Location: Home, Nexus Room

So, that mysterious eavesdropper turned out to be one of the Beheeyem that'd been stalking me before. We cornered him in Jirachi's room and fought him. Since it was Espurr and I against the one of him, the battle wasn't difficult...although, he did fire off a cheap shot at me right at the start. I took a step towards Espurr to get within range of a Razor Leaf attack and he fired a Psybeam attack that wiped me right out! Yeesh, I'm lucky I always carry Reviver Seeds on me! A few Blast Seeds made quick work of him.

I shouldn't have been surprised. These guys are pros at worming their way into my business. Even so...fucking really? Still? At this point, I'm better off caving in this fucker's oversized head. I'm sick of them following me around and causing trouble everywhere I go. It's bad enough they helped Nuzleaf deceive me and turn everyone else into stone. Now I gotta deal with their stalking after Lyra and I pulled off the impossible and...

Aaaaaand after the fight, Lyra came charging in and knocked him back against the observatory wall. She was shouting at him as she used move after move on him.

"My old Pops! How dare you and your friends attack him! This is for him! This is for everyone in the village! This...this is...this is for Pops!"

I exchanged glances with Espurr. I...ugh, fuck's sake. I understand Lyra's pain, and obviously I feel angry about him spying on us. But...the dude wasn't fighting back. As much as I wanted to cave in his head before, something about Lyra lashing out against a non-threatening foe brought me to my senses.

I hate these guys and the torment they put me through, but that didn't make this right.

Espurr tried intervening and talking her down, but Lyra wasn't listening. She tried pushing past her, but my vine shot across the room, wrapped around Lyra's little body, and pulled her back. As I approached them, my vine slowly retracted into my neck until it was holding Lyra against me in a gentle hug.

As Lyra caught her breath, Espurr started interrogating our intruder. Since I had to anchor Lyra some distance away, I could only glare daggers at him as he claimed he was running away from Nuzleaf and Yveltal.

"We were all being controlled by Dark Matter! We were just tools to them!"

Uh-huh. Sure. How convenient that you just happened to break free of its grasp, yeah? And you just...what, wanted to eavesdrop because you were waiting for an opening to approach us?

He claimed that when Lyra and I escaped the Voidlands, it caused some kinda shock and he was able to free himself. Once he could think for himself, he knew he couldn't stay with them. He waited for his chance and then ran away.

I...dude, I'm not buying this at all. Neither is Lyra. She flat-out said we had no reason to just believe him. However, according to Espurr, Ampharos said something similar.

"Dark Matter can invade the hearts of Pokémon who have any darkness in them. Even if it's just a little...it's enough for Dark Matter to control them. The Pokémon that it controls gain the power of the void. Then they use that power to suck the energy from other Pokémon, turning them to stone, and that energy is then used by Dark Matter so that it can grow even greater. It is by controlling other Pokémon that Dark Matter gets its energy."

So, they're puppets. Beheeyem, Yveltal, Nuzleaf...all just puppets. Tools being used by Dark Matter…

Well, Nuzleaf put on one hell of a good show even while under Dark Matter's influence. If he deceived me, why should we believe this guy's free now? He could just be acting.

He said we attacked him out of the blue, which is why he fought us just now. He was just defending himself, but it's not like he turned us to stone or anything, right? He didn't even have that power anymore.

Ohohoho, no! Uh-uh! Not on my watch! The second that battle started, I took a step towards Espurr to get within range of a Razor Leaf attack, and he shot a Psybeam attack straight at me! He attacked first! He wasn't defending himself. He started the fight and we defended ourselves!

- However, Espurr used her telepathy and told me to keep that to myself. If this spy's objective was simply to gather information, that meant being found out wasn't part of his initial plan, so he was improvising as he went along. He might be luring us into a trap, but Ampharos seems to think there's a way to use this to our advantage.

...Dammit. Just as soon as I decided to start taking charge, now I gotta go mute again. I'm a terrible liar, remember? I can only keep that tidbit from Lyra if I don't say anything.

Lyra looked back at me for approval, and I released her and said she can take charge again since this is much harder than she made it look.

"Supposing we did believe you...why come here?"

He claimed he knew where Dark Matter was. He knew where to find the Tree of Life.

...Okay. Yeah. Definitely a trap. No way in hell would he deliberately bring us exactly where we needed to be.

The Beheeyem tried saying the Tree of Life is deep within the Prehistoric Ruins, and that the reason nobody's discovered it before is because it's so far inside the ruins – okay dude, just stop. Alright? I had enough of this guy's bullshit and left the room.

How would a tree grow in the old, dank, musty ruins without anyone discovering it? Trees use photosynthesis to survive. The ruin would need an open source of sunlight, like an exposed roof. Unless, of course, some futuristic shit would've provided the tree with synthetic sunlight, but I highly doubt these Prehistoric Ruins have futuristic technology to allow that. Either he's lying about nobody ever discovering the tree in the ruins, or he's lying about the tree being there at all. Either way, he's lying.

It's obvious he wants us to go to the Prehistoric Ruins, likely to lure us into a trap, but I don't want to hear the rest of his bogus story. Right now, I wanna wrap up my writing. I'm completely livid for reasons I'll explain later.

Location: Home, Main Room (temporarily gonna call it the Vendor Room for now)

This...this world is gaslighting me. Almost everything I thought I knew has been wrong.

