Thread: Essence of Life - Our Fates Entangled (4) [XIII] [BACK!]

Originally Posted by Stellar Haze

This chapter was great the sadness and emotion into it really impressed me and now it's obvious that it's going to be different from the original. I wonder what Gabe will decide now, honestly I think the story would be better if it wasn't a journey fic xD maybe introduce a bigger plot into it.

It won't be a journey fic. that revolves around collecting badges, that much I can say. ;)

Originally Posted by Stellar Haze

Anyways I really like Gabe, he's a more complex character than before he became depressed when he found out he was going to die but considering all the other crap he had against him it just added up instead of being a punch to the gut.

Thank you for your comments, it's always a pleasure to get some nice feedbacks from established and talented writers. ^^

Anyway, the next chapter is going to be titled "Unbound". It should be up pretty soon. :)

Author's Note: First off, I'd like to apologize to those reading this story for running so late with this chapter. With school and my brother being back from college everything got kinda hectic so I couldn't get back to writing this. I will understand if you already decided to stop reading this story so if you wish to be un-tagged, just let me know and I'll remove you from the tag list. Anyway, I'm back with the second chapter.

It introduces the second main character as well as gives us a glimpse of the third character that will play a very important role in this story. I also need to mentioned, nothing in this story happens by coincidence. If you notice something odd or something interesting, it's probably because I intended it this way. I have dropped some hints here or there, so yeah, nothing happens by coincidence in this story, remember that.

Constructive criticism is very welcome, as always. ^^


@Cosmos ; @Jinoga

Chapter II: Unbound

It was the first time I remembered my father, my dad, with tears of genuine happiness flowing down my face. I didn’t exactly know why myself, I was a teenage boy doomed to death and despite the ominous scent of mystery within my fathers’ words hidden deep inside a piece of paper, I kept smiling unable to wipe that silly grin off my face.

It was a quite strange feeling for me. All these years I tried blocking myself from those memories of a man who loved me dearly, believing nothing but sadness would come out of it, but now, as the half-burnt, long forgotten words of my father reached inside my heart and soul, I could taste the bittersweet feeling of the rejuvenated memories and most of all, my rejuvenated belief.

I felt stronger than before, happier and at the same time as if my heart was relieved of stress of my past; I finally felt free.

The sheer force of the wind entangled my body as I looked up in the sky.

I could finally face the world.


□
3rd person

She walked and walked, kept walking back and forth. It was a stressful feeling, a combination of remorse, excitement and unusual fear of breaking down and crying right before an important person would arrive. It was something she would usually do when forced to confront the large amount of pressure on both herself and her emotions, but Katie Amaryllis had to keep it together. She would cry on any other day, but not today. Today, she was going to do what she was born to do – amaze.

Her lab was in a surprisingly great condition, one she hasn’t seen it in ever since she moved to Viridian and began working under the supervision a few years ago. It was a moderately sized room, entirely white with the just right amount of sunlight to create a cheerful and optimistic atmosphere. Studying Pokémon genetics was a tough piece of work but somehow she always managed to pull through.

Katie often pretended not to know the reason, but deep inside, she knew it was all thanks to the hard work of her assistant, Gabriel, with whom she argued often.

She suddenly stopped starting to feel strange sorrow build up from inside. The feeling dispersed upon the sudden noise from behind the door. As the door opened she suddenly found herself in the presence of two persons.

The first person was a middle-aged man of somewhat long, blond hair tied up in a little ponytail, albeit quite handsome in her eyes despite the obvious age difference. He seemed quite fancy judging by his attire which consisted out of classy shoes, classy suit and remarkably classy way of walking. Not to speak of his heavenly blue eyes she was immediately attracted too.

She blushed on his smile as he greeted her.

“Professor Amaryllis, am I right? I’m Julian, nice to meet you!”

“Um, yeah, yes of course. Katie, if you wish, nice to meet you too!”

An abrupt cough, obviously forced, interrupted her moment of charming seduction as she looked behind the man. Yes, he had brought someone with him.

“I apologize for interrupting your moment of totally unobvious sexual tension, but could I get my Pokémon and like, simply leave? I’d be very pleased to leave you two alone as soon as possible.”

Many thoughts rushed through her head at that moment.

