[attr="class","skullbody"]Yes.
Cillian Quinn. A man who cared not just for Rocket, but for Rockets. A man who swallowed his pride and accepted the League's gifts, even as he tore their symbols down as promised. A man who refused to let himself be blinded by loyalty, even if ultimately he, too, was pulled along on the choke chain of command.[break][break]
Maybe if he had been in charge, things could've played out differently.[break][break]
But now wasn't the time for what ifs. Not that kind of what if, at least. No, there was only one possibility Isaac needed to face, and it was in the ball he clutched so closely to his chest. A part of him never wanted to open it. So long as he did, he could just keep hiding from the worst case. She'd be in some quantum state of okay and not okay, just one Pokemon Center trip away from being back on her feet.[break][break]
It was a hell he could never condemn her to. Instead, with a heavy sigh, he rolled her ball onto the ashen grass. As the release lit up Mt. Pyre, he flinched away, squeezing his eyes shut to avoid the sudden brightness. And then they remained shut so he could avoid what came next.[break][break]
One breath. Two breaths. Three breaths. And when he opened his eyes, all was still.[break][break]
So he had been too late after all. Isaac's gut sank, compressing itself into a shriveled, withered husk. In small, shuddering footsteps, he stumbled towards his fallen Aggron, taking in what had happened for the first time. Her eyes were eased shut. A slight smile spread across her face. Her plating was as shiny and strong as ever. Seeing her like this, it was almost so easy to forget what had happened. The messy tear in her chest, lined with cooled magma, was the only sign that she hadn't just been sleeping.[break][break]
Isaac remembered his youth. With her watchful eye, impenetrable body, and surprisingly gentle demeanor, she had always been somewhat of a guardian for him and his little brother. Whenever one of the two had gotten a little too curious or rambunctious for their own good, she had always been there to pull them out of the fire.[break][break]
Even on that ill-fated day, when his brother convinced him to sneak out so they could catch their own Pokemon. Even when the rest of his family went from shunning him to loathing him, Kiryu didn't blame him for a moment.[break][break]
He remembered the day he ran away. There was so much rain that it seemed the sky itself had been torn asunder, and in the face of the stormclouds the moonlight had been swallowed whole. Isaac didn't care. He just needed to get away. He just needed to be anywhere but here. He went to reach for Kiryu's Pokeball, not realizing that she had been standing guard the whole time. And he was delighted to see her walk up to him, her eyes meeting his as if asking where they were going.[break][break]
He remembered the four years of roaming everywhere, from Lilycove to Rustboro, from Slateport to Fallarbor. Through good times and bad times, through peace and danger, through successes and failures, she was always there to back Isaac and his team up on their journeys. Joys were doubled when they could share in them together. Burdens were halved when she could help carry them.[break][break]
He thought of all the people and the Pokemon that they had met together. How he went from a loner to surrounded by people that adored him, and that he adored. How his team went from them and two cheerful little weaklings to a gallery of world-beaters and powerhouses fifty strong. How none of that would have been possible if she hadn't gotten him through those first shaky steps.[break][break]
He remembered the ruins where he found her Mega Stone, the memories passed down by its steward. He remembered its final message; "love her, as I once did," and for a brief moment he wondered if reincarnation was real. He remembered how their story ended, and wondered if he should have been the one to die, and she should have been the one to stand. Had she rewritten the end on purpose?[break][break]
And then he remembered how that Mega Stone proved her undoing, a transformation born of love and trust and a desperate plea for power that had gone off in just the wrong place at just the wrong time. Isaac wanted to blame himself. He was the one wearing the wristband in the first place. But . . . he never tried to empower her, now did he?[break][break]
To think, even until her final moments, her love and her will were so strong.[break][break]
Isaac didn't know when his team had been released. Aubrey, wearily looking around for the next battle only to realize that, for once, she wasn't in any danger. Sanford, its ominous hovering stilling as it realized the gravity of the situation it beheld. Knuckles, the Lucario torn between putting a hand on her devastated trainer's shoulder and giving him all of the space and time he needed. Duster, kneeling before Kiryu and gently resting his helm against her own. Even Toto, too worn to even battle anymore, forced an eye open to see what was going on.[break][break]
Isaac didn't know when he had fallen to his knees, crumpled on top of Kiryu like a balloon that had run out of air. He didn't know when he started crying, screams of anguish melting into shuddering sobs and back again. He didn't know when he hooked his arm underneath his face, as if terrified of sullying her corpse with his tears and his blood.
"I'm sorry," he said, voice so choked he had to fight to get the words out.
"I love you."[break][break]
Did he realize what that gentle pressure on his shoulder was?[break][break]
Maybe he couldn't see from where he sat. But Ash may have noticed an arm weakly draping around Isaac's shoulders. He may have even noticed the contended smile on her face growing just a hair bigger. And then, for the truly final time, all was still on Mt. Pyre.[break][break]
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