Fen had only thrown the seed about 10 paces from the two fallen Pokémon, but that was as far as he could manage. He staggered over to them before dropping onto all fours.

He felt like someone had taken his body and violently wrung it out until there was nothing left but a lifeless pile of fur and bones. And all because he'd fallen into a river. It had become painfully clear that as robust as he usually was, and as fast as he could recover from injuries, when it came to water he was as fragile as glass. I'll be more careful next time, was what he wanted to tell himself. Really though, the grey Pokémon had sensed and exploited his weakness before he could do anything about it.

The grey 'mon was still paralysed from the seed hit. Despite knowing the seed's purpose, seeing it in action so brutally had stunned Fen a little, too. Fen hadn't watched much of her and Ryu's fight, but he had seen what mattered. Ryu was breathing shallowly now, his tail swaying very slightly, but his eyes were closed.

All Fen had in his hand was the seed pouch; he had left the rest of their bag on the bank, where Ryu had flung it off just before pulling him from the river. Fen couldn't take his attention off the grey 'mon, so any oran berries would have to wait for now. He cursed his stupidity; he needed one as much as Ryu did.

Abrupt stabs of motion began returning to the grey Pokémon's body, first in her head, then her limbs and tail. Fen knew he needed to speak and tried to keep his voice steady, which was made more difficult by his constant shivering.

"We have more seeds like that one," he said slowly. "If you try hurting either of us again, I'll use them." He hoped the grey 'mon would take his words seriously given his obvious exhaustion. He couldn't have looked much less intimidating.

It turned out not to be an issue. Once she had regained movement, the grey 'mon stood in a defensive pose, paws close to her body. Like him, she shivered slightly and her eyes, previously so intense and full of anger, were wide and fearful. Her transformation was startling, and Fen had no idea how to respond. Luckily, she answered for him.

"I won't hurt you again," she agreed, almost stuttering. "But that thing you threw… how could you have known…"

"Known what…?" Fen asked hesitantly. Inside, he was bursting with relief at her first statement; he still felt terrified of her. "It's… just a stun seed."

The Pokémon considered his answer for a while. She shook herself, and when she was still again most of the fire in her expression had returned. "Forget it. You're… just a lost, memory-bare human. What do you want with me?"

Fen was stunned for a moment, but just managed to conceal his surprise. She was wary enough of their seeds to do whatever he would ask of her. He couldn't lose this chance! "I just want to know who you are. How you ended up here. Could you tell us that?"

The Pokémon scowled. "What good is a story like that to you?"

"It might help me," Fen said. "Might help us both. But I won't know until you say."

She looked at Fen then with such a burning hatred that, were it not for his bag of seeds, he knew she would happily toss him in the river again.

"Does the name Zorua mean anything to you?" she said eventually.

It had a trace of familiarity to Fen, but he couldn't recall any concrete facts about the name. He shook his head.

"Well, that's what I am. Our species line can create illusions, obviously. No-one here seems aware that we exist."

"So… you weren't born in Kyunn?" Fen asked. "Where are you from? A place where humans lived?"

She gave him another withering look. It was a stupid question, Fen reflected. He quickly tried another tack. "How did you… get captured by them?"

"One day I was out exploring, as I always did," the Zorua said. "Then suddenly a bunch of humans turned up, surrounded me and… somehow put me to sleep."

Fen frowned. "Where did they take you?"

She thought for a second. "This horribly bright room. Humans were everywhere, and dozens of weird devices. I tried to escape at first, I was desperate. But they had ways to stop me. They would grab hold of me and press this thing on my chest–" She paused, eyes darting briefly to the seed pouch. "I was there for a while."

Fen suddenly felt hugely sorry for the Zorua. She had lost everyone she knew and been thrust into a totally alien environment… almost like what had happened to him. But no, what she'd described was far worse, and those experiences clearly still haunted her. To find a way out of that situation, as he assumed she must have done, meant she had an incredible will.

