Ch.62: Fear Keeps the Mind Alive! The Suffering of the Past!

Pockets of hot gas jettisoned from the rough terrain of the Fire Zone. The stench of ash filled the air, a lingering remnant of a recent ash storm. As the sun began to set below the horizon, the heat of the land illuminated the way for the band of bounty hunters and one hitman, closing in on their destination.

Fernando stopped a moment to catch his breath. "The heat's getting worse. Even my feet are reaching their limit."

Griffin wiped his brow. "We're pretty far out from civilization. We're in the far reaches of the Fire Zone. The heat out here is the worst, especially during the day."

Holly lifted her leg and rubbed some ointment to the sole of her foot. "I think we're getting closer to Buster's grave, but we should call it a night. If we go on any further, the terrain will tear the skin off our feet."

Mack waved her off. "Oh please, it's not that bad."

"You have stone skin, not flesh."

"What's your point?"

Griffin sighed. "Holly's right. If any shadows are at the site, we'll be in no condition to fight like this." He glared ahead, focusing his aura as far as he could. "Besides, I don't sense any active shadows, so we might still be in the clear."

Fernando nodded. "Then we should set up camp for the night."

"Excuse me?!"

They turned around and glared at their unfortunate tagalong, who was currently being hoisted upon the shoulder of Mack's Timor Persona. The angry Simisage wiggled and struggled in the monster's grip, but one good squeeze ceased his flailing. The persona cackled at his pain.

"I thought we told you to be quiet," Griffin said.

Edwin glared at them. "Well, I didn't ask to be dragged along like a pinata, yet look where I am now! Seriously, how long are you going to keep me tied up like this?"

Holly crossed her arms. "Until we can determine you're a non-threat."

"I haven't pulled any escape attempts ever since you knocked me out…struggling excluded, of course," he added under his breath. "I told you, I want nothing to do with the damn count and his shadowy friends! I never even wanted to work for him!"

Griffin scoffed. "You seemed pretty complicit defiling my ancestral home and stealing a sample of their power."

Mack glared. "Maybe we should just kill him like those puppets. It'll release the stolen magic, after all."

Edwin flinched. "Let's…not do anything drastic."

"You were also pretty content with hurting our friends and us," Griffin added. "As far as I'm concerned, I have little reason to keep you alive."

"So, why am I'm not six feet under?"

Griffin softened his glare. "…Because you saved my student. That's the one and only reason there's still a head resting upon those shoulders." He shrugged off his bag and dropped it to the ground. "But I refuse to trust you."

Edwin narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, well…" He sighed and looked away. "Can't say I trust myself, either." Mack and his persona walked away with their captive to set up his camp.

Fernando crossed his arms as Griffin pulled his tent out. "Don't you think we should give him a chance? That defensive power he has, stolen or not, could be useful."

Griffin glared to himself as he pulled out the tent spikes. "There's no greater dishonor than a non-member of the Grim Ash Clan wielding that power. That is the aura of one of the village chiefs, and I refuse to acknowledge that monkey so long as he holds that stolen power."

Fernando sighed. "For a ruthless bounty hunter, you sure do have heaps of honor. Still, if he is truly defecting from the shadows, we need all the help we can get. I don't know about you, but I sense a bad omen awaiting us when we find Buster's grave. I can't quite describe it, but something…something's going to go down there."

Griffin sighed. "You let me worry about any altercations when we get there. I just want to get this mission over with. We still need to find Voss and get the keys back."

Holly glared. "We still don't know where he is. If…there is a chance he's searching for Buster's grave, though, are we even prepared to take him on like this? He's been missing for over half a year thanks to Mack's spell. We don't know what we might see should we encounter him."

"We've made it this far, right?" Griffin asked, fixing up his tent. "I don't plan on dying to that murderer anytime soon. Getting the keys back, and maybe even slaying Voss once and for all? I'm almost hoping we see him there."

Holly narrowed her eyes, worry reflecting off them. She sighed and walked away. "Well, a part of me hopes we don't…"

With camp set up for the night, the team joined around in a circle. Edwin remained tied up behind Mack, who rested against the restrained Simisage like a log. Fernando finished digging a pit in-between their group circle, then struck two blue crystals against each other. A spark igniting the crystals and set them ablaze in a blue flame, which the Monferno immediately dropped into the pit.

