Mum?
I snuggle inward. The warmth and the skin brushing against my face. Even closer.
…
There is a only wisp of light probably coming from Phendrene's tail. I glance over and find everyone sleeping soundly. I try and recall what happened, but it's a little fuzzy. I was following Rue around, and…
Ah, the water. No wonder the adults at the Shallows always told us to be careful around the lake.
The thought of the Shallows makes me rather homesick, and even moreso as a blast of cold wind hits me. The shelter must have kept our body heat, particularly Phendrene's, all in there. Although the forest's climate has been uncomfortable for me before, it was always with others. Maybe it's because I'm alone that it's really haunting me. But my mother's not here for me anymore. I have to grow up and be independent.
And with that, I decide to crawl my way to the clearing. But without anyone else, it's just trees and bushes everywhere. I suddenly realize that I'm afraid. Being alone and in this unfamiliar green world, it feels like it's going to devour me any second.
It's just superstition, I think to myself in an attempt to calm down. It seems to work a bit. After all, these are just plants. Plants can't really do anything, right? The environment just doesn't actually seem hostile. Just eerie. I can barely even hear the sound of insects and birds that I take for granted during the day.
But with the anxiety also comes a sense of excitement. Compared to the desert, this place is so different! The terrain is different, the air smells different, and the ground beneath me feels different. I wonder what the other places on earth are like?
Before I can get too giddy, though, another blast of wind hits me and I shiver. Looking up, I realize it's very early morning. I fell asleep way too early yesterday. I'm not even sure it was past noon. So I quickly retreat back to the shelter where the others are still sleeping.
Rue is missing by the time I arrive back. She must have woken up and went to hunt or something.
"Oh hey," I suddenly hear her voice from behind me. "You feeling better?" I turn around to find her carrying a striped racoon she must have caught, one that Silex has caught before. "I thought you'd be hungry so I got you this."
"Wow, thanks." I am actually rather hungry after literally not eating anything yesterday.
So I dig into the warm meat, trying not to think too much about how it just died in a few seconds for me. But obviously, when you try not to think about something, you always end up thinking about it. And that's how I end up lamenting about the life of this Zigzagoon. Seriously, it died so that I could eat. Even if I didn't kill it, myself… it's good as me doing the hunting.
Rue's loud voice interrupts me. "This is why dilemmas about hunting are bad. Stops you from enjoying any food you get."
I turn my head up from the food. "Just how do you know what I'm thinking?"
"Anyone who knows you and sees your face at that moment can obviously tell. You're not going to starve yourself to death, so better get eating.
"Okay," I respond and take a bite down on the meat. Truth to be told, I really like the taste of blood. But then I start feeling bad again.
"I'm really sorry about yesterday, by the way," Rue says. "But I really don't understand your ideology of not hunting."
"It's all right. I don't really either."
"Can you two not be so noisy?" an irritated Hale asks as he walks out. "We're still sleeping, you know."
"Sorry," I answer reflexively, still somewhat intimidated by the Trapinch that threatened me, even though he tries to make amends.
"Nova didn't eat anything yesterday. I just wanted to make sure he isn't malnourished," Rue explains in an unapologetic tone.
"Fine. I'm going to hunt more, then," he says and takes off, swerving around the trees.
"I wish I would be able to fly. It would be so convenient," Rue laments.
"Well, when I'm a Flygon, I could carry you."
"That's nice."
I feel awkward for saying that, so I try to talk about something else. "How come Hale's evolved but Vie's still a Trapinch? They're supposed to be twins," I ask.
"That doesn't mean they have the same genes. It's clearly evident in this case, since they're different gender, that they're dizygotic twins, which means there's as much variation between them as any sibling between the same parents. Although, I think you can only have dizygotic twins in reptiles… All the science I've got is kind of borrowed from humans. They did an awful lot of research on their own species than compared to us."
How does she remember all this stuff? She must have a really good memory.
Before I can comment on it, she starts speaking again. "Wait, there's another variable here. Males have a naturally faster metabolism, which means their evolution hormones are obviously going to act faster. This is a generalisation, of course. Sedentary males like you probably have a slower metabolism than females."
