Important information regarding update schedule in post. Thanks so much for 100 followers!
Chapter XXIII - Remains
"It's getting dark… We should probably stop for a while."
I looked around for a moment, sighing dejectedly.
"I knew we should've stayed by the cave. We're totally lost."
Misa caught up with me, looking down at my face with an air of indifference.
"Maybe, but you said it yourself. Baddies were just gonna flood the place. You didn't wanna keep up an Illusion for hours, did you?"
The question reminded me of my splitting headache. I groaned again, feeling my legs starting to wobble under me.
"Shrimp?"
"I'm good," I choked out, stopping to catch my breath and clench my teeth.
I could still feel the aftereffects of Mew's power being set loose within me. Again, I forced myself to discharge the remaining excess energy for what felt like the billionth time that day.
I shut my eyes and whimpered as the action sent jolts of pain throughout my entire body. I'd done it too much in such a short amount of time, but I couldn't spare letting any more energy remain stagnant. My body couldn't handle high volumes of built-up power, and had to regulate it as best I could.
What was it, really? Reshiram told me that the energy wasn't mine, but Mew's. Did this mean the artificial core she'd given me when we first met had grown out of control?
Yet, as promised by Reshiram, my own core had been repairing itself for a while, slowly diminishing the amount of Mew's energy to escape.
He'd explained that my own core, my own energy, acted as a film of sorts that kept Mew's energy dormant. When I overexerted in an attempt to break Reshiram's influence over me, I tore my core and allowed Mew's energy to escape and overflow within me.
I could feel my body being stretched to its limits. The power was simply too much for me to handle, and if it hadn't been for Reshiram, I apparently would've succumbed entirely to the sheer volume.
"Why hasn't Mew come for us by now? You don't think they lost, do you?"
Misa was silent, refusing at first to give a response.
"Let's just… Try and find someplace nice to sit down, huh? Looks like there's a lot of stuff we gotta talk about."
I nodded solemnly, choosing to absentmindedly follow Misa as she stepped off the natural trail we'd been walking on and pushed through some of the underbrush nearby. Despite the fact she cleared a preliminary path for me, I still grimaced as stray twigs scratched at my face and got caught in the more bushy areas of my fur.
"Whoa."
I shoved myself through the last bit of underbrush, inadvertently pushing Misa aside. She seemed preoccupied, however, with the sight before us. I stopped and gazed upon it curiously.
It was a structure, relatively old by the looks of it. Misa pushed her way ahead again, nonchalantly walking towards the obviously abandoned stone.
"Hold up for a sec," I said, "We don't know what's in there."
"Then let's find out!"
She was nearly inside by the time I willed myself to follow her. It looked to be a half-completed construction project, a two-story building made entirely out of concrete. Upon tentatively looking inside, I found the place to have been filled with trash and graffiti, with no reasonable way to access the second floor. It was deserted, at the very least.
I heard the faintest bits of thunder from the outside, squashing any desire to leave, even with how cluttered the place may have been. Misa had already made herself comfortable, sitting up against one of the concrete walls in a relatively clean area.
"Hopefully this place doesn't flood out," I said, mostly to myself. If we were to make camp, I wanted to ensure we were, at the very least, safe from the elements.
"Y'know how to start a fire?"
"Yeah, but all the wood is about to get wet."
I felt a pang from my head just then, prompting me to clench my eyes and bite my lip.
"Y'okay?"
"Head just hurting again… Gimme a sec."
I let out a long and agitated whine as it finally receded, leaving in its wake a horrid headache. It seemed to only get worse as time passed, and now, I didn't have my mind set on getting as far away from the cave as possible to detract from the pain.
"Guess who's never overexerting again," I mumbled, laying down next to Misa. I felt like I wanted to pass out, despite the draft.
"Hey, c'mon… Don't go to sleep yet. You promised to tell me what was going on. Nox?"
I ignored her, despite the fact I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep after what happened.
"I didn't know who any of those guys were, but everyone else seemed scared of them… Were they important?"
More silence on my part. Misa sighed.
"You were right, though… I didn't know what a 'Mew' was up until a little while ago, but I kinda told you about how I met her. The thing that killed Crag."
I still didn't bother answering. A replay of the Druddigon's death flashed in my mind for a moment, sending a tinge of guilt up my spine.
"Ray… Who is she?"
I tried putting the answer as lightly as possible, but in the end, my headache overcame any desire to explain things fully.
"She's a legendary Pokémon… A god, if you wanna put it in other terms."
"... What?"
"Forget it."
"No, no, tell me," Misa pushed, rousing me with a shake. "I mean, I've heard of legendaries and stuff before, but I've never met one."
"Well, that's all changed now, isn't it? Lucky you, you've met four in a single day."
"All those big guys too? Cool…"
"No, not cool, Misa!" I burst, turning around to send her a broken stare. "Legendaries suck! They're horrible!"
"..."
"Wanna know why I'm a Zorua? Let's have a proper introduction, shall we?"
Grunting I sat up and came to rest with as ridgid a posture as possible. I made sure to stare Misa down, hopefully instilling in her a notion that she needed to listen.
"Hi, my name is Grayson Alistair, and I'm a human Pokémon trainer. Nice to meet you. I'm not like your normal Pokémon trainer, though, cuz I wasn't allowed to have Pokémon until I was taken away from my parents. I was happy, going on adventures and doing normal kid stuff when suddenly, bang, the asshats chasing us, led by papa, kill one of my friends, one of my teammates out of the blue. Shot dead, right in front of me."
Misa was looking at me with confusion, but I felt the need to vent even more strongly.
"That's when Mew found me. Followed me around for a bit and spoke to me in my head and made me think I was fucking crazy. I probably still am! So crazy, in fact, as to go back and decide to kill off my old man for revenge! Liking this story so far?!"
"..."
"Too bad! You wanted answers, and by all the gods I'm gonna give em! Now, looks like my dad's buddies are pissed off and trying to kill me. Turns out, Mew's having problems with the same people, and wants to team up. Great, right? All leading up to about a month ago, now, when I was killed. Dead. Mew decides to blow up an entire fucking volcano because of it, something I eventually get blamed for, and brings me back to life in the body of a Zorua because that's all that won't kill me in the process. Whoopee, here we are now! Make sense to you?!"
"No…"
"Me neither! I have no fucking clue what's been going on or what will happen, and I…"
In the wake of my rant, I started to choke up.
"I'm a Zorua. I'm actually a Zorua. This was never a nightmare, or a fever dream. I'm really a Zorua. I don't wanna be a Zorua. I never wanted to meet Mew, or get tangled up in all this! I just…"
Tears started falling as my voice got quieter and more uneven. I was no longer talking to Misa.
