To be the Very Best (Pokémon X Male Reader)

Black & White Part 2 Chapter 7 - Family Business

The ruins of Nimbasa City stretched out before me like a shattered memory, its once-vibrant streets now nothing but desolate wastelands, twisted steel, and broken dreams. The sky was a sickly grey, clouds swirling in a perpetual storm that had no end. This place was a tomb, quarantined off from the rest of the world—a festering wound that refused to heal.

It had been years since MissingNo first appeared, warping reality and leaving behind this grotesque scar in its wake. I shouldn't have been here. Hell, no one should. The New Unova League had strict orders: stay out of Nimbasa. Too many had lost their lives; too many had gone mad just from wandering too close. But I wasn't like the others. I had a reason to be here.

I slipped through the broken fences and past the half-collapsed buildings, the ghost of the Ferris wheel looming over me like a monument to everything that had gone wrong. Every step I took crunched on the debris of a city that used to be alive. My footsteps echoed in the silence, a reminder that I was alone here. Almost.

My destination wasn't far. Just a few more blocks through the crumbling remains of what was once a vibrant city square. I could almost hear the echoes of the past—the laughter, the music, the hum of life. But that was gone now, replaced by the eerie quiet of a place where time itself seemed to have died.

I found her grave in the shadow of what used to be a café, the one she used to take me to as a kid. Back then, the world was still sane, and I was just another wide-eyed kid with dreams bigger than the sky. Now, those dreams were ash, and I was a wanted man in a broken world.

The grave was nothing more than a pile of rocks I'd gathered, marked by a weathered pendant she used to wear. It was all I could give her in this place, a makeshift memorial for a life that deserved so much more. I knelt beside it, my hands in my pockets, feeling the weight of everything that had led me here.

"Hey, Mom," I said, my voice rougher than I intended. It was the first time I'd spoken in days, maybe weeks. "Been a while, I've been... Busy. Where do I even begin? I suppose it doesn't matter; you wouldn't like whatever I have to say... I know you never wanted this for me. Not this life, not any of it. But I've got to work with the cards I've been dealt."

I laughed, a bitter sound that felt out of place here. "It's a real shit show, you know? Everything's gone to hell, and I'm stuck in the middle of it. Running from the League, dodging bounty hunters, and now I'm working with these... people. The kind of people you always warned me about. But I suppose I fit right in, Dad would agree."

I reached out, running my fingers over the cold rocks. "I know you'd hate it, but it's the only way. I'm gonna make things right, no matter what it takes. Even if it means tearing apart what's left of this broken world to get back to the one you always dreamed of."

The wind picked up, howling through the ruins like the ghosts of those who were lost here. It felt like the world itself was grieving like it was mourning what it used to be.

"Y/N." Zero's voice cut through the silence, sharp and urgent. She stood a few feet away, her eyes scanning the horizon with that intense focus she always had. "We need to go. They are getting close."

I nodded, pushing myself to my feet. "I know." She darted off into the wasteland. I took one last look at the grave, my heart heavy with everything I couldn't say. "I wouldn't change any of it, Mom," I whispered. "I'll make things right. I promise."

With that, I turned and followed Zero into the ruins, the weight of my past pressing down on me like the sky above. This world was broken, twisted beyond repair, but it didn't matter. I'd keep moving forward, keep fighting, because that's what she would have wanted. And if I had to tear apart what was left of this world to do it, so be it.