Content Warning: References to suicide, depictions of physical abuse, death and trauma.

Curio stopped, taking another swig of a half-empty bottle. Tony clicked the camera off for now, getting up to stretch his legs, and of course, pet Shine. While his ears were being scratched, Shine considered what Curio said, confirming it in his head. He had always known GeL were on the level, but then, how did that explain everything else? Surely, that alone couldn't have been enough to block his memories?

"You know," Tony said, turning to Curio, "when you said you enjoyed your time there, I was a little sceptical. But now I've heard what you did there, and know what GeL set out to do for certain, I believe you now."

"Eshhic!" She made a noise somewhere halfway between a hiccup and a sneeze before continuing. "Yeah, wasn't trying to screw with you or anythin'. I meant what I said."

"You still didn't seem fully convinced there."

"Sure I wasn't. And I'm sure other peeps wouldn't be either. But really, I never said it was all black and white. Not like the games, if you know what I mean." She sighed, drumming her metallic fingers on her lap. "You expect everythin' to be about good guys or bad guys as a kid. But people are people, really, is what I've learned becoming an adult mon. They can be both, or neither, I dunno. It's all a confusing mess, but I guess that's what life is."

"Of course."

"But, eh—" she glanced at Shine— "I ain't got all day, so we might as well wrap up that screwed up year." She hiccuped again, putting a paw to her mouth. "Sorry, I'm not drunk. I will be if I wanna get through this next part, though, trust me." A sip that time. "So I bet you wanna know what happened to M after all that. Nearly killing someone isn't exactly something you can bounce back from."

Tony grimaced, looking to Shine. "Of course not."

"But, well, if you stick around for his story… eh, whatever, you'll make up your mind once you hear it."

(Yes, what became of M?)

Okay, so where was I the day he was sent away for good? No, actually, where was he? I was the one who went to visit him in the end. But let me set the scene again.

Since what happened with GeL and all that, I had taken a few days off to find my bearings again. For once, it was nice to kick back and relax in the midst of my studies, but that meant everyone else who would've been present in the base were in the middle of their own lessons. So there was pretty much nobody in my own area during the daytime, which left me alone with my thoughts. Thoughts about the rest of the world. Thoughts about GeL and their mission. Thoughts of what I learned. Thoughts of M stabbing…

Oh, screw this. While I wasn't ready to get back to work, doing nothing as those ideas swirled in my head started to weigh down on me. So, what to do? Talking to someone else was my first thought, but who? All of the other Pokemon were probably busy with their own lessons, and not just that, but the humans were probably doing their own thing too. Who knows where Azzy and Mack were, if they hadn't left already. Then how else could I have occupied my time while I waited for Shine?

The library. Me and him had spent a few times browsing the archives there, mostly for books on our own subjects, but I remembered there were also films listed in its own section on the screen. I had wanted to check them out for a while, since I loved watching the Pokemon anime in our lessons and wanted more of it, but didn't have the time to really look through it. Now I did, I needed an excuse to start.

It just started with looking for the Pokemon series, and then, seeing recommendations on the screen for lots of other stuff, including other animated films. Those were the ones I liked the look of the most, since they had a different style, not like the big-eyed ones I usually saw in the anime. The first one I rented was actually a stop-motion feature about a family of walking Hippopotas trying to stop Deoxys' meteorite from destroying their house. They had booths in the library I could watch stuff on, so I sat there, watching as I saw the figurines come to life. There was something about the way they moved as well as the world built around the sets that I really liked, and they felt real to me even though they obviously weren't. So I kept watching, looking for DVDs like that, and there were a lot of things that caught my eye. Something about a Rotom trapped in a TV that wanted to become real. Not much I remembered about the story, but just the way it moved got those gears spinning.

Okay, you get the point. As much as I could talk about this for ages, I have to stop somewhere. Basically, it didn't take long for me to become a reel junkie, so much so, after I had dinner, I went back to the library to watch some more, and I spent the next couple days just picking out different movies to watch and cycling through them in the booths. I took stacks of DVDs in at once. I had wasted a lot of time, but it was time I enjoyed wasting, and for the first time in a while, I forgot about everything else that was going on in GeL.

One night. I actually fell asleep there, zoning out to that Hippopotas movie on rewatch. I dunno, something about sitting on that cozy cushioned seat and watching something that soothing put me in a lull. The next morning, I woke up to a spiked paw tapping my shoulder through the booth's curtain. That was a bit of a surprise, but as soon as I processed it, I knew who it was.

"Ugh, Rhode, lemme… sleep."

He pulled the curtain, letting some of the light in. Half awake, I saw Rhode in full, except this time, he didn't have a t-shirt on at all. Not that it made much difference, being half naked from down below was still being naked, but at least his wound was fully patched up. He glanced at the stack of DVD cases and grinned.

"So, you went on a bit of a binge-watch there, lass?"

"Binge… watch?" I said, rubbing my eyes. "Is that what they call it?" So it meant I had watched a lot, and with that, realised that I had stayed in the library longer than I planned to. "Crap, I was meant to get back to the base, wasn't I?"

"Eh, don't matter. Some students stay in 'ere over night anyway. Besides, you seemed peaceful."

Nothing got past him. Well, maybe at the time, but my worries were still in the background. "Yeah, I feel better." I mustered up a smile even though I wasn't fully into it.

"Alright." Rhode must've seen through that, but let it slide anyway. "Do you mind if I sit down? That's if you wanna talk after the other day."

Since those binge-watching days gave me some space, it was enough time to be on speaking terms with my tutor again. So, I scooched over to the end of the booth and grabbed my tail to avoid it being sat on as Rhode made himself comfortable. He rubbed his paws, pausing for a moment. It seemed the other day was still on his mind.

"Sorry 'bout what happened," he said with a sigh. "I still wish we could've done something different."

"Fine." I wasn't really, but I knew they had no other choice on their part.

"So…" He clicked his tongue and crossed his legs. "Have you thought any more 'bout whether or not you're staying?"

