Jack wasn't sure how much longer he could put a brave face on it. He probably would've broken down already if it hadn't been for Nova, he refused to let her see him cry. She had her own pain to endure, she didn't need his too.
A handful of tears rolled unbidden down his cheek, but he quickly mopped them up with his sleeve and went back to picking berries. He'd always had a certain knack for finding food, so it didn't take long before his arms were full of assorted berries. When he felt he had more than enough to make a meal, he teleported back to where Nova was waiting.
When he arrived Jack opened his mouth to say something, but then he stopped when he realized that Nova was humming something. In fact upon listening to it more closely he realised that he'd heard her humming it before.
"Oh well," he thought to himself, "I'll ask about that later. Right now, it's time to eat."
"Well," Jack said aloud, startling Nova a little, "I couldn't find any Sitrus Berries; but I found plenty of Oran, and some Leppa and Mago berries too. I hear the Leppa berries are really refreshing. I'll cut them up and make a fruit salad or something, how does that sound?"
"Fruit salad?" Nova asked, having stopped her humming when she noticed Jack. "I have usually just eaten them."
Jack shrugged. "That works too; I'm just used to Katana… Well, I'm used to something a little more fancy," he quickly corrected himself, for his own sake. "Only we don't have a lot to work with, and I'm not exactly a master chef, so I thought 'fruit salad'."
"Well…" Nova started, "I think I'm open to trying something new."
"Great, I'll have that ready in no time," Jack said with a smile that, unbeknownst to him, failed at hiding his sadness.
Jack turned around, paused, then turned back to Nova with a worried expression.
"You don't happen to know where I can get some plates or bowls, do you?" he asked.
"Heh heh, that I do not," Nova replied. "Can't you just make some with aura?"
Jack scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess; but I haven't exactly mastered that technique yet. I was working on it with… Well, I still have a lot of work to do with making things out of A… aura, but I think I can manage a bowl," he said, his voice cracking a little as he said 'Aura'.
"Well… I can do it if you would like?" Nova offered, her paws becoming engulfed in blue energy.
"You can help if you want," Jack replied, "But now that you mention it, it'll be good training for me; I really do have to get better at auric manifestation, and the only way to do that is to practice."
Nova nodded in response as the aura around her paws died out.
Jack held up his right hand, leaving only his left to support the handful of berries he'd gathered. He visibly concentrated, and a bowl of luminous blue energy appeared in his palm. He transferred the berries into the bowl, freeing up his left hand in which he then conjured an auric knife; a very simple one, without much detail, but it would work just the same.
Jack sat down on the ground and began paring the berries, chopping them up, and placing them into a second bowl he summoned. Creating and maintaining three objects at once was quite a challenge for him, seeing as how he hadn't trained in quite a while. Still, he had the fruit salad ready within a few minutes after which he and Nova split it between themselves and sat on a fallen tree to eat.
"So," Jack asked as they were about halfway through their meal, "Is it good?"
"It is certainly interesting," Nova answered as she popped another piece of a berry into her mouth. She had made her own bowl of aura, a much crisper one than Jack's, to reduce the work Jack had to do. "Usually I just eat individual berries and raw meat or fish."
Jack nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Someone once told me though that preparing it all nicely, even if it's something as simple as a fruit salad, it makes it special for the work you put into it. Not to mention it tastes better."
"It does taste better, I will admit that," Nova said as she ate another piece of fruit. After that, the two ate in relative silence enjoying the simple, yet tasty meal Jack had prepared. Once Nova finished, the aura bowl she had been using dissipated into the the air.
"Well, thanks for the food, Jack," Nova complimented as she nodded her head towards Jack.
Jack smiled, although it was once again tinted with sadness as he once again remembered how he used to eat meals like this with his team. Katana had taught him just about everything he knew about preparing food...
"No problem," he said, forcing himself to keep from choking up. "It was my pleasure. I'm just glad you enjoyed it."
Nova smiled faintly back at Jack before she sat down with her back against a tree, leaning her spear against it. She reached around her back to a small pouch that was on her leather sling. Reaching into it, Nova pulled out a small block of partially carved wood as a blade of aura formed in her paw. For the third time that day, Nova started humming the same song.
Jack sighed, half with relief at a chance to divert his attention. "Okay, it's about time I asked; what is that you've been humming all day?"
Nova looked up towards Jack as the knife in her paws dissipated into the air. She was silent for a few seconds before she let out a sigh.
"Corde et Animo," Nova answered. "Heart of Courage in your language. Its an old Azorian song."
"Does it have words to go along with the tune?" Jack asked.
