A/N: Hello, hello! So… yeah, a rewrite of a rewrite? Yeah, I can never be happy with what I do, so I have rewritten PMD: Lost Spirit again (sorry to those who read the previous version). I hope that you enjoy this one! =)
Another note, I'll be posting this on my other account, my previous one is MidnightMorpher. I have not abandoned it, just leaving it alone for a bit.
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Chapter 1: A New Day, A New Ally
...
...
... Ow...
The first thing that came to him, as he slowly woke up, was how much his head hurt. He felt itchy grass blades under him when he clenched his hands. He attempted to move, but his limbs felt like they were weighed down by lead, and bolts of pain shot through his body at every movement.
He winced. It hurt a lot, but still, he couldn't stay lying on the grass forever. Just take it nice and slow. Nice and slow...
Gritting his teeth, he forced back the waves of nausea and slowly rose to his feet. His knees were trembling, and his chest ached with each breath, but each passing second made it easier for him to stay on his own two feet.
Once he was certain that he wasn't going to collapse, he thought to look himself over. The sight of his arms and legs, covered with sickly purple and blue black blotches, was enough to make the nausea come back. He had a simple white shirt on, but he was sure that underneath it were more bruises, if the constant aching were to tell him anything. No wonder it hurt so much. Ow...
He looked around himself. Trees more than twice as tall as him surrounded him in a ring, and the smell of water and cheerful bubbling told him that there was a brook right behind him. Nothing about this was familiar. Where am I?
He looked at the brook again, and the sound of rushing water made him all too aware of his dry throat. Maybe a drink would help to clear his mind a little...
Limping to the edge of the bank, he dropped down to his knees and cupped a handful of water in his palms, tossing his head back and gulping it greedily. The action made his head ache again, but the relief of having his thirst quenched soon washed that away. A few more handfuls later, his shirt was drenched, but he felt a little better nonetheless.
Wiping his chin, he eyed his surroundings with a certain amount of bemusement. Huh, I don't remember being here before. Don't think I am supposed to be here... How did I get here anyway?
He thought...
And thought...
And thought...
... But nothing came.
Something that felt almost like panic began rising up his throat. Wait, no, that can't be right. I can't forget. I can't just forget something this simple. How did I get here? How did I get so beat up? Where's home? What's going on?!
Question after desperate questions, he still had no answers. Frustratingly, it felt like he had the answer right on the tip of his tongue, but they slipped through his fingers like water and into oblivion. I... I...
His eyes stung, and the boy wrapped his arms around himself in a futile effort at self-comfort. No! No no no, this isn't happening! This... My name! My name is...!
A few terrifying seconds passed... and he nearly cried when a single word popped up in his head: Angelo. Angelo! My name's Angelo!
Embarrassingly enough, he could feel himself clinging onto his name like it was a precious treasure. It was just a name! Just a name... And yet, it was the only bit of memory he had left.
His eyes started stinging again at that realisation. No... why am I crying over this? It's just a stupid name! He tried to scrub away the forming tears furiously, and nearly jumped when his hand touched cloth instead of his own face. That was certainly enough to scare the tears out of him. "Huh? What the..."
He poked experimentally, running his fingers across his face. This cloth was wrapped around his head at eye level, almost like a blindfold, and yet he could still see? Now with curiosity eating at him, he turned back to the brook to look at his reflection.
It was very distorted, but what little he could see showed him a pale, drawn face staring back, with a purple piece of cloth tied over his eyes. He would've thought that it was a blindfold, except that somehow he could see through it.
I wonder... Carefully, Angelo pulled it up a little. His vision suddenly went pitch black and his heart nearly stopped, nearly scratching himself pulling it back down in a hurry. Ah!
What was going on? He dropped to his knees, head in his hands. Nothing was making sense at all: he can't remember anything, he can't see without this cloth for some reason, he was all alone and nobody can help him!
Angelo breathed heavily in his hands, hand clawing through his hair. I can't panic right now, I have to get myself together... Breathe...