The first was how the “important man” Katie was informed of looked unlike anyone she would expect to show up in her lab, she had developed a crush in an instance but her second thought interrupted the first one upon the boys’ bratty words. He was a tall boy, a teenager of a messy, dirty blond hair barely reaching his shoulders. He wasn’t quite as classy as his father but a simple combination of plain white shirt and dark gray jeans seemed decent enough in her eyes.

“Excuse my bratty son, Riley is just very eager to finally become a trainer.”

The boy rolled his eyes prompting Katie to smile uncomfortably.

“Um, shall I show you the starters?”

Riley sighed as he placed his arms in his pockets. “Sure, whatever.”

Despite the intimidating glare from the side of his father, Riley did not really care about the professor or the lab. All he cared about was getting away as becoming a trainer was just the opportunity he was looking for to escape from his family business. However, no matter how much he despised being in control of his father, he always enjoyed the benefits of being rich – it was one of his favorite things.

“Okay, here we go! C’mon, all out!”

Pressing the middle button on each of the three familiar red and white spheres in shape of a ball, the objects automatically opened unleashing beams of light one after another. Soon enough, three familiar creatures materialized in front of Katie, Julian and Riley, as common as starter Pokémon and yet as rare at the same time.

“Hmm,” Riley said taking fast steps towards the table, “they all look fairly ok.”

“I can assure you that all three of them are perfectly healthy.”

“If that’s the case, sure, I’ll take all three of them.”

□

I looked above; the sky was still clear but heavily enlightened by sun.

I didn’t mind it.

One important issue remained unresolved, though. What was I supposed to do about my mother? At this point I wasn’t even as mad at her as initially but I still felt betrayed and confused. I could understand her fear, her fear of me leaving Viridian and possibly dying on the road. But, would I really be prepared to do such thing? Would I be willing to leave everything behind and head on a journey?

I knew there was only one person I could talk to.

I glanced over the sight of her lab; it was a common shape of building, average-sized albeit yellow with flat roof. It was quite unique in my opinion, with all the mysterious pink flowers surrounding the backyard of the lab. I grinned widely.

As I placed my cold hands on the warm doorknob, I found myself surprised upon witnessing two other persons besides her being present in the lab. It was awkward, I have to say. I wanted to leave but something kept me standing.

“Gabriel?” She let out in surprise.

“Um, it’s okay, I’ll come by later. I’m sorry for bothering you …”

“Oh don’t be silly!” A manly shout surprised me, the blond man extended his hand gesturing that I come in. “You’re not bothering us at all.”

“Come in,” prof. Amaryllis said while grinning. “Mr. Julian, this is Gabriel Sullivan.”

His eyes widened in surprise.

“Sullivan? Gabriel Sullivan? Are you the son of Samuel Sullivan?”

A gasp of surprise escaped my breath – this man knew my father.

“Um, yes I am. You knew him?”

He laughed loudly; I could only assume he did.

“Of course I knew him. Old Sammy and I went to college together; we even shared the same job. Boy, those were good times.”

I shortly looked behind the man. A cold look, a look of despise as I observed the other person next to the table. It felt awfully intimidating for some reason as the other boy turned around suddenly clapping his hands in a quick pace.

“Well? What are you waiting for? Hop-hop! I don’t have all day.”

I couldn’t understand the situation but judging by the tense atmosphere and exchanging glances between the surprised gentleman and an uncomfortably smiling professor, I could only assume that something awkward my have happened; something other than my sudden appearance in this lab.

“Well, you see, you can’t exactly …” she had lost the words.

Professor Amaryllis was barely ever at the loss of words. This man must have been quite important, perhaps a rich man? It would make sense.

“Listen, Riley!” the man continued in a strict tone. “You can’t have all three of them. There are other trainers awaiting their own Pokémon too. Don’t you think getting all three of them would be a little unfair towards the others?”

The dirty-blonde teenage boy frowned as I observed him with surprise. Did that kid seriously just request all three of the starter Pokémon? Who did he think he was?

“Well, I’m not like the others. I can’t possibly see why you would compare me with other trainers when we’re obviously not one and the same. And besides, I’m sure I will take much better care of them than any of those other trainers possibly could.”

That boy, Riley, he was arrogant, quite arrogant in fact.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll either choose one or get none.”

Despite giving my best efforts I couldn’t hide the smirk from my face. That son of a bitch was forced to give in and I could feel nothing but happiness at that moment. Our looks met once again, his eyes were sharply green, much like mine – I suddenly wiped the smirk off my face.

