Ghastly Adventures: Teardrop 3.2 (ch. 16) (Patreon)

Well, well, well, if it isn't the consequences of my own actions. Past me really was the worst. Seriously, what had he been thinking, kicking the hand grenade my way so it would blow up in my face?

“Hullo?” I said, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't frozen stiff. I felt like a deer in headlights -- the phone call had been bad enough, but meeting a member of my- Blair's family in person? I knew even back then when I blocked the call that wouldn't be the end of it. That, eventually, they would reach out in some way. In a world filled with pokemon, it wasn't like they were lacking in options.

I'd like to say that I would have been better prepared if I had more time, but the truth of it was that I was ignoring it. Hoping that our paths would never cross or I made such a terrible impression that they would cut me out entirely.

But they hadn't. My sister was here.

“You've grown,” she noted with a slight tilt of her head. Her tone was indecipherable.

What did I say to that? “Thanks?”

“Mother is furious with you. I believe her exact words were, ‘Drag him back by the ear kicking and screaming.’” She continued, so painfully aloof that it was driving me up the wall. The others shifted at that, forced to overhear but not sure what to say or do. It was like when you were over at a friend's house and they started fighting with their parents.

I licked my lips, “I'd appreciate it if you didn't.”

“Hm,” She hummed and what in the fuck did that mean? Her red eyes looked me over once and I became painfully self conscious for a moment. Mimikyu picked up on it and his tail began to flick like a cat about to pounce. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, then going to Dreepy, then finally Riolu. Then she just didn't say anything for a painfully awkward minute.

“Well, it was great seeing you. See ya’,” I said, trying to cut my losses and side stepping the entire conversation with her. However, a hand on my chest stopped me cold.

“You're throwing away your future,” she told me in no uncertain terms.

“It's mine to throw away if that's what I want to do with it. Which I'm not, by the way,” I added and I swallowed a wince. I felt like I was arguing a point that I didn't even know what it was. I didn't know anything -- what our relationship was, what my family's problem was, nothing. As far as I could tell, they were really against me becoming a Trainer for some reason.

“Is there… an issue, miss?” Brawly said, stepping forward.

She didn't even look at him as he answered, “Minerva. Minerva Wych.” The now named Minerva replied blandly. “The only issue would be if you choose to interfere with the retrieval of my wayward brother.” Her voice was still flat, but I heard the chill there.

Right. “Guys, you go on ahead. Put me down for a match,” I added to put them at ease when I saw they traded looks.

“Don't-” She began But I interjected.

“And you better not put me first. This conversation might take a bit,” I said and the first sign of emotion that I saw was her lips thinning ever so slightly at me. There was a standoff between us, the tension growing so thick that you could practically feel it.

Brawly inclined his head to me, “Sure thing, Blair.” He said before ushering the others onward. I already missed the moral support, but I had no idea what was going to be said.

“You certainly have become more willful. You've never stood up to me before,” Minerva remarked lightly, and I almost thought that she sounded approving. I said almost because her eyes narrowed into a glare that told me she didn't at all care for being challenged. “Very well. This isn't a conversation we should have in the middle of the street. People could be watching.” She said, walking away with the expectation that I would follow.

“Kukkkukk…” Mimikyu muttered ominously, but I just gave him a pat.

“Sorry guys, but I think we need some privacy for this one,” I said, returning them to their pokeballs as I followed. Minerva didn't strike me as the type to leave me be if I just walked off. And, despite myself, I was a little curious. I needed to know in general what Blair had been up to before I- he got murdered, especially if his past was going to hunt me down like this. More than that, I was curious. I never had a sister before.

Following her, she entered a cafe located near the Gym. It was a small place, like a bodega, that could barely fit more than ten people inside of it at a time. Luckily, we caught them at an early hour and Minerva took a seat in the corner, giving her a view of the entrance. I took the seat across from her and an elderly lady approached with a homely smile.

“What can I get for you two dears?” She asked and my gaze flicked to the menu.

“Coffee, please. Cream,” I asked and Minerva tilted her head ever so slightly.