"I just don't like battling and hunting, that's all!" I argue back.
"Hey, it's not necessarily about what you do. Might be genetic as well."
"I have no idea if my father was an active Flygon or not, but my mother certainly was. How much do genes matter, anyway?"
Sitting down, she picks a bit of bark off the tree, and grinds it against her tusk like she did yesterday. "They make you what you are, really. Obviously your upbringing matters, but what you inherited from your parents make a large part of what you are. Such as your species. It's quite interesting actually."
"How interesting?"
"It's not the science that's complex. It's how it is determined. Basically, your species is determined by something in your genes called alleles. And we all have the same alleles for species, two of them for each gene. But in the case of half-bloods, they have one from both parents. Technically, if two half-bloods have children, their offspring may be an entirely different species!"
"Really? But that doesn't make sense!" I exclaim.
Rue snickers. "There are a lot of things that don't seem to make sense at first." She stands up. "Anyway, I'm getting hungry. You're not the only one that needs to eat. I'll go hunt a bit more; since Hale's still not that good at it." She skips off into the distance.
Feeling quite full, I retreat back into the warm shelter and settle down next to Phendrene, opposite of the still-sleeping Vie. According to what Rue said, Phendrene must be a combination of Flygon and Charizard. Why wasn't she born a Trapinch, then? Who knows.
"Nova?" I flinch at the sudden sound after what seems like quite a while, as Vie crawls over to me. "You're okay! I saw you wet and, well, was worried. Rue didn't do anything to you, right?"
I'm taken aback by her sudden action. "Rue's not that mean, actually. It was an accident."
"She did agree to try and help me evolve, but I still don't like the way she talks to people," Vie admits.
"We'll get used to it," I tell her. "I'm more surprised about how much I slept. I felt very tired after falling in."
"I won't bother you, then. Get enough rest. I'll go find Hale," she says and walks out rather promptly, perhaps wanting a bit of activity.
It is strange. I'm still quite tired despite sleeping for almost an entire day. The water had this much of a draining effect on me? I sigh and snuggle closer to the Charmander. Don't worry about it. We've found Hale and a place to live. We'll be just fine. Even without Mum…
…
You're still thinking about her?
Of course! I miss her so much. Why did she have to die?
All living things will die.
Mum didn't have to! She didn't deserve it…
It's not about who deserves it. Everyone will die regardless.
But it wasn't Mum's time.
The world doesn't care what time it is. Phendrene, Vie, Hale, Rue… they will all die, too.
Hey, don't say that! Who are you, anyway? Some cryptic thought in my mind? Shut up! I don't want to think like this. I'll make sure all of us stay safe by staying in the forest. So what happened with Mum doesn't happen again…
… … …
When I regain my senses I find that Phendrene has woken up and is idly staring at me. I don't feel like saying anything, either, and simply rest quietly.
The three of them come back soon with a lot of prey. I feel much less talkative after thinking about my mother, so I let them do most of the talking. Rue notices and when she asks me, I just tell her than I'm tired from waking up early. They then decide to explore the forest a bit more, so Rue leads the five of us away from the shelter. First is the clearing from yesterday – I don't feel as affected by remembering the nightmare – and Rue washes herself, with Hale reluctantly following. They end up getting in a water fight which Phendrene and I stay very far away from, though strangely Vie doesn't mind. Rue then leads us up a hill that has a great sight viewing the canopy of the forest around us, and I can even see where the trees start becoming sparser. It's a tiring walk, however, so by the time we head back I decide to stay at the shelter, whereas Rue takes them to check out the Sceptile. Phendrene is also left behind, in case the Sceptile will have a negative reaction, so we simply keep each other company with idle talk.
The next few days are the same. My sleep schedule goes back to normal, waking up the latest. We eat and talk about things like when Vie and I are going to evolve. The forest's terrain is far more varied than I thought as I explore around. Sometimes there are ponds, and sometimes there are steep drops. But what really surprises me is this chasm on our way to visit the Sceptile. It's not particularly vast – maybe a few metres deep, and one metre wide – but it's still kind of hard to get over, especially with a stream that's bigger than the other one at the bottom. I decide that I'm simply not going to since I'd have to walk a long way around, and rather not get thrown over like Rue just did to Vie.
