It feels like no time has passed and I manage to I force my eyes open. Blinking, to adjust them to the brightness of the new world I find myself in.

Not having trouble remembering what happened, I find myself able to move more than just my eye lids, as I absentmindedly start stroking my head. But noticing that I can move my arm, I also have to notice that a bit of pain is still connected with the action of doing so.

"Cyder." I can hear a familiar voice shout. "Thank Arceus you're OK as well."

It is Treek talking to me and I can see him come into view as I continue to stare at the clouds. It must be early morning and I can't see the sun yet, while the sky is starting to light up to reveal the hope it has brought into this new day.

"What...?" I begin wondering out loudly, noticing that I have barely any troubles to talk before finishing my sentence. "What happened?"

I force myself to sit up straight and with only a bit of trouble overcoming the pain in my back still stabbing my back, I manage to do so.

"The engine blew up." Treek responds, stating the obvious as I take a look around.

With my eyes searching my surrounding, I can immediately confirm his assessment. The wreck of the train we were riding can be seen as it still smokes and is blocking the tracks. The carts don't look too smashed up but don't appear in any operational condition either.

While noticing Nina and the kids and seeing them all being OK, Cari begins explaining a bit more. "But we were able to jump off not a moment too late. And we got lucky, so no one of us got hurt."

Looking over them and focusing my view, Nina adds her statement. "As a matter of fact: you were the last one we still had to make sure was OK."

Still confused over my condition, I ask the obvious while slowly pushing myself up from the ground and suppressing the remainder of the pain that doing so is giving me. "How come I'm feeling fine right now? Last night I was still having troubles to move at all and was practically dying when we jumped off. But now I'm just fine."

"We gave you the rest of the Sitrus we still had left." Treek begins to answer my question. "With the amount already in your body and the boost of some more, they were able to completely heal you up."

It is theoretically possible that enough Sitrus Berries can heal you as quickly as I apparently got healed, but I start wondering exactly how many they fed me with.

But with a surprisingly clear mind, I fully manage to grasp the situation and take over control. "I understand. Thanks, you guys. But we have to get out of here. Whoever was expecting the train to arrive probably already send someone to check on its whereabouts..."

Looking around the terrain for prominent landmarks, trying to get my bearings, I notice the smoking train again. Other than that we are in a pine tree forest, I can find nothing that could help me narrow our position. Sazari is filled with a lot of different pine forests and we could be in any one of them. – Well: almost any of them, as this one is likely close to Capitol City.

But seeing how it must be early morning, I finally find the sun as I look around. We are on the side of a somewhat steep slope with the tracks curving around the mountain side. Looking down the slope and into the valley, most of the view is still covered by the pine trees. But I manage to see the sun to my left, peeking through the branches and throwing its morning rays onto the scene.

Knowing the approximate location of west, I can fairly certainly say that we should start heading down the slope and away from the train wreck.

"We must get out of here before they come." I continue after the moment I took to get my bearings. And while I wasn't able to precisely determine our location, I start explaining where we should head.

"We should start heading that direction." I say while pointing down the inclination, away from the tracks. "I can't say where we are for sure, but we were heading west and I can see the sun rising in that direction. So we should start heading north to get away from the railroad while hopefully getting closer to Gloom Woods as well."

I try to start walking, but instantly regret the decision as I clench my teeth and fall to my knees.

"Cyder." I can hear various voices shout before Nina manages to grab my attention. "I don't think you should try to talk yet."

"I'm fine..." I say annoyed while forcing myself up to stand on two feet again.

"No Cyder." Treek says. "You're not fine. The Sitrus might be making you feel good and you're most definitely better off than you were last night, but I can say for certain that you should not try to walk on two feet."

"I can't carry you for too long, much less without risking some serious burns..." Treek continues while pointing at the charred bite marks he still has remaining from when I bit him to let go of me and rescue Nina and Cari and will continue to be visible for some time.

"So you'll walk on four legs to better distribute your weight. And don't try to hurry, because you'll regret it and we are only going to walk as fast as you do."

I sigh since I know that Treek is right. 'If I'm not careful I'll just end up making it worse.' I begin convincing myself. 'And if we run into trouble and I'm incapacitated, I won't be able to run.'

