translated by SirHamnet (YouTube) and sung by rachie (YouTube).」

「Also, this version of Pierrot, a Vocaloid song produced by KEI and sung by Hatsune Miku (here sung by Yukima Kung) is highly encouraged: 」

https://youtu.be/GzAUpbai1vI

agh I'm sorry I really did want to update yesterday but I got kicked off my com :< and this was sitting in the laptop for 3 hours (yes the finished chapter) because wattpad was down-- (cries)

and yEs omg i can't stand this chapter because of this ship. kill me someone why did i have to write that.

(@all ryona/celyou shippers aRe you happy now gosh)

Besides that, thank you SO MUCH for 6K reads and 800 votes! That's about a 200+ increase in reads :o My next goal is 815! :)

Critiques are most certainly welcome, and don't forget to read, vote and give your thoughts in the comments! Please be 100% honest!

~ nyxia ☆