Pride of Your Soul

Chapter 22: The Home where He Belonged

AN: Goddamn, this took forever to do. Sorry for the massive delay. Really, I have to blame procrastination, job-hunting, and games I've been backlogging for so long for the delay. All my own fault, so apologies on that. But regardless, we're back, and with Nate's backstory.

The actual length of Nate's entire backstory turned out to be so long, that I had to split it up into two chapters. And I still have not done the second part yet. Altogether, this would have been the longest chapter I have written bar-none.

FantasyLover88: Yeah he deserved it not gonna lie. I was excited to bring justice onto Zillion. Overkill? Maybe. Did it feel right? Oh yes.

Anonymous Trainer: Yeah not gonna lie, I was debating on whether to introduce firearms into the story, especially considering recent events. But then again I felt that it fit into this particular setting, and to cement just how dangerous the 'underground' world is.

I M Poik: Yeah one major complaint I got was that Hilda was never actually 'punished' for everything she did back in the prequel. I figured this was a good time to establish that she did, in fact, have karma come for her. Along with establishing a bunch of other plot holes that needed to be explained.

Tony Anderson: Thanks, once again!

TheDarkMaster4000: Who knows. There's a lot of mysteries still left to be answered. And yeah, honestly among the four, Hugh is probably the most sane one. Funny and kinda ironic, considering his canon personality.

Bob'sbobfriend: Huh, an interesting choice, if I am to be honest.

BLACK-BIRD76: Don't worry, the Shadow Triad will get what's coming to them soon enough. As for Nate? Oh don't worry, his shitty background is dedicated to making him suffer.

RedPkmnMaster: Yeah sorry bout that. But if you look at the length of this chapter, then I do hope you understand why it took a while.

Eris: Welcome back! Glad to hear from you again! Glad you like Nate's character, all the developments that transpired, and how character development whipped everyone into shape. At this point nearly everyone predicted that Schwartzer and Weiss were Hilbert and Hilda, haha. Maybe I made it a little too obvious? And yeah, there're a lot of questions, but don't worry. They'll be answered sooner or later.

But for now! Onto the backstory chapter that seems to be a trend nowadays!

This is not a tale of glory.

Nor is it an excuse for all the crimes committed.

This is simply a tragic comedy of a boy.

A boy who is stuck in a never-ending cycle of desperate ideals and crushing truths.

All while drowning in his own despair and misery.

10 years ago...

Nate was not sure of the situation he was in.

Merely hours ago, he was happily playing with his brother and foster sister back at their home, waiting for their father to finish dinner so they could enjoy it together.

Now, here he was, dangling over a seemingly bottomless pit outside of an underground castle. His lifeline was the hand of the man who was hanging him outside. Nate was extremely confused of what was going on, but the imminent fear of death overtook his rationality. And it seemed like the man holding Nate did not care one bit about the boy.

"Wait don't–!" Nate could hear his father, who had come to rescue them, cry in fear.

"You heard our guest," Nate could hear that strange priest who had visited their home, before his three-headed dragon destroyed their home and abducted them. "Let the boy go."

"As you wish," Nate could hear the man that kept him from his imminent death say.

Before Nate could register what was going on, the man who was holding Nate let go, letting Nate fall into the bottomless pit that was below him.

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!" Nate could only scream helplessly as he felt himself plummet down further and further/

"NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTEEEEE!" Nate could hear his father scream has he saw him reach out for him from the window in futile effort.

Nate saw his father, before the image of him grew smaller and smaller, until Nate could no longer see his father. Overwhelmed by the fear of death, Nate blacked out, falling unconscious as he plummeted to his demise.

That was the last time Nate ever saw his father again.

The boy would have counted himself lucky, if he was still conscious. Had the braviary not conveniently been flying in the catacombs of the cave he was in, he would've dropped down to the grounds and met a messy demise.

The eagle was also surprised to not only see a large castle underground, along with a golurk charging head on to the castle and blasting its way in, but a small boy fly out of the castle and plummeting more than hundreds of meters to the ground, and swiftly caught the boy before he could crash and become a bloody pancake of flesh and bones. The eagle was confused as to why the boy flew out of the strange building. When he tried to inquire the boy about it, the boy was unconscious.

"-Now, what to do with you, lad,-" the eagle mumbled to himself.

The eagle contemplated. He could take the boy back to the building to see if he could find out why the boy flew out of the castle. Or, he could take the boy back with him to his own home. Each had their own pros and cons. While taking the boy back to the castle would certainly give the old bird the answers he want, there must have been a reason to throw a small child out of a building that is definitely miles off the ground. A reason that was obviously had unpleasant intents.

On the other hand, bringing the boy with him, however, would keep him away from whoever it was that threw him out. If the person behind it found out that the boy had survived, then there was a good chance that said person would go out to find him and kill him, or send someone or something after him. He would also be kidnapping the boy and taking him away from his family; who must be worried sick about him. However, taking him back to his home would ensure that the boy was safe for now.

Another crashing sound resonated throughout the catacombs, as the eagle swirled his head to see an accelgor, cradling another small boy crying his heart out, plummet to the ground while using what appears to be appendages hanging from its arms to latch onto anything it could to lessen the speed of his descent and soften the fall as much as it can.

After watching the bug manage to crash to the ground without suffering too much damage to his body and keeping the boy safe in its arms as it ran for its life away from the castle, the bird decided to take the boy in his possession to his home. Away from the potential dangers this castle seemed to be only capable of producing.

"Uh...ugh...wha...?"

Nate slowly woke up, groaning in pain. Where was he? He looked around. It appeared to be a cave-like nest, fairly large in diameter. There were some berries lying around near him. He looked towards the light that shined into the cave, got out of the nest and looked out. Outside, heavy rain poured down upon everything outside. The sky was a steel-like grey, matching the dreary atmosphere around him.

"Wait, where is everyone?"

Nate suddenly remembered what had happened back at the castle. He, his brother and their foster sister were taken away from their home; from their father; by a priest with a three-headed monster. The priest and a strange scientist did something to his brother, while he could only just cry into his sister's chest, who could only comfort the boy, assuring him that their father would come and rescue them.

Their father did in fact come to save them, with his golurk crashing through the walls in a ferocious manner. There was still hope. His father would surely beat up the priest and scientist, save him, his brother and his sister and take them back home, where their mother would be back after winning the Pokémon League.

All of those hopes were dashed the moment a ninja showed up out of nowhere, grabbed him and his sister and handed him off to the priest. He screamed in fear for his dad who was screaming at the priest to unhand him. The priest obliged, before the ninja took ahold of him instead, before dropping him out of the castle and to his death.

Or what should have been his death.

"Where am I...?"

"-Oh, so you woke up.-"

The boy jumped in surprise and turned around. A braviary stood at the end of the cave, staring at the boy.

"U-Uh H-Hello..." Nate stammered timidly. "M-My name is Nate...who are you?"

"-Heavens lad, you gave me quite the scare,-" Braviary said. "-I didn't expect you to drop out of a castle like that. You haven't woken up for days now. You have any idea what happened?-"

Nate tilted his head in confusion. Braviary wanted to slap himself in realization. Of course this small random human boy could not understand the speech of Pokémon.

"-Hmmm...-" Braviary mumbled, unsure of what to do with a human boy who could not understand him. "-Well, I suppose it's fine for now. For now, you should stay here. There's been a rather savage storm going on for the past few days, so you'll be much safer here.-"

Nate tilted his head in confusion once more. He knew the braviary was trying to tell him something, but Nate could not decipher what he was saying for the life of him. Before Nate could ask another question his stomach decided to make itself known, and let out a huge growl that echoed throughout the cave. Nate blushed in embarrassment, while Braviary chuckled in response.

"-Here, have these berries,-" Braviary said, gesturing to the berries near Nate. "-They'll fill your stomach right up!-"

"I-I can have them...?" Nate asked Braviary, who nodded enthusiastically. "...Okay. Thank you..."

Nate walked over to the berries and picked them up from the ground. Nate wanted to wipe them clean, but his shirt was rather dirty. Nate shrugged, before taking a bite out of the oran berry in front of him. Nate was delighted by the sweet, savory taste of the oran berry, before scarfing the berry down, before proceeding onto the pecha berry next to him.

Braviary merely chuckled as the boy wolfed down the berries provided for him. Soon enough, Nate ate every last berry in front of him and wiped his mouth, satisfied by the feast provided to him.

"Thank you for the meal," Nate meekly said to Braviary, thanking him for a rather hearty meal of berries. "Um...but, where am I? Did you see Brother? Or Dad? Or Hilda?"

Braviary's smile quickly turned into an awkward frown. He could tell that the people the boy listed were his family, but he had no idea where they were. It has been days since Braviary brought Nate to his home. There was no telling where they could be now. Not having any suitable answer, Braviary merely looked away from him. Nate could tell from that reaction that Braviary knew nothing about his family or their whereabouts.

"...I see..." Nate mumbled. "Th-Then...can I go home?"

Braviary looked at the boy, before glancing back outside. While Braviary had no qualms with helping the boy get back home safe and sound to his family, the weather outside was too dangerous for travel. Furthermore, he had no idea where the boy lived. Not to mention there was that castle Braviary found the boy at. The dwellers of said castle could most likely make it to Route 10. The possibilities of them coming here in search of the boy were high. The boy was thrown out to kill him; there was no doubt about that. If they found out the boy did in fact not die, then they would come to search for him to tie up loose ends. Either way, there were too many factors that made it too dangerous for Braviary to venture out with the boy.

Braviary shook his head at Nate. Nate looked confused, before looking past the bird and outside. It looked extremely dreary. Nate could hear the sound of heavy rain from outside.