Giving myself defeated, I nod the Treecko and don't try to push myself from the ground, instead remaining on four feet before starting to her down the slope without looking back at the others and risk them seeing my pained expression.

But before I reach it, Treek hands me my hat while I am glad that not even the neat little feather on top appears to have broken off during all the chaos it had to endure since I first laid my paw on it. And putting it on, I finally begin setting foot on the slope covered with loose rocks and dense pine trees.

It isn't as steep as I first made it out to be, and with four legs on the ground and carefully heading down, I find it to be a very strange feeling to walk like this. The reason isn't because I'm not used to travelling on four feet, but because I usually only run when I'm like this. When walking at these speeds I normally always move on two feet in order to keep a view on my surroundings and see any potential upcoming dangers before it might be too late.

So the only reason I would usually walk on all fours would be because I'm in a hurry. Or because I trying to sneak and need to keep a low profile in order to not be detected.

Yet this time the reason is different. I have to walk at a normal pace while remaining on four legs and constantly find myself having to suppress the urge to speed up, knowing that failing to do so would result in the pain on my back reminding me of its existence alongside my being scolded by Treek.

We're already halfway down the hill and Nina and the kids are walking in front of me, when I decide to start a lighthearted conversation with Treek. Nina isn't carrying Cari anymore and like I already noticed last night my daughter is no longer wearing her brace. So her arm must be fully healed, yet she doesn't appear as lively as usual and absentmindedly trots along the untraveled slope without taking any pauses or looking at me even once.

"Too bad you guys didn't have even more Sitrus, huh?" I ask him laughingly.

"Yeah..." Treek responds in a voice you'd use when admitting defeat. "I guess the rest of your injuries aren't just going to magically disappear overnight."

Treek is right and I'll be stuck with my hindered movement abilities for a while. At least until they heal on their own or we find some more Sitrus.

"I see you managed to recover your bag from the wagon we were in." I begin talking to Treek as he fastens his bag around his neck. "Yeah. How do you think we manage to feed you with the remaining Sitrus?"

I should have thought of that, but instead of admitting to my mistake I ask about the important condition of its other contents. "Did something break in the impact?"

"I've got bad news about your orbs..." Treek begins as he opens the bag. "The Luminous Orb shattered and activated on impact."

'That would explain the bright flash of light.' I think to myself as I remember the brilliant glare I saw when the explosion happened.

"What about the other one?" I ask, referring to the mystery Orb I couldn't identify when I recovered it because it was missing its label.

"That one is still fine." Treek begins. "Well... as fine as it was when you gave it to me. You sure that thing is still operational?"

After thinking a moment, I answer Treek's question. "I can't be one hundred percent sure, but I think it is. So we better continue holding onto it."

Treek gives me a nod and almost falls over a rock protruding from the ground, but manages to catch himself before uncontrollably tumbling down the hill.

After waiting for him to catch his fall, I continue the conversation as if nothing had happened. "You know: I never got to ask what exactly it is that Nina stole in Kossary."

"Well." He begins after brushing off some dirt from his knees. "You already know about the Sitrus, but other than that she also got two dozen Orans and some Cheri, Chesto, Pecha and Rawst berries. So we should be good on supplies until we reach Laizisso."

"That's good to hear." I say relieved, the conversation still feeling like I'm the only one talking. "Do you have any idea where we are though?"

"No..." Treek answers with a sad tone, as I look forward to where we are heading. I can see Nina and the Kids arriving at the end of the slope where they stop and look back at me, silently waiting for us to catch up with them.

They look very worn out, but not because of the exercise of hiking down the hill. I only have to think for a moment as to why they are as spent as they are, before I remember of last night and of what had happened during their fight.

They killed the Zangoose who was operating the train. And while I don't know about the exact circumstances that lead to his demise, I can see it in their eyes that this is exactly what they are thinking about, blaming themselves for what has transpired.

Approaching them, Nina tries to hide her guilty expression from me and looks away, while Tolan and Cari continue staring at me as I finally reach them and begin talking.

"Hey..." I attempt to grab their attention, speaking softly and trying to comfort them while knowing that it won't be an easy task. "I know what happened last night. I saw some of it and I'm sure none of you wanted that Zangoose to die."

