Chapter 8: And remember, this is just a hypothetical question.
The night seemed almost longer than usual, at least for the rescue teams just waiting for the morning to come so they could go out and search for the crystals. Chiaki was having a dream, in which he was exploring the Meridian Forest at night. As he continued running past several trees that looked a lot alike, he suddenly spotted a tower in the distance. Deciding to get a closer look, Chiaki began running towards it. However, no matter how much he ran, he didn't seem to be getting any closer to the tower.
"Huh, that's strange…" Chiaki commented, as he realized this.
He looked at the tower in the distance, and tried taking a few steps backwards. However, he didn't seem to be getting any further away from the tower either, much to his confusion. He kept walking backwards for a few more moments, before bumping into something fuzzy behind him. Chiaki nervously looked over his shoulder, to see a large brown bear with a yellow ring on its chest.
"Oh, you startled me…" Chiaki said, turning around and taking a few steps back.
As Chiaki put some distance between him and the Ursaring, he soon noticed that there was something very wrong with the bear Pokémon. The Ursaring seemed to be breathing heavily, and its eyes seemed to be glowing with yellow light.
"What is going on?" Chiaki muttered, nervously backing away from the Ursaring.
Suddenly, the Ursaring gave a terrifying roar, as if it was crying out in pain. Chiaki quickly began running away as the bear Pokémon clutched its head, the Ursaring's roars echoing through the forest. Chiaki continued running until he could no longer hear the roars, taking a moment to stop and catch his breath. He soon realized he wasn't safe yet, as he heard growls from somewhere near him.
Looking around, he soon spotted a pack of gray and black wolf-like Pokémon emerging from shadows. The pack of Mightyena had the same glowing eyes as the Ursaring, and they seemed to be foaming at the mouth as they continued growling. Chiaki quickly started running again, figuring it was best to get as far away from them as possible. However, the forest around him was starting to get distorted and seemed to be rearranging itself around him.
"What's happening?" Chiaki muttered under his breath as he stopped running for a moment to look at the forest changing itself around him.
It looked like the trees were getting twisted, bending and changing sizes. Some parts of the ground appeared to be floating in mid-air, and some parts of the area seemed to be flickering in and out of existence at random. Chiaki looked around nervously at the strange surroundings, half-expecting the sky to fall down any moment. The sky seemed mostly unchanged, until a sudden gust of wind blew all the stars away.
While watching the stars being carried off by the wind, Chiaki suddenly heard a hiss and turned to see several beige cats with purple ears seeming to be emerging from the trees, literally walking right through them as if they weren't even there. The Delcatty also had the same glowing eyes and seemed to be in the same feral state as the Ursaring and the Mightyena.
"Okay…" Chiaki said, taking a few steps back. "Can this get any stranger?"
As if on cue, a pair of gray tentacles emerged from the ground and wrapped themselves around Chiaki's leg, that particular part of the grass feeling like it had been replaced with water despite it looking exactly the same as the rest of the grass. Chiaki struggled to free himself as the feral Delcatty began slowly moving closer to him while hissing and glaring at him. Chiaki knew there was no way he could handle this on his own, he needed help.
"I need my friends, but where are they?" Chiaki asked himself, the tentacles holding him turning out to belong to a blue jellyfish-like Pokémon with something resembling red gems on its bell.
As Chiaki continued trying to free himself from the Tentacool, he suddenly heard an evil laughter from somewhere above him. He looked up to see what appeared to be a bird-like Pokémon composed of an orb like body with fork-like wings, talons and a fork-like tail, held up by strings that seemed to be just hanging down from the sky…
"Chiaki, wake up!" Blitz said, shaking Chiaki's arm with his paw.
Chiaki opened his eyes, looking up at his concerned friend. Chiaki realized he must've been tossing and turning in his sleep, waking up Blitz.
"Oh, hey Blitz…" Chiaki mumbled, rubbing his head.
"You okay?" Blitz asked. "It sounded like you were having a bad dream."
"Yeah…" Chiaki responded, nodding his head slightly. "It was crazy… There was like, never ending forest, demonic Delcatty and this flying… thing that was laughing at me!"
"Well, it was just a dream," Blitz said, comfortingly rubbing Chiaki's back with his paw, careful not to accidentally zap him with his electricity in the process. "Try to go back to sleep now."
"Okay," Chiaki responded. "Sorry if I woke you up."
"Don't worry about it," Blitz replied, curling back up onto his bed and going back to sleep.
