Astonished and with shock written all over his face, Treek began stuttering incoherent sentences at me with obvious amazement in his eyes and voice.
"You're... Oh my Arceus! Holder... How can that be? ... Though those are only a legend!"
I tried to calm him down, as his words didn't make any sense anymore. "Calm down and just answer my question. What is a Holder supposed to be?"
As the Treecko tried to regain his breath from all the excitement, all he could communicate with was his breathing.
"*huff* *huff* How could *huff* you not know?"
I had enough of his charades and angrily bickered at him. "We've just been over this! I have no idea about what's going on here. As a matter of fact: you're the first to actually give me ~some~ answers."
"*huff* Right, right. You don't know. *Haaaa*..."
Suddenly he emitted a pained scream. Confused as to why he was screaming I let go of him as he pushed himself away from my body. A moment later I too noticed what had happened, when I saw tiny streaks of black covering his back.
"Ah! That freakin' hurts. I told you to control you're fire around me! Autsch!"
Looking above my head, I tried to follow where he was looking and saw a flame in the corner of my eyes.
My head was on fire and it felt amazing. Blanking out his pained yells of discomfort, I held my paw which was still completely covered in the red blood of the dog into the flame. It was a very nice feeling. You kids might think that you know what I'm talking about, but trust me: you can't imagine what waving your paws through your flame feels like once you evolve.
"Dude! I assume that what you're doing must feel good to you, but could you maybe just apologize for almost scorching away half of my skin."
Snapping back into reality, I noticed the black streaks of charred ash covering his back once again. And unlike what I just felt waving my paw through the flame on my head, it didn't look like something the Treecko must have enjoyed, as his eyes transmitted a mild anger alongside the pain that was written into his face.
Shame overcame me and my expression shifted from pleasure to regret.
"Sorry, I... I didn't know any better."
"*sigh* It's OK... Most of it was just the remnants of my bark..." He accepted my apology as he swept a paw across his back, discarding most of the ashes to the ground.
"Just... Try not to let it happen again."
"I... I can try to, but I don't know what caused this to happen in the first place. Though I see now what you meant when you were talking about me being a fire type before."
Shortly after, his expression changed back to the excitement he had shown before I burned his back.
"Wow. So you really are a Holder. Can you... Can you show it to me?"
"Show you what", I asked as Treek tried to hop around me, inspecting my body from all angles.
Forgetting again that he only had one leg while doing so, he fell on his stomach and quickly tried to sit back up again.
Looking at my face he must have been unable help himself but to let his jaw drop wide open, as he stared at my forehead in amazement. Not knowing what he was looking at, I begin feeling my forehead. It was just as I remembered it from when I had awoken earlier that morning. I could feel my fur, still stuck together in thick stands as I moved my paw across my skull. I couldn't sense or see the fire that burned Treek while I was holding him anymore. But other than that, I couldn't feel anything out of the ordinary either.
"What?" I asked. "What are you staring at?"
"There! Right in the middle of your forehead." Came the response as he lifted an arm and pointed at me.
Moving my paw back down to where Treek was pointing to, I still couldn't feel anything special. I could feel something that felt like a bruise, but still didn't know what Treek was talking about.
Looking confused back at him, he started talking again.
"You are a holder", he whispered. "And you carry the mark on the front of your head."
"What mark?" I asked while continuing my frantic search for what he was talking about.
"That scar. That scar you have right there, in the middle of your forehead."
'A scar?' I thought to myself. 'How does a scar make me so special? Everybody could have a scar.'
"What's so special about some scar? Everybody can have those!"
As Treek continued, he tried to move over to me again. This time coming close enough to touch me.
"It's perfectly triangular. There's no doubt about it. You're the one next in line for the Holder of wisdom. You're the one who is destined to return the world to its former glory."
"What?" I responded, demanding more answers to my questions.
I felt my anger rise again as I continued my questions. "How am I destined to do anything, if I don't even know a bit about this place?"
"You're the Holder of wisdom. You, as the only one, exist as part of the lineage of Holders. You, just like your ancestors, can access the knowledge of the ancients. Stored in the past and kept safe from the claws that would use it for their own selfish needs."
I wanted to interrupt him and ask the questions that were lying at the tip of my tongue: Who are these ancients? What exactly is it that only I can do? But all that happened was my mouth falling agape in confusion.
