After flying for a while, Veronica lands next to the entrance of the guild. It's night when we arrive. It's too late for everyone to still be eating, but early enough that they probably aren't asleep. The gate's closed, but I guess I shouldn't have expected anything less. I hop off of Veronica's back.
"Thank you for the ride, and everything," I say.
"Don't mention it," Veronica says. "The best of luck to you." Without another word, she flies away again. This has been an odd week, huh? I'm just so glad to be home! I step onto the grate.
"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!" Diglett yells.
"Whose footprint? Whose footprint?" Loe yells back.
"The footprint is... an eevee's. Definitely an eevee's!" Diglett yells.
"What? It couldn't be... Ica, open the gate!" Loe yells. Just seconds later, the gate opens, Ica stands on the other side.
"Jiro?" She asks.
"Yeah," I reply.
"And I just got used to your fur being black, too, you crazy eevee, you. Everyone! Come out here! Jiro's back!" Ica says. What does she mean, she just got used to my fur being black. It's still black, isn't it? I look down at one of my legs, and notice that my fur is brown now. When did this happen? I must have been so distracted by my training that I didn't notice! But how? Actually, I don't even care, I'm too exhausted to think about it. I'm just happy it's back to normal.
All at once, the guild rushes up to meet me. Plusa, Mino, Chatot, Loe, Diglett, Sunflora, Rosie. Pretty much everyone from the guild is here, but where's Avia? I can't see well past the crowd of pokemon in front of me. I'm sure they're saying things to me, asking questions, but I can hardly hear them. But I do hear a weak voice in the back of the crowd. "Jiro?" That's Avia's voice!
"Hey!" Ica yells. "Everyone shut up!" Everyone stops talking almost immediately. "Let Avia and Cyria through, will you? Everyone stands to one side or another, creating a path. Avia runs up to me, and hugs me, tears dropping from her face.
"I... I thought I'd never see you again," Avia says through her tears.
"I'm so sorry," I say. I feel a tear fall from my face, and before I know it, I'm crying as well.
"Please, don't ever leave me again," she says.
"I don't plan on it," I reply. The entire guild must be watching us right now. It'd be better to do this someplace private. But at this point I don't really care.
"Jiro. I... I'm so glad you're back."
"As am I."
"I missed you so much."
"I missed you too." Avia stops hugging me and tries to wipe away the tears from her eyes. "Let's go inside and talk. We both have much to talk about."
"Yes, we certainly do." Maybe I should tell Avia everything I know about this whole, 'saving the world' thing. She's my best friend, she deserves to know, doesn't she? And she already knows that I'm a human, so it's not like I'm in the habit of keeping secrets from her. I wipe the tears from my own eyes. This is the first time I've cried since coming here... It feels good to let all of the emotion go. Avia leads me back to our room. The others don't follow, even Cyria. I guess they respect our need for some time alone.
We continue talking once we're alone in our room.
"So what happened after you were taken away, anyway? I didn't see the girl who took you, but it seems that she didn't get along with Ray very well."
"Where to even start... Have you heard to the Guatachi Prison?"
"Of course. Was the pokemon from there?"
"Well, you know how they brand pokemon based on power?"
"Well, they only branded ten or so... You don't mean to tell me that-"
"An espeon with the number one brand decided to take me and make me her apprentice."
"What? Did she hurt you? Are you okay? Should I get a doctor?"
"I'm fine. She was a harsh teacher, and I'm exhausted, but I'm not injured."
"Good, I'm glad you're okay. So what was she like? And how did you get away from her?"
"She was a harsh, forceful teacher, but she was also almost always happy, and seldom mean. And I guess she trusted me, because she just left me on my own one day, and so I ran away." There's no need to tell her I almost didn't come back, that would just make her sad. "So how did you escape?" I know it had something to do with Sio, but I haven't really heard much else.
"Sio found out about Ray through a friend, and came to stop his power-hungry rampage. He didn't know I was captured there, but he knew Ray had prisoners, so he saved us. The friend was an old friend from the Guatachi Prison, by the way. I believe Sio said her name was Midnight." So you really did help me again, Midnight.
"Are you okay? Ray didn't hurt you or anything, did he?"
"Not as much as Sio hurt him! You should have seen it, Sio was a monster!"
"You're avoiding the question."
"Okay, fine. Yes, he did hurt me. It was very painful, and I found it hard to move while I was with him. But I've been recovering nicely."
"If I ever get my paws on that guy..."
"Don't worry about revenge for my sake, Jiro. Like I said, Sio hurt him worse that he had ever hurt me and he's locked away now."
"I suppose..."
"But hey, since you were training under such a strong pokemon, you must have learned some cool stuff, right?"
"Not really, though I did perfect my shadow ball." I forget if Avia even knows if I know shadow ball. Does that make me a horrible friend?"
"Well that's cool!"
"Yeah, I guess. Hey, there's something I need to talk to you about." It's now or never, Jiro.
"Me too, but you can go first." I... I can't tell her. What if she wants to get involved with saving the world too? We are a team after all. I can't risk her life like that, it's my destiny, not hers. But what do I say now?
"When I was training with Lily, she told me something."
"Lily?"
"The espeon who forced me into being her apprentice." Well, you've stalled for time now what, Jiro?
"Ah."
"When all of this is over. When I've served whatever purpose I'm here for, I may not be able to stick around."
"What do you mean?" What do I mean?
"Well, I don't know what force brought me here, or what they are like, so they might send me back to the human world when I'm done here." I have a good point. Arceus, what if that is true?
"If you had the choice, would you go back?"
"I guess I haven't really thought about that. I don't remember what kind of a life I had back in the human world. But whatever it was like there, it'd be hard to find great friends like you and Cyria." Avia blushes. "So I don't know. I'm sure there are people who miss me back in the human world, but there are many pokemon here I'd miss. So I can't say for sure, honestly. I'm sorry about this. Of all the teammates in the world to have, you have to have the one who can't promise that he'll be able to stay in your world."
"But even so, I wouldn't trade you for anyone else."
"Do you really mean that?"
"Of course I do." I feel my cheeks getting hot, I must be as red as a rose right now.
"Oh, so you said you wanted to talk to me about something, right?"
"Oh, right. I just wanted to say I'm really really glad you're back. We should get to sleep, as you said, you're totally exhausted, and I'm pretty tired to." Why do I feel like she wanted to talk about something else? Well, we can talk about it later, I am pretty exhausted.
"Okay... Goodnight, Avia."
"Goodnight, Jiro." I collapse onto my bed and instantly fall asleep.