Chiaki lay back down on his bed, thinking about that crazy nightmare he had. He figured it was probably just concern about what might happen if those crystals weren't found and returned. Hopefully someone would be able to find them soon…
The next morning, Chiaki and Blitz went into town and met with Sera, noticing several rescue teams standing about discussing the current situation with the missing crystals. It didn't seem like anyone had been able to find anything, but they were going to continue searching until they did.
"Looks like other rescue teams have the searching covered," Sera commented. "So, anything we should do before stopping by the HQ to find a mission?"
"We promised Bow we'd check if Vic had any Shadow Ball TMs in stock, didn't we?" Blitz asked.
"Oh, right," Sera replied. "So, we'll stop by the shop first."
They walked up to the shop, and asked Vic about the TM.
"A Shadow Ball TM? Let me check…" Vic quickly looked over the TMs he had in stock. "… Nope, don't have any in stock."
"Oh, okay," Sera replied.
"Anything else interest you?" Vic asked.
"No, we're good," Sera responded. "Thanks, anyways!"
And so, the rescue team decided to head over to Stella's house, to let Bow know that there were no Shadow Ball TMs for sale at the shop today.
The three Pokémon walked up to Stella's house. Sera peeked in through the door, looking around for Bow. The Gothorita was wandering around the room holding a notebook in her hand; she seemed to be looking for something.
"Hmm… I can't find it…" Bow muttered, before noticing Sera and her teammates at the door. "Oh! Hey guys!"
"Hi Bow!" Sera replied.
"Hey, could you guys help me out? I can't find my notebook, and…" before Bow could finish her sentence, she looked down at her hand and realized what she had been carrying the whole time. "… Never mind, I found it!"
"That's great!" Chiaki responded, giving the Gothorita a friendly smile.
"Hey, Bow?" Blitz said. "We stopped by the shop to see if they had any Shadow Ball TMs in stock today, just like we said we would yesterday."
"Thanks!" Bow responded. "Did they have any?"
"… No," Blitz replied, rubbing his forelegs together.
"Oh," Bow said, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, I suppose it can wait."
Suddenly, Stella came walking down the stairs, yawning and looking like she had just woken up. She rubbed her eyes for a moment, before noticing the visitors.
"Oh, hello there," Stella said. "Didn't realize it was already this late… I was up for longer than I had intended last night, because I had a vision I just had to try to understand."
"What kind of vision?" Chiaki asked.
"Well…" Stella said, rubbing her eyes. "I think I know where one of the eight missing crystals is."
"You do!?" the rescue team exclaimed in unison.
"Yes," Stella responded. "The vision revealed to me the current location of it."
"So, where is it?" Sera asked.
"It is hidden somewhere in the Harmony Forest," Stella replied, looking a bit concerned. "However… There was something else in the vision that concerns me…"
"Oh?" Blitz inquired.
"A strange plant… One not native to the forest…" Stella explained. "I wonder if there might be a connection between it and the crystal…"
"Hmm, we'd better tell the other rescue teams about this," Blitz commented.
"Yeah, I guess we should get going," Sera responded. "Bye!"
"Bye-bye!" Bow said, waving good-bye to the rescue team as they left the house.
Blitz, Sera and Chiaki began walking up to the rescue team HQ; however, on the way there Sera suddenly stopped walking. Blitz and Chiaki stopped too, wondering what the young Eevee had in mind.
"Aren't you coming with us, Sera?" Chiaki asked.
"I was just thinking…" Sera responded, a slight smirk on her face. "Should we really tell the other rescue teams about this?"
"Huh?" Blitz replied. "But, everyone's looking for the crystals! We have to tell them!"
"I suppose that would be the right thing to do," Sera commented. "But you have to admit, this is one heck of an opportunity for us."
"What are you talking about?" Blitz asked.
"Don't you see it?" Sera responded. "If we get that crystal back ourselves, there's no doubt we'd earn some serious respect from the other rescue teams!"
"Get it back ourselves?" Blitz asked. "I don't know… Sounds risky…"
"Oh, don't be like that!" Sera said, wagging her tail. "I'm pretty sure rescue teams at our level can handle Harmony Forest."
"What's the Harmony Forest?" Chiaki spoke up.
"Oh, it's a forest where the Pokémon live in harmony," Sera responded.
Chiaki wasn't really sure how to respond to that.
"What if the other Pokémon get mad that we kept the information from them?" Blitz asked.
"As long as one of the crystals is brought back, does it really matter?" Sera responded.
"I don't know…" Blitz replied, rubbing his forelegs together. "I still think it's a bad idea to do this on our own."
"Blitz, other Pokémon would be more likely to take me seriously if we did this!" Sera responded.
"Isn't that kind of… selfish?" Blitz responded, looking down nervously.