A few seconds passed, and he managed to get his breathing back down to a somewhat regular rate. Angelo slowly brought his head back up. The reflection flinched. It was so weird... but he couldn't achieve anything if he kept panicking like this. If he could just find a local...
He finally got back to his feet, new goal in mind, and turned to face nose-to-nose with a zoroark.
"AH!"
"Woah!"
Angelo leapt back and nearly slipped into the brook. His arms spun like windmills as he tried to regain his balance, but the zoroark was faster. It lunged forward, wrapping its arms around him and pulling him back to his feet like he weighed nothing. Everything happened so fast, Angelo could only blink dumbly as he was released. "Uh..."
The zoroark didn't respond. It was surveying him with an air of suspicion, even as it let go of his arm. Like it was expecting Angelo to attack him... Unable to think of anything else, Angelo blurted out, "Thank you for saving me!"
For a moment, it lost its composure as its eyes widened. "O-oh, uh... No problem," it coughed, in a clearly male voice.
A few uncomfortable seconds passed as one scrutinised the other. Angelo was watching the zoroark closely; he might have saved him from falling into the brook, but the way he acted afterwards was getting him on edge. The zoroark's breathing was laboured, and his eyes were darting back and forth from Angelo to over his shoulder, for reasons that he could not fathom. Was there something behind him?
The zoroark was the one to break the silence. "Do you... understand me?" His question came out slightly breathy, as if he had been running prior to this.
Angelo nodded without hesitation. Something at the back of his mind seemed to tell him that this was normal. The zoroark, on the other hand, was looking at him like he grew a second head. "Yeah! Is there something wrong?"
"No!" The word seemed to slip out on its own accord as he half-turned away from him, muttering all the while. "The hell... human... got here... but... no time for this..."
"Um..."
It then struck him. He was so dumb! Not a minute ago, he had been thinking about finding someone who lived here, and here was that person standing in the flesh! Or Pokémon, but that didn't matter. He could finally get some of his bearings!
However, by the time Angelo opened his mouth, the zoroark was already briskly walking away from him- almost running really, giving a quick shake of his head. "I don't have time for this. See you never," he said over his shoulder, waving him off.
"H-huh? Wait!" What was with the sudden change in attitude? Where was he going? "Please, I need to ask-"
"No."
"But-!"
"NO!" he suddenly snarled, whirling around, and Angelo flinched backwards. Strangely, he could detect a healthy dose of fear underneath the anger in his charged voice. The zoroark's ears were twitching sporadically now. "I do not have the time for you, and I will not be seen with you if I can help it! Scram!"
His resolve faltered. "I... I..."
His aggressive posture slackened a little, but the zoroark still looked poised to run away. "Like I said, I'm busy!" he said. "So-"
Whatever else he was going to say, it was cut off by gleeful hollers behind Angelo. The zoroark's demeanour took a sudden turn as his entire body flinched and his ears pinned back, a fearful look spreading across his face. "Crap, they're here already?!"
His agitation started to affect Angelo too, and he shuffled his feet uncertainly as he asked, "Um, who's he-"
In a blink of an eye, the zoroark was already bolting away before he could finish talking, spooked by whatever made the yells.
Poor Angelo was left whipping his head left and right. He contemplated his choices. Run after the zoroark that just left him, or take his chances with the unknown assailant that just scared said zoroark off? The zoroark hadn't been much of a help before though, so maybe he could try talking to the other-
"Hold it right there, you scumbag!" a voice roared.
He immediately made up his mind. "Wait for me!" Angelo cried out, running after the zoroark.
He ran blindly through the forest. Branches grazed him as he barely dodged trees. Halfway through, he realised that he has no idea where the zoroark went, but he was already too far to care. He had to find the zoroark. He was his only potential way out of this mess.
Thankfully, it seemed that Lady Luck was smiling down on him today. The next turn rewarded him with a snarl and a squeal of pain, and he saw the zoroark punt away a green-yellow blob. The zoroark's eyes widened upon seeing him, but Angelo didn't give him a chance to run, lunging forward and practically wrapping himself around his arm. "Take me with you!"