“Do you stock gyokuro tea?” She questioned and the elderly lady stilled for a moment, and Minerva took that as the answer it was. “A green tea, then. Please,” she added almost as an afterthought. The elderly lady went off to tell who I'm guessing was her grandson to make the orders. As she did so, Minerva studied me. “You don't drink coffee.”

Crap. “I didn't drink coffee,” I corrected. In my last life, I was functionally dependent on it to wake me up in the mornings. Now, without the need to sleep, I had less of a reason to but I still liked the taste. “Things have changed, sis. I'm on a journey of self discovery. I'm a brand new me,” I continued, playing it up a bit in the hopes that any stumbles would be attributed to that.

That I was a teenager trying to reinvent myself.

“Sis?” Minerva echoed, and it was kind of incredible that her inflection didn't change in the slightest but her tone conveyed the message of, ‘Take the words back before I shove them down your throat.’ I'm guessing that she wasn't one for informality. She shook her head, “No, nevermind that -- you wished to turn this into a conversation. Very well then, but I fear it will ring quite familiar in your ears. How many times have you had this exact talk with Mother and Father?”

“How about one more time?” I said, absorbing that. So, this had been a longstanding issue. I had wondered since I had evidently run away from home.

Minerva closed her eyes for a moment, as if she were summoning the strength to deal with me. When she opened them, she spoke. “It has been decided that I will be the pokemon trainer of the family. You and Felix have your own paths to follow for the benefit of the family. You will study under father to inherit his side of the business while Felix will inherit Mothers. It has been decided. I understand that being a pokemon trainer is what you desire, but… we stand to gain nothing by having another.”

Okay. Whole lot to unpack there. So, the vibe I was getting was… rich upper class with parents controlling us so that we remained upper class? Maybe not rich kind of upper class, but more… nobility? This did sound rather feudal. I know Kalos had nobility with barons, dukes, and what have you, but did Kanto?

I was saved from having to respond by the elder lady delivering our drinks and I thanked her before taking a sip- oh, not bad. Minerva watched me, daintily taking her own cup of green tea but made no effort to drink it. “I see you have forgotten your manners. Are you doing this on purpose?”

I couldn't help myself.

I slurped.

Loudly.

“Mother is furious with you,” Minerva continued, and I detected a sharp biting undertone to her words now. “What you do reflects the family. If this rebellion of yours goes on any longer, you might find that you have no future with the family. Our parents will never trust you with anything. Already, you've damaged your image with that display against the Pewter Gym Leader.” She continued, and I let her. She was feeding me details so I could see the picture that was the past.

I mulled it over. I would like to know what business I was supposedly inheriting, but I couldn't ask that without giving something away. I would have to look it up in my own time to see if I got any hits -- I had looked up my own name, but there wasn't anything written about me.

“No,” I decided on a reply and Minerva's gaze turned frosty. “Don't get me wrong -- I do feel bad that I caused the family some trouble,” I admitted before I shrugged. “I just don't feel so sorry that I'm willing to come back. I don't care what our parents decided for me. This is what I've decided I want and if you want me to come back with you, you will be dragging me back kicking and screaming.”

It was what Blair wanted. I felt it. He ran away from a life of luxury, if a controlled destiny, to set out on the road. He became a trainer, he caught some pokemon, and he was on his way to challenge Brock when his life was cut tragically short by Team Rocket. This life, this adventure, wasn't just what I wanted. It's what he wanted.

I inherited a lot more than I expected when I arrived in this world -- a body, a name, his grudges… but, above all, I inherited his will.

“You think I won't?” Minerva asked, an edge entering her voice.

I looked at her for a long moment and I couldn't say I found her easy to read. Nor could I guess our relationship prior to this, but my gut said, “No, I don't think you will.” I told her and for the first time, she openly glared. “This entire time, you've said Mother is furious. Father is furious. You've never once said how you're feeling.”

If our parents were doing this to me, I'm willing to bet that she went through something similar. Just from the sound of it, it sounded smothering. Suffocating. She said she was the pokemon trainer of the family -- did she even want to be?