"You think I'm selfish!?" Sera exclaimed, her ears folding back in shock.
"Well, um…" Blitz wasn't sure what to say.
"Besides, it's not like you and Chiaki wouldn't benefit from it," Sera added. "Not to mention that the crystal would be brought back. Is that really so selfish!?"
"Um…" Blitz began to nervously back away from Sera, worried he had made her mad. Worried that a fight was about to break out between his teammates, Chiaki decided to intervene.
"Don't fight!" Chiaki shouted, causing them to stop and turn their attention to him. "Please, don't fight each other! You two are so great together!"
"Huh!?" Blitz and Sera exclaimed in unison, staring at the Mienfoo.
"You're such a great team," Chiaki said. "You shouldn't be fighting."
"Oh, right," Blitz responded, rubbing his forelegs together. "Teammates…"
"Yeah…" Sera replied, glancing around. "I totally knew that was what he meant."
"So… How about we forget this for now, and go find a mission?" Chiaki suggested.
"… Sure," Sera responded. "Let's go."
The three Pokémon went up to the rescue team HQ, and found themselves a mission to search for a Starly that had gone off to explore the Granite Grotto by herself. The mission request that had been put up by the Starly's father, making Blitz wonder why the Staraptor hadn't just gone off to search for his daughter himself. Regardless, the rescue team went into the Granite Grotto to find the missing bird Pokémon. However, despite Chiaki's suggestion that they stop worrying about it for now, they couldn't help but spend most of the mission thinking about what to with the knowledge about the location of one of the missing crystals.
"So… What will it be?" Sera asked. "Tell the other rescue teams, or keep it to ourselves?"
"I don't know…" Blitz responded, keeping his gaze on the cave floor.
"What about you, Chiaki?" Sera asked. "What do you think we should do?"
"Well, both of you have really good points," Chiaki said, not wanting to take sides. "Blitz has a good point about telling the other rescue teams probably being the right thing to do, but Sera also has a good point about this being a great opportunity for us."
The rescue team continued exploring the dungeon, unable to figure out how to make their choice. They eventually came across the Starly, finding her repeatedly pecking a very annoyed wild Aron. They teleported out of the dungeon with her and returned her to her father. After receiving their reward, the three of them headed outside, still thinking about the crystal that only they knew the whereabouts of.
"Okay… How about this," Sera said. "We'll think about this until tomorrow, and make our decision on what we'll do then, okay?"
"Okay…" Blitz responded, rubbing his forelegs together.
"Fine with me," Chiaki replied.
"All right…" Sera said. "I'm heading home now. See you guys tomorrow."
"Bye Sera," Blitz and Chiaki said, waving good-bye to their teammate as she walked home.
"So… What should we do now?" Chiaki asked. "Head home, or do you want to go hang out somewhere?"
"I don't know…" Blitz responded. "I think I'll head down to the dojo and do some training."
"You're going to go train now?" Chiaki asked, tilting his head slightly.
"Yeah…" Blitz said. "I'll meet you back home when I'm done, okay?"
"Okay, I guess…" Chiaki responded as Blitz walked over to the dojo. "… Guess I'm on my own. What do I do now?"
Chiaki decided to head over to the café, and maybe get something to drink. On the way there, he happened to come across a certain Elgyem.
"Oh, hi Elina," Chiaki said, smiling at the green Pokémon.
Elina waved her hand in response, her different colored fingers flashing for a moment.
"Hey, do you want to go to the café with me?" Chiaki asked. "I kind of need someone to talk to, and you do seem like someone who is good at keeping secrets…"
While Sera was eating dinner, she kept thinking about the crystal that only she and her teammates knew the whereabouts of. She glanced up at her five older siblings and their parents, who were also eating their dinner. Her father, a yellow fox-like Pokémon with green leaf-like ears and a leaf-like tail was talking to Sera's oldest sister, a purple cat like Pokémon with a tail that had a forked tip. Sera's other older sister, a blue quadruped Pokémon with a mermaid like tail and three blue fins on her head seemed to be jealous of the attention her older sister was getting, and kept trying to get her parents to focus on her instead.
One of Sera's brothers, a dark furred Pokémon with red eyes kept skeptically looking at some of the berries on his plate. His mother, another fox-like Pokémon with light blue fur looked over at him.
"Don't be so skeptical, Yoru," she said. "Those berries are full of vitamins, they're good for you."
"I don't know, they're green and green berries are usually kind of bitter..." the Umbreon responded.
"They're not that bad," the Leafeon father said to his son. "You can't say you don't like them if you haven't even tasted them, you know."
"You're the second oldest of your siblings," the Glaceon mother said. "You should be setting a good example for them."
