Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ The Forgotten Son ❯ Strength ( Chapter 15 )

Young Griffe Merluzzi was in a dilemma. His father had returned home that night, and he was offering Luke—Griffe's older brother, a position in Team Rocket. Luke outright refused, knowing already the terrible actions of Team Rocket against pokemon, whom he dearly loved. This offer tore apart the Merluzzi family in an instant; husband and wife were arguing, threats were made, things were said that everybody would regret forever. And Griffe, very troubled with what he was seeing, snuck up to Luke's bedroom, snatched Luke's only pokeball, the one that he had obtained only earlier that day, and fled the house.

 

He didn't go far. But it didn't take long for everybody to notice that he had run off with Luke's pokemon, and not much longer after that Luke ran away, too, frustrated and depressed. Griffe, lost in the night, began to grow very scared and hesitantly made his way back home, hoping that maybe things had settled. He approached just in time to see his father leave the house in a fury out the front door, wearing his Team Rocket uniform.

 

His curiosity invoked, Griffe followed his father silently across town, all the way to a run-down old drugstore. His father approached the drugstore, looked around shadily, then entered. Griffe waited a moment and then he, too, entered.

 

His father had been waiting. Griffe entered only to come face to face with his father, who stared at the boy with icy, evil eyes. Griffe stumbled back, backing into the wooden door. The drugstore was very dimly lit; a single light bulb on the ceiling was all that revealed disheveled shelves with various goods spilled on the wooden floor. “What are you doing?” his father demanded with a booming voice.

 

Griffe could only gape back in total fear. To him, his own father was the most intimidating figure in the world; Griffe's mother would often recount horror stories of the crimes he'd committed and the horrific experiments of Team Rocket on helpless pokemon. Seeing that no answer was going to come, Mr. Merluzzi frowned as he reached for a pokeball on his belt.

 

“You and your brother are total embarrassments.” He said harshly. “Your weak, worthless brother, the coward he is, will probably never see us again as long as he lives. I thought at least you would have the courage to stay alive for a few years and then come back, prepared to kill me. But you came crawling back for help not even an hour later.”

 

Griffe was pale with fright. His father, clearly, was insane.

 

“You think that love and friendship conquer all? Ha! I don't understand what it is that makes people believe such hopeless things as that. How could I have let my own children be so brainwashed?”

 

A gray, rocky rhino-like pokemon appeared beside him, forming from a ball of light after being released from its pokeball.

 

“Let me and my rhyhorn show you how foolish you're being. Perhaps that will teach you better than any words.”

 

Griffe was still frozen in fear, hardly taking in anything his father spouted at him.

 

“Rhyhorn, attack!”

 

Rhyhorn didn't hesitate for even an instant. It charged at Griffe, its heavy footsteps crushing the wood floor beneath it. Griffe yelped, leaping aside and calling out his brother's pokemon to defend him. A yellow-and blue anteater-looking pokemon appeared beside Griffe as he tumbled onto the floor. It chirped, confused, as it watched the rocky rhino smash right into a wall, almost shattering it.

 

“Ah—ah—em—ember!” Griffe stuttered, pointing shakily at rhyhorn. Cyndaquil tilted its head, puzzled by this young boy it didn't recognize.

 

Rhyhorn slowly turned to face Griffe, then charged again. Cyndaquil, suddenly realizing the boy was under attack, bravely stepped forward, its back erupting with fire in an attempt to intimidate its foe.

 

Rhyhorn continued charging, plunging the horn on its nose right into cyndaquil and then flinging it helplessly away, the young quill pokemon smashing into a shelf and then dropping down onto the ground. It appeared to be in a great deal of pain. “Cyndaquil!” Griffe cried out.

 

“In a way, you love that pokemon, don't you?” Griffe's father said. “You want to protect it. Its life is more precious to you than even your own. And you think that makes you stronger than anybody. But watch, now. I show no compassion to my pokemon, no caring, and I push them to their limit constantly. But still I am far more powerful than you.”

 

Cyndaquil weakly rolled onto its feet, belching out a plume of flame that harmlessly wafted over rhyhorn, who then charged again, this time raising itself on its two back legs and then stomping down on the helpless cyndaquil. It squealed under rhyhorn's heavy legs, flailing about but failing to accomplish anything. Rhyhorn raised itself and stomped down again, putting down even more weight, and this time the small fire pokemon stopped making noise. It froze with its arms outstretched and eyes wide in pain briefly before it went completely limp.

