Chapter 7: The Onerous Answers

After another routine battle with the Wonder Guard Demon – they now called it – Karthaniel and Hatterene were able to make it through their second Gym Challenge against Nessa without any issues this time. Rillaboom turned out to be the main benefactor in the entire battle, even against the gigantamaxed drednaw. Nessa was beyond impressed, especially after what just happened not too long ago at the cave exit. As young Davis was receiving the usual rewards of the TM36 Whirlpool and the Water Uniform, Hatterene used her enhancements to scan the battlefield for any of those all-too-familiar guards and it was all clear… for now.

Moments after, Karthaniel called for a flying taxi to take them all back to Motostoke and they continued their way on foot through the Wild Area in order to get back to Hammerlocke. Not only was that the town where he settled in as his home, it was also the only other place for them to get to before encountering their next Gym Challenge at Stow-on-Side. Before arriving at Hammerlocke, however, Karthaniel and Hatterene decided to settle down at their campsite at the Lake of Outrage for the night, especially after enduring many wild pokémon battles along the way. Karthaniel decided to cook a healthy Large Leek Curry for his team and himself while Hatterene sat alongside the other pokémon in their own meeting circle.

"How's he doing, milady Hatterene?" Dragapult asked in a deep male voice that would be considered eerie by most.

"I've gotta be honest:" Hatterene started with hope in her black with white pupil eyes. "For someone who survived a shipwreck that would've killed everyone on board with a genius IQ and that bloody awful mental disease he's got from his internal battle with his conscience, he's actually doing exceptionally well… even after a few battles with the Wonder Guard Demon that we see on occasion."

"Oh, that's what you're calling it now?" Corviknight asked in a casual male British accented voice.

"Might as well, since that's what it seemed like to both of us. Only my attacks steer him away from us, but only for a short time. Still, those shadows I saw back in Motostoke… they were so familiar. I've told Sir Davis about them already and he already assumed the obvious, but the Wonder Guard Demon still haunts him. Keeps giving him false hopes. Fortunately, Karthaniel knows to keep those same buoyancies as alive and breathing as himself and never allow him to manipulate him into thinking otherwise. I may not know myself whether or not his parents survived the capsized ship incident, but I just admire his everlasting spirit. He's…" Hatterene paused as she looked over her shoulder to see the said trainer making equal servings for all of his pokémon companions and himself. "…unlike every human I've ever met. It's like he's a brand-new species without an entry in the pokédex… and I love him for it."

"Really?!" Duraludon asked in a gruff near-mechanical male voice. "You're actually in love with the man?!"

"How can I not now? I know it may seem a bit grotesque to most of these simple-minded humans here in Galar, but I don't care. And those bloody blokes from that damn facility where I escaped probably think this is all a shielding charade. Well, it's not. I'm more than just a partner and a strong member of this team here. I know that you all agree to it."

"Indeed, I do." Rillaboom agreed with a proud smile. "I think it's amazin' to me. Don't know 'bout the rest of ya."

"Hmmm…" Corviknight bowed his head in deep thought while Dragapult and Duraludon did the same. It lasted for a full ten seconds before Magnezone gave out one loud buzz in agreement with Rillaboom, making the other three look at him with utmost attention.

"Ya see?! Even his own trusty Magnezone agrees that this romance is spectacular! Ya shouldn't even have ta think 'bout it, all!"

"You're right, lad. Why are we all thinking about it with a struggle? We all unanimously agree that your newfound ardor with Sir Davis is indeed meant to be and here's hoping for a bright future for you both." After seeing those extravagant smiles from all her fellow pokémon partners, Hatterene slowly started forming tears within her eyes, but they never escaped. She just took off her famous hat, gently set it to her left side, and slightly bowed down to them as she only had one thing to say as Karthaniel was just serving everyone their plates of the steamy curry dish:

"Thank you all so much."

Meanwhile, at Stow-on-Side's Gym Arena Lobby…

"Leon! Kabu!" Bea came in with a bit of an exhausted rush as she just arrived at the two men sitting casually at a pair of chairs with a free one on the Fire Type leader's left side. "Whew! I got here as soon as I could. I heard the whole thing from Nessa, and it was in as much full detail as possible."

"It's quite alright, Bea." Leon reassured as he gestured for the young Fighting Type leader to take her seat and pay very close attention to the Galar Champion. "What Nessa gave you was all she could. What Kabu and I have been discussing prior to your arrival is the newest development in that ship accident that left Sir Davis mentally unstable."

"Finally, eh? What's the scoop?"

"It turns out that when the reporters said that 'the entire crew didn't make it', that's exactly who it was." Kabu replied. "The sailors only."

"So, does that mean…?"