Cari's eyes start glistening in the early morning light and I know I went too far.

Backpedaling my approach, I walk up to her and begin anew while straining my muscles to pet her on her head.

"Do you want to tell me what exactly happened?" I ask in a sweet and caring tone, hoping to lighten the mood by giving them a chance to get it off their hearts.

Sadly though, I get my answer when she snivels a weak "No" before flinching and escaping from the paw that had carefully been making contact with her.

'The poor kids...' I think to myself as I turn to look at Tolan. 'They had to endure so much during these past couple of days. I just hope they can persevere until we reach Gloom Woods and Treek's hometown.'

Looking at Tolan I see him trying to swallow the guilt, but fails to uphold his strength before displaying the same signs as his sister.

Not wanting to press the matter, I decide not to persuade him into talking with me and instead decide to take a look at our surroundings.

I can see Nina a bit off to my left, looking down the valley towards the rising sun. It doesn't appear to have moved at all since I looked at it before, but much less trees have grown inside the valley, meaning we can't stay for too long before having to move on.

I didn't see a river from up top at the tracks, and looking away from Nina and across the valley I see another slope covered in the same pine trees as the one behind us.

'Wherever we are, there sure are a lot of hills.' I think to myself before addressing everyone to starts heading onward.

Treek had been at my side since our arrival, but hadn't said a single world. Yet before I can speak up he silences me and begins talking in private.

"I know we're not safe here." He begins. "And you want to move one. But you should give them a moment."

After a short pause during which I intently waited for him to say something else, he finally continues. "I know you don't literally want to know what happened with the Zangoose, but technically he killed himself while trying to dodge our attacks."

I look at Treek standing next to me and even though he isn't looking back and instead staring at the group scattered around us, I give him a nod he would never see.

Though after another moment, he continues. "The problem is that we all played a part in his demise. We were all trying to knock him out, so everyone of us has to carry a part of the responsibility."

I understand what he is trying to say, but I can't stop to think about anything else than our situation of still being visible from the train tracks.

Considering that, I whisper back at Treek. "I understand, but we should really try to reach the next tree line before we can allow ourselves to rest."

Ignoring what I just said, Treek continues. "Do you remember how it must have felt when you saw the dead Poochyena on your first day?"

His question confuses me, but I don't get the time to think about what Treek might be referring to before he proceeds with his explanation. "I was able to soothe your mind by telling you that it was just a feral."

Stopping mid-sentence without having finished his thought, he turns towards me as I return his glance and our eyes meet.

"The Zangoose was an innocent bystander who was just doing his job. They think they're murderers." He says while pointing at the backs of the other and I swallow to comprehend his words. And having trouble to cope with the fact himself, he weakly states that they are right in some way or another.

'I'm really not good at this...' I think to myself while lowering my head. But quickly realizing that I can use anything but another judgmental mind, Treek notices my self-reproach, looks away and takes a deep breath before addressing the group on my behalf.

"OK gang." He begins speaking in a voice forced to sound nice, as all heads turn towards him and start paying at least some of their attention. "We can still be spotted from the tracks if we remain here. So we're going to continue heading north and hope that we run into something that might help us determine where exactly we are."

Unlike usual he isn't met with ubiquitous agreement, but instead watches as Nina and the kids stop staring into the distance and start tracking towards him while he waits for me to start leading the group and setting the speed that we will be travelling at.

And so I begin walking next to him with the others behind us, hoping that some of the tension might be lifting itself as time goes by. Hoping that destiny shares our ambitions of safely arriving at Laizisso Town and that Arceus would see our true intentions and forgive us for taking a life.

I look back one more time, to see if I can establish eye contact with anyone, but the moment I look back at Nina and the Kids their front-facing faces turn away, explicitly preventing me from looking at them. I try to disregard their signals and act like I simply wanted to take another look at the hill with the tracks on top.

I can still see a bit of smoke rising through the tree tops, as some of the things the explosion caught on fire must still be smoldering. But not wanting to give the impression of thinking about the murder victim we are leaving behind, I quickly turn around and pay attention to where we are heading, hoping that my posture might somehow emanate a faked determination I wish myself and the others would have for real.