 

The air was still. Griffe could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he watched, wide-eyed, the rhyhorn slowly step off of the cyndaquil and poke it curiously with its horn. It remained limp and lifeless.

 

“It's dead.” Griffe's father remarked casually. “I was so overpowering that I killed it, and your will to protect and care for it didn't help it at all. Don't you see? Strength doesn't come from love, strength comes from strength. Nothing anybody does can ever change that.”

 

Griffe breathed heavily, looking back and forth from the perished cyndaquil to his father and back again. With a roar of confusion and sadness he got onto his feet, running at his father and swinging wildly at his legs, his face red and eyes streaming with tears.

 

“Why?!” he shrieked. “Why are you so… bad?!”

 

“I only want to help you.” He said reassuringly, “Before you end up wasting your life pursuing something that doesn't exist. And maybe now you think I'm `bad,' but someday you'll be thankful that I was so blunt, so clear in my message.”

 

Griffe looked up into the eyes of his father, heaving with breath before he turned and ran away. He pushed the door open and ran out into the night and kept on running, running, and running without stop. He spent the next years in hiding; going from one family to the next, never staying one place too long. He dyed his hair red and he trained pokemon, living so that someday he could destroy team rocket and then take revenge on his father. He often stayed with families tied to rocket, and when his father was promoted and took the alias of “Giovanni” Griffe knew right away. And when he disappeared in Kanto, Griffe knew about that, too.

 

* * *

 

Five years later, Griffe stood in the Goldenrod underground, face to face with his long lost brother, Luke. Faced with his brother, Griffe realized how twisted he'd been, the awful things he'd been saying. He was ashamed of his performance, regretting everything he'd been telling his own brother.

 

Luke looked at his brother with icy, evil eyes. Always, ever since Griffe had been born, Luke had suddenly become the weaker, timid one. His father had never loved them equally, always assuring Luke that he was too feeble compared to his brave, bold younger brother. Even Griffe had been reminding Luke of this constantly in the last few months since they found each other again, even though he didn't know it was his own brother he was talking to. And even now, after Luke had come so far, nobody could see him for what he had become. Luke was tired of being the weak one!

 

“Kenshin! Attack!”

 

Kenshin looked back at him, confused.

 

“Attack, I said!”

 

Kenshin turned to face Griffe, pausing for a brief moment then launching at him with all his speed.

 

“What are you doing?!” Griffe cried out as he leapt aside, narrowly avoiding Kenshin's leaf blade.

 

“I'm stronger than you! You always told me I was weak, and dad always thought that I was more worthless than you, but I'm not! You should be the forgotten son, not me!”

 

Kenshin ran at Griffe again, but this time sneasel dove into his path, meeting his leaf blade with an icy claw. Kenshin struck with his other leaf blade, but that, too, was caught in sneasel's claws. With a sneer, he threw Kenshin back with a blast of ice from his hands, the two blades becoming encased in ice.

 

“My God, listen to yourself!” Griffe yelled out. “You're being stupid! Don't just blindly vent your frustrations on me!”

 

“…You still think I'm weak.” Luke said. “Why can't you see how powerful I am now? Kenshin—charge!”

 

Kenshin smashed his two blades onto the ground, the ice shattering, before he charged at sneasel. The black weasel-like pokemon faded from view, using the faint attack technique. Kenshin stopped over where sneasel used to be, pausing for a brief moment and waiting for his opponent to re-appear, holding his leaf blades straight forward.

 

Sneasel appeared behind him, but he'd seen it coming, having purposefully left his back wide open. He quickly spun and struck with both blades simultaneously before sneasel could act, sending it flying back and onto the ground.

 

“What are you even talking about?” Griffe yelled. “This is no time to… to prove some point! Why are you doing this?”

 

“Stop… talking down to me! Kenshin, show him your hidden power!”

 

Kenshin erupted with blue and yellow flame, his hidden power of dragon released. It charged at sneasel again with yellow glowing eyes, leaving a trail of fire behind it and striking with even more speed and power. The ice-type pokemon dove out of the way but Kenshin turned after it and hit it again, sending it flying back.

 

“I can see you're not to be reasoned with right now.” Griffe said, looking at his brother warily. “Fine. Like dad said; maybe I should just show you how foolish you're being, because perhaps that will teach you better than any words. Sneasel- ice shard!”

