"..."

"..."

"...Huh..?"

My eyes opened, quickly shutting back again. It was so bright. I reopened them, slowly. Light was shining down on me through a large hole that points to the sky. I felt pointy grass underneath me scratching my body. "...Where am I?" I was surprised by my own voice. It was so quiet and dry, as though I hadn't spoken for days... has it been days?

My muscles felt sore. I tried to move but I barely did anything. It's like I haven't moved for so long my joints locked-up and muscles went limp. I could move my head properly at least. I craned my neck forward, trying to see what's in front of me.

It was a grassy field, but it was surrounded by a huge rock wall that circled the entire area and goes up all the way to the top centre, like a cone, but with a giant hole in the middle. The light coming through seems to be the only light source. It's like a volcano had dried and greenery had grown inside. There was also... furniture? Spread throughout the little cove were small tables, chairs, wardrobes, and more. Does someone live here? I thought to myself.

My ears twitched at a noise behind me. It sounded like conversation. I tried to look but my head couldn't turn that far. I heard a young male voice speak up. "How long are we gonna keep him here anyway?"

"Until he wakes up, at the very least." A calm, female voice replied. It was a bit deep too.

"I really hope he wakes up soon," A different female spoke. It was a regular female voice, nothing distinguishable about it. "he's been out for, what, like – three days?"

"Three days..." I whispered to myself, although I barely even heard it. Have I been unconscious for that long? I tried to remember what happened... Slowly, the memories resurfaced... The injection... the killing... the report... the betrayal... the pain... the lake... "The lake," I repeated, suddenly realising something. "H-how did I survive?"

There was a sudden silence from the conversation at the back. Only the wind coming through the hole above made noise. A full minute passed before the young male spoke again. "I think he's awake," He muttered.

"Go check on him." The deep female voice instructed.

There weren't any footsteps, but the Pokémon was right beside me in a few seconds. I couldn't believe my eyes. That blue colour, those two thin tails, those red gems, those gleaming golden eyes... Could it be? In barely a whisper I asked. "A-an... Azelf?"

The Pokémon nodded. "Can you get up?" He asked. I tried, but I was too weak and simply fell back to the ground. Great. Now I really am nothing. Azelf seemed worried. The regular female voice shouted at him: "He needs water!" Azelf seemed to understand, and left my line of vision. A few seconds later, he came back with a bowl of water. "Can you drink?" He asked gently?"

The bowl looks so close and that water was emanating such a thirst-fulfilling aura. However, I knew that I would need to exert the rest of my remaining strength to even drink it. I turned by body to my side – with great difficulty – and put my lips in the water. It tasted like heaven! Probably because I haven't drank in three days. The Azelf told me to drink in slow sips instead of gulping it down, so I did that too. I managed to recover some of my strength. "Th-thank you," I gasped weakly. Azelf just smiled.

I turned my head to the other two Pokémon. Now I was really surprised. It was the rest of the Lake Trio; Uxie and Mesprit. The two were coming over here, by hovering of course. "You're awake," the Uxie said in that calm, steady voice of hers. "you've been unconscious for three days."

"We had no idea why," the Mesprit joined in. "but Azelf said he found you at Lake Valor. You were drowning."

Lake Valor? But that's all the way across the region, I thought to myself. Did I really run that far? And Azelf saved me? That feeling of despair ran through my body again. I still remembered. That pain and suffering and agony and I now wished that Azelf didn't save me. But what is to blame about someone who wanted to save a drowning Pokémon. Still, I wished that he hadn't...

"You were lucky." The Mesprit continued. "Azelf would normally be exploring at the time, but he decided to relax at the lake." I grunted. More like unlucky...

"Where am I?" I asked, getting up on my legs again. It's been so long since I stood up as well. My knees felt like jelly.

"We call this place Bleak Cove." Azelf answered. "Well, this place isn't bleak anymore since we decorated it, but we kept the name. Does it look good?" He gave himself a little smile. He's definitely one of those happy-go-lucky guys. I'm a bit jealous now of his untroubled attitude at the situation. You find a passed out Pokémon, he just wakes up and is confused, and still be carefree... I wish I could be like that...

"We'll give you some space now if you like." Uxie said. "Do you need to be accompanied? Azelf can handle that, he's the cheerful type." Azelf seemed insulted by that, but didn't say a word... or none that the others can hear anyway. It happened again, a voice that seemed to belonged to someone but the person didn't even move his mouth. I heard "Why do I have to take care of him just because of my personality!? You guys are way more responsible than I am."

