Chapter Text
Victor asked me for an incredibly important favour. Sure, the fact that he saved Kalos is part of it, but I don’t really think I’d go this far for Tierno or Trevor. They’re nice and all, but they don’t really interest me like Victor does. He’s quite strange, seemingly even to himself.
The first question is, do I put on makeup for this? I’m sure mom would kill me if she found out I left the house without makeup on (Serena, you look hideous! Someone like you can’t afford to neglect her appearance), but it’s a lot of effort for no tangible reward. Then again, my outfit did inspire Victor to change his. He was staring pretty intently when we first met. Did he realise I was wearing makeup? I haven’t met a boy that could recognise that before.
I assemble my outfit. My ‘signature’ felt cap, to hide my enormous forehead, concealer (freckles make you look childish, a woman has to be mature) and lip gloss, making my lips shine in the mirror. My nails have become horrendously chipped over the past week, oops! I forgot to reapply them. Well, at this point, might as well just remove them.
I grab my team, whom I have managed to hide from mom (she wouldn’t approve of half of them), and head out, to Terminus Cave.
I can feel a certain force on me here. Maybe Victor’s purple prose would describe it better, but it feels like I’m trying to wade through the cave after its collapsed. Is this the ability pressure?
There it is, still as the rock it hides in. A serpent of shadow and lime, with five crests jutting out of its head. I reach for the master ball – Victor’s master ball
“Xantha. You are here on Yvonne’s behalf.”
It’s structured like a question, but not spoken like one, if spoken is even the right word. The noise seems to emanate from the ground below, like an earthquake. I feel the words in my bones more than I hear them from my ears.
“Y-yes. Can you really save Victor’s life?”
“I would rather Yvonne have come here personally, if her business is with me, but I understand that her body is compromised.”
Why does it keep calling Victor her?
“Yvonne has been cursed with life and decay, death and rebirth. I can return order to her body, and return it to some facsimile of normalcy.”
“So you can save him?”
“I am not at full strength, so the changes may not be as quick as she likes. However, I retain dominion over order, regardless of my current strength. You wish to take me to her?”
“Y-yes.”
“Very well.”
The ground opens up into a chasm, leaving me to fall endlessly, until
I wake up. Urg… what happened?
A click rings out through the tunnel. The master ball. It feels heavy in my hand, like it wants to return to the earth, but I won’t let it (or Victor) down.
As I brush the mud off my skirt, I realise just how caked it is. There are smudges of makeup on the ground. This Pokémon – Zygarde – A name I can’t understand – must have knocked me out to communicate through my dream. Is this what it was like for Victor?
Mom’s gonna kill me if she sees me like this. Maybe I should just buy a new set, to avoid the lecture on playing in the mud like some ----. Which I’m not! I find Victor interesting, at the very least…
Maybe I should come up with some sob story. I got knocked into the mud by some mean bullies or whatever.
Buying new clothes isn’t sounding too bad. I’ve never had much of an eye for fashion, but I only kinda like this outfit.
In the end, I remember mom is away, and dad doesn’t care, so I spend a full hour cleaning my skirt in the laundry room. I asked Victor if he was lonely, without his father, but in truth mine isn’t here even when he is. At least Victor had his until he was 14.
The next day, I wake up, with a face of dried makeup, dirt under my nails, and wearing the same sweatpants and shitty t-shirt that I always wear at home.
I could clean up and put on the same things I did yesterday, but I don’t have it in me anymore. Mom isn’t here, and Victor… Victor will understand. He’s the only boy who could.
I step outside, and trudge over to Victor’s house, only for the door to open before I get there. He’s lugging a small suitcase behind him
“Ah! Serena!”
“H-hello, Victor, I-um have something for you.”
I hold out both the master ball and the disc he gave me last week. The TM for fly.
“Oh! Thanks, I forgot I gave you that. And thank you for doing that for me. In a way, I actually owe you my life.”
“No, you don’t owe me anything. Are you headed back to Galar?”
“No, actually, I’m going to Unova.”
“Unova? Why?”
“I’m investigating a missing person. I don’t think I can tell you who, but they’re pretty powerful.”