 

Sneasel swung its arm speedily, sending out a flurry of sharp ice shards that struck at Kenshin with impossible speed, the green lizard stumbling back. It caught itself, however, and charged straight at sneasel with an enraged glare in its glowing eyes. Sneasel charged at it, too, but faded out of sight just before meeting it, buying some more time with another faint attack. Kenshin spun quickly, releasing a shockwave of dragon fire in all directions, which struck sneasel dead-on and pulled it back into view just as Kenshin's aura of flame died out, leaving it tired—and taking with it his two leaf blades, as they burned away along with his fire.

 

“Sneasel, strike quickly—another ice shard attack!”

 

Sneasel leapt to his feet again, releasing another unbelievably fast flurry of ice projectiles, this time knocking the defenseless Kenshin onto his back. Sneasel charged in after the attack, preparing to deliver a slash attack on Kenshin, but the wood gecko pokemon rolled quickly out of the way and sneasel's claws instead struck the white tile floor, getting caught in it.

 

Kenshin was happy to help sneasel out of its predicament, getting on its feet and swinging its arm in a wide arc, striking the sharp claw pokemon in the stomach with the sharp leaves along its wrist. The edges of sneasel's claw snapped right off with a shriek of pain as it was slammed into the air, again falling on its back a couple yards away; this time, it didn't get up.

 

“I can't believe you're actually doing this.” Griffe said, solemnly. “What's gotten into you, Luke? Does it have to be like this?”

 

“Shut up and call out your next pokemon.”

 

Griffe gritted his teeth in frustration as he substituted his fallen sneasel with the phantom pokemon, haunter. It was shadowy and ghost-like, a pair of hands floating, detached, near it. Luke responded by replacing Kenshin on the field with Woop, the small blue water pokemon. It stepped forward to face haunter with a somber expression; Luke's condition depressed it, but it still felt the need to obey him loyally just as he always had.

 

“Haunter—shadow punch!”

 

Haunter soared forward, shoving forward a fist that emanated with a dark energy, not looking unlike a dark comet. Woop counter-attacked by blasting a shot of water at it, but just as the water gun attack was about to make contact, haunter disappeared and then reappeared instantaneously right in front of Woop, this time sending it flying back with a dark-powered punch.

 

“Shadow punch is meant as a reactionary attack; it only lands if the opponent attacks, but it lands first.” Griffe said with a sneer. “You think you're so powerful, but you're still not as good as me when it comes down to it.”

 

“I was wondering when you'd finally resort back to your trash talk.” Luke laughed. “This is much more like it. I want you to try so when I beat you it's that much more sweet!”

 

“You've gone insane.” Griffe said.

 

“Woop—yawn!”

 

Woop opened his mouth nice and wide, letting loose a massive yawn that was soon mirrored by haunter. Yawn was a technique that would cause its opponent to sleep—but it took some time to work.

 

“You didn't have anything to say when I told you you're insane. Is that because I'm right? Use hypnosis, haunter!”

 

Haunter, still drowsy from the yawn, released rings of ghostly energy from its hands that swept over Woop, slowly putting it to sleep. It tried to hop out of the way but already it was getting too drowsy to move. Both pokemon suddenly dropped to the ground, asleep, at the same time.

 

“While our pokemon sleep we'll have more time to talk, hm?” Griffe said.

 

“I have nothing more to say to you.” Luke said sharply. “Focus on the battle!”

 

“Don't do this, Luke. You're being childish now.”

 

“Childish… childish is exactly what I'm NOT being right now!”

 

It was at that moment that haunter suddenly rose from the ground, awakening. “Haunter… use nightmare!”

 

The phantom pokemon floated forward, circling around the sleeping Woop as it imbued it with dark energy. Woopt began tossing and turning, moaning in pain and fear as dark energy sapped at its health and invaded its slumber.

 

“Nuh… No! Woop! Wake up!”

 

“Now, dream eater!”

 

Haunter closed in on Woop, scooping up the small blue pokemon with its detached hands and sucking out the pokemon's energy directly as it still was tormented by the nightmare attack. It laughed devilishly, feeding on Woop's dreams and torturing it further. It stayed there, sucking out the life from Woop, until finally haunter tossed it aside. It had fainted.

 

“Don't see that fighting is pointless?” Griffe pleaded, pulling haunter back into his pokeball.