"No, not yet." That came across as more blunt than it should've been.

"Ah, lass-" he held his paw up in defense- "Didnae mean to urge you or anythin'. I just-"

"I know." I was tempted to storm out then, though Rhode's aura eased me back in. "Look, teach, I know you're sticking your neck out for me, so thanks." I ran my paws through my tail, smoothing it out. "I still need time to decide."

"Right." Rhode frowned. "I was mainly thinking because of M, if he's being sent out soon. But…" Another tongue click. "Well, I might as well say it, we've been havin' problems with 'im lately."

The mention of that Marowak would've put a spike in my chest if there wasn't already a spike there. "O-oh. What's he done this time?"

"Nothin'." Rhode sighed again as he fiddled with the fabric of the curtain. "He just en't really in the best of states. Can't blame the poor sod. Afraid to say we 'ad to restrain him outside his Pokeball. I know it ain't humane, but it's the best we can do to stop him killin' himself."

"Killing…" That was an alien concept to me, the act of suicide. Not so alien once I grew up, of course, but back then, that was one thing I had no idea could happen, even though I knew death was the great equaliser out there. A Riolu dies in the wild? Who cares, there are three more hatching someplace else. But if everything was about survival, then offing myself would've been the last thing on my mind.

"He won't talk to me; he's locked his aura up again," Rhode said as he patted my lap. "But I'm hoping he would listen to you. He's worried sick about Shine, though he's still being treated."

That was definitely a shocker. "H-he is? He attacked-"

"Yeh, I know, but he does feel bad about it." He might've sensed I was put off by the whole thing, so he inched away from me, sitting on the edge of the seat. "You don't have to though, it won't make a difference since they're still sending 'im out. It's up to you."

Okay, well I just said no and continued watching those movi— of course, I said yes. I wasn't just going to sit with my spike up my butt while they were trying to help him.

(Ouch.)

Yeah, charming, I know, hardy har. But in all seriousness, I needed to know. I still had loose ends to tie up, and if I didn't try to solve M's puzzle, I'd probably never have the chance to do it again. So I agreed in the end, and me and Rhode were on our not-so-merry way to the infirmary where he was being held. What M did though still lingered in my mind, the way he drove that club towards himself and, well, tried to self-harm in general. I wasn't sure if the two were related.

"Rhode?" I asked.

"Yeh?"

"Why do people try to kill themselves?"

"Oh." He chuckled to himself, though there wasn't any humour in it. Maybe it was the lack of humour that drove him to laugh it out. "It's complicated. I guess I owe it to talk to you about these things, now you're more grown up. I dunno if Azzy ever did."

I shook my head.

"Well, it 'appens a lot in humans. It's hard to pin down, but eh, the simplest way I can put it is that they can be so overwhelmed or put into despair that, in their eyes, dying is better than staying alive. It ain't really natural, but it 'appens. It's like your mind's cavin' in on itself."

I didn't know how to take that, but I got the gist of it that time. A year ago, I probably wouldn't have. "So… what about Pokemon? You said it's not natural."

"Aye," Rhode said, taking a deep breath. "When the main thing wilds want to do is survive, dying is natural. One has to kill the other in order to get their next meal. Killing themselves, now, isn't normal. I mean, for a while, humans thought that suicide was somethin' unique to them. Somethin' only they can do. Since they 'ave a sense of self, only they can self-destruct." He spat at the floor. "That's' a lot o' tosh. Anythin' with a living, growing brain ain't immune to those thoughts. It's like if I said humans were only capable of cruelty. Well, they are, and I dunno of any Pokemon to start wars, but it's nature."

"So you're saying nature's cruel?" I tugged at my aura sensors. "I wouldn't wanna live in the wild-wild like M did then."

"Nah, nature's just indifferent. Pokemon hunt prey because they 'ave to take care o' themselves. Those are their own needs; there ain't any morality involved there. But, if we were to form a region of our own, and saw somethin' another region did that we didn't like, or wanted to take for ourselves, well, we'd go to war. We'd only evolve, just like humans 'ave all these years." He chuckled again, putting his arms behind his head. "Maybe I'm gettin' off topic."

"No, I understand, kinda. So, why did M try to kill himself? That was the moment he snapped out of it, wasn't it?"

"Yeh. Well, we're here, so…" He stopped, just short of opening the pristine, white door. "You can ask him then. It's too early to say at this rate but…" He trailed off, a frown emerging on his jagged features. "Look, whatever 'appened to him, it wasn't pleasant. I…" He grit his teeth next. "I sense it might have something to do with his family, if what you told us is true."

I had to stop him before he opened the door handle. "Will he try to harm anyone while I'm in there?"

"Nah, again, we've restrained him. There's literally nothin' he can do to anyone or himself." Before we entered, Rhode put his paw on my shoulder. "Whatever you see in there might not pretty. I'm sorry in advan—"

"Let's just get this over with," I said. And so, when we came in, M was tied down to a medical chair. There were restraints around his arms, I guessed to prevent him from scratching himself, and straps from the back cushion to hold him in place. He didn't struggle, even when he saw me come in. And when I made eye contact with him, well.

Crap.

He had a blank stare, not unlike what he used to pull whenever he was on his own at the base. Again, he would just sit and stare for hours. But this time, he was paying attention to me. His eyes tracked my movements, sure, but the reason for his blank stare, well, it was like he had lost the will to live. Like his mind had given up and his body was just a shell.

Of course, he wasn't the same as he was when he snapped, but that memory was still fresh. That eye. The blood. The club. None of that was going to go away any time soon. To avoid lashing out or doing something else, I looked away, turning my attention to the rest of the room.

Shine's Pokeball was still there, tucked into a healing shelf where M couldn't reach. There was a nurse by the Marowak's side, as well as a female ranger, who I had never seen before in the facility. She had her fair share of scars as well, not unlike M, but she seemed like she had all her marbles in one box. So Rhode went to the ranger first.

"Anythin' happen while I was away?" he said.

"Nope," the ranger replied. "Safe and sound." The human looked to me next. "You're that other student of his, right?"