"What the f- Hey, get off!" He frantically shook his arm and shoved at his head, but to no avail. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Please don't leave me!" he pleaded, looking up at him with puppy eyes.
Amidst their chaos, another voice decided to join the fray. "There he is!"
The zoroark gaped at him. "You brought them here to me?!" he whispered furiously.
"Brought who?!"
The voice was getting nearer. "God damnit!" The zoroark bodily lifted him and pelted down a set of...stairs? Whatever it was, it was closed off as soon as he stopped running. The shouting was abruptly cut off, leaving a ringing silence as the duo tried to catch their breaths.
Angelo realises that he was still hanging onto Zoroark's arm. He flushed, letting go in a hurry. "Ah! S-sorry!"
"Bit too late for that now," he muttered, glaring daggers at him. "What the hell was that?"
"What... What do you mean?" he asked nervously.
"This!" He gestured at his arm. "'Take me with you'? What were you expecting me to do when you forced me to bring you along?"
"I didn't make you do anything!"
"You put me on a spot!" he shot back.
Angelo flinched at that, hanging his head plucking at his shirt. It was true that he did that to stop Zoroark from running, but...
Zoroark let out an aggravated sigh. "So you want me to drag you along." It wasn't a question.
He nodded hesitatingly. "P... Please help me! I... I don't kn-know where I a-am." Despite his best efforts, his voice cracked from the stress.
"You don't know where you are."
A nod, slightly more confident this time. "Y-yes. Please, I need to get to the nearest town, or somewhere safe, I can't stand this place, it feels weird..." He was rambling on and on. Zoroark couldn't get in a word edgewise until he closed the gap between them and physically grabbed his shoulder, finally quieting him down.
"So, you want me to help you." Zoroark seemed calm enough, despite the tight hold he had on his shoulder. Angelo nodded. "And what do I get out of this?"
...
Uh oh.
"I thought so," Zoroark said smugly. "Why should I go out of my way to help you?"
Why? Why? Multiple reasons ran through his mind, but they fell flat every time he saw Zoroark's widening smirk. He was right. Angelo didn't want to admit it, but he was right. Zoroark had no obligation to help him, and it was obvious from earlier that he was more than willing to ditch him in the middle of a forest. "But..."
"But nothing. I'm leaving." With those words, Zoroark turned and walked away from the silent boy. Angelo stared at him helplessly. The only help that he had come across didn't care about him, and was getting further and further away...
But then Zoroark stopped. He was glancing at Angelo over his shoulder, an unreadable expression on his face. What was he doing? He wasn't doing anything. As Angelo watched, Zoroark shook his head again and took a few more steps forward, but then paused. Different expressions flickered across his face, each one wilder than the next, until-
"Bah, FINE!" Zoroark stomped back to the stunned Angelo and snatched up his wrist before he could react. "I'll help you, if you'll just stop looking at me like that! Just... Just don't fall behind or I'll leave you for good!"
Angelo finally found his tongue as he stuttered out, "B-But why are you suddenly-"
Anger flared up in his eyes. "Ask anymore questions and I'll leave you," he growled out.
His mouth snapped shut with a tiny "eep".
Once he was sure that he wasn't going to talk again, Zoroark began leading (dragging) him forward, muttering all the while, "Jeez, this is a bad idea..."
Angelo found himself almost agreeing with him, but stopped. No, you need this, he told himself. Just for a little while, until you reach a town and find help...
=0=
"No, not here..."
Angelo barely managed to stifle a sigh when Zoroark backtracked around yet another corner. It had been only a few minutes, but the way his knees knocked against each other and his chest ached made it feel like they had been walking for hours at least.
"Wh...where are we g-going?" he panted.
"Finding the stairs, duh." Zoroark said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What stairs? This is a... forest!"
"All dungeons have stairs. You just gotta find it first."
What stairs?
