"Pain From The Past, Rage For Today"
Nerezza sighed. Opal had gone into town to get some more supplies, namely sweets, so the Gastly was left to look after the small camp. Not only was she stuck here with nothing to do, she was stuck with nothing to do along with... Itzal. Nerezza glared at the Gengar, who was busy endlessly grooming himself in that mirror. Often times, she has debated on breaking that infernal thing, but after all, seven years bad luck would descend. "Hell, it's better than being around him. Anything is..." Nerezza saw Itzal looking in her direction. "Oh, am I so important that you can look away from your fur for two seconds? I must be so special." Turning away from her cousin, she glowered at nothing in particular. Itzal frowned. "Nerezza, my dear, please do not think that I am ignorant. I've noticed you acting coldly towards me. It's difficult not to." He chanced a look back to the mirror, then put it down on the nearest table and gave the Gastly his full attention. "You shoot cold looks at me, you make faces at me, you hardly regard me as anything like a friend anymore. What happened to make you this way?" Inside of Nerezza, something snapped. She was flabbergasted. She turned full-face to Itzal.
"How dare you?! I'VE changed? YOU'RE the one that has changed! I can barely recognize you anymore! Whenever I refer to you as my cousin, Arceus forbid my FRIEND, the words are bitter in my mouth. More bitter than the most bitter Rawst berry you could find!" Nerezza paused for a second or two to catch her breath, but that was enough for Itzal to say his piece. He was, obviously, confused and angry. "How can you say that, Nerezza?! How could you say something as cruel as that? Am I no longer deemed worthy to be your friend?" The Gastly found her voice. "How can I say that?! You abandoned me after the whole clan left! You left me to go with those traitors! I was on my own for the first time, and I was almost KILLED! You have absolutely no idea what I've been through, what YOU put me through! If you had stuck by me and taken care of me like any good cousin would have done, I wouldn't have almost died!" By now, Nerezza had tears in her eyes, and she forced her face up into Itzal's. "If you hadn't left me, I wouldn't be as cold-hearted as I am now. I wouldn't have to cut myself off from everyone I meet and be mean to them. I could actually be able to function properly around them. It's your fault! It's your fault!..." Nerezza was sobbing at this point, and she floated downward and downward until she was at the Gengar's feet. "...It's your fault I'm like this..."
Itzal sighed and showed a look of pity and hurt on his face. He sat down to stroke the sobbing Gastly at his feet. "I know... I know. I know I made some... rash decisions, but I did what I thought was right. We both made some bad choices, but we did what we thought was best. That's one way that we're similar, right?" The Gengar smiled in an effort to cheer up Nerezza, but she remained solemn. Itzal frowned again. He could distinctly remember when the separation occurred. He even could recall when he first met his cousin...
It was twelve years ago, give or take. Itzal was merely a Gastly in the clan of nomad Ghost Pokemon, and they were outside of Lavender Town at the time. Itzal had just gotten word that his aunt and uncle had had a Gastly. Naturally, he was very excited. There was a crowd around the new arrival. Itzal had to push and shove his way through the throng to get to the center. When he finally made a path through, he saw a small dark purple colored Gastly with a lighter purple mask. Itzal grinned. She was very pretty. He hovered close to her and smiled kindly. "Hewwo. You'we weawwy cute!" The baby looked curiously at Itzal and smiled back.
As Nerezza grew, the bond between her and Itzal strengthened and deepened. It was a rare sight to either of them without the other. They always seemed to be talking about anything and everything and occasionally pulled mild pranks, much to the annoyance to both of their parents. It was almost like the two were twins. But one day, a couple of Shuppets who recently joined the clan found Nerezza alone and they started to attack her. Scared and confused, the young Gastly began to cry. Itzal, who had evolved to a Haunter by now, heard her from a distance away, and as quick as he could he rushed to where she was, and he saw the pair of Shuppets. He was furious. "Who do you think you are, picking on someone younger than you?! Leave her alone!" He shot a Shadow Ball at the two and they made themselves sparse quickly after that. Breathing heavily, Itzal turned to Nerezza, who was shaking and crying. The Haunter smiled kindly and floated to her face level. She looked at her cousin. "T... thanks, 'Zal... They were scary..." Itzal held Nerezza close. "It's okay, Nezza. I'm here, and I'm never leaving you. I'll protect you..."
