Brothers to the End (Remake)

Original source: SuperSonic6299 on deviantART
You know how being a kid with a big imagination is often seen as a good thing? Some people say that it isn't, but most, including me consider it something that's nice to have. Now sure, if you think that inanimate objects are actually alive, you might have some bigger issues to deal with in your life, but most kids tend to do this and grow up to be fine. They would "talk" to their toys, give them personalities and try to make them feel like real people. Most parents would find this cute, but some take it as a sign that something is wrong with their child. You might be wondering why I'm telling you this. Well, I've had an experience like most of these children when I was younger.

Except, I don't think that it was my imagination.

You see, when I was in the 9th grade, I was heavily into Pokemon. I played the games, watched the anime, and had plenty of merchandise. The one thing I didn't have (surprisingly) was any plushes. That all changed over Christmas break when my family woke up and began unboxing presents.

That's when I saw it.

A Pikachu plushie, plus, to my utter shock, a copy of Pokemon Sun.

You have no idea how fast I ripped the plush out of it's packaging and, yes, hugged it. I was a Freshman in high school and I was hugging a plush toy like a 2nd grader. Laugh at me all you want, I really don't care. I still give it a squeeze every now and then today, as a senior about to go to college, but I digress. My happiness level went through the roof when I saw that game and the Pikachu.

As my Christmas Break came to an end, I had began to uncover a hidden talent of mine. I began to sketch and draw more, practicing like a mad artist. I was drawing simple things like a mountainous range to more complex things like portraits of some of my favorite video game characters. If you can tell, most of the time, I drew Pikachus. They were all doing various things like sitting around talking with other Pokemon to just looking out at the horizon.

However, there was a Pikachu that I had been making as a sort of persona. Now my imagination was what most would probably call expansive. Like many, I had made some original characters of my own, some being fan characters with origins from other games like Sonic and Kingdom Hearts and I drew them quite often. This Pikachu was meant to be another one of my OCs.

This one was special, however. I didn't really have a personality set up for it, but I did have it's physical appearance down. The Pikachu I had just drawn had a patch or tuft of hair over its left eye, hiding a scar. It wore red wristbands, as well as a silver chain around it's neck. I didn't have a name for my little yellow avatar, but I thought about it and then remembered that the chain it wore had a pendant.

A red X.

That was the deciding factor for me. I was going to name the Pikachu "X". It might not have made sense to most people, but for me, the name just felt right.

Then, one day, while I was starting up my run of Pokemon Sun, I ran around the grass for a bit and found a Pichu. There was absolutely no hesitation, I just threw out my first Poke Ball. Surprisingly, while it's just a Pichu, even though I didn't damage or do anything to the baby mouse, I caught it almost instantly. I already knew that I was going to name it X. Or I guess now I should say name him X.

Putting it nicely, I adored that bunch of polygons a bit more than I should have. I almost never let him faint, gave him a ton of Poke Beans and always petted his favorite spot in Poke Refresh. As a result, he became a Pikachu much faster than I expected, evolving at level 15.

It was at that moment that I felt all was right in the world. I had someone who would go through Hell and Highwater with me throughout my adventures in Alola. I definitely knew that all of my other Pokemon could and would do the same thing, but X was different. I knew that he would absolutely never leave my party, even if Pikachu wasn't very good in terms of the actual games.

I couldn't part with him. Even though I knew that I was getting attached to a bunch of data, a plush and a drawing, at this point, I felt like I had to. Even though it sounds stupid, X was practically like a brother to me.

I'm sorry if that little synopsis seemed all over the place and was a little quick. Anyway, I guess now I should tell you about when fiction and reality started to blur for me.

After defeating the Totem Mimikyu, I decided that I would train for quite a bit. At least until all of my Pokemon were in their 40s-50s. It might seem like overkill, but I really didn't care as long as I was ready. So, for the next 2 and a half hours. I continued to train up my Pokemon.

With most of my other Pokemon at their strongest for now, I headed back into the abandoned market to finish training X. Out pops a Golbat. I had X use Thunderbolt and he moved first. The Golbat was left with a sliver of health and then used Confuse Ray. Shrugging this off I had X use Brick Break. However, as he was confused, he hit himself. I decided to try Brick Break again, but he hit himself again. Then, the Golbat used Fly. This lead to X hitting himself one last time, before the Golbat came down and made him faint.