Phendrene didn't come, so it's good to keep her company back in the clearing.
"You should really come with us more," I tell her. "I know you don't like Rue very much, but… isn't it boring staying alone?"
"If anything, I can't go to the Sceptile," Phendrene explains and glances back at her tail. "You know…"
"Right. But still, don't you want to explore other parts the forest? There's not going to be any Salamence here."
She actually smiles after hearing that question, surprising me. "But then they would see me do this." She suddenly turns around and lets out a huge burst of flame into the air that dissipates quickly.
"Phendrene!" I yell at her and tug on her hand. "That's dangerous!"
"I have to practice," she looks down and answers. "So I won't be as weak as I was when…"
"Forget about that. It was not your fault. We couldn't do anything about it. I'm sure you'll have the opportunity to practice once we leave the forest."
"And when is that?" she turns around with a disappointed look. "What if the next time we leave we are attacked again? I only showed you because I thought you understood, Nova."
"No, Phendrene, I'm just-" I can't say no to this face. "Fine. If you make sure to only do flames that won't ignite the forest."
"Yay!" she says, like I was her parent and just permitted her to do something, and lets out another flame upward at the hole in the canopy.
The radiated heat is intense enough to make me back off a little. "Um, they might be coming back anytime, so… you shouldn't be so noisy."
The flame dissipates rather quickly as she stops her breath. "I can only do it for a short while, anyway. But when I'm a Charizard, I can keep it up for much longer!" She smiles happily.
"That's great. Just be careful when practicing, all right? This place is pretty comfortable. We don't want to move around unnecessarily."
"Okay."
I end up taking Phendrene around, travelling up the hill, along the creek, helping her explore the peripherals of where we live that she hadn't been to before. She seems to cheer up with my company, and I make a mental note to myself to accompany her more. She must feel very lonely without me, since I don't think she's willing to say more than a few customary words to anyone else.
We start getting hungry eventually, so we head back. Rue greets us noisily and berates us for disappearing, but still hands us the food. I spot the Grovyle Lin from aside, but she is nowhere near as talkative as her Fraxure friend, only occasionally quipping when everyone else is quiet.
Vie, desperate to evolve, demands to battle, and Rue stands up against her. I've never taken a liking to watching others battle before, but it's really boring with Trapinch. Rue's manoeuvres with her chops and slashes introduce quite a bit of variety, and makes me contemplate about how battling really feels. I glance over to Phendrene who is also intently watching, and remember her stream of fire and how hot it was. What would battling with her be like?
I shake my head. Injuries hurt, don't they? Even if they can make me stronger, I don't want to hurt anyone. I know I wouldn't be able to bite down on Phendrene even if she sticks her arm in my mouth.
"You haven't even hit me once!" Rue taunts loudly, bringing my attention back to their playful fight. Vie in a fit of rage leaps toward the Fraxure who easily dodges the attack, but Vie tries again, and again, until suddenly she glows brightly, startling me. It's only after a moment of confusion that I realize Vie has achieved what she set out for when she began her battle. There is a distinct cracking noise and there is suddenly a strange protrusion above her as her body becomes sleek and thin. The light fades and Vie the Vibrava stands there, dazed.
"Congrats," Rue comments from across her. "You wanna continue or what?"
"I'm… a Vibrava!" Vie's voice has distinctly changed in a way I can't pinpoint, sounding similar to other female Vibrava I've met before. She then tries to flap her wings and hovers for a split second before dropping back down.
"Woah, careful!" Hale walks forward and supports his sister with his own body. "I think she's a bit overworked. Let her rest for a bit."
"No problem," Rue says and steps aside. "I suppose you'll go with her?"
"I'm fine!" Vie interrupts and then immediately takes a step sideways, clearly out of balance. "Nova, I evolved!" she says to me.
"That's great." I feel strange. I thought I would be excited for her evolution, but somehow I don't feel excited. I never took her claims of evolving so seriously, but she just did. Vie's a Vibrava now. That means I'm the only Trapinch.
