The rest of that days marching was done in silence, Scar too uninterested to start conversation, Robert too shamed, Rui too keen of the atmosphere, and myself too exhausted from her weight.

We stopped minutes before sunset, Scar motioning to the left, and we all veered off the road, and not twenty paces into the woods we saw what had caught his eye, a small shack that could only be described as the shittiest excuse for of a shelter we had seen yet; it was perhaps eight feet long and five feet wide, the walls made of overlapping sheets of rusted metal, held up by bent and rotted wooden posts that gave the structure an irregular, leaning shape. The roof stood atop the walls haphazardly, seemingly secured by only a single nail, with the opposite corner being twisted upwards in such a manner the corner was exposed to the sky. The door itself was also made from the same, rusted metal, attached to a wooden post nailed to the side of the building.

'The whole thing looks like a stinking tetanus risk.'

Scar did not appear to be dissuaded by any of these observations, walking up to the door and bending the metal corner back and peeking through, he nodded to himself, then lifted the door out of the ground and moved it aside for moment. No sooner had he moved the door aside did I hear an angry hiss, and Scar quickly moved the door back, and rapid pinging rattled against the sheet of metal not moment later. After several seconds the pinging halted, and Scar leaned out from around the door and his axe was again in hand, then flying into the darkness, and a moment later the hissing ended. Scar cautiously moved the door aside, leaning it against the wall with the side that had been exposed to the small storm of projectiles in plain view, with perhaps a dozen of purple needles sticking out of the surface. Scar lifted the edge of his shirt and ran his hand across his stomach, and then stepped into the dark shack.

I allowed Rui to slowly slide off my back as we waited in silence for several minutes. After a brief time, when the sun had begun to dip beyond the horizon, Scar reemerged, holding the headless body of an Ekans in hand. Scar gestured once, and we all shuffled into the shack silently, finding every nail tip bent backwards and hammered back into the wood, a small fire burning in the corner, smoke slowly wafting up through the hole in the roof, and all manner of litter and debris kicked out of a hole in the back. Scar rested finally, falling onto his knees and crossing his legs as he scratched at his unbandaged arm. Robert threw the bags in the corner across from the door, and I guided Rui to the wall and had her sit down there.

"Remain close to the fire." I looked up at Scar, who was presently picking debris out of his exposed eye, "Any manner of mold or fungus could grow in here. I have let the smoke clean it somewhat before you entered, but still, better to be near the smoke."

We all nodded and scooted closer to the fire, taking in the odd scent of whatever it was Scar had burnt. Scar spoke again, surprising us "I am not angry, or disappointed. But you have given me with a problem with no good solution."

"Your injuries?" I asked, and flinched, surprised I was able to find the words.

Scar merely shook his head, "My sides will heal in time, and I have many bandages for my skin. I have survived worse." Scar turned, a single green orb fixated on Robert from the corner of his eye, still reflecting the flames, the jade color seeming to twist and warp in the orange light, even as another crimson streak ran down his forehead, coming to rest at a pool above his bandage. Robert froze under the gaze, expectantly, "Tell me, soldier boy; what makes a soldier a soldier?"

Robert's response was immediate, loud, and filled with a pride that seemed to dispel his dread, "A soldier defends the interests of his country."

"Id- Id- it is…romantic you think so, but incorrect." Robert opened his mouth to respond, but Scar rose a fist slightly, halting him "Suffer me now, to finish. Let us assume what I say is correct, then what would make a good soldier?"

"A soldier that fights well." Robert said the words with a degree of distaste that I found odd, but it seemed to be enough for Scar.

"Good, what then, does make a great soldier?"

Robert retorted quickly, with the same relative distaste, "A soldier that is great at fighting."

"Wrong." Scar spoke flatly, and the green eye turned its attention on me, and I began to understand his angle "And what do you think?"

"A great soldier knows how to fight."

The realization seemed ironic, coming from me, who knew almost nothing, and had more or less floundered and violently stumbled through each dangerous encounter I had faced so far. A glance from the corner of my eye found that Robert's eyebrows had crinkled in confusion, and Rui was staring generally in Scar's direction, with a wariness evident on her face. Scar however, tilted his head forward slightly, "Closer, but not quite. A soldier knows HOW and WHEN to fight. He dictates to movements of the enemy, he knows how to avoid it when he cannot, and to…capitalize on when he can."