"I just wanted to go on an adventure… I wanted to have fun with my team, and battle Gyms, and meet a whole bunch of people and Pokémon, maybe even become one of the guys I saw on the trainer channel and looked up to. I wanted to see the world at my own pace, but now."
I couldn't hold it back. I was openly crying now, and had to bring a paw up to wipe my eye.
"Now I've seen too much of the world. I'm sick of it already. I wanna be done. I wanna be left alone. I want my team back… I miss them."
Misa was unsure of what to do. She hadn't seen me so open before, and the information she was trying to process proved to be much, much more than she'd expected.
"And now… Now, I'm never gonna see them ever again," I sobbed. "I know it. Mew was captured, Reshiram too, meaning my team was captured, Drayden was captured, all his dragons were captured. Seraph, Skipp… They're gone, or else we would've seen them by now!"
Misa gave me a moment to vent my sadness, simply closing her eyes and sighing. Despite her adamancy against caring, she couldn't help but feel the least bit sorry for me.
"C'mon, squirt," she said, wrapping an arm around the back of my neck and pulling me against her, jolting me back and forth as if she was about to being a pep talk. "Let's try and rest up, huh? We can figure out what to do tomorrow."
With her direction, I slowly laid my head down, hiccuping every so often.
"I might not know a ton about being in a different body, but I know what it's like to be in a new place, alone, without anybody I know. I dunno, but, really, it could be worse."
She took the initiative to cross her arms behind her head and let it lay on my back. She crossed her legs carelessly, letting her gaze wander towards the ceiling.
"It could be better, though," I pointed out, feeling rather uncomfortable as my snout hit the concrete floor below.
"I think you were right about Drayden, at least from what you said… He was tricking us."
"No, we were just too stupid to ask the right questions. Turns out, in the end, he was probably the one human I could actually trust in all this… I was stupid to not tell them anything."
"-was always the go-to guy for a pep talk, I guess… I don't think I ever saw him really afraid before. Up until the end. I guess I can say he was… Adamant? I'm gonna have a lot to remember him by, at the very least. Vulcan?"
The Haxorus looked up, having been hanging his head and hardly paying attention. Apparently, Skipp had finished his remarks. It was his turn.
He stepped forward as the Flygon retreated, messing with the flimsy pieces of his visor that hadn't been torn clean off. Skipp was glad it was nighttime. The unfiltered daylight hurt his sensitive left eye, considering Crag had torn away his visor.
"Crag… I really don't know what to say. Idiotic, hard-headed, and always the first one to jump into the most danger possible. All horrible flaws, but the traits I enjoyed the most about him. I could've learned a thing or two more from him, and I think we should all strive to achieve the level of bravery and confidence he exuded in everything he did. Godspeed."
After remaining silent for a few more minutes. Skipp and Seraph were the first ones to leave, heading back down towards the campsite. Vulcan chose to remain silent, allowing his sitting trainer to know that he was there to help him as he mourned.
"We lost two teammates in an hour's time," Drayden said sullenly, slowly spinning the Light Stone within his hand. It pulsated regularly, and had been since Reshiram had sacrificed himself to let Mew escape.
"Vicus will return," Vulcan ensured, but Drayden gave no response.
He couldn't understand his dragons anymore. All the energy that Reshiram had given him was gone. He could no longer hear their words as anything more than sophisticated grunts for the first time in decades.
"It might be years before he returns," Drayden said, having inferred the Haxorus' meaning through the unintelligible speech. "I don't have that kind of time."
Vulcan retracted his claw and took a step back. Drayden let out a weak chuckle.
"Crag would've found a way to put a positive spin on this. Even if he was rough around the edges, I'll give it to him. He was an optimist, even if he didn't look like one. There was always a way out, a way around the problem. No giving up, no giving in, no weakness."
Vulcan grunted an affirmative as Drayden took a glance back towards the camp that'd been set up. He was the only human in a group of nine Pokémon. Even with a telepath and an illusionist among them, he couldn't help but feel at an impasse, as if he could no longer even hope to speak to his dragons again.
Drayden closed his eyes and sighed hopelessly. Tentatively, he turned back towards the spacious area of shifted earth, his Druddigon buried underneath.
"Sleep well, Skemero," he said, reaching out to pat the ground with a quivering arm. "You did good."
Vulcan helped Drayden to his feet afterwards, and slowly guided him back towards the camp. He'd been feeling unusually weak ever since he let the Light Stone retake Reshiram's energy. Every Pokémon in the group, with the exception of Seraph, were sitting around the crudely made fire. They had no tents, no sleeping bags. All they could do was find as much tree cover as possible.
"Ok, good. You two are here. Ready for the brief?"
Vulcan was quick to nod respectfully, while Drayden was much more reserved. He stared at Mew condescendingly.
"Yeesh, alright… So, welcome to the Orange Archipelago. Before I met Ray, I spent most of my time here, on a few of the more uninhabited islands. This is where we're gonna set up base and try to figure out what to do from here. Cool?"
Vulcan chose to nod again, confirming for both himself and Drayden.
"Right, so, your human laws say 'no humans allowed' on this island except for the people that enforce the rules, so Drayden, try not to do anything stupid."
No response. She was hoping for an eye roll, at the very least.
"I sometimes mess around with the three humans that are on this island full time, and they know I come and go. I know a lot of the Pokémon here, too, so if you ever see one, just tell them that you're with me and we'll be chill. Oh, and another thing…"
She looked around for a moment before taking off without a word, flying through the air until she came to pick a pink fruit off of one of the gigantic trees in the area.
"This is a Pinkan Berry," she said, "This is the only place on earth that they grow, so I wouldn't be surprised if you've never heard of it. Moral of the story, don't eat it unless you wanna look completely ridiculous for a while. Pink is my color, not yours."
Vulcan shot Mew a confused glance, but she didn't choose to go any further.
"I never really sleep anywhere specific while I stay on this island… Not a ton of good caves, or anything like that, so I usually just… Wander. We'll figure out a good place eventually and try building a little hut, huh? We got no clue how long we're gonna have to hide here, sooo…"
"I don't understand why we're hiding in the first place," Drayden spoke up. "We need to take action here, not run with tails between our legs."
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one that has to fight Tina and every other legendary and Prime that Alder's captured, are you?"
Drayden grunted frustratedly.
"Your nicknames aren't amusing."
Mew rolled her eyes.
"Plus, no matter how much we hate each other, I told Reshy I would take care of you guys, so here we are. I'm stuck with you, you're stuck with me. Simple as that, no getting past it."
"I've been questioning Vicus' faith since I first laid eyes on you. He's been deceived before, so I want you to give me one good reason why I shouldn't take my team and leave now."