"Come on," Hale thankfully intervenes before Vie can comment on my apathy. "Let's get to the shelter," he says and leads her away.
"So any of you want to battle? Or do something?" Rue asks, clearly bored.
"I'll pass. And her too," I say for Phendrene.
"Lin, come on." She turns to the Grovyle who'd been sitting quietly on a tree this whole time.
Lin leaps down from the branch. "Fine," she states in her soft voice and assumes a battle stance.
What follows is completely confusing as Lin uses her abilities (especially the leaf on her arm). The only thing I can tell is that Rue is purposefully going easy, never striking Lin at the most exposed parts of the body.
A tussle ensues and Rue ends up sitting on Lin's stomach. "You're really out of practice," Rue says a little condescendingly.
"You're with that Vibrava all the time these days. You know I don't battle much with others of my species. Also, get off me."
Rue steps aside and lets Lin up. "Well, that's because he tries hard! Every time I do it with you, you never use your full strength. How are we going to get better?"
"Rue, you know why." Lin's voice has begun to become stiff
"Fine. Let's go get some berries." The Fraxure then runs off without explanation and Lin follows in quick pursuit.
What is it between them? I'm not sure. Better not to intervene. Though I feel Rue is easy to talk to, I've only known her for days. Who knows how long those two have known each other.
"Should we go check on Vie?" Phendrene suggests from aside.
"Nah," I answer bluntly. "I'll show you the way to below the creek."
Staying and talking with Phendrene is a great way to occupy my mind from things I don't want to think about. But eventually, night falls, and we go back to Rue's shelter. I breathe a sigh of relief, seeing that the new Vibrava is already asleep.
It's only when I close my eyes that I realize what exactly this strange feeling is. It's jealousy. I did more than her when it came to saving my mother, but I don't deserve the faster and flight-able body more than her? It's unfair. And she looks so unfamiliar. The Vie I had been playing with in my childhood, gone, vanished in an instant. I feel much more comfortable with this familiar Charmander.
I hear Hale's footsteps as he comes in and settles down, but Rue and Lin never come back. When I'm awake again, the only one beside me is Phendrene.
"Where is everyone?" I ask her, seeing that she is already awake.
"Silex is back," she says.
"Oh. Since when?"
"This morning. I've already went to see her at the clearing. She didn't manage to bring Vie's brother back, but she did bring another Trapinch," Phendrene explains, a little tense. "But I don't think we'll get along with her. This Trapinch talks less than me."
I laugh a little at Phendrene's comment about herself. "I'll go check him her out," I tell Phendrene. "You coming?"
She nods and stands up. "Let's go."
I notice the Trapinch sulking at the root of a tree, and no one else is in sight. One I vaguely recognize from the Shallows, but never gave much attention to. "Hello?" I call out.
"Hi" is her response.
"What's your name?"
"Flora."
Her short responses stop me from asking further questions. I'm still curious about why she's here, but it's probably for the same reason as us.
"She's not very talkative," Silex says from behind us, carrying some prey with her. "She'll be staying here with us. Here, eat first."
"Why are you doing this?" I blurt out.
"Nova?" Silex asks, surprised.
That was rude. "Sorry. I mean, why are you helping us? We can... we can hunt on our own. You don't have to move here with us."
"It's all right. I don't mind."
"But why? Surely you can go back to Lyrl?"
Silex is silent for moment, before she starts speaking. "When I was young, I was helped by someone. I would have died, but they helped me. So I want to help others. It's the only thing I can do now."
"No – isn't it better for you in Lyrl? You don't have to leave your home because of us."
"Your home is where you decide it is. And for me, it is where you are. Shell would have expected me to do this."
I want to say something else, but… I'm not exactly against her staying. I just don't understand how someone could be so selfless. I thought I was fairly amiable, but even I was just jealous of Vie yesterday. I'm feeling better about it now, with Silex here.
"Okay then," I finish.
"You three stay here, I'll go hunt a bit more." She then takes off into the air.
"Why'd she take off if she's hunting?" I ask.
"Probably because there isn't much prey around here. She needs to fly away from here to find the prey," Phendrene answers before she bites down.
"Okay. So Flora?" I ask her tentatively, wanting to add her to the conversation. "How are you?"