"That it does..." Nova replied after a while as she looked back down at the recently started wood carving, the only thing visible so far was a set of long, pointed ears.
"Would you mind singing them?" Jack replied curiously.
Nova nodded her head as she sat up a bit straighter. She closed her eyes as she let the melody play through her head, softly humming the first bit of the song before she started singing:
"The promise; Redemption, This time we fight for freedom; The dreamer, Awaking, Shattered by love; The courage, Together, We lean against destruction; Salvation, remission, Wait, my new world; We take it, We save it, Our hearts unite each other; The one who, Dies with you, Follow your path soldier; We face it, We save it, Until our last breath fading; Wherever, don't matter, Burning love for Gaia."
Nova finished as she opened her eyes again, looking over to where Jack was sitting. The boy's eyes were closed as well, as entranced by the music as she was.
"Beautiful…" he muttered as Nova concluded her singing. "Where did you learn it?"
"My… my mate taught it to me…" Nova answered as she closed her eyes, her head hanging down some as a lone teardrop started to form in her eye.
"You really love him, don't you," Jack said solemnly.
Nova remained silent but slowly nodded her head. After taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes again and looked over at Jack.
"Yes… I yearn for him to be at my side again," Nova replied in a quiet voice.
Jack nodded, his own eyes starting to tear up as well. "Yeah, I know how that feels. Although… I've never been in love before; I can only imagine how much more it must hurt for you."
"It feels like someone removed part of my soul… I had felt lonely before I had met him, but now… it is a whole new kind of pain…" Nova said as she clenched her paws. Although Jack couldn't see her, Lauren was standing next to Nova with a paw on her shoulder.
Jack didn't say anything; there was nothing to say. He didn't know what to do; he was barely keeping himself from crying, how was he supposed to cheer up a Zoroark who had lost her mate?
"We will get him back," Jack said softly, almost without thinking. "I promise you that. We will both get back the people we love."
"I… I had picked up on something you said earlier. That Alpha had taken someone close to you as well. Who did they steal away from you?" Nova asked as she brought up one of her paws and rubbed away some of the salty tears that gathered around her eyes.
Jack looked up to the sky, which was darkening as the sun set; painting the sky a myriad of colors and allowing the other stars to shine through. After a moment of staring at the stars, making sure his voice wouldn't crack as he spoke, Jack looked Nova in the eyes.
"Everyone I ever loved," he said simply.
Nova was visibly taken aback by Jack's words, and he guessed that maybe he was being a little bit... melodramatic.
"Perhaps I'd better explain myself a little better than that," He thought to himself.
"Well, I suppose that's not strictly true," he said with a sigh. "While Alpha took away most of my family, they haven't found my mother and father yet; but if I go back to them without destroying Alpha first, I'd be leading them right to my home. They've effectively cut me off from everyone I care about, simply because I can't afford to put them in danger. It's almost worse, in a way; knowing that they might be kidnapped at any moment and I'd be too far away to protect them…"
At that point, Jack's voice gave out and he stopped to wipe his sleeve across his eyes. He'd promised himself that he wouldn't cry in front of Nova, but he just couldn't hold it back any longer.
Nova slowly stood up from the tree she was leaning against, leaving both her spear and the wood carving she was working on as she walked over towards Jack. She sat back down on the log next to him as she leaned back and looked towards the sky.
"I can't say I know that feeling…" Nova started, "For most of my life I have been alone. I was run out of my home by my own father at a young age. He made sure that as many of the other Pokémon in the forest wouldn't help me either. A few still did, but it wasn't an easy time for me. I survived by disguising as a human and getting scraps of food from a nearby town. It was soon after that I was captured by Alpha. The pain they put me and the other Pokémon through was nerve shattering. They hooked us up to machines that forced us to learn every move our species could.
"We were all transferred to a different location after that. I don't know what happened after that, but we all managed to escape. Something knocked out the power and all of us unconscious, including the guards. Once again I was on my own in a land that I did not know or recognize. Everything about it was different, yet similar at the same time. That was when Lucario saved me the first time…"
Nova paused then, unsure of what to say or if she should continue or not. She wasn't entirely sure why she was telling Jack this, but Lauren had said that talking about things always made them easier to bear.
"My story isn't nearly so sad," Jack said quietly, staring up at the sky again. "I don't remember my parents. My earliest memories are of my adoptive mother and father, who found me in a basket in the woods. I don't know who my real parents were, or why they left me in the woods that day; but my adoptive parents more than made up for it. Looking back on it now, those were the happiest days of my life. In the woods with my new mother, father, and little brother… They were Lucarios, all of them."