But, on the other hand… she'd pushed him, a Fire Pokémon, into a river! If Ryu hadn't been there to rescue him… Fen didn't want to think about how he might've ended up. How the Zorua then attacked Ryu was just as bad. Whatever might have happened to her, he couldn't justify those actions.

"Do you know why you were captured?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered. "Those scum were trying to study my abilities. I'm not sure how they knew about my illusions, but while I never fully understood their language, I knew that was what they wanted me to do. I never obliged, though."

It would make sense for humans to want to research a rare species. But what she was describing… it made Fen queasy to consider. Were other rare Pokémon species treated so brutally in this place? And why hadn't she been released when it became clear that she wasn't going to cooperate? Fen wondered how he would have responded in the Zorua's position; he couldn't see himself taking such a determined stance. I don't even want to imagine that scenario, though…

"I assume you found a way to escape?" Fen asked. The Zorua grunted an agreement.

"So… how?"

"It was pretty simple," the Zorua said. "I disguised myself as one of the humans. That lasted up until I had to smash through this glass wall to the exit. After that, I had no idea where they'd taken me, where my old home was; all I did was run as far as possible."

"But you're here, now," Fen said, frowning. "How? There aren't any humans in Kyunn."

"No," she agreed. "I managed to steal a ride off a Flyer to get across the sea." When Fen looked promptingly at her, she snapped, "Does this detail really matter to you?"

"It might," Fen replied firmly.

She grunted, then paused for what felt like minutes, surely just to irritate him, before explaining. "There was a Pidgeot. It was gathering its young to migrate for the winter. One of the Pidgey injured its wing, so instead of flying with the rest of them, its mother was going to carry it. I incapacitated the Pidgey when no one was watching, then took on its appearance and took its place. Then, when I saw this island in sight, I gave the mother a little bite to make it descend. But then the other Pidgey realised something was up, so… I had to swim the last stretch to get here." She raised an eyebrow. "Happy?"

Although the answer didn't help himself at all, Fen was lost for words. This Zorua was extraordinary. She had no thresholds for when it came to getting what she wanted. Terrifying, but… determined. That was the word he kept coming back to.

He wanted conformation of one more thing. "So, the reason you attacked me in the first place was because you thought I was looking for you?"

Another grunt. "It's a long way from my old region, and I know none of your scum live here, but I heard you mention them and thought they might have somehow found a way to capture me – even through a 'mon. Turns out I was wrong. But believe me, human," she hissed at him, suddenly aggressive, "I don't care who you are – I'm not sorry for anything I did. Thanks to your kind, I'll never see my home, my parents, ever again. You destroyed my life forever. And you're just as bad as any of them."

"But I'm not like them!" Fen said defiantly, hurt. "I would never harm another Pokémon like that! Never!"

She ignored his answer, starting to walk away. "I've told you everything you wanted. If I ever–"

"Wait!" Fen exclaimed again, suddenly getting an idea. "One more question… do you know the name of the place you came from?"

The Zorua looked resentfully at him, but she didn't move any further. "Only the human one," she said. "I can't say it properly."

"Say it how you can."

She paused, seemed to shake her head in disgust at him, but then screwed her face up and made a strangled, two-syllabled noise. It sounded a bit like "Hoy-en" to Fen, though was nothing like anything he'd heard a Pokémon say.

Still, the word sparked something inside of him. "Hoy-en..." A human word, the name of a region. It did seem familiar, somehow… almost like...

"Hoenn," he said out loud. Hoenn. Hoenn! That's… that's where I lived before, I know it! Hoenn… that means that me and the Zorua–

He looked up to speak to her, but she wasn't in front of him. He looked around frantically, then cried her name. Nothing. She had vanished.

What he did see was Ryu's body, still unmoved and still barely conscious. He'd completely forgotten the Riolu. Fen dragged himself over to their bag as fast as he could, fished out an oran berry and slashed a third off it by extending one of his claws.