"...Are you saying that it's dangerous to leave?" Nate asked Braviary, who nodded his head furiously. "...Well...okay..."

Braviary let a sigh of relief. Whether the boy was aware of the potential dangers Braviary considered was unclear, he was glad the boy at least complied.

Nate shivered as he wrapped his arms around himself to try and keep him warm. Seeing the chilly boy, Braviary walked over to him, gently pushing him toward the massive bed of feathers that Braviary used for rest. Nate saw the bed of feathers and plopped onto it, before Braviary got onto the bed and roosted next to him. The combination of the feather bed and the roosting Braviary kept Nate considerably warm within the cold from the cave and the storm. Feeling exhaustion overtake him, Nate closed his eyes, letting himself go to sleep while contemplating on the situation he found himself in.

It was two days after he woke up in Braviary's cave. Or at least Nate thought it was two days.

The storm outside still raged on, with no signs of calming down any time soon. Nate had been living off the berries Braviary was kind enough to gather for him. The boy had to take care of his bathroom issues outside underneath trees that sheltered him from the harsh rain as much as they could. His clothes, as a result, became rather dirty. He still wore them, since he had nothing else on him.

"...I wish I could take a bath..." Nate mumbled, smelling himself and reeling at the stench. "When will this storm end...? Then Braviary can take me home..."

The bird in question was out hunting for food for himself and Nate. While the boy was grateful for Braviary providing him food, he still wished to go home. Hopefully to his family that was waiting for him.

Nate could hear the flapping of wings and looked up. To his relief, it was Braviary and not an intruder ready to raid his nest and potentially harm him. The expression of relief was quickly replaced by a fearful one, as Braviary flew in, one claw full of berries, while the other one carried a basculin, struggling for dear life.

"-I'm backl!-" Braviary cawed. "-Here, have some berries. I tried to pick out some different ones.-"

Braviary dropped the berries in front of Nate, before proceeding to slam the basculin onto the wall, breaking its neck and ending its life in front of the no-longer innocent boy. Without a care in the world, Braviary began to pierce the fish with his beak, before proceeding to devour it piece by piece. The boy was petrified in horror as Braviary finished off his meal.

"-Whew! That was one fine basculin!-" Braviary bellowed out, before noticing Nate's horrified gaze. "-Hm? Did you want some?-"

Braviary brought up the scraps of what was left of the basculin to Nate, offering him some of the fish. Nate, in response, shook his head in denial furiously, before scarfing down the berries in front of him.

"-Hm, alright then,-" Braviary mumbled, before scarfing down the remains of the basculin. "-...Ah that's right! Humans prefer cooked fish, if I recall correctly...Drat, I can't produce fire..."

Nate really wished he could go home right now.

The next day had arrived. The storm still refused to die down. Nate could only stare out at the dreary steel-gray skies and watch the rain pour down upon the forest below. Nate was not sure how high he was from the ground. He was sure that if he fell, it would be game over for him though.

The boy was waiting for Braviary to come back with food once more. Nate wondered if Braviary would bring something other than berries. It was not as if Nate was ungrateful for Braviary bringing him food; he was very grateful for the wild braviary constantly looking over him and providing him food so that he did not starve. However, even Nate was starting to get tired of eating berries; he had eaten them for three days straight now.

Nate heard the usual flapping of wings, indicating that Braviary had returned from his hunt. Nate looked up to the entrance, expecting to see Braviary with one claw full of berries for him, and the other carrying a poor defenseless basculin.

Instead, what he got was Braviary, carrying a claw full of basculin, and a heatmor in the other. Nate let out a frightened yelp, not expecting the heatmor of all things, before backing into the bed of feathers to hide. The heatmor wasn't going to eat him, right? Wait...was Braviary going to eat the heatmor instead?

"-No, no! Please, don't be scared again!-" Braviary cawed, lifting his wings up in panic. "-He's a friend. He won't eat'cha.-"

Nate looked up from his hiding spot. It looked like Braviary was trying to tell him that Heatmor was at the very least not going to eat him. But then why was it here?

"-So you want me to fry the fish for this kid?-" Heatmor asked Braviary.

"-Indeed, if you would be so kindly,-" Braviary nodded in response as he let Heatmor down on the ground. "-I feel bad making the lad eat berries all the time. Even if they're healthy, only eating one thing is unhealthy for humans.-"

"-Yeah, yeah,-" Heatmor muttered as he and Nate both winced as Braviary slammed the basculins onto a wall, effectively killing them. "-Sheesh, not in front of the kid.-"

Braviary seemingly ignored Heatmor, before setting the fish on the ground. Heatmor then went over to the fish, before spewing fire at them, cooking them to a crisp. Within seconds, the once raw basculin had a well-roasted, crispy skin on them. Nate eyed the fried basculin with widened eyes. It felt like ages since he saw roasted meat. It looked absolutely delicious, especially after three days straight of berries.

"-Go on, lad,-" Braviary smiled, beckoning Nate towards the fish.

"...Is it okay?" Nate asked Braviary, where the bird nodded in response.

Nate proceeded to walk over to the prepared fish, reaching out to one. He touched the fish, but immediately let go in pain from the basculin's heat.

"-Careful!-" Heatmor exclaimed. "-They're still pretty damn hot!-"

"-Language!-" Braviary scolded Heatmor.

"-What? It's not like he can understand us,-" Heatmor countered.

As the two Pokémon bickered, Nate blew profusely at the fish he had dropped, before picking it back up again. It felt slightly less hot, making it more bearable to hold. Mom told him to not eat food off the ground, but Nate did not care at the moment. He had eaten berries off the ground for three days now; he was not going to pass up meat. Nate took a bite out of the basculin, savoring its cooked meat. Nate's eyes widened in enlightenment, before he proceeded to scarf down on the basculin meat. Within a minute or so, Nate had eaten as much of the basculin as it had to offer, before taking another fish and proceeding to consume it as well. Braviary and Heatmor both noticed Nate scarfing down on the fish, before smiling at the sight.

"-Man, I should've brought some durants with me...-" Heatmor muttered. "-Ah well. It's nice that the kid's enjoying some cooked meat.-"

"-Indeed,-" Brav nodded, watching the boy enjoy the fish. The bird was content with seeing the boy smile in spite of his current situation. The old bird was content with being able to cheer the boy up.

It took approximately four days since Nate found himself living with Braviary before the storm finally died down. Nate glanced down to the actual ground which was several feet above the cave. The route managed to look better than expected, but the damage from the storm was still noticeable. Nate could not predict how much time it would take for the route and the wildlife that resided in the route to repair the damage and go back to their lifestyles. However, while Nate felt guilty for prioritizing his own wellbeing over those that had suffered from the storm, Nate had other priorities he can look forward to now.

Namely the fact that with the storm having finally died, the weather was safe enough for Braviary to take him home.

Nate had no idea what had happened to the village he had called his home a few days earlier. But he could finally go home!

"-Looks like the storm finally died down,-" Braviary said, noting the clear skies that had been absent for the past few days.

Braviary glanced to Nate, who looked back with giddy eyes. The boy was excited to be able to go home now. That much was a given, and it did not surprise Braviary one bit.

"-Now then, where is your home...-" Braviary muttered. The one problem that remained was that Braviary still did not know where Nate lived. The other problem was that the two still could not communicate with one another verbally, so Braviary could not just simply ask the boy where he lived.

Nate stared at Braviary's confused and conflicted expression. Perhaps Braviary did not know that Nate wanted to go home? Or did Braviary wish to keep him here?

"...Uh...can you take me home now, please?" Nate asked. It was not as if Nate was ungrateful for Braviary's hospitality. No it was the exact opposite. Nate owed Braviary his life. The boy simply wished to go back home to his friends and family.

"-Ah...-" Braviary muttered awkwardly, not sure of what to do.

"...Um...it's called...uh..." Nate mumbled, trying to remember just what exactly his home village was called again. "...Ah! Um...'Terra Village'...Yeah, I think that's what Dad called it."

"-Terra Village...-" Braviary mouthed, recognizing the name. "-Ah! I've been there once!-"

"You know where it is?" Nate asked, noting Braviary's expression of sudden revelation.

Braviary nodded in response, causing a large smile to form on young Nate's face. The aviary lifted up into the air, grabbed Nate with his claws as gently as possible, but strong enough to keep a firm grip on the boy, before taking off into the skies. Nate glanced down to the earth below him. The route he had called a home with Braviary was slowly fading away from his sights, being replaced by new, unfamiliar grounds as Braviary kept flying north.

Nate felt slightly saddened that he had to leave Braviary's home for his own. Even if it was for a short amount of time, it felt somewhat homey.

But you know what they always say. There's no place like home.

Several hours passed. Nate still could not see his home. The boy did not expect it to be this far from where they were. It just goes to show just how little of the outside world Nate actually knew. And Nate still had not seen so much as a glimpse of Unova outside of what he had already seen.

Nate's stomach decided to let itself known once more, letting out a loud growl that managed to reach both Nate's and Braviary's hearing even during flight. Nate blushed in embarrassment, trying to hide his expression with his hands.

"-Oh dear...-" Braviary muttered. There was no way he could feed Nate midflight. Braviary would stop the flight, descend to a nearby forest and look for food, but the bird knew that the village Nate mentioned was close by. "-We're almost there. A little patience, lad.-"

Nate did not seem to mind or care as he was still hiding his embarrassed expression in shame. Braviary kept flying forward through the clouds, before Braviary spotted something up ahead.

"-That should be it,-" Braviary cawed out, notifying Nate that they were almost there. "-If I recall correctly, that should be the–WHA!?-"

Braviary suddenly stopped in his place, startling Nate, who grabbed onto Braviary's legs to keep himself from falling out.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Nate asked, noticing Braviary's suddenly-horrified expression. Braviary had just cawed out, which could mean that they are almost at the village.