"You'd honestly rather live life on the lam, trying to avoid the UPF and the police, all while keeping the Light Stone safe? Sounds pretty stupid."
"Drayden," Vulcan tried saying before remembering that his partner could no longer understand him. Drayden's face softened for a moment.
"I want Vicus' power back," he said simply, looking adamantly back towards Mew. She deadpanned.
"What?"
"Vicus' power. His energy. Back inside me."
"Your eyes still work, right? Reshy doesn't exist anymore. He's basically just a rock right now. There's no power to give."
"You're still able to give me power."
Mew narrowed her eyes scrutinizingly.
"It would make for much more efficiency if I wasn't just dead weight. I need to be able to communicate with my dragons, move with strength. I'm an old man, as much as I hate to admite it, and Vicus let me do what I needed to do. If your goal is to keep us safe, then that would be the most logical step."
Drayden tried pushing as much hatred as possible out of his mind in order to inquire Mew politely without seeming desperate. Mew remained silent for just a few more seconds.
"You serious? Like, not joking? Not on your life."
"..."
"You're not my trainer. You don't get any special perks. I gave my power to Ray because I trust him… You, though, you're just a really, really weird old man that got too big for his britches because you had power. Physical power, social power, energetical power. Wait a minute, though! Uh oh, you don't have any power anymore! Deal with it. It's not like you're gonna be needing it for a while, anyways."
"Please reconsider," Drayden said hotly, visibly trying to keep his anger down. "It's in the best interest of this entire operation that I may be able to speak with my team, at the very least."
"What operation? You mean, that thing you and Reshy captured me and held me prisoner for? Real good plan, let's all go and take down the UPF. Y'know, the guys that capture primes and turn them into slaves."
She drew in closer, allowing the smallest hints of fire to manifest in her eyes as she stared into Drayden's own. The human's eyes had since lost their brazen gold color, as they had been with Reshiram's power. They were now a simple, dull brown.
"These guys are on a whole 'nother level than any human if they're able to capture my kin. The primes are one of a kind, the gods over your sorry ass, gods of this whole world. There is no operation, and there's no plan, got me? I never agreed to any of this, so we're just gonna wait here until Reshy decides to come out of his rock and we can go our separate ways. Capiche?"
She heard angry grumbles from the elderly man, as if he was growling. She rolled her eyes, finally taking her attention off him for long enough to notice Axle had approached her.
"What's up?" she asked, pushing between Drayden and Vulcan to speak to the Swampert directly. Axle seemed taken aback for a moment. He hadn't exactly maintained direct conversation with Mew before, and knew not how much formality he wanted to let seep into his voice. He tried to speak a word, but it just came out as a quiet croak.
"Just about everyone gets first time jitters around me, I guess," Mew remarked indifferently, having read his mind. "Don't beat yourself up over it. Here, let's get away from these two weirdos."
Before Drayden could scold her for the particular word choice, Mew had floated forward, placed a paw on Axle's forehead, and popped out of existence. Drayden and Vulcan were left alone; the former proceeded to pick up the Pinkan Berry Mew had left behind and throw it as far as he could in frustration.
Axle looked around, frightened for a moment as he recovered from the shock of teleportation. The scenery wasn't all that different, and it looked as if they were both alone, something he didn't entirely appreciate. He allowed himself to calm down ever so slightly afterward, however. He gulped with anxiety.
"What's up?"
He paused for a moment.
"I… I guess Victor and I haven't really, um… Talked to you, yet, before, so… Yeah… Sorry if I'm a bit awkward about… Y'know, all this, cuz…"
"Sometimes I wish I wasn't a legendary. Introductions are already difficult enough without having to worry about people being scared of you."
"I'm not scared… It's just kinda… Surreal, you know? I'm talking to Mew…"
"If it makes you feel any better, I've known you for a few years, even if you never knew me."
"That… Doesn't make me feel a lot better."
"Huh, guess not. Anyways, we're teammates now, ain't we? Friends?"
"Uh, right… I remember Somin told us that Ray said you could be on the team…"
"Mhmm! Here, lemme try something!"
Mew began glowing, her form no longer seeming solid. Axle watched with wide eyes as the mass of energy before him squirmed for a few moments before taking on a new shape. When the glow faded, a seemingly normal Starly was sitting on the large rock nearby, eyes curious.
"That better?"
"I don't know… A little bit, maybe?"
"Mission accomplished, then. What was it you needed?"
Axle opened his mouth for a few moments, but promptly shut it as Mew's Starly tilted her head at him. She seemed to embody all the normal mannerisms, and then some. Axle decided, before the situation could become even more awkward, to get right to the point.
"Mew, we're all worried about Ray. Like, really worried. Have you been able to find him yet?"
Mew's bright blue eyes dimmed for a moment as she faltered.
"You guys are worried?"
"Well, he's our friend. Our trainer. Of course we're worried, and just after we haven't been able to see him for so long? We have no idea what went down, when…"
Axle seemed to remember right then that he was talking with a god. Widening his eyes for a moment, he retreated, continuing in a more hushed manner.
"When we kinda need to know, right? I… I want to know if he's actually okay, because… Well, we've almost lost him so many times over the last month… He's been with us for so long, and having him gone is just-"
"No, I gotcha… Truth is… I haven't been able to find him, and, well, I'm not exactly the most hopeful about it."
"Not hopeful?," Axle asked, eyes widening at her surprising honesty. "Like, you really don't know where he is?"
"Could mean one of three things. First is that he's dead, which might very—"
"D-dead?!"
Mew paused, shocked the otherwise petrified Swampert had suddenly interrupted her.
"No! No, he can't die! Ray is… Oh gods, why?!"
"D-don't worry," Mew said, struggling to grasp the sudden change in emotion. She really needed to put a filter on what she said.
The Swampert was inconsolable. Mew could feel his fear pushing past the surface as it came off him in waves. He simply stood, frozen, tears starting to form.
"He's probably not dead, Axle," she told him in as light a tone as she could manage. "If nothing else, the energy I gave him is more than enough to get him out of a pinch if he needs it."
Axle blinked for a few moments before lowering his stare.
"I'm just saying that, in the unlikely chance it happens, we need to be ready for it, alright? We're all in danger here, and we gotta keep our heads on a swivel, yeah?"
Axle nodded dejectedly. Mew sighed, deciding to continue
"Second is that he's cloaked his energy signature, which he shouldn't be able to know how to do. The energy I put in him has been acting really, really weird, though. To the point I can't control it anymore. If it acts based solely on Ray's emotions until he learns to control it, I wouldn't be surprised."
"Where would he go if he were to hide, though? Do you think he's still in the caves?"
