6. Hard truth and reliable friends

Fighting against the temptation of just remaining immobile and await my fate, I forced myself to look my foe in the eyes. I voiced a low menacing growl, baring my teeth. At that moment, I certainly looked like a cornered and injured prey animal in front of its hunters.

Only, it seemed that my luck didn't ran out completely just yet. My attention, entirely focused on the Liepard, was soon turned towards a feint call I heard from afar.

" ….ap…! L….pi…!"

My name! Someone was calling my name! My teammates were looking for me!

"I'm here! I need help!" I shouted, as loud as possible, in the general direction it was coming from. I could only hope they would hear me.

I just needed to stand my ground long enough for them to get to me. I wasn't sure I could, though. My situation was desperate. I was bleeding badly, could barely use my leg, and the swift attack I had been hit with had drained me of my energy. The Liepard, too, seemed to understand that I had help on the way, and began to pressure me even more. It tackled me to the ground violently again, and this time I couldn't get up again. I was just too injured. Completely and utterly defeated. Again.

Not wasting any time, the Liepard approached me and bit me on the neck to kill me. Or at least, that is what I thought at first, but it just grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and started carrying me. It was still painful, with me being too big and heavy to be hanging like a puppy from its jaws. It seemed the Liepard was also inconvenienced by my size: it was struggling to walk properly with me dangling in front. And the calls for me, behind us, were rapidly approaching. Realizing I was too heavy to properly carry, the Liepard suddenly let go of my scruff and I fell to the ground. One moment later, it was biting me again, this time my tail, and beginning to pull me in the same direction. It was even more painful like that, as I was sliding directly on the ground, with every rock or stick scraping against my body. But it was my tail which caused me the most pain. I feared my limb would not be strong enough to resist the effort. But I was just too weak now to oppose the Liepard, so I just endured it, praying this torture would end soon. Time slows down when you are in pain – and I still don't know how much time I was slowly carried by the woman's Pokemon.

Finally, as I was at the verge of passing out, the Liepard abruptly stopped pulling me. Topaz had finally caught up on us and had violently tackled the Liepard from the side with as much force as a small car. Seeing her gave me hope and ignited back my will to fight. Topaz and the Liepard were soon engaged in a ferocious close combat, moving, dodging and attacking so fast that I couldn't distinguish who had the upper hand. Not that I was really watching the fight, anyway. My only goal, at the moment, was to get out of the immediate area, and I was slowly crawling on the ground to put some distance between me and them. The Liepard seemed to notice my attempt to get away though, and it tried several time to jump towards me, but every time this was prevented by Topaz. The Arcanine was attacking her foe relentlessly, with a cold fury I hadn't seen from her before. The Liepard looked like it at first had been taken aback by the violence of Topaz assault, but soon was answering each attack with one of its own, and it was unclear who would prevail.

Crawling a bit further inside the forest, I was relieved to see the rest of the team, led by Amethyst, running in my direction and towards the fight that was still raging behind me. Cobalt, who was a bit lagging behind the others, stopped beside me while they ran past to help Topaz.

"Are you alright? We are here now, don't worry" he said, looking relieved to have found me. They may have been searching for me for hours, I thought. Knowing that warmed my heart a little. They really were considering me as a part of the team. As their equal. Not just as a wreck of an Umbreon who didn't even know how to be a Pokemon.

"Lapis? Are you injured?" the Rhynorn asked me again, this time with concern in his voice. He must have noticed the blood on various parts of my body.

"Yeah, but I think I'll be alright… It hurts all over though… I'm not sure I will … be able to walk back …" I responded with a grimace. Now that the adrenaline boost was receding, I was starting to feel dizzy, and the pain was hitting me with full force. It was like all my joints were on fire. I could not feel my tail anymore.

"Hang on". Cobalt knelt down to my level, and gently scooped me up with his head, placing me on his back. He then made sure I was secured between two of his big back scale plates.

"I'll carry you back to the camp" he added, before starting walking back towards where they had come from.

"Wait … The others …. the Liepard …" I tried to protest, still fighting to remain conscious.

Without stopping, he interrupted me, and looked at me over his shoulder. "Don't worry, they got this. The priority right now is to get you to safety."

Laying my head back on Cobalt's natural back armor, I finally ceased to struggle and let him carry me. I was in such a bad shape I wouldn't be able to do much, anyway.

The sound of the battle behind us became more and more dimmer as he slowly but surely got us out of there. Soon, all that could be heard was the heavy stomping of his foots – or maybe those were hoofs? – over an unusually silent forest. It was as if the trees had somehow understood what had just been at play and didn't dare interrupt.

