Love in the Time of Temerity

Chapter 2: A Fugue

I hate Viroro in this chapter for 449 reasons. He knows what he did, and if you remember me in the Alola Trilogy, you'll probably know why, too. Time for Chapter 2!

Chapter 2

A Fugue

Bzzt! Bzzt!

Gloria turned over in the grass, her fingers uncurling towards the Rotom Phone on the ground, dotted with mist. Rotom was silent inside it, acquiescing to her want for the quiet. A face appeared on it, that of her mother, and the source of over a dozen missed calls the last many days. She couldn't bring herself to answer, and her fingers flipped the phone back over, covering the screen indefinitely.

She sighed, breath frosting in the air. It was getting colder already, the capricious winds shifting to a light snow. Still, she did not move. Gloria just watched the white snow falling endlessly, wanting to vanish inside it.

"Feza!" The sudden cry gave her cause to sit up, slowly, and she looked down the rolling hill to where a nest of Unfezant and Tranquill were. The female of the group was staring up at her, and she stared back. It took a step, and she couldn't bring herself to move. Her lips turned downward, Gloria puffed out further air and fell back down, flopping on the dampened grass. "Unfez!"

"Go away..." Gloria breathed, rolling on her side. She briefly caught an image of the walls of Hammerlocke, just past the edge of the mist, but they brought her no joy to see. Nothing much did, her fingers knotting with the grass.

"Feza unfezan!" The flapping of wings got in the way of her listlessness, and Gloria sat up with a scowl. The bird was on the approach, squawking at Gloria...and at a Hawlucha that was running across the grass behind her. Her body slumped; she couldn't be bothered to deal with them, and her eyes dulled at their sight.

They looked just like Ash's. From his stories.

"Rabuh!" The kick came out of nowhere, or maybe just somewhere deep in the mist, and Gloria watched Raboot's kick collide with Unfezant's head. The strong Pokémon cried out, soon divebombing for Gloria, only for an equally powerful screech to match it. Corviknight swooped in, wings glowing silver, and he slashed across Unfezant. At the same time, Clobbopus and Toxtricity gave glowing punches that sent Hawlucha skyward. Clobbopus egged it on, but when Drednaw caused a barrage of rocks to fall, Hawlucha turned away. "Raboot!"

"Thanks..." Gloria could no longer stop herself from sitting up and staring at her team. They had run off without her, fighting against the mighty Pokémon of the Wild Area. Part of her wouldn't blame them if they hadn't returned. She hung her head, and Flapple floated down to rest upon it, chirping. "You guys have gotten strong...even without me..."

"Clobbo!" Clobbopus's cry of disagreement was matched with Toxtricity, pummeling his purple, poisonous fists through the air.

"No. I just muck things up..." Gloria drew her knees in, hugging them. "Couldn't beat Kabu easy. Couldn't save Spikemuth..."

"Flappah?"

"Lost Ash..." Gloria leaned her head back again, losing control of her body and breaking upon the grass. She slid a little under the slick surface, now dotting itself with snow. A sneeze came to her lips but was never let loose, reined in with a sniffle. "I tried so hard to be like him...just wanted to help people...but all I did was make things worse for everyone. Guess I really don't have a place in things like they do.

"Typical Gloria, good for nothing."

Her Pokémon cried out, trying to tell her that wasn't the case, but she couldn't really hear them. It was the truth, and no amount of screaming was going to change it. In that case, it was better to simply go numb. Feel nothing.