He nudged Ryu's arm, who lifted his head weakly. Despite Ryu's state, a look of intense craving entered his eyes the moment he saw the berry, and Fen couldn't hand the larger piece over fast enough. Ryu devoured it in seconds, then moaned in what sounded like relief. He silently raised at paw at Fen, who gladly took it as an 'ok' signal, or a thumbs up without thumbs.

His piece of the berry did not quite fill him with energy again, but it warmed his insides, and his coldness mercifully began to fade.

Still, too much had happened for him to relax. Hoenn. It was like when he'd remembered his name. He knew he came from Hoenn, but the word alone didn't trigger anything else; no landmarks, town names, personal memories… nothing. He wouldn't even know where to find the region in relation to Kyunn. He also knew from experience that trying to get anything more from his memory would be futile, and resisted the urge to scream in frustration.

Then he thought more about the Hoenn-like word the Zorua had said. Why had she been unable to?

Fen tried to hear the word 'Hoenn' in his head, as a human would pronounce it. He felt like he could manage that. With that sound in mind, he opened his mouth and tried to recreate it… but all that came out was a similar strangled noise to the Zorua's.

Rather unsettled, he then said "Hoenn" out loud like how he had the first time, without paying attention to how it sounded. It was easy, and sounded right to him. But it wasn't the same word.

Suddenly, the answer hit him. Of course; when Pokémon speak to each other, it's in growls and grunts and things. They just can't make the sounds that the human language does. So, everything I've heard other Pokémon say, and everything I've said, is in their kind of language! I guess my brain can translate my human thoughts into this Pokémon speak…

His heart sunk as he realised something else. But then… I'm just like any other Pokémon. I can't speak to humans. If I was to meet one now, even if I could understand them, I'd just appear to be an ordinary Pokémon…

No more positive was the fact that the Zorua seemed the only 'mon he'd met – and may ever meet from this island – who might be able to help him recovery his memories. Not only did she hate him, she had disappeared – and with her abilities, finding her again seemed an impossible task. If that plan was a no-go, the only other option was to continue what him and Ryu had been doing; looking for an Absol. In terms of recovering his memories it didn't offer much hope by comparison, but it was better than nothing.

Fen realised the sun had already faded. He looked over at Ryu and saw him sitting up, head facing the ground so his expression was hidden. Noticing a movement, his head flicked up at Fen for a split second before withdrawing again.

"Ryu, are yo–"

"I'm fine, 'mon," Ryu interrupted, still looking down. "I know you wanna get to the shelter. Let's go." He made no comment about the odd sounds Fen had just been making, nor the Zorua at all.

Maybe he was just in a questioning mood, but Fen found himself pondering Ryu's words again as they walked. It was strangely perceptive of Ryu to know that his second thought, beyond asking if he was okay, was that he wanted to get back under the cover of their tree. And this wasn't the first time Ryu miraculously seemed to sense his feelings or thoughts. Granted, some occasions Fen could understand. When he lied to Taluk about the Zorua for instance, since he hated lying and knew he was bad at it. But just now, Ryu had glanced at him for a split second… and yet knew perfectly what was on his mind. Wasn't that a little too good?

It also occurred to him that Ryu hadn't pulled this trick, if that's what he could call it, on anyone else they'd met so far. Not even slightly. That puzzled him even more.

"Ryu?" Fen said, as they started a slow walk back into the trees. The Riolu led the way in front, apparently able to see in the dark. He grunted in response.

Fen opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't think of a good way to ask the question, 'have you been reading my mind?' Given Ryu's mood, he worried how the Riolu might respond, regardless of how correct his suspicions were. So the question hung in the air, until Ryu glanced over his shoulder expectantly.

"...It's nothing," Fen muttered eventually. He would bring it up another time.

Neither of them slept well that night. In Fen's case it wasn't due to mulling over his memories, but that his mind seemed intent on replaying the moments he was tossed into the river, over and over. He could only try and console himself with what Cyan had told him about water; the more exposure he had, the greater a resistance he could build up.

I've had some exposure, all right, he thought.