After something like ten minutes of being carried like that in silence, trying to relax my body to reduce the pain, Cobalt came to a stop, prompting me to raise my head to see the reason for this halt. As it appeared, we had reached the pickup truck of John. It was parked alongside a very crude forest path.

Not waiting for a question from me, Cobalt spoke.

"We stopped here to search for you. This is as far as John's car could go. You can thank Topaz: we wouldn't have been able to get to you this quickly if not for her sense of smell. She caught an unknown scent around the place we left you at the camp, and we followed it to get here"

"And where is John right now?" I asked. I was actually a bit worried for him. I really didn't want anything happening to him just because of me. Or to any other member of the team, for that matter.

Cobalt was about to answer when he was cut short.

"Arceus, what happened to you, Lapis? Where have you been?". In an instant, John, was near Cobalt and taking a closer look at my body. I sighed. This inability to get myself understood by anyone beside other Pokemon was becoming much more debilitating than I initially thought it would be. How was I supposed to explain him what happened? And, for that matter, did I really want to? I mean, this would mean telling them everything about me…

"At first glance, your injuries seem superficial. You will be alright with some bandages". John had finished looking at me, and while this was certainly good news for me, it also was a relief for Cobalt, who had been besides John with an air of concern that disappeared after that. "But you need to take it easy in the coming days. You've already made us fear for you twice since we met you!" John continued, with a small smile.

As he finished saying that, he started putting bandages on me, and this proved to be quite painful, but I knew it was necessary. After a bit, we heard Amethyst, Topaz and Kyan approaching. To my relief, they didn't look injured, though Topaz was sporting some cuts and scratches here and there on her body. The fight with the Liepard must have been a difficult one, even for her. She seemed exhausted. Kyan, however, was exulting. His fur was sparkling electricity more than I had ever seen before.

"Did you see my tackle!? It was sooo great! Oh, Lapis! You should have seen me battling there!" Though I was still in pain, I couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm.

Amethyst, however, had other plans. "You'll tell him later, Kyan. For now, we need to get out of here before this Liepard gets back with help". John was already opening the pick-up truck and gesturing us to climb on the back. Seeing I wouldn't be able to jump on the truck, he grabbed me and gently but firmly placed me beside the others in the back. He then ran to the driver seat and started the car. A few seconds later, we were on our way.

This was a rough ride. John was going over the speed one should stay at on a road of this type – merely a dirt path, really. In the back of the truck, we were shaken horribly at every bump under the car's tires. This didn't help alleviate the pain, but I did my best to ignore it. My thoughts were somewhere else, anyways. The other were remained silent. I think Amethyst was looking at me, deep in her thoughts. I just looked down at my front paws.

This had happened too fast. In fact, everything had been happening too fast. I hadn't got any respite since I arrived here. I had always been on the edge, fearing for my life, or for that of the others. Trying to keep a dangerous balance between not getting myself killed, and hiding my secret from the team. It was all so exhausting. And I was so tired. This was too much for me. I hadn't asked for any of this…

"Are you crying, Lapis?". With a concerned voice, Amethyst had broken the silence. The others were looking at me now. And yes, it was true. I had done a good job hiding most of my emotions until now. But it seemed I had reached my break point here. I couldn't repress my emotions anymore, and a few tears were flowing down my muzzle and heavily impacting the car floor. I closed my eyes and tried to make it stop, but they continued falling from my face, one after another.

Suddenly, I felt a presence beside me. Topaz had gotten up and without a sound, had placed herself so that she was lying next to me, practically covering me with her body. She was warm and comforting. I just buried my head in her fur and continued to cry silently.

Frankly, I didn't pay attention to anything, so when the car eventually stopped, I didn't know for how long we had been on the road. And, well, I didn't really care anyway. Topaz gently got up and I had to stand up too. The others had already left the car without a word, leaving me alone with the Arcanine.

"Do you need help to get off the car?" she asked me, looking at me from the outside after having jumped down.

I just nodded, still not really in the mood of talking back to her. Acknowledging my answer with a small head gesture, she effortlessly jumped back in the truck and crouched beside me, inviting me to climb on her back. So that's what I did. Glancing at me over her shoulder, she told me to get a good grip on her, and carefully got out of the car again. We were still in the wild, apparently. In a forest that looked just like the one from yesterday. John was already busy assembling his tent in the back, and the others were nowhere to be seen. Topaz carried me on her back for a few meters, then crouched again on the ground and I understood she wanted me to get off of her. I got on the ground, did a few steps, and ignoring everything, I lied down again and closed my eyes. Partly because I was still exhausted by my injuries. But also, because I wasn't sure I was ready to tell the others the truth I knew they deserved to know. And this caused me shame. Topaz left me there and got herself busy lighting a big fire in the center of the makeshift camp, not far from me.