I nodded. "Sure, I don't mind..." Uxie and Mesprit smiled thankfully and flew away to the back of the cove. Me and Azelf looked at each other now. None of us said a word. It got pretty awkward. Like, very awkward. I waited for him to say something, but I think he's also waiting for me to ask something first.

Please say something!

"Huh?" He suddenly gasped, looking around. It was as though he had spaced out and just snapped back to reality. "Oh, sorry, er... Why don't we walk around for a while? You haven't been moving much so I think you should get your muscles flexing again."

I was a bit confused on why he reacted like that, but I didn't mind. I agreed with him and decided to walk around a bit.

It felt so good (and painful) to walk again. I haven't walked in ages! The breeze blowing, the prickly grass, the crumbly dirt, and the smell of greenery brought joy to my mind. It felt like peace, like the time I was sinking in the water. So peaceful that you'd probably forget everything about life and embrace what's happening now...

Azelf then took me to a nearby pond as a place to chat. It was a fairly small pond, located at one of the sides of the cove. The water glowed a deep blue colour because it was slightly dark there. That gave it a rather deathly feeling though. The water remained completely still and unmoving. How abnormal, not even a ripple...

Looking down at my reflection, I saw it, but I wasn't surprised. That black-furred Vulpix, those red piercing eyes glaring right at me. I saw it give me a smirk before I blinked and it turned back into my regular reflection. I figured that it's supposed to be how I view myself now: a monster. That's probably it; I'm a guilt-ridden monster!

Azelf noticed me looking strangely at the water. "Hey, you okay?" He asked, shaking me by the shoulder. I snapped out of my thinking. "You spaced out just now." He paused, tiliting his head a little. He looked curiously at me. "Why are you crying?"

"What?" Bringing my paw to my face, I realized that there really were tears streaming down my face. "O-oh, sorry – I didn't realize that..." I sighed, knowing that it was a pitiful and frustrating situation. "I just... bad memories, you know?"

Azelf didn't say anything, so I asked him a question. "What's your name?"

"Merlot." He answered simply. "A close friend of mine gave me that name because of my taste for wine. Merlot is a variety of wine a lot of rich trainers like to drink sometimes." I sensed a bit of sadness in his words, but I ignored it. "Hey, I don't think I got your name either...?"

"It's Keith." I said. Huh, Keith... I suddenly miss Arthur calling my name. Adam's teasing too... life suddenly got boring without him. "Do the other two have names?" I asked Merlot.

Merlot winced for some reason. "Well, Mesprit's name is Canberra, while Uxie's name is Iwes. Both names were given by the same person who gave me the name Merlot." He stared somberly at the lake. "I miss her..."

"Sorry?" I asked, confused.

"Nothing." The Azelf shook his head, forcing a smile. "I wanna ask you something. How'd you end up in the lake? You're a fire-type you know? If the water didn't knock you unconscious then you would have most certainly drowned."

I didn't say anything. I didn't wish to recall anything that happened beforehand. The pain was simply too much. Another tear slid down my cheek as I thought about Arthur. He's never been that upset before... and I had broken his trust so badly... Merlot continued to wait for my response. I gulped, breaking out a sweat. "I-I'd rather not talk about it..."

"But Uxie told me to –"

"I said I don't want to talk about it," I repeated sternly. "I don't want to remember..." I stared at the lake again, expecting to see that evil shadow of mine. Instead, it was just me, a sad miserable Vulpix with blue eyes. Arthur loved the colour of my eyes... Stupid scientists... I wish that I never left my room in the first place...

"If you don't want to talk about it, then hold my hand." Merlot said. I turned my head quickly at him, thinking I misheard him. "You heard me: hold my hand." Reluctantly, I placed my paw on top of Merlot's hand. One of his tails wrapped around, gently tying our hands together. Merlot sat quiet for a few minutes. Thinking that he was daydreaming, I was about to speak when he suddenly said: "You wanted to commit suicide?"

I stared at him, baffled. How'd he know? Then I remembered Kirlia, who sometimes read my thoughts. "Are you reading my mind?" I asked him.

"Mmm, it's more like reading your memories," Merlot answered, looking directly at me. "Hey, I just noticed that you have blue eyes. Kinda cool actually." His statement made my heart ache. He's reminding me of so many painful memories right now... "Ah, sorry, you don't like me complimenting about that?" He quickly responded to my change of emotion.

"No, no, it's fine," I mumbled, trying not to hurt his feelings. "Did those two asked you to read my memories?" I asked, looking at Uxie and Mesprit, who were still discussing in the corner.

"Yeah, they wanted to me know what you're like. Plus, I'm kinda boyish, so I'll relate better to you than them."

