Repairing Broken Bonds (Collab with Ray Chiu)

Chapter 15: Ketchum and Traitor Insanity.

"Okay, so hopefully our...spy, doesn't convert over now." Mark muttered, "I'm sure she'll be fine, but yeesh."

"She normally doesn't like these kinds of meetings, it makes her reminded of Team Rocket." Insey pointed out, "She probably is wanting to kill two birds with one stone, getting out of this conversation and trying to get evidence."

"That sounds like Minami, alright.."Golly sighed with a bit of a chuckle, "Anyways, since she's doing that, we should also focus on providing evidence as well."

"Yeah, exactly!" Trenor agreed with her, as they look around, wondering where the other traitors are, unaware of these angry yellow eyes staring at them from inside the bush, as the eyes slowly turn into a bright orange.

"They're so like themselves from my world, but very different in a way." This glitch-distorted voice muttered, as the eyes soon turn yellow again and ease up the stare, "No matter, maybe they can still help, but I can't reveal myself yet, not now. Just have to keep waiting."

Back with Minami, she led the girls to this station for the RPA company's clothing district, with a lot of Sevestar related souvenir clothes.

"Well, here's the major clothing shop at the stadium," Minami stated, "I hope you find something you're looking for!"

"Thank you so much, Ma'am!" Misty exclaimed, as the others started to look around, but Misty seemed a bit conflicted, "Hey, do you think we can talk for a minute, Minami?"

Minami tensed up a bit, but sighed, figuring she could at least hear her out, "Alright then, what seems to be the matter, Misty?"

"See, around 15 years ago, I ended up doing something I kind of regret," Misty sighed, "I ended up betraying a friend of mine because now-Professor Tracey, Mallow, and Lana ended up convincing me he needed to give up his dream."

"Oh, that sounds pretty mean." Minami winced a bit from that, knowing immediately what Misty was referring to.

"I know, it was kind of messed up." Misty sighed, sitting down on a bench, "He was the kind of friend that would always hear you out, I normally agreed that he was a key element in a world ending threat happening in Kalos, which is why I was worried about him traveling the world in hopes of becoming a Pokémon Master. But overtime, I started to regret everything, I had to betray my own morals to keep my old friend Brock and his friend Dawn in check, and was even considering taking the best care I could of my friend's Pokémon if this ended up going through since I still had respect for him. I was a pretty massive jerk to him in the past though, so I doubt they would've liked it at first. That still doesn't excuse my actions, and there have been times where I feel like his dead spirit has haunted me.."

"Hey, don't be like that, what's your old friend's name?" Minami questioned, and Misty whispered the name "Ash" to her, as Minami nodded.

"He was a nice guy, but I feel like I broke his spirit beyond repair..." Misty started to struggle to hold back tears as Minami gave her a hug, "Huh? Ma'am?"

"While I don't agree with betraying his trust like that, now, if he truly was your friend, I'm sure he would've understand you'd regret it, right?" Minami stated, as Misty sighed and looked at the floor.

"Yeah, but it's not just that," Misty sniffled, "I even helped in hurting the one person that was the most loyal to Ash, I'm such a pathetic excuse for a friend and Gym Leader, aren't I?" Minami felt sympathy for Misty as the sibling patted her on the shoulder.

"You're not the only one who's committed terrible acts, Misty." Minami stated, confusing Misty, "I got kidnapped as a child by Team Rocket, they forced me to commit so many terrible acts to the point it caused me to become bitter, look down on others that hurt my family, even on accident. One of my brothers has an Eevee who I said horrible things about that I regret, she was extremely weak back then, not even able to use moves properly."

"That's..not as bad as what I've done, but still pretty harsh." Misty sighed, "What happened with the Eevee?"

"We tried to fix things since she didn't hold a grudge, if your friend, Ash, really is as sweet as you say, I'm sure he'd never hold a grudge as long as you regret it and never would do it again." Minami explained, as Misty nodded while she continued, "Your friend might no longer be here, but I don't think his ghost would haunt you for messing up like that. I may not be a therapist, but if you need someone to talk to, I'll be around the stadium when not battling, so you know where to find me."

"Thank you, Minami, you know, you remind me a lot of my friend too." Misty sighed, "I wish I could explain how much gratitude I have for you willing to talk to me."

"No problem, now, you go buy some things as souvenirs." Minami chuckled as Misty nodded and got off the bench and walked away, while Minami walked back to her siblings.

Back with the others, they had split up for now, and Mark was walking while lost in thought, so he decided to take a break at a bench, and decided to scroll through his phone, and that's when he noticed this shadow form over his body, he looked to see what was causing it, and saw this glitchy purple figure with glowing yellow eyes.

"Uhhh, hello?" Mark hesitantly greeted the figure, as two more figures of a Pikachu and Vulpix got onto the shoulders of the human-like being.

"Hello...Mark Ketchum..." The figure muttered in a distorted voice, catching Mark off guard, but before he could get up to get ready to fight, the figure shook its head, "Don't be like that, I'm not here to attack you, I just...want...to talk..." Mark was made more nervous from how the main figure said "to talk" in a darker tone, but decided to stand up to stare at the figures at eye level.

"Alright, let's talk then..." Mark sighed, as he and the main figured locked glaring eyes at each other...

To be continued...