The dinner was also in silence. I think they were all a bit cautious with me, and didn't want to pry and ask questions that would make me more uncomfortable than I was already. I wasn't unhappy with that, really, but this made for a very tense atmosphere. I mostly kept my head down, staring intently on the food John had brought in front of me. I wasn't really in the mood of eating. Occasionally, I would risk a glance to one of the others, and often I found them staring at me but look somewhere else as soon as we locked eyes. Even John.

This had to end. I couldn't stand that anymore.

"Stop"

They all looked at me again, and this time I sustained their glance. I was decided to tell the truth now. I just had to.

"I will tell you what happened to me back there." They all remained silent. "And why I think it happened to me". Seeing that I hadn't been interrupted by any of them, I went on.

"I think they used tranquilizers darts. They sneaked to the camp, put me asleep, and got me into a cage in the back of their car."

Amethyst interrupted me. "They? Who?".

"I don't know. It was two men dressed in black. They seemed to be well equipped for this kind of work. Maybe they were poachers? Anyway, they brought me to a kind of wooden cottage in the forest. They left me in a cage for a few hours until a woman came. Then they haggled for my price." I closed my eyes for a moment. Telling them what happened surely was more difficult than what I had thought.

"They somewhat lowered their guard and I took the opportunity to flee" I continued. "But the woman sent her Liepard to go after me. I think you know what happened next…"

"But why would poachers want to capture Lapis? I mean, there are a lot of other Pokemon out there…" Kyan said, visibly confused.

Topaz answered him before I could. "He is not just an Umbreon, Kyan, he is a shiny Umbreon. Some people can pay a lot of money for shiny Pokemon"

I sighed. "Actually, I think that is not the reason they were after me" I said.

This seemed to surprise both Topaz and Amethyst. There was a few second of silence. I just waited for one of them to ask the question that would inevitably come. It was Amethyst who did.

"Then why? Why would they try to catch and sell you, specifically?"

There it was. The moment of truth. Literally. Often, I had played this scene in my head, trying to find the best way to tell them. Never to find any satisfactory way to do it. At the end of the day, I couldn't predict how they would react to the truth, no matter how careful I would be for this revelation.

"The truth is, I haven't been really fair with you all since the beginning. I was afraid." I said, slowly.

"Afraid of what? You know you can tell us everything, Lapis. We are a team now." Topaz exclaimed, still looking confused.

"Hold on, I said I will tell you" I answered, "so that is what I am going to do now". The other kept silent, awaiting what I would say next.

"You remember when I told you I had amnesia?" I asked them, looking at the ground.

"Are you getting some memories back?", Kyan said, excited. "That's nice! We will be able to help you now!"

"No, it's not that" I answered him. He looked disappointed.

Amethyst interrupted me. "You never really had amnesia, did you?". She was looking at me inquisitively. At that moment I would have liked to bury myself underground to avoid her glance. But I continued.

"I… I remember everything from before I met you all. Almost everything." Now or never. "I, uh... I used to be different"

I got an interrogative look from the others.

"Different how?" said Topaz, seemingly not understanding what I meant. "I'm not sure I follow you."

"I used to be human." Total silence. Amethyst had closed her eyes and was deep in thoughts, while Topaz, Kyan and Cobalt just stared at me with wide open eyes. John looked back and forth at me and the rest of the team, seemingly trying to understand what was going on.

"I woke up in the forest like that. I don't know why. I don't know how. After a short while I met John and Topaz."

"Wait. Human?! But how?" Kyan exclaimed.

"This honestly seems a bit hard to believe, Lapis." Cobalt added gently.

The problem was, I hadn't any proof. "I know it sounds crazy. But I swear it's the truth! I thinks this woman knew that, somehow, and that she wanted me for this very reason."

"I do believe him". The calm voice of Amethyst had stopped our debate. We all looked at her. "From the beginning, I have suspected something with you, Lapis. You always had this otherworldly aura around you. I just couldn't understand why but now this would make sense"

"Otherwordly? What do you mean?" Topaz asked the Ninetales.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Lapis told us he came from another world, or another dimension. Is that right?".

They all turned to me for confirmation. I just nodded to them. It looked like Amethyst had uncovered my secrets from the very beginning.

"Here is … different. I am not one hundred percent sure, but I believe I am not in my home world anymore" I said.

After a moment, Kyan seemed to get out of his astonishment and regained his exuberant mood. "That explains why you always seems so inexperienced for everything! Why you didn't know how to fight, or how to eat properly, or how to .."

