He woke up to the warm rays of a rising sun and found a set of crystalline, aquamarine eyes staring back at him.
Morning sleeping beauty, came Zoroark's cheeky greeting.
N stared blankly at his friend, feeling the warmth of the sun's rays on his face and the melodious cries of the rising bird Pokemon.
"Morning," he said as he stretched his arms and began to yawn, only to stop abruptly.
Morning…?
Hastily he scrambled to his feet and stared outside of the cove with a dumbfounded expression on his face. He turned towards the fox-like Pokemon with a petulant look. "Zoroark, why didn't you wake me?"
Because I'm tired of travelling across the regions in the dark, Zoroark complained. Just because I'm a dark-type, it doesn't mean that I want to do everything in the dark. And only dear Arceus would know that you need to see the sunlight every once in a while; I mean really, you're so pale that even I'm disgusted by it.
N sighed and turned back to the inside of the sea cove, sweeping away the remnants of last night's fire and began to gather his belongings.
Dread settled in the pit of his stomach when the realization that they would have to travel in the daylight hit him.
Zoroark seemed to sense N's trepidation but said nothing.
Throughout the day, N constantly kept to the shadows of the forests, blatantly refusing to take the main roads. He walked at a brisk pace— so fast at times, that Zoroark would occasionally nip his hand to force him to slow down and relax. Needless to say, they were completely exhausted by the time night fell.
As he stoked the fire, he could feel Zoroark's scrutinizing gaze on him, but he refused to say anything until his friend initiated the conversation. He worked in silence for a while.
N.
He kept his eyes on the wavering flames. "What is it?"
You've been acting strange lately; especially today. Whenever we see a trainer on the roads you flinch and recoil, acting as if they were going to turn around and bite your head off. And Arceus, the sunlight! Don't get me going on about the sunlight. I mean really, N, the looking at the sun isn't going to kill you. But you never act this way whenever we travel at night. So why are you so afraid to travel during the day?
N stilled for a long moment. He hesitated telling the truth to even his closest friend—but he had always told Zoroark the truth, so why was he so afraid to tell him now? Perhaps it was because of the fact that the reason for his fear was so shameful and cowardly. After long deliberation, N relented.
"Because I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what I will see once I step out into the light; I'm afraid of the truth that it will bring."
You can't always hide in the dark, N, chided Zoroark. The darkness won't always obscure the truth for you.
"But still…," N mumbled to himself, "It's still so difficult for me."
What truth are you even trying to run from?
And for once in his life, N didn't have an answer.