Robert was silent for a moment, a number of thoughts and feelings passing through his features; confusion, indignation, anger, and-finally- frustration. "You could have killed it." He accused.

Scar's tone was flat, not surprised, and certainly not impressed "So it would seem"

"It was going to kill us." Robert's voice rose in tempo.

"Perhaps, but that is not for us to know, now."

Robert's voice dropped to a harsh whisper, as if speaking a taboo, his frustration fading and being replaced by an odd, far-off look "It killed before."

Scar stared for a moment, and then his hand rose, wiping his eye clean of blood, lifting his goggles from his face, and hen pulling a bandage down over it. Scar remained still as the red quickly spread over the fabric, the simple act seemed to make the air heavy. After a moment I thought might not end, he spoke.

"It did."

Rui shook her head solemnly, confirming what she must have already figured, and pressed her body against the metal wall at her side, as if trying to put distance between the words and herself. Robert seemed to curl up on himself, like a wounded animal, bringing his knees up to his chest.

'What should I do?' I wondered. I had already known, already expected, and already accepted. For all the similarities between the three of us, there was one great difference; I was used to tragedy. 'Does that make me more like Scar? Or somewhere in between?' I allowed the question to float off into the darker corners of my mind and settled for inaction.

'This is not my confrontation. Not Scar's either, really. Just Robert's.'

"Why?" Robert's response was flat; no more bravado, no fury, no sorrow, just a flat word so meaningless and so empty I had to check who had said it.

"What?" Scar responded in kind.

Robert snapped, life springing back into his eyes and voice like a spring pushed to the brink, anger in his eyes. In his voice, indignation, confusion, disgust. "It deserved it, and it deserved worse."

Scar remained stoic, never mind he could no longer see, his one, goggled eye staring into the flame, "What if I had intended to? Perhaps I had a plan to do so. But then, we will never know, will we?"

Robert's tone was vicious, accusatory, patience exhausted, judgement decided. "Did you?"

"If I had to."

"You would let it GO!"

"I would suffer myself to leave."

"Coward!" Robert roared, rising to his feet, forgetting himself, crashing into the ceiling, before falling back down. Scar did not so much as glance at him as he rolled in the dirt, cursing Scar, the Ursaring, and the world.

Instead, Scar answered with an observation, "You are a good soldier, your…bushi that you follow demands as much. But it does not demand you be a great soldier."

Robert was springing forward immediately, on all fours, in the small space, everything else forgotten at the backhanded compliment and insult to his nation. Rui again reacted quickly, sliding back, but I remained still, having a good idea what would happen.

Robert closed on Scar and barreled straight into him, to my surprise, I did not know whether Scar had not expected the furious attack or thought the point was more important than his safety. A moment later, Robert was flying into the wall in front of Scar, who bent over at the last moment and simply allowed him to stumble over his back. Scar paused for a moment as the younger soldier squirmed and scrambled to get back up, and then decided to reach out from where he was planted on the ground and plant a flat palm slowly into Robert's side, effortlessly sending him stumbling into a collision with another wall. Robert sputtered, and Scar simply reached out again, using minimal effort to send the unbalanced boy into the opposite wall, which he again met head first, and this time fell onto the fire, smothering it instantly.

I sat there in the dark, not sure exactly what had happened. Robert groaned loudly, and I heard shuffling from elsewhere in the cabin. And then a single word cut through the darkness.

"Enough."

Suddenly I was blinded in a flash of light, and when I regained my vision Scar was holding a burning pile of something in his hand, Robert situated against the opposite wall. Scar gingerly dropped the fire back into the corner.

"Do not think I have forgotten you two." Scar warned. I went rigid, knowing immediately what he was referring to. "You have learned a thing, at least. But you restrict yourself, though at that time it was a fortune. His lesson is yours, but you have more to learn."

"As for Rui, you did well. Your reaction during your would be escape left much to be desired, it is something for you to discuss among you and yours though." A sudden, rapid huffing spilled from Scar's body, and I nearly recoiled at the sight, not sure what to make of it, "I would check your testicles in the morning, you may need them examined, of permanent damage. Was a good kick." He said a brief phrase I could not catch in his own language, Rui managed a smile at whatever it was, and he continued to huff.

'Is he LAUGHING?'

"You had your ass handed to you by a blind girl with one kick. I didn't think watching someone destroy someone else with a single attack could be entertaining, but that was HILARIOUS. It's not like you nee-" The voice stopped suddenly, perhaps realizing my mood.