"Yes." I interrupted him, looking down at my paws, a bit shameful. "Consider me a total beginner for everything".

"Shit, that must have been difficult for you, Lapis. I had no idea." Cobalt said, looking apologetic.

"Do you have any idea how to get back? I mean, get back to where you came from, as a human, not a Pokemon?" Topaz then asked me.

"No, I haven't even the slightest clue as of why or how I was sent here, much less how to get back home" I answered her, with a sigh. "I was hoping you guys could help me with that though…"

"Of course we will help you, Lapis! We are a team, remember?" she instantly told me. "All of what you told us doesn't change anything about that!". It was as if she was scolding me for my initial doubts.

"Yeah! And I'm sure we will get you home in no time!" Kyan agreed, barely containing his excitement.

I smiled timidly. This was really heartwarming. I had feared they wouldn't believe me or worse, react adversely to my revelation. But it turned out they had remained true to their friendship with me. At that moment I felt a mix of both relief and hope. I wasn't alone anymore to face all of this!

"What are you talking about?" John said, reminding me of his presence beside us. Uh uh. I had almost forgotten he was here too.

"Do you want him to know all of that too?" Amethyst asked me.

I took me a few seconds to think about it. "Since he is involved in this, I believe that he should know, yes. It wouldn't be fair to him if he didn't" I answered her.

There was, however, a problem. We would need to communicate with John in order to tell him about me. Yet no one in the team could speak with him directly, as he couldn't understand anything of what we were saying. Unless…

"Amethyst, as a Ninetales, can you speak to him mentally? Like, telepathy and stuff?"

She seemed at first surprised by my question, but quickly understood my idea and gave me an answer: "No, unfortunately I can't. I do have some psychic capabilities, but not quite to this extent. We would need a full-fledged Psychic Pokemon for that, like an Espeon or an Alakazam. But those are rare, and it would have to be someone trustworthy."

Shit, there goes the easy option…

"So how do you manage to communicate with John when you happen to have something to tell him?"

"Well, usually John knows us enough to understand when we need something. But when we have to convey him something more complex, we can still pay for a professional in a town. People have made a business of that with their Psychic Pokemon. They let you benefit from their telepathy skills in exchange of some money." Topaz said. "But, again, I don't think we should try to do that. It would disclose your secret" she added after a moment of thoughts.

Then, I thought of another idea.

"Uhm, I may have a different solution, but it may have to wait. John does use a computer, right?" I told them, already quite sure of the answer I would get since I had seen him with one before.

"Yes, he does. Why is that important, though?" Cobalt answered me, confused.

"I could maybe just write it to him? I may not be able to use a pencil with those" – I showed him one of my front paws – "but I'm confident I could manage it with access to a keyboard". Truth to be told, I wasn't sure I had retained enough dexterity to do it without too many mistakes, let alone rapidly. But it would have to do.

"You know how to write?!" Kyan exclaimed, looking dumbfounded again.

"I …"

"This doesn't seem too hard to believe if he is originally human, Kyan." Cobalt interrupted me to answer the Jolteon.

"And so I assume the language you used, back when you were human is the same one John is using here?" Amethyst was, as always, thinking fast.

"Yes, back when I was in the hospital, I noticed that everything that was written was completely similar to what I'm used to back home. And he speaks exactly the same language." I was actually pretty lucky in that regard. Otherwise, this whole "telling him" endeavor would have proven to be much more difficult.

"Then it is settled." Amethyst responded. "We will wait for him to get on his computer, and you will use it to write everything". I nodded and the others seemed to agree with that plan. "Only after that we will, with John, decide what to do given the new circumstances". She had once again talked as the leader of the team. Of the Pokemon members at least.

"Untlil then, not a word to anyone about all of this, right? We will help you adapt to your new condition as well as we can" she added, looking at me.

I wasn't about to argue with that.

As we prepared for the night, they continued to ask questions about me. Kyan in particular was very invested, seemingly wanting to know every detail about my previous life. I was happy to answer the best I could.

The day had begun badly, but now everything was alright. They knew, at last. They knew, but chose to support me anyway and even better, help me. With the team behind me, maybe I had a chance to see home again. And tonight, the stars of this world, above us, weren't as much unwelcoming I had first thought they were when I arrived here.

Some notes from the author:

Writing this "truth come out" chapter was a challenge for me and my very limited writing skills. I hope you will still like this part anyway. Once again, I am sorry for the delay. I have been quite busy recently, and it has been hard to find time to write. I have, however, finished writing chapter 8 so I expect the story will continue to be uploaded here smoothly.