I couldn't tell you why, but this pissed me off for some reason. It was probably because of the confusion messing everything up, but I still felt like X had something to do with it. However, I convinced myself that it was just a fluke on the Golbat's part, even if it secretly annoyed me.

I gave X a revive and healed him up, heading back to training. I had encountered another Golbat. I used Thunderbolt and again the bat was left with a slice of health. It then used Fly. When it hit, X was at half health. I then had X use Brick Break, but he missed, somehow. Then, the Golbat used Confuse Ray.

"Great," I muttered under my breath.

Wanting to end this, I had X use Catastropika. It was overkill, but these Golbats were getting on my nerves. It went down and the battle ended. From that point, things got sloppy as I ran into more Golbats, a few Haunters, and even the occasional Mimikyu. Haunter and Mimikyu, I could deal with. But the Golbats just kept pushing my buttons by confusing X. I always ended the battle with them either at low health or with X fainted. After barely defeating one last Golbat, I decided that I was done for a while. My team sat comfortably at level 55, excluding X who was at level 45.

Over the next few days I played through Sun, I began to use X less and less, relying on my other Pokemon more. I didn't have anything against him, at least I thought I didn't. But, he just wasn't cut out for battling. And before you say, "Of course he isn't. He's a Pikachu," I really don't care about battling competitively. And so, he more or less became the team's mascot.

Soon, I had made my way to the Altar of the Sun and entered Ultra Space with Lillie, ready to face Lusamine one last time. I can't have been the only one who was at the very least disturbed when she had fused with Nihlego. The battle had begun and Lusamine had sent out her Clefairy, I sending out my Toucannon, Woody.

To keep things brief, I'll say that my training had payed off as my team mostly swept through each of Lusamine's Pokemon. I say mostly because there was just one problem. Her Bewear. The thing had literally tanked though all of my Pokemon with Superpower and Hammer Arm.

All but one.

X was still at the back of my party, but I figured that I may as well have given up since there was no way he could take down that tank. Still, I held on to what little faith I had and sent X out. I pulled out all the stops and had X use Catastropika. It didn't knock Bewear out, but it left it at about a quarter of health. I was surprised and text had popped up.

"X landed a critical hit, hoping to be praised..."

I had seen this message before. Your Pokemon will sometimes land critical hits or stay standing after what would be a fatal hit if you cared for them. Still, the ellipses at the end told me that X landed a crit out of some other reason. I didn't know what, but it was nice to see that my love for him was paying off. Bewear then used Hammer Arm, leaving X with only a pixel of health. I had to end this and fast.

I had X use Thunder, knocking the Bewear down a notch. One more hit would seal the deal, but I soon realized that I wouldn't get that chance as Bewear had used Hammer Arm again. However, the absolute impossible had happened. X stayed standing. He looked back at me with a face full of sadness and pain, yet determination. A heart had appeared over his head and text had once again popped up on screen.

"X refuses to go down until you win..."

This threw me for a loop, but I decided not to question it and had X use Thunder one final time, making Bewear faint. I laid back and sighed in relief.

After defeating Lusamine and leaving Ultra Space, I was able to catch Solgaleo. Lillie had said her final goodbyes to it and took her mother back to the Aether Foundation to rest up. After the rest of the cutscene, however, my screen stayed black for a bit longer than normal and I heard what sounded like a...Pikachu fainting.

I immediately went to my party only to be met with a horrifying shock. X's sprite was grayed out and had a red X over it. I checked his summary only to have my blood go frigid and my eyes water.

"X has died due to overexertion."

I sat, frozen out of both shock and fear. Died? I knew that Pokemon could die, but I never knew that it was an element that was applied to the player. There was no hesitation for what happened next. I flew to the Pokemon Center and went to have my Pokemon healed. However, only 5 of my Pokemon showed up on the screen behind Nurse Joy. I finally realized the stupidity of my decision.

X was dead and I was trying to heal him. However, the dead are unable to come back, no matter how much one wants it. I broke at that point, putting down my 3DS and crying. My sheer neglect had killed my brother and there was no return for him. As I had slowly calmed myself down, I decided that at the very least, I could lay him to rest. I went to my PC and set a separate box for X. I labeled it "R.I.P. X" and set his Poke Ball in the box.