I could tell the words struck home, even if she only blinked as a reaction. “I obey the will of our parents. As you should. What they do is for our benefit,” she replied almost reflexively.

“That's not what I asked,” I pointed out, though her answer was enough of one to count.

Minerva held my gaze for a long moment before releasing a quiet sigh. “I will drag you back if I think it's for your own good, little brother,” she said, not admitting it in so many words but her heart wasn't in following the order. “Being a trainer is harsh and dangerous. You didn't inspire much confidence with your first gym battle. Your second…” she trailed off with a ghost of a smile. “Was enlightening. In many capacities.”

I was never going to live that down, huh? “I've worked with Mimikyu. That shouldn't happen again,” I told her, knowing exactly what she meant about the battle with Brock. I hadn't lost control of Mimikyu exactly, but it was obvious to everyone that he had been out for blood.

Minerva inclined her head to me ever so slightly. “See to it that it doesn't. Your battle with the Sensational Sisters was much better, but they are poor opponents obsessed with putting on a show rather than winning.”

I think I saw where this was going. “I'll win the Teardrop badge,” I told her confidently.

She seemed faintly pleased with my confidence. “Should you… I'll tell our parents that I missed your arrival,” she offered as part of the unspoken deal. “It’ll buy you time, at least, to come up with a compelling argument to bring to our parents in Vermilion city. Mother sees this Journey as a waste of time and prospects -- you could be making connections that will help with your future. I would recommend the argument of ‘it displays our family’s talent as well as it makes our business partners come to us.’ That one made some headway.”

Then she frowned. “Father…” She trailed off, before she shook her head. “He won’t be convinced with words. You will have to battle him, and you will have to defeat at least one of his pokemon. If you do, he’ll allow you to continue your Journey without impediment, but to convince him that you have a future as a trainer… he’ll push for you to win the Indigo League, and to become a member of the Elite Four.” She continued, laying down the to-do list and my Dad seemed like a pretty unreasonable guy from the sounds of it.

I smiled at the advice. She had scared the hell out of me, and she was hard to read, but when she laid it out like that -- it was pretty obvious that she cared. “Thank you,” I told her, meaning it.

For the first time, there was some warmth in her eyes. “Of course. Everything I do is for my family,” she said, setting down her tea cup that she hadn’t taken a sip of before standing. “You won’t have much time. Mother will know what we’re up to if I fail to capture you again.”

“We’ll be heading to Maiden’s Peak, then taking a ferry to Lavender Town. From there, it’s a straight shot to Vermilion city,” I told her. The city where my family resided, evidently. To think, I almost went straight there, completely oblivious of what I would be walking into. Minerva nodded approvingly before taking out a pokeball. “Not going to stay to watch the match?”

“There’s no need,” Minerva said, before an alakazam appeared in a flash of red light. The pokemon looked to me and bowed ever so slightly, so I bowed back, not sure what else to do. “You’ll win,” she uttered with certainty.

With that, she vanished in a flash of light along with alakazam. My gaze lingered on the spot where she had been, replaying the entire conversation in my head to see what I could glean from it. First things first, I needed to figure out who my parents were because this was more than an upscale family drama. On a surface level, it sounded outright draconian. Still, she gave me enough to paint a picture with.

Controlling parents. I was the rebellious son. Minerva struck me as a good sister and she cared about me. I had to swallow my reservations about that, though. Felix, my little brother, was a bit of a wild card but he struck me as a normal gremlin little brother. However, I had… call it a month at the most before Minerva came looking for me again, and I’m guessing she wouldn’t let me off a second time.

I ran a hand through my hair, glad it was already white because it would be from this stress. I knocked back my coffee -- then chased it down with Minerva’s green tea since she left me the bill. Thanking the old lady, I stepped out of the building and- I looked over to see Brawly, Marnie, and Misty all peaking around the corner of the building. “Seriously?” I asked them, more exasperated than anything.

“It looked like a pretty serious conversation,” Brawly offered with a shrug as the three of them stepped out from behind the corner. “Is everything okay?”