“Fine,” he responded nonchalantly, “In that case, I’ll take Charmander. It takes a bit for him to develop but I guess a wicked Charizard will be worth it.”

Seemed like he knew his stuff but I was still one step ahead of him.

“It’s a bad choice if you’re pursuing a gym challenge.”

Our looks crossed again, he smirked, almost in a smug-like way.

“Gabriel, was it? I appreciate your concern but I know what I’m doing. I’m very well aware of the typing advantages as well as disadvantages thanks to the special lessons from the side of my private teachers so I don’t think I will be needing any help from the likes of you. And by likes of you, I mean, ordinary people.”

That son of a bitch. I needed to be quick and witty but the sudden ringing in the room interrupted my thoughts. Julian answered the phone call followed by an unpleasant look on his face, the one of slight disappointment.

“Well, I just got the call from one of our men. He sprained his ankle, seems like we’ll need to hire someone else.”

“What’s the problem?” Prof. Amaryllis asked with a common confusion.

“Well, we initially hired a person to help Riley move through Viridian Forest since we’re not from here and we have never been in the forest either. From the rumors I heard, I understood that the forest was quite complex and maze-like, so I looked for someone who knew the area well in order to help Riley reach Pewter.”

I looked at Riley again; he seemed to have drifted off.

A wild, sudden, completely strange and yet somehow plausible idea overtook my mind. I could have helped him. I knew the Viridian Forest quite well, but the question was - why would I help a cocky jerk like him? Why did this idea reach my mind in the first place? It didn’t matter anyway; I had already made up my mind.

“Oh, well sir, I’d be glad to help you. I know the forest quite well myself.”

“You would?”

I didn’t look but I could sense a tingling feeling in my body. Almost as if a certain boy was coming up with the most brutal ways of murdering me inside his head.

“No, no way. I refuse!” Like I expected.

Julian looked at Riley, he seemed pissed.

“You cannot refuse! If Sammy’s son claims to be able to help you, you’ll accept his help. Besides, it’s much cheaper than any guide we would have hired.”

“Oh come on! You’re being unfair!”

Silence ensued. Riley crossed his arms beginning to stare at me; he tapped his toes in nervous matter. “Fine,” he smiled smugly, “I needed a butler anyway.”

It was on. I was going to teach him a lesson.

□
3rd person

An explosion.

Followed by insane release of catastrophic energy, the stone structure collapsed in a second as the smelly, pitch black smoke surrounded the entire nearby area. Much like shadows released from darkness, the mysterious figures spread in different ways. One figure, though, barely made her way out of the collapsed structure.

Barely walking, with wounds all over the body, she didn’t care. Hunger, hatred, depression and pain – none of those mattered to her anymore. Yes, freedom was a powerful thing. And she was free.

She was finally unbound.
□
To Be Continued

I just read the prologue, noting first off that I had read the first few chapter of the old one and I have to say there's a big difference in Gabriele's character, he was more childish in the old one, in this one his a bit more... emo-ish.

Anyway, I commend you on the description you presented us with, it is great, very vivid to say the least, that is for the feelings, there wasn't enough for the setting, you can't really expect every one to know viridian city.

So, I'll be reading the next two chapters soon, look forward to my review. ;)

Originally Posted by Aura Origin

I just read the prologue, noting first off that I had read the first few chapter of the old one and I have to say there's a big difference in Gabriele's character, he was more childish in the old one, in this one his a bit more... emo-ish.

Well, he is somewhat emotional so it's only natural he would cry after learning that he dies. But no worries, I'll be introducing new characters that will somehow bring out different sides in Gabriel. There won't be much sadness, I'd say.

Originally Posted by Aura Origin

Anyway, I commend you on the description you presented us with, it is great, very vivid to say the least, that is for the feelings, there wasn't enough for the setting, you can't really expect every one to know viridian city.

Yeah, that's true. Well the next chapter will be covering Viridian Forest which will be described in details so I might use the opportunity to give Viridian City a bit more description and details. :)

Originally Posted by Aura Origin

So, I'll be reading the next two chapters soon, look forward to my review. ;)

Thank you for reading and commenting, I'm definitely looking forward to your future feedback! ;)

Huh, this is a good chapter, I'd still call it a journey fic, but I can see this going in a different path entirely. I dunno, I'll still have to wait and see.