The poor boy looked forward, and his expression immediately matched Braviary's.

Terra Village is supposed to be a small, but lush and boisterous community. Several identical wood and stone houses occupied the territory, as the villagers lived in peace and harmony. The village was a lively place that could be called an oasis of nature with humans and Pokémon living alongside each other in peace.

What Nate saw instead was a charred and ruined land of the dead. The houses were reduced to indistinguishable rubble. Several black objects littered the ground along with the rubble of the houses that were destroyed. The once lush green was now a lifeless black and gray. It did not resemble the village Nate recognized at all. Nate did not even recognize the village at first, until he realized that they had arrived.

"-What in the world...?-" Braviary gasped in horror as he slowly descended to the lifeless town. "-Is this...really your home, lad?-"

Braviary let go of Nate, placing him gently on the charred ground and letting Nate roam around in horror at what was left of his home.

"...W...Wha..." Nate mumbled, looking around desperately for someone. "Hello? Is...Is anyone here?"

As Nate wandered around, the boy found himself tripping on something and falling flat on his face on the ground.

"Agh!" Nate yelped as he tripped.

The boy got back up and glanced behind him to see what he tripped on. Nate screamed in terror and backed away immediately upon seeing that the black 'object' he had seen from above was in fact a burnt corpse. Nate's eyes darted all around him, realization suddenly striking him. The boy now realized that he was surrounded by the blackened corpses of the villagers and Pokémon that used to live here alongside Nate. Several of them were missing a part of their bodies, while a good portion of them were gruesomely dismembered. It was not even a week ago when Nate last saw them; and now he found their lifeless carcasses on the ground like stones. Utterly horrified, Nate covered his mouth, before he lost control of his stomach and puked on the ground.

Did this have happened while he was taken away to that underground castle? Were the people who resided at that castle responsible for this? As Nate finished puking, he looked up to what was left of the village.

"...Is no one here...? Is no one...alive...?" Nate asked. "...Wait...Axew?"

Nate suddenly remembered that he, his brother Hilbert and foster sister Hilda had a weirdly-colored axew as a companion. Nate had no idea what had happened to him after the incident. He got up and ran around the town, frantically calling out for Axew while looking around in hopes that perhaps the small Dragon Pokémon somehow made it out alive. After a good hour or so with no such luck, Nate finally ran out of energy and collapsed on the ground.

"-Lad!-" Braviary yelled, flying over to the boy and comforting him, while witnessing the garden of dead people and Pokémon. "-...What happened here...?-"

Nate had known that this might have happened. He clearly remembered how he even got in this situation in the first place. That strange priest visited their home, and that scary three-headed dragon kidnapped them. Nate remembered seeing the village in fire as the dragon took them away from their home. So it was very likely that the damage to the village would still remain. Nate simply refused to believe and had blind hope that perhaps, just maybe, the village was alright, and that his family would be waiting for him here.

But the reality was right in front of him. And Nate had no choice but to accept it.

Braviary, meanwhile, had lots on his mind as well. Mainly of what happened here that would reduce such a lovely village to that of a graveyard. Regardless, there was nothing left of Nate's home to even call a 'home'. No houses, or people, or Pokémon remained. There was no way Braviary could leave a defenseless child in this land of the dead. Who knows what kind of disease and bacteria was plaguing the area from the decomposing flesh. And there was no telling what kinds of dangerous Pokémon lurked within the outer parts of the village, should Nate choose to leave and live elsewhere.

Braviary patted Nate on the head as the boy got back up, getting his attention. Braviary had a solemn, sympathizing look on his face. The bird was showing sympathy for the boy, who had lost his home.

"...W-Will...will you take me home...?" Nate asked. Home. Not here, where the only thing that remained was rotting flesh and cinder, but at the cave, where a warm bed of feathers and fresh berries and fish awaited.

"-Of course,-" Braviary nodded, understanding Nate's request.

"...Thank you..."

Braviary nodded once more as he rose to the air once more. He gently grabbed Nate by his shoulders with his claws, before taking flight and flying back to his nest with Nate. The boy glanced down at the dead village. It was nothing more than a tomb of memories now. There was nothing left of it that Nate could take with him now.

It was after they were several miles away from the village where Nate's stomach decided to remind its master that he was hungry.

A month had passed.

Braviary watched over Nate as he played around with two young mienfoos in a game of tag. Braviary was worried about Nate adapting to his new lifestyle, but the boy proved him wrong and melted into his new life swimmingly. It was as if Nate was a fellow wild Pokémon as well.

"-So how's the boy doing?-" a mienshao, likely the two mienfoos' mother, asked Braviary. "-The two seem to like him.-"

"-He's doing rather well,-" Braviary replied. "-It's refreshing seeing the boy happy.-"

Nate had spent a good two weeks depressed over his lost home, friends and family, barely eating the food Braviary had provided and having not left the cave at all. It was when the other Pokémon heard of the small human orphan that Braviary was taking care of that they decided to pay him a visit. The young wild Pokémon managed to cheer Nate up, and offered to play with the boy. While it took some getting used to, Nate finally managed to cheer up from his depression and go outside for the first time in two weeks. Nate managed to adapt to the wildlife and fit right into the community.

Braviary smiled. He was glad that Nate had managed to move on and accept his new life. Sure it was not as ideal as his old life might have been, but he seemed to enjoy his new life nonetheless. The braviary and mother mienshao watched as Nate and the two mienfoos ended up jumping into a pit of mud, splashing it everywhere, especially on themselves.

"-Ah no,-" Braviary muttered. "-Lad! Make sure you wash up!-"

"Okay!" Nate replied as they emerged from the mud pool.

Nate took off the only article of clothing that he had on, his pair of raggedy pants, before jumping into the nearby river with the two mienfoos to wash the mud off of themselves. Sighing, Braviary went over, picked up Nate's muddy pants with his beak, before going over to the river and washing the mud off of them to the best of his abilities.

Perhaps the biggest change in Nate's life was the fact that the boy was starting to learn how to communicate with them. While each and every Pokémon had different intonations, pronunciations, accents, and whatnot, the language among Pokémon was relatively the same. This was why any Pokémon could understand and communicate one another, even if it were two completely different species, such as Braviary and Mineshao. By that logic, if a human could learn how to understand one Pokémon's tongue, then they could theoretically learn how to understand all other Pokémon's speech. It was a concept Braviary had thought to have been impossible, but young Nate was able to pick up on Braviary's speech patterns rather quickly, and managed to deduce what the bird was trying to tell him, which led to Nate learning how to understand Pokémon. While his comprehension skills still left a lot to be desired, the boy had learned enough to understand the basic gist of what Braviary said to him. This helped tremendously with communicating with one another.

Eventually, the three emerged from the water, having all the mud rinsed off of their bodies.

"I washed up, Grandpa Brav!" Nate exclaimed.

Grandpa Brav. That was what the boy had settled on calling him once he began to learn what the bird was saying. Braviary, or Brav, had no qualms with the boy's new nickname on him. It was short, simple, and to the point. And Brav would be lying if he refused to admit that he was old. Not as old as the species' standards were for old braviary, but still old enough to warrant being called a grandpa.

"-That's a good boy,-" Brav said. "-Now hold still.-"

Brav tossed Nate's pants to him, before lifting his wings and releasing a strong gust of wind at the three younglings. The gust was strong enough to instantly blow the water off and dry the trio and pants, while slapping some leaves into their faces.

"-There,-" Brav said as the three pulled the leaves off of their faces. "-Much better.-"

The boy put his pants on, before he followed the two mienfoos as they went over and picked some oran berries to eat. As Nate was about to sink his teeth into his oran berry, one of the mienfoos suddenly lunged at him, pushing him to the ground.

"Huh?" Nate asked, but the mienfoo shushed the boy, keeping him quiet.

Brav and Mienshao noticed that, and immediately went into hiding as well, realizing what the young mienfoo had noticed. From the man-made entrance of the route, two trainers had entered the route, seemingly eager to explore the area. Brav kept a sharp eye on the two humans as they ventured into the tall grass that the younglings chose to hide in. The eagle was ready to swoop down and attack the humans as they got closer to the trio's hiding spot.

The two mienfoos huddled next to Nate as they saw the trainers get closer and closer to where they were hiding. The boy glanced up to see the two trainers from the grass he was hiding in, towering over them.

Brav was about to spring into action as the trainers almost took one more step, but a loud roar thundered throughout the area, stopping the bird and the trainers in their tracks. The roar came from a bouffalant who showed up out of nowhere, stomping the ground and glaring at the two trainers. The bouffalant snorted, before scraping the ground with his hooves, indicating that he was going to stampede, and the direction of his glare seemed to be his stampede path. The two trainers back away slowly, before turning around and running for their lives in fear of the stampeding bouffalant.

Once the two trainers were out of sight, Bouffalant stopped his intimidation, before walking over to the three hiding kids.

"-It's safe now,-" Bouffalant announced.

The three emerged from their hiding place, as Mienshao and Braviary emerged from their hiding spots as well.

"-Thank you Mr. Buff!-" the two mienfoos and Nate said in unison.

"-Sorry about that,-" Brav told Bouffalant as the two mienfoos went back to their mother.

"-Don't worry about it,-" Bouffalant said.

"Hey, why do I gotta hide from the trainers anyways?" Nate asked out of curiosity. "I mean I'm human too."

"-It's too dangerous,-" Brav told Nate. "-We don't know what kind of people we could be dealing with.-"

"-Yeah,-" Bouffalant said. "-Humans tend to not be the lot we'd like to commute with. They can be scummy and dangerous.-"

"Are humans that bad?" Nate asked. This kind of perspective was new to him, especially considering he lived in a village where humans and Pokémon were able to reside with one another in peace.