A few years later, the clan of nomads was near Soleceon Town in the Sinnoh region, wandering nearby the tower that stood in the route. Nerezza and Itzal were floating together when Nerezza spotted a small pile of stones in a clearing. There were noticeably arranged in a tower of sorts, and the Gastly floated curiously towards it. Itzal's eyes widened and he rushed after her. "Nezz! What are you doing?! Get back here!" Nerezza looked to her cousin and smiled. "I'm not gonna get hurt! You worry too much. I just want to check it out..." She floated closer towards the pile of rubble and Itzal looked around frantically for one of the other clan members. Not finding any, he rushed off to find one, leaving the young Gastly all alone. She was busy scoping out the pile, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small stone in the bushes. She peered at it curiously, and she floated over to it and picked it up in her teeth. As soon as she did, Itzal came rushing back with Nerezza's mother. She had been told by Itzal what was happening, and she was shocked. "Nerezza! Put that down! And get back here now!" Nerezza, stone in mouth, looked to her mother. "Ca' dow', ma. I'w b' fi'," the words muffled by the odd looking stone in her mouth. She then noticed that the stone could fit perfectly in a hole in the pile! She had to see what would happen. Itzal recognized the mischief in Nerezza's eyes and he rushed out to stop her. "Nezz, no!" But she had already placed the stone in. Immediately, the air seemed colder, and a strange foreboding was cast on the area. Nerezza looked around in fright. "Uh-oh..."
A small, dark light poured out of the tower, and a large shriek sound was heard: so loud that all of the clan rushed to the scene to see what was happening. Nerezza backed away from the tower in fear and cowered by her mother. "W-what did I do?!" Her mother held her daughter close. "Oh Nerezza... What have you done?!" After a few seconds, the stone that was placed in the tower rose up by its own will, and the dark light poured over it. It formed into a shape, and it grew eyes, one squinted, one with a deep, dark swirl, and a large fanged mouth opened its green maw. It spoke in a voice that sounded like fingernails scraping across a blackboard. "WHO HAS AWAKENED ME?" The leader of the nomad clan, a large Dusknoir, stepped forward. "We mean you no disrespect, o Spiritomb." Many of the clan members flinched at the mention of the Pokemon's name. "One of my daughters has awoken you by accident. She did not know any better." With that, the Dusknoir shot a deathly glance at Nerezza. She hid her face in her mother, frightened and ashamed. Itzal placed a gentle hand on her. Spiritomb spoke once more. "THIS SHALL NOT GO UNPUNISHED. MY CHILDREN! ATTACK!" At the signal, hordes of Ghost Pokemon flooded from the tower and formed behind the Forbidden Pokemon. He gave a nod, and the army swarmed the clan.
The clan had hardly any battle skills, and after a few minutes, many of the Ghosts were seriously injured. The Spiritomb called out to his minions. "HALT! I BELIEVE THESE NOMADS HAVE LEARNED THEIR LESSON. DUSKNOIR, YOU AND YOUR CLAN WILL LEAVE THESE PARTS." Dusknoir nodded. "Of course, Spiritomb." The flood of Ghost Pokemon returned to the tower and Spiritomb dissipated. Once all was quiet in the clearing, Dusknoir turned to Nerezza, who was shaking over guilt and shame. "You have sacrificed the safety of your clan for your own curiosity. The punishment for this is banishment. You must go on your own and never rejoin us." Nerezza's eyes widen with shock, as did Itzal's. "N-no! No! I-I... it was an accident! I didn't...! I didn't mean to! It was..." She sobbed and floated to the ground. One by one, the clan solemnly followed Dusknoir into the darkness, including the Gastly's parents. Itzal was last. His and Nerezza's eyes met. "Itzal... You can't leave me! You can't..." The Haunter closed his eyes and turned around, not wanting his cousin, his best friend, to see his tears. He whispered, his voice breaking the deep silence of the gloom. "I'm sorry, Nerezza." With that, he floated after the clan. Nerezza cried aloud. "NO! Itzal! You can't leave me! You promised to protect me!" But Itzal did not turn around, no matter how much he wanted to. Nerezza's sobs became louder. "Nooooo! Itzal, no, you can't! Itzaaaaal! Noooo! No..." The Gastly lay sobbing on the ground in the clearing, knowing that her best friend would not be coming back.
As Itzal held Nerezza and recalled when the two parted, Nerezza was remembering with rage, hatred, and pain the time when she was alone for the first time.
