The group was moving forward to their next location. Mike stopped frequently to battle the local wildlife and help his group train. One thing Mike found out about Alroy was that he was faster than most others of his species, giving him a distinct advantage at moving first and dodging. Orion's move set was mostly aggressive, meaning she was better at taking and giving damage, but her small size made her easy to get knocked back. Malina on the other hand was able to plan out her enemies weak points so she would be better on focusing on larger enemies.
After another fight with a pidgeotte, Mike decided to take the scenic route through the forest, not only would they be able to find better Pokemon, they could possibly find some interesting things.
"That marks the thirteenth one in a row." Mike called out.
Alroy was stretching after yet another successful victory. "I don't mean to be rude, but don't you think we should be moving quicker to our destination."
"It's not really a race Alroy." Mike replied. "We have the supplies to last us a few days, plus it's nice to take in the atmosphere every one and a while."
"I just think it's a bit tedious to be roaming around this forest defeating wild animals." Alroy explained.
"Doesn't hurt to get some training in." Mike responded. Grabbing a pokeball, Mike returned Alroy to his ball. "I know it's not any of my business, but you've been awfully quiet today Malina." Mike pointed out.
"Huh, what?" She asked, obviously caught in thought.
"You alright? You just seem a bit out of it." Mike pointed out.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel a little tired." She lied. Mike just shrugged and continued walking forward with her. "I have to tell him about Orion." Malina thought to herself. "But I can't as long as she's hanging that secret over my head. Maybe I could convince Mike that whatever Orion would say is a lie, but what if Mike still ended up believing her? I would be humiliated!"
Alroy took a deep breath as he cleared his mind, this was a little hobby he liked to perform after every battle. It was a little tradition he kept to himself.
"So what's it like being a test subject?" Orion asked.
The sudden question broke Alroy's concentration. "What do you mean?" He asked with a slightly annoyed tone.
"Growing up, it sounds like you were just treated as an object rather than a pokemon." Orion explained. "What was that like?"
Alroy thought it over for a moment. "To be honest, I don't remember much. I just remember needles and wires."
"Needles and wires?" Orion asked.
"Yes, the needles that gave me these abilities I have now. The wires that tested me to see if I was making progress. Even before I evolved, I was just locked up and tested on. I-I hate to say it, but when I look back on it, it feels like my old master was just a mad man."
Orion slightly laughed. "And it took you this long to realize that?"
"Back then I had no idea what my master was truly like, I just thought all humans treated their pokemon like how I was treated. But then I meet your master, and now I'm confused, I still believe my old master is my one true master, but now your master has me harboring resentment towards my old master."
"Maybe you need to drop the image of a flawless master." Orion suggested.
"What do you mean?" Alroy asked.
"To me it sounds like you are trying to hold on to the thought that your old master has done nothing wrong, that he can so no wrong. But in reality, you're slowly realizing the opposite, but as long as you keep this image in your head, you can't move on." Orion explained.
"I want too." Alroy replied. "But this is most of my life you're talking about, I'm not going to just forget it just because you tell me too."
"I'm not telling you to do anything." Orion reassured. "I'm only suggesting that you try and see your master in a flawed image. That is your best chance at moving on."
"And why are you so hasty for me to forget my master?" Alroy asked.
"Gee, I don't know, you being preachy about your master, talking about him like he was a god, or maybe just because I'm annoyed." Orion sarcastically replied.
"Har har." Alroy responded. Sighing, he laid down. "I'm sure I can get over my old master on my own at some point in time, now just isn't that time."
Mike put down his stuff near an open space in the forest. Malina didn't know they had stopped until she had walked right into his backpack. Looking over the back pack, Malina noticed that Mike seemed to be observing the area.
"This looks good?" He said to himself.
"For what?" Malina asked.
Mike looked back and tried to explain what he was about to try. "Remember when we were in the city and that group of absols attacked?" Mike asked. Malina nearly nodded her head. "Well, I've been thinking, and ever since that day I can't get over the fact that I stood by and did nothing to help you. I want to do sort of a tradeoff."
"Tradeoff?" Malina asked.
"Yeah. You help me, I help you. I want us to train together by using each other as targets." Mike explained.
"Y-You mean battle each other?" Malina asked.
"Precisely." Mike replied.
"But what if you get hurt?" Malina asked, trying to reason with him. "Who's going to help you out here?"
"Don't worry, it won't be like a real battle. We won't even try to hit that hard, we'll just spar." He assured.
Malina still seemed indifferent to the idea. "And you're sure you want to try this?" She questioned, making one final gambit for him to change his mind.
"Positive." He assured.
"O-Ok." Malina replied, nervously getting into a battle stance.