Mack stuck a sausage to a stick and stuck it in the flame. "Ah, now this is what I call camping. Roasting food over an open fire and under the starlight."

Holly narrowed her eyes. "Mack, that's a frost fire."

"What's your point?" He pulled his sausage from the flame and gawked that it was frozen solid. He glared at the giggling Lurantis, then huffed. "Jokes on you, I wanted it frozen." He stuck the sausage into his mouth and crunched it down.

Fernando shook his head. "A campfire keeps the body warm on cold nights, and a frost fire keeps the body cool in the treacherous heat of the Fire Zone. I always come prepared, even if I have a natural resistance to the heat."

Griffin leaned back on his hands. "Heat and cold? Neither sound appealing to me."

"Agreed," Holly mumbled.

"Thirded," Edwin said.

"No one asked you," Griffin growled.

Edwin rolled his eyes. "Can you at least tell your friend here to stop using me as a pillow?!"

Griffin rolled his eyes and gestured to Mack. The Sudowoodo groaned, got off of Edwin, and pulled him upright into a sitting position. Edwin stuck his tongue out at Mack, who instantly reciprocated the action. The others sighed and shook their heads at them.

Holly hugged her legs to her chest. "You know, when you stop to think about it, never did I imagine I would be trotting around the Mysto region to combat an unstoppable evil. Then again, that's basically what we did before we got involved with this shadow stuff."

Griffin nodded. "In some small way, I think we were always meant to intertwine our paths with them. Like it or not, Voss always had connections to them. It would've only been a matter of time."

Holly sighed. "True. I guess meeting Team Ravenfield sped the inevitable along."

Fernando smiled. "Those three have always been something of a handful. Wes, Flint, and Ella. I thought they were nothing but trouble when I first encountered them, but they proved to be valuable allies, even if their help is unwarranted ninety percent of the time." He pinched between his eyes and sighed. "Though, to think they would get wrapped up in something like this…"

Mack looked up at the sky. "Eh, you never know how life will treat you until it slaps you across the face. Kind of like getting beaned across the noggin with a shovel. A shovel made of recycled maps wrapped around gold." He paused. "…Not sure where I was going with that metaphor, to be frank."

Holly shook her head. "I never know where that head of yours is most of the time."

Fernando pulled his coat off, folded it, and set it aside. "Well, wherever life does take us, I know where I'll be going in the end: returning to my usual work." He set his hat on the folded jacket. "The life of a hitman never ends until you're physically incapable. My father learned that the hard way, and I shall have to learn that as well."

Holly chuckled. "Lucky you, getting to pursue your dream job."

"Assassination runs in the Mangas family." He leaned back on his hands and smiled. "What of the rest of you? What plans will you pursue should we conquer this war?"

Griffin scoffed. "Same as always. After I killed Voss, I'll work to restore the Grim Ash Clan from the ground up…and to change the course of our checkered past to do away with our violent history. It's been my goal since the day I became a bounty hunter."

Holly nodded. "Same, though I'm gearing toward settling down with a family. I became a bounty hunter mainly for the same reason as Griffin, though to also keep him and Mack from doing anything stupid."

"You wound me," Mack said. "You don't see me making fun of your inability to ask a boy out."

"You make fun of that every chance you get!" she yelled.

"Do I? Oh right, I do!" He threw his head back and laughed.

Holly groaned and covered her face. "You are the worst, Mack."

"Thank you, thank you."

Fernando propped his leg up and rested his arms on the knee. "What of you, Mack?"

"Me? Eh, I got nothing. I'll just do my own thing when I can. Maybe you can give me some tips on how to get into the hitman circuit. I'm sure they would appreciate someone with my talent."

Griffin shook his head. "You have the bloodlust of a hitman, but certainly not the style or grace of one. To you, an assassination would be a bloodbath."

"Oh come now, Fernando has gotten into his fair share of scraps."

Fernando raised his hand at that. "Mostly because I've been out of my element these days, given my most recent assignments of late have been information fetch quests. Getting into a fight was inevitable. Still, if you do have any interest in becoming a hitman, I could give you some pointers."

Mack smirked. "Nice."