Jack chuckled slightly at Nova's expression. "Yeah, I guess I probably should've mentioned that sooner. It just seems so… normal to me at this point. I never really questioned it. I guess, maybe because I didn't want to question it. I wanted it to go on forever… But eventually, I grew up and wanted to see what was out there. So my brother, Jason, and I left our home and went on… what could only be described as an adventure; and what an adventure it was…"
"You know… That explains a lot," Nova said with a small laugh. "A human raised by Pokémon. Not the craziest thing I have heard, but it is up there."
"Yeah," Jack agreed. "It's not the craziest thing I've ever heard either. I've seen people who make you and me seem normal…"
"Pft, me, normal? Not possible," Nova started, a small smile tugging at her muzzle before the sad smile from earlier returned. "At least not right now…"
Jack looked her in the eyes, a smug glimmer returning to his own. "I met a Lucario who was part Pikachu, and part Zoroark; and was also a mystical several-thousand year old guardian of light, chosen as the heir of Arceus, and who could transform into a different body for each elemental type. And I'm not even kidding."
Nova looked at Jack a bit incredulously, unsure of what to say or think for a bit.
"My advice," Jack commented, "Don't think about it too hard, you'll give yourself a headache. I speak from experience."
"If you say so," Nova said with a short laugh before letting out a sigh. She looked down at her blue and black paw before squeezing it shut and looking back up to the now darkened sky. "None of this has been easy for me, especially after my mate almost killed me. I was a mess three months ago, only making it because of a few friends that cared about my wellbeing. Lauren being chief among them. And… well I guess right now I have you." Nova finished with a sad smile.
Jack looked over at the blue Zoroark and did his best to return the smile. "Well, I'm certainly glad I could help. You've certainly helped me a lot so far, in a lot of ways. I can only hope I'll be able to fully return the favor."
Nova's smile grew a bit more, becoming a more genuine smile as she wiped the last of the tears away from her eyes. For the last few months Lauren had always comforted her, and had done an amazing job helping her, but she could only do so much. As Lauren constantly joked though, she lacked a physical body.
"Thank you, Jack," Nova said as she stood up off of the log.
"Like I said," Jack replied, also standing up, "It's my pleasure. Besides, I really..."
Before Jack could continue, Nova wrapped her arms around him. Her head pressed against his chest lightly as she let out a content sigh. Jack was momentarily taken aback, but he smiled sadly as he realized that Nova probably hadn't had anyone to hug for quite some time. She just needed to know that someone was there beside her, a shoulder she could lean on. So to speak, seeing as she only came up to his chest.
Jack hesitated a moment then returned the hug, wrapping his left arm around Nova's shoulders and tousling her thick mane of fur with his right. He felt her relax a little when he did so. It almost felt like he was comforting a child, what with the height difference. It made him feel a strange sense of protectiveness for the Zoroark, just like the kind he felt for all his friends; his family.
"Don't worry," he said softly. "Everything is going to be alright."
Nova let out a pent up breath that she didn't know she'd been holding. While it wasn't the same as having Lucario embrace her, it still felt relaxing.
"Thank you…" Nova muttered as she released Jack and took a few steps back. "I've only had the occasional paw on the shoulder over the past three months."
A truly happy smile tugged at the corner of Jack's mouth for the first time in far too long.
"Lucario really is lucky," he told Nova. "He has you to come back to once we free him."
"That is true," Nova replied as she looked up at Jack. "I suppose it is time I stopped dwelling on the past and looked to the future."
Jack nodded. "Sounds like a good piece of advice I once received. And for the two of us, the future starts with a good night's sleep. Sound like a plan?"
"Sleep does sound nice, but there is something I have to do for a bit first," Nova answered as she walked back over to the tree against which her spear was leaning. She crouched and picked up the small piece of wood she had set down earlier. A blade of pure aura materialized in her paw once again as she sat down against the tree.
"You Dark-types and your late nights," Jack said with a good-natured chuckle. "Well, if you need me I'll be fast asleep. Don't wake me up unless it's important, or else you're in for a brisk jog."
With that, Jack headed over a particularly bushy tree and vaulted up into it. After finding a cluster of sturdy branches on which to sprawl, he was soon dead to the world. Snoring ever so quietly in his deep sleep. Nova let out a soft chuckled at the odd human before looking back down at the small carving she had been working on.
Truth be told though, Jack didn't fall asleep quite as quickly as he seemed to. Instead he sat in his tree breathing deeply and evenly, adding in a little snoring for good measure. He'd been told before that he snored, so it seemed like a wise detail to add. While pretending to be asleep, what he was really doing was reading.
He still remembered what Jason had said on the day he and the others had been kidnapped.