"Yeah," one of Sera's other brothers, a yellow dog-like Pokémon with spiky fur responded with a mouthful of berries. "Set a good example by eating food you don't like!"
"Volt, don't talk with your mouth full like that," the Glaceon said to her Jolteon son. "And don't eat so fast. I know you have a high metabolism, but at least take the time to finish chewing before you swallow."
Sera wondered if she should ask any of her siblings or her parents for advice on figuring out whether her rescue team should find the crystal themselves, or inform the other rescue teams and let someone else handle it. Of course, she didn't want to tell them exactly what she was considering doing, as that way they'd tell her she was too young to do so for sure. She hated being told she was too young to do anything.
"Just because I'm the youngest it doesn't mean I can't have any good ideas…" she muttered to herself. "If only they would realize that and start taking me seriously…"
"Hey, it's not like our parents don't take the time to listen to you," one of Sera's brothers, a red furred fox-like Pokémon with a yellow fluffy tail said to her, having been just quietly eating his dinner until now. "At least you're not completely invisible."
"Volt, paws off the table," the Glaceon mother said to her youngest son, the Jolteon sighing in annoyance.
"You say that like being invisible is a bad thing," Volt commented in response to his Flareon brother.
"Hey, guys?" Sera said, looking to her Flareon and Jolteon brothers. "Say you came across this great opportunity, but there might be other Pokémon that should know about it and regardless of whether you do it yourself or leave it to someone else, everyone would benefit from it…"
"… What is this about?" the Flareon asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, it's just a hypothetical question," Sera said, hoping to keep her brother from getting suspicious. "That's all, really."
"Is it?" the Flareon responded, not entirely convinced.
"Yes, that is all it is," Sera replied, nodding her head. "So, what would you do, hypothetically?"
"Is "hypothetical" another word you got Amethyst to teach you so you could sound smarter?" Volt asked, smirking at his younger sister.
"I didn't ask you!" Sera responded, giving Volt an annoyed look.
"Ooh! I know smart words too!" the Vaporeon chimed in. "Like sesquipedalian!"
"No one cares, Sirena," Volt responded. "Besides, I bet you don't even know what that word means."
"Volt, don't bother your sisters," the Glaceon said, much to the Jolteon's frustration.
So, what would you do?" Sera asked her Flareon brother. "And remember, this is just a hypothetical question."
"Very well," the Flareon responded, deciding to just go along with it. "But I'm afraid I can't really answer that."
"Oh," Sera replied.
"The only advice I can really give you is to do whatever you feel is the best option," the Flareon said, smiling to his little sister. "I believe in you."
"Thanks, Flare," Sera replied, smiling back. "At least you take me seriously."
"You're welcome," Flare responded.
Sera continued eating her dinner, feeling a bit more confident knowing that she had her brother's support. She just hoped it would make the decision easier to take when she had to bring it up to her teammates tomorrow…
Blitz was making his way through one of the obstacle courses in the dojo while Hercules looked on. While Blitz was doing okay on the obstacle course, Hercules couldn't help but notice that the young Shinx seemed to have something on his mind. As Blitz finished the course, Hercules walked over to him.
"Not bad," Hercules said. "But I noticed your aim was a bit off at a few points."
"Oh," Blitz responded, sitting down and taking a moment to catch his breath.
"Is something bothering you?" Hercules asked, petting the Shinx on the head.
"You can tell?" Blitz asked.
"Blitz, you didn't come here just to train, did you?" Hercules asked, giving a reassuring smile. "If you wanted advice, you could've just said so right away."
"Okay," Blitz responded. "I'm not sure how to explain it, though…"
"Just try," Hercules said.
"Well… I guess you could say we found a potential mission," Blitz said. "And I personally think it would be better to let another rescue team handle this one, while Sera feels that this is too big of an opportunity for us to pass up."
"I see," Hercules responded.
"And regardless of whether we do it or not, the result would be the same," Blitz explained. "So, that might be making it even more difficult for us to decide what to do…"
"And you also don't want to disappoint Sera, right?" Hercules responded.
"Of course not," Blitz replied.
"Blitz, I know you don't want to oppose your team leader, and more importantly, your friend," Hercules said. "But you shouldn't be afraid to speak up when you know what the right thing to do is."
"I don't really know if there's a right or a wrong thing to do here, though," Blitz replied. "A lot of Pokémon would benefit from it regardless of who handles the mission…"
"I see…" Hercules responded. "If that's the case, then I guess this is something you need to figure out on your own."
"Oh…" Blitz replied, rubbing the yellow rings on his forelegs together.