"-It's not to say all humans are bad, per say,-" Bouffalant said. "-But our general consensus is that we should be wary of humans. They come out of nowhere, pick fights with our brethren and then proceed to 'catch' them, taking them away from their kin without their consent.-"

"...W...Well when you put it like that..." Nate mumbled. Honestly he did not think about the procedure of catching Pokémon like that.

"-C'mon, you're making the poor lad feel uncomfortable,-" Brav chastised Bouffalant.

"-I'm just saying,-" Bouffalant said. "-Humans as a whole aren't the kindest bunch to us. You all should be careful around them no matter what.-"

"I...I see..." Nate squeaked.

"-Alright, that's enough for today,-" Brav said. "-C'mon, let's go home, Nate.-"

"Okay" Nate nodded as Brav began his ascent and picked Nate up with his talons. "Bye! See you tomorrow!"

"-Bye!-" the two mienfoos replied back, waving to Nate as Brav left for his nest.

As Nate saw the group of Pokémon grow smaller and smaller as they headed for the nest, Nate could not help but contemplate on what Bouffalant had said. He had never thought of the simple concept of trainers catching Pokémon like that. In hindsight, it was somewhat similar to forcibly taking them from their habitats and family. It was not always the case, but there was no way of making sure between humans and Pokémon.

"-You're worried about what Bouffalant said?-" Brav asked, having noticed Nate's contemplating expression as they landed in the nest.

"...How come people and Pokémon don't get along?" Nate asked Brav as he let the boy go. "I mean, we get along. And so do everyone else."

"-That's a good question, my boy,-" Brav replied. "-...I honestly can't tell. There are good humans. And there are bad humans. There's no way we can tell which is which.-"

"But...But we can talk to each other," Nate pointed out. "I can talk to you. I can talk to everyone else. And if I can learn how to talk to Pokémon so quickly, then others can learn too. Then that means humans and Pokémon can learn to understand each other, right?"

Brav gave the boy a conflicted look. Nate did have a point; if a young child like him could pick up and learn how to understand Pokémon so quickly, then others should be able to do so as well.

...Emphasis on should. Brav was aware that it was not simply as easy as that. Humans were aware that Pokémon, or whatever it was that the humans called him, were creatures capable of harming or outright killing the humans. They would be wary of trying to interact with them outside of subjugating them with their devices. It would be much harder for humans and Pokémon to coincide than Nate thought it would be.

"-Perhaps,-" Brav could only tell the boy. "-Only time can tell, lad.-"

Roughly four months had passed. Brav had business to attend to with the Pokémon that lived in the area that the humans called 'Victory Road', near the Pokémon League. Since the boy insisted, Brav brought Nate along with him. The small child was curious with the other areas that neighbored Route 10, but bringing him to the nearby city was too risky; seeing a bunch of wild Pokémon with a small, half-naked child could bring up alarms to the other humans.

"-So you wanna know what's up with the recent strange activities going on around here lately?-" a heatmor, the same one that had cooked basculin for Nate before, asked Brav.

"-Indeed,-" Brav nodded. "-There are some strange things going on recently around here.-"

"-You do have a point,-" Heatmor muttered as he glanced down to the hazardous mountain below. "-There's been some weird folks running around here. They don't seem to be harming the folks around here...but it is concerning.-"

"-I might have an idea...-" Brav admitted.

"-...You mean that underground castle you mentioned before?-" Heatmor asked.

Brav nodded. While he did not know where exactly the castle was, he strictly remembered that he emerged out of Victory Road when he made his escape with Nate. The castle was huge; it would be safe to assume that several hundreds, potentially thousands, could be residing there.

"-It does not seem like the other humans are aware of its existence,-" Brav said. "-It would be a rather good hiding place for suspicious individuals.-"

"-Yeah, but why is there a castle underground anyways?-" Heatmor asked. "-And why here of all locations?-"

"-That...I can't say for sure,-" Brav mumbled. "-It could be highly plausible that they're plotting something...-"

Heatmor gave Brav a good stare, before sighing. "-Well if whatever it is they're doing doesn't affect us, then I can't think of a reason to try and interfere. Looks to be more trouble than its worth.-"

"-If you say so...-" Brav sighed. He had an inkling that Heatmor, or the residence of Victory Road, would not care too much, so long as whatever that castle was did not obstruct with their livelihoods.

"-...So why'd you bring the kid?-" Heatmor asked, eyeing Nate, who was playing with a deino, under the supervision of a hydreigon.

"-He wished to see more places,-" Brav replied. "-I felt bad keeping him confined in our home for so long.-"

"-And you still haven't found his family yet?-" Heatmor asked, before noticing Brav's grim expression.

"-...His home was found completely destroyed,-" Brav told Heatmor. "-It's nothing more than a wasteland now.-"

"-Holy...-" Heatmor muttered. "-What happened...?-"

"-I'd be damned if I knew,-" Brav muttered back. "-I couldn't even begin to think about what happened to the lad's home. All I knew was that I couldn't leave a child there by himself.-"

"-...Right...-" Heatmor mumbled, glancing at the boy with pity. The boy did not notice the sympathy he was getting, too distracted by his playmate.

As Brav was about to continue the conversation, he heard some footsteps approaching, signifying approaching humans. Hydreigon grabbed Nate and her child and flew away to hide above the cave entrance. Brav and Heatmor also hid away their presences into the caves to avoid the humans. Down below, Hydreigon and the two children saw two trainers walking past the rocky terrain they were on. They could hear the two humans, presumably trainers, conversing with one another.

"Damnit! I lost..." the trainer on the right grumbled. "And I was so close..."

"Yeah, Marshal beat your ass," the trainer next to him said.

"Shaddup," the first trainer growled. "I almost did it!"

"Yeah, yeah," the second trainer rolled his eyes. "Let's just go train up some more. Maybe then you won't get your ass beaten."

"Yeah...hey by the way who's the Champion?" the first trainer asked. "Is it still Alder?"

"Yeah," the second trainer confirmed. "Although it is weird...there was a rumor saying someone should have replaced him by now."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Someone called Fiona Warren. They say she defeated Alder, but declined the position. So Alder's still the Champion."

"What? That's weird. Why would you decline being Champion after beating the Champion?"

"Dunno."

"Hey, y'know where this Fiona chick lives?"

"People say they spotted her at Nuvema Town."

"That place? Huh, that's a weird place to live. Maybe we can go to her place and have her give us some tips."

"I guess, if you want."

The two trainers went on their way through Victory Road, leaving the trail they were on. When the coast was clear, the Pokémon emerged from their hiding spots and back to where they were.

"-Humans sure are carefree,-" Heatmor muttered. "-Traversing through the caves when they could get killed by some irritated buggers.-"

"-I'm sure they'll be fine,-" Brav shot back. "-Nate, how about we get something to–-."

The bird turned his head to Nate, only to notice the boy's widened eyes.

"Fiona...Warren..." Nate mumbled.

"-Nate?-" Brav asked.

"That's...That's Mom's name...!" Nate exclaimed. "And they said she lives in that Nuvema place..."

"-Your mother?-" Brav asked.

"Mom's...she's alive...!" Nate exclaimed. "That means my family! They must be alright! Hey, Grandpa do you know where this 'Nuvema Town' is?"

Brav immediately knew what Nate wanted. The boy wished to go find his family. Even if it was based off of a mere rumor from two random humans, the chance that it could be true was enough to motivate the boy.

"-...Nuvema...-" Brav mumbled. "-...Sorry, but that's the first I've heard of such a town.-"

"-Nuvema Town? I've heard of that town before,-" Hydreigon said, clutching to her child. "-It's rather far. It lies in the southeastern corner of Unova.-"

"-All the way out there?-" Brav asked Hydreigon, who nodded in confirmation. "-Even if we knew where exactly it was, that would take us at least a few months.-"

"Can't you just fly straight there?" Nate asked Brav. "-You're really fast when flying!"

"-It's not like we're flying back to the nest,-" Brav told Nate. "-You wish to go to the other side of the region. That's 'lying across the entire continent. And that's not factoring in breaks for food, water, or to avoid dangerous weather.-"

Nate looked conflicted by Brav's warning, but nonetheless pressed on. "Please, Grandpa! If it's true, then my family's there! I wanna see them again!"

Brav gave Nate a stern glance, before sighing, yielding defeat to the boy's insistent look on his face.

"-I get it,-" Brav muttered. "-I'll take you back to your family. It's the right thing to do anyways.-"

A big smile painted itself onto young Nate's face. "Thank you, Grandpa!"

"-We leave first thing tomorrow morning,-" Brav told the boy. "-You need to get rested up.-"

"-Oh, you're rather hesitant,-" Heatmor commented as Nate rejoiced to himself. "-What? You don't wanna let go of the brat? I'd figured you'd wanna bring him back to his actual family.-"

"-I do,-" Brav said. "-It's just...I'd feel lonely, is all.-"

"-C'mon, you know the kid has to go back to his family,-" Heatmor replied. "-It's not really right keeping him to yourself. His family must be damn worried about him.-"

"-...I know...-" Brav sighed in defeat. "-I must return Nate back to his rightful family.-"

Brav only hoped that nothing bad would happen to the boy during the trip there. Then, the boy would be returned to his family; safe, sound and happy.

The next morning arrived. Nate rubbed his eyes as he finished his breakfast of pecha berries. Today was the day he would set off with Brav to Nuvema Town, where supposedly his mother lived. Which could only mean that his family was there! He would finally be reunited with Mom, Dad, Brother and Hilda! Knowing Dad, he would have definitely defeated that evil priest and saved Brother and Hilda, so they all must be there, waiting for Nate to return!