 

Luke stumbled forward, lifting his fainted Woop off the ground and cradling it in his arms.

 

“You're sorry for it?” Griffe asked. “How can you tell me you're so powerful and untouchable and then go and do something like that?”

 

“Until you're out of pokemon, this battle is not over.” Luke growled. “So stop talking and send out your next pokemon!”

 

“This is my last pokemon, actually.” Griffe said, snapping his third and final pokeball off his belt.

 

“Mine, too.”

 

Gyarados slid forward. It had been cramped in the tunnels, but the space in which Luke and Griffe were battling left it plenty of room to stand at full height. Griffe tossed his pokeball into the fray, and out from it came an enormous blue bipedal alligator pokemon: Feraligatr. The two large water pokemon sized each other up warily. Gyarados roared ferociously and his opponent roared back, opening its mouth wide to reveal a set of razor-sharp teeth.

 

Luke stood, emotionless as ever, but in his head he began to waver. He couldn't help but feel Griffe was right. Could he really just cast away all his weakness? How long could he keep up this charade, let himself believe that he really had cast aside his emotions and become all-powerful?

 

“Feraligatr, agility!”

 

Feraligatr vibrated rapidly, his overall speed greatly increasing as he boosted the muscles in his legs. Luke didn't have time to ponder or regret now; at this moment was the time to act.

 

“Gyarados, match him. Dragon dance!”

 

Gyarados twisted wildly in the air, blue and yellow fire emanating from it just as with Kenshin's hidden power. It quickly dispersed, leaving only a light glow, but the technique had increased gyarados' speed and power.

 

“Interesting.” Griffe remarked. “So you're still serious. Fine, then… let's settle it. Feraligatr, crunch attack!”

 

“Gyarados, bite!”

 

And so it began. The blue alligator pokemon rushed forward with surprising speed after its agility boost, but still with its monstrous strength. Gyarados charged at it, too, and the two met in the center of the room. Gyarados quickly wrapped itself around Feraligatr, biting it from behind, but its opponent was satisfied grabbing it and crunching down on its back using its enormous teeth and mighty jaw. Both held their position, neither yielding to the other's biting attack, waiting for the other to pull back in pain.

 

“Send it back with aqua tail!” Luke shouted.

 

“Feraligatr, hit him with your own aqua tail!”

 

Both pokemon twisted around each other madly, swinging all their weight into their tails and bashing the other; both were pushed back by the other's attack, but neither was even close to going down yet.

 

“Thrash, feraligatr!”

 

“Keep him back with dragon rage!”

 

Feraligatr bellowed, then charged again, swinging wildly. Gyarados drifted back, unleashing a column of flame from its mouth and hitting feraligatr dead on; he fought against the fire briefly before rolling to the side, allowing the attack to soar past him before he charged again on all fours, slamming into gyarados and knocking it back.

 

“Gyarados, thrash right back!”

 

Gyarados roared back at the blue alligator, rushing forward to meet him. The two went wild at each other, slamming and biting and thrashing at each other until they both finally dropped back from exhaustion, heavily wounded. “Feraligatr, don't let him get away so easily! Hydro pump!”

 

Feraligatr, a bit dizzy, summoned the strength to release a blast of water at gyarados, who was pushed back by it, undefended and caught by surprise. “Gyarados, counterattack with twister!”

 

Gyarados took a moment to recover before he began twisting wildly in the air like he had when using dragon dance, but this time the dragon fire he spewed began to gather and then began drifting toward feraligatr, a spinning tornado of blue fire. Feraligatr watched it approaching, but was too powerless to retaliate after overexerting himself. “Come on, feraligatr… get out of the way!” Griffe commanded, but to no avail.

 

The twister swept over feraligatr, barraging him with dragon fire and causing him to drop down onto his knees in pain. “Alright, gyarados, now hit him some more with a hydro pump!”

 

Gyarados, too, was starting to show signs of slowing down. His preparation for the attack was longer than usual, and by the time he finally released a blast of water feraligatr was back on its feet and managed to roll out of the way, narrowly avoiding the attack which instead splashed loudly onto the ground.

 

“Come on now feraligatr, close in with a slash attack!”

 

The large-mouthed pokemon stumbled forward, not nearly as energetic as before, slashing at gyarados, who swerved out of the way and then struck back with its tail as it fled, pushing back feraligatr.

 

“Fine, then… feraligatr, use your superpower attack!”