Ryu woke up with his eyes an even brighter shade of red than usual. He complained that it had been too hot to sleep, and a faint ring of shedded blue fur around where he'd been lying seemed to prove it. Fen thought the temperature was fine but, as Ryu pointed out, that was what any Fire would think.

Aside from that and the occasional comments on their fights, Ryu hardly said a word for the rest of their forest trawl. Not that it affected much; he kept up as fast a walking pace as ever, despite Fen seeing his face and paws getting increasingly damp with sweat as the heat continued.

From the afternoon the forest's vegetation gradually started thinning out, and finally ended at the bottom of a moss-covered hill. When they scaled this, the sudden view of Ractyl's Belt took Fen by surprise.

The mountain range was huge, with peaks in the distance stretching far beyond what he could make out from their viewpoint. Some mountains were low enough to still be decorated with plant-life, while higher, sharper peaks further away bore only a bleak greyness. Though it looked an intimidating place to climb, at the prospect of taking it on excited Fen.

He could make out miniscule Pokémon figures all over the mountains, and he blinked when a couple of white 'mon appeared to disappear inside a large rock. Ryu duly explained that many species made their homes inside such spaces for warmth and safety, including his own family. When Fen asked how Pokémon could get food from such a high altitude, Ryu sighed and reminded him that Rock and Steel 'mon could live entirely off the rocks and iron present on the mountains.

The contrast between this place and Sanguin Town could hardly be greater, he thought. Although, a wild mountain range is more what I'd expect from a solely Pokémon island.

Their first challenge was to navigate a lake that stretched as wide as the mountain range itself and measured at least 20 metres in length. This too should've looked beautiful, with the evening sun creating an orange tint on the water's surface, but Fen didn't feel very appreciative of its existence.

Ryu assured him that many Fires had been through Ractyl's Belt before, and there was an easily accessible crossing over the lake. That only convinced Fen until he was close enough to see what Ryu meant; a set of unevenly square rocks, designed to be stepping stones, floating in a rough line across the water.

He was even less confident upon seeing a couple of blue Water Pokémon burst out of the water to their left, snapping and spewing water at each other before crashing back under.

Fen looked wide-eyed at Ryu. "Please tell me that's not going to happen to us?"

Ryu shrugged it off. "They're probably just fighting for the same prey. They won't attack us if we stay out of their territory. Just don't fall in the water and you'll be fine."

Fen sighed. How reassuring. "Alright. Let's get this over with."

He stepped onto the first stone, which didn't move under his weight. That's good… just keep moving, and don't think about the water below... The next stone was too far for his legs to reach so he jumped towards it, very careful not to underestimate his trajectory like he had done before. The jump seemed to almost take him further in height than in distance, but he landed without a problem, pleased that his toes instinctively clawed into the rock for grip. The rest of the stones were of a similar distance, which he quickly got used to.

But as he prepared to jump the third-last stone, a sudden gust of wind caught him in the air, knocking his tiny body off balance. He squealed in panic as his left foot landed heavily on the edge of the stone, then buckled under his body weight. Falling on his stomach, both his legs crashed into the water before he could rebalance himself. Ryu arrived behind him a moment later, hitting the stone with virtually no impact at all, and helped him back to his feet.

The stinging pain of water frustrated Fen more than anything, an emotion he was becoming familiar with. He wished he didn't have to rely on Ryu so much.

"Two more stones, 'mon," Ryu had to shout above the howling wind that had picked up. The flat lake left them completely exposed to it. "I'll jump straight after you."

Fen gave him a thumbs up in response, not seeing the value in opening his mouth. At first Ryu looked back at him in bewilderment, but he seemed to get the message.

He slanted his next jump slightly rightwards to account for the gale and landed stably enough, though Ryu still helped balance him. The final leap took them back to solid ground, but Ryu had already started running ahead before Fen could relax. Ryu mouthed 'shelter' and gestured wildly for him to follow.