"-You ready, lad?-"

Nate wiped the juices on his mouth with his arm, before facing Brav. Nate was very grateful for the wild eagle for taking care of him for so long, but the boy knew he had to go back to his family. It was only natural. It seemed that the old eagle understood that as well. He was going to miss him once he got home.

"I'm ready, Grandpa Brav," Nate nodded as he dressed himself with a brown robe that concealed his body.

Nodding in response, Brav began to take flight, grabbed Nate by the shoulders with his talons, and soared into the sky out of their cave. Nate glanced down at Route 10 as Brav soared to their destination that was on the other side of the region. The route Nate had once called a home grew farther and farther from his sight.

The boy faced forward, anticipating when they would reach Nuvema Town and hopefully find his family. If they were there, then everything would be fine.

He cannot wait for how they would react to seeing him again.

After what seemed to be several hours of flight travel, Brav decided to land in a route that neighbored a rather pretty and bright city for rest. Brav landed in an alcove away from the sights of people. Nate looked around as they emerged from the alcove, clutching his cloak tightly.

"Where are we...?" Nate asked.

"-This place is Route 16, I believe,-" Brav told Nate as the two walked around.

Nate looked around, before spotting a large Ferris wheel from afar.

"Hey, Grandpa," Nate said, pointing to the attraction. "What's that?"

"-I believe that's what the humans call a 'Ferris wheel',-" Brav answered.

Nate looked at the Ferris wheel with amazement as the two walked around the area, looking for food to eat. The boy spotted a few oran berries growing on a tree, and went over to pick them.

"Here you go," Nate said as he walked over to Brav, handing an oran berry to him.

"-Thank you lad,-" Brav said, accepting the berry.

As Nate was about to take a bite out of the berry, a sharp yelp interrupted them. The two looked over to see a purrloin, who was being kicked and abused by what appeared to be its trainer.

"You worthless trash!" the man yelled as he stomped on the poor cat, ignoring the cries of pain and suffering the purrloin was clearing making. "You can't even win against a damn sewaddle! What good are you!?"

"Wha–!?" Nate blurted. "Hey, stop it!"

"-Wait, Nate!-" Brav yelled, but the boy had already rushed over to the situation.

The boy managed to get to Purrloin, shielding it from the trainer's next stomp. The trainer stepped back, obviously surprised by a small boy suddenly appearing out of nowhere to defend his former Pokémon.

"What the–!? Hey kid, get out of the way!" the trainer yelled, not interested in harming the boy.

"Why are you hurting the purrloin?!" Nate demanded. "Isn't it your Pokémon!? You're supposed to treat it with care!"

"Hah! This piece of shit is so weak it's not even funny!" the trainer shot back.

"You still shouldn't be hurting it!" Nate yelled back.

The trainer was about to retort back, but hesitated by the sight of Brav, angrily approaching the human. The braviary was clearly aiming at him, probably owned by the boy. There was no way he could take on the braviary at the moment.

"Keh! Fine!" the trainer growled, leaving the purrloin behind in a huff.

Brav kept glaring at the trainer as he left to make sure he truly left. Once the trainer was out of sight, Brav rushed over to Nate and the injured purrloin.

"Are you okay?" Nate asked the purrloin in concern.

"-Y-Yeah...-" Purrloin moaned weakly.

"Here," Brav said, giving Purrloin the oran berry he was about to eat. Purrloin nibbled on the berry, slowly feeling a bit of strength coming back to her.

"-Thanks,-" Purrloin said to Brav.

"Was that your trainer...?" Nate asked. "Why...did he hurt you like that?"

"-I was too weak...-" Purrloin mumbled. "-I kept losing my battles, so of course he would get angry.-"

"But that doesn't justify hurting you like that!" Nate argued. "People and Pokémon are supposed to be together in peace! They're supposed to respect each other! Especially if it's trainer and their partners!"

"-...You can understand me?-" Purrloin asked Nate, genuinely surprised.

"-He's a special one,-" Brav explained. "-He was able to learn how to understand us.-"

"-That's...a shock...-" Purrloin said, before answering Nate's objection. "-Look, kid. Obviously that's not the case with us...In fact, there're several trainers who do that if things don't go their way.-"

"But...that's not right..." Nate mumbled.

No, it was not supposed to be like that. Back in Nate's home, the people and Pokémon lived in peace. They respected each other. They helped each other. They certainly did not hurt or harm each other out of spite or anger.

"-Look, I'm grateful that you looked out for me,-" Purrloin said, managing to get enough strength to stand again. "-But next time, I'd suggest not getting involved.-"

"Wha–Why!?" Nate demanded.

"-Because you could get hurt in something that doesn't have to do with you,-" Purrloin said. "-I kinda have an idea of what you think. And frankly, I wish everyone was really like that. But in reality, that's not happening. Just like what you saw, there's gonna be those assholes in the world. To them, nothing you say matters. They'll always be assholes like that.-"

"-What will you do now?-" Brav asked Purrloin.

"-He released me, so I'm back to being a wild Pokémon,-" Purrloin replied. "-I guess find a place to rest and heal my wounds. By the way, I didn't get your name.-"

"Huh? It's Nate,-" Nate replied.

"-Nate...I'll remember that,-" Purrloin said. "-Thanks for helping me out there. And for your sake, try to avoid getting in trouble.-"

With that, the purrloin slightly bowed to the two, before heading back into the wild tall grass of Route 16. Brav glanced at Nate with concern. He was afraid something like this would happen. The boy had presumably never seen such domestic violence. Judging from what he said, such a concept was foreign to him. Having witnessed it must have shook Nate's foundation greatly. Brav was afraid of how this might affect Nate's mentality.

"Why...Why are there people like that...?" Nate asked with genuine fear and confusion as tears began to form in his eyes. "Was there nothing...I could do...?"

"-Who knows,-" Brav replied. "-I can't say for certain. Not everyone is the same after all...-"

Nate glanced down to the ground, confused and conflicted. Brav walked over and placed a comforting wing on his shoulder.

"-C'mon,-" Brav said. "-Let's get a move on. I'm sure your family's waiting for you."

"...Okay..." Nate nodded, wiping the tears with his arm.

Unfortunately, dusk had arrived much sooner than expected. Brav soon found himself exhausted and hungry, realizing that he had not eaten anything from their break. The bird glanced down to spot what he recognized as the metropolitan that was Castelia City. While he'd rather not take a rest in a city; especially after what had transpired at Route 16, Brav had little options. The bird decided to land in a secluded alleyway, away from the attention of the majority of the people living in the city.

Brav allowed for Nate to set his feet on the ground, letting the boy take a seat against the cold brick wall.

"Are you alright, Grandpa?" Nate asked.

"-I'll be alright,-" Brav assured Nate, not wishing to make the boy worry. "-A wee bit famished, maybe...-"

"Ah, hang on, I'll go find something to eat," Nate told Brav.

He looked around. There were no trees or bushes for berries to speak of. They were nowhere near a body of water for basculin either. They were in a city, so surely there were people who cooked, but Nate did not know if he could simply ask for food. He did not have any sort of money to speak of.

Nate then noticed that there was a dumpster nearby. Nate cringed; he could smell its horrid stench even though he was not next to it. He knew dumpsters were where people threw their trash in. Nate glanced back at Brav. The bird was trying to look strong for Nate, but the boy could tell he was exhausted and famished. Shaking his head to steel his resolve, Nate went over to the dumpster and climbed up to it. Thankfully the dumpster was open, so Nate peered inside. Indeed, the container was full of trash; much of which did not remotely resemble any food Nate could recognize. Gagging, Nate held his breath and jumped into the dumpster.

After digging around, Nate managed to find a half-eaten sitrus berry and what looked like partially-eaten cooked basculin. Nate quickly grabbed those and scrambled out of the dumpster, quickly rushing over to Brav.

"I found something to eat!" Nate exclaimed.

Brav looked back up, before reeling his head away in surprise. Nate's cloak was stained with whatever waste he dug himself in. He reeked of the same odors that the dumpster had. But Brav did notice that he had half of a sitrus berry and a good portion of what looked like roasted basculin.

The boy dug through the dumpster for his sake. Brav would feel terrible for rejecting Nate's efforts just because he got them from a trash receptacle. Not to mention Brav did not have many options anyways. Nate gave Brav the basculin, while taking the half-eaten sitrus berry for himself. Nate took a bite out of the trashed berry. While it tasted more sour than usual, and the basculin was cold, they were still edible. The two finished off their foods quickly, before resting up for a bit.

"So this is the big city, huh..." Nate mumbled. "I always wanted to go here once."

"-Really now,-" Brav said.

"Mom always talked about these large cities and stuff," Nate revealed. "She promised to take us here for a vacation. She said she'd take us here after she came back from challenging the Pokémon League..."

Nate's expression became visually pained. He knew what had happened after she had left. All hell broke loose after all.

"I wanted to come here with everyone..." Nate mumbled. "Mom...Dad...Big Brother...Big Sis Hilda...I wonder if they're all alright..."

Brav rested next to Nate in silence, letting the boy brew in his own thoughts. The peace and quiet (as much as they could get in the city) was blissful enough. They would rest up for the night, and then leave as soon as the sun revealed itself.

At least, that was what Brav had wanted, until yet another sharp yelp broke through the silence. Brav and Nate shot up and looked around, before spotting this time a venipede being beaten up by a group of three trainers.

"You piece of trash!" one of them yelled. "Why are you so weak!?"

"You cost us a match and money you know!" another one of them yelled.

Nate was about to rush in to help the venipede, but Brav managed to stop him by keeping him at bay with his wings.

"Grandpa!?" Nate blurted.

"-It's bad if they spot us too!-" Brav told the boy. Who knows how the people would react if they spotted a seemingly homeless boy with a wild braviary.