"Goodbye...brother," I had whispered.

Over the next few days, I found myself holding my Pikachu plush and crying myself to sleep.

One day, I had woken up, to find that my plush wasn't in my hands. I got up and looked around and under my bed, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Soon, I decided that I would look for it later considering I was getting hungry. Later that night, I had begun to smell something putrid. While it was almost indescribable, I thought that this was what a cadaver or even death itself smelled like. I began to notice that the smell became stronger when I got near my closet. When I looked inside, I found something that instantly made my heart drop into my stomach.

I found my Pikachu plush, but it's body was completely different. Where the fabric was yellow had been turned gray, it's cheeks had turned black and seemed to be leaking out a black, battery acid-like substance. When I felt around the face, I felt what seemed to be tears streaming from it's eyes. Speaking of which, the plush had extra fur that was styled over it's left eye. I then noticed that one of my chains had been wrapped around it's arms, almost like prison shackles. The most disturbing aspect, however, was that the face of the Pikachu somehow went from smiling to a hopeless, depressing expression. I felt along the back of the plush, only to find an incision. Reaching inside, I found a small, folded piece of paper. Unfolding it, I found something that should have surprised me, but for some reason, didn't.

It was the drawing that I had made of X almost 2 weeks before. It looked just like the doll.

Upon finding that nightmarish doll and drawing, I lost it. The guilt was eating at my conscience and I could take it no longer. The next morning, I found that none of my family members were in the house. I smiled slightly, seeing as they didn't need to see this or know why I was doing what I was going to do.

I went outside and into the garage, finding a rope. I tied it into a Hangman's Knot and walked back into my house. Tying the knot to my ceiling fan, I wrapped the noose around neck and prepared for the end. I didn't care about my life anymore. Seeing that I killed X, life seemed absolutely meaningless to me. It might seem like disproportionate retribution, but I killed my brother, real or not. It was unforgivable. I deserved this.

"PLEASE, STOP!!" A voice had cried out.

Before I say this, I need you to know that I am NOT joking or falsifying what I am about to say next. Call me crazy, call me a liar, whatever. Just know that this actually happened to me. I turned around, only to find that my Pikachu plush...no. X was standing on the bed, looking at me with an expression of fear. We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, I realized what I was about to do and quickly got that noose from around my neck. I looked to see X had hopped off of the bed and was looking at me.

I sat on the edge looking deep into his eyes, he staring back. In them, I saw pain, sadness, fear and frustration. But at the same time, I felt he finally had peace. A deep, grim, ugly kind of peace that was achieved at a heavy cost. Upon seeing this, I smiled and held out my arms, hoping he would catch on.

X then hopped into my arms and hugged me. I closed my eyes and hugged back tightly, both of us letting out the liquid sadness we had accumulated. I knew that I was forgiven for his death and I knew that he understood that I still loved him deeply. I opened my eyes again, to find that his fur had turned back to it's normal yellow and red cheeks. I stood up holding X in my arms and looked at his drawing, seeing that it too was back to normal. I then walked back over to my bed and fell asleep holding X in my grasp, not wanting to let go of the memory of the best friend I never had.

Later that afternoon, I woke up with my Pikachu plush still in my arms, no longer appearing to be animate. I then saw that my 3DS was in sleep mode right behind me. I decided to go to the PC in Sun and visit X's grave. That was when I was met with one last surprise.

X's sprite was back to normal. He was somehow alive.

I instantly checked his summary to see that he was smiling and was at level 70, five levels above my current party. I brought him into the party and instantly went into Poke Refresh. When the screen faded in, X had a confused, almost disheartened look on his face. I just smiled and petted his chin, his favorite spot. He smiled and cheered, I smiling as well.

It may have just been me hoping for it or my active imagination again, but I decided I would tell him. I whispered into the 3DS microphone,

"Thank you, X. For everything".

When I looked back, X was smiling again and nodded. He then made a gesture for me to come closer. I then leaned in to see what he wanted.

What I heard had let me know that nothing would ever tear us apart again.

"Anything to help my brother..."