"Good."
"Do you like it here?" I ask further.
"It's okay."
She doesn't speak anymore, and just eats silently. Phendrene and Silex were right, she is extremely quiet.
I am full before anyone else comes back. Then all of a sudden I feel a bit of water on me. Another follows. Is this rain? It's cold and uncomfortable.
"Let's go back," I hear Phendrene tell me. As we're about to walk out of the clearing, I realize Flora's still sitting there.
"Flora?" I ask her, and she raises her head. At least she acknowledges me when I call her. "Come with us."
She obeys without question and follows us to the shelter. By then, the rain seemed to have gotten heavier, and my whole shell is wet. Phendrene runs into the shelter hiding her tail below her arms. I follow quickly as I can. Then Flora crawls in, seemingly not caring about the rain.
"It's different from the desert, huh?" I say to both of them.
"Too cold," Phendrene responds.
"Yeah," I affirm, perhaps redundantly.
I wish I could hold a conversation with Phendrene. But with Flora here it seems really out of place to just ignore her.
At least it's quite fast they come back. "Knew you'd be here after the rain," Hale says as he brings us some more food. "As a Trapinch rain really sucks."
"So what about Vie?" I ask.
"She's learnt to fly better now," Hale says.
"Hey, Nova!" I hear the familiar voice. "Check out these wings!" She walks into sight and I can barely tell her apart from Hale.
I was wrong. I'm not over it. "Now we can't play pebble dodge anymore," I say without thinking.
Vie's excitements fades. "That's true, but then we'd have to never evolve. We can find some other-"
"It's alright if you want to talk to each other, but can you let me in first?" shouts an impatient Rue holding some more food. "Just because I'm not a Trapinch doesn't mean I like being wet."
"Sorry," Vie hastily apologizes as she crawls clumsily on her tiny legs, with Rue dashing in fast behind her.
"Anyway," Vie continues, "evolving feels weird! Like your shell cracks and you feel something has fallen off but not really and suddenly you can move something on your back and it's your wings! And then you can see so much more clearly…"
Vie continues gushing about her evolution excitedly as I zone out. I should feel happy for her, really, but I just don't. I'm such a bad person.
These feelings are normal. You're not a bad person.
I try to not think about it.
Silex finds us soon after. Rue invites her to come in, and the place gets quite a bit more cramped but at least everyone fits in. Prompted by Vie, Silex then starts telling us about some tales and we listen intently. The rain stops in the afternoon and Flora is prompted to see the area, but doesn't really answer us. I decide to spend some more time with Phendrene as the others accompany Lin back home.
Though Vie and Hale have evolved, they seem to be ambivalent in visiting Lyrl, so they mostly focus on practicing to fly and hunt in this form. Flora is ever so quiet, and Rue ever so noisy. I get to know the area a bit more, such as where Rue keeps a few berry trees and a small pond to the north that takes a day to get to, but Rue tells us to not drink its water because it's not moving like the stream. I ask Silex about the Shallows' lake, and she tells me that it's all right because it has an underground water source.
I begin to feel better as I become used to the environment. I no longer lament about my mother much, and instead try to stay cheerful with everyone else. As the days become hotter, we start sleeping outside in the clearing. It might've been somewhat dangerous with just one of us, but none of the other Pokémon would dare approach such a big group of 'dragons'. I often stay awake listening to strange noises of the forest during the night, because it is rather relaxing, and then wake up late. It's sort of like in the open desert, even though I've only had a few of those nights.
A long day of them hunting and me doing nothing means they all fall asleep very quickly, whereas I am restless, especially with the combination of Rue's snoring and Phendrene's tail fire shining. So I open my eyes from my attempt to sleep and crawl to the edge of the clearing.
"Nova, you alright?" I hear a quiet whisper from Silex, perking her head up.
"I'm fine. Just not that tired," I answer.
"If you have anything on your mind, you can always tell me."
"It's nothing. I just want to walk around for a while."
"You do that." She goes back into her old position. I'm not even sure if adults need as much sleep. But she seems fine watching over us, so I let her.