As Angelo pondered over this with a frown, he failed to notice Zoroark shooting nervous glances all around him, ears twitching periodically. He raised a hand to wipe off the sweat on his forehead...
"SCREE!"
"Shi-!"
A large body suddenly slammed into his chest in a whirling of feathers and curses. Angelo was sent tumbling back a few feet and landed on his back, the wind knocked out of his lungs. Red splotches bloomed on his shirt, and Angelo stared dumbly at the three diagonal scratches stretching across his forearm...
"Run, idiot!" Zoroark screamed.
Another screech tore through the air, and Angelo's mind snapped back to reality, just in time to notice a ferocious-looking pidgeot in the act of diving towards him. He yelped and rolled away, narrowly avoiding its outstretched talons as it swooped up again. He scrambled to his feet.
A dark pulse of energy shot past its head. Zoroark swore. "Kid, keep it still!"
Keep it what?! Angelo froze in terror when the pidgeot focused on him again. It was going after him again! He frantically looked around for something that could possibly protect him...
A branch! It was about the length of his arm, and more importantly, looked sturdy enough to attack with. He didn't waste time thinking, he just snatched it up with his good arm and swung it around with all his might, just in time to catch its talons with it. They were locked in a stalemate for a few excruciating seconds: its wickedly sharp talons were mere inches away from his eyes, and his arm threatened to buckle under its strength.
I can't hold on! he immediately thought, gritting his teeth against the pain.
Just when he thought his arm was about to give out, the pidgeot was suddenly blasted away and the branch ripped from his hand, and it fell onto the ground with a thud.
It didn't move anymore.
Angelo released the breath he hadn't realised he had been holding in. That was...really scary...
"Hey, you okay?" Zoroark was already by his side looking him over. "Jeez, what a pain in the-"
Zoroark's eyes focused on him, and his words trailed off. "Uh, forget you heard anything. Anyway..."
He examined the scratches for a bit, and made an unconcerned noise, dropping his arm back down. "Eh, these don't look too deep. Or, you won't drop dead at least. Here, eat this and stick close to me."
Nothing about the blood in his shirt was "not too bad", but Angelo decided it wasn't a good time to bring it up when an oran berry was pressed into his hands.
Wait, oran berry? Angelo was mildly surprised that he could remember that too, as a common fact to boot. Was this a sign of his memories coming back? Or did he remember this all along? Weird...
He took a tentative nibble, then a bigger bite when he tasted the sweet flesh of it. Zoroark seemed to relax at that. "Come on, we have to get out of here fast," he said, grabbing his unscratched arm and pulling him along. Angelo opened his mouth, and he hastily added, "There's first aid at where we're going, so just keep quiet and walk!"
Angelo shut his mouth again. Zoroark was right. Unless he wanted to have a repeat of recent events, he shouldn't be holding Zoroark up so much, and he himself was banged up enough as it was. Just do as he says. Keep quiet. Keep walking. Try not to keel over.
By the time he had finished eating, he heard the exclamation of, "Oh thank god."
Angelo spotted the source of his relief: a set of stone stairs leading downwards. Looks like he wasn't hallucinating before. Not that this alternative was any better. "Hurry up, human," he hissed, giving a firm tug on his arm.
Angelo followed, the both of them carefully descending the stairs. All the while, Zoroark was muttering, "Please don't be there, please don't be there..."
Don't be there? Who was he talking about?
They emerged from the bottom of the stairs. Unlike before, the trees here were more sparse, scattered around them in a loose ring. Several colourful dots decorated the top, a sweet scent wafting down to them from above. Zoroark was scanning the area around them, face growing increasingly satisfied. "Good, looks like they didn't reach here yet. We just need to walk a little further, then we can bunk down for the night. Has to be somewhere nice and cosy..."
Angelo didn't bother answering. Wherever they went, as long as it was safe and pidgeot-free it was good by his book. He was thankful for the oran berry, of course; the bleeding was lessening and the ache in his chest had faded some, but he knew it wasn't going to be enough for the long run.