I wiggled a hand back and forth, “Ish. It'll be a problem for another day and a future me.” I decided, thinking about what steps I needed to take to not screw over future me.

“You ran away from home?” Misty asked, sounding concerned.

“... It’s a long story,” I hedged, not really wanting to get into it. At least not until I knew more.

“Are they going to make you go home?” Misty pressed, sounding like she was about ready to square up. I was oddly touched, even if it wasn’t necessary.

I shook my head, “No. My sister gave me a little time to make my case, I suppose you could call it. When we head to Vermilion city… well… yeah. I imagine that they’ll try to keep me there,” I admitted with a sigh. This was a whole problem, wasn’t it? I really didn’t care for how Minerva talked about our father -- he sounded like a whole ass problem. It’d help if I knew what pokemon I would be dealing with in advance, but it wasn’t like I could ask.

Brawly seemed surprised to hear that, “Really? You never said anything about it.” That was because I didn’t know anything about it.

“I was avoiding the issue and pretending that it didn’t exist,” I admitted, and that wasn’t even a fib. That’s exactly what my plan had been up until this moment. Brawly seemed concerned, as did Misty, but I waved them off. “They’re not evil, or anything. Just really strict. And they’re not a fan of me being a trainer, so I left,” I said, giving the cliff-notes version to satiate them.

Marnie, however, seemed to understand. “I get it,” she admitted, bringing my attention to her. She offered a small shrug, “It’s not an accident that I went to Kalos for my first circuit. My situation sounds pretty different from yours, but… I get it.”

I nodded, showing that I heard what she was trying to say. I think my perspective was a little skewed. Brawly was the first person I recognized as a trainer, and I knew he was from Hoenn. And I knew Marnie was from Galar. Ash bounced around the entire continent with his group of friends. But, Marnie was on the other side of the world. Kalos was next door, essentially, but Kanto?

“Well, did you guys actually sign us up for a match?” I asked them, deciding to switch topics. I could tell that Brawly and Misty weren’t fully satisfied, but they let me change the topic with Brawly nodding.

“I thought we might have to wait a day or two, but we can challenge him now,” Brawly informed, making me cock an eyebrow. That was a surprise. Was the difference between a major gym and a minor one that significant? “You’re going last. I’m up first, then Marnie, then Misty.”

I nodded before we started to make our way there. “I don’t know anything about this guy. Did he seem strong?” I asked, looking for general impressions because I was going to have some real egg on my face if I ended up losing to him. All I knew was that he was allegedly a more serious Water Type trainer, and his badge was called the Teardrop badge.

Misty huffed, “He’s a bitter old man.” I blinked at the rather harsh description, looking to the others for an answer and their expressions didn’t inspire much confidence. “Don’t worry. We’ll crush him and make him eat his words, and then we’ll be off to leave him behind!” She said forcefully, anger leaking into her voice.

… right. I offered a small nod, realizing I just stepped on a landmine. Misty led the pack to the Gym, stomping every step of the way. Throwing the doors open with a little more force than necessary, I caught sight of the Gym Leader himself. I wasn’t sure that I would describe him as bitter yet, but I would say that he was an old man. He wore a dark blue kimono shirt with waves stitched into the hem, black pants, and a pair of wood sandles. His hair was gray, his face lined with wrinkles -- I would put him at over sixty, but probably closer to seventy.

His dark eyes scanned us for a second before his nostrils. “I hope at least one of you is worthy of my badge. Soft boys and girls, the lot of you,” he said and I was starting to see the bitterness. Though, I did notice that his gaze linger on me. Or, rather, where the weighted harness bulged against my shirt. He didn’t say anything more, simply letting out a dismissive scoff before he began heading to the back exit of the Gym.

The building itself was about a quarter the size I had seen in Pewter or Cerulean, even if the arena was about the same size. There were no bleachers of any kind. No crowd or cameras either. Misty was quietly seething as we followed him out the back, down to the beach where I saw a number of platforms were in the water, going above and below with the flow of the waves.

It wasn’t that much of a difference from the set up in Cerulean, I figured. The waves would be something to compensate for, but I trusted my pokemon to manage that much.

