Location: Nuzleaf's home.
What a strange way to start off the day.
Nuzleaf left me a note saying he's going to be gone for a few days because "something urgent" came up. He left plenty of food, told me to be careful and steer clear from the Beheeyem…and of course, I'd better not skip school.
I wonder what happened…I hope he's alright.
Wait, why am I worried? Nuzleaf's more than capable of handling himself, and he's the strongest Pokemon I've met thus far...presumably. I haven't necessarily seen Carracosta in action.
Oh? I hear Lyra's voice. She's calling my name, so I guess I'd better go see what she wants.
Location: School Forest 1F
Turns out Lyra wanted to walk to school together, and I came to regret my agreement immediately. She prattled on about yesterday for the entire trip. And although I know it was exciting and eventful, I wanted to remind her that...I was there too. I saw and experienced the exact same things she did, so she didn't need to describe everything in exact detail.
But, I couldn't do it. It would've taken the wind out of her sails, and I...didn't want to be that person. She was excited and chatty and energetic and it was adorable.
Her peppiness lingered once we got to school. She was bounding up to classmates and practically shouting her "good morning"s at them, which surprised most of them and annoyed one particular fighting type.
I know I said it already, but it really is adorable to see her so energized. Maybe it's because she's just a small Torchic, but something about the way she zips to and fro and her eyes sparkle as she greets the same folks she sees every day...
I mean, c'mon. It's like watching a bundle of Skitties chase each other.
Anyway, classes are certainly picking up a little. We're on a field trip to the School Forest and have been divided into two teams of three. My team consists of myself, Lyra, and Goomy. The other team consists of Deerling, Shelmet, and Pancham.
Deerling wasn't exactly hyped about being teamed up with the other two. I don't necessarily blame her. If Pancham is as irritating to explore with as he was travelling to the Drilbur Coal Mine, I can't imagine she's in for a good time.
Our objective is to retrieve a flag hidden within the forest and return it to Farfetch'd to pass our lesson for the day. Hey, I'll take dungeon exploration over another boring story narration any day!
Lyra was eager to get started since Pancham kind of challenged us to a race, but I slowed her down and reminded her that this isn't a competition. We should just enjoy the Mystery Dungeon without worrying about what the other team is doing.
Location: School Forest 5F
I have a really bad feeling about this.
Goomy is struggling to keep up with Lyra and I, and Espurr had informed us through telepathy that Pancham and the others are ahead of us. Lyra got fired up after hearing that and insisted that we press on more urgently than ever.
Lyra needs to remember that Goomy is younger than the two of us. He's going to have a harder time keeping up, and whatever childish rivalry w- she has with Pancham isn't worth it if it's going to do this to our teammate.
Still, Lyra's mindlessly rushing ahead…
Location: School Forest flag room.
Well, Lyra is certainly happy.
Pancham, Shelmet and Deerling arrived after us and retrieved their flags last. Lyra certainly didn't hesitate to start rubbing it in Pancham's face, but…Goomy had fallen behind and got lost somewhere in the dungeon. He's our responsibility, and Lyra let a competition blind her to that.
No, screw this. I'm not leaving that kid alone in a dungeon to fend for himself. When we go to return, I'm veering off and searching for him.
Location: School Forest 7F
He certainly wasn't hard to locate. A Tyrunt had cornered him in one of the smaller rooms. A few Razor Leaf attacks from me and an Absorb attack from Goomy made short work of it.
Goomy was really distraught, though. He apologized for falling behind and for needing to be rescued again. I told him exploring a dungeon is hard work, but he shouldn't feel the need to push himself to keep up with us. After all, a certain Pokémon who looks after me doesn't let anyone else pressure him into exploring a dungeon at a pace faster than he's comfortable with, and he's among the strongest I know.
I apologized to Goomy for leaving him behind, and we ate apples together to fuel us for the return trip. I hope it was enough to make him feel better. I'm going to tell him I had fun exploring with him today, and I hope we get to explore together again in the future.
I can't wait to see his little face go from shame to sparkling joy :3
Location: Serene Village School path.
Lyra had been sent back in to find us after getting an earful from Farfetch'd about being the only one on our team to return.
She and I got into it before we exited the dungeon. She was mad I'd branched off to find Goomy without saying anything, and I misinterpreted it as her being mad I wanted to find our teammate.
For the first time in a while, I yelled at someone. I said that Goomy's more important than a stupid flag and that a good teammate would never put themselves first, like Lyra did.
She didn't like that.
Lyra said something…ugh. Something stupid. Something I know she said only to hurt me, and it...
"I'm glad you're showing me your true colors, Irau. I was thinking about asking you to be my friend, but who'd ever want to be friends with a cold-hearted loser like you? At least Pancham and Shelmet are nasty to my face, but you're nasty behind my back like a coward."
That shouldn't have worked. It's so weak and stupid, and I'm quite sure I've heard much worse. But it...
Dammit, it's not even that insulting! Even now when I'm thinking back on it, I know it was stupid of me to feel hurt by that. Jeez, how weak must I be to get offended by clean and childish name-calling? Why did I feel frustrated?
Because I wasn't being nasty. That's the thing, I wasn't insulting her or attacking her, I was trying to make her understand that she did something wrong in leaving Goomy behind.
Emotions were flaring, but after that statement it dawned on me how pointless it was to fight back. I was arguing with a child who was trying to justify leaving her teammate behind in a dungeon. She clearly didn't have a counterargument, so she was trying to hit below the belt to win this argument.
Because that's what matters to Lyra.
That's why she left Goomy behind in the School Forest. That's why she was accusing me of being nasty when I CLEARLY wasn't.
Because she wanted to win.
Nevermind Goomy's safety, or my feelings. So long as Lyra won and her ego was stroked, nothing else mattered.
And that's exactly what I told her.
"Winning is so important to you that nothing else matters, huh Lyra? Stroking your ego with petty victories means more to you than being a decent person? You'd rather win than look after your own team or talk things out when I try fixing your mistakes? If being like you is what it means to be a winner, I'd rather stay a 'cold-hearted loser', thanks."
We stopped talking after that. By the time we returned to the school grounds, Farfetch'd had dismissed class. He wanted to talk to Goomy and me, but I decided to leave and am writing this as I walk back to Nuzleaf's house.
I feel…strange. Bad. I told Lyra off, but…I keep telling myself she's just a kid, but I'd grown close to that kid in the short time we knew each other. We'd started blossoming a harmless friendship, and to have it destroyed over something as trivial as a simple quarrel…Well, the truest test for any friendship is the hardships they endure. If our friendship couldn't handle the strain of this spat, maybe it simply wasn't meant to be. Despite telling myself this, it still feels like a weight was dropped on my heart.
Like, I know I'm partially to blame. I misinterpreted what she'd said and lashed out at her needlessly, so I admit I'm at fault on that end. But what happened afterwards was NOT my fault!
Even if I hadn't said anything to her before branching off to find Goomy, I didn't need to. I'm an individual Pokemon, I don't need to follow her lead all the time. I don't need to inform her of every choice I make, and if I wanted to branch off to find Goomy by myself...guess what? I'm gonna fuckin' branch off and find Goomy by myself!
So, something tells me this outcome would've happened even if I hadn't misinterpreted her...but if I'm being honest, this sucks. Like, really. Why'd things have to get flipped like this? Things were so cheery and nice and good this morning, but now? Now it's just awful.
I suddenly wish Nuzleaf could be home so I can talk to him about this…