"Um, yeah!" I blurted out, a bit surprised by how she broke the ice to another Pokemon like that. While her free hand stroked M's head, she held the other gloved hand out to me.

"I hope you can give us some info. You seem smart, so I trust you'll help us out."

"Well, thanks, anythin' to figure this mess out, I guess," I said, returning the handshake. Then something else came to mind. "You're a ranger, right? What's it like out there?"

"Hard, but rewarding." She smirked. "I don't usually get to work with human-speakers, so this is a nice change of pace. Saves me going crazy out in the sticks."

"Just don't blab anythin' about this to the outside," Rhode said. "You're under contract, aye?"

"Yep, sure, I know. What happens in this room stays in this ro—" she drew her hand away as M tried to bite at her fingers. "I think he's getting tired of me yammering on." She crossed her arms. "To be honest, I'm not that optimistic, really. I deal with pure ferals every day, and I don't think there's much to gain by questioning this poor creature."

"That's what we want your professional opinion on, lass."

"Yes, of course." She patted my shoulder. "Still, we should get started."

Everything was set. The nurse poured me a glass of water in case I needed to calm myself down, the ranger was there in case things got hairy, and Rhode was there to translate what we said for the ranger. So I sat on a chair opposite M, and we were both face to face. Pokemon to Pokemon. Both our hearts were beating; I felt his pulse through my aura. Whatever he was going through, well, you can put two and two together, but for me to be nervous was a bit of a surprise. I wasn't in danger. But I felt I was on the brink of discovering something truly terrible there.

M's eyes drooped. He whined, making a soft rumbling sound. Everyone else was silent, save for the pulse of the healing stations beside us. I was about to say something to break the tension, anything to get started, but decided against it, at first. It always seemed like walking on hot coals with M before. But what else did I have to say at that point? All I wanted was the truth, so in the end, I just went with my gut.

"M?" I asked. "Um, do you know what you're doing here?"

I waited for a response, but even when he blinked, there was no reaction. Call it intuition, though, I assumed he already knew and didn't want to repeat anything. So I just cut to the chase, not that I was comfortable bringing it up at all.

"I thought about what you told me back there. You called me Sis."

That got a reaction out of him, as his eyes shot up. It didn't really seem in good taste to ask about a dead sibling right away, so something else came to mind.

"Y'know, I've got three brothers back home. I dunno where they are now, but they're doing fine, last I heard. But I never knew what it was like to have a sister. Being a sister, I kind of felt like I got on everyone's nerves. Can't count how many times I pushed my little bro into the lake."

I hoped he got the hint. In case it wasn't clear, I sighed and crossed my legs, showing I was deep in thought about it. Again, no response. At least, none spoken. There was another pulse, aside from M's heartbeat, that I sensed. This time, it came from his head, and I knew from there that I had something. Rhode picked up on it too as he went to my side.

"Just focus on him and nothing else. If you need to get out of it, squeeze my paw."

I grabbed onto him for comfort, and with that out of the way, dove into M's mind, no longer a dense jungle, but a clearing in an ocean of trees. Now, how can I describe this? What M saw wasn't what I saw, just the way he remembered it, so keep that in mind when I talk about it here.

What I saw with my powers was more like an impression than an accurate depiction of a memory. It was like a crayon sketch, as the whole thing was drawn in broad strokes on a flat plane. Not too vivid, but just enough colour that you could tell what each mark meant. In the middle of all of this green, both the bluer and the yellower shades of it, were two orange lines for two Cubone. The bigger line stood behind another, or to the left of it, since there wasn't anything that indicated a sense of space. The smaller line on the right was surrounded by pink, with what I assumed to be flowers. So, putting that together, I could only conclude that the bigger line was M, and the smaller one was his sister. So she must've been the younger one of the bunch.

With a squeeze of my tutor's paw, that brought me back to that sterile room again. M looked pleadingly at me, like he wanted to speak up. I took a sip of water, gathering my thoughts before I continued.

"So, let me guess, she was picking flowers?"

"Y-yes." Finally, I got a peep out of him. As comfortably as he could've done in those restraints, M shifted his body, ready to speak. "Flower. Field. She… wanted the flower name. Told her not to go too far. Mom was worried. Flower… on head." He smiled. An actual, genuine smile, and in that moment there, M no longer looked like a ticking time bomb, but a happy Marowak. "Sister, had flower on head, no skull. No skull, just like me. Saw whole soft face. Her eyes were red, not like mine. I know colours. Pink flower. She looked… wonderful with that on."

So I definitely could tell she was important to him. Was. Damn it.

(Do you need a break?)

Nah, let's carry on. Anyway, that was something to go on. Rhode relayed it to the ranger, though she had no reaction to speak of yet. So I kept on asking.

"Was she your lil' sis?"

"No."

"I thought she was smaller."

"Small..." His eyes widened again. "How… you know?"

I covered my mouth, regretting what I said instantly. I didn't want to overwhelm him with the aura reading, after all.

"I just guessed," I fibbed.

"No. Smaller… knelt down. Leg bad. Took… extra good care of her."

I didn't want to ask how that happened right away. It seemed like a touchy subject, so, well, I just changed it.

"It seemed like you loved her a lot, didn't you?"

"Yes." His eyes drooped again. "I… she… uhhhhhh…." He itched to say something, on the tip of his tongue, but just outside of his reach. Maybe he didn't know how to put it into words. That was another chance to look into his aura.

There were a few pictures, the first one being a pretty, but very messy watercolour painting. You could just barely tell each of the colours apart and what they were supposed to mean, since they were all blended together like several ink washes thrown together on the same page. There were a bunch of trees though and a sky, with a brown box in the middle of all the grassland, so that was one landmark I could've pinned my bearings down to.

Then another painting, this time, from M's perspective as he walked towards this box. The paint started shifting around like oil on glass, creating a lot more details than what I saw before. I saw how many leaves were on a nearby tree. I saw pawprints in the mud, trailing over to the brown box. And in the centre of the image was that brown box, except the shapes were more fleshed out, so it created a roof, windows and a door. This appeared to be a cabin.