“In that case, here. I want you to have this.”
I pass him a slip of paper.
“Your… phone number…”
“Call me, OK?”
“Yeah, I will. Well, see you when I get back!”
And with that, he strolls off, his suitcase announcing his departure with every stray rock it catches on. If he had died there, in Geosenge, he would be the hero of Kalos, some noble sacrifice to save the world. I’m sure Kalos would have needed to kiss Galar’s ass after that. But he didn’t. He lives on, seemingly to disprove that nobility. He’s surprisingly graceless in a lot of areas, but his earnest side makes him likeable. Maybe he can find out how to drop the smoke and mirrors there…
“Oh, Serena! Hello! I almost didn’t recognise you!”
It’s funny, that I thought Grace was Victor’s mother, because in reality I know her better than he does.
“Did you come to wish Victor safe travels?”
I didn’t, but then I’d have to explain why I’m really here, and that would be a lot more work than it’s worth.
“Y-yes. I only found out he was going to Unova recently, so I had to rush.”
“Oh, no worries. He keeps to himself a lot, it makes him difficult to read.”
Even to himself…
“I can’t believe that boy… he was discharged from hospital only two days ago, and he’s already off galivanting to another country. He didn’t even tell me he was leaving until I asked about the suitcase.”
Why didn’t she say ‘the hospital’?
“Miss Smith… what is your relation to Victor? He doesn’t really seem to know anything about you, so why is he staying with you?”
Her face twists, just like Victor’s when he hears the word Lysandre.
“It’s… a long story. And not one I’m sure I’m ready to tell.”
This must be a sore spot for her, but the curiosity is really getting to me.
“I have all day… and if it helps, I could tell you what really happened on Saturday.”
She winces again.
“Alright… besides, I’ve been meaning to tell Victor this for a while. Come on in, I’ll make some tea.”
The house is fairly modest, about the same size as mine.
“What has Victor told you about his father?”
“Well, he said that he hasn’t seen him much over the past four years, and that he was a Ryhorn racer. Oh wait! He also said that he was going to stay with him, but he pulled out just before, which is why he’s staying with you.”
“That’s… mostly true. I need you to promise me not to spread what I’m about to tell you around, alright?”
“I won’t. I’ll take it to the grave.”
“I hope you don’t have to, but I appreciate the enthusiasm. In truth, I wasn’t born Grace Smith. I was born, in 11980, as Grant Dubois, to Jean and Margret Dubois.”
“*gasp* does that mean…”
She recoils a little. “…yes. My parents wanted their little boy to grow up big and strong and manly, and I tried to be that, until I was twenty. I took all my possessions to go live in Galar, where they would never find me. Because of my expertise with Ryhorn, I got a job at a Pokémon daycare near Wyndon, and that was where I met Mary Smith, the love of my life. We got married a few years later, and I changed my name to Grant Smith, because I hated every aspect of my old life. A few years after that, she became pregnant, which ended causing me an identity crisis, because I could never see myself as a father. He was a bit of a crybaby at first, but I tried to toughen him up, so he wouldn’t have to go through what I did, so that he could be comfortable with himself. For a while, I thought that had worked, but eventually, I realised that I hadn’t made him tough, I’d made him brittle. I realised that I was no better than my father, and tried to exile myself back to Kalos. There, I realised that I’d never been happy with any part of myself, and over time, became Grace Smith, and with my newfound identity, I could enjoy Ryhorn racing as myself, rather than as Grant. I’ve been terrified of talking to my wife and son. Over time, I managed to reconnect with Mary, but I thought I could use this as an opportunity to reconnect with Victor, but I was too scared. Then, he’s barely been home, and I can’t even get him to tell me what happened. I’ve really failed him as a parent… Maybe he’s better off with just his mother…”
Wow… I had no idea she had all that in her past… what can I even say to that…
“I think you should tell him. At the very least, he deserves to know. And he said that the main reason he was here was to see you again.”
Besides, I think he might have more in common with her…
It’s a bit strange, trying to console a woman nearly three times my age, but honestly, I think I like her more than mom. She hasn’t scolded me for my sloppy appearance.
