The next day, Louis awoke with a curious mind. The previous night's conversation playing on loop. With a new sense of adventure, he returned to the bridge.
'..."Me neither."...what did Taki mean by that?!' he pondered.
As he approached the wooden structure, Louis noticed the same two Gyarados' from the day before swimming towards the bridge. Unlike the previous encounter, Louis decided not to distract the pair of Pokémon. He took small steps across the bridge and looked to the large beasts with a reassuring expression on his face.
"Don't mind me, just passing by," he said.
Thankfully, he crossed the bridge without any issue involving the Gyarados'. He sighed in relief and approached the forest.
'Wow, that actually worked,' he thought.
Upon entering the wood, Louis spotted an arrow etched into the dirt. He thought that Taki must've drawn them to help guide him back to the temple.
"This'll be convenient," he said.
With this help, Louis quickly found his way back to the temple. As he reached the grand structure, the Scizor from the day before landed in front of Louis and entered a combat stance. Louis became startled and mimicked its stance. The two stared at each other with opposed stances. The Scizor recognised Louis from yesterday.
"Oh, it's you," it said and relaxed its guard.
The Scizor's face shifted, to what Louis hoped was a grin, as it pointed to the entrance.
"The girl is waiting for you," it added.
Louis cautiously passed the Pokémon and walked toward the entrance.
"I'm surprised you can talk to Pokémon now," said Scizor.
Louis halted in shock. He turned back to Scizor.
"H-...how did you know that?" he asked.
"The girl already informed me about it," responded Scizor.
Louis fell silent. He walked through the entranceway and recognised the scent of sandalwood, its earthly smoke calming his mind. Louis was then greeted by Taki and Totodile.
"Hey Taki," said Louis.
"Sleep well?" asked Totodile.
Louis was a little surprised at the sudden interaction with the Pokémon. It seemed genuinely interested. Louis smiled.
"Uh...yeah I did," he replied.
Louis knelt down to the Totodile.
"...aren't you surprised I can understand you?" he questioned.
Totodile just shook its head.
"Not really. Taki already gave me a heads up," it answered, smiling.
Louis shifted his eyes to Taki.
"She did?" he continued.
An elderly temple inhabitant scooted by the pair with fresh candles and sandalwood in hand. She methodically removed the expired candles of the previous evening and placed fresh, long, tall candles within the lanterns.
Louis stood up and glanced at Taki.
"Hey, Taki," said Louis
"About last night…"
Taki looked at Louis with a curious expression.
"Yeah? What about it?" she asked.
"Well, when I said that I never pictured myself as a Pokémon Trainer, you said 'Me neither'," explained Louis.
"...what did you mean by that?"
Taki was a little shy in answering. She had almost forgotten about that moment.
"Uh...well…" stammered Taki.
"The thing is...I never used to be a trainer myself."
Louis became perplexed at Taki's answer.
"You weren't?" he inquired.
– "No."
Taki stood, pondering on what she could say to explain herself. It wasn't easy and she shifted on the spot, hesitantly. Then, Totodile nudged her leg. She looked to her Pokémon, it nodded, signaling her to just tell him the whole situation. Taki smiled and looked back to Louis.
"For a long time, I thought that being a trainer wasn't necessary since Pokémon could take care of themselves," she explained.
"That is...until I met Totodile."
Louis turned to Totodile with a perplexed expression. He looked back to Taki.
"What do you mean?" he questioned.
Taki took a calm, deep breath, and began to explain everything.
"Not too long ago, when I was searching for supplies in the forest, I spotted this Totodile in the mist," she started.
"It was whimpering, and I noticed that it had teary eyes. Such pathetic cries, I couldn't just leave it."
"Pathetic?!" grunted Totodile.
Louis chortled, barely containing a laugh.
"So I took it back to the temple. I didn't know what to do but I figured the chief would have an idea," continued Taki.
"They spoke between themselves for a little while and Totodile started crying again. Chief Tanaka placed an arm on its shoulders and looked at me. He told me that Totodile had been abandoned by its trainer."
Louis' expression twisted into a combination of shock and anger.
"Abandoned?!" he exclaimed.
"That's disgusting!" he continued.
"Well..." explained Taki.
"...that's when the Chief said, and I quote, 'A girl without a Pokémon meets a creature without a trainer. There's a reason you found this Pokémon'."
The Totodile looked up, playfully.
"To-to," it said in approval.
"So, it became yours?" asked Louis.
"That's right. And we've been traveling together for almost two years," replied Taki.
Louis smiled. The tale of companionship warming his heart.
"The chief's a good guy," he complimented.
Taki nodded.
The group strolled over to the golden effigy of Ho-Oh. It's surface glistening in the day's light. Shortly after, another figure approached from behind.
It was Chief Tanaka.
"Ah, come back for another day, child?" said Chief Tanaka.
Louis met his gaze.
"Oh, hey Chief..." he acknowledged, smiling in the process.
"...I sure did."
It was then that Louis remembered the exact reason why he came back to the temple in the first place. He walked over to the chief.
"Hey, Chief," said Louis. "Can I speak to you about something?"
"Of course," replied Chief Tanaka. "What is it that you wish to talk about?"
Louis took a deep breath while ensuring he was clear and precise in his explanation.
"Yesterday, something happened to me after I drank that tea..." started Louis.
"...because when I first regained consciousness, I discovered that I could talk to Pokémon."
Chief Tanaka simply looked at the boy with a curious demeanor.
"How is that possible?" questioned Louis.
The Chief stayed silent for a brief moment. Then, he bowed his head and revealed why this had happened to Louis.
"When I first saw you, I had a strong feeling that you may have some connection to this tribe but I wasn't sure," explained Chief Tanaka.
"I gave you the tea to see if my thoughts were true. And now that you've told me that you can communicate with Pokémon, I'm certain."
Louis looked at the chief with a puzzled expression.
"Connection?" he said.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that someone in your family bloodline must've been a part of this tribe in the past," answered Chief Tanaka.
"It's the only possible reason."
Louis still didn't understand what the chief was talking about. Chief Tanaka realised that what he said wouldn't be enough to answer Louis' question. So, he decided to explain everything.
"A long time ago, when this tribe was in its early stages, Ho-Oh flew across the sky creating a rainbow," he started.
"The tribe was celebrating the event, but then, one of its feathers floated down to the Earth below."
Louis had trouble placing the pieces together of Chief Tanaka's explanation, even with the detailed information.
"That feather managed to land in a tribe member's tea. So, when he drank it, the magic began," continued Chief Tanaka.
"Do you recall what happened when you drank the tea?" The elder asked.
The boy had to think for a moment. Louis then recollected what happened to him after drinking the tea yesterday.
"Well, I remember the headache, dizziness, and finally passing out," he said.
"That's exactly what happened to this individual," replied Chief Tanaka.
"After that, we discovered that this person could now talk to Pokémon. At first, the tribe wasn't sure what had caused this. But then, we realised that it may have had something to do with the feather."
The Chief continued to explain the whole story to Louis. He revealed that the other members of the tribe tested drinking the tea with the feather in it as well. All of them had the same results.
He then explained how over generations, it was tested on people outside of their tribe, with no blood relations. However, none of them had the same results as the tribe members.
Louis finally understood what all this meant.
He stared at his open hand and locked himself in thought.
'So...that's why I can talk to Pokémon,' he thought.
'My blood is connected to this tribe. But...who in my family tree has been a part of this tribe?'
"Ooohhh. Interesting!"
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