"You've heard of Misa the Axew, haven't you?"
"Somewhere… I don't know who she is, though."
"She was an Axew that Drayden found the night we were all captured. I heard she had saved Ray from drowning in the river outside the cave, so they brought her back with all of us. While Ray was with all the dragons and away from you guys, she was with him. Apparently, though, her Pokéball was missing from Drayden's belt. He thinks Ray and Misa are together, which would make me think they made it out of the caves."
"Okay… The last option?"
"Last is that he got captured, and the UPF is forcefully blocking his energy signature so I can't find him or them. If that's the case…"
She stopped, not willing to go any further. A gruesome image flashed in her mind for a moment.
"I'm going back to look for him in a little bit. But, I need to try and make sure Alder's out of the area before I head back. I'm pretty sure Darky's out of the picture, at least for a while, but Tina… If Tina catches me back there, I won't know what to do."
"Reshy, Darky, Tina… Pet names? For… Legendaries?"
"More or less. They're always doom and gloom for the most part, but my nicknames for 'em lets me remember that they're good guys underneath, y'know? But, we don't usually see each other, and besides… I hate having to deal with them if they start fighting when I try and have a reunion or whatever. Makes a pretty big mess."
"Uhh…"
"Right, I'm getting off-topic, aren't I? Heh… Guess I'm just nervous about what's gonna happen, and Ray…"
"You're worried about him too?"
"Of course!" she exclaimed, turning towards the Swampert defensively. "I care about Ray, I really, really do, and I know it's hard to see that sometimes. Even if I'm the one that's been screwing his life over so much, I'm just…"
She stopped herself before she could finish, audibly sighing. She was quick to revert back to her natural form, already bored of being a Starly. She laid back on the same rock she'd perched on before, as if she tried finding a solution in the stars above. They were starting to fade in the early morning sky, a nasty reminder that it was getting dark in Unova.
"Thanks for coming to talk to me," Mew said simply. "I don't get to just sit down and have a conversation very often…"
"... Sure…"
"I'm gonna make sure everything's settled before I go back and look for Ray. When I bring us back to camp, can you grab Vita and wait for me? I need to talk to Somin and Jet."
Axle nodded as the legendary slowly rose and made her way back to him. With a sigh and a simple tap to the forehead, they were back in the camp.
Axle looked towards Mew for a moment before doing as asked and approaching Vita. She was curled around her egg near the fire, laying her head down before noticing the Swampert's approach.
With that, Mew took a moment to close her eyes. She hadn't seen Jet for quite a while, and was surprised to find his energy signature nearly a half-mile away. Confused, she teleported herself right to him.
He'd been perched on a tree branch when she popped back into existence. With her sudden appearance, he squawked in surprise, falling backwards and out of the tree entirely. He hit the ground about ten feet below with a thud.
"Sorry," Mew said, lacking any emotion whatsoever. "What're you doing all the way out here?"
"Nothing," Jet seethed, slowly getting back up and shaking himself off. Mew, sensing his thoughts, continued the conversation on a different tangent.
"They have food back at camp. There's not a ton of reasons for you to hunt."
"It's not for food. Just needed to get my mind off of stuff, is all."
"Just wondering why you got so far away from camp."
"The noise scares away the prey. I know my way back, don't worry."
"Okay, well… I came to ask if you wanted to be one of the ones to come back to Unova with me, tonight."
"I'm in."
"That fast? I haven't even told you what we're doing."
"I don't care," Somin said, unable to keep the worry off his face. "Ray has no idea what he's doing out there. He'll get eaten, or something if we don't get there now."
Mew noticed how evident Somin's anxiety regarding the situation was. She'd seen him earlier, obviously uncomfortable with how the group was just remaining in one place, but she didn't exactly know the extent of the Zoroark's worry for Ray, specifically.
"Don't we need a plan, at the very least?" Jet asked, looking between Mew and Somin. The campfire burned in the background, drowning out their hushed conversation with the occasional pop.
"Plan's simple. I can grab both of you at a moment's notice if I need to, so we're gonna spread out. Jet has the sky, trying to look for either Ray or Misa. Somin, you do the same thing on the ground. Yell, bang some sticks, I don't care. Just do anything you can to try and get Ray to notice you're there."
"Ok, Axle explained to me why you can't find Ray. Sure, I get it. But what about the Axew? Aren't you able to find her?"
"I haven't been around her long enough to get a feel for her energy. I've been around you guys for years. I know you like the back of my hand, and can usually find you anywhere in the world. The Axew's another story. I've only ever actually seen her twice before, and both times I was focused on other stuff. I can't pick her out over the billions of other 'mon everywhere, is what I'm saying."
"Fine, fine. I'll yell. What'll you be doing?"
"Checking the caves and seeing if he went back to the Gym. I doubt it, but it'd be worth a shot to check."
Mew raised her head for a moment to see Vita was approaching their group.
"Ok, you two get ready however you want. Gimme a sec."
With that, she pushed between the two males, floating silently towards Vita. Both stopped a few feet short of each other.
"How you holding up?"
Vita sighed dejectedly. "I only got to see him for a few minutes… He looked better fed, I suppose… Better than he was."
"You can't blame yourself for that," Mew said, shaking her head ever so slightly. "Look, I just want you to know how so-"
"Please don't apologize."
"Huh?"
"You love Ray, just like we do. You wouldn't do anything to hurt him, and I trust that, but I have to tell you. Mew, I need you to bring him back, safe and sound. I know full well who you are, but you owe that to us. I don't care what it takes, bu-"
"I got him. Don't worry."
Vita seemed to have more words on the tip of her tongue, but paused and silently nodded as Mew tried assuring her.
"Right now, I wanted to ask you if you could look after things while we're gone. I don't know how long that's gonna be, but I don't trust Drayden at all. He has no reason to attack you or Victor or Axle, but if he does… I'll be back in a flash. You guys are really important to me, you know that?"
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me just yet."
Mew tried desperately to put on as genuine a smirk as she could muster. Internally, she didn't know how she would possibly face the Serperior should she have failed in finding Ray. She knew the odds were low, but she wanted to emulate and magnify her meager hope in order to put Vita at ease.
"You guys good to go?"
Mew turned back towards Somin and Jet, who had taken to simply watching Vita's seemingly one-sided interaction with Mew. Upon being asked, however, Jet was quick to perk up and nod.
Somin shifted to the side for a moment, eyeing Vita carefully. She sent him a soft smile, one he tried reciprocating.
Before he could say anything, however, the trio vanished, leaving Vita behind to close her eyes and hope.
Not to my surprise, sleep never came. To be honest, however, I was quite thankful that Misa decided to stay up with me.