It also seems like you're alternating between first-person and third-person. Is there any particular reason you would do that? Since it did cause me a little confusion when I first read it. Maybe you should add little sub titles to let us know when this perspective changes occur. Furthermore, it's not really a good idea to do too many perspective changes, since too many of them are confusing.

Originally Posted by Jinoga

It also seems like you're alternating between first-person and third-person. Is there any particular reason you would do that?

I did it because I wished to describe a scene in which Gabriel wasn't present and I couldn't think of any other way.

Originally Posted by Jinoga

Since it did cause me a little confusion when I first read it. Maybe you should add little sub titles to let us know when this perspective changes occur. Furthermore, it's not really a good idea to do too many perspective changes, since too many of them are confusing.

Eh, sorry about that. :/

The perspective changes simply imply something happening outside of space where Gabriel isn't present.

there is nothing wrong with these perspective changes at all. Having done them myself at one point, so it's fine. And I checked the chapter again, and it seems you've added sub-titles. Well done.

I do believe you're good to go now, IMO. :)

Well I've just read the two chapters and I've gotta say this is an amzing improvment from the prvious version.

Your description is right on the mark, your characters are great, not to mention the chemistry between them, and your execution of the story was practicly perfect.

I'm looking forward to see how much this story will develop, its very exciting.

Originally Posted by Aura Origin

Well I've just read the two chapters and I've gotta say this is an amzing improvment from the prvious version.

Your description is right on the mark, your characters are great, not to mention the chemistry between them, and your execution of the story was practicly perfect.

I'm looking forward to see how much this story will develop, its very exciting.

Thank you so much for your compliment! ^^

It really means a lot to me.

Oh, and I forgot. Could you please tag me. ^^

Originally Posted by Aura Origin

Oh, and I forgot. Could you please tag me. ^^

Sure! :)

@Cosmos ; @Jinoga ; @Aura Origin

Constructive criticism is welcome like always, I hope you like the new chapter!

□

Chapter III: Broken Wings


I didn’t want to tell him, but I knew I had to.

It wasn’t a big deal, but I had to make sure just in case.

Otherwise he would have developed this crazy, completely outlandish idea of some sort inside of his head - like me possibly agreeing to help Riley just in order to get away from Viridan, to get away from my inescapable problems. Or maybe he would have thought that anyway? It was crazy, I know, but how plausible would his idea have been? I knew by myself that the only reason I decided to help Riley was to teach him a lesson. He was snobby; he thought he was better than me. There was no other reason than that.

Yes.

No other reason.

Or so had I thought.

□


The weather was sunny that fateful day and yet it felt gray and colorless more than ever. The tiny, brown pigeon Pokémon were singing cheerfully, the tiny purple-white mouse Pokémon were being as playful as always and I was outside, sitting at the doorstep of our house, crying. It’s only been a day since the news of my fathers’ death reached our family and due to my fathers’ body never being recovered; we delayed the funeral in frightening and yet relief-filled anticipation of my brothers’ return from the academy.

“Gabe?” I could recognize his voice deep anywhere.

I looked in front of me, avoiding eye contact focusing my view on his legs. I couldn’t muster the courage to look into Damien’s eyes; I felt a fear of some sort – a fear of seeing tears coming from his eyes. I noticed he was still in his academy uniform; he must have rushed back without even changing his clothes.

He kneeled down in front of me; I looked down again.

I was afraid.

I could sense his breath on my skin; I could hear his pumping heartbeat, as he approached me. Our heads lightly touched as his hands embraced me. He was crying, crying harder than ever. The realization of that stroke me harder than ever. It was the moment I realized things would never be the same again.

We cried together.

It was a gray and colorless day.
□

It was funny how much I’ve gotten used to the wide, gray streets of Viridian. The city wasn’t something I preferred back in the days when I first moved here but somehow walking through the streets of Viridian felt nostalgic. Viridian City grew a lot in these last years as evident by the major development of the suburban area simply referred to a Viridian town – a place where my family miraculously got a place for living right after we moved from Saffron.

I never understood how, though. My father must have had some connections.

The streets were bustling with people; I couldn’t help but to wonder at the everyday busyness of the people nowadays. The air was smelly and although it felt like gasoline, strangely enough, I adored that scent. I always did. Though I couldn’t deny the fact that the people were ruining this planet little by little, it was a proven fact and they could do nothing to prevent it even if they set their mind to do so.