The next painting was just the same, except the frame was getting closer to the shack. Then the paintings started getting faster and faster until it moved just like an animated film, sequenced together at 24 frames a second. It was no longer just a series of still images.

M entered, and there was a Cubone sitting in the middle of the floor, crying alone. I gathered she was still M's sister. Unlike before, I got a good look at the rest of her: one of her legs was missing. Whatever was left of it was only a stump, though the rest of her limbs were intact. So she probably couldn't have walked that well, but I guess she still ran. She must've gotten to the hide somehow.

Around the cabin, there were books and papers that had been scattered across the wooden floor. There was a set of paints lying about, which I guessed came from an open toolbox. There were even paintings hanging up on the wooden walls, ones that actually looked pretty decent, filled with landscapes as well as studies of random figures and Pokemon. But on the other end of the cabin, there were also traps, like a mesh net, a few knives of different shapes and sizes, and even a gun with darts displayed in a glass case. If I had to make one guess, a hunter must've lived there before.

M stepped forward as he reached his hand out to his sibling Cubone. His sister still had tears in her eyes, and she looked away from M with a guilty look on her face. Guilty? What for? That I couldn't quite place, so I held onto that thought for another time.

After that, they looked around. Sis looked at one of the pictures on the floor, admiring its handiwork. Then she picked out the set of paints, not fully knowing what to do with it, but excited to experiment nonetheless. All the paint tubes fell on the floor, and with one step of her paw on a certain paint squeezer, purple squirted out: a colour she had never seen before. She laughed, and stepped on the other ones, trying to see all its different colours and textures. M joined in too, stomping on the floor with delight. They tried to pick it up, but they got their paws all caked with various pigments. Then they saw the pieces of scrap paper. They smeared it all over that, creating the various shapes that emerged in their minds. M painted the sun, with one imperfect yellow circle in the middle of the white space. His sister had mixed white and red together, creating a pink circle, except with alternating strokes in the middle, looking like flower petals. By that point, the siblings had been covered in the stuff, though from the looks of Sis as she smiled, and the actions of M as he played along, they were both happy.

There was a book by Sis' feet, with an illustration of a bunch of flowers at the centre, and black text describing it, though the words were illegible like smudged ink. Sis sat back down and had M help her flip through the book, which all contained illustrations of different plants with accompanying text. Then, there was one that stood out: the pink flower she had picked out in the other memory. She stared at it and her mouth was open. I guess the two were talking, though the words weren't there. This whole time, it had been like watching a silent film.

Then the film stopped, like someone had hit the pause button. Then came the next painting. The door opened, and a Marowak was there, its red eyes flashing with rage through the skull. The painting's hue shifted as everything went from a natural, earthy palette to a kaleidoscope of clashing colours. From green, brown and blue to red, black, purple and yellow.

Another painting. The Marowak took one step forward. Everything around the room was being ripped apart, like the universe was a canvas and the rips in it tore the fabric of reality to shreds.

Yet another step; there was only the Marowak, as it raised a fist at M.

Then, complete darkness. Something hit my face. What was this? Pain? I shouldn't have felt that. Damn it. Go back, I told myself, go back. No. No. No.

I squeezed his paw again, actually digging into it that time, and Rhode's yelp drew me back into the room. I had to shield my eyes since everything seemed so bright after that. Rhode wasn't hurt, though he purposefully waved his paw as if he had touched something hot.

"Sorry," I said, "got a bit too into it."

"That's fine, lass," he said. "Take a breathe if you need ta'."

A few sips of water later, and I was up to speed again. While it felt like I had left my body completely and came back a new Mon, M's slack-jawed expression hadn't changed. He was still paying attention; just waiting for me to pick it up from last time again. A part of me sensed he knew about my aura and was just playing along, but I still needed to get on with it.

"Your sister seemed like a good painter. She really liked that pink flower, didn't she?"

"Yes." M mumbled to himself again, then took a deep breath. His eyes were in focus again: confident and alert. "I—I remember. My sister found it beautiful. Liked its colour and shape. Wanted to find out the name of it. I thought it was silly; we didn't have our own names, so why did a flower need one? Didn't need names in the wild."

That struck me as a lot more fluent. I had never heard him choose his words like that before, even in our own tongue, but he was thinking about difficult concepts to grasp for most Pokemon.

"Why did you name yourself M then?"

He grunted, sounding like an 'em'. I took the hint and moved on.

"What was she trying to find in that book?"

"The same flower. Didn't know it was a book then, but she looked anyway. She found it and tried to read, but couldn't. Couldn't understand human words. Nonsense. She wanted to learn. Didn't know how, but wanted to understand it. Wanted to understand this world. I wanted to help her find out. Didn't… have purpose before that. To survive. To hunt. As Pokemon. That gave us something."

I really wanted to ask if he found GeL useful and if he learned anything at all, but that ship had already sailed. It would've been an insult to him now he was going away. The next thing on my mind, I felt as bad, if not worse, for asking, but had to anyway. There was no easy way to say it.

"I, er, I saw that Marowak, was it your mothe—"

"DON'T!" he screamed, thrashing against the bindings. That made me jump, and got the ranger's attention as she stared at him, ready to suppress him if the restraints ever broke. He stopped not long after, relaxing into the chair, though his expression had changed entirely, looking more like his old feral self than before. "Bad! Bad! No name! Doesn't deserve it! Doesn't! Doesn't! Doesn't!" At that point, he had descended into snarling and drooling, as if he had smelled blood.

I had finally stumbled upon She Who Must Not Be Named. So, it didn't take a genius with a mind-reading degree to get that she had beaten M up. But what for? What happened after that? And why was his sister crying?