"Though, your lack of empathy concerns me," Fernando continued. "Though doing away with emotions for the sake of a job is important, you seem to have violence on the mind twenty-four-seven. Not the best mindset for a hitman to work with. As Griffin said, hitmen aren't supposed to go on murder sprees just to kill the one target."

Mack shrugged. "I am who I am. Bloodshed and pain are what I live for."

Edwin rolled his eyes, but caught an exchange between Griffin and Holly. A quick look shared in silence. Some of a sad glimmer shined from Holly's eyes, but Edwin could sense disgust from Griffin. A revulsion from Mack's comment. A revulsion toward…himself?

Wonder what that's about? Edwin glanced at Mack as he and Fernando continued their discussion of murder.

In all his time serving under Count Aeternus, Edwin didn't know too much about most of Team Ravenfield or their allies, apart from Tony whose entire history was an obsession no grunt could escape from their boss. But ever since he became infused with Revulsion Anima, he developed this odd sense of empathic understanding, capable of sensing the deep-seated power of their respective animas.

Naturally, being around Griffin and Holly, he could feel their deep wells of power waiting to be unleashed at a moment's notice. The untold mayhem it could bring rattled the furthest depths of Edwin's mind. But when turning to Mack, he sensed something…concerning.

He sensed Hatred and Sorrow from the other two, and he clearly sensed Fear within Mack.

Yet, as he peered through the Sudowoodo's soul, there was something…horribly twisted about his Fear Anima. Something akin to staring at a demon.

What is with this guy?

All had turned in for the night within the sanctity of their tents, protecting them from the oppressive heat of the ground. All but Edwin who was ditched beside the frost campfire with nothing but his thoughts and the icy crackling of the fire to keep him company. He lay on his back, glaring up at the stars while occasionally shifting within his binds.

Yep. Still tied up. Still can't break free. He sighed. He had most of his strength back, so it wouldn't take much effort to project a barrier and rip the ropes off. If he did that, though, it could alert the others, and he would be left with their unrestrained wrath beating down on him like a divine plague. Between that and dealing with Pestilence, he wasn't sure which sounded worse in the long run.

This is my life now. Being dragged around like a useless pinata to be beaten senseless at the whims of those psychos. He glared off to the side. Is this some sort of divine punishment being forced upon me? Is this someone's twisted idea of a joke? Or did I overlook the fact that I shouldn't have pissed off very angry Pokémon from a shifty culture?

He groaned and gazed up at the stars with narrowed eyes, or what little he could see with the smog-filled sky. It did little to quell his bad mood, but it at least distracted him from the uncomfortable ground he was forced to lay upon.

Before he got too invested in the blackened sky, he sensed magic on the move behind him. He leaned his head back and saw Mack exiting from his tent, dressed only in a pair of pajama pants. He scratched his back and wailed an obnoxious yarn before dragging his feet over to the campfire.

Edwin remained silent as the Sudowoodo plopped himself down next to the cold fire and fell onto his back, sprawling his limbs out. Edwin shifted his body until he could flip himself into a sitting position. He glared over the fire and watched as his captor stared vacantly at the starless sky.

"Not exactly the best place for stargazing," Edwin said.

"Not stargazing. Just staring at the wonderful, black clouds," Mack said with a cruel grin. "They have such wonderful shapes, don't you agree?"

He glanced up and squinted at the inky spots in the sky. "Honestly, everything's blending together."

"Heh, weak."

"Well, I'm terribly sorry I don't have your impressive night vision." Edwin scoffed. "Seriously, what are you doing out so late?"

Mack shrugged. "The heat's good for my back, plus I love the rough grounds over a soft sleeping bag."

"Tch. Mind if we trade places, then? I don't exact like my current accommodations."

Mack laughed. "As if I'm offering any special treatment to YOU! You can suffer all night for all I care!"

"Well, I wouldn't be too heartbroken to see you keel over and die. In fact, it will be a real pleasure to watch you run into Voss and die by his sword."

Mack sat up and laughed harder. "Oh, you're a funny guy, Eddy. What soulful violence in your tone. Do you also enjoy parading in the darkness?"

"I literally have it grafted into my soul, so I can't exactly deny it even if I refuse to acknowledge it." Edwin relaxed his shoulders and sneered at the Sudowoodo. "I can break out of these bindings any time I want."