“This isn’t the Cerulean Gym. There won’t be any fancy light shows or giving a badge like a participation trophy. The Gym Circuit used to mean something back in my day, and I might be an old fossil, but I’ll be damned before I let a couple of snot nose brats flash one of my badges that I thought they didn’t earn.” Yeah. Yeah, the bitter old man remark was… well, it was right on the mark. He glanced over at Misty in particular, and it was pretty easy to guess who that comment was directed at.

This guy really was going all in on a teenage girl? What a prick.

“Damn kids,” he continued, and I’m almost certain he was purposely slowing down on his way to the beach so we had to listen to him. “You’ve forgotten your roots. Your heritage and culture. You just sit down in front of a screen all day watching battles like they’re some form of entertainment! Back in my day challenging the Gyms meant something. It meant putting your life on the line sometimes! It’s how we weeded out the boys from the men. Your grandfather was right there with me! Oh, he’d be rolling in his grave if he could see-”

“Old man,” I interjected, making the man stop, glancing over his shoulder at me. “Put up or shut up. And it’s poor manners to claim to speak for the dead,” I added. It was one thing to confront Minerva -- there was some weight there. But, I didn’t have any respect for some guy that was talking down to a girl. Especially when it sounded like he was offloading his own insecurities while shaking his fist at the passage of time.

“I knew ‘em for sixty years, punk. I think I have more of a right to speak for him then those grandaughters of his,” he added and I was considering the merits of sending him off to hell to see if that held true when they met in the afterlife, but Misty grabbed my wrist.

“Thanks, but I’ll shut him up myself,” Misty said, giving me a small appreciative nod. There was fighting spirit burning in her eyes, and I saw how badly she wanted to beat him. I nodded back, but unfortunately, there was an order that we had to go in. Brawly was up first, and he looked right at home on the platform, something that didn’t go unnoticed by…

“What’s this guy's name again?” I asked, leaning into the others as we were forced to watch from the beach as Brawly brought out Makuhita, who similarly looked right at home on the platform. Looking at them on it, I realized that the field was a lot larger than the one in the building. About double the size, more or less.

Marnie glanced at me while Misty answered, “Weiss. He was my grandpa’s rival,” she answered, crossing her arms. “Back when my grandpa was alive, he’d come around every once and a while to challenge him. He used to be… friendly, I guess. But when grandpa died, and my sisters started doing shows…” she trailed off. He became an asshole.

Weiss sent out a Kingler. I watched the match begin, and another thing that I noticed -- there was no referee. Makuhita pressed the attack, hopping between the platforms as Kingler focused on knocking him off with a Bubble Beam. And when Makuhita got in close, Kingler immediately went on the offensive, attacking with his claw that I noticed moved a lot faster than the one I faced.

It hit Makuhita with a Razor shell, then a Claw Hammer, but Makuhita was still in the fight. He got a few good hits in, only for his momentum to vanish when Kingler vanished beneath the waves in a retreat.

Weiss was different from Brock or Misty’s sisters. Brock took the match seriously, but he also gave wiggle room. The point was for you to prove that you deserved a badge, and in his eyes, that meant showing that you could command and care for your pokemon. Weiss, on the other hand, was more… cutting. He fought like a bastard, and I meant that with some respect.

Maximizing his advantages, mitigating his weak points, and establishing zones of control. When he had the initiative, he didn’t let go of it. When he was on the defensive, he clammed up and waited for that chance to turn the tables.

He battled like me.

To Brawly’s credit, he kept his head cool and battled it out. Makuhita and Kingler managed to score a double KO, with Kingler taking the Makuhita down with him with a final Claw Hammer. Weiss offered a scowl but said nothing as he brought out his next pokemon -- Sealeo. In response, Brawly sent out Machop.

This match was a little more in Brawly’s favor. Sealeo stuck mostly to the water, using ice beams and water attacks, trying to knock Machop into the water. For a moment, it almost seemed like the plan had worked when Machop jumped onto a patch of ice made by the pokemon, only for it to be liquified underneath him. Brawly, having anticipated as much, managed to clinch it as Machop grabbed hold of Sealeo under the water and did enough damage to knock it out.

