beforethedarkness | 15th Tomoe || Video, Action for Goldenrod City

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15th Tomoe || Video, Action for Goldenrod City

[A tired and quite irritated Sasuke is the first thing that shows up on the gear, and in the background behind him is Obito, Tenten, and Evan. It's obvious that they're outside in Goldenrod City, and although Sasuke looks a little worse for wear he's much better than he was after the Valentine's Attack was done.

Even if he still has bandages over burns and puncture marks and his right arm is still in a cast.]

If I don't answer a message the first time, leaving twenty more isn't going to make me answer any faster. I just went through 174 messages on my gear.

[A heavy sigh, and he shakes his head.]

I was in Ilex forest trying to catch some pokémon. I wanted to do it alone. That's all there is to it.

[Shutting off the video, because irritation is at maximum. He's going to go ~~make Whitney cry~~ get the Plain Badge now, if only because he never wants to be made that weak and vulnerable ever again.]

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[Grimacing because he really doesn't know how to answer that. It's irritating, and frustrating, and...

He closes his eyes, trying to think of how to word what he wants to say.]

I need the strength to fight myself, without help. When I'm going to need it, there will be no one with me to fall back on or hide behind. I can't change that now.

[At least he didn't hang up on her this time. There's that.]

Maybe not, but that doesn't mean they can't help you now. Training with them will make you stronger than any amount of training on your own can do. [frown.] A tree or Pokémon isn't going to react the same way a human would, and if you're that determined to fight alone, you might as well learn how humans react in a fight.

The only thing I can legally train in here is taijutsu. And I won't get anyone else involved in that.

[A beat, and he adds.]

I should have been continuing to train my pokémon anyway. Then something like that wouldn't have happened.

[She shakes her head. This kid just isn't listening to a word she says...what's it going to take to get through to him?]

And training them against the wild ones works better? [frown getting deeper.] You do know they level up faster when they win battles against other trainers teams, right?

... I don't want to be near anyone else.

[Her jaw clenches at that. "That's what scares me. I don't want any of you to get hurt because of me." This boy...he's not that much different from Hope. Trying to shoulder it all alone and failing...the only question in her mind is how's this going to blow up on those around him.]

Then it's a good thing none of us get what we want while we're here. [Stern lecturing tone is go.] Because they're clearly not leaving you alone, so the longer you try to avoid them or get by without them, the more risk you're putting them in because they'll follow you anyway. Is that what you want?

[He looks away from the feed then, and it looks like the area around his eye is bruising when it wasn't before. At this point he's also inside a hotel room, having wanted to get away from everyone else for a while. At least he told everyone else where he wanted to go this time.]

... I don't want anyone else caught up in my business. It's trusted people who have the most power to hurt and destroy others, and I don't want anyone else like that in my life.

[In a hotel with a forming black eye...whoever decked this kid clearly didn't get him hard enough.]

So you just don't trust anyone at all? Cut yourself off from everyone aroud you so you can't get hurt? [a snort.] That's a dumb way to live. People need people, no matter how much they try to avoid them.

...

It's because of someone I trusted that I'm alone. I won't make the same mistake again.

I have to be strong alone.

[Sadly it's not that easy to get someone off of something they've been obsessed with for such a long time.]

[This face.] And how old were you when that happened? Six? [headshake. It's just a guess but it matters little.] That wasn't your mistake. No kid at that age can make a decision that ends like that.

... Seven. Almost eight.

[Same difference.] You're supposed to trust the people around you at that age. You couldn't have known they'd turn on you.

[Has anybody ever told him this? or has he spent the past four to five years thinking that?]

I should have known, though.

[He sighs, his head bowing more as the memories come back. So that would be him having been left to think this all that time, Lightning.]

[Yeah, she got that part. If she was the type, she'd be facepalming so hard right now. As it is, she's going to sigh and try a different approach.]

Fine. You want to keep thinking that way? Answer me this: how could you have known? Seven year olds don't notice everything, Sasuke, and even if you'd noticed something wasn't right, what could you have done to stop them?

Edited 2013-02-25 23:41 (UTC)

He would have noticed.

[It was a soft mumble, and he looked more away from the camera. It was his fault to begin with, but if he hadn't, he would have noticed...]

...

[Soft but still audible. Etro dammit boy does she have to throw you off a ledge to drive her points home?!]

And let me guess. He was older than you? [flat look] You can't blame yourself for something that you didn't do, Sasuke.

At my age, he would have.

[He shakes his head.]

I didn't act. I didn't do anything but beg for my life back then.

You're not him. Did nobody ever tell you that people different react differently?

[The beg for my life throws her off a little, though. Seven years old and threatened with death? Damn, kid...]

You just said you were seven. Unless you'd been training since before you could hold your head up on your own, what could you have done besides that?

I've been training since I was old enough to start training. It was never enough...

[Again he shakes his head, although whether it's answering her question or because of something else is debatable.]

I have to get stronger. To surpass him.

[Okay, that's it. This kid's beating around the bush and she's too frustrated to keep calm anymore. No more Miss Nice Lightning.]

And what good is that going to do you? It's not going to undo whatever the hell it is he did, and trying to take revenge isn't going to do that, either. You have to let it go.

I know it won't bring them back.

[Bowing his head low enough for his head to cover his eyes right about now. Lightning might or might not recognize it as him finally letting himself be vulnerable, if only briefly.]

Vengeance is still all I have left. That man... Took everything from me. That's why I have to get strong; to kill him. And I have to do it alone.

[She recognizes it as something akin to vulnerability, at least. Her tone doesn't soften though, and she presses forward.]

Vengeance won't solve anything, and when it's over all you're going to feel is empty. [stern look.] You still have your life, Sasuke, regardless of losing everything. Make something of yourself instead of wasting your life on petty revenge.

It isn't petty.

[He knows that it's not going to bring anyone back, or make him feel good. He's heard all of this before, and he isn't any more likely to really take it to heart now.]

He destroyed everything and everyone. He... Betrayed everyone. Betrayed me. I can't let him live.

I wasn't able to do anything that night. I can't fail like that again.

[Two steps away from a facepalm. She understands a stark loss--admittedly not on the scale Sasuke's referring to, but understands it nonetheless. All this is going to do is get him killed]

Alright, so tell me what killing him's going to do. It won't bring them back, it won't make you feel any better, and considering he let you live it sounds like he wants someone to kill him. Why give him that? Why give the guy who tore your life apart what he wants?

[Making no comment about how a seven year old failed against someone older. of course that was going to happen--what were they teaching him?!]

[Probably better that she doesn't know that the guy who committed mass genocide was only thirteen at the time, then.

He's shaking his head, his good hand rising to grip at his bangs as he just tries to get a grip.]

He... It was to test his strength. I wasn't worth killing. He left me alive in cowardice.

Killing him avenges the dead. Lets them rest.

[It doesn't matter what else the future holds, not if that man's death is in it.]

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