With each tear, a bit more of her makeup streaks off. She really does look a lot like Victor…
Actually, imagining Victor in her clothes, with her makeup on… he’s kinda… cute? Is that --- of me? No, no, he’s a boy. But what if he’s not? What does that make me? As hard as it is to accept the idea that men can become women, I can’t really see her as anything but a woman, so I don’t really have a choice.
“Now then. I spilled my guts. Tell me, what really happened on Saturday?”
“Well… I don’t remember all of it that clearly, because I spent so long training the day before, but after I woke up again, I met Victor outside Anistar city’s gym for a rematch, when we got a Holo-clip from Lysandre, saying he was going to destroy the world. Victor rushed ahead to their café, but I don’t know what happened there. By the time I arrived, he’d already left for Geosenge, where their weapon was. I got there right before he entered the base, so I went with him. We rushed past most of their guards, and Victor threw Lysandre through a window into their control room.”
“What do you mean, threw him through a window?”
“He had one of his Pokémon attack Lysandre, his Lucario, Lucas. I’m not sure how he survived, but he mentioned being prepared, so maybe Victor did something similar at the café. From there, Victor and I flew down to the control room, where their weapon was being powered by the two legendary Pokémon of Kalos. I used a masterball to catch one of them, and Victor caught the other. Then, Victor told me to leave, and to destroy the entrance if anyone tried to follow me. I think he wanted me to act as a ‘dead man’s switch’? I’m not really sure what happened from there, because I fled as soon as I saw the weapon fire, but after the blast, I found him dead-”
“DEAD?” She shouts at me.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have shouted, but what do you mean dead?”
“His heart had stopped beating, and his left leg was missing”
“so that’s where that scar comes from…” she whispers
“I begged Xerneas – one of the legendary Pokémon- to help, and it said that it could not fully revive him on its own, nor could it restart his heart. But I told it that didn’t matter, and to do it anyway. So from there, I did CPR for nearly twenty minutes, until he woke back up. I didn’t realise that his leg was back until he pointed it out. He told me… that Lysandre’s Gyarados had ripped it off.”
“I can’t believe that happened to him…”
“I told him to go back home, instead of returning to Anistar.”
“Thank you. He did. I tried to ask him what happened on Sunday morning, but he’s only gotten more evasive since I’ve seen him. But I have to ask… is any of this related to him fainting during the parade on Monday?”
“I think so. Xerneas said that he would only have a short grace period without other intervention, and I think Monday was the end of that grace period.”
“So that other Pokémon…”
“Was Yveltal, which I think revived him again. Well, since you already know everything else, there’s a third Pokémon, Zygarde. When we spoke alone in the hospital, Victor told me that there was another Pokémon in terminus cave, and asked me to catch it for him. I handed it over to him just before he left, thank goodness.”
“Oh, I can’t really believe how much has happened in his life just under my nose. Did he tell you why he was going to Unova?”
“He said he was investigating a disappearance, but it seemed pretty confidential.”
“I overheard him calling Mary – his mother, about whether it was a good idea. He’s looking for Hilbert Schwartz, the former champion of Unova. Apparently he was pretty invested in the Team Plasma incidents, but I wasn’t there at the time…”
“Well, thank you for the tea, Mrs. Smith, but I’ll be off now. And don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone, not even Victor.”
“Thank you. I’m glad my little blue has a friend like you to rely on.”
Little blue… it’s a cute nickname…
I had no idea, all this time, that she had a wife and son, even after two years living that close to each other…
She has a wife… She has a wife. The easiest path for a woman is to marry a wealthy man, and live a glamorous life free of worry, but also free of choice. Mom and Dad have always acted more like business partners than lovers, but Grace… she cried over what she did to her family. Every time someone’s talked about marriage, I just imagine walking over to the least slimy billionaire’s son, with a mixture of fear and shame and hatred, and praying someone will object so I don’t have to live out the rest of my life as a moving trophy. A wife though, someone who sees me as an equal and not a piece of meat, crying tears of joy as I approach… it’s enough to make me cry, because it’ll never happen. Marriage is between a man and a woman, and one random accident can’t change that.