Over the constant patter of the rain on the unfinished ceiling above our heads, we just talked… It may have been for an hour, or multiple, but we just got into a conversation and it really took off. There was no incentive, nor a reason for it. For once, I simply enjoyed the company, despite my previous attitude towards her.
Most of the conversation revolved around my being human, as expected. I told Misa about my team, including short little tales from different times in my journey.
Later on, we somehow got sidetracked to the topic of Drayden's dragons. Misa didn't exactly seem happy we'd finally escaped, as expected. She remarked that even though she hadn't maintained a full conversation with Crag, she felt sorry for what had happened to him. Truly, I wanted to forget what Mew had done and try to move on like it never happened. I made sure to keep my speech limited during this part of our talk, as the oppressive feeling of guilt slowly latched onto me once more.
"He did what he thought was right, I guess," I said, looking at some nondescript point on the other side of the room. "It's horrible what happened to him, but I don't want to try and dwell on it."
Misa shot me an odd glance.
"Don't get me wrong, I feel horrible for Drayden and his team, but there'll be a time and a place to figure that out later, won't there? I think, right now, we need to focus on trying to survive."
"Look, I didn't want to ask you this earlier, but what are we supposed to do? If you're right, and your whole team got captured with Drayden and everyone else, then what do we do? Just keep waiting for them, or…?"
This was a question I was dreading to answer. I couldn't fathom a life without my team, without any previous connections. If we were truly isolated, then that meant I would have to start my life entirely from scratch… As a Zorua. Permanently.
No.
"Well, I'm not gonna stop no matter what happens. I'm not going to be a Zorua forever. I don't care what it takes. If I can find any way, with or without Mew, to become human again, I'm gonna go to the ends of the earth to chase it."
"Well…"
"What?"
"Look, I don't want to sound like I'm suggestin' anything, but is being a Zorua really that bad?"
"..."
"Hear me out," she blurted out, taken aback by my sudden look of aggression. "You've told me how much you like battling, and using Illusions, and having energy, and whatever. What's important, though, is what you'd do after becoming human again, right? You told me you're wanted by everyone and their mother for killing a lot of people you didn't actually kill. If you went back to being a human, you would just have to hide for the rest of your life."
"At this rate, I have to hide for the rest of my life no matter what I do."
"Fair point, fair point, but think about it. All these perks of being a Zorua, while also getting to blend in a bit, versus being human again and getting chased even more by everybody."
"The benefits of being human are so, so much bigger than being a Zorua."
"Like what?"
I turned my head back around. Misa had her head tilted to the side, sending me a sincere, indifferent glance. For the shortest of moments, I froze. There was no answer that immediately came to mind.
However, in that moment of vulnerability and before I could recover and give a response, Misa's eyes widened.
Confused, I turned around to see what had drawn her attention.
Standing in the doorway, complaining to himself as he took off his backpack and shook it out of the water it'd accumulated, was a human boy.
"Misa," I said through Illusionary connection despite the headache. "Is that hole in the wall too high to climb out?"
I made an effort to back up further into the dark corner we occupied, hoping to cover up Misa as much as possible with my gray fur. At my request, she looked up on the wall, peering at a large hole in the concrete about five feet up.
She clicked her tongue for a moment, as if thinking. My attention, however, was on the human as he sighed and took a few steps towards us. He still hadn't noticed our presence.
He could have been no older than eleven, wearing a dark green rain coat and holding by a single strap a simple bookbag. It didn't exactly seem suitable for hiking, leading me to question why he was using it. Despite his hood being pulled up, I was able to see his messy, black hair, soaked and plastered to his forehead.
Most dreadful was what he was wearing around his waist. A belt of Pokéballs, all glistening with an unworn shine.
"He's a trainer… But, his belt… All of his stuff is new."
Looking away from the Pokéballs on his belt, I noticed how his backpack bulged with what I assumed to be wadded clothes and misplaced supplies. I figured quite quickly he must not have had experience travelling.
I watched as he stepped into the opposite corner of the room and sat down, sighing and crossing his arms to warm himself up.
"What do we do?" Misa whispered, ducking behind me and hoping to keep as much green out of the human's view as possible. It was only a matter of time, however, before he noticed the vibrant red of the fur on my head and paws.
"He didn't even check out the rest of this place… Okay, I don't think this guy has much of an idea of he's doing, which is good."
I thought for a second or two.
"We're not gonna just be able to sneak out. And, that hole is a bit too high to get out unnoticed. We gotta act now before he releases his Pokémon, cuz it's gonna be infinitely harder to get away after that happens."
Misa gulped behind me. I reminded myself that she no longer had the protection of Drayden's Draco Ball. She was capturable, as was I. However, if Mew's power were to surge up again, as it had when Drayden tried capturing me in the Dread Ball, would the human be capable of catching me?
Could I tap into that power to create enough of an Illusion to escape? No, no… Reshiram had said I could only use it when my own core was torn. Even then, attempting to use the power in the way I'd had while in the cave would more than likely kill me in the process. My body simply couldn't take that kind of strain.
If it hadn't been for Reshiram's forcefully suppressing it, the sheer amount of energy would have killed me. I needed to be careful not to overexert again. And, above all, I couldn't even think about trying to use Mew's power.
I tried reaching down, deep into my core. I was quick to realize I felt nothing other than the nearly unnoticeable buzz of my own energy. Mew's was nowhere to be found. A good sign, though not exactly useful in this scenario.
My head panged again. I was terrified of once again overexerting if I were to try and use advanced Illusions at all in this state.
"No use, we gotta rush the kid. Misa, you okay with charging him?"
"And attack?" she whispered again, nearly inaudible.
"No, just throw him off so we can run. I don't know what'll happen, so try and stay close to me. If we get separated, make sure you lose the trainer then walk in the direction of the moon for about 15 minutes. Start yelling for me, and I'll be nearby. Got it?"
"Walk towards the moon… Got it."
"Ok then… Go!"
Misa pushed me aside as she burst forward, yelling and instantly attracting the surprised attention of the young human. The closest thing to a roar she could muster, the screech she created was enough to prompt him to stand and jump back.
"Whoa! Whoa!" he yelled, stepping back warily as Misa stopped a few feet short of him. Raising a single arm, she yelled random words in rapid succession that the human couldn't understand.
Finding the opportunity, I broke out into a sprint, passing behind Misa in my bounds towards the door. I sent the duo a look right then, resulting in eye contact between myself and the human.
His eyes lit up when he saw me. My stomach dropped.
"Whoa!" he exclaimed, visibly excited and now seemingly ignoring Misa entirely. "Zorua!"
Ah shit.
I simply doubled my efforts to get to the exit. I screamed behind me for Misa to leave and follow.
