Jade Chronicles (Pokemon Fanfic)

Finale, Part 2 - Hurting

second-last chapter, unless i decide to do an epilogue because i have no self-control when it comes to adding unnecessary flavor text
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ASH POV

You know, I'd like to think that "good" and "bad" are pretty relative terms.

I mean, sure. Love is good, stealing is bad. But beyond that, things get a little muddy. What if you steal out of love? What if you love stealing things? Why is it suddenly so difficult to understand what's good and what isn't?

I say all this because I don't want to think that I'm "bad". But I know, that by most standards, I'm definitely a "bad" 'mon. But I do what I do because I want my family, because I want my life back. I just want everything to be okay again. I just want to be happy. The action is "bad", but the reasoning is "good".

...I left the cave early in the morning.

Of course, I couldn't really tell that it was early in the morning. I just woke up earlier than Wesley did and left. I knew exactly where to go.

As long as the murderer would agree, I'd be able to get my family back. And then maybe, just maybe, I could find it in my heart to forgive him.

(Ha. Not likely.)

As I walk through the burnt remains of the town, I see various mons, helping out each other, all because they don't want to abandon their home. All because they don't want to leave those who are hurt... and those who are dead.

They don't know who I am. They don't know that I did all of this. They treat me like I'm normal, and that's good. Sometimes, they even ask me to read the auras of wounded mons. I don't want to. It brings up painful memories.

I realize that I made a mistake. I won't realize it tomorrow. But I realize it now, and that's better than I'll get for a million years.

Looking around, I see many things. Nothing is still on fire. It's already burned down, put to rest. Except for a few places. Several rows of houses I never got around to burning. The school building... well, for the most part. My family's house, even if they don't live there anymore.

And the house of the murderer.

The house looms over me, instilling in me terrifying thoughts. This is the house, the home of the one who did this. The home of the one who did this to me. And they know. They know who I am, they know who my daughter is, they know what they did.

...

I steel myself and knock on the door.

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JADE POV

*Knock, knock.*

A knock at the door. At least Lin's getting better at not breaking into places.

...I don't answer. Why would I? Things kinda suck right now.

Wes... had an outburst. He pretty much forced us out of his cave... and I mean, I kind of get it. He lives there, it can't be nice to have someone in your house all the time talking about fighting.

Lin is gone. Not, like, gone gone, but she's... emotionally gone. And so is Jacob, but he didn't really do much anyway. He was just there because Lin was.

(His crush is obvious. Even Lin knows how he feels.)

Lucy is... well, she's Lucy. I'm not sure what she's been up to, and honestly, I don't want to find out. This whole amulet thing has been a lot to deal with, and I know it's self-centered of me, but I can't deal with it anymore. Lucy can have fun with her family problems, I'll stay here and live my normal life.

Penny... I don't know her that well, but she seems obviously mad. She came over here once with Lin yesterday, and said something about how Wes was being stupid. (Par for the course, I guess.)

I don't want to go outside. I don't want to answer the door. And yet I also don't want to sit inside and be alone. This causes a conflict of interest, one that I am not particularly interested in right now, despite what the name suggests.

I go downstairs. I bring the amulet with me, because I just want someone else to have it. Why did I make that promise to James? Can I just go home?

(Well, I am home, but you know what I meant.)

I stand in front of the door for a while, terrified of the prospect of opening the door and finding Lucy on the other side. Or Lin. Or anyone, really. I don't want to interact with anyone right now, in case that wasn't obvious.

As I slowly reach for the doorknob, I hear an unfamiliar voice from the other side.

"Okay, it's been long enough."

And then the door blows open, launching me backwards into the stairs. Thankfully I wasn't hurt too bad, just bruised. And also my arm is bleeding.

I hear the voice speak up again. "Okay, look, kid. Just hand over the amulet and we'll be cool."

I can't really do much from under an entire door, so I have to force myself out from under it and off the stairs. It takes a minute, but eventually I'm face to face with-

Oh.

A Lucario.

Lucy's dad, probably.

Okay, that's fine. Just give him the amulet and he'll leave, right? It's gotta be that easy! Just do it and everything will turn out okay!

I shakily hand over the amulet, and he takes it. He seems to inspect it for a while, and then turns to leave.

"Alright, I got what I came for. I'll leave you be."

He almost makes it out of the house, but then he stops. He turns around one more time.

"Actually," he says, "I think I have other plans."

He turns back to face me. I don't think I've been so terrified in my entire life, and I'm already constantly terrified.

"You know what you did, don't you, kid?" he asks. I do not know what I did.

I open my mouth to speak, but he interrupts before I can. "Oh, and here's a word of advice, kid: don't lie. I'll know. Be careful what you say next."

I ponder my next words, eventually deciding on: the truth. "I... I don't," I almost manage to say, before I am swiftly punched in the side before I'm even done talking. Ow.

His face shifts to an angry expression. "You think you're funny, is that it? Well, good job. We're all laughing. Now tell me the truth."

I don't know what the truth is. I don't know what I did. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

"You have five seconds."

I don't know.

"Four."

I don't know.

"Three."

I don't know.

"Two."

I don't know.

"One."

I DON'T KNOW.

"...Hm. Too bad."

He picks me up and throws me out of the hole where the door used to be, sending me onto the concrete outside.

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yep this is the cliffhanger you get. next chapter should(?) be the end

i'm sure that jade is fine and totally won't die soon he'll be perfectly fine