As if to answer my question, M wiped his maw free of drool and cleared his throat. "Sis ran away. Was crying. That… that… Bad threatened her. Said she would feed her to Houndoom if she growled at her. Respect elders. Don't stray away. Don't run away. Don't run away from me. You are my children and my children alone. Nothing else can have you. Nothing else will take—" M cut himself off, gritting his teeth before he sighed and continued. "Why do I remember that? What she said? I don't want those memories. Memories. Memories. Me—"

"M?" I said, snapping him out of his ramble. Though what I did was a little crazy, I pulled my chair closer to him, close enough that I could've petted him if I felt the need to. The rest kept their distance, though of course, still within good reach in case everything went to hell in a handbasket. I was about to say something else, wanting to ask about his mom, but it would've felt like rubbing salt in the wound. Instead, I reached out to him slowly. He stared at my paw as if it was something dangerous, and sensing that, I stopped, letting him get used to it. After a while, he lowered his head, letting me stroke it. The textures of his skin, the scales atop his head, and the top of his broken horns were all rough. Despite this, he let out a low rumble, somewhat like a purr. That seemed to soothe him.

I still felt awful for bringing it up. While my own experiences with my parents weren't always positive, at least my Mom treated me fairly. I couldn't have even imagined her harming her own cubs.

And speak of the devil, that's when M raised his head, nudging my paw away to speak.

"Was better."

"H-huh?"

"I remember her being… better before. Looked after us. Looked after me. Before… sis, she…" He took a deep breath before continuing. "She'd sing me to sleep. Sounded different through the mask. No words, but it sounded nice. While I grew, she let me play while looking after me. We bathed in the water. We climbed trees together. Still had to hunt, which was stressful for her, but she did it for me. If I saw anything bad, she'd cuddle me."

I just gave him a small pat on the shoulder, letting him carry on.

"Then Sis hatched; still had her leg. Taking care of both of us was hard. More hunting. More crying. But we carried on. Harder to take care of Sis; she wandered off, asking random Pokemon, or birds, about flying. Bad… not bad… Good kept her close. Sometimes, shout, but not hurt. Sometimes, Good cried alone. Asked why. Snapped at us, saying crying was weak of her and weak of us."

M squinted, getting misty eyed. "Am I weak? Why do I cry?"

"No," I said. "You saw me crying before, and you didn't call me weak. You hugged me, remember?"

All he gave in reply was another grunt. Mmm. I dried his eyes for him, which he bowed his head at.

"Good, so afraid she'd lose us. Lose me. Lose Sis. One not-sun, we sat together, resting in the ground. Dug a pit. Good would watch after us while we slept. Then… then…"

He whined again, trying to clutch at his head, but not having the mobility to do so with his restraints. Another pulse. On the verge of another memory, I dove into his aura again, expecting the worst.

It was a crayon sketch again, with the same simplistic style as before, except… Well, in the middle, there was a crying Cubone, with blue smudged dots for tears. All around her were blue and yellow blobs with star-like tails. One of the blobs had red all over it. And Sis' leg, well, it was all covered with scratch marks in the canvas, again, like a tear in the universe.

Squeeze. I didn't even need to see that much to know when to call it quits. My head was starting to hurt with everything I was diving into, so I took another sip, hoping it would clear my mind. Well, it wasn't so much the constant aura reading, but what I saw in it that was starting to wear on me. Those blue and yellow blobs looked oddly familiar to a certain Luxio I knew. My heart sank at that. So, was that why M attacked Shine in particular? And what happened to his sister after that?

"The pack of Luxio attacked," M said, eyes in a deep, orange focus. "They targeted Sis while we slept, but it was… Good's turn to look after us that night, but she was asleep too. Luxio grabbed leg by the teeth, tearing it off. Sis screamed. I tried to defend her, but was attacked back. I couldn't do anything. Too weak. Good targeted the biting Luxio—" M bashed against the restraints, making me jump back in my seat. The other guys in the infirmary looked with caution. "Good bashed its head with the bone club. Again. Again. Again. Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Smash. Drip. Then, it stopped. The rest ran. Good was alone, with Sis screaming."

M sighed, sniffling.

"Good screamed too, wailing 'all my fault, all my fault' into the night. I tried to help Sis up, finding leaves to cover the wounds. I thought she was going to die." Another sigh. "Then, Good turned to Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad turned around, shouting 'all your fault, all your fault' at me, then punched. Punch. Punch. Punch. Then scratched. Scratch. Scratch. Scratch." He tilted his head from left to right, revealing all the splotches on his face where the bruises and scars were. "Not Good."

Rhode translated all of this for the ranger, who huffed, then went to the side of the room with a sigh.

"Alright, time out." Rhode stepped in, squeezing my paw as he lifted me up. M looked at us, pleading again without words, and Rhode shot him a glance of sympathy before going off to the corner of the infirmary where the ranger was. From the look on her face, she didn't seem to be taking this well.

"You heard all that, didn't you?" Rhode said. "I can already guess where this is going."

"Y-yes, I know. Listen." The ranger regained her composure and crossed her arms. "This happens in the wild a lot of the time. Sometimes, parents lash out at their cubs as a response to stress or as a form of keeping them distant. It's important for the cubs, because in this scenario, it could either be life or death if they don't behave."

"Ain't that not abuse? You 'eard all of that, and think it's normal for wilds? Listen, M self harms. I've seen it 'appen. And I know he does it out of stress or guilt. And what he said about not deserving kindness before, that's more than your typical strict parent case out there. Imagine if he was a human kid."

"You're comparing Leppas to Orans. Of course, that would be abuse in the human world. But you can't compare the two as if they're one and the same."

Rhode snickered, thumbing his nose. "D'you forget who you're talkin' to, ey?"

"No. I don't mean in your case, or hers." She shot me a quick glance. "But—"

"You know what, forget it." Rhode rubbed at his forehead. "We're never gonna get anywhere like this. Let's just carry on."

"My thoughts exactly," the ranger said.

"Ready to step back in, C?"

I nodded, and went back to my seat opposite M. He leered at me that time, obviously not pleased, if his spike in anger was anything to go by.

"Not a beast," he said. "Don't talk about me like I am."