More time and walking passed, as they trekked their way out of the forest. Every noise and crunch made Angelo jump, and he half-expected every shadow to be another pidgeot to dive down from the tree tops. The complete opposite of Zoroark, who was the happiest he had been since he first met him. Angelo didn't know why; he couldn't hit the pidgeot without a child holding it still. He shouldn't be this relaxed!
Angelo was so preoccupied with watching out for his own safety, he didn't notice that the environment change until his foot struck a little pebble. He blinked. The towering trees were completely gone now, replaced by a bland, rocky terrain that stretched as far as he could see. Craggy formations were on either side, looking like silent, faceless golems. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could've sworn that a few of this rocks were moving...
Well, at least there shouldn't be any pidgeots here, right?
Right?
"There it is!"
Following Zoroark's claw, Angelo saw it: a little den in the side of the formation, partially hidden by some fallen rocks. "This should keep up warm for the night," he said, more to himself than to Angelo. Louder, he said, "Come on, let's hurry before your blood draws anyone to us. You're sticking out enough like a sore thumb as it is."
Angelo didn't know how serious Zoroark was about that, but he wasn't taking any chances. He quickened his pace, both of them hurrying to the den and ducking inside. It was rather small, and judging from the unmarked ground and unnerving silence, it had been deserted for quite some time. The ceiling barely brushed against the top of his head as he ducked in, as Zoroark muttered behind him, "I could've sworn it was bigger..."
"Are there any crazy Pokémon here?" Angelo asked worriedly, sinking down onto a rock slab.
"Crazy? Oh, you mean the rogue 'mons? Nah, they won't be here, they're usually only found in mystery dungeons. If someone attacks you while we're here, that means they're sane and would probably rip you throat out if they wanted to," he said casually, creeping closer to the back of the den, eyes darting around for any signs of life.
"What? Wait, wait! You're going too fast!" Mystery dungeon? Rogue Pokémon? What was he on about?
Zoroark rolled his eyes. "Humans," he said under his breath, before raising his voice, "I'll explain it to you later, if I feel like it. I need to prepare for tonight, before it gets too dark."
His words finally made Angelo realise that the sun was already sinking into the horizon, its orange rays sneaking into the den they were in and barely lighting it up. It was obvious that this wouldn't be the case soon. "Um... can I do something to help?" he asked.
"Stay out of my way." The curt reply made Angelo's hopeful expression droop. "I need to be careful out there, so there's no point dragging you around with me. Just stay here and rest, and don't come out to anyone else but me."
When Zoroark offered nothing beyond that, he leaned back with a huff. He hated that he was right. His legs were aching from the trek from the forest, and now that the adrenaline had worn off from the surprise attack, a stinging pain came from the scratches in bolts, and the sight of dried blood clinging onto his fingers made his stomach roil. At least the bleeding stopped. Unfortunately, there wasn't even a drop of water near them, he couldn't get rid of it.
Stay here and rest, huh? he thought, watching Zoroark shoulder his bag on as he walked out of the den without a backwards glance. Rest... sounds really nice now...
Stifling a yawn, Angelo curled up on the stoke slab. He would never in a million years thought of it as comfortable, but the moment he closed his eyes, a wave of exhaustion washed over him, and he gradually drifted off into a sound sleep.
=0=
Angelo woke up with a start.
He was lying flat on his back, staring up at the too close ceiling as he struggled to remember what was happening...
Oh yeah, he was sleeping. Had been. Mouth opening in a wide yawn, Angelo rolled onto his side, and he saw a piece of paper weighed down by an oran berry right in front of his face.
He stared at it for a solid minute, before realising who it could be from. Zoroark!
The heavy fog hanging in his head was chased away by this thought, and he hastily sat up to read what must be a note.
It wasn't long before he discovered another problem as he picked it and the berry up, however: dusk had turned to night since when he had fallen asleep. He brought it close to his face, squinting his eyes through the darkness as he attempted to make out the words...