In the five minutes it took to find a smashable rock, a thrashing rain started falling and even a murmuring of thunder crackled in the distance. They threw themselves under the cover, neither holding any restraint in shaking themselves dry. Hearing the rain clatter their hollow rock was even more deafening than being outside, so they didn't bother speaking. It was getting dark anyway; all they could do was try and sleep.

As Fen was drifting out of consciousness, he felt the emotions again.

Fear and panic assaulted his mind, making him instinctively flee from their rock, only to yelp and scramble back when he was pummelled by rain and wind. The storm outside was still raging.

He got as far back into the rock as he could and shook himself. For the second day in a row he felt an unfamiliar coldness settling on him.

He realised then, seeing through the small light of his tail flame that Ryu was staring wide eyed at him. Though Fen wasn't sure if it needed explanation, he simply said "It happened again," as loud as he could. Ryu nodded without a word.

Like in the previous attacks, Fen's head was pounding, and it hurt even more when he tried to curl up and keep still, the opposite of how his body wanted to respond. He screwed his eyes shut. If anyone's listening to me, he thought desperately, if these attacks are supposed to be some kind of message, then… I get it, okay?! Something bad, something fearful is happening… just please, Arceus, make these things stop! I don't know if I can take much more...

Feeling an unexpected heat against his side, he opened his eyes and blinked. Ryu had come to lie next to him, wrapping an arm around his back. Ryu's body warmth spread to him quickly, bringing a wave of calm over his body. He felt better almost immediately. Even his headache started receding.

He wanted to say thanks, but Ryu had already closed his eyes, and Fen got the sense that he wouldn't be opening them until morning. So, in the only other way he could show gratitude, Fen followed his behaviour and tried, once again, to get some sleep. This time it was successful.

It was to Fen's relief that the morning greeted him with quietness. He'd hoped for the storm to end quickly, since the first two they'd known had behaved as such.

When he stepped out of the shelter though, it wasn't what he expected. For a start, the grass was absolutely soaked, pools of water gathering in some areas. The sky wasn't clear and sunny like it usually had been post-storms, but grey with clouds. A dense fog of the same hue hung in the air.

To escape the wet he jumped on top of their rock, which was less damp, and found Ryu already there, eating a berry.

"Looks like the storm lasted most of the night," Fen observed.

"Looks like it," Ryu muttered, gazing absently into the distance.

"The previous ones seemed to clear much faster. I wonder if there's any reason why?"

Ryu only grunted in response, as he had done to a number of Fen's recent dialogues. Even if the question was rather unanswerable, his continual miserableness was worrying. Ryu was normally so enthusiastic about their adventuring… what could have changed? Fen expected that being defeated by the Zorua like Ryu had been would have hurt him, but that had been over a day ago. And those events had barely been brought up since.

Ryu had their map rolled up next to him. Fen took a look at it, using the clear drawings of cheri berries in the nearby forest as a reference for where they were now.

"So, the path Faoz drew takes us through this mountain range, coming out at a path leading to Arkan," he said. "Is the compass still in the bag? Then we could see what direction we need to head, and…"

He trailed off as Ryu didn't seem to be listening, still gazing ahead. His paws were shaking slightly. Fen tried a different approach.

"Look, Ryu, I can see something's bothering you. I… I don't want a cloud hanging over us all day, so if there's something I've been doing wrong, or anything I can do to help you, then–"

"It's nothing to do with you," Ryu interrupted. "This is my fault."

He finally turned his head around, and Fen saw his face looking even more sleep deprived than yesterday. "I've been keeping things from you, Fen. I've lied to you about a lot of stuff. About why I was out here in the first place."

Fen stared at him in disbelief. "You've lied?"

"You couldn't have known," Ryu went on, voice quavering, "because I lied to myself too… convincing myself that what I'd done could be justified, even though it that was impossible…"

He suddenly lashed out in anger with one of his feet, hitting their rock with a crunch. Thin pieces of debris flew off, but the kick seemed to harm Ryu more, judging by his wincing.