"No, wait!"
Misa knows where to go if we get separated. I just need to get out of here.
"Don't let it get away, Blitzle! We'll take care of the Axew!"
I grit my teeth for a moment after hearing the name. I rounded a corner and disappeared into another room right as I hear the mechanical whoosh of a Pokéball opening.
Dirt and grit embedded themselves in my paw pads, making the run through the abandoned concrete structure quite painful. I found myself, at one point, stuck in a dead end of a room, prompting me to just about sit down entirely in an attempt to slow myself down and turn around.
As I was sprinting back out of the room and made a sharp right turn, I caught a short glimpse of a black, quadrupedal creature as it thundered down the hall towards me. With white stripes like lightning and the apparent sounds of hooves clattering against the concrete, I knew it to be the Blitzle the trainer had called forth.
It was larger than me. That much I knew instantly. Taller than Misa, even, considering her lack of size for a regular Axew. Normally, I would have no fear at seeing a basic stage Pokémon chasing me.
But now I didn't have my team. This was the harsh reality I would have to come to terms with.
"Hey, wait! Come back, let's just talk!"
The female voice was high and shrill, holding a tone of desperation. I ignored her completely, putting everything I had into my next few bounds. There was an empty space at the end of the hall, no doubt one where a window would have been. I simply lowered my head and leaped as it drew near.
I thought I had cleared it at first; I'd even invested energy into the leap as to ensure I had room to spare. Yet, my outstretched legs below me ended up catching on the bottom of the pane. I was sent from there into a violent tumble outside. Rain pelted my fur for only a moment before I landed back-first in the muddy grass outside. Wasting no time, I allowed my forward momentum to result in a roll before finding my footing and taking off once more.
I hardly noticed the fur falling in front of my eyes as I was thoroughly soaked by the rain. A hard thump in the mud behind made clear to me that the Blitzle was still following.
I dove through a gap between two bushes, taking a hard right turn promptly afterwards. Amongst the shrubbery to follow, I followed a jagged course, sometimes taking the more difficult route of ducking under foliage high enough to permit my entry.
Obviously, the sort of erratic path I followed was much more suited to a creature of my physique than that of the Blitzle. I was very sure she was quite faster than I myself, but for once, my lack of size game me the advantage.
"Wait!" I could hear her call from a distance, presumably completely blocked and without a conceivable way to follow me.
I ran for about thirty seconds more, breaking into a clearing. I willed myself to the opposite edge before coming to a complete halt and crouching under some of the bushes there. I panted heavily, keeping eyes closely trained in the direction I'd come. My muscles burned. I stopped myself from investing energy into my strides due to the lack of it I felt in the first place, meaning I'd quickly exhausted myself.
Pain was quick to arise in my paws from the debris I'd sprinted over haphazardly. On top of that, my right, front leg was starting to become rather sore from my tumble out the window. Thankfully, I hadn't seemed to disturb my prior injury on my hind right leg.
Gods, it's freezing.
The wind was blowing and any sort of cover I may have had was nullified by the dampness of my fur. I shivered, bunching myself together.
I'm not gonna survive out here, am I?
I didn't care anymore if the Blitzle was looking for me. I needed to find real shelter. I wasn't willing to test my body's limits, and I could already feel my meager energy draining out of me at a rapid rate.
Unwilling to bolster my movements with power from my core in order to preserve as much as I could, I grunted and struggled to stand. I couldn't let myself stay there. I couldn't rest.
Remembering what I'd told Misa, I looked hopefully towards the sky. Perhaps, if I were to head towards our rendezvous point, I'd be able to find shelter and wait for the Axew there.
I hadn't thought far enough ahead to remember the storm. All I could see was a blanket of black clouds.
"No," I whispered to myself, widening my eyes and turning around. I looked for a glimpse, even, of moonlight peeking through the darkness. There was nothing.
"No…"
Which way was which? I had the wherewithal to stumble up to and lean against a nearby tree, orienting myself by noticing the moss growing to my right. The moon had risen perhaps an hour or two ago, and considering it was mid October…
I simply turned a half circle and started walking, praying the sky would soon clear up enough to show Misa the same way. She wouldn't know any tricks when it came to navigation, tricks I myself had experience using while travelling.
I had simply given her a general direction, one that I hoped would be sufficient, and placed her close enough to hear me yelling. If I made it there alive, of course. Fifteen minutes of walking sounded like an eternity.
I'd been trudging along for about five minutes before I started yelling with as much strength as I could muster.
"Misa! Misa, are you here?!"
I couldn't walk anymore. My legs were starting to give out. I infused my muscles with a bit of energy to keep myself going.
"Misa, please!"
No response. Thunder rumbled in the distance.
I felt too tired now to even feel my own fear. I'd long since started limping. My paw hurt like nothing else.
Biting my lip apprehensively, I stopped and looked around.
That hollow log seemed rather inviting…
I couldn't, though. There was no way Misa would ever find me if I were to take shelter there. I needed to go the rest of the way.
Then again, I would be able to stay awake and watch out for her. She was going to pass by where I was standing, wasn't she?
There was no way I could guarantee that… To be honest, it was highly improbable she would come from the same direction.
But I didn't care. I let the lacking answer relieve enough worry in order for me to allow myself to rest. I just wanted rest…
You need to keep going.
No I don't.
We will die if you get in that log and lay down. You're hungry, you're wet, you're tired. We need to find something to warm you up.
It's not like we have any other options… Wait, we?
I perked up for a moment, feeling compelled to look around. Those thoughts felt unnatural. Was I really that delirious?
"Hey! There!"
I froze once again, turning to my left. Sure enough, and to my great disdain, the human was less than ten feet away.
"Just… Hold it, you got nothing to be scared of."
He spoke in a tone of voice that garnered anything but trust in my mind.
I took a step to run again. I could only hope I was able to outpace the human, even with what little strength I had left. As I turned away, however, I could see his hand fly down to his belt in a hasty attempt at releasing a Pokémon.
I hadn't made it far enough away before I could feel the aftershock from a rather weak jolt of electricity to impact the floor in front of me. I stopped dead.
"I asked you to just wait up! You're gonna get zapped if you try running away again!"
I was breathing heavily. I knew the attack was rather weak by the standards I usually faced as a trainer, but I still didn't want to be on the receiving end of a shock. Especially with how wet and weak I felt already.
"Nice job, Blitzle! Use Shock Wave again!"
Alarms rang loudly in my head. However, instead of listen to the command, the Blitzle simply turned to her trainer with an indecisive glance.
"Well, what're you waiting for?"
She sighed.
"Sorry kid, I'll try and make this quick. Then we can get you dried off and warmed up, huh?"
