To be the Very Best (Pokémon X Male Reader)

MissingNo. Arc Chapter 2 - Out With the Old in With the Mew

The once-thriving streets of Viridian City had been transformed into a bleak and desolate place, now a fortress of despair under the iron grip of Team Rainbow Rocket. Towering walls surrounded the city, guarded by heavily armed grunts: every corner, every alley, and every building reeked of oppression. The people who once lived and worked here had been replaced by prisoners—those who dared to challenge the might of Rainbow Rocket, who now walked these streets in chains, their spirits crushed under the weight of their captors.

I was one of those prisoners, dragged through the city alongside others who had once been powerful and proud. Gym Leaders, Elite Four members—people I had looked up to, trained alongside, and fought against were now reduced to mere shadows of their former selves. Among them, walking next to me, was Leaf. She mumbled to herself, her words incoherent, but the guilt in her voice was unmistakable.

"This is all my fault," she kept repeating, her eyes wide and haunted.

I wanted to help her, to say something, anything, that might ease her suffering, but the words wouldn't come. My mind was a battlefield, the remnants of Giovanni's brainwashing still gnawing at the edges of my thoughts. The weight of everything I'd done, everything I'd caused, was too much to bear.

Overhead, the constant drone of propaganda blared from speakers. Zephyr's voice twisted into a cruel mockery of hope. He spoke of the glory of Rainbow Rocket, the futility of resistance, and the inevitability of our defeat. Each word was a hammer blow to our already shattered spirits, designed to keep us in line and remind us of how powerless we were.

"Remember," Zephyr's voice sneered, "you brought this upon yourselves. You have no one to blame but yourselves for your current predicament."

We were herded into the work area, a sprawling factory that had once been a place of learning and innovation. Now, it was a place of endless toil, where we were forced to create the very tools of our oppression—the Snag Balls used to steal Pokémon from their trainers. My hands were rough and scarred, the result of weeks of this work. I barely recognized them anymore, just like I barely recognized the person I had become.

I kept my head down, focusing on the task at hand. It was the only thing I could do to keep from losing my mind completely. But then, a commotion caught my attention. I looked up to see Brock, his body trembling with exhaustion, collapse to the ground. Misty was at his side in an instant, trying to lift him back to his feet.

"Get up!" a Rainbow Rocket grunt barked, advancing on them. When Brock didn't move fast enough, the grunt delivered a brutal kick to his side, sending him sprawling.

I clenched my fists, but the oppressive weight of the situation smothered the urge to act. Instead, I turned back to my work, croaking out a few words to Leaf beside me, my voice hollow. "Just... keep working. Keep going."

Leaf looked at me with dull eyes, her face a mask of despair. She was barely holding on, and I knew how she felt. But there was nothing I could say that would make it better. I couldn't even convince myself.

As I resumed my work, a small voice broke through the haze of despair. It was faint, almost like a whisper, but I heard it clearly.

"Don't give up..."

I froze, my heart pounding in my chest. I looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, but there was no one. No one except the broken souls around me, all lost in their misery.

Was it real? Or was I finally losing my mind?

I didn't know. But there was something about that voice that felt different—like a lifeline thrown into the abyss. I had no reason to trust it, yet I did. Deep down, something in me wanted to believe that there was still hope, that I wasn't completely lost.