"But–!" Nate argued, until they both noticed that the group of trainers had stopped their torment and left the scene, leaving a badly brusied venipede. "Hey!"

Nate ran over to the venipede. "Are you okay?"

The venipede got alarmed and immediately shot out poison needles from its body, startling Nate as he fell back.

"AGH!" Nate yelped as he fell back, narrowly avoiding the poisonous needles.

"-NATE!-" Brav cried out as he rushed over to the boy's aide.

"It's alright, they didn't hit me," Nate assured his guardian.

The venipede kept a frightened glare at the boy as it backed off.

"It's okay," Nate assured Venipede. "I won't hurt you. Really. I just want to help."

The venipede's glare lightened up, sensing no hostility from the boy, unlike the other three that had threw him away. The bug calmed down, before looking apologetic for attacking Nate.

"-Sorry...-" Venipede mumbled.

"It's alright," Nate told Venipede. "So...if you don't mind me asking...why did those guys hurt you?"

"-You can understand me?-" Venipede asked in shock, where Nate nodded his head. "-...What a strange guy...well...I was too weak. They didn't like that, so they threw me away. Even though I was trying my very best...-"

"That's terrible!" Nate replied, feeling sorry for the venipede. "...Maybe I can help somehow..."

"-How?-" Venipede asked skeptically.

"Well, maybe if they understood your feelings, then they would accept you again," Nate suggested. "Here, I'll go tell them!"

"-Wait, I don't think that's a good idea–,-" the venipede warned, but he was too late, as the boy rushed off to the direction of the three trainers.

Both Venipede and Brav chased after the boy. When they entered the street Nate had rushed off to, the boy was able to catch up to the group of three angry trainers, who noticed the small, dirty child approaching them.

"Woah, where did this kid come from?" one of them asked.

"Isn't it past your bedtime, kid?"

"Um!" Nate exclaimed, gathering all his courage. "I saw you guys hurt Venipede...but! He was trying his best too, you know! So maybe, if you could give him another chance..."

The obvious language barrier that existed between humans and Pokémon was the main reason they lived in two different worlds. Not everyone was like the villagers back at his home; Nate knew that. So maybe, with his newfound abilities, if he could open a bridge between the two and through the barrier, then perhaps, everyone can be like everyone back at the village, and live together side by side with each other. Maybe then, can people and Pokémon be friends.

"Wait, you're telling me you can understand what that thing's saying?" one of them asked.

Nate nodded in response with a hopeful smile. His hopes, however, were immediately dashed when one of them proceeded to smack Nate across the face, knocking him onto the ground.

"What the hell you tryna pull here!? Saying that you can actually understand what those things are saying!?" one of the trainers yelled.

"You freak! Stay away from us!" another one of them yelled.

"-NATE!-" Brav yelled as he and Venipede rushed over to help Nate.

"What the–hey look a braviary!" the third trainer exclaimed.

"Talk about lucky! Let's catch this instead!" the first trainer said as he took out a pokéball. "It'll be way stronger than that stupid venipede!"

"-Watch out!-" Venipede tried to warn Brav.

The old aviary was too preoccupied with Nate to notice that one of the trainers had already hurled a pokéball at him.

"-Shi–!?-" Brav blurted as the ball made contact with him, absorbing him into its interior in a beam of light.

'Eh?' Nate could only think as he tried to process what was going on. He saw as Brav was sucked into the pokéball, before the ball landed on the ground and began to shake. As the ball shook a third time, it broke open, releasing Brav from it. The bird panted heavily, narrowly avoiding being captured.

"Damn it!" the trainer who had thrown the ball swore.

"Come on, let's try again," one of his friends said as they proceeded to hurl another pokéball at Brav.

"NO!" Nate cried as he got in the way, letting himself get hit in the face again, this time by a steel pokéball.

"This brat's getting in the way!" the trainer growled.

"Hey, he's saying he can understand them, right?" the third trainer said with a malevolent smirk. "Then that must mean he's a Pokémon too, right?"

"Oh yeah, you're right!" the first trainer exclaimed, going with his friend's joke. "Man, I've never seen a Pokémon like that before!"

Nate clutched his cheek in pain as he got up, before looking up to see the three humans, smirking evilly as they held pokéballs in their hands.

"Then we better catch it then, huh?" the first human asked.

"Wha...?" Nate asked, before he found himself getting bombarded by pokéballs being thrown at him like baseballs. "OW!"

The three humans kept laughing as they kept throwing pokéballs at Nate. The boy could do nothing but defend himself as he felt the metal orbs slam themselves against them.

"Agh!" Nate cried out in pain.

"Man, this isn't working!" one of them complained. "You say you can hear them! So you must be a Pokémon! I mean, normal humans can't understand Pokémon! So get in the damn ball already!"

"Nah man, you gotta weaken it first," another one of them said, before he slammed his foot on Nate.

"AGH!" Nate whimpered.

"Yeah, you're right!" they said, before joining in on their friend.

Soon enough, Nate found himself trading steel orbs for stomping feet of cruel humans to shield himself from. Nate looked around, seeing people walk by. None of them tried anything to help him, or at the very least stop the trio. They just passed on, ignoring what was going on. The ones who took notice of the carnage did nothing to help at all; only conversing to themselves and giving sneers or pitiful looks at Nate.

"-ENOUGH!-" Brav roared, having recovered from breaking out of the pokéball, before he proceeded to grab two of them with his talons, and hurl them into a nearby building.

The last one stopped his stomping on Nate and fell back, cowering in fear as Brav glared at the human with all his rage. Brav swung his wing against the last human strongly, slamming him into a nearby trash post with a rather sickening crunching sound.

That got the people's attention, as cries of panic and hysteria now flooded the street. Brav quickly grabbed the injured Nate and Venipede in his talons, before flying off as fast as he can, fleeing from this accursed city as fast as possible. Within the span of minutes, Brav spotted a nearby forest, and decided to go there for safety. He landed near a river, where he gently placed Venipede and Nate down on the soft, dark grass.

"-Nate!-" Brav cried out. "-C'mon lad, speak to me!-"

Nate coughed up blood in response, groaning and moaning in pain. Both Brav and Venipede were worried to death. Neither of them were capable of treating the boy.

"-What is the meaning of this?-" an imposing, feminine voice asked.

Both Brav and Venipede turned around in alarm, only to be found in shock at the source of the new voice. It was an antelope-like, quadruped Pokémon that is primarily green with the sides of its head are horns that end in dull, curled point. Its sharp, pink-colored eyes glanced down upon Brav and Venipede.

"-You...!-" Brav gasped, recognizing the Pokémon in front of them as the legendary Pokémon Virizion, one of the Swords of Justice.

Virizion glanced down to the injured Nate, who did his best to stare back, before he was in another bloody coughing fit.

"-...Bring the boy with me,-" Virizion said softly. "-I can treat him.-"

Brav and Venipede's mouth dropped. The Swords of Justice were notorious for being anti-human, due to their history of battling against humans in the past for the safety of Pokémon. But Brav jumped at the opportunity, gently carrying Nate in his talons and following Virizion as she guided them to her home. If it meant Nate could be saved, Brav would not be picky about his options.

All the meanwhile, as Nate slowly succumbed to his pain and fell back into unconsciousness, the poor, bruised boy, could only think of one thing as the events that had transpired played back in his mind.

'Why...? Why did no one help...?'

Nate slowly opened his eyes, groaning in pain and weariness.

"-Nate!-" he could hear Brav's sigh of relief. "-Thank Arceus! Are you alright, lad?-"

The boy groggily got up from the giant leaf that he found himself resting on. He looked at himself, noticing that his wounds were all treated and healed.

"Huh?" Nate asked, looking around.

He found himself in a giant alcove, not unlike the ones he knew the foongus and amoonguss liked to dwell in back in Route 10. Large trees surrounded the area as light leaked from somewhere and into the alcove. He recognized Brav and Venipede, before spotting Virizion.

"-You have awoken,-" Virizion said gently.

"Ah, did you heal me?" Nate asked.

"-Indeed I did,-" Virizion confirmed.

"Ah, thank you..." Nate mumbled, cringing slightly in pain. It would seem that while his wounds were patched up, the pain still lingered.

"-Your caretaker has explained to me what has happened,-" Virizion said. "-While I commend you for helping out the poor venipede and trying to make peace with the humans, it was still a reckless thing to do.-"

Nate looked up to the imposing Virizion, pink eyes meeting down with unsure, brown eyes.

"-As you have seen, this is the dark nature of humanity,-" Virizion said. "-Humans are capable of such hate, such malice, such animosity. They would abandon those they have established bonds with and hurt others, even each other, for gain if needed. They only seek to fulfill their greed in any means possible. They would ignore obstacles around them to ensure their own safety. It is not safe to trust humans. To us, the humans are our most primal and most dangerous enemies.-"

"B-But..." Nate stammered, intimidated by Virizion. "Humans and Pokémon can live together in peace!"

"-...I will not deny that there are such humans out there. Yourself included,-" Virizion acknowledged. "-But that is most certainly not the case for everyone. The humans were the ones to hurt you. If there were truly humans like the ones you claim, then they would have helped and saved you, would they not?-"

Nate tried to reply, but was left in thought. True to Virizion's words, Nate did see the other people who lived in the city pass by as those three humans hurt Nate. They did nothing. They just ignored the problem and went on their merely way, wishing to avoid being involved. No human went to help Nate when he needed it.

"-It would seem that I am right in this regard,-" Virizion said, noting Nate's lack of a rebuttal. "-Young child. I admire your belief in humans. But you are sorely naïve. Not all humans are good. There are humans who are greedy, apathetic, and malicious to the core. We cannot tell which is which. It would be too dangerous to try and confirm. Because of what the humans are capable of, it is too dangerous to try and make peace with them. They would only see us as a source of power, and try to claim.-"

"-Is that why you place yourselves outside of human contact?-" Brav inquired, fully knowing their reputation.