I took that as a prompt to get out of there. I took off to my left, going as fast as my weary legs could take me.
I felt a buildup in static in the air around me. Trusting my gut, I dove left, impacting the ground right as the Shock Wave hit where I'd been running. The trees were still distant, but I could make it.
Those hopes were soon dashed, however, as the Blitzle simply fired off another one in rapid succession. My muscles seized violently and contracted on their own from where I lay on the ground.
My breathing grew shaky and terrified as I made an effort to scramble away. The electricity in my system wouldn't leave. I couldn't move.
"Paralyzed, great! We got it!"
I grunted, trying to form a word.
"P-please."
I watched with a wide gaze, helpless as the human closed in, detaching a single Pokéball from off his belt.
Oh god, no! This isn't what I wanted!
One of my muscles twitched, attracting my attention. I focused intensely on it struggling to move my whole leg before the human arrived.
"MISA!"
I could do nothing, in the end. The trainer simply knelt down and pressed the Pokéball against my shoulder. I instantly felt a feeling of vertigo, not unlike teleportation, before my vision went entirely black.
I was back in that dark place I'd seen once before… I no longer was in my own body; my body didn't even exist anymore. I felt energy swirling about me in a spherical shape, considerably weak as compared to the last time I'd felt it. Rather than a smooth, purple mass surrounding me, strong and alive, I could only feel the presence of the occasional strand of stray energy. It was energized, certainly, but in another way.
This was my core. In this most basic form, where my body no longer existed, I was purely energy. Energy, with my core sitting dead center.
It wasn't anything impressive. Considerably dark as compared to the rest of the energy around it, and occasionally releasing a strand or two of unadulterated energy to swim amongst the masses. However, I could feel its progress in creating new energy was being hindered.
Sparks of electricity spontaneously cut their way across it, keeping it from creating energy at a quick rate while squashing resistance to a familiar force. Much like the last time I'd been in a Pokéball, I felt something pushing in on me.
It was a simple pressure, threatening to break past the outer layer of my energy and force its way into my core.
I remembered distinctly, however, what had happened soon thereafter the last time this had happened. A speck, small, bright, and powerful had invaded my being without effort and blasted away the pressure with ease. Would that happen again?
Yes! I saw the pinpoint of light, existent as if it had always been there. It had to hurry! I tried pushing against the pressurizing force myself, but felt it was too strong to overcome on my own. I needed the power the light brought.
And oh, did it provide. Never had I thought I would be so happy to be dumped back out into the rain, relishing the ground beneath me as I prepared for the impending discharge to come, like it had before in Drayden's living room.
Yet, for whatever reason, it didn't. The excess energy in the speck of light had only helped me escape. Why were there no side effects, like before?
"What the?!" the boy exclaimed as I found myself once again unable to move. "Blitzle, you saw that too, right?"
There wasn't a response. I could hear the human grumbling.
"These things are expensive! Why didn't the last one catch?"
I hardly even felt the next ball as it impacted my skin. The human hadn't even gone through the effort to press it up against me. He simply dropped it on me, angry about having to use more than one.
I didn't see the light when I found myself in the void, again. But, I could feel its energy giving me the strength to push out once more. Why was it I could only feel it inside the ball?
The human audibly swore as I broke out of the second ball, leaving it unfixable as well.
"COME ON!" the trainer yelled with a cracking voice, quick to get extremely angry at the situation. "Just work, for once!"
Give it up.
I grinned spitefully, forgetting for a moment that I was, in fact, at a disadvantage. For a few seconds, I felt invincible. He couldn't touch me.
He tried once more, ending in the same result. He groaned with enough volume to be considered a yell.
I could hear his backpack impact the wet ground behind me as he began to tear through it, undoubtedly looking for more balls. However, he was quick to realize those on his belt were the last he had. The boy remained quiet for a moment, before slowly standing up.
I was brought right back to the reality that I wasn't, in fact, invincible, when the boy stomped in anger, boot landing a mere foot away from my face and splashing mud to cover my snout entirely.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" the boy screamed, now crying. A few seconds passed before I could hear the sounds of hoofbeats as they approached me.
"Arceus, are you okay? He didn't step on you, did he?"
I coughed for a few seconds. I could feel the Blitzle's snout as it brushed over my side. I still found myself unable to move.
"What am I doing, you're just a kid!" she scolded herself as she withdrew, proceeding to pace around for a few moments.
"Blitzle, return. I'm done with you."
"Wait, don-"
I could see the flash of red from out the corner of my eye. I was left alone to deal with a threat ten times my size, paralyzed and injured.
"I guess I still got the Axew. But damn! I wanted a Zoroark so badly!"
I choked for a moment. Had Misa gotten captured?! No! I didn't have a chance on my own, especially in my current state.
I had to get Misa back. I assured myself it was solely for the fact that the Axew was my only chance of surviving in the wild. Nothing else.
But what was I to do? Would the human leave me in the rain?
Acting before he could leave, I made sure to let out the loudest, most pitiful whine I could muster. It pained me to know I would have to act my apparent age once again, but this would be a much more simple feat than fooling Drayden's dragons.
It was simply a matter of sneaking away with Misa's ball while he slept.
I could hear him stop in his tracks, prompting me to close my eyes and sigh slightly in relief. He'd heard me. I tried again, pushing myself to stand but finding I couldn't. I whined again.
Come on… Just take the bait.
I could hear him sigh, conflicted, before starting to walk back towards me. I was unsure of whether or not to feel ecstatic or tense up in fear.
His hands, seemingly uncaring of any injury I may have sustained, wrapped around my torso and hoisted me up.
Here we go.
Mew flew through the darkness, rounding the mountain from high above with surprising speed. She wouldn't let anything keep her away from Ray.
She'd made it to the side of the mountain that Drayden's Gym lied on. The lights from dozens of police cars, news reporters, and all the people present was hardly assuring. She cloaked herself as she traveled on, considering her pink fur would have otherwise completely stood out from the black backdrop.
"Ray Ray Ray Ray," she whispered to herself as she approached, moving her eyes about the crowd before moving towards where it seemed the officials were working. Most of the police there simply seemed to be mulling about the grounds, as if absentmindedly looking for something to do.
She teleported inside the complex itself before taking a look around. The building was relatively dark and deserted, if one didn't count the occasional officer patrolling the halls. She made sure to avoid them entirely, often opting to float along the roof in order to avoid even potential detection.
There was nothing to find. Ray was nowhere, evidently. Mew had gone as far as to peruse the minds of a few grunts in order to gain some information about the scene. Nothing useful could be found at the forefront, pressuring her to move on. A deeper scan of the mind would be noticeable to the subject.