"There was still no further detail than that." Leon replied with shame. "I tried asking those same reporters via telephone about the fate of Behemoth and Extonia Davis, Karthaniel's parents…"

"And?"

"(Sigh) For some reason, they want to keep that information classified. Due to Karthaniel's episodes that I told them about prior to the question, they feel it was for his own safety to not reveal it to anyone. Don't know if that's good news or bad."

"Bullshit! Challenging him won't be satisfying alone."

"Which is why I called you both here to Stow-on-Side. Sir Davis is on his way here for his next Gym Challenge soon and, again, I'm bending the rules. Not only will we still skip the pre-battle challenges, but this will also be a double battle that's two against one. And this will also apply at Ballonlea with Opal and Bede, Marnie and Piers at Spikemuth, and Gordie and Melony at Circhester."

"So, Raihan is all on his own, huh?"

"He does the double battle format anyway." Kabu reassured. "But, with his pokémon summoning sandstorms along the way, it's going to a bit of a struggle."

"…damn. Alister is left out completely, then."

"Alister's appearance is the last thing Karthaniel needs to see in his current state." Leon warned. "Nobody but him and Hatterene knows what the demon looks like and, judging by the descriptions, Alister is vaguely close to it. We don't need to haunt him anymore."

"I understand. Well, Kabu, we better take it easy on him. I hear he's a Steel-type expert and we've got both of his weaknesses and then some."

"Not to worry." Kabu said with a golden smile. "I'm pretty sure that just his presence alone will automatically tell us both to make it so."

"Even if one of us dynamaxes?"

"Yes, even when it's time for that. The question is who will do it?"

"(Sigh)…I'll do it. The added sunlight after your Max Flare will surely make everything worse."

"Agreed." The two leaders shook hands in agreement with optimism in their eyes. Leon saw this whole thing and nodded once with utmost satisfaction.

The next morning, 8:15 AM at Karthaniel's humble home in Hammerlocke…

"Usually, I like to reminisce about my past memories, but this is one that'll be the only exception." Sir Davis confessed as only he and Hatterene stood at the very spot where they first met. They both had regal frowns drawn upon their faces. Even the anthro Silent Pokémon had to hold on to her famous hat as a sign of respect. "I nearly died here."

"The Wonder Guard Demon was at his strongest at the time." Hatterene agreed. "I was fortunate to have just escaped from that bloody facility prior to it."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that, Hatterene." She turned towards him at that last word, placing her hat back on along the way. "What in Arceus' name made you come and save me that day?"

"The news of your accident reached my ears, and that description of your being piqued my interest, even though you're a Steel-type expert. The very moment I saw that crowd surrounding this house, I knew something wasn't right. It was a blessing for both of us. I needed someone to protect me from those agents and you needed someone to keep your mental state within the sane category, if not in perfect shape."

"And you still didn't know if my parents survived?"

"Sorry, no… and I still don't to this day. Now that we're back at the very location where we first met, I figured out why: A mysterious force is preventing me from detecting even a small bit of chi from the accident itself. Even with my enhanced abilities, it's too powerful for me to break through. My psychic powers would revert back permanently, if I tried."

"Would you… still keep this appearance?"

"That I don't know, either. You overheard my conversation back at the campsite last night, didn't you?"

"My genius status, despite my current mental state, always gives me an advantage in all of my senses." The two held hands as they faced each other with passion in their eyes. "Your feelings for me have become quite amorous. Many people may find it a bit grotesque, but I reckon you don't even care."

"Obviously, neither do you. I've never felt this way towards a human before and it feels phenomenal. It'll really give that Wonder Guard Bastard something more to fight against the next time we see him."

"Heh, heh. In your manner of speaking, yes." The two then embraced each other for the next minute, not caring about any potential bystanders who saw them. Afterwards, the two continued to hold hands as they walked towards the house. "In the meantime, though, let's head inside and freshen up for our next challenge at Stow-On-Side. What type do I face there?"

"Fighting, but knowing the current situation, I have no doubt that Champion Leon has bent the rules a bit, just for you. You've battled against Milo and Nessa already, but this time, I know that you'll not only be up against Bea, the young fighting-type leader, but she'll have Kabu by her side in a double battle formation. Kabu is a fire-type leader. You'll be up against two of steel-type's weaknesses. Aren't you worried?"

"Not at all." The two were just heading upstairs at the first word. "That's actually good news in our favor. This'll finally be your time to shine. Dragapult shall assist you."

"I don't know, Karthaniel. Some agents may be there and seeing me out there in the battlefield might trigger them to try and capture me, even before your very eyes."

"We're in love now, Hatterene. Nothing will get past me. I assure you." This made the pokémorphed Silent Pokémon smile with pink cheeks of arousal without the seductive glare. She wasn't quite ready to show it yet. "We won't let any one of those fuckers touch you, even if the demon was at large as well. We'll find a way. There's always a way."