"Actually… I think there's still some advice I can give," Hercules said, after taking a moment to think more about it.
"Go on," Blitz replied.
"During our lives, we will likely come across situations we're not ready for, situations we'd rather not deal with," Hercules explained. "As much as we don't want to, we sometimes have to face up to them."
"So… Are you saying I should go on the mission?" Blitz asked.
"No, I'm just saying that having to deal with things we're not prepared for is a part of life," Hercules said, petting the young Shinx. "However, in this case, you and your teammates do have the choice of whether to deal with it on your own, or leave it to someone else."
"I'm confused…" Blitz said.
"Well, just remember that you do get to choose whether to do it or not," Hercules said, giving another friendly smile. "You might not have that privilege another time, so don't feel bad if you do back out of it this time."
"Okay, I guess…" Blitz responded, still not entirely sure what to make of this.
"Whatever you decide to do, know that you always have my support," Hercules said. "And if you need any more advice, or you just need someone to talk to, you can always come to me."
"Thanks, Hercules," Blitz replied, smiling at the Heracross.
"No problem," Hercules responded. "Is there anything else I can do?"
"No, I'm good," Blitz replied.
Blitz felt more confident after the talk with Hercules, but he still hadn't been able to make up his mind on which choice to make. Face a challenge he wasn't sure if he was ready for, or let someone else handle it?
There were few customers in the café this evening, seeing as most of the regular customers were rescue teams and most of the rescue teams were still busy searching for any leads on the missing crystals. While this meant less business, River didn't mind. It was nice to have some quiet days once in a while, as not having as many customers to tend to made things a little less stressful. The kitchen staff probably felt the same way.
River looked around at the customers sitting at the tables, which included two or three rescue teams, and a few lone customers. There was also a certain Mienfoo and Elgyem sitting at a table in a quiet spot where they could talk privately. Well, Chiaki was doing the talking, explaining the situation to Elina.
"And, that's about it," Chiaki said, finishing his explanation.
Elina nodded her head, to signal that she had listened to every word of Chiaki's explanation and understood the situation. She had a concerned look in her eyes, but Chiaki couldn't figure out what was on her mind. He figured it was best not to bother her about it, and focus on sorting out his own dilemma.
"What do you think, Elina?" Chiaki asked. "Do it ourselves, or let someone else handle it?"
The Elgyem thought about it, unsure how to respond. She had to take a few moments to think about it, before finally reaching a decision. She pointed a hand at Chiaki, much to his surprise.
"… You think we should do it ourselves?" Chiaki asked, to which Elina nodded in response. "Are you sure?"
Chiaki took a sip of the berry juice he had ordered, while Elina just watched him, not having ordered anything. It occurred to Chiaki that he couldn't really tell where Elina's mouth was, if she even had one. Perhaps she didn't need to eat? Or did she eat something other than food? Or she just had different tastes in food that no one really understood? Chiaki realized that he was getting distracted again.
"It's not that I don't trust your good judgment or something," Chiaki said. "I just don't want to risk starting a fight by choosing one or the other… Do you understand?"
Elina nodded her head.
"But you still think we should do it ourselves?" Chiaki asked again. "You're really, definitely, absolutely, one-hundred percent sure about that?"
Elina nodded her head again.
"Oh, okay then…" Chiaki responded. "Thanks, Elina."
Chiaki hoped that following Elina's advice wouldn't start a fight, but surely he and his friends would reach an agreement, wouldn't they? He decided it was best to have faith in his friends, both his two teammates and Elina.
Later in the night, Chiaki laid in his bed thinking, as Blitz finally came home after having spent a few hours at the dojo. The Shinx quickly walked over to his bed, and crawled into it, lying down. He then looked over at Chiaki, the two just looking at each other while they both waited for the other to speak. Chiaki was the one to finally break the silence.
"So… What do you think we should do?"
"I don't know…" Blitz responded, taking a few seconds to think about it. "… We probably won't be seeing an opportunity as big as this again anytime soon, right?"
"Does that mean we'll go for it?" Chiaki asked, surprised at hearing Blitz say that.
"I guess," Blitz replied.
"Cool," Chiaki responded, smiling at Blitz. "Sera will probably be happy to hear that."
"Yeah, probably," Blitz replied. "… Good night, Chiaki."
"Good night," Chiaki responded, closing his eyes and trying to sleep.
He felt very relieved now that Blitz was willing to go along with taking the mission, and was looking forward to tomorrow. He wondered what the Harmony Forest was like, but figured it was best not to get too excited right now as he was supposed to be sleeping. He needed his energy for tomorrow, after all.
End of Chapter 8.