"There's no way you'll be able to relate to what I've been through." I whispered, chuckling at nothing. "You're probably much older than me, but you've never experienced what suffering I experienced."

Merlot said nothing for a full minute before his expression changed from a smile to a grim. "I see what you mean," I whispereed back, now knowing what hell I've gone through. "It... must have been painful. It was something you didn't intend to do, right?"

I was silent for a moment, suddenly enlightened by what he said. "Y-you believe that I didn't kill Adam?"

Merlot nodded. "Not intentionally anyway. Memories don't lie, unless you fake them. But I'm pretty sure those grotesque things you saw and did weren't faked. My friend taught me how to differenciate them." I smiled, finally happy that someone believed me fully. But then I frowned, regretting that I hadn't asked any of the psychics back at the mansion to read my memories. The situation might have ended up better.

"H-hey," I started, "you keep mentioning 'a friend' of yours. Who is he? Or she?"

He kept silent, seeming to gaze into the distance. "She was a close friend." He sighed at last. "She taught me a lot of things. Helped me become a better Azelf. I miss her... We all do." The way he miserably said that most likely implied that his friend had passed away.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I told him, gripping his hand firmly. "Do you mind telling me about her?"

Merlot unwrapped his tail and let go of my paw. He rubbed his hands uncomfortably. "Nng, I don't know... But I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you about her. She was a great person." He smiled at the nostalgia. "She called herself Delphy. She was a Mew."

"A-a Mew!?" I blurted out in shock. But... that's the Legend Hunters' main goal... If Mew is dead then...

"Yeah, she was a Mew," Merlot continued on. "and a great one at that. She could heal others, protect them, console them, and be a great friend." Merlot's smile faded. "She was so wonderful... So, so wonderful... We all liked her, but then... it happened."

"Wh-what happened?" I asked shakily, afraid of the answer. "D-did she...?"

Merlot sighed. "Yes. She died. But not in an accident. She got murdered."

The words rang in my ears while the entire cove went silent. Murder!? Like, getting killed by someone else? "H-how is that even possible!?" I accidentally yelled, but then quickly lowering my voice to a hush. "I-I thought Pokémon like you were immortal!"

"Oh, we're not immortal." Merlot replied. "In fact, I'm living proof of that. I'm only 35 years old. The other one passed away already. You people just think we're immortal because you don't see us that much, let alone dying in front of you. We can get sick, hurt, and die, just like the rest of you... and... we can get murdered too."

"She died a slow, painful death..." Merlot gripped at the grass under his hands, shuddering. "There were hunters. People who wanted to get her so badly they tried everything. One day, a few years ago... she got shot with a poison dart during an escape from them. Poison so powerful that none of us could heal it. Those hunters didn't even develop a cure either, just because they were so desperate that even her corpse was fine... S-she stayed at a place we offered her, and we kept telling her that it would be okay... But... I think she already knew that... she wouldn't make it. I think she came to terms with that..."

I just stared sadly at him. The way he expressed how nice this Delphy was... She must've been a great person. An amazing friend. Some friends are so nice you feel like they're the best thing in the world, and Delphy seems to be one of them. For her to die in such a sad and cruel way... I felt pitiful for Merlot and the others. "I'm sorry," I told him. "I shouldn't have asked."

Merlot shook his head dismissively. "No, it's fine. Curiosity is a common trait we all share." Azelf stared into the water, swirling it around with his tails. "That's what she told me. She always had something to say about everything." He sighed, stopping his tails' movements and bent over to drink the water.

A thought crossed my mind when he mentioned the Mew's death. "H-hey, I apologize for asking, but... you said that the 'other you' died already, right?" Merlot gulped down his water and nodded. "S-so, shouldn't there also be another Mew by now?"

"It's a problem that we've been trying to solve – we can't find the new Mew." I just stared at him in disbelief. They can't find the new Mew? "We've been searching across all seven regions; from Kanto to Sinnoh to Alola. We even searched the Orange and Decolore Isles! But it's like the new Mew never existed... maybe the flow has stopped..."

I sat in contemplation for a while. The mythical Pokémon Mew was the main goal of the Legend Hunters. Does that mean they were the same hunters who killed her? No, that wouldn't make sense. They're not that crazy, are they? Then again, they did experiment on me, so... It's possible that they did kill Mew, but then they covered it up and lied to the boss, Richard? I shook my head, feeling ridiculous. That's stupid. I'm just drawing conclusions from being with that dumb group...