 

“Gyarados, don't let him beat us! Attack with hyper beam!”

 

Feraligatr began with a mumbling groan that grew into a monstrous roar; it surged with energy, rushing at gyarados with power it didn't have before. Gyarados opened its mouth wide and let loose a screaming beam of orange energy. Feraligatr did nothing to avoid it this time, instead building up speed and charging right into it with all his might.

 

It hit with a humongous explosion, but feraligatr defended itself by expending all of the energy it gained from superpower, leaving it heavily weakened but physically undamaged. Gyarados, too, was heavily weakened, having used a lot of energy to use hyper beam. The two pokemon blinked at each other weakly, willing themselves to move forward but not having the energy to do so.

 

“Dammit gyarados! Get him! Attack!”

 

“Feraligatr! Don't let me down! Take him out!”

 

The two pokemon grimaced, staring at each other but not finding the enrgy to move. It was a battle of determination.

 

Feraligatr let loose another roar, shaking the room with its power. Gyarados roared back again, fighting to summon enough energy for another attack. The two stood, roaring mindlessly at each other, and slowly both began t trudge forward again. Roaring and roaring, they dragged themselves forward more and more, building up speed, unyielding to the other until they were both rushing forward at full speed.

 

The roaring ceased as soon as they collided, head to head, with a loud thud. Both trainers leaned closer to see who would remain standing.

 

Seconds passed by like minutes. Griffe felt a drop of sweat trickle down the side of his head. “Come on, feraligatr! Don't fall now!”

 

Suddenly there was a weak moan. Neither trainer could tell who it was from, but they knew soon enough; the consciousness suddenly slipped away from the mighty crocodile feraligatr, and with a mighty, climactic thump he fell to the ground belly down. Gyarados remained standing, looming over it victoriously.

 

Griffe stood in amazement, mouth gaping open. He really had lost to Luke. Luke allowed himself an instant, and only an instant of celebration before his face locked back to cool emotionless.

 

“So I won after all.” He said, folding his arms. “Don't you see now that I'm much more powerful than you? Hm?”

 

Griffe couldn't find the words to speak. He looked down, horrified, at his fainted feraligatr.

 

“I said,” Luke repeated, “Don't you finally see that you're the worthless one? I've always been stronger than you. Always. Now, finally, you can see that. Right?”

 

Griffe looked up at Luke, speechless. His mouth still hung slightly open and his normally cool, intimidating face was lost in confusion and sadness. As Luke stood there with his sharp, dark eyes and black clothes and confident expression, he looked remarkably like his father.

 

“Answer me!” He yelled, his voice booming. “Admit how powerful I am!”

 

“You… you've become a monster.” Griffe said, his voice quivering.

 

Luke's arms unfolded, his mouth drooping open momentarily. “You still… you're still talking down to me!” He yelled sharply. “Gyarados, finish off feraligatr!”

 

Griffe gasped. “What?!”

 

Before he could do anything, gyarados slammed down onto his opponent, crushing him under the sea serpent's enormous weight. He lifted himself one more time, striking down with all his power and might and crushing out the last breath of feraligatr with a loud, ominous crack.

 

“You… you killed feraligatr!” Griffe gasped, his face twisting into fear and bewilderment.

 

“Why can't you just recognize how much stronger I am!” Luke yelled.

 

“What's happened to you, Luke? Since when are you so power obsessed?!”

 

Luke frowned, his rage building. “No matter what I do, everybody still sees me as beneath them. Is it because I'm just not strong enough yet?”

 

He walked forward, holding Woop under one arm while gyarados carried Kenshin on his back. “No, that must be it. I need more power. Of course!” He walked past Griffe, who had dropped onto his knees and was crying into his hands.

 

“If it's more power I need, that's fine. I'll build my power. I'll become the strongest man on earth. I just need an army or followers, willing to obey me. I need something to lead.”

 

Miltank mooed hysterically after Luke. She alone still refused to accept what Luke was about to do. She stomped her foot, refusing to follow him. “Fine. Stay there, for all I care. You've been a useless waste of space to me from the start.” He said scathingly, then turned and continued to march on, leaving her behind wide-eyed and amazed.

 

He looked down the pitch black hallway that led beyond, down to where team rocket was holding the president of the radio tower. He knew of one organization that was headless, but full of members, seeking a powerful new leader. Luke began walking down the hallway, knowing that he alone was perfect for the job.