That was new. Mind you, I didn't think talking in plain sight was a very good idea to begin with, but even then, I didn't expect M's reaction. Still, there was something about what he said that rubbed me the wrong way. Why did he attack Shine? A part of my own aura flared up, but it quickly died down as I breathed in. Right, I wasn't going to get anywhere if I shifted the blame to him.

"Sorry," I said. "Then, that place in the woods, was that the same thing that happened when Mo— um, Bad found you?"

"Yes." He closed his eyes, thinking for a moment, then opened them again. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight times it happened since the first. It hurt. Didn't cry. Couldn't cry."

That was the first time I heard M count. So he really was taking those lessons to heart. "I'm sorry to hear that." I grasped at my lap, tugging at its fur. "How… horrible."

"Yes. Horrible. Bad."

He paused, relaxing in his chair again. Seconds passed. Then, a minute. Then, well, I don't know. He stayed still, not talking at all, while I tried to continue the conversation. But what else was there to say without setting him off again? Yet, I could tell there was more to it. There was something missing.

"Look," the ranger said, "if we can't find anything else, we should stop. We've heard enough."

"No!" I shouted. That must've been a bit of a surprise for her. "No. Hold on. I'm…"

Another pulse. I looked to M, who blankly stared off to the side of the room, mumbling to himself, repeating 'Sis' over and over again. That was the golden opportunity I needed to read his aura. So I dove in, hopefully, for the last time.

It was another set of watercolour paintings, starting off with M looking at himself in a puddle while his family slept by a tree not too far away. The tips of his little horns were broken, and there were purple splotches on his face, most notably, one blackened eye with swollen bumps around it. Then another painting, messy, this time, with M's paw splashing the water, covering the canvas in a blue wash.

Next painting, his sister woke up, limping over to his side. She didn't have the leg anymore. The two were talking. She was crying again, punching herself in the face. M grabbed her arm, and she looked shocked. Maybe M was consoling her. In any case, she calmed down and smiled as M nursed her head. The image became an orange blur, which I guessed was because he was nuzzling her at the time.

Sis pointed at a fluttering silhouette, which danced from treetop to treetop. She asked M something, not known to my ears, but to him anyway. She frowned. Doubt? Then, a slight smile, with a twinkle in her eyes. There was hope. Hope. An abstract concept, hope. You can't really catch hope in a net and eat it, but there it was.

Despite her limited movement, she hooked her claws into one of the trees, climbing up the bark with ease. M joined her as she helped him up on the branch. Then, they helped each other jump from treetop to treetop, with M guiding her through the maze of forestry to follow the winged figure. They ended up straying further away from Bad, but they didn't care.

Finally, they caught sight of the bird, perched atop a tree much higher up than any of the others they had climbed. Sis didn't waver, leaping towards one branch and clawing her way up to the top. M reluctantly followed, ready to catch his sister if anything happened. Finally, the two joined each other, in awe of this bird, who had a blue plumage and broad wings, roosting atop. It appeared to be a Honchkrow. There was a nest with large eggs, which the flying Pokemon roosted over. Naturally, it didn't react well to the two, expanding its wings and readying its talons to take action.

Sis spoke, though no words came through on my end at first. The sequenced paintings were becoming more vivid. Sis' face was carved out in much more detail, capturing all her contours, sharp points and smooth edges. For Cubone standards, she truly did look wonderful. This time, her mouth made sounds.

"We don't wanna hurt," she said. "I hope your babies grow to be strong."

The Honchkrow's words were silent.

"But, please. I wanna talk to you about something. Have you seen what's outside of here? There was something not made by us back there; we saw it ourselves."

There was spoken silence again.

"Humans? They made that. We didn't know what they were, but we had fun. I want to know more about them."

…

"What do you mean they're dangerous?"

…

"They… hunt us?"

…

"Yes, but we hunt each other too! What's the difference?"

…

"Can't you show us? I still wanna know! You can take us on your back, right? Aren't you big enough?"

The bird cawed, slapping them in the face with a strong gust. It wasn't strong enough to knock them to their deaths, as they maintained their balance, but that was enough for them to take the hint and leave. The two climbed down, descending onto a lower branch as they weighed their options.

"What should I do? W-we can't go back to her, she'll kill us both! E-er, let's go find some place else! We can find another flying type who's friendly can't we?" She tilted her head, then took M's arms, shaking them. "Please! We can't stay here, we have to keep going!"

A growl from below. No, several. It rang through the soundless forest, as the leaves rustled and various fliers swooshed in the air, escaping the scene. There was a pack of Luxio and one Luxray at the bottom, staring them down from a distance. Sis leaned over, worry washed over by a much more intense sense of fear.

"T-that's them! Run!"

In her rush, Sis leapt off the branch to another tree, but didn't quite stick the landing. She was hanging off of it, and even though she tried to pull herself up, she struggled to reach her one leg to climb back up. That's when M stepped into action, reaching out to help her.

"This is for my cub!" the Luxray yelled. Electricity crackled, and then, a bolt of lightning shot up in the air, targeting the branch Sis held onto. It reached closer. M reached closer. Both of them reached at the same time, one hand grabbing her towards life, and the other towards death. Except the other hand was faster. The wood burned, then, SNAP-

"STOP!" M screamed, thrashing against the restraints. "My memories are mine to keep! Stay out of there! Stop digging them back up! No! No, no, no, no, nonononononononononononononono no. No. No. No…"

Everyone was on guard at that point. The ranger, Rhode, and myself as well, as I stood up, backing away. M continued mumbling, until eventually, it became all out screeching. Beyond human, beyond Pokemon, it sounded like his soul was being sucked out by Yveltal. It became the only thing left in the room; everything else was eclipsed by that screech. That goddamn screech.

I can still hear it in my head.

It died down into incoherent noises, a mix between shouting and rambling, but he was no longer struggling. Eventually, those noises died out too, descending into M quietly sobbing. His whole face was scrunched up in sorrow, a mix of tears, drool and snot, and his aura, well, it was no longer blank. It radiated the emotions you'd expect from it, with no filter and nothing blocking it this time. I joined in with M, crying as well as his feelings flooded into mine. Rhode still kept it together, though he was misty eyed as well. The ranger turned away from us, though through osmosis, I guessed she felt it too.