"You could've broken out of them at any time during our breaks through the Fire Zone. Face it, you're just scared of us retaliating in wake of your escape." He smirked. "I sure would enjoy that. A good spot of bounty hunting like never before, where the game flees and I prepare to hunt it down with extreme joy over my face."

Edwin sighed. "You are a sickening individual. I can sense the depravity just by being near you."

The bounty hunter snickered. "You're not the first, nor will you be the last to say such a thing. I live to be this cruel and apathetic. It's my worldview, and my guiding belief on life. It is my religion, and my soul. What fun it is to spread chaos without restriction. What fun to delve into the dark recesses of the mind and explore the twisted realms of a Pokémon's psyche."

Edwin glared. "If I didn't know any better, you could be easily mistaken as a possessed Pokémon. Are you perhaps a shadow?"

"HA! As if I would ever associate myself with those phantoms. Much more fun to kill than make friends with." Mack crossed his arms behind his head and settled into the ground with a content sigh. "I just love the way they feel against my fists. It's like punching solid fog. There's a certain charm to it, you know. Being able to punch the fog."

"Can't…say I entirely understand your reasoning."

"That's how I roll."

"Hmm…" Edwin glanced at the other tents, then back to Mack. "You're a strange one."

"As we've already gone over."

"I've read up about the Grim Ash Clan, and you seem like the archetypical example of your ancestors. Cruel, uncaring, twisted, and bloodthirsty. I expected as much before I confronted Everfall, but he seems to have mellowed out last I saw him. He seems like a beast unchained, ready to sink his fangs into any unsuspecting creature weighting in his path, and none would be the wiser to the demise waiting for them when the beast reveals its sickly fangs."

Mack snickered. "How poetic of you, Edwin. What sweet words you dedicate to my friend."

"But you…" Edwin turned to Mack. "Frankly, looking at you up close, you could be easily mistaken as a shadow. Even your soul feels like it's twisted in evil. What's your secret? Are you perhaps an untold evil waiting to make his move on the world, or are you even blind to the corruption that dwells beneath?"

Mack sat up and chuckled. "Don't be so dramatic. I'm just as righteous as my buds."

"Your violent views on reality say otherwise."

"Everyone has their own way of seeing the world. What's so wrong with mine?" He shrugged and shook his head. "Just because I have no filter to those depraving thoughts, does that really make me a bad guy? Griffin and Holly have my back, and they would agree I'm the kindest soul around."

Edwin looked him up and down with an unconvinced glare. "Yeah, you are the model of righteousness. The smell of blood really highlights your kind attitude."

"Someone's pretty snippy."

"I haven't had a decent conversation with anyone in forever."

Mack sighed. "That's your problem there. You speak too sarcastically. You never let anyone know what's on the mind, so you say it in a roundabout way that makes you sound like a jackass."

"And sounding like the beginning stages of a serial killer is acceptable?"

"In my line of work, I am the normal sounding one. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself to make the day go by smoother."

Edwin raised his brow. "What do you mean?"

For once, he didn't get an immediate response from the Sudowoodo. In fact, as he peered over the fire, he saw him looking up at the sky with a contemplative expression. Not a trace of malice in his twisted expression, but a normal look. It was a strange dissonance to what he come to recognize.

Mack closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Griffin, Holly, and I were just a bunch of rambunctious kids back then. Goofing off when we weren't training, getting into all sorts of hijinks, and just being general pests to our elders." He chuckled. "My parents always gave me an earful over it, but it was all in good fun. We were just living our lives."

He sighed and rolled over on his side, facing his back toward Edwin. "Times of innocence where I didn't have to think about the larger world as this big, scary place. It's one of those thoughts you pick up when you're like me, someone born with the most volatile of the Emotion Anima."

Edwin glared. "What do you mean volatile?"

Mack chuckled dryly. "Everyone thinks Hatred Anima is the most dangerous, and they're not necessarily wrong. Pure power at your fingertips with the rage of a beast. But when it comes to Fear Anima, there's its own share of issues that can be detrimental if left unchecked. There's always this…feeling of paranoia creeping in the back of your mind as it matures. That's the dark nature of Emotion Anima, fueling magic through emotion. To fuel that power, you must become one with it. To become one with it, you can reach your true potential, for better and for worse.

