Episode 55

"I don't understand!" shouted Matt. He, Heather, and Ethen were back at their home in Kazoku. "Why would the capital be after me? Did I…did I do something bad?"

"No, I don't think that's it at all!" Heather said. "Maybe…maybe…hmm…Oh! Maybe they wanted to…honor you! For a valiant deed you did before you lost your memory!"

"I doubt they would have tried to take him by force if that was the case," Ethen tried to reason."

Matt remained silent, staring off. The other two were talking, but he didn't hear much of what they said. What if he did something awful and was in trouble?

"You guys, I'm so sorry," The Zangoose said, most likely cutting off one of the other two. "It's because of me Sierra got captured. I did something terrible. And it kills me to not know what it is!" In his rage, Matt slammed his fist into one of the crystals. It cracked. He stood there for a moment, stunned, but then noticed his claw was covered in a strange red light. "There's something that that stone did to me. I'm sorry for overacting guys, I didn't mean to break your home."

"This is your home, too, Matt," The Skarmory said, staring his friend straight in the eyes. "Listen, we don't care where you were, or what you did in the past. You're a great Pokémon, alright? We'll get whatever's going on with you, the stone, and this whole situation with Shuto and Sierra figured out, ok? For now…please just take a breath."

"We love you, Matt," Heather said, nudging her head into his side. "We'll support you no matter what happens." The Zangoose looked at his two friends and just started bawling. Ethen and Heather quickly embraced him. "We know what it's like to be lost," she continued. "And finding ourselves was the first step to getting where we needed to be. We'll get your memory back, Matt. And we'll save Sierra, too."

"You guys have been nothing but good to me since you found me," Matt said, drying his tears off. "And I'm just…scared that whatever that stone did to me…it's gonna end up hurting you."

"Don't worry about that," Ethen assured him. "We can help you learn to control it."

"Can you imagine how strong he'd be with that?" The Ninetales's eyes lit up. "You'd be unstoppable!"

"Yeah, I guess…"

"Wait, I have an idea!" Heather shouted suddenly.

"What is it?" The other two said at the same time.

"Matt, you heard something when you were at the stone, right?"

"Yeah, but I couldn't figure out what it was saying at all."

"What if we go back?"

"G-Go back? But…"

"I know you're scared, but that could be something, like, important! About what the stone did to you, or something bigger!"

"That's a bit of a stretch, Heather," said Ethen. "Plus we shouldn't put Matt through something that he doesn't want to go through again."

The Normal-Type sighed. "No, she's right, Ethen. I can't…I need to be able to know what it was saying to me and figure out…what it did to me."

"Just…try to keep your head, alright?" Ethen warned. "I don't want you to go blank like last time."

The three started out of town, but not many words were exchanged. Matt led the group. He wasn't sure exactly where he was heading, but his drive to find that stone again didn't let that small detail get in the way. Eventually, he found the small alcove where the stone was.

"I can feel it…" Matt said as they were walking to it. "The stone's energy is reaching me already." The sky above them was starting to get dark.

"Are you feeling alright, Matt?" Heather asked.

"I feel…great, actually," The Zangoose turned to his friends. "I don't know what it is, but…this energy is like nothing else.

"Y-You're glowing red!" Ethen pointed out. "And we can't even see it yet."

Matt looked down at himself, and saw that the Skarmory was right. "You guys, I don't know what's going to happen to me. But if I go crazy, feel free to attack me. I want and need you to."

"Don't think that way!" said the Ninetales. "You'll be fine. Just get near it, and see if you can hear what it's trying to tell you."

"Okay…" They reached the stone. It seemed just as calm as before to Ethen and Heather, but Matt could feel something unsettling inside it. "I'm back…" He said to it. "Please…tell me what you did to me."

Se…r…he…sto…n…oun…

"I can't…understand it." He got closer.

Search…moun…

"Search what?" He took one more step. His heart was pounding, Matt could almost feel the blood rushing through his body. It was a very lucid experience.

Search for the stone in the mountain.

"The stone in the mountain? Will that help me?"

You are able to hear me? You bear the Royal Symbol, but you are not from here.

"Not from here?" Matt's claw went to his bandana, with the pin on it. "What does that have to do with what's happening to me? Where am I from?""

I can say no more. You must find the stone in the mountain. Before you lose yourself.