I take a glance back at the clearing. Vie and Hale are next to each other. Rue's sprawled out in the middle. Phendrene was next to me, but now she seems a bit alone. Flora was actually alone the whole time. And then Silex is simply lying on her side at the edge. The view is quite serene and peaceful. I shouldn't disturb them.
I turn around and walk into the forest. It's surprising how I'm so used to it already after my entire life in the desert. Though my body is not perfectly suited to the environment – I get very annoyed at not being able to dig easily – it feels comfortable and relatively safe, even at night.
I walk purposely into a dense bush, just to feel what it's like. Turns out its not much. Well, better enjoy this hard shell while I can. Vie's already got hurt by random twigs and branches she never bothered to avoid as a Trapinch.
I emerge from the other side of the bush to more trees. And a weird smell, a scent of something. Somewhat familiar, but I don't recognize it. Maybe some Sceptile? I thought they didn't come over here?
Following the scent through some more bushes, I can tell it's a male dragon. Probably a Sceptile. I'm not sure, though. I need to see for myself.
But before I emerge through the next bush, I bump into something hard. It doesn't hurt, because of my shell, but it surprises me. Through the thick foliage I see something grey. And I'm startled when it suddenly rolls to the side, flattening the bush, and stands up straight.
It's a Shelgon.
"Wha…" it seems confused. Maybe I can run away quickly. But no, it's not even fully evolved! And why would it hurt me anyway?
Regardless of whatever I think, I start to instinctively back up. It can't be too far from the camp. I need to head back.
"Trapinch?" it seems even more confused, with its tiny, almost comical face, and when it sees me backing up, it shouts, "Wait!" and tries to catch up.
"Wh-What? Who are you?" I ask the Shelgon.
"I'm a Shelgon. You're a Trapinch. What are you doing here? I thought you live in the desert?"
I can't now thanks to your adults coming and killing a bunch of us. But I can't say that, or it might get mad. "I- I just live here. What-"
"Nova?" I hear Silex shout and wade through the bush. "Who are you talking to?"
"Shit, Flygon?" I hear the Shelgon mutter under its breath. It suddenly tries to crawl away into the opposite set of bushes. And it's my turn to chase him.
"Wait! Who are you?" I shout at him, but he ignores me and continues crawling clumsily.
Silex runs beside me quickly, and I motion my head towards my front. "There's a Shelgon over there."
"Huh?" Silex seems more confused than agitated. She glides over to where the Shelgon is still trying to get away. There's some scuffling noise but it calms down quickly with the Shelgon backed up against a tree and Silex standing in front of it.
"Leave me alone!" The Shelgon shouts.
Silex ignores him. "What are you doing here?"
"None of your business."
"Nova?" says several voices at once. Phendrene's suddenly next to me, clinging on tight, her tail lighting up the area. Rue crashes through the bushes, spots the Shelgon, and runs towards it. Vie and Hale fly over there too.
"A Shelgon!" Vie exclaims angrily. "Curse your-"
"Shut up," Rue retorts back. "I want to know what's going on."
"I just found it. That's all," I tell her. That is true, though. So why do I feel like I'm missing something? Like how I felt threatened? But the Shelgon wasn't trying to be that threatening.
"Okay," Rue answers swiftly. She walks over to the Shelgon, next to Silex. "What are you doing here?"
"That's what I just asked him," explains Silex.
The Shelgon isn't speaking, just staring at us.
Vie's shout breaks the short silence. "What's your problem, you-"
"Hush," Silex ushers too. "Are you going to answer?"
Vie seems upset and lets out a frustrated sigh. "Why would a Shelgon tell us anything? They're enemies. They're all-"
"Do you hate the Salamence?" The Shelgon suddenly asks. "Yes, you, Vibrava."
"Me?" Vie responds indignantly. "Of course I do! They killed my-"
"That settles it. I hate them too. We have nothing to argue about." He seems to relax a bit, and step aside from the tree he was back against.
Vie seems to calm down, but also seems very confused. "You… hate your own species?"
The Shelgon ignores the question. "Are you guys going to fight against them? Because I will too."
No one responds to him immediately. Finally, Silex says, "Don't be so emotional. No one is fighting. Why are you here alone? Shouldn't you be with your parents?"