"-Indeed,-" Virizion nodded in response. "-After countless years of treachery, adversity, and bloodshed, we cannot bring ourselves to trust the humans, even if not all humans are evil. We cannot bring ourselves to forgive humans for what they did. And we cannot bring ourselves to believe that they can change, when countless hundreds of years passed with them repeating several mistakes over and over.-"

Virizion then shifted her glance back to Nate.

"-Young child, I implore to you,-" Virizion said. "-As one who has transcended the barrier between humanity and us, reconsider. After witnessing what the humans have done to you, reconsider and decide on whether your faith placed in the humans was truly worth it or not.-"

Nate gave Virizion a conflicted look, before looking down on the ground, truly troubled at what to believe.

"Hey Grandpa?" Nate asked Brav. "What do you think I should do?"

"-...I will always be your ally, Nate,-" Brav assured his ward. "-You choose what you believe is right.-"

"What I believe is right..." Nate mumbled. Up until now, he had believed that humans and Pokémon living together in harmony was common knowledge. Now, he was not sure if that 'common knowledge' was truly universal or not, after having experienced the harsher sides of society.

"...I..." Nate mumbled.

"-It is alright not to make a decision now,-" Virizion told Nate. "-You are but a small child. But I implore you to consider your beliefs after witnessing both sides of humanity.-"

Nate nodded his head, but still found himself in a conundrum that did not look like it would be going away any time soon.

"-...You may stay in this forest as long as you need,-" Virizion said. "-You will not be harmed here. Please, consider.-"

And with that, Virizion left the alcove, leaving Nate to ponder on his own decisions with Brav and Venipede.

"-Nate...-" Brav mumbled, pitying the boy, who must be going through a crisis in his mind right now.

"...Grandpa..." Nate mumbled. "...Was I wrong? Was I wrong to think that everyone can get along?"

"-Of course not!-" Brav told Nate.

"...I wonder..." Nate mumbled. "...Can I find someone who would help me?"

"-...Well, what about your family?-" Brav asked. "-Surely they will help you!-"

That gave Nate some hope. Brav was right. Surely his family would drop everything to help him. Knowing them, they would be able to show that not all humans are bad people.

"Yeah..." Nate said.

Even if that alone would not prove anything, or convince Virizion for that matter, it was enough to give Nate some hope to keep going.

Even if at that point, the boy was simply grasping at straws.

Nate and Brav spent a few days in the safety of the forest to make a full recovery. Unlike the city, the forest was bountiful of food, with the two having filled up on their own feed of berries during their stay. But eventually, Nate had decided to leave the forest to continue on his quest to reunite with his family. He had thanked Virizion for her hospitality. The legendary Pokémon accepted the gratitude, but warned them of humans out there.

The skies were a dull, steel color from all the clouds on the day they decided to leave. Venipede had chosen to stay in the forest, where he had found several other fellow venipedes to live with. Nate and Brav respected the bug's decision, and wished him the best of luck, before leaving the forest.

After the two incidents with terrible humans, Brav avoided the other settlements like the plague, intent on keeping Nate away from any more potential conflicts. This made the trip much faster, as they took a route that skipped the towns and cities altogether.

"-...My, such clouds,-" Brav mused, taking note to the dull sky. "-I do hope it doesn't start raining...-"

Nate nodded as he looked down. Brav soared past a small town. Nate tensed up as he saw several townsfolks there, memories of his experience back in Castelia City resurging to him. The boy shook his head to regain his composure as they left the town.

"-We're now heading into Route 1,-" Brav told Nate. "-...We're almost there.-"

Nate nodded, clutching his now dirtied cloak. They were almost at Nuvema Town. They were almost at where his family was living in. Nate could imagine it now. They would welcome him back with open arms. Nate would be back in a warm house, with hot food prepared by his mother and father. Nate would be able to reunite with his brother Hilbert once more. At the very least, he would be able to forget the hardships he had to endure to get here.

As he looked down, someone caught his attention. Down below, playing in the route, was a small child with messy brown hair, wearing a blue shirt and jeans. The boy had a striking resemblance to Nate himself. Nate instantly recognized the boy. Even after having not seen him in over half a year now, he could recognize the boy.

"Brother!" Nate cried out.

"-What?!-" Brav gasped, looking down and spotting the boy who looked like Nate.

Brav then proceeded to land nearby a tree, hidden away from the boy. He let Nate down on the ground, letting him gather his composure.

"-You found him, Nate!-" Brav said excitedly.

"Yeah!" Nate replied just as excitedly, before his smile turned into a sad frown. "Well...this means goodbye then..."

"-Ah, yes...-" Brav mumbled, his mood dropping at the revelation.

"Thank you for taking care of me for so long," Nate thanked Brav, bowing in respect.

"-No need to thank me,-" Brav told Nate. "-It was fun, while it lasted. You go on. Your real family is waiting for you.-"

"Yeah..." Nate said, slightly tearing up. "Promise you'll never forget me?"

"-Of course not!-" Brav replied. "-...Don't forget this old coot, you hear me?-"

"I won't," Nate reassured Brav. "Maybe in the future, we can reunite. And then we can go on a journey together, just like all those other trainers."

"-I'll be looking forward to it,-" Brav nodded.

Nodding back, Nate gave the avian a strong hug, before rushing off to reunite with his brother.

Nate ran out from the tree they were hiding in, before slowly approaching his brother. His heart was beating rapidly from the suspense. It had been over half a year since they had last seen each other. Sure Nate was not in the most presentable state at the moment, but he was sure that could be forgiven. The joy from seeing his brother after so long overrode all feelings of doubt.

Staring at his brother, Nate could tell that Hilbert did not change much. Although there was a scar on his forehead, he was still the same Hilbert Nate loved as his brother. Nate did not spot Hilda, thought. Perhaps she was still stuck in that castle. Nate was sure that his mother would be preparing to save her though.

As Nate approached him, Hilbert looked up, noticing the robed boy that was approaching him.

"Ah, hey there," Hilbert said. "Can I help you?"

Nate stopped, his throat now suddenly dry. Nate did his best, gulped down, before removing his hood.

"Uh...hi..." Nate mumbled sheepishly.

"Hi..." Hilbert said, tilting his head. "Do you wanna play too?"

At that moment, a pit of dread invaded Nate's stomach. The fact that Hilbert did not instantly recognize him worried Nate.

"Uh...Hilbert...?" Nate asked.

"Hey, that's my name!" Hilbert replied, before looking confused. "...How do you know my name? We just met."

'Eh?'

All of Nate's previous happiness and joy was instantly thrown out of the proverbial window. Dread and fear quickly took its place, as Nate began to worry.

"It's me...Nate..." Nate told Hilbert. "I'm your brother!"

"Nate...? Brother...?" Hilbert asked, looking equally confused. "Are you sure you got the right guy? I don't have a brother."

"Wha..." Nate mumbled. "Yes you do. C'mon, it's me! We both lived back in Terra Village, before it was attacked and we were both kidnapped!"

"Terra...?" Hilbert asked. "Never heard of it. I was born and raised here in Nuvema my whole life."

"Huh!?" Nate blurted. "No you weren't!"

"Yes I was," Hilbert replied. "Geez, now I'm sure you got me for the wrong guy. I dunno anything you're talking about."

Nate rushed over and clutched Hilbert, shocking the latter boy.

"C'mon! It's me! Your little brother!" Nate pleaded with Hilbert. "Don't you remember me!?"

"I don't!" Hilbert yelled back, trying to break free from Nate's grasp. "I never met you before!"

"Then bring me to Mom or Dad! They'll surely recognize me–Ah!?" Nate begged, before he felt himself being pushed away by his brother.

"Look, if I had a long-lost brother, then Mom would've surely told me about it!" Hilbert argued. "Since she didn't, then that means I don't have one! She definitely wouldn't recognize you! And I don't even have a Dad!"

"Wait...Dad's not here?" Nate asked. If his father was not here, then that means he never escaped the castle. Which could only mean–.

It was there that the clouds decided to give out, and began to pour down rain upon the route.

"Agh, it's raining!" Hilbert exclaimed. "Look kid, sorry, but I don't recognize you! Try someone else! You definitely have the wrong guy!"

Nate wanted to protest, but Hilbert had already turned around to leave.

"Wait, Brother!" Nate cried desperately, but Hilbert ignored him as he ran off. Nate was left in the route alone, his arm stretched out to reach for nothing, as the rain continued to shower down upon the route.

Brav had stayed behind the tree to watch Nate's reunion with his brother. Brav's own hopes for what was supposed to be a heartfelt reunion between two brothers were dashed as soon as he sensed that something was wrong as Nate continued to try and convince Hilbert about their connection, while the brat kept denying it. Brav's worries were solidified when Hilbert ran off, leaving Nate alone as the rain began. The braviary rushed over to the boy, covering him with his wing to protect him from the rain.

"-Nate...?-" Brav asked.

"H-He didn't recognize me...?" Nate stuttered as his eyes began to be filled with tears. "...H-He...forgot about me...? M-Mom...Mom forgot about me...? Is that why I never saw them for so long...?"

Nate fell to his knees, before he could no longer contain his tears. Brav could do nothing but stay by the boy, letting him let out all his sorrow as Nate wailed into the ground. After an hour or so, Nate seemingly let all his sorrow out, and picked himself back up. He glanced back to Brav, his face still red from all his crying.

"-...Let's go back home...-" Brav softly told Nate.

Home. Yes, home.