"Lose myself?!" Matt was shouting now. "My memory is gone and you're saying I haven't lost myself yet? And I'm from somewhere else?!"

Follow the Symbol. Follow the Symbol. It repeated itself multiple times. Matt put a claw to his forehead, he was really hurting now. "Tell me who I am! What does this Symbol have to do with me?!"

Follow the Symbol…and unleash your power!

Suddenly, both Matt and the stone glowed a very bright red. The Zangoose shouted in pain. His friends tried to run towards him to help, but the light was too blinding.

"Matt!" Heather shouted. "Can you hear me?"

No response.

"I wish I knew what the stone was saying!" Ethen yelled.

The light started to die off, but much of it still remained surrounding Matt. He turned, with bright red eyes filled with anger. The stone no longer shone.

"No!" The Fire-Type cried. "He's acting weird again!"

"You heard what he said," Ethen shouted. "Snap out of it, Matt!" The Skarmory used Steel Wing, lunging at his friend. Matt deflected him with his claw almost effortlessly.

"Ethen!" yelled Heather. She shot a Flamethrower at him, which caught him off guard, but only seemed to make him madder. Matt leaped at the Ninetales, his hand a beaming scarlet. She curled up in defense, but he still managed to make a cut on her, a deep one at that. "Ow!" She shouted. It hurt so much, she started crying. Why was Matt doing this to her?

"Get away from her, you freak!" Ethen exclaimed. He dashed towards him (as fast as a Skarmory could) and knocked him away with his wing. The Steel-Type then rushed him with a Drill Peck, pushing him against the wall and knocking the wind and energy out of him. The glowing stopped, and the Zangoose fell to the ground. Ethen ran over to Heather. "Are you alright?"

The Fire-Type looked at her leg. Matt had got her right on the shoulder. She tried to take a step, wincing in pain. "No, I'm not, I can't walk…"

The Zangoose stirred, and looked over to his friends. "What happe-" He stopped when he saw the distressed looks on their faces and the cut on Heather. It was still bleeding. "No…"

"All you've tried to do is hurt us!" Ethen yelled. "You really hurt Heather this time, it's because of you that Sierra got captured, and you ruined my favorite place to relax! Why don't you just go back to wherever you fucking came from and leave us alone!"

"Guys, I didn't mean to-"

"Just LEAVE!" The Skarmory was breathing heavily. No one had seen him that angry before. Not knowing what to do, Matt ran out of the alcove, away from the stone and away from his only friends. He was right, for all the good that Ethen and Heather did for him…he returned the favor by hurting them. There was only one place he could go now.

"You didn't have to do that!" Heather shouted at Ethen.

"Huh?"

"You know he's alone! You know it's not his fault what that stone does to him! Can't you see he wasn't happy about it?"

"Heather, look at you! You're really hurt and you expect me to just brush that off as, 'He didn't mean it!'?"

"No." The Ninetales sniffled. "But I didn't expect you to shove him away like that, that's for sure."

Ethen sighed, lowering his shoulders. "Come on," he said, lifting Heather onto his back.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"To get you fixed."

"No, we're going to find Matt."

"But, your shoulder!"

"My shoulder will be fine, but we can't let Matt get lost out there."

"Heather…"

The Ninetales didn't say anything else.

Ethen sighed. "Fine! We'll go look for Matt. You couldn't possibly know where he want did you?"

"He was shouting something about mountains," Heather replied. "Didn't you hear that?"

"I…wasn't really paying attention to it."

Heather rolled her eyes. "I just hope he's alright. Let's go after him, quickly!"

"Can't exactly move that fast…" Ethen started out of the alcove, the Fire-Type perched on his back.


Matt couldn't believe what he had just done. It was the stone, right? It had to be. He wouldn't hurt his friend like that, would he? No. No, he had to find the stone. He had to find answers about who he was in his past life.

The energy inside him felt stronger as he got higher. He had to be getting close to the stone, but there was still such a high hike up the mountain.

"I need to know…what's going on inside of me," Matt said to himself as he trekked up the mountain pass. "Why that stone…and now this other one…are doing this to me. Why do I keep attacking Ethen and Heather?"

The further Matt got up the mountain, the snowier it got. He had come a long way, but hunger, thirst, and fatigue couldn't stop him now. Suddenly, his chest started to glow. He felt like he was starting to become aggressive again, but it never fully overtook him. The light got stronger, and Matt could feel himself being pulled off of the path. The Zangoose spotted a small cave and knew that the stone was in there. He started running again, but tripped, planting his face into the snow.