"They're dead," he spits. "They're dead because of the Salamence King. So if you're going to fight him, let me join you."
"We're not fighting anyone right now," Silex repeats. "How did you survive on your own like this?"
"Shelgon don't need much food. I won't be a burden. I can get my own food," he responds in a sharp voice.
Silex glances towards Rue. Rue shrugs. Vie's aside, breathing heavily in anger.
"If he really wants to stay with us, just let him," I comment slightly impatiently. "We could learn more about their-"
"Nova, are you crazy?" Vie says. "We'd be kind enough letting him go. He could be a spy! What are you-"
"A spy? Seriously?" Rue interrupts her too. "You really think this band of misfits," – she gestures towards us – "is worth spying upon?"
"You want to stay near a Salamence?" Vie argues back.
"Who cares? Unlike you, I don't irrationally hate the Salamence. Do what you want. I'm going back to sleep." She waves her hand and trudges back through the bushes.
"Ugh. Phendrene, you agree with me, right?" Vie comes closer to us. Phendrene doesn't respond but tries to hide herself behind me.
"Vie, you shouldn't be so stubborn. Not all Salamence are bad," Silex explains.
"Do you want to risk it?" Vie retorts, surprising me a little, since it's the first time I've seen anyone talk back to Silex this way.
Hale, who has been staying silent with a face of indecision, also speaks. "I think it's all right. I mean, if he tries anything funny, there are six of us. We'll be fine. And he's hunting for his own food, right?"
"Ugh. You're all so nice. It's gonna get us killed one day." Vie seems frustrated and flies off. Hale glances at the Shelgon and follows her.
"So, what's your name?" Silex asks the Shelgon.
"What?" He seemed to have blanked out while we were talking. "Did that Vibrava convince you to kill me?"
"No, I'm asking for your name," Silex repeats calmly.
"My name is… Spire. Call me Spire," he repeats.
"Okay then, Spire. You should go to sleep now. We are sleeping in a clearing over there. You can come if you want, just follow my direction and you'll get there." She then takes off and flies back towards the clearing.
"So lucky of me," Spire says in a mocking tone. "I meet some Flygon and they don't kill me." He scoffs as he crawls by. "Thanks, Trapinch." Then he heads off in the direction of the clearing.
Now that only Phendrene and I are left, it seems a bit empty and ominous. Especially with her fire lighting up only trees and not someone I know.
"What do you think?" I ask Phendrene. "Of this Spire, I mean?"
She shakes her head. "I don't know. I've never really talked to a Salamence before."
"He is acting of weird," I continue. "I would never think of hating the Flygon. I admit, I don't like the Lyrl Flygon… but that's not hate. I think he's telling the truth, but he seems to be aware of things… like, how we mostly hate the Salamence. He was really self conscious about the potential danger, too. He's lucky that Silex is open minded."
Phendrene nods and yawns, clearly not paying any attention to what I'm saying.
"Let's just go back to sleep," I tell her.
I don't want to give Vie any credit, but Spire does seem a little off. No one who wants to be taken seriously would announce their hatred to their own race the first time they meet someone. But if his claims are true, I suppose it makes more sense. I can't really imagine why the Flygon leaders in Lyrl would kill a Flygon, but if it really happened to me, I'd be vengeful, too.
I catch up to Spire rather easily, and he seems lost. "The clearing is this way," I tell him.
"Thanks," he mumbles.
"What happened with your parents? Why would the Salamence King kill them?"
He stiffens and I feel that I may have asked it too soon. "Because the Salamence King is evil. They don't need any more of a reason." He then walks to the side, at a tree on the outskirt of the clearing but not really in it.
Phendrene has already ran over and lain down. I glance over to Spire who has stopped near the trunk of a tree. I want to go up to him but he doesn't seem very approachable.
Patience, Nova. Never would anyone have convinced me that I'd be able to talk with a Shelgon, let alone live with one. By the looks of it, he doesn't seem to be running away tomorrow, but really committed to staying with us. Now maybe I will finally have the opportunity to learn more about the Salamence and assess once and for all if Vie's dream of revenge is feasible, and more importantly, right.