Pokemon: Destiny Evolved - The Complete First Chapter

Part 9

Gus and Hasani sit together on a rooftop, holding each other in silence as the crimson sky glistens, omnipotent around them. Hasani breathes in, her heart and mind enraptured as she turns to Gus, seeing him smile delicately. Without a seconds hesitation, her lips meet his, and then pull away diffidently.

Gus' face blends in with the sky behind it, as he feels his body start to shake vigorously. "You..."

Their lips had never touched before.

Hasani leans back, feeling the world around her weigh in on her very being as a smile naturally crawls her face. "It's been a long time... Since I've been this happy, Gus."

Gus finds himself lost for words, any sound possible stuck deep in his throat as he look at Hasani, the way her luscious black hair tosses in the breeze... The way her mouth moves, her voice tinged with her vibrant accent. The words bounce back and forth in his emptied mind, as he simply presses his lips to hers one more time, softly.

As he draws back, he feels the beating of his heart loud in his ear. He feels every inch of skin tingle with an insurmountable sensation. He feels a smile across his face that no matter how hard he tries, won't go away. "I don't think I've ever even been this happy before..."

Hasani smiles warmly, feeling her palms sweat as she looks at his cute freckled face, his short brunette hair. The way he looks at her, the way his body shakes. Somehow now, she feels closer to him than she's ever been with anyone before.

"Gus... I...." Each word following the last poses a harder challenge to get out. "I ran... Away...."

"What?" Gus is wide eyed, reaching out to hold Hasani's hand. He looks at her sincere, hazel eyes as they slowly tear up with empathy. Hasani looks away, swallowing hard as she bites her tongue, trying to ignore the wet sliding down the side of her face.

"I ran away from everything... My family... Johto... My home..." Her voice cracks, as she curls up into a ball,pushing her head against the top of her knees and releasing her hand from Gus'. "I'm just a failure... I'll always be a failure..."

Gus grabs her by the shoulder, and twists her body towards his, his look determined as his hand shakes incessantly. She turns her head away as Gus shouts; "HEY!"
Hasani looks directly at Gus, her face soaked as Gus stares down, trying to hide the tears developing in his eyes. His voice is faint; "Don't ever fucking tell yourself that. You're too good to let that get to you. To let the past sink in like that, okay!? Things are the way they are, and everything that's happened has left us to here... I..." His voice trails off, weak as he begins to sob. His head turns up, to look into her eyes. Through his tears he somehow manages to put a smile across his face. "And I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you, no matter what happens. And that's a promise, okay?" He holds her hand, as in slow motion his lips mouth the words...

"I love you...."

Hasani sniffles in deep, shaking all the tears off her face as she violently wraps her arms around Gus in a firm embrace. She cries into his shoulder, feeling his body against hers as he shakes, tears rolling down the side of his face. "And..." Gus' voice is more faint than ever as he says "you're gonna be okay..."

Hasani whispers softly, her voice weak from crying; "I love you too... And Gus? I promise... I'll always be here for you too. No matter what happens."

Lying on the roof, Hasani and Gus talk long into the night. Hasani tells George of her past, as a Kimono girl unable to get her Eevee to evolve. How useless she felt, how looked down upon she became as all of her sisters became more and more powerful. How she was supposed to be a child with a destiny to fulfill, a descendant of a lineage directly associated with the legendary Ho oh. And how no matter how hard she tried it seemed her destiny was a task she just couldn't live up to.

Gus stares up at the stars, lying on his back as he listens to her. As she finishes, he breathes in deeply, and then looks at her, eyes lit up like crystals by the glow of the moon.

"You're extraordinary, Hasani. I knew that from the moment I saw you. A destiny isn't a set thing, no matter what anyone might say or what any legend foretells. A destiny is something that evolves as time progresses, as the moon and stars remain constants in the sky we're always moving, always changing our fate. I guess what I'm trying to say is..." He trails off, looking at Hasani with deeply affectionate eyes. "A destiny is something you have to find for yourself. And I want to be there for you as you find it."

Hasani smiles, her teeth lighting up silver as her olive skin sparkles with an unprecedented brilliance. "And what's your destiny, then?"

"Right now?" Gus giggles, looking at her candidly. "I don't know.... But I like to think it has something to do with you." He kisses her hard this time, and smiles as he withdraws, grasping her hand tightly. "You're too beautiful for words..."

Hasani blushes hard. "Please..." She hugs Gus suddenly, kissing him one more time. "Gus... Let's make this future amazing..."

In that moment, a blaze of rainbow brilliance radiates from Hasani's body, and envelops the two in perfect harmony. Eevee's immediately brought out of it's Pokeball by some sort of mystical force, and the Pokemon's body transforms into every single one of it's forms before returning to it's original state.

"W-What... Was that?" Gus stares mouth agape in disbelief, his mind unable to process what had just happened.

"I..." Hasani stares blankly for several moments before collapsing on her knees.

"Are you okay!?" Gus jumps down, eyes meeting Hasani's as shivers run up and down his spine.

"I think so... Maybe, we'll just have to see what... What that was..." Hasani's eyes grow increasingly wild as she collapses on the floor, smiling with a rainbow still simmering down in her eyes....

"Is... Is she okay?" Gus' voice is strained and deranged as he looks at Hasani's body, limp on the bed.

"Gus, Hasani is..." the nurse swallows hard, trying not to get choked up as she looks at the body, lying there.

Gus holds a baby girl in his hands. His body is frozen in time and space, unable to feel, unable to comprehend. Unable to hear his baby crying. But he knows. It's the only thing that he knows.

Somehow, he's managed to choke out words;

"We named her Cecilia, like... Like Celestial, like... The sky... Her mother was... Named for the heavens, after Ho oh, a phoenix Pokemon that's... That's reborn in the ashes... But... I never... I never thought that I'd have to watch that very thing...

"Happen to my wife..."

Cecilia opens her eyes, and finds herself immediately gasping for air. In front of her, a Vaporeon bobs up and down on the water's surface, looking her way with eyes full of concern.

As Cecilia looks down, she sees that her body is... Glowing, a rainbow brilliance.

From somewhere in the clouds, she hears a voice whisper in the wind;

As I promised... I'll always be by your side.