He stood up. "Ok, stone…" he said, not even near the entrance yet. "Please tell me what you know."

A faint red light came from the cave. There was no doubt. The Normal-Type ran into it, having to walk down a small slope.

"Ok…" Matt said. "I came here. I was told to seek you out. Please…tell me who I am. Why I have this…power. What did you do to me?"

You bear the Royal Symbol.

"Don't you think I know that?"

Much more than just the thing around your neck. You have shared a close bond with a member of the Royal Family.

Matt was taken aback. "I have…?"

The power that you have is one very closely related to the Royal Family. In order to obtain the status of King or Queen, one must be able to harness the power known as Aura. All members of the Royal Family possess this, however some outsiders can obtain this power as well.

"So I have the power of the Royal Family? Is that why the King is after me?"

Yes. You possess the power of Aura. However, outside of the Royal Family, Aura is a very dangerous ability. It is able to reach levels far more powerful than the Family could ever hope to. But it comes at a cost. Let the power get too out of hand, and you will lose all control.

"I've already done that!" Matt shouted. "Just earlier I attacked my only friends and really hurt one of them! Whatever this Aura stuff is, I don't want to deal with it. I just want to know who I am!"

You ask a lot of questions. However, I cannot answer them. You must find the member of the Royal Family that you know and reunite with them. Follow the Symbol and all of your questions will be answered.

"If you can't tell me who I am…at least tell me this…" Matt felt the aura welling inside of him. "How do I control myself? How do I stop myself from hurting my friends?"

That answer is not from me. That answer comes from inside of you.

The stone began to fade away like the one that Ethen grew attached to. "No…" Matt said. "No! Come back! I need to know more!" He went up to touch it, like he had before. He had to communicate with it somehow. But there was no luck. "I have a dangerous amount of power and you won't even tell me how to control it? What if I hurt someone?!" He didn't get a response, but he wasn't really expecting one either. "Gah!" He punched the rock, making a crack in it. The Symbol remained unbroken.

Either Matt just didn't notice it before or it started to snow inside of the cave. The Zangoose started feeling very cold. He didn't know what else to do but…just stay there. He couldn't hurt his friends that way. And this power he had…was just going to get out of control. Why should he put them all at risk when he's like this?

"If I did have any friends before I lost my memory…" he said to himself, lying down on the ground. "They would have found me by now…"

The snow began to cover Matt. He was shivering, but a very faint glow of red aura seemed to keep him warm enough to live. He wasn't sure if he wanted it to or not. Suddenly, he heard voices. Were they outside the cave? He couldn't really hear very well. They were coming inside of it.

"I'm telling you, there was a mark of the Royal Symbol outside of this cave, this had to be where the stone is." Is that…?

"But it's so dark! Ethen, there's no way he's in here, let's go." It is…They…came back?

"Wait, I think I can see some red light down there. Light a fire or something so we can see."

Heather blew out some fire from her mouth, holding it as long as she could before having to take a breath. Ethen made his way down to the faint red light under the snow as quickly as he could with the Ninetales still on his back. "Matt, are you there?" He cleared away the snow with his wing.

"You guys…came for me?" The Normal-Type said, facing away from them. "But why?"

"Because you're our friend," Heather responded, trying her best to get off of Ethen's back. "Listen, Matt, my shoulder hurts still. But I know it wasn't you who did it. It was what the stone did to you." She hobbled over to him, giving him a hug.

"It's…a touch more complicated than that," Matt told her. "But I can tell you later. I'm so sorry I attacked you, Heather."

"I…should be sorry, too," Ethen said. "I snapped at you earlier. I didn't know what I was talking about and…I didn't mean to make you run away."

"You weren't completely wrong, you know. I've got something dangerous inside me and I don't think I could live with myself if I let it hurt you guys any more than I already have."

"Haven't you heard anything we've been telling you all day?" The Ninetales asked. "We support you, Matt. No matter how out of control this power gets. Now come on, I'm freezing my ass off here and I'm a Fire-Type. Let's get you home."

Matt smiled, standing up. He helped Heather get back onto Ethen and the three left the cave. Even if he never regained his memory, he found comfort in knowing that he had them to go to.