Weiss’ last pokemon was a seadra. Brawly kept Machop out, but that soon proved to be a mistake as Weiss had wisened up to Brawly’s counters. The two pokemon went back and forth a bit, but Brawly was caught up when Seadra used Twister to summon up a hurricane that knocked Machop off the platform. From there, it was only a handful of seconds later that Machop surfaced unconscious.

Brawly’s last pokemon was Tyrouge and I was a little worried about how he was going to win this one. Tryogue wasn’t a particularly strong pokemon, and he wouldn’t be until he evolved. Brawly used Tyrogue’s speed and ability to dodge to his advantage, and when Seadra failed to dislodge him from a platform, he took a risk and was punished for it. Seadra was forced onto the platform, where is manuverability was negligible, and Tryogue… well, he basically just stomped it from there.

With that victory, Brawly earned the Teardrop badge. And it was so close to the Cascade badge that there was no way that it was anything but intentional. The Teardrop was a darker shade of blue, but it was the exact same shape.

Marnie was up next and while she and Brawly were swapping out, I said, “He likes to stay in the water.”

“Gramps always said that was his biggest weakness,” Misty muttered, watching the battle intently as it began not a second later. Snorunt against Marnie’s impidimp. Marnie, having watched the battle, was wiser to how Weiss battled and came prepared.

The first match was a relative short one. Marnie attacked relentlessly, denying Snorunt a chance to retreat. They bounced around between the platforms a bit, but it ended with Snorunt being unable to battle. Weiss then sent out Seaking.

And I saw it.

The very same flaw that Larry had pointed out to me after I lost to him. Weiss had his preferred tactics, and he wouldn’t budge from them. He adapted them a bit, but even when they weren’t working, he still stuck to them. Nor did he have a contingency when he was forced into circumstances he wasn’t prepared for. As a result, Impidimp took out Seaking with about as much ease as he dealt with Snorunt.

I could tell that stung a bit, but Weiss simply released his next pokemon -- Octillery. Marnie swapped out Impidimp with her Sneasel. Octillery stayed at long range, which didn’t work as Sneasel was able to make her own cover, bridges, and take shots with an Ice Beam. It wasn’t quite a sweep, but it was a near enough.

Weiss, interestingly enough, didn’t seem like he minded all that much. He inclined his head to Marnie, who accepted her badge with little response. Then, it was Misty’s turn and she was all fired up as she made her way out to the platforms.

“Are you ready to eat your words?” Misty asked hotly, taking out a pokeball.

“I would be glad for you to prove me wrong, but the truth of the matter is that the apple has fallen far from the tree. It is not wholly your fault. It is ours -- you were raised to be weak, so weak you became,” Weiss stated, a cold bitter edge in his voice. “The Cerulean Gym is a farce, as are your sisters. Once, to receive the Cascade badge was an honor, and now I can see it as nothing more than a demerit.”

I could tell that the words were getting to Misty. And I knew why. There was a core of truth to them, even if Weiss wrapped the words with the tone of a smug prick. If they weren’t true, then Misty wouldn’t even be traveling with us.

A muscle spasmed in Misty’s jaw from how tightly it was clenched. “What Blair said -- Put up or shut up, old man!”

“Hmph. Tell me girl, is it true? Do you still fear Gyarados?” He asked, a hand going to his belt and Misty went still.

“He wouldn’t-” Marnie started, lurching forward but, sure enough, a gyarados appeared in a flash of red light in the pool. He announced his arrival with a thunderous roar that echoed out across the ocean, and I heard the maddened hate in his voice. There was nothing to that pokemon, I knew, other than pure rage.

Misty stood frozen, gaping up at the massive sea dragon. Even half submerged in the waves, the top half stood easily another twenty feet into the air. He was absolutely massive. And the moment that his roar finished, he turned his gaze towards Misty. And much like Mankey had been with Team Rocket…

Weiss simply unleashed Gyarados in her direction… and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop it.