"Can you… explain what it is?" Fen asked hesitantly. He didn't know what else to say.

"I have to, now," Ryu said miserably. He had a moment's rest, took a few gulps of water, then spoke again. "Do you remember at Mt. Horizon, I told you about why I was out here, travelling by myself?"

"Yeah…" Fen thought back. "You said you lived with your family on a mountain. You always wanted to fight and explore, but your parents wanted you to help out collecting food and things?"

Ryu nodded. "That's… mostly true. I was annoyed by how they always wanted me to help out with the family, like looking after the younger 'mon or getting supplies. More important to me than just fighting, though, was everything surrounding evolution. I know you asked me about it before, but… I lied then about how much importance it has to me."

He rubbed his face with his paws. "The thing is… as long as I'm this tall, with only little bumps on my wrists, there's a limit to how strong I can be. Most 'mon evolve whenever their body knows its limit, but I don't. There's a secret to it that my parents know but refused to tell me, and I've been trying for so long to figure it out. I trained myself at fighting as much as I could. Some days I'd be out from dawn till dusk around the mountains, fighting until I could barely stand, but no matter how hard I tried I never felt anything different. All it did was make my parents mad since I had jobs to be doing, and… well, we never had a good relationship from then.

"I eventually figured that my evolution couldn't be purely due to fighting, because I should have reached that point by now; and why wouldn't I get told if it was so simple? But despite that, whenever I lose any fight a part of me wonders if that was my big chance to evolve, that it'll be another, I don't know, ten moons until I get another one. Or that I might never get another one. Especially since the fight with the Dark. What she did… it made me feel so useless. There's no way someone that weak deserves to evolve."

Fen had never suspected Ryu could be hurting so much. He felt ashamed for it. "Why is evolution so important to you?" he asked. "Just so you can be stronger?"

"That's part of it," Ryu said. "I mean, that's the appeal for everyone. I love fighting, and I love figuring out ways I can be better at it. But also… there are things that I'm scared of. Ghosts. That feeling of absolute fear is what I hate the most… it makes me do all kinds of stupid stuff that I regret. I don't want to ever feel like that. I know that Lucario can harness Steel techniques alongside my Fighter ones, as well as everything they can do with aura… so if I evolved, I'd be able to attack those Ghosts properly. That's the real reason, I guess…" He let out a hmph. "It's pathetic, I know. Not wanting to be scared of anything."

At that moment, Fen wished more than anything that he could help Ryu out, to stop his personal torment. But as far as solving the mystery to Ryu's evolution was concerned, he felt as powerless as the Riolu did.

"What led to you leaving your family?" Fen asked.

"Well, I lied about persuading my parents to let me leave," Ryu said. "I'd tried persuading them before to let me explore alone for a few days or something, but they'd always said no. The last day I was at home, m-my dad had sent me to gather some food from down the mountain, and I was really annoyed with him since I was always doing that job, and I wanted to go exploring instead... and I was frustrated as ever with not being able to evolve. I argued against him really strongly, saying he wasn't being fair to me because I was the eldest, but he wasn't listening, and I f-felt so angry with him, I just… I just…!"

He couldn't seem to bring himself to utter the last words. "I lost control," he murmured. "I scratched him. A bit like what I did to you in the forest the day we met, but worse. I swore, too… threw as many words at him as I could in my rage. I said things I didn't mean, about how I wanted nothing to do with him and our family… Mew, it was awful. I've never snapped at anyone like that."

Fen felt surprised at how much Ryu had built up the event. Didn't everyone argue with their parents? And didn't Pokémon fight each other all the time? Maybe Ryu had said some regrettable things, but… it couldn't be that bad, could it? He carefully raised these thoughts.

