Everlasting Memories (Pokémon Hugh X Rosa)

Memories of the End

Nate is silent.

Hugh keeps glancing at Nate, wondering when he'll speak up. They are on the train back to Nimbasa City, having just lost against the Subway Bosses Emmet and Ingo. Nate has been uncharacteristically quiet since then. Hugh wonders if it's because they lost, or if it's because he just found out the full extent of Hugh's douchebaggery. Hugh suspects it's the latter.

Finally, he can't take it anymore. "Say something, dammit!" he demands.

Nate shakes his head, as if to snap out of a daydream. He stares at Hugh for the longest time. "You know," he says finally, "I've always thought that what Yancy did to me was bad. That I could never find anyone as cruel as she was to me. But I guess I was wrong. There are worse people on this planet. I just hadn't met you then."

Hugh doesn't reply. The guilt burns up his insides like acid.

"I was so naïve back then," continues Nate. He gives a hollow, humorless laugh. "Yancy is like a goddess compared to you. Hell, Team Plasma are like charity workers compared to you."

If Nate had said that two months ago, Hugh would have punched him to next Tuesday for that comment. But he doesn't move a muscle. Instead, he asks, "What happened between you and Yancy?"

"Um," Nate bites his lip. Hugh notices that Nate is prone to doing that when he's talking about her. "We were in love."

"Yeah?" says Hugh. It feels nice to talk to Nate about something that isn't Rosa.

"Yeah," replies Nate. "We met when I found something she'd lost. She was beautiful, smart and funny – we just clicked, you know?"

Hugh nods. He knows.

"Anyway, so we started talking. Like, a lot. I mean, she didn't have much time to talk to me, cause her job got in the way, but she always called when she had a signal." Nate pauses.

The train jerks forward suddenly, and Hugh hits his head against the back of the seat before him. But he urges Nate to go on.

"Slowly, I fell in love with her. One day, I asked her to meet me at the Ferris Wheel. You know, the same one you and Rosa rode? So I told her how I felt. Turns out, she'd been feeling the same way."

Hugh smiles. He's happy for Nate, but his happiness is punctured by the fact that this story doesn't end well.

"We began dating after that. I mean, whenever we could, anyway. Whenever I asked her to meet me, she was always busy and had her job to go to. And our calls were always cut short by her coworkers calling her to work. It got annoying after a while.

Nate pauses to catch his breath.

"So one day, when I called her, her coworker answered the Xtransceiver. And you won't believe who it was. It was Pokémon Idol Nancy."

"Yancy works with Pokémon Idol Nancy?" Hugh raises an eyebrow, impressed. "That's cool. And it rhymes."

Nate shakes his head. "No. I mean, Nancy answered the Xtransceiver, but I recognized her. It was Yancy. Yancy, in her work clothes. Yancy is Pokémon Idol Nancy."

Hugh hisses in shock.

"Yeah," says Nate sadly. "I was confused too, at first. But then I did a little digging. I realized Yancy never told me what her job was. That's why she never had time for me. She'd hidden such a big part of her life from me."

He slumps in his seat.

"And then, when I called her up again to talk about it, she kept lying to me. She insisted it was her coworker who answered the Xtransceiver, and that she wasn't a Pokémon Idol. That hurt. A lot. Since then, I haven't spoken to her."