Home was not there, where his brother and mother most likely lived. It was no longer there. Home was back at Route 10. Back at that cave, where he and Brav had lived peacefully with the other Pokémon.

"...Okay..." Nate said weakly and softly.

Brav gently picked Nate back up in his talons, before taking flight. Nate did not even pay attention as they went further and further away from Nuvema Town. Nate simply wished to forget it all.

All of Nate's hopes and dreams were officially killed. Now the boy was left with nothing but sorrow, and confusion of what to do now.

It took several weeks for a sign of recovery from his depression made itself known. Nate was actually getting out of the cave, but gone was the once-cheerful boy that the mienfoos enjoyed playing with. What was left was now a dull and sad husk of a human. The bright light that was once in his eyes was extinguished. The wildlife of Route 10 did their best to cheer Nate up, but their efforts, while appreciated, were in the end futile. Nothing they did could truly cheer Nate up from being rejected by his own family. At the very least though, he was going outside.

One day, the boy requested that Brav take him to the graveyard that was once Terra Village. After what Hilbert had mentioned, Nate deduced that his father never made it out of the castle. Nate wished to give his father a burial, and felt that the village was a proper place to make it. Brav complied, wanting to let Nate honor his presumably-dead father.

It only took several hours, but Nate found himself back in the graveyard that was once his home. Nate looked up. It was raining once again under a steel-colored sky.

Just like when Hilbert rejected him.

Sighing, Nate walked around the abandoned settlement, before reaching to a particular ruined home.

His home.

His old home.

He could recognize the broken pieces of furniture and pottery that once belonged to the house. Staring at what was left of it, Nate kneeled down, and planted a round, slightly jagged rock into the ground. On it, with another sharp rock, Nate carved a message into the rock:

Dad.

Nate stepped back, staring at what was now his father's grave. It was the best he could do; they do not even have a body to bury properly. This was the only thing this world would most likely offer to his late father.

"Dad..." Nate muttered as he felt tears forming into his eyes again. He wondered if his father would have remembered him. If he did, would he had searched for Nate? If his father was still alive, would his brother and mother remember him?

Of course, none of those questions mattered. They could never be answered. Because his father was nowhere to be found. His father was most likely dead. Nate was forced to accept that.

"Ah man, what a wreck!"

Nate and Brav looked around, spotting two individuals; a man and woman with brown hair and matching uniforms with a strange insignia on them.

"I knew Lord Ghetsis wanted this place found, but MAN! He really went to town on this place," the man said out loud.

"It almost makes me feel bad for letting him know of this place," the woman said, almost pitifully.

'Wait, what?' Nate thought.

"Eh, fuck that," the man told the woman. "We were following orders. It doesn't matter. What's done is done. Everyone's dead. And we did a mission accomplished. Now if only that damn brat was caught up in all of this and not back at the castle."

"I suppose," the woman sighed. "We did leave her here for a reason. Now she's back at the castle serving Lord N. It's a good thing she doesn't seem to remember us, or else things would have gotten awkward..."

"Hey..." Nate made his presence known to the two. "What do you mean, you feel bad for letting him know of this place?"

"Ah shit, a survivor," the man swore. "I thought they were all killed off."

"Answer the question," Nate demanded, a hint of venom in his tone.

"Alright, alright, sheesh," the man grumbled. "We told Lord Ghetsis about this place yeah. He was interested in the land here."

So...these two? These two were the reason his home was attacked? These two were the reason his family got torn apart? His dad was killed? His brother and mother had forgotten about him? All of it? It was all their fault?

"Well kid, if you're done asking questions," the man said. "I'm afraid we can't let you leave. You could rat us out to the police after all."

The two approached Nate, producing knives from their pockets.

"So many people were killed already," the man said. "Although it doesn't exactly feel good killing a kid, what's one more body to the count?"

"-GET AWAY FROM HIM!-" Brav roared as he tackled the two away from Nate.

The two adults were sent flying, their knives falling out of their hands and in front of Nate. The boy looked down, eyeing the sharp objects in front of him.

"Why you little–!" the man growled as they both produced pokéballs and sent out two watchogs.

"-Nate, run!-" Brav urged him, but his cries were left in deaf ears.

"Aim for the brat! Hyper Beam!" the woman yelled.

The two watchogs charged energy into their mouths, before shooting it at Nate. Brav quickly moved in front of Nate to tank the hit, shielding his ward from the deadly lasers.

"-GAAAAH!-" Brav cried out in pain.

Brav's screams was enough to snap Nate back into reality. "GRANDPA!" he cried out.

Brav struggled to get back up, where the two vile humans and their watchogs skulked over to the injured bird. The man sneered at the boy, before proceeding to kick him aside.

"AHH!" Nate yelped as he was kicked.

"-Nate–!-" Brav cried out, before he was stomped on by the man.

"You stupid bird!" the man snarled. "Don't worry, you'll see the kid soon enough. We'll send him after you, once you kick the bucket!"

Nate got back up, only to see the man with his foot on top of Brav. The two watchogs were preparing to fire another round of Hyper Beams at the bird, aimed at Brav's head.

"No...No no nonononono!" Nate yelled.

They were going to kill Brav. They were going to kill Grandpa. With his father dead, and forgotten by his brother and mother, Brav was the only family Nate had left. And they were going to kill him. They were going to take Brav away from him.

Nate would be all alone, once again.

It was there when he noticed the two knives in front of him. The man must have unknowingly kicked them with him aside. Nate picked the two weapons up. His hands trembled upon the light weight of the two lethal weapons. He could do it. He could go save Brav right now. But that would mean...

"Say goodnight, you stupid chicken!" the man declared.

Nate shot back to Brav, who was about to get his head blasted by the evil humans and their accomplices. From there, Nate stopped thinking.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Letting out a blood-curdling scream, Nate ran over to the two humans as fast as he can, before plunging one of the knives into the woman, who was closer. The woman let out a screech of pain as Nate slammed her down onto the ground, before proceeding to stab her multiple times all over her chest and throat.

"MATILDA!" the man cried out. "YOU BASTARD–!"

Nate immediately shifted to the man, before ripping the knives out of the woman and tackling the man down as well. In the confusion, Nate stabbed the man in the chest as well. Startled, the two watchogs aimed at Nate and shot the Hyper Beams. Nate, in response, grabbed the man and moved him in front to shield himself. Both Nate and the man were blasted by the Hyper Beams as a result, but Nate found himself relatively uninjured, while the man found his lower torso being completely blasted apart. The two watchogs growled and angrily approached Nate, who cowered back, until Brav intervened and slammed his wings against them, sending them flying.

"-Leave,-" Brav snarled at the two watchogs as they recovered. "-Or else your lives will be FORFEIT.-"

The two watchogs cowered at the sight of a bloodthirsty Brav, before fleeing in fear, abandoning their dying trainers in the process.

Nate kept hyperventilating as he fell back. He looked at his now-bloodied hands, realizing at what he had just committed. He then looked over to the two evil humans. The woman stopped breathing, but the man was still somehow alive, in spite of his stab wound and missing lower body. The man slowly dragged himself to Nate, a scared and desperate look painted all over his face.

"P-Please...help..." the man wheezed as blood leaked from his mouth as well. "H-Help me..."

"You..." Nate growled. "You sold out this village...let everyone get killed...and ruined my life...and you expect me to help you...?"

The man had a look of genuine fear on his face as Nate's expression twisted with seething anger and rage. Something snapped inside of Nate's mind. All of Nate's rage was released as he let out a loud scream, before plunging the bloodied knife into the man's throat. Nate kept stabbing him all over what was left of his body, ignoring the man's screams of agonizing pain.

"-STOP!-" Brav yelled, pulling Nate back. "-He's already dead! Nate!-"

Nate panted heavily, slightly calming down at Brav's voice, confirming that he was alright. The knife was left in the man's skull as he lied there as a lifeless corpse. Nate then proceeded to fall flat on his back onto the cold, wet ground, as he let the rain wash off the blood that stained him.

"I killed someone..." Nate stammered. "They were gonna kill you...so I...I..."

"-It's alright, Nate,-" Brav told him to ease him. "-I know. I understand. It'll be alright.-"

Even though Brav knew damn well that none of this would be alright.

"...I guess...Virizion was right..." Nate mumbled. "I was...naive...I was wrong...Humans...they're bad...They'll just try to ruin your life...They only care about themselves...Humans are evil...

"I was wrong to believe...that we could live together...in peace..."

Nate began to chuckle, before it broke down into a complete, maniacal cackling as the rain poured down on them. Brav could only glance down on Nate with pity as he witnessed the boy completely breaking down. Nate's deranged eyes met Brav's sad eyes, before the boy began to break down in tears once again. Brav shielded him from the rain once more, just like when Nate was rejected by his own brother several weeks ago. Brav just stood there and protected Nate from the rain, as he let the boy let all his built-up sorrow leak out in tears, once more. The bird knew that from this day on, Nate would never be the same. The once-innocent boy would forever be lost. What would takes his place? Only time would tell. Brav only prayed that the boy would not have to suffer anymore, although he did not believe his prayers would be answered anytime soon.

Unbeknownst to Brav, today was Nate's birthday.

The boy would become five.

To be continued

AN: And that wraps up part 1 of Nate's backstory.

...Yeah this was pretty depressing to write, to be honest. It's like I keep giving him hope, only to take it away from him. I mean that was the point, but still. Yeah Nate used to be a rather happy, innocent boy. Take everything away from him, and you're left with what will become the Nate we all know. Whether everything was justified to you or not, it should be unanimous that Nate suffered.

Next time, we cover the second half of Nate's backstory.

Nate: Brav (Braviary)

Hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter. I'll see you next time with the second half of Nate's backstory. Hopefully sooner than this one took.