CHAPTER 26

Rylan's eyes widened as the Zoroark started to tell his story.

"B-Brother?" Rylan stammered.

Zorian nodded his head. "Yes, it's true. I wanted to tell you sooner, believe me, but I could not find you for the longest time. I ended up in terrible situation after terrible situation. I had to steal things in order to survive in this world and learned to accept the life of a wanted criminal. I met Houndoom before he evolved and helped him stay away from Magnezone in exchange for helping me find you."

"I managed to find you after a few weeks," he continued, "but you had befriended the guild Pokémon by that time and I knew that there would be no way I could get close to you while you were associated with them."

"I see…" Rylan said.

"One other thing you need to know," said Zorian. "I am not the one who is manipulating Giratina, but I did lend the real culprit my assistance in exchange for his help in keeping you safe while you were a part of the guild."

"You…helped him?" Rylan asked.

"Now, about us… Well, perhaps it would be best explained after you get your memories back," Zorian explained. "Fortunately, I have just the means to do it. Unfortunately, you are not going to like most of what you see."

Rylan backed up. "No," he said. "I don't want to remember. The memories hurt."

"Yes," Zorian said, "but if you don't get them back, I won't get you back. I'm asking you to trust me."

"No!" Rylan yelled. "You stay away from me!"

Zorian removed Rylan's key piece from around his neck and showed it to him. "This is what has been allowing you to see Memory," he said, "and it has the ability to reconnect you with him."

Rylan backed up a bit further and raised his fists. "I'll fight you if I have to," he warned.

"Don't fear your memories, brother," said Zorian. Without warning, he dashed forward and grabbed Rylan's shoulder with one paw, holding the key piece right in front of his own mouth with the other.

"D-Don't!" Rylan yelped fearfully. "I don't want…"

Zorian softly blew into the key piece. It emitted a soft and soothing whistle. As Rylan listened to it, he started to feel drowsy. Zorian reached up with his free paw to gently rub the top of Rylan's head.

"Don't…want…" Rylan murmured groggily. He sank to his knees and fell into a daze. The world around him faded away and he found himself back in the dream abyss.

Memory reappeared in front of Rylan and stared him down. "You are still not ready," said Memory, "but Zorian feels you are. The memories of your brother inside me lessen the pain…" Memory placed his forehead to Rylans' and started to push his way inside.

"No!" Rylan yelled! "Leave me-!"

Rylan gasped and shuddered. The memories were flowing in, and they were flowing in fast.

As soon as Memory completely disappeared into Rylan's head, the abyss vanished and Zorian started to come back into focus.

"Zorian…" Rylan said silently. "I didn't… I couldn't have… We couldn't have…"

"Yep," said Zorian. "To this day, I can't understand why I bothered joining Team Rocket. What made it worse was you wanting to join because I was in it and you just wanted to be with your brother…"

"That organization changed me…" Rylan said. "It made me cold and antisocial… I did such cruel things to those poor Pokémon… Buizel… I can't believe…"

"That's right," Zorian said. "Houndoom heard Buizel's story at Oscuro Canyon and told me about it."

Rylan clutched his head and started to shed tears once more.

Zorian sat down and rubbed Rylan's back comfortingly. "The day we were assigned to capture Pokémon for our boss, you brought your whip down on the very same Buizel who you've been partnering around with for these past few months."

"Just like that?" asked a voice.

Shaking, Rylan turned his head. Buizel and Vulpix were standing at the edge of the small island. Buizel was glaring at Rylan, looking possessed. Vulpix looked as though she was about to cry.

"…Buizel…" said Rylan softly. He stood up slowly and turned around to face his friends.

"R-Rylan," Vulpix stammered, "we saw your raft in the sea and followed you over here… Buizel carried me… What is going on? What is Zoroark talking about?"

Rylan started walking toward Buizel. The expression on Buizels' face did not change.

"Buizel, I…" Rylan tried to say something, anything, but the memory passed through his mind once more and he found himself unable to say anything.

"JUST LIKE THAT, HUH?" Buizel shouted. He clenched his fist and delivered a swift punch to Rylans' face, knocking Rylan down.

Zorian growled defensively at Buizel. "If you touch him again..."

"You're innocent," Buizel panted. "Congratulations. But the way I see it, Zoroark here has just revealed enough information to have himself locked in Magnezones' prison for a long time. I'm going to alert the police and they are going to find you, Zoroark."

Zorian shrugged. "Try me. I'll be long gone before you even tell them."

"And you…" Buizel said to Rylan. "You disgusting excuse for a Pokémon. Disgusting excuse for a human as well. I never want to see your face at the guild ever again. Come on, Vulpix. We're leaving." Buizel turned around and jumped into the water.

Vulpix walked over to Rylan. "Rylan, please…" she said. "Come back with us… Come back with me… Don't stay here with him."

Zorian looked at Vulpix. "I've fought too long and hard to get my brother back, and he's coming back home with me where he belongs."

"He belongs where he chooses to belong," Vulpix snapped. "I doubt someone like you would understand that."

"Vulpix…" Rylan said. "Go home. Go with Buizel. The guild needs you now more than ever. Zorian has found me. He's not helping the culprit anymore. You have a better chance to get everyone back now."

"All right," said Vulpix. "I hope the home you choose is the home you want more. Please stay safe."

Vulpix hopped onto Buizels' back, and Buizel swam her back to the mainland.

"Guys…" Rylan muttered.

"Oh, forget them," Zorian said. "Look, I didn't want to go boasting this, but you know these key halves we have? They were the secret treasures from Mount Maelstrom. When we arrived in the Pokémon World— Oh, I'll explain why we did that in a moment. You weren't around when that incident happened. Anyway, when we arrived, I took the treasure and gave one half of it to you for safekeeping. This was right before you had lost your memory."

Rylan turned to face Zorian. "Are you telling me-?"

"That's right," Zorian said. "When we use the magic of the key to send ourselves home, it will also release Giratina from the manipulation and free the Pokémon being held captive in the Distortion World."

Rylan looked utterly stunned and fascinated.

Zorian removed the key pieces from around Rylan's neck and carefully placed the two halves together. In seconds, they locked together to seamlessly reform the key.

"Just one thing," Rylan said. "You've yet to tell me who was the one responsible for controlling Giratina."

"Oh, sorry," Zorian said. "I don't know. He always spoke to me in the shadows, never showing his face—"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Such a pity you kept this from me," said a calm voice behind Zorian. Startled, Zorian wheeled around and Rylan looked up.

"When I agreed to help you," said Slowking, "I was under the impression that you simply wanted to bring Rylan home with you. You never told me that you intended to use the treasure of Mount Maelstrom to return to another world. Using that key will completely ruin everything I have achieved thus far."

"Slowking?" Rylan asked. Slowking ignored him; he was still focused on Zorian.

"You've been keeping secrets from me, Zorian," said Slowking, "and that will not go unpunished." Slowking snapped his fingers.

The familiar roar sounded once again. Zorian jumped to his feet and attempted to run, but there was a quick glimpse of two large, piercing eyes and then Zorian was gone.