Though, as she made her way back outside and made to leave entirely, a single energy signature stopped her in her tracks. Eyes quickly narrowing into a death glare, she stared straight down.
Alder's red hairstyle was unmistakable. The crowd grew loud as he approached the scene from further up the road, visibly livid.
"Where is she?" he asked the closest officer he could find with a frown. Whatever business he'd been attending to in private couldn't have been pleasant.
The officer addressed simply pointed at one of the nearby squad cars. Mew, rather than take the safe option in leaving, opted to remain behind to see if Alder had any information on Ray.
People called his name from behind police tape as he walked by. Rather than address them with his normal, amicable personality, he was silent. Ponderous, even.
He opened the backseat door of the car in question and leaned inside.
"We need to talk."
"What did you do, Alder?!"
The scream was enough to silence the crowd. Making an effort to laugh it off, Alder grabbed inside the car and gently pulled its contents outside.
Skyla's hair was tousled about and her facial expression vile. With a scowl, she tried wrenching her arm away from his grasp. Mew's eyes widened slightly in recognition.
"Quiet now, quiet now… We don't want to make a scene, do we?"
"What do you want?"
"That should be obvious, shouldn't it? Why are you in handcuffs right now?"
"Because all of you think Ray was here. He wasn't. It's a lie!"
"You're the only one lying to me, Skyla. But, you know this is more important than Ray, isn't it?"
He wrapped an arm around the young Gym Leader, slowly guiding her inside. She struggled against him at first, but stopped as it became obvious they needed to keep their conversation away from the public eye. Mew followed them inside, where they began speaking in the now-deserted lobby.
"I don't believe Ray should be blamed for the Chimney Bombing."
Skyla's eyes lit up for a moment as she looked towards the champion hopefully. Mew was skeptical, obviously. Alder was telling the truth, but why the sudden change of heart? Especially after what had just transpired between them.
"But, you and I both know Ray needs to be held accountable for the murder of Gregory Alistair. The League stopped the government from taking action because of Gregory's connection to the UPF. Hell, we've given everything to this kid. A new name, a new identity when his parents were on house arrest. But, I'm the Champion now, and I'm not letting it slide anymore."
Skyla let her face dim, quickly preparing a reply.
"Where is he, Skyla? The boy thinks he's invincible."
"I don't know."
Alder rolled his eyes.
"Okay, then let me get right to the point. I know you're well aware who the real culprit behind the Chimney Bomb was."
"..."
"Mew is a leech that's attached onto your nephew. She's just using his status as a trainer to hide. You know that, right? She's using him, wherever they may be."
Mew seemed neutral, despite the subtle truth in the words… She knew there was room for her to improve as far as her relationship with Ray went. To say she was parasitic was probably a stretch, but Alder's statement wasn't entirely made without reason.
"They're gone. Mew left with Drayden. Alder, please. Just let me go. I haven't seen Ray, else I would've told you by now."
Skyla was lying through her teeth. Mew smirked for a moment. She was a more convincing liar than she appeared.
"Brycen. Where's he?"
"I haven't seen him since you sent him away," Skyla said, obviously annoyed at Alder's readiness to change the topic. "You're acting like I knew everything around here! Your guess is as good as mine."
Mew wouldn't be surprised if Brycen had seen media coverage of what was happening currently from wherever he was at the time and chosen to disappear entirely. There was no doubt he'd be grouped with Drayden and Skyla.
"I want my team," Skyla said, straight out of the blue. "I haven't seen them for weeks, all because of a stupid suspicion that I had something to do with this. You said it yourself, Ray isn't the Chimney Bomber!"
Alder was silent. Rather than answer, he took a few steps away from Skyla. Mew had learned enough. Alder didn't know where Ray was, meaning that he was out in the world… Somewhere. All she could hope for was Somin or Jet finding him.
Satisfied, she prepared herself to leave. However, Skyla's choked-up sobs soon grabbed her attention.
"Alder?"
"It is with a heavy heart that I declare you, Drayden, and Brycen unfit for the duties and responsibilities of keeping the peace and representing the League as Gym Leaders. You're all officially removed from your positions until a proper trial can be held by high council."
"W-what?"
"Sorry, Skyla. Maybe if things were a bit different, but not here. The League has to act in order to cut away any corruption."
Mew closed her eyes and pinched her forehead for a minute, letting herself come back down to Earth.
All that had occupied her mind previously was Ray. She wasn't planning ahead whatsoever, blinded by ambition to find her trainer.
Honestly, the human wasn't without his flaws, certainly. But she knew that to be the relationship between trainer and Pokémon. To support each other's flaws and make themselves a perfect team, rather than perfect individuals.
She needed to ask herself more often what her human would do in the situations she found herself in. She felt regret at having acted so selfish to her own interests without even considering Ray's point of view. She wasn't above learning, even at her indefinite age.
She'd previously determined not to kill Alder. The Champion was as crooked as they came, and for what she'd been told had been done to her brethren. It was despicable. However, she knew not to underestimate the man. The last time she underestimated a human hadn't ended well.
What would Ray do?
The answer was obvious. They may have been amicable towards one another, but the first step Mew had to take in order to fully gain her human's confidence was to learn from her mistakes and do as he would.
Alder turned around right as she let herself become visible, apparently without fear of Alder's presence. His arm shot down to his belt, but he froze afterwards.
Mew was floating above an unsuspecting Skyla, staring at him with a smug grin.
She couldn't restrain herself from taunting the man with a quick wink before grabbing Skyla's head and disappearing out of existence.
It feels good to be back.
A lot of this chapter, I felt, was an attempt at making up for the trainwreck that was the finale to Act II. A lot went unexplained, even if Reshiram himself explained what was going on. My vision on what energy is in the Pokémon world is sometimes hard to convey rationally. It's honestly become so complex that I can't really hope to explain it all, but I'm sure as hell going to try.
I know it's not June 1st, as I'd promised, but I wanted to establish the fact that updates will be coming on Saturdays from here on out. On top of that, I have an important announcement…
As of right now, updates will be coming once every three weeks.
I have significantly less written for this Act than I did the other two when I began publishing them. I feel much more comfortable pushing out updates every third Saturday rather than every other Saturday. If I get far enough ahead, this will be subject to change.
In other news, we did it! We hit 100 followers! I'd like to thank every single one of you for your help in making this a dream come true for me. Here's to a great future as we reach about the halfway point in the story!
Despite what all you guys have done to contribute to this fic, however, I still have to ask if you'll spare the time to drop a review. I really need criticism, because there's always this sense of unease I feel with nearly every chapter I post, and I can never pinpoint the exact problem. Thank you guys in advance for the support.
Until next time!