"By age ten, we're taught how to control these emotions as we begin to grow older, to help us reel in the wilder sides of our instincts. It keeps us in line, and keeps us from giving in to the dark side of our gift. What do you suppose happens when that power is left unchecked? What do you suppose happens when a child wracked with trauma were to grow up with an uncontrollable Emotion Anima?"

Edwin glared. "I see…"

Mack laughed. "Griffin became wild and hotheaded, and Holly became gloomy and self-reflective. They were twisted by their animas, and it wildly affected how they grew up, worsened by the trauma dealt to our village."

"…But you suffered the most, didn't you?" Edwin guessed.

Mack's grin stretched. "Who dictates who suffers the most? So entitled, though I can't say the trauma didn't sting. Oh, the pain I felt watching Voss rip our village to shreds, killing our elders and slaying our strongest warriors. I watched him slaughter my parents, and that image has burned into the deepest depths of my mind, never to disappear. All it did was exasperate my Fear Anima, heightening the overwhelming fear I felt until I lost my mind in the inferno. I watched them die, and I died that day as well. True, true pain like never before."

Edwin narrowed his eyes at the Sudowoodo's face. Contrary to the maniacal grin he wore, tears ran from Mack's eyes, fizzling into steam just as they touched the ground.

"I dare say, I went completely mad. Mad with grief and fear, that scene playing over and over in my head. It tortured me in my dreams, and it tortured me in my daydreams. It tortured me as I slept, and tortured me as I stood awake. From day to night, dusk 'til dawn, every day was another spent sinking into my fears." Mack's smile faded, and he scowled at the sky. "All of that pain, and he didn't feel a thing as he slaughtered our clan. In some way, not only do I feel nothing but hate for him, it was the only thing that kept me from going too deep. I used my rage, and turned it into madness. I turned my madness on the fear, and staved it off from consuming me. I kept myself sane by falling into my own merciless anger. I went mad so I could still stay partially sane."

Edwin slumped his postured and frowned at the Sudowoodo in pity. "Your Fear Anima, with no one to teach you how to control those emotions, turned you into this?"

Mack closed his eyes and relaxed himself with a deep breath. "Do you know what I would give not to live like this anymore? You think I act like a violent psychopath by choice? When regular kids are emotionally neglected, it can mess them up for life. For the Grim Ash Clan, those emotions can be the difference between peace and endless turmoil. To despise Voss is to give myself purpose."

"…Did you mean what you said earlier? About wanting to become a hitman? Is that the life you want, or was it just the madness talking?"

Mack sighed. "Frankly, I don't even know what I want out of my life. Griffin has his life goal, and Holly wants to start a family. Me? I've got nothing. My entire life's purpose is to slay Voss. I don't know what to do with myself after that. I'm not sure I can continue being a bounty hunter without that one driving force keeping me going."

Edwin looked away, coiling his tail around himself snugly. "I can understand that."

"Heh. You had a job, and you abandoned it. Not sure what you're on about."

"I didn't join the Anguis Organization by choice." He closed his eyes. "…No. No, that's not true. I had a choice. I was only looking out for myself then."

Mack sat up and raised his brow. "Care to elaborate?"

"…" Edwin closed his eyes and huffed through his nose. "I was in a gang before. A small time gang on the streets of Vortex City in the Storm Zone. It wasn't much, but we were brothers, those guys and me. The boss brought me in when I needed a place away from…all the other crazy in my life. He took me in and taught me everything I know. It was a good deal. Of course, we were only small fry compared to the other notorious gangs. We had to play smart. We had to be clever.

"We sabotaged trades, intercepted goods, and ratted out big operations to the police until we became the new kingpins of crime. Life was good, and all the sweeter. I finally found a place where I belong, where I was free. The boss, he…he was a good man. He was a good man. He taught me well." Edwin sighed through his nose. "Too well.

"We got big, and I got greedy. I wanted it all. I thought I deserved the world, that I deserved everything this world had to offer. I wanted to rake in the treasures and seize all the power I could. I think I was on a high for glory, and I didn't listen to the boss' warnings. I was too deep into my pride to see the danger I was leading myself into.