"What happened Jack? You used to love reading your Bible, and you made sure to pray every night before bed. I'm worried about you…"
Jack felt tears welling up in his eyes again. He'd made a promise to Jason then, and he could never live with himself if he didn't keep it; especially now. So he pulled out his little fake-leather bound Bible, the same one Father Lucario had given him as a Christmas present years ago, and he read. The only light he needed came from a little ball of aura he summoned, not bright enough to be seen through the foliage of the tree. He read for at least an hour, although he didn't bother pulling out his Pokédex for an exact time.
He had decided to start from the beginning, so that night he read through the first several chapter of Genesis. He especially meditated on the story of Noah, and he wondered at how Noah must have felt getting on that ark; knowing that outside, everything and everyone he ever knew would soon be destroyed without a trace. Noah must have been so afraid, afraid for himself and for his family, but he persevered through it all because he knew that God was in complete control. Noah knew that God had planned out every tiny detail, and he trusted God even in the middle of the storms and the waves.
"God," Jack prayed, for the first time in far too long, "Please help me and give me strength. Don't let me give in to despair and self-pity. Help me to remember that you are in control of everything that happens, and that not even a single hair falls from our heads without you knowing about it. Please help me trust you, and trust that you will work everything out for our good and your glory. In Jesus name, Amen."
With that, Jack slept peacefully until morning.
Jack yawned as he opened his eyes to the misty grey of pre-dawn, painting the woods with an almost surreal look as the faint light highlighted every detail in the leaves and bark of the trees. Jack loved the early morning for this very reason, everything felt so fresh and new. Everything except for Jack himself of course, who was usually pretty much a zombie until around nine o'clock.
To combat his early morning zombieness, Jack decided to sit down and meditate. Nova still hadn't woken up yet and was still snoozing peacefully a little ways away, so he made sure not to disturb her.
Sitting on the ground and crossing his legs, Jack focused on and expanded his own aura until it surrounded him; feeling it swirl around him in powerful currents. His entire being was written in that tempest, and he felt it crackle with anticipation; waiting eagerly, just as he was, to be released after being kept in check for so long. He once again felt a stab of sadness as he missed the comforting feeling of Jason's aura, which he always felt when they meditated together each morning.
Before long though he felt another mind touch his own. He quickly recoiled from it and raised his mental barriers, but then he realised that it was just Nova. Jack hadn't noticed her get up, but evidently she felt he had the right idea by doing some early morning meditation. Lowering the walls he'd erected, Jack allowed his mind to drift into hers and vice versa. Nova's mind was full of sadness, but he could also feel that she had experienced great joy; which only made the sadness all the more deep.
Nova seemed hesitant to let their auras touch each other though, which Jack didn't really understand. He supposed, after further consideration, that allowing your auras to mix could be construed as a very personal experience; and one that required a lot of trust. After all, you were literally baring every corner of your soul to the other person. He'd never really thought about it like that, but aside from when he was meditating he tended to keep his aura to himself anyway; he'd only ever opened it completely to his mother, father, and Jason.
Feeling his aura filling with sadness, Jack pulled away from Nova's mind and retreated back inside his own. That was more than enough meditation for one day anyway. Controlling his physical form once more, which he realized had been floating in midair while he meditated, Jack looked around for Nova before realizing that she had climbed to the top of a tree.
"Good morning up there," Jack called out, looking up at her. "Feel like having some breakfast?"
Nova jumped down from her perch on the tree, landing on all four of her paws as she used aura to break her impact against the ground.
"Morning," Nova answered as she stood up and looked over to where Jack was still floating. "And yes, breakfast sounds like a great idea."
"Alright then," Jack replied, uncrossing his legs and lowering himself onto them. "I'll go see if I can scrounge something up; this early in the morning, I might actually be able to catch some meat for us too. How's that sound?"
"That actually sounds really nice," Nova said with a faint smile.
"Great," Jack said with a grin. "I'll see what I can do then."
With that, Jack teleported away with an electrical crackle and a rush of displaced air. He returned a while later carrying an auric bowl full of assorted fruit in his left hand, and a pair of freshly caught quail in his right.
"Welcome back!" Nova greeted cheerfully as Jack walked over to where she was sitting.
"I found us some meat," Jack reported with a grin. "How do you take it? I can do anything from extra-rare to charcoal."
"Ha, I think I will take mine raw," Nova replied with a short laugh, setting down the small wooden statue and dissolving her blade of aura.
"Suit yourself," Jack said with a shrug, handing her one of the quails he'd found. "Personally, I'd rather not get food poisoning; or indigestion."
"Humans," Nova deadpanned.
