Pokémon Bloodstone | An Orre Fanfiction

Chapter 90: Homecoming

Dirk got a job he didn't expect when Lyndon took paternity leave. Because he was so patient and encouraging, Lyndon asked if he would temporarily take over as Mt. Battle Master.

'No-one will reach you, anyway,' he assured him, 'I just want you to keep everyone motivated, like you already do.'

That wasn't an accurate prediction. Zileh was already climbing Mt. Battle and, as impossible as it seemed, Chalcedony did recover. Her nightmares and fatigue intermittently returned, but the other symptoms faded to bad memories. Both of them reached Dirk. Zileh won. When he defeated Chalcedony with only Poliwrath left, riding the high of the unlikely win, he finally found the courage to ask Rustie out.

Rustie did go on a few more dates with Jet, before he left for Alola, but found she actually disliked him. She knew Dirk wouldn't make things awkward if it didn't work out. There was nothing to lose from trying. He might have been the last person Rustie expected to ever find attractive, but they were already friends. Their conversation couldn't be difficult or dull. Dirk didn't expect or demand anything. He wasn't as exciting as Jet once seemed, but that was exactly why she did come to like him as more than a friend. She didn't want thrills. She wanted comfort and permanence.

Wyatt, of course, wasn't avoiding Chalcedony. He was as stressed and busy as Amber said he was. When she was well enough to travel, he invited her to help him and Jovi with the baby Pokémon. Once the barriers of doubt on both sides crumbled, it was as if time resumed, as Chalcedony wished it would, from the moment before she left. She could fly now, but she preferred Wyatt to pick her up, so they could sing in the car and take detours into the wilderness like they used to. She, too, wanted comfort and permanence. That was exactly what she found in her lifelong friend she inevitably fell in love with. He knew that now.

When Chalcedony first returned to Orre, there was no-one she really considered a friend. She didn't expect or even want to find any friends upon her return, yet now she was surrounded – and glad to be surrounded – by real friends, from her fellow Gym Challengers to Hanila to her big brother and his wife. Even when Wyatt was too busy, she flew to Phenac to see their newborn twins, Aiko and Kazuki. Like Courtney, she wasn't sick of Baby Carvanha which, sadly for Lyndon, sent their kids to sleep. It reminded her of the family she never expected to love so much. Leon returned to Galar, because Victor was taking a year off while Peonia recovered, but Abbey video called him and Fayiz every day. He greeted Chalcedony like she was his own daughter. Amber and Fayiz didn't treat her like a half-sister. She was just their sister, as Hanila still was to Chalcedony.

Ruby Jane let Whitby go to Alola. Friends of Sonia and Abbey promised to look out for him. She was worried she wouldn't be able to afford to fly out to see him every few weeks, but Chalcedony and Alfie were up for her 'great idea,' a biographical movie called Fire Agate. The story was still sensational. The possibility of another Alfie movie, despite his retirement and starring the real Fire Agate, was too good to resist. Ruby Jane sold her script for more than enough to fly out to Whitby whenever she wanted.

As she continued to earn as casting director, she was offered deals from several major studios, but she chose to remain self-employed in Orre. She meant it when she told Chalcedony she wanted to scout people who would go unnoticed, no matter how talented, otherwise. Parts of the movie were shot in Alola. Ruby Jane could spend most of her time there with her son.

Alfie's performance in Fire Agate was applauded, but it wasn't him who took home an armful of awards. It was Chalcedony. When she stood with Alfie and Wyatt on the glittering red carpet, surrounded by flashing cameras and screaming fans, she was content not just because she was finally living her dream; but because she would return home, with her Pokémon and family, to the region she came to love because it was her home.

Every friend and relative, no matter how distant, received an invite to Chalcedony and Wyatt's wedding. Only one person never replied. Chalcedony's nieces and nephews, along with Lyric and Whitby, were flower girls and page boys. It wasn't until hours after Ruhul and Alfie walked Chalcedony down the aisle – and it seemed Looker was the only person left at the party – that Chalcedony noticed every seat was filled. Kleto was there. She waited until there was calm silence to finally approach her daughter.

'Mom... it's OK. You were grieving.'

There wasn't calm silence for much longer. Kleto burst into tears.

'I'm sorry, Chalcedony. I'm so sorry. I didn't know what to do. I didn't tell you because... in my totally fucked mind... you were my daughter. You just were. You weren't a replacement. You just were.'

Chalcedony tentatively offered a hand to squeeze. That was Kleto's cue to hug her tight.

'I promised I'd never let anything happen to you. Then I abandoned you when you needed me most because I couldn't bear to face my lies. Because... I didn't want to believe they were lies. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.'

'I think the people who are really to blame here are Lovrina and Gretchen. Not even that Eileen woman. Definitely not you. Just them. And I think all the people I care about the most who were here today have made mistakes. I think the world of Lyndon, but he did try to end the world.'

'It wasn't just a mistake. It was unforgivable. And I made it worse by not showing my face until now. I'm a coward. I always have been. I joined Cipher because I was scared they might snag my Mareep otherwise. And I'm still that pathetic excuse for a human being.'

'Ardos is a pathetic excuse for a human being. You are a human being. My other mom – Abbey – is awesome. But you're my mom, too. As long as you want to be. Dad's forgiven you. I forgive you. It's time you forgive yourself.'

'Gosh... you know who you sound like?'

'I wonder why I might possibly sound like Alfie Addison.'

They both laughed. Wyatt waited for his wife in the car they bought together now Chalcedony could drive. Kleto waved from the steps of The Under's Diglett Club until she disappeared from the rearview mirror.

Aiko and Kazuki weren't the only new additions to the family. In the euphoria after Jovi found out Hop didn't want to divorce her and Cipher went down, she temporarily forgot contraception even existed. Amber and Trip, who were in Unova by then, were considering having another child. Chalcedony and Wyatt encouraged them. They were great parents and, though Gretchen once convinced Trip he had no family or friends, he was actually surrounded by people who loved him and his son.

The new mayor of the town the International Police seized from Cipher, who once believed his political career was over, was an unexpectedly popular choice for the next governor. Verzant wasn't sure if people would truly trust him when it came to a regional election, but his colleagues were behind him. Snattle could win, so why not him? Long before the last ballot was counted, it was clear he won in the landslide he would have enjoyed if his arrest hadn't booted him out of the governor's office before he even set foot in it.

When Verzant was arrested, Jazlyn's Cipher friends wanted nothing to do with her or the man they were all so obsessed with. Being the person stuck with Verzant went from a status symbol to unspeakable embarrassment. She enjoyed ignoring their sudden attempts to get back in touch with the First Lady of Orre.

Ardos was in Gatas. Verzant was actually retraining the police. Orre even had its own International Police officers, Detective Inspectors Orvil Sawyer and Zileh Ross. The 8-100-CIPHER hotline was no longer a joke, but a resource people could trust. For the first time since wild Pokémon left and Cipher became the law, Orre no longer seemed like a forsaken wasteland. Kids looked forward to brighter futures. Even if Ardos broke out of prison and revived Cipher, there was hope that this time, they would be caught... but that was if Ardos revived Cipher. If the syndicate was led by someone who shone with the brilliance of the Orrean sun, even the most talented detective couldn't be expected to see it coming.