"And I can't say that I deny your statement, Sir Davis. I feel 100 percent resilience in your voice and within your soul simultaneously. Let's fight them off together." The two then shared a fist bump as the plan was set in stone, having Hatterene's coming from the hat claw instead of one of her actual slender hands in a playful manner.

Meanwhile, at the mysterious facility…

Lawrence had just received word from an agent via an audio message that Bede has agreed to assist them in the hunt for Hatterene. That statement alone was shocking enough, but additional detail about him stunned him even more as he sat at his desk with a look of complete bewilderment.

"This young man named Bede is a fairy-type leader alongside Opal, despite his assistance, eh?" He quoted to himself as he took a good look at the said trainer on his laptop upon his desk. "Huh! I do find that very interesting. He really finds this whole ordeal with Karthaniel and Hatterene to be quite the hoax. Same here. She's only with him as a shield from all of us. I know better. We can get past it. When that invisible demon shows up or whatever, we can use that as advantage. Bede, I'm counting on you. Make me and Mr. Statigan proud. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Heh, heh, heh, heh."

Later, back at Hammerlocke - 10:15 am…

Karthaniel had just gotten dressed in a steel silver leather vest with matching baggy jeans and grey and white high-top sneakers before he got to his vanity in his room to work on his half-shaven silky long hair that stopped at his mid-thigh. As he looked at himself in the mirror whilst doing so, he couldn't erase his regal smile that was full of that everlasting hope that he already mastered keeping within his soul, despite his extremely fragile mental state. After the first thirty seconds of gentle combing, he saw his parents in the mirror, having his father on his right and his mother on his left, matching the hairstyle perfectly. They had loving smiles upon their faces as well, even while Behemoth gently laid a massive, but gentle hand upon that respective shoulder. Karthaniel didn't even bother to reach a hand towards it in response because he knew was all within his mind, but he still felt it as if they were there.

"I really miss you two so much." He said to the mirror. "I truly hope you survived."

"The only way you'll know for sure is if you believe it." Extonia quoted with her sweet semi-elderly voice. "Don't let this disability tell you otherwise, dear."

"I can't help it. For once, my enemy is smarter than my genius. I try so many times to beat it by fighting fire with fire, but so far, only Hatterene can deter it occasionally. She does tell me that I must defeat it myself eventually in order to claim victory and finally reveal your fate, but it gets harder at each passing day. How can I get strong enough to finally do so?"

"That's as much of a mystery as our fate." Behemoth replied, making his only son slightly frown. "It's something that you find out for yourself. Your mother and I believe in you to the fullest."

"Thank you both so much. Before I head out, though, I must ask you one more question: Hatterene tells me that she saw a pair of shadow-like silhouettes walking in the distance back at Motostoke and they appeared to be holding hands as well. I automatically thought they could be you two. Am I right?"

The response: The couple disappearing from whence they came. Seeing this made Sir Davis slowly well up in tears within his anomalous eyes as he just saw himself in the mirror now.

"(Sigh)…damn. At this rate, it's safe to say that everything about this whole situation must be solved by my hands and mine alone. No matter how strong that demon gets from this point on, I will be 100 times stronger… with or without Hatterene's usual assistance." At that last word, the oncoming tears disappeared, and he showed a much more determined glare that made him appear regal and brave. "I swear it."

Half an hour later, during the trek through Route 6…

"Is that what took you so long, Sir Davis?" Hatterene asked sweetly after the young mentally challenged trainer explained that ordeal within his bathroom earlier. "It must've been so surreal to see your parents appear alive and unharmed within that experience. And you still didn't get the answers you've been craving since you made landfall here in Galar."

"Well, that was the only disappointing thing about that whole conversation. The most important thing, however: Just seeing my parents again for the first time since the incident. They have had total faith in me from the get-go and now, I have mustered that same confidence into my very soul. That alone will make our combined strength become even stronger than that gigantamaxed drednaw."

"Full-on team effort, then?" The two stopped in their tracks to clasp a strong hand and Hatterene's famous hat claw together in agreement with utmost regal authority.

"And no holding back." They nodded once towards each other with compassionate smiles upon their faces and just admired each other for the next minute before the continued on their way towards Stow-On-Side.

With that embedded within their minds, Karthaniel and Hatterene were more indomitable than ever to not only stay together, but stop their enemies by ANY means necessary, even after those answers were onerous to receive.

To be continued…

(So sorry for the massive delay. Had to get a new laptop and everything. Hope y'all are still enjoying it and please do leave a review and let me know what you think so far. This was more informational, but it'll get better next time. I promise.)