I breathed out as I looked across the crowded street; a great, tower-like building in design of an enormous, stone tree was rising from the ground surpassing the height of some average-sized buildings of this city. It was the official Viridian City Pokémon Gym, a structure that has been recently renovated with the arrival of a new gym leader. At the same time, the structure served its function as a Pokémon Trainer Club, allowing its enormous size to fit areas specially designed for Pokémon challenges and battles – it was a training hotspot for many trainers, both old ones and new ones.

Yes, that was the place where my brother worked. The whole building in itself never ceased to amaze me, whenever I would visit it, I’d feel the same enthusiasm and the monumental feeling of it enthrall me. It was simply one colossal structure.

I slowly walked across the cemented path; the glass door opened by themselves. I’m afraid that Damian didn’t share the same enthusiasm, though.

“Hey,” I greeted him with a gentle smile.

He didn’t seem pleased.

□

“You are such an ass!” He dragged me out of the building.

Charming words, though I expected nonetheless from him. He was pissed and I could understand why. He cared about Mom; he cared a lot about her. One thing he didn’t understand though was the subtle hatred that was still slumbering within me. He was not the person denied of the last will from his father, I was. And that, he would never understand.

“You know, just because you’re dying doesn’t mean I can’t beat the crap out of you right now! Why the hell did you just leave? Do you know how much you hurt her?”

I remained silent, waiting for the moment when I could strike hard.

“You don’t care about anyone but yourself, huh? You’re so damn egoistic!”

His words tempted my coolness; I lost my temper beginning to get frustrated.

“Would you just shut up?” I yelled as loudly as I could.

“You were not the one who had his letter hidden by her! And you knew how much I cried because of Dad’s death and you knew how much I cared about him and yet you took her side at the end of the day. Am I really being the egoistic one when her selfish wishes were the reason I didn’t get the letter in the first place?”

“I mean, for crying out loud, she didn’t even give me the chance to read it fully. She burned half of the letter! She’s crazy! I’m sorry but I can’t forgive her!”

I felt disgusted.

Not disgusted by the thing my mother had done, but by the fact that it only took a moment for me to realize that I actually hated my mother, a woman who gave birth to me, who took care of me my entire life. At first I thought that my hatred it would pass eventually, but his words only re-incinerated the feelings I felt towards both of them.

I hated her, I was disgusted by that fact, but I couldn’t deny the feeling.

“Gabriel, she’s afraid of losing you, we both are,” he stated loudly.

We stared at each other for a good couple of minutes. It was amazing how much he had changed from his academy days. His body was now fully muscular, his hair was dark, short and tidy which fitted nicely with his hazel eyes.

Damian sighed scratching his head.

“Alright,” he breathed out. “We both need to cool off. Let’s go drink something, I’m buying.”

I stared at him for a few seconds before eventually agreeing.

We both stayed quiet on our way towards the place as I took a look around the city once again. Perhaps it is hard to believe, but this was actually the first time I witnessed Viridian city by night. It was a gorgeous sight; all the street lights slowly began shimmering as if by magic as the shadows of the night slowly overtook the last remaining bits of the daylight.

As I expected, we were there.

“Café Vertania,” the great logo above the structure said. It was a moderately sized café, pretty from the outside, classy from the inside.

A place where I’ve never been before, that’s for sure.

“Good evening. What would you like?” The waiter smoothly approached us.

“Hmm, I’ll take café au lait, please!”

Coffee oh what? The waiter looked at me patiently; waiting for me to make up my mind. A sudden, and pretty painful, kick from Damian’s side rushed my decision, though.

“Soda pop, please,” I requested as politely as I could.

“No! He’ll take café au lait, too!”

What? The café waiter nodded slowly leaving the two of alone at the squared wooden table. I looked at him confusingly, why did he just do that?

“Why did you just do that?” I asked in fierce annoyance.

“Why? You don’t like coffee?” He grinned almost mockingly.

“No, I don’t!”

I remained as quiet as possible in order not to grab too much attention. I hated getting too much attention from too many people; too much crowd would always make me nervous.

“Did you ever even try coffee?”

He grinned again, I rolled my eyes.

“Whatever, you’ll see by yourself that I don’t like it.”

In a few minutes, the waiter was back with two coffee cups. I wasn’t sure what to think of it, it was lightly brown, but it resembled chocolate milk with a few white spots in it.