The young Gastly lay sobbing in the dark route, and when the sun just began to rise, she picked herself up solemnly and floated in the direction of Hearthome City. She didn't know why or where she was going. "But what does it matter," she thought out loud to herself. "Those traitors don't care. No one did. No one does. Not even the one Pokemon I thought I could trust with my life... No, no, noooo, they all had to ABANDON me, make me go on my own for the first time... Pfth. I don't care. If they don't care about me, I don't care about them. I don't care about anyone..." As she thought to herself and went on her own, her words struck truth in her heart, convincing her that none of the clan had ever cared about her in the first place. Nothing she ever did would make them care. Never... never... In a blind rage, the Gastly shouted up to the early morning sky. "If you never cared about me, I will never care about you! I will never care for anyone! I don't give a damn what they all will think! They don't care, and neither do I!"
The Gastly ran, well, "floated" would be more accurate, as fast as she could, shunning all who came close to her and attempting to hurt anyone she passed in a blind fury. Eventually, after many days of wandering aimlessly, Nerezza found herself in the northern route between Hearthome and Pastoria City. Exhausted, she weakly floated to a small crevice between some trees and lay there, breathing heavily. She was slightly delusional, and out of the corner of her eye, she could occasionally see the figure of Itzal, her mother, or Dusknoir. Nerezza growled at all of them, for none of them cared. None of them loved her. None... Slowly, Nerezza fell unconscious, and she slept quietly, dreaming no dreams.
In the middle of the night, Nerezza was awakened by a soft scraping sound nearby. Weakly, she floated out of the crevice to find herself face to face with a large Houndour. With a yelp and a jump, Nerezza rushed away from the Dark Pokemon, but she knew and the Houndour knew that she was weak and could be taken easily, and she wasn't about to let that happen. She dodged and swerved and maneuvered away from the Pokemon's attacks, but it was faster than she, and it came down at her with a super effective Bite attack. Nerezza was flung to the side and landed with a thump in a small clearing. Her vision was failing her, but she could see bright lights appearing, and a large building loomed in front of her. She could tell she was about to black out when she saw the fuzzy outline of the Houndour padding towards her. With a grunt and a tremendous strain of effort, the Gastly threw a weak Sludge Bomb at the wild Pokemon. It easily shook it off and started coming closer. But the attack weakened Nerezza even more, and her vision left her. With all the strength she could muster, she uttered one last word. "It..zal..."
"...Itzal?" Both Nerezza's and Itzal's flashbacks were disrupted by the Gastly's voice. The Gengar looked down kindly to his cousin. "Yeah?" The Gastly loosened herself from Itzal's grasp and floated away from him. Her eyes were downcast and forlorn. "When you left me, it was the first time I have ever been on my own. I wandered aimlessly for days. I couldn't find any food. I had to scavenge for everything. And when I was at my weakest, I was attacked and almost killed." Itzal sighed. "I know, I kn-" "NO, you don't, Itzal. You have no idea what I went through without you, no clue as to my horrors. And you know what?" Nerezza turned to face her cousin, her eyes no longer sad, but angry and hurt. "When I was almost killed, you were not there to help me and protect me like you promised. But you know who was? Opal. Opal found me and cared for me and nursed me back to health. She helped me cope with my loss of you and helped me forget all that has hurt me. You were once my friend, Itzal, but now I don't even know you. I would be a fool to call you a friend. Opal is the only friend I have. I protect her. She protects me. I love her. She loves me. We're like sisters. You..." Nerezza turned away from her cousin. "All you are now is a teammate. I accept the fact that Opal has taken you in and is your human now, but that does not mean that I have to accept you." Itzal sighed, this time a sigh of irritation. "Very well then, Nerezza... Then the feeling is mutual." The two cousins glared at each other in a blaze of cold fury, but the hatred was broken by a small disturbance nearby. In a few seconds, the two Ghost Pokemon could see Opal walking back towards the makeshift camp, her arms filled with bags of food and sweets.
"Hey guys, I'm back," she proclaimed cheerfully. Nerezza and Itzal both regarded her with a smile, ignoring one another, and they both went back to their separate things: Itzal to his mirror, and Nerezza to her handheld video game. Opal saw this while putting down the groceries, but she disregarded it and focused on making lunch. While doing so, she glanced to Nerezza. "So, anything interesting happen while I was gone?" Nerezza looked to her human for a moment, aware of Itzal's gaze upon them both. "Gast... Gastly." "No... Nothing." Both Ghosts turned their focus back to their tasks, and Opal looked at both of them confusedly, unaware of what pain the two cousins had went through while she was gone.