"I…" M spoke up, at last. His throat was hoarse, so it came out as a croak. "Why… was I born? Why… live just to hunt? To fight? To survive? My life… no… purpose… no… point…"

That was yet another surprise. Was that what pushed him over the edge, that feeling of everything crashing down on him all at once? I thought back to what Rhode said, about why people killed themselves, and remembered how some did it when everything felt hopeless. But to me, even with all he had done, M's life had value. Besides, I didn't want to kick him while he was down.

"N-no," I said, sniffling, "you—"

"Stop." M tried to look at me, but couldn't see through all the fluid on his face. That must've stung. "P-please, someone, help. I'm, I'm all alone. Help. Help. Help." He trembled, shaking, with a new intense aura of fear spreading throughout the room like a thick fog.

"For god's sake," Rhode said, "I can't take this any more." He approached the chair that held the Marowak, trying to undo the restraints, when the ranger stepped forward, blocking his way.

"He's flipping out," the ranger said. "You're going to do more harm than good by releasing him."

"Can't you see he's sufferin', though?" Rhode tried to move side to side, reaching out towards the chair, but the ranger gripped his arm, squeezing his wrist.

"He's unstable. We can't let him escape. What are you going to do, remove me by force? You Lucario could kill me in a blink, you know." She held up the Pokeball. "If you lay a paw on me, my own Pokemon will have a word or two with you. I'll tell what happened to the world."

"You wouldn't," Rhode snarled.

"Then keep this Marowak under control." She walked Rhode over to another side of the room, still going back and forth about the 'release him or don't release him' thing. But then, that left me and M alone. That snivelling, shivering wreck of a Marowak.

I couldn't just sit by and do nothing; I had to take action. I pounced over to the chair and undid the velcro around M's wrists, as well as the straps at the back. It didn't take a lot of steps at all, but the main thing was to keep M from realising that and lashing out. Except he didn't resist at all back there.

M was free at last from the bindings. Whatever he did next, I just hoped to god that he didn't snap again, that I was right to trust him. And if he did, I would just move away from him, and he would be in his Pokeball again. Simple as that. He stood there, and we saw eye to eye as I knelt down to his level. Finally, I dove into his immediate thoughts without fearing any backlash.

Please, help me.

That was all I needed to reach out and embrace him, without hesitation. He felt warm, with all the blood pumping through his body. His cries were muffled against my belly. In that moment, I saw him for what he was: not a monster, not a beast, not some heartless feral, but a Pokemon, just like me. We were both young and confused and afraid for the future. Both hatchlings at heart. At that moment, though, I had to push it aside, taking on the role of an older sister, like with Stumpy. I had to. For him.

"I— I—" M stuttered as he spluttered. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so, so, s-s-sorry."

Nothing I said would've cut it, so I just stroked the back of his head, letting him vent all he needed to. There was nothing else in the room aside from me and him then.

"C-Curio," he said, looking up at me with his reddened eyes, "what am I supposed to do? My sister… she's gone. It's all my fault."

"No, I saw what happened, believe me." I gave him another pat from behind. "You were all in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"T-then—" he backed away from my arms, clapping his paws together— "I'll say sorry to Shine!" He wiped the tears away, glancing at the Pokeball. "I-er, he did nothing wrong. I don't know why, just, everything was tough, and I saw him as those Luxio, and I was dumb, and…" He trailed off, punching at his head again. It seemed like he was doing that as a punishment response. I wasn't having any of it, so I grabbed his arms.

"It's okay, you panicked." No, wait, what was I saying? M seemed smart, so he could've taken a bit of flak at that time. "Well, he'd appreciate you saying sorry. That's the least you can do for him." M shook his arms again, though I kept a firm grip. "If I let go, will your stop hurting yourself?"

He sniffled. "I-I'll try."

I smiled and softened my hold on him, letting him rub his paws. Once he gathered himself, he fell to his knees, clutching his body. "Still, what do I do?" He sighed. "I don't know what I'm doing here. Everyone else came to learn and I… I… I've wasted these two years."

"You said two years; that means you can count and tell time. So you did learn something."

"I-I mean, in the future. Everyone has something to do. I have nothing. So where do I go? I don't wanna be with a trainer if it means fighting again. No more. No more hurting."

That seemed like a crucial moment. If he was lost and looking for a reason to live after all that happened, well, it was like having to save him all over again. So I cycled through those memories quickly, finding anything I could've latched on to. Sis. What did she like? She liked the pink flower, of course, and she wanted to learn the name of it, so, how could we have found out? Through books, of course. But what book? Would GeL have botanical books in their library, and who would use it? There was a Roselia from the domestic group. Of course.

I didn't think that would've cut it, of course, but again, something to go on. If he found out about her, that would've sparked some sort of drive within him.

"M," I said. "Your sis wanted to know about that flower, right?"

He nodded.

"I think there's someone we can ask. I want to see if it will help you find some peace."

With that out of the way, the room re-emerged around me, with Rhode and the ranger staring at us, analysing our every move. I held onto M's paw in case he felt uneasy, and turned my head to the two. "Is that Roselia around? I forgot her name, but we need to talk to her, with M. And get her to bring that book of hers."

The two looked at each other, then Rhode sighed, flicking one of his dreads. "Och, I'll go. Can't let 'im go off on his own yet. But I'll be quick, just gotta drag Lorelei here." He winked at me. "I feel I know exactly what yer talkin' about, C."

"Do it," I said with a smirk.

I held the line while Rhode went off on his own. I sensed his aura for a bit as he rushed through the halls, though I still held onto M. I did that for so long, I forgot the ranger was even in the room. Right, her. I didn't know what to think about her, with what she said about M and him being just a feral. Telling her off would've been in order if it wasn't for her expression. She was still deep in thought, but what she was actually thinking, though, she was reflecting on what Rhode told her and how she viewed us two.

