What's So Great About Second Love Anyways? {Pokemon Romance}

Chapter 11 Black - Do I Have The Best Or The Worst Luck?

"F-Flora?! Is that--? No, it can't be."

Elron stepped back, his face going pale. The ghost of his past had gained a corporeal form and was standing in front of him, looking right at him.

The girl in the red hat nodded. "It is me, Elron." She bit her lip. Something was still driving into her soul and weighing her down.

It didn't take but a second for Ira to realize what was going on. She went quiet, unable to do anything but watch.

"But... But... Flora's dead."

"Clearly not," she said looking down. She drew incoherent lines in the dirt with her shoe.

"B-but why? I watched you die! We couldn't find your body!"

She stopped scribbling in the dirt and looked up, both terror and confidence in her eyes. "Listen, Elron, there's a lot I haven't told you about me."

Confused tears started building up in Elron's eyes. He was breaking. "What? Like how you're still alive but never told anyone or something?!" Every breath that she took, every word that she said made him shake and rattle even more. He had lived in a reality all this time, but apparently his reality wasn't the real one, but was merely a facade.

"Yeah, like that." She looked away from him again, then rubbed her arm as if she was cold. "And about the me I couldn't tell you about before our journey."

He ran. It was most certainly Flora, but it couldn't possibly be. He ran and ran into the trees' cover. He ran until he got himself winded, then he sat up against a tree. The moonlight cascaded through the leaves, casting a bright darkness into his eyes. What does this mean?!

Flora and Ira stood opposite each other.

Ira clenched her fists then confronted the other girl. "What did you do to Elron?! What did he do to deserve this?" she screamed at her.

The other girl diverted her eyes, avoiding conflict. "That's a question I've been asking myself for two years now."

Ira was at a standstill. She didn't know what to do. She felt like she had to do something on Elron's behalf, but at the same time felt that she would be overstepping boundaries if she did. Without any further words, she stormed after the general direction that he took.

Flora looked sorrowfully up at the moon. "There really isn't any winning for me, is there? Neither in love nor war."

-----

Elron's eyes glazed over. What am I even supposed to make out of this? There's far too much to even think about right now.

His mind wandered and spun off on tangents, ran through endless loops and jumped from one idea to another.

Is this supposed to be a good or bad thing? I can't seem to even decide on that.

"Elron? Elron?!" called out a faraway voice into the darkness.

Oh, looks like someone's calling for me. Yet, he did nothing about it. He sat as a lifeless husk against the ragged bark of the tree.

"Elron?!" called the voice again. It was getting slowly closer and could now be made out to be Ira's.

Seeing as how his trainer was doing nothing, Aaron the Aggron let himself out his pokeball.

"Get back in your pokeball, Aaron. This isn't the time for your antics."

He saw his trainer's eyes. The steel clad pokemon didn't know what could be done about his state, but felt that doing nothing would only allow Elron to fall deeper into despair. He started walking away and towards the voice.

"Get back here," Elron pleaded softly.

The heavy footsteps of the pokemon kept at their rhythmic pace.

"I said, get back here!" Elron leapt out at Aaron's tail and grabbed onto it. On the ground, he tried to pull back on it and hold him in place.

Aaron kept on pressing on without looking back, and in turn dragged his trainer across the dirt.

"Stop I tell you! Obey!" Elron took one hand off and balled it into a fist, then let it come crashing down and Aaron's softer tail.

Aaron grunted in pain, then with his foot kicked Elron in the face just hard enough to pry him off.

The kick made his head spin, and he felt his consciousness fading. Why must this happen after I made myself move on? It's like the world is laughing at my resolve.

His vision faded to black.

-----

When he came to the moon was in at a slight but noticeably different angle in the sky. He was facing up at the sky, and he could feel his head resting on something warm and soft.

Ira leaned forward, letting her head obstruct his view of the night sky. She looked sadly at his eyes. "I know better than to ask if you're okay."

He realized that he had his head on her lap, and he squirmed a little, but not much as he felt uncomfortable when he did. His head was still spinning, though not as much as before.

"Don't hurt yourself! You look ill."

Aaron looked guiltily away from both of them.

She sighed. "Elron, tell me the truth." She choked up a little. She was clinging helplessly to the idea that what she had created with Elron wouldn't quickly unravel. "Are you happy right now? As things are?"

He blinked slowly. "For various reasons, no."

"Then why don't you try and hear her out?" As much as she didn't want to admit it, she saw the pain in Flora's eyes, and at least had to give her that much. However, it didn't come without a tug at her heart.

"You're okay with that? Even after all that happened earlier today?"

"I think it's going to have to happen regardless of what I want, for better or worse."

He closed his eyes. "I suppose you're right."

She grabbed his hands carefully, worrying about breaking the fragile man who owned them. "Let's go then."

"Yeah."

Carefully, Ira helped him up onto his feet. She held onto his hand, but when he had regained balance he let go, then started walking on his own.

She felt as if the lost hand was the start of losing much more, even after losing so much. There's no way that he'll go back to her, right?