... Or footprints? Angelo rubbed his eyes under the blindfold and squinted at it again. It was hard to tell in the darkness, but the squiggles looked suspiciously like Pokémon footprints... or maybe it was just the result it messy handwriting?
"I'm back!" He hastily stowed the more away when Zoroark's head poked in. Angelo could barely see him against the dark blanket of night, even when he squinted really hard. Only the moon's rays partially lighting him allowed Angelo to see him. Must be nice to have that kind of camouflage... "Jeez, you really can sleep when you want to, huh?"
He casually strolled into the den with a bunch of twigs and branches in one paw, and a bowl of sloshing water in the other. Immediately, Angelo was painfully aware of his dry, cracked lips. The twig pile was carelessly dropped onto the ground, kicking up a little dust cloud that made him hack and wheeze, and he carefully set the bowl next to him. "Wash yourself off, you look like crap."
The last comment stung, but it wasn't enough to dissuade him from eagerly scooping up handfuls of water and scrubbing off the dried blood and sticky oran berry juice. He also let a little water run down his wounds to wash out dirt, suppressing a wince as the sting returned with a vengeance.
While he was doing that, Zoroark was busy brushing away stray leaves and kicking aside loose pebbles. Angelo wasn't really interested at first, but his curiosity soon grew when he didn't stop until a wide circle was clear of trash. "Wh...what are you doing?"
"Making a fire," was his mumbled response. Zoroark stopped and surveyed the area, nodding to himself. "This should be good enough."
Angelo frowned. Zoroark didn't seem interested in talking to him, he didn't want to be with him at all. The way he acted didn't exactly scream "I care about this random child!". The opposite, really. That struck him as weird, since despite all that, he was still helping him for some reason. What was Zoroark's motive? What was he trying to accomplish here?
Zoroark has been gathering some dirt into the centre of the circle, forming a little platform. He had been laser focused on his task this whole time, but the longer he stared, the more his ears seem to twitch, and he kept his eyes bored on Zoroark until something in him snapped.
"What?!" he snarled through gritted teeth.
Angelo flinched, but he wasn't going to let himself back down now. "... Why are you helping me?" he asked.
Oops, maybe he should've rephrased that a little. Zoroark's expression was a mixture of anger and bafflement. "What the hell? What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.
He lifted his shoulder in a half-shrug. He already asked, why stop? "Why are you helping me?" Angelo repeated, voice barely above a whisper. "You haven't told me that yet."
"What, too hard to believe that I'm doing it out of the goodness of my heart?" Angelo didn't (dare to) respond, but the expression on his face said it all. Zoroark gave a loud snort. "Ouch. We just met, and you already think that little of me? Rich, coming out of a human."
He picked up the twig pile and began arranging it, rather haphazardly he noticed, on the dirt platform. "You being here is already going to rustle up the general public enough, if someone actually sees you-"
"What's so bad about that?" Angelo blurted out.
His paw stilled. "Excuse you?"
Oh no. What did he say? "I-I mean, humans and Pokémon are always together, right? What's so str-strange about that? We always lived and worked together-"
"Oh come on, don't go playing dumb!" he scoffed. "You got here yourself, you must've realised how 'mons react to humans like you. Or, well, with someone else," he amended after giving him a second look. "But my point still stands!"
Angelo stared at him in stunned silence. A certain phrase kept replaying itself in his head, something that made his heart sink to the pits despite not completely understanding it. "Wh-What do you mean by "humans like me"? You make it sound like I'm the only human here." He gave a nervous laugh, more to soothe his own nerves than anything.
But Zoroark didn't laugh. Tossing the last twig into the pile, he twisted around to shoot him a toothy grin that he didn't like. "Wait. Wait. Wait wait wait. Don't tell me you don't know?" he asked, voice full of amusement and incredulity.
Angelo's resolve faltered slightly. "Don't... Don't know what?"
"That," Zoroark leaned forward, head on his paws and smirk stretched from ear to ear, "humans don't live here."