“You’ll have to forgive her eventually.”

“Could we please not talk about Mom right now?”

“Fair enough, Gabriel, do you know why I initially wished to become a gym leader?”

His words threw me off, I suddenly found myself lost in the moment. This definitely wasn’t the topic I wished to discuss. Honestly, I never really liked the fact he was forced to leave the academy due to lack of money after our father died and I even more disliked the fact he was forced to find a job to help out Mom. Although Mom received incomes from other social services, they weren’t really much and Damian decided to help her out as much as he could.

“No,” I simply muttered at loss of words.

“It’s because of you.”

Unsure of what to say next I slowly grabbed the hold of a warm, white cup. He looked directly at me as I suddenly looked down. I slowly picked up the coffee cup bringing it closer to my mouth, the smell certainly was delicious. Blowing lightly a few times, I brought it up to my mouth slowly starting to drink it. It was still quite hot but I endured it, the aftertaste on my burning tongue was unique and kind of sweet – it tasted a little bit like milk.

I carefully put the cup down.

“This actually isn’t so bad. When did you start drinking coffee?”

He said nothing. Damian must have realized I was trying to change the topic.

“I was always jealous of you, Gabriel.” His first sentence caught me off guard.

“Even back when you were just a kid, I was jealous as hell,” he chuckled taking a sip of his coffee. “You were always so enthusiastic and full of hopes and dreams. I was jealous, because, he always paid more attention to you. He encouraged you, because you had dreams and I, on the other hand, had none.”

I wanted more attention, I wanted more love,” he continued “so I decided to do something different, something our father had always wished to accomplish but he never managed to do so.”

“He wanted to become a gym leader?” I asked in surprise.

Damian smiled. “No, he actually wanted to enroll on the academy. But his parents never allowed him to do so; at least that’s what he told me.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” I asked.

“Because I wanted you to know, I was never really jealous like I thought. It was more like a feeling of admiration. And I miss that, I miss our old Gabriel.”

“Old Gabriel is gone,” I frowned. “He was crushed by tragedy and death. The new Gabriel isn’t as stupid as the old one, he’s clever and he knows that dreams never come true.”

“Gabe, just because I never managed to fully realize my dreams does not mean in any way that you should give up. My wings may have been broken, but you are still able to fly, Gabriel. Dad would definitely say that, he always wanted for his children to become something unique, something he could never be.”

I couldn’t believe it. It was almost as if I was reliving the past, my brother was trying to reawaken my previously lost hopes and ambitions much like Dad did it before him.

Unable to respond to his words, I took another sip of coffee.

It tasted good.

□

I was home.

“Hey … Mom.”

There she was, with tears in her eyes standing on the floor as if she’s been waiting all day for me to come back home. My arrival put a wide smile on her face as she spread her arms towards me. But I couldn’t forgive her yet. As much as I felt bad about her and despite my wish to understand the motives behind her actions, she hurt me deeply.

“I’m going to bed now,” exchanging the glances with Damian I ran upstairs.

It was a long day, a day of decisions. My first decision was to stop crying over my sickness and deal with it. Tears wouldn’t fix anything, I needed to focus. My second decision was that I decided to “help” that boy Riley reach Pewter city safely and without trouble.

And my third decision, I decided not to tell him. Because I believe we would have both come to the same, inevitable conclusion. I wanted to travel and accomplish something before I died.

Because that’s who I was at the end of the day – a boy with his days counted.

For the sake of my cursed family.

□
To Be Continued

Great chapter.

I don't really have anything to note on this chapter, except maybe: the great dialogue between the brothers, and the great character development that's going on with Gabe.

Other than that, I'm still waiting for the plot to unfold a little more... I'm expecting a twist of some sort.

Originally Posted by Aura Origin

Other than that, I'm still waiting for the plot to unfold a little more... I'm expecting a twist of some sort.

Thank you! ^^

Hmm, there will be many twists, though I'm not sure what you expect. :P

Alright guys, the next chapter will revolve around the girl who escaped from the strange facility at the end of chapter two. Along with that, we're finally getting to the plot.

Interesting indeed. Instead of journeying to become "the best" he wants to travel to accomplish something before he died. I like that. The plot so far has yet to fully unfold, but I can guess what might be happening, though I'll be keeping my speculation to myself for now.