Pokémon Turquoise | A Unova Fanfiction

Chapter 36: Family

12 years ago
Castelia University

'Professor Harmonia?'

Springs squealed as a heavy, wooden door opened to a tidy classroom where even the scribbled formulae on the walls were carefully arranged. A clerk peered in. N didn't say or do anything, as if he already knew what the clerk was going to say, so the man awkwardly continued.

'We just got a call from the psych ward at the Dragonspiral Hospital in Icirrus. Your... father is dying.'

'I see...'

N glanced wearily around the classroom. The students had just begun to write. They were all watching him expectantly now. The girls who swooned at him tried to look sympathetic, although some weren't sure whether or not he wanted sympathy, since his 'father' had to be Ghetsis. They almost expected him to dismiss the clerk and carry on.

'Please excuse me.'

It surprised everyone when he hurried straight out. Zoroark ran after him. He opened a fire exit and took off on Reshiram. That hospital in Icirrus City wasn't far from where he met Zekrom, where the legendary Pokémon deemed him a hero and chose to fight for the ideal world he imagined.

He visited Ghetsis once before. The old man ignored him and he was escorted straight out. He wondered if that would happen again, but this time, a nurse waited outside and hurriedly escorted him to an isolated room on the psychiatric ward.

There were sleeping bags in the waiting room. They belonged to the Shadow Triad who, after all these years, remained in full Team Plasma uniform. The nurse's urgency made N nervous. The Shadow Triad's glares made it even worse.

'Those men...'

The nurse whispered. 'Do you know them?'

'Yes... they're old friends of my father.'

'He doesn't want to see them, but we can't get rid of them...'

'I apologise on his behalf.'

'Um... well... your father is here. These may be his last moments. I hope... it won't be too painful for you.'

She unlocked the door. N nodded before it clicked shut behind him.

'Thank you.'

'So you came... the freak without a human heart... N.'

The man who once seemed so formidable, who spoke with such conviction it inspired thousands, was reduced to a skeletal wreck paler than his bleached bedsheets. His conviction was already dead. Ghetsis now sounded like a weary employee reciting the same store policy he read out for the last 60 years.

'The traitor who married that insufferable Trainer from who knows where... and managed to produce an aspiring chef... and a wannabe football player. How disappointing.'

'If that's how you feel... why invite me?'

N looked back at the closed door. Despite the cold cruelty in Ghetsis' words, he was so pathetic now that it was impossible to imagine he ever feared the cane by the bed would strike him in the face. Besides... how did he know anything about N's children? He would never leave the hospital to attempt world domination again. Why did he care?

'The Shadow Triad are practically camping out there and you won't see them... so why me... Father?'

'I am not your father.'

Were these really his last moments? He didn't sound like he was dying, but...

'Do you really have time for this? Why did you invite me?'