He clearly dragged that out fishing for a reaction, eyes scanning Angelo's face. And it worked beautifully. "Huh?! Humans-humans-hu-"
Multiple emotions ran though Angelo's mind: shock, denial, anger, confusion. His mouth opened and closed wordlessly. He struggled to find words that could express the whirlwinds of screaming thoughts rampaging inside him. What-That's- There's no way! He's lying! He has to be! A land with no humans. Only Pokémon. A land with no one that can help him except for the jerk laughing at him now.
"Jeez, chill out, will you?" Zoroark snickered, clearly ignorant of the internal crisis Angelo was having right now all thanks to him. He gave the silent boy a friendly shove on the shoulder. "It's not as bad as it sounds, okay? I didn't say humans are completely non-existent. They're just non-existent here."
Angelo shoved the paw off and turned away from him.
Zoroark just snickered, and he returned to his half-made campfire, digging through his bag. "Come on, don't be such a downer, human. I already said that I'll take you back, didn't I?"
"... My name's not 'human'."
"What was that?"
"My name's not 'human'," he sniffed. It was stupid, harping on something so trivial. But it was still a welcome distraction from the emotional bomb Zoroark just dropped on him.
He rolled his eyes. "Well, fine, then what is your name?" he said, voice absolutely dripping with disinterest.
"... Angelo."
"Angelo, huh? Weird name."
His face turned sullen. "Then what about you?" he shot back.
"Me?" Zoroark tilted his head in thought. "Uh, you can call me Zoroark, I guess."
"Zoroark?" he echoed. "That's your name?" Well, he was kinda already referring to him by that name all this time, so it wasn't a big deal, but really?
"That's right." A few more muttered words, and Zoroark straightened. "I don't have anymore blast seeds? Ah well, doesn't matter."
He looked like he was bracing himself something, but then Zoroark hesitated. "Uh, you might want to stand back for this."
For what? Angelo complied, scooting back a few inches while keeping his eyes trained on Zoroark. It was soon clear what he was trying to accomplish: he took a deep breath, and a frighteningly huge column of fire spewed from his mouth and hit the twig pile. He pressed his back against the wall, as far from it as possible. From the intensity of the flames, he had expected the pile to just straight up disintegrate, but the previously dead pile was turned into a pleasantly crackling fire. "W-woah..." he breathed out.
It didn't go unnoticed. "Impressive, huh?" he preened, completely misunderstanding his reaction. "You're welcome, by the way."
Zoroark sat down next to it, rifling through his bag. Angelo stayed where he was. He looked up, raising an eyebrow. "You gonna come here or what?"
Angelo gave a start. He hastily hobbled over, easing himself onto the ground next to him. "Jeez, you really got beat up, huh?" Zoroark started casually, picking up a yellow seed and tossing it back into the bag. "You still look like crap, by the way."
He pouted. "I don't look that bad..."
"So, you gonna tell me how this happened?" he continued, ignoring Angelo.
"... Um, you know. Those crazy Pokémon."
"Crazy Pokémon?" Zoroark repeated. "That's it?"
He nodded rapidly. It was an impulse decision, keeping his amnesia a secret, but he had a nagging feeling that carelessly sharing this information would turn out bad for him. Maybe. Better safe than sorry, at least, until he could find someone that recognised him...
Zoroark obviously still had some doubts, but thankfully, he dropped it. Unfortunately, it was for another question. "So what's with the blindfold?"
Oh. That. "It, um... helps me see?"
Angelo immediately realised how stupid it sounded coming out of his mouth. The look he was giving him didn't help. "The blindfold. Helps you see."
"... Yes?" he said meekly.
"The blindfold helps you see," he repeated, ignoring him. "The blindfold helps you see? The blindfold... I don't flipping believe it."
Then before he could react, Zoroark reached over and pulled it off in one swift motion. Everything vanished from his eyes and he yelped out loud. "Hey, give that back!"