Mike raised his fist and steadied his feet on the ground to try and give his legs better traction. Malina took the first move and charged at Mike. Mike dodged to the side and tried to counter by giving a light swing towards Malina's abdomen. Malina shifted her body and dodged it so that she was facing Mike side, taking the chance she pounced and tried to catch him off guard. Ducking, Malina flew over Mike. As Malina was right over Mike, Mike pushed his arms upward and managed to grab Malina's chest, standing up, Malina was thrown off balance and landed on her back. Taking the chance, Mike quickly slides next to her and put his hands around her paws, denying her the chance to get up. After struggling for a bit, Malina gave up.
"I win." Mike smiled.
"That's not fair you cheated." Malina complained.
"How did I cheat?" Mike chuckled, letting go of her paws.
Malina quickly scoured her mind for an excuse. "You… You can't just… uh… duck." Malina replied.
Mike stared at her for a moment before laughing. "Come on Malina, were just sparring, there's nothing to be ashamed of if you lose." He said, patting her head.
Mike took a few steps back and readied his fist again. "Now, from the top." He ordered.
Malina readied herself this time, not making the same mistake again. It became obvious to Mike that she wasn't going on the offensive this time. Mike picked out his next move carefully before moving in. Taking a light swing, Malina dodged and tried to rush under his legs to throw him off balance. Mike swiftly jumped to the left as she rushed by, as seaweed, Mike grabbed her horn and threw tried to disorient her by making her spin in a circle. To his sunrise however, Malina stopped and jerked her head hard enough to throw Mike off his feet. Mike landed face down on the ground.
Mike got back on his knees quickly.
"She's a liar." A voice rang.
Mike realized the voice as the Absols that had pulled him into the tall grass outside of their last city, but what was weirder was, the voice was in his head.
Malina was charging at him, ready to pin him to the floor when Mike rolled out of the way.
"She's just using you." The voice continued.
Mike dodged her further jabs with her horn. He tried to look for an opening but Malina's speed was increasing, she had switched from defensive to offensive. Mike tried to stay on his feet, but one of the jabs clumsily sent him backwards. Mike managed to rebalance his feet before dodging another pounce by Malina.
"You're not her trainer to her, you're just a tool."
Malina did another swipe with her horn, nearly scraping Mike's chest. Mike wasn't even attempting to make an attack at this point, his erosion was becoming more and more focused at the second. He seemed to still be looking for an opening. It was then that Malina pounced for a second time, Mike readied his fist and swung.
"You're nothing to her."
The fist collided with her chin, knocking her back. Malina slammed to her side and slid a few inches before stopping.
Mike blinked, for a moment he wasn't sure what happened. Then his legs started shaking, looking down at his knuckles, he noticed small splatters of blood on them.
"M-Malina?" He asked.
Malina's only response was a groan. Mike quickly rushed to her side and tried to observe the damage. Malina's jaw was leaking blood and her chin seemed severely bruised.
"Malina, I-I'm sorry, I don't know what happened. I lost control and there was a voice in my head." Mike tried to explain in panicked sentences.
Malina groaned in response, it was obvious the punch had knocked her senses pretty hard. Mike swallowed hard and tried to see if there was something he could do, but he didn't really know that much about Pokemon first aid. It was obvious he was going. To need to get her to a hospital. Grabbing her ball, Mike retracted her until he could find a proper care center. But before he could think of that, a sudden rumble caught his ears.
Looking up, Mike noticed a dark cloud rushing in from the south. The direction he was supposed to be going to get to the next city.
Flicking on his powered, he clocked on one of the tabs and took a quick look at the weather. A massive rainstorm warning flashed on his screen, meaning that it was going to be too windy to put up a tent.
"Oh come on!" Mike shouted. Picking up his bag, Mike rushed to find some shelter, it was obvious he wasn't going to find a hospital at this point. Mike didn't run far before finding an old cabin. It had looked dusty and abandoned and was the perfect spot to hide out from the rain until it stopped. Finding the key under the welcome mat, he unlocked the front door and rushed in right as the first drop landed.
Within seconds there was a hail fire of rain on the roof of the cabin. Mike sat down on the couch, and in doing so, let a bunch of dust fly into the air. Mike coughed and waved his hand in the air to give himself some breathing space. Looking down at his knuckles, he noticed tabloid still on it. Grabbing a towel from his bag, he wiped his hands.
"No one's going to get hurt I said, a little sparring won't do any harm I said." Mike began to blame himself for the event, constantly telling himself how the incident was his fault. But then he recalled the voice. Mike stopped cleaning his hand and took the towel off his hand. The blood still wasn't coming off the hand. The blood rather just covered more of his hand. Getting up, he tested the sink and was surprised to see the water was still running. Flicking a quick switch, a small light came on and illuminated the kitchen sink so Mike could get a better view at his hand. He dunked the hand under the faucet and watched the red liquid drain off of his hands. Grabbing the towel, he dried off his hand and tried to wipe away the water.
Although the blood was gone, Mike felt like it was under his skin. Reminding him.
"Arceus what have I done?" He thought.
To be continued.