It was another problem to be addressed. Or readdressed. Her input was not presently appropriate or appreciated.

Scar recovered from his laughing (?) and pulled out the ekans from before, taking it by the neck and wrenching, twisting the tip of the tail straight off. "The poison gland is removed. I will not tend to this now, prepare it yourself if you have the courage."

Scar turned the entirety of his attention to Robert, who was still mumbling to himself against the wall, sufficiently cowed and disoriented, "Consider my words, at least. I look forward to your rebuttal in the morning."

Having addressed all that he wanted to address, Scar jabbed one hand into the fire again, stoking the flames, withdrawing before he could be burned, and the dwindling embers again sprouted his coveted orange tendrils. He stared into the fire, content with everything that had been said and done. Rui seemed resigned to let the night pass and curled up in her little spot to sleep.

I rested against my own section of the wall and tilted my head and began counting the blemishes on the ceiling.

I did not look forward to the opportunity to resign to dreams.


Gunfire.

Crashing.

Broken bodies.

Screaming.

Walking shadows, violently twisting and contorting into monstrous forms.

Tentacruel.

Ariados.

Ursaring.

Scar.

Weedle.

I sat now in the couch of the cabin, a newspaper in hand, open to, of all things, an obituary.

Some names blurry, some faces missing. I flipped the page.

More names and faces, some stuck out.

The Old Man, Boo, Lawrence, the man from the farm, Jenny. Some less so; a hundred broken bodies.

I flipped again, and then again, finding myself at the back, with only a single face, sequestered into the bottom left corner, features that seemed familiar, but I couldn't recognize the face immediately.

Me. Or him.

The question was not who he was, but how much of him remained?


"Holy fuck, that's enough of that."

The newspaper was blank, suddenly. Having enough, I threw it behind me, allowing it to fly out of the hole in the ruins of the homey cabin. Boo was standing in the doorway now, with a mild look of curiosity on her features. I considered her for a moment, noting my continued discomfort, and chalking it up to my exhausting day. "Took you long enough."

Boo walked over and sat down on the floor, crossing her legs, "I don't remember saying I'm here to drag you out of your scary dreams."

I stared at her flatly as she began picking at her nails, feigning disinterest, though she probably already knew what this was about.

'She's already in my head, as it is.'

"I have an idea." She admitted, "But I want you to hear yourself say it."

I nodded slightly, "You know that's not what I meant."

Her patience diminished, she ceased fidgeting and met my stare with her pale eyes, "Tell me then, wise one. Inform me of this great mystery. Blame me, warn me, tell me off for leaving when you told me to. Cast the blame off yourself."

I nodded, expecting as much, "You're not reading my mind, at least not right now."

Boo flinched, surprised by the observation, perhaps marking the first time I had managed to surprise her at all, "How about 'No?' There's no rules to this, you don't get to guess what I am and am not doing."

"You need me." I continued to assert my speculations, "Or at least, you don't want to go without me. You can leave, but you always come back."

Boo scrunched her eyebrows, well and truly angered by my assertions, "You don't make the rules. I'm a figment of your imagination. Or I'm a stinking ghost, and haunting you is fun. I like this working relationship where you do absolutely nothing and I haunt you and whatever."

"I don't care what you are." I finally said, though the words sounded phony even to me, maybe even a little hurt "At least, not at the moment. But, if you were there, could you have done anything? What can you do?"

"I really, really don't like your questions right now." Boo said, "How about, instead of prying into this little thing we have going on that could mean absolutely nothing, you ask yourself exactly what YOU could have done, and what YOU can do. What do you think I can do that you can't?"

"I don't know." I admitted, "So help me understand."

Boo opened her mind to retort, but then froze, unsure of what to say. After a moment she closed her mouth and fixed her eyes on me again, as if seeing me for the first time, "Scar actually did it. I can't believe it. He got you to man up." I said nothing, having no argument that would not sound empty and pointless.

The dead girl stood up suddenly, came closer, so that she was just across the table, and then kneeled down, and spoke, in a voice I would almost call sincere, "I don't know what I can tell you. Who even knows who's doing what at this point? How much of all of this is just your knee jerking, how much of it is Scar messing with your head. I can tell you the obvious when you choose to ignore it, I've been doing a good job of that so far. As for how much of all this" at this she gestured wildly to herself and the cabin, "is real