I'm a human. No, I'm not. I'm a young adult. No, I'm not. Ampharos is an airheaded moron. No, he's not. Archen's an annoying, naggy douche. No, he's not. Nuzleaf's trustworthy. No, he's not.

Whether I lived in Serene Village or Lively Town, whether Lyra and I were exploring new areas or doing Expedition Society work, or whether Nuzleaf was friend or foe, the Beheeyem have always been my enemy. They've been the bane of my existence since I woke up as a Chikorita, and are the one source of adversity I can consistently avoid. This was the one thing I thought would always make sense. It was so simple. Beheyeem = bad.

...No. They're. Not.

Now I'm wrong about that too!? They were controlled by Dark Matter since the very beginning, and that's supposed to make everything okay!? I'm not allowed to be angry at them for the paranoia, terror, and dread they instilled in me? I have to be the bigger person, accept what I'm told, and move on?

I hate this. I hate that this...I have to accept this. This is my reality and I have to suck it up and find a way to forgive him.

...

How?

How am I supposed to forgive him?

How am I supposed to accept that he wasn't in control when he tormented me? When he stalked me!?

I...I feel such seething anger when I think about him trying to befriend me because it's not supposed to be that way. He's not supposed to be that way. I don't want him to be that way! I want to hate him!

Ugh!

You know what the worst part is?

...

I know.

I. Know.

I get it.

I understand.

I hate that I understand. I don't want to understand. I want to be angry. I want to be unreasonable. I want to hate. I want to loathe, but I understand Beheeyem's situation too much to truly hate him. I know it's not his fault, but I want it to be. As angry and fuming as I am, part of the steam escapes when I think of lost friendship opportunity upon our first meeting. His possession not only gave me an additional enemy, but cost me a potential friend. He's not possessed anymore, though. We lost an enemy and could gain...

I know I said it already, but it truly isn't fair. Why do I have to put forth extra effort to understand and forgive those who hurt me? Is this payback for the rule-breaking cycle I frequented back in Serene Village?

...

Dammit all, I don't even feel the bubbling anger anymore. It's cooled into...resignation. With a pinch of resentment.

I don't want to be friends with him, and I don't trust him...but I know...I know that's the pitiful choice. I know that's the low road. I'm better than that, I know. I just...it's going to take some time. This kind of feeling doesn't go away overnight.

...Anyway, Lyra's coming out to check on me. I'm going to take a few minutes to talk with her.

Location: Home, Vendor Room

I told Lyra everything I felt. When I told her about everything I knew being wrong, I told her she was probably the most consistent positive thing in my life. The hug we shared took some of the heat out of my anger.

Lyra listened patiently as I told her I felt angry, frustrated, and resentful. Told her how I wanted to hate the Beheeyem (Lyra decided to nickname this one Yemer cuz apparently he wanted to be differentiated from his counterparts. Whatever. Yemer is fun to say), and how frustrated I was knowing I had to find it in myself to forgive him.

At some point, Lyra hushed me and said that this revelation didn't diminish the awful things they put me through. Controlled or no, Yemer was going to answer for the part he played in Dark Matter's plans.

"If you want to hate him, green bean, hate away. I won't think lesser of you for it."

I told her that I couldn't. My conscious knows taking my anger out on him would be wrong, despite the catharsis it would give. If he were possessed, sure, but...he's not. He doesn't deserve it.

She teased me a little, saying I think about others way too much sometimes. Would it kill me to be a little selfish? She then reaffirmed what I concluded before - I should give it some time.

Well...with my muddled emotions set aside for now, Lyra told me what happened after I left. Yemer claimed he came here hoping to find someone who would help him destroy Dark Matter.

Lyra said he seemed remorseful for what he did. Even if he couldn't make up for his misdeeds, he wanted to save the world from being destroyed more than anything. Unsure, they decided to contact Ampharos and get his opinion, but Espurr couldn't reach him.

I...hm...there are a few too many eyes stealing glances over my shoulder while I'm writing, so I'll leave that be for now. But uh...recall the entry before the previous one, paragraph with a dash (-) in front of it? Last sentence? Yeah.

Anyway, Lyra made it clear she doesn't trust Yemer either. There isn't a cell in my body that doesn't believe he's luring us into a trap, but for now we have no choice but to go along with what he says. Espurr called upon Lapras, who fled to the sea when everything went to shit. He should be willing to return once he learns we need his assistance.

This isn't some fun exploration up a volcanic landscape trusting that Ampharos knows what he's doing. This is us sneaking around in an apocalyptic world where most of the population has been turned to stone, trusting the word of some lying perp who's no doubt luring us into a trap.

This is a million times more terrifying, tense, and dangerous. But, once again, I'm being told I don't have a choice.

...

Lyra started making a Combeeline for the Lapras Liner, but I wrapped a vine around Yemer and dragged him back to the Society building and to the Deposit Box.

I said before that I'm gonna do this my way, and I meant it.

A/N: Now introducing...Yemer the Memer! Alternative names considered were Beemer, Beem, Heemer, Behe, Yemyem, Bhym (pronounced BYM), Byem (BY-YEM), B-yem (not used for obvious immature reasons), and Mey. Went with Yemer cuz it really is fun to say! Pronounced (YEEMER), btw.