"I can tell you're using your aura," she said. "I know that look."

"O-oh, sorry," I said, "invasion of privacy."

"Don't sweat it, kid." She crossed her arms and smiled. "For what it's worth, though, you did change my mind about this case."

I looked to M, who seemed unfazed. I still didn't know if he understood human speech, though he was calm for now. "Uh, thanks?"

"I mean, I'm still being cautious." She leaned against the wall. "You can't let your guard down with this sort of thing. But, well, you've got me more interested in M now."

I clutched him for comfort. "He's been through enough."

"No, I mean, forget it." She sighed. "I just haven't seen a case like this, is all. He's, well, from the way he acts and from what Rhode told me, he needs a lot of help, more than I was expecting. And if he finds it, then it can't just be the standard re-wilding or trainer procedure. If what the higher ups told me was true, and with my own experience, he needs to be somewhere in the middle of all of this. Not like a zoo, a battle arena or a school, but, well, some place."

There was one question burning in my head. I never got to ask an outsider what they thought GeL was like. After that scuffle a day or two before with the staff, that desire to know intensified.

"What do you think of this place? About them teaching Pokemon like us?"

"Honestly," she said with a laugh, "I'm all rooting for you."

That was the moment Rhode entered, with Lorelei, the Roselia, walking in by his feet. Lorelei, well, I never got the chance to talk to her that much, but I often saw her inspecting the flowers in the wild base. While they were real, the garden itself obviously wasn't, but that gave her enough to work with. They even planted more flowers in there just for her sake. Still, with her rose-like hands, it didn't give her much of a sleight of hand, or paw, or leaf. So, the much more able-bodied Lucario held the book for her.

"Here." He held up the cover for all to see, and like in the painting I saw, that illustration featured the same bunch of flowers arranged neatly in front of an abstract background. M even recognised this as well, and budging out of my grip, ran to reach out for the book. Rhode dropped it on the floor, letting him flick through the pages, one by one. Lorelei looked on, a bit unnerved by M's presence, but nonetheless intrigued by what she saw.

"Oh my, stop on any page you want me to, and I'll explain it for you."

M nodded, swiping and flicking, until he found that one. That pink flower. Same arrangements of petals, same spiralling patterns, kind of like a rose, but not quite. He stared at it for a moment, then, traced his claw along the page where the text was. Even if M might not've understood what that text said, Lorelei confirmed it for him in words.

"This is a Camellia, my love. It can come in red, white, pink, and grows in shrubs. It does look pretty when viewed up close, doesn't it?"

"Ca…" M said. "Me… lli… a… Camellia." His eyes shot up and he stood, stomping up and down the floor. "Camellia! Camellia! Camellia!" M raised his paws, spinning in place as he held his arms towards the bright ceiling. A wide smile broke out on his face, lost in the simple pleasure of finding something long lost. I'll admit, that sort of energy spread to me, despite everything, and every other Pokemon in the room felt the same.

That didn't last long as M stopped and fell to his knees again. "You didn't have a name. I didn't believe we needed one. But now, I want to remember you by something. Not just a memory, but as something I can say in one word." He stood up again, and despite the sniffles, pointed to Rhode. "I wanna bury Sis. Never found her body, but there's a Teddiursa doll where I used to be. Can we go to the forest?"

Without hesitation, Rhode nodded, patting the ranger's shoulder. "Lad wants to go to the wild base and have a mock burial. Please, we 'ave to let him do this."

"As long as you all keep an eye on him. If we hit a trigger again, then that's going to be a problem."

"O' course. We'll make sure that doesn't 'appen. Right, C?"

"Yeah."

At the request of Rhode, everyone already in the wild base cleared up, taking their stuff somewhere else. It was just me, M, Rhode and the ranger in the garden, basking in the solar light and feeling the fake grass between our paws. The topsoil was deep enough to be dug up, since Hans the Ambipom often hid his own rubbish in the turf so he could eat it later, or throw it at someone. Both were just as gross, but that wasn't the point. M cradled the Teddiursa doll, whose head was taped back on just for the purpose of this. He nuzzled her, then gently laid the doll on the floor. From there, he got to work.

He clawed at the soil, digging clumps of it out of the floor. He dug, dug, dug his way down until he could dig no more, making the hole wide enough for someone the size of a Cubone. Or in this case, the doll. With that done, he picked up the Teddiursa and moved her to the crevice at the bottom. Then, he put the clumps back into place, covering the body from the neck down until it was no longer visible. All there was left was the head. The Teddiursa's button eyes stared up at the sky, with an artificial sun shining above it. M took one last look at her face, growing misty eyed again, but just barely holding himself together. He filled out the rest of the turf, and finally, buried the entirety of the doll under the garden floor.

I held a bundle of flowers in my paws, picked out by the Roselia. I didn't know the names of them exactly, but apparently, they stood for remembrance. A lot of them were white. Gently, I placed it just behind the dug up spot. Apparently, Rhode would tell the staff to order a plaque later, so everyone knew what it was there for. After that was done, silence. I didn't know what to say. I expected Rhode to come up with something, but he just stood, observing M with intense concentration. Lorelei and the ranger were pretty much the same, just closing their eyes in quiet contemplation.

Damnit, what do you want me to say in this situation? Retelling this is bad enough, but thinking back to that silence, that awful, awful silence, it really drove in how whacked the whole thing was. Who would've given a speech for this? What was there to say? Nothing. That lasted for a long time, save for the ambient noises of birdsong and rustling leaves the speakers played.

Then, M sang. Just like what his memory suggested, it was a nameless song, one without lyrics, without melody, without anything to speak of. They were just sounds. Sounds that were soothing. Sounds that came from the heart, the soul. Sounds only a Marowak to his sister, or a Marowak mother to their cub, could've sung. Not in human tongue, not in Pokemon tongue, but a language only he would have known.

Who knows how long that song lasted for? It could've been a minute. It could've been an hour. But once it ended, M bowed before the grave and capped it off with this:

"Bye, Camellia."