"One thing led to another, and I got myself involved with the Anguis Organization with the hope it would be easy money. I actually tried to rob them, and I succeeded. I stole some new weapons they were selling and brought them back to the hideout to sell. I thought I scored the big time, but I never saw my boss go red with fury when I told him where I got them. I made my biggest mistake when I realized the crate I stole…was being tracked.

"Anguis grunts invaded our hideout and gassed the place. I saw everyone dying from the poison around me. It was horrible. It was unlike any poison I've seen. It rotted their flesh, keeping them alive until it worked its way to the brain. I was only able to survive by covering myself inside a tarp. I had to listen as everyone screamed out in agony for five straight minutes…then everything went silent."

Edwin paused for a moment to catch his breath. He clenched his eyes shut, tears brimming from his eyes. He resisted and kept the tears at bay. He sighed and stared into the icy flames.

"Zaros was there when the gas filtered out, checking to make sure everyone was dead. It didn't take him long to find me. I had to think fast, so I immediately pledged my allegiance to the Anguis Organization. By the skin of my teeth, it worked. I renounced my old gang, and I worked my hardest so I could earn Count Aeternus' favor.

"I had to be cruel. I had to be mean. I had to survive." He clenched his teeth. "I tried to forget what I did. I tried to forget the screams of my old gang. I tried…but I failed to forget. And once Aeternus started getting involved with all this shadow stuff, I regretted my decision just a little bit more.

"I didn't want to die, for in some small way I thought I could redeem myself for betraying my boss' trust. I kept moving forward, hoping for some opportunity to make all this struggling worth it." He shook his head. "Some believe that the more you've suffered in life, the more deserving you are of a better future. The more deserving you are of some greater purpose or power. Well, that's a load of shit. Suffering isn't enough. No one is deserving of anything. You can't just deserve something, you have to be worthy. I think…that's what Aeternus likes to think."

"Hmm?" Mack hummed.

"Ever since he infused this Revulsion Anima into me, I've sensed his inner disgust. I have to wonder what he went through to turn into the man he is today. He thinks he's entitled to everything because he suffered. I think that's why he put all that torment onto Sapienti for so long. I think he's trying to prove a point, that those who suffer the most are the most deserving of power. I think that's why he serves the Shadow King. Those who have been wronged the most are entitled to ultimate power. By my suffering and pain, I shall bend the universe to my whim."

The pair stared into the chilling blaze between them in a prolonged silence. The crackling, icy blue of the flame flickered off their faces, enraptured by the beautiful sorrow of its color.

"…" Mack looked up at Edwin.

"…" Edwin looked up at Mack.

"…" Mack smirked. "Thanks for sharing."

Edwin closed his eyes and scoffed. "You, too." His eyes snapped open as something sliced across his back. For a split second, he thought someone backstabbed him, but then the ropes fell from his body, freeing him of his uncomfortable imprisonment. He looked down just as a Sudowoodo-shaped shadow slithered around the fire and retreated back into place under Mack. "Wha…?"

"I trust you."

Edwin's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

Mack smirked. "I said I trust you. Anyone as melodramatic as you is okay in my book." He shrugged. "Plus, even I know no one deserves to suffer. I just like inflicting it on the people who piss me off the most."

Edwin massaged his wrists, then smirked back. "You're alright…Mack."

"You're not so bad yourself, Eddy."

"Please don't call me that."

"Eddy, Eddy, Eddy."

"Ugh. You're insufferable."

"Then let's suffer together."

"Heh. Let's."

Meanwhile…

Through the geysers of steam in the untamed parts of the Fire Zone, a figure lumbered. His feet hissed against the hot ground, yet he persisted without pain. The sweltering heat infuriated the body through his thick fur, yet he persisted through the insufferable temperature.

Darkness swayed from off the tips of his twin tails like mist. His bare body was exposed to the elements, save for the tattered pants clinging to his body. Across his yellow chest was a black X, oozing with the same dark energy as his tails. There was an untamed malice surrounding the man as he stomped through the sweltering lands.

He stopped for a moment and peered ahead into the far distance. He squinted and spotted a long tree sticking out just above the horizon. It was so far away, yet within reach. The landmark that he was searching for. The one that will satiate his newfound lust for battle.

A smirk curled across the Electivire's lips.

"I found you, Buster Ravenfield."