"You don't understand, Fen," Ryu sighed. His voice was a whisper. "Our species, since we're quite scarce to begin with, we're incredibly protective of our own kind, our family. That means you have to respect each other, especially your elders. I can fight my siblings, sure, but to go and attack my own father in the way that I did… it's totally unforgivable. And as soon as I did it, I realised how bad a mistake it was. I was terrified about what was going to happen to me. The worst punishment I had was when I was out too late and had to sleep outside overnight... when I got back I had to stay indoors for a whole day, pretty much starved of food too. Maybe my dad would have done that to me for several days… maybe he would have forgiven me, I don't know. At that moment there was only one idea in my head I could see. I told you about how I run when I'm scared, didn't I?"

Fen nodded.

"That's what I did. I grabbed a bag we used to collect food and water, then ran. I ran away from home." Ryu paused after those words, arms trembling. "I ran away, Fen!" he repeated tearfully. "I just… I just don't have a home anymore!"

Fen couldn't take it any longer. He put his arms around Ryu before the Riolu could say no. Thankfully, Ryu did not pull away from him, and after a few seconds tentatively moved his arms to fulfil his side of the hug.

Then he did pull away, a little calmer, and spoke again. "As much as I talk down on them… my family mean so much to me. Like I said, I left them on my own. Before we met, I was completely on my own. So I need to go back and apologise. I don't know if they'll forgive me, but… I have to try. I can't bear this much guilt."

Fen waited a moment before asking, as sympathetically as he could, "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"Because… I wanted to look like I knew what I was doing, I guess." Ryu looked puzzled by the question. "I'm not sure why. I thought that if I'd told you the truth then you might have a bad opinion of me, and…." He trailed off.

"You know," Fen said, "you could have told me practically anything back then and I would've followed you. I was completely reliant on you."

"But I didn't even want to travel with anyone," Ryu said. "Not to begin with, anyway... I wanted to go it alone. Then you showed up, and… in the state you were in, I couldn't really leave you behind. Even though you basically tagged yourself along…

"W-wait!" Ryu yelped suddenly, before Fen had even opened his mouth. "No, I don't mean it like that… I'm different to how I was then! I would never think of leaving you behind now!"

"Ryu, it's okay," Fen said, slightly taken aback by the Riolu's panic. "I understand exactly what you mean. But really, I don't care how you felt about it then… all I know is that, from the moment we met, you've given me more help that I could ever possibly hope to repay you for. I can hardly express how grateful I am for it all."

Ryu took a while to reply. He seemed so pained that Fen could hardly bear looking at him. "I don't deserve that, but… okay."

Fen's chest loosened, but only a little. He tried another approach. "Are we close to your home from here?"

"Well… no," Ryu mumbled. "That's kinda the problem. The route we're supposed to be following doesn't cross Mt. Aura. We'd need to go off track for a while, which would take us at least a day longer. I assume you won't want to detour, so–"

"Ryu," Fen said, firmly enough that Ryu looked at him properly. "I'm going with you. It's the very least I can do. You deserve as much help as I can give."

A glimmer of a smile appeared on Ryu's face. "Thanks, but… I don't know how much you can help me. Outsiders aren't normally allowed in our cove."

"I'll do whatever I can."

"Well… I appreciate that," Ryu said sheepishly. "We can start heading that way immediately, then. I've done this rough path before."

Ryu unhooked the bag and took a very long swig of water. Then he shook himself and jumped down from their rock, the grass squelching as he landed. Fen made the same move, his feet stinging a little.

"Fen, could you hold your right arm out for me?" Ryu asked suddenly.

Fen raised his eyebrows at such an odd request, but Ryu's look told him it was serious. When he obliged, Ryu slapped his right palm into his, then pulled Fen towards him before slapping him, friendlily, on the back with his left arm. A sort of man-hug, Fen thought. Ryu held it for a few seconds before pulling away.

"That's how Fighters greet, 'case you were wondering," Ryu explained. "I thought I should say thank you the proper way. Just… for listening to me. It's good not be hiding things anymore."

Fen couldn't think of much to respond with, but he nodded back appreciatively. "Glad I could help."

Ryu nodded, as if to confirm something to himself, then gazed inquisitively into the mountains beyond.

"Enough talking, anyway… we've got a Wailord of travelling ahead."