Sensing my confusion, Treek continued to elaborate. "For example: Orb technology was invented by one of your predecessor. All of us other 'mons still don't fully understand how they work. He only showed us how to make some of them during his lifetime. And while we were able to combine a few to create new ones, we never managed to reach any sort of real breakthrough on our own."
Finally finding the ability to speak again, I tried to pull Treek back into reality.
"How does that help me now? All I know right now, is that I'm being chased by some soldiers that apparently want me because I'm this holder everyone seems to be talking about. But that's it. And I have all these questions about things I still don't understand."
After a short silence, Treek started talking again. "You're right. You have to get away from here. Those soldiers only want you for their own selfish needs. They'll use you as a response to the claim made by Korana and to get the upper hand in the war. And even worse: one of their patrols could come back any minute now. You have to get out of here before they're able to catch you again. GO! Leave me behind. I'd just slow you down."
"What? No! I need you! Without you I'll probably just walk into another pack of hounds. I have no idea how to defend myself from anything."
"No. You'd have to carry me. And that wouldn't work in the long run..."
"Here." I said while grabbing some of the sticks lying around and handing them to Treek. "Use these as crooks, so you can walk."
Still mesmerized by me being a holder, he responded. "Wow. You truly are part of the lineage of wisdom."
Tilting my head and casting him an annoyed look I bickered "Seriously? I don't think you have to be part of some lineage of being smart to figure out that you can use sticks as crooks."
"No. That's not what I meant. I was referring to you not leaving me behind. It is said that the holders are generous to those who truly wish to be their friends."
Surprised at the statement I answered. "I believe that you truly are a friend, with only good intentions in mind for me." Changing my tone to a very serious one I continued. "But if what you're saying about me is true, then I will need more of your help than I will be able to offer you in return."
Treek didn't even have to think for a moment as he blared out his answer the moment I finished my sentence.
"Yes! Of course I know that. But by letting me do this you are giving more to me that you might think. I'm an orphan who set out into the world to become the strongest he could be."
As we stand up, with Treek using the sticks I handed to him as crooks, I try to show my grief to him for losing his parents.
"I'm... sorry. I didn't know you lost your parents."
"Don't worry. It's OK. They've been dead to me for a while now."
Slightly confused about the words Treek chose for that sentence, we started heading away from the trees and section of road covered in ours and the dog's blood, leaving it's carcass behind without honoring it with another glance.
Treek told me to stay behind in case we ran into another patrol. He said he would signal me if he heard someone coming.
While walking we passed a lot of trees that looked all the same to me. Nowadays I assume that Treek could tell them apart from each other using his grassy elemental core, but you'd have to ask him that yourselves.
After a while the gap between us grew smaller and smaller, until Treek started talking with me again.
"I assume you don't remember your name either."
"You assume correctly."
"In that case could I just call you Quill? - Of course only until you remember your real name."
I never liked the name Quill. Back then I didn't either, as I thought it wouldn't suit me. But understanding the necessity of having a name to be called by, I agreed to the offer Treek had given to me.
"Sure. Call me Quill. But do you really think I can remember my real name over time?"
"Of course. Assuming you had one assigned to yourself before you came to this world. After all: if any lineage of holders would be able to figure out their name, it would be yours. ... Hmmm... You know, for supposedly being such a wise 'mon, you sure picked a bad time to come here."
It all sounded very strange in my head as I began throwing my questions at Treek again.
"You make it sound like I intentionally chose to come here. What gives you the idea that I had anything to do with being here? Because believe me, I'm pretty sure that I didn't plan for being stuck in that cave-in."
"What cave-in?" Treek asked, as I realized that I had chosen not to tell him what I remembered when he asked me before.
"Erm... I may not have been completely honest with you, when you asked me what I remembered before. See to be honest, the first thing I remember is being in a damp and dark cave, with that Globbo and Crog guy trying to ~rescue~ me. The next memory I have after that is escaping from their camp, after they tried to patch me up from being in a cave-in apparently caused by those guys."
"That would explain a lot. But don't worry; I'm not mad at you for not telling me. As a matter of fact... *sigh*... I'm not really an orphan in a literal sense... I ran away from home."
Knowing that I had just hit a very sensitive spot in Treek's personality, I decided not to interrogate any further.
I was almost walking next to him at that point, as he suddenly changed the subject, telling me to stay back a bit more while to the best of his ability dashing a few meters ahead again, keeping a noteworthy distance between the two of us.