Merlot and I continued to hang out for the rest of the day. Canberra and Iwes were still talking, not sure what they could be discussing that it took so long. Merlot offered to take me up through the cove's ceiling hole and show me the view. Although I was hesitant by the fact that he would probably fly me up there, I agreed anyway.

"The view's amazing up here, you know?" The Azelf said, lowering my body slowly back on the ground when we reached the top. "It's one of the reasons I come here a lot." Looking around, I realized that he was absolutely right. The view was beautiful! There were trees everywhere at the bottom, but there were huge mountains in the distance, creating a magnificent landscape. Over to the right the sun was beginning to set, its reflection shown clearly on the surface of the lake below.

"That's Lake Valor," Merlot told me. "that's where I normally live. Bleak Cove is just a hangout spot. I normally sleep at the deepest part of the lake." He sat quietly for a moment, enjoying the view. I took my time and enjoyed it too. The breeze blew quietly through my fur as I sat down and closed my eyes. It feels so peaceful right now, such a different atmosphere from the mansion... All that stress is gone... But... I feel so empty now, like I'm missing an important part of my life...

"By the way, I wanted to ask you something." Merlot began, clearing his throat. "I know that you went to the lake. But what surprised me was how deep you had gone. You had almost reached the bottom! Without drowning! And you're a fire-type! That's not something that a regular Vulpix could achieve. How did you even survive swimming?"

I laughed a bit at the remark. Arthur would be so proud of me right now – if he still cared. "A friend of mine, an Azumarill, taught me how to resist the pain of water." I explained to him, thinking of all those lessons back in the rapids. "I must have did it at least more than a hundred times before I got used to it. Eventually it came to the point where I could swim or dive under."

Merlot seemed rather impressed. "Wow, your friend must really care for you if they helped you that much." He chirped. I sighed, wishing that Arthur still did. If only it was like back then... Everything seemed so simple back then... All we did was just play and live, and now... I wish that it would just go back to the way it was before, when I was still joyful and Arthur still cared for me... If only...

"Are you worried about that Azumarill friend of yours?" Merlot suddenly asked. I snapped my head at him, surprised. "You had a sort of melancholic look on your face. You still miss him even after that incident of yours? I thought he... rejected you." He was trying to word it properly to not upset me, but there wasn't a very good replacement for that.

"I guess... Deep down, I wish that none of that had happenned..." I said quietly, staring off at the distance. Several Tailow squawked noisily up above. It was starting to get cloudy. "I wish... I wish that I never killed Adam... M-maybe I could have resisted the effects or the drug, or, or –" Tears began to slip down my face as I struggled to speak. "I just... wanted it to go back to the way it was before... before all t-this madness. Like back the time when we were just young children and played by the riverside. I want to start over with him again... Heh, but that'll never happen..."

Merlot looked like he wanted to say something, but he resisted and kept his mouth shut. He let out a long yawn, stretching his arms and legs. "I'm tired. I'm gonna go back to Lake Valor. Do you want me to carry you back down?"

"Nah. I think I'm gonna... enjoy the view for a while..." I replied absent-mindedly.

"O-okay then. Enjoy it~" He flew off towards the lake. I saw the tiny dot of his body plunge into the lake's surface. Looks like he's probably not gonna be coming soon, or maybe tomorrow.

I thought about Arthur and the rest of my gang. I wonder how they're doing without me...

...

...

...

Meanwhile, at the Legend Hunters' mansion, Arthur the Azumarill was frantically walking around the main hall. He had been searching everywhere for his friend, Keith the Vulpix, but with no luck. After losing contact from him for days, Arthur finally decided to talk to him one last time. However, he seems to have disappeared. At first, he thought Keith was avoiding him, but if that was the case, he must've been a very good hider.

While looking for Keith, Arthur bumped into Xera, the Espurr. "Ah, Xera, good timing." Arthur said. "Have you seen Keith?" The normally stoic Espurr gave a flinch, which made Arthur suspicious. "Xera, where is he? I need to talk to him one more time." He repeated.

Xera took out her notebook and pen that she normally writes down on to communicate. It showed two horrifying words written there: He left. "What do you mean he left?" Arthur yelled in disbelief. "Seriously, where is he?" Xera wrote down several words. They contained the exact same message: He left the mansion. Still not accepting it, Xera wrote down another sentence. A more convincing one: He told me that he wanted to leave. I think he did.

"Th-that's not..." Arthur stammered. His body was shaking. His breathing was heavy. "But... we're friends..."

Keith... left?

Of course he left, Arthur thought. He hadn't given any attention to Keith at all.

It was his fault.

All his fault

Arthur's scream resounded through the entire building. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

...

...