He lunged forward in Zoroark's general direction, hands sweeping widely for his blindfold. Arms suddenly wrapped around him and yanked him backwards, and Angelo squawked and twisted around, blindly smacking whatever he could touch. "Hey, stop squirming, you- Gah! That was my ribs!"
The blindfold was wrestled back over his eyes. His vision suddenly came flooding back, and Angelo blinked a few times as his mind was trying to process what just happened. He somehow ended up on his back with Zoroark next to him, breathing heavily. He was unceremoniously shoved aside as Zoroark brushed himself off, glaring at him. "Well, sorry for being curious," he muttered under his breath, glaring at him as he rubbed his side ruefully.
Angelo adjusted the blindfold (can he really call it a blindfold at this point? He didn't know). It was so jarring, having his sight so vulnerable to being taken away in one swipe, like how Zoroark so generously demonstrated. But he just had to get used to it...
Zoroark was clutching his abdomen, wincing in pain. "Did you really have to do that?" he groaned. "I wasn't trying to hurt you."
"Easy for you to say," he groused.
"What? I wasn't! You were going into the fire, for god's sake! You're really blind without that, aren't you!"
Both of them fell into a grumpy silence, Zoroark nursing (non-existent) injuries and Angelo plucking at the fabric. Without his constant talking, the crackle of burning wood had turned oddly tranquil and soothing. The warmth from the fire chased away any chill the night air induced, light dancing across the walls of the den. Shadows bent in weird, grotesque shapes that he found mesmerising, because there was absolutely nothing to do except to talk to the jerk and he didn't want to do that yet.
His mind wandered again. It drifted back to the moment he received an oran berry. He could instantly identify what it was... the same thing happened with Zoroark and the crazy pidgeot, Angelo realised. He could immediately tell what species they were, just as easily as he could tell that the sky was blue. Even the concept of humans and Pokemon seemed to be the norm to him. His heart lightened at that thought; was his memories really returning...?
He tried to recall... and slumped. It was useless, he could still remember nothing about himself. But frustratingly, he could still identify the various Pokémon he saw today: the yellow-green lump that was probably a sewaddle, the flying Pokémon that seemed to be pidgeys, the geodudes they woke up on the way ...
But what was the point of this useless trivia if he couldn't even remember anything else?! Angelo bit his lip, choking back a yell of frustration.
He was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn't notice Zoroark moving until something was nudged into his hands. Angelo looked down, and there was another oran berry sitting in his hands.
"Eat that and hit the hay," Zoroark said shortly, avoiding his gaze. "We'll be up and going first thing tomorrow, so you'll need the energy."
"... Thank you," Angelo mumbled, biting into the berry.
Zoroark muttered something back, probably something not too pleasant, as he scarfed down an apple. Eventually, the uncomfortable silence lightened into something... not companiable, but it got Angelo contented enough to curl up next to the fire and soak up the warmth of the fire. With nothing occupying his attention, his mind soon drifted to what they were going to do tomorrow. Zoroark brought him to the "nearest" town supposedly with humans, and then... what? He would go around asking other people, "Hey, do you know me?" He'd get tossed into the loony bin faster than he can say "help!".
Would there be a police force there? Or some sort of authority figure? There has to be... maybe he could get their help? Even a little prod in the direction would be wonderful.
Maybe this will turn out to be a bad dream, he thought glumly.
Angelo polished off the berry and washed up at the basin. He returned to his spot next to the fire, back towards the wall. He stared at the dancing flames slowly eating through the bits of wood. He stared... he stared... and his eyelids started to droop, and his mouth opened in a wide yawn.
"Hurry up and go to sleep," came Zoroark's muffled voice.
For once, he wasn't going to argue with that. Gradually, his breathing slowed, his eyelids drifted close, and he soon lost himself to deep, restful sleep...
=0=
A/N: So how was it? The most I've written for a PMD first chapter, and it's just going to get bigger over time. Better or worse? Not too sure, to be honest, but I'd love to hear your opinions! See you next time!
Edit: Jesus Christ so many typos. Sorry about that everybody.