Jack sat down a few feet from Nova, placed the bowl of fruit on the ground, and set about cooking the remaining quail. It soon became apparent that he'd done that sort of thing before, as he summoned a bright orange flame in his left hand and began charring the feathers off. Once he'd completely defeathered the bird, he systematically disassembled it with an auric knife.
"I usually do it telekinetically," he explained as he worked. "It's a lot quicker and easier that way; and less messy. But once again, keeping multiple objects materialised is good practise."
"I see," Nova replied as she too worked her way through the feathers of the bird Jack had handed her, making her way to the meat that was below it.
Once Jack had cut away the parts he intended to eat, he turned up the heat of the flame in his hand and started actually cooking the meat.
"Are you sure you don't want me to cook yours too?" Jack asked. "It's really good; if you get it just right, it practically falls apart in your mouth. And the juices… Well, anyway; it's good."
"I'm good. My stomach doesn't really agree with cooked meat all that well," Nova answered before taking the first bite from her quail.
Jack chuckled slightly. "I figured as much; Lucy's just the same, doesn't like cooked meat. Unless it's on pizza, then she's fine with it."
"Pizza?" Nova questioned quizzically, tilting her head some with an ear pointed out to the side.
"It's a human food I discovered a few months ago," Jack explained. "It's really good. My…" he paused, and his grin melted away. "My friends and I… we loved eating pizza together."
Jack looked up at the early morning sky; the sun just starting to peek out above the horizon, making everything seem to glow with new life. As he looked up at the clouds overhead, a single tear rolled down his cheek; which he quickly flicked away, as though it had offended him.
"I'm going to find them," he said, his voice cracking with restrained emotion. "I'm going to find them…"
A low, sad whine escaped Nova's muzzle as she watched Jack, her ears falling some to the sides. She remained silent for a bit before speaking.
"We will get them back," Nova started, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. "All of them."
Jack nodded, visibly forcing his sadness down and putting a smile on his face; it was to his credit that it didn't look completely fake.
"Thanks," he replied, his voice even again. "I know we will."
"So… who trained you to fight?" Nova asked, hoping to change the subject.
Jack acknowledged her efforts with an appreciative nod. "My adoptive parents. Being Lucarios, they made sure I knew how to defend myself. That, and I also got quite a bit of martial arts training from a friend of mine a while ago. She's a real master of hand to hand combat. Almost everything I know about close quarters combat, she taught me. What about you?"
"Well… My mate taught me most of what I know, but I was a pretty decent fighter before he took me under his wing," Nova started. "He just refined the raw power I had into something more focused. I also trained for the past three months at Axiom. That was where I learned how to use my Hastae."
"The spear, yeah," Jack commented. "I've got to say, I'd love to see what you can do with that thing."
"I can do quite a bit with it," Nova replied as she set down the quail she had been eating and set her spear across her lap. "It did come in quite handy yesterday."
"I was kinda preoccupied then," Jack said, scratching the back of his head. "I didn't really pay much attention to what you were doing."
"I can relate to that," Nova laughed, "Though I did feel that Thunderbolt you used. It was quite impressive."
Jack chuckled slightly. "Yeah, that's a trick I developed a while ago; it's come in handy a few times against particularly annoying opponents."
"So it would seem. I would hate to be on the receiving end of that. My fur was standing on end despite the distance between us at the time," Nova said with a smile. "It felt rather odd."
"And I'd hate to be on the receiving end of that," Jack replied with a smirk, gesturing to the Hastae, "Literally."
Nova started laughing at Jack's words, her eyes darting to the tip of the spear. "I see your point."
Jack facepalmed, but he was laughing as well. "Oh good grief, that was bad…"
"I know it was," Nova continued, laughing a bit harder from the response Jack had given.
Jack sighed, unable to stop grinning. "We really should get moving if we actually want to get anywhere. And just so you know, you have entered into a world of pain; I've never once lost a pun war, and I don't intend to start now."
"Well, they don't call my species the Illusion Fox Pokémon for no reason," Nova said with a smirk.
Jack nodded. "True. I've only ever met a Zoroark once before, and he was… kinda special, so I guess I didn't really know what to expect when I met you. The two of you are a lot alike actually."
Nova huffed and rolled her eyes. "Great… competition for the 'special and unique Zoroark' award."
Jack chuckled, but there was a mischievous glint in his eye. "You know, he and I had a battle when we met; he beat me, but it was a near thing. If you want the title of 'special and unique Zoroark' all to yourself, maybe you should try one-upping him."
Nova smirked at Jack's hinted suggestion. She stretched her arms above her head with her claws interlocked. "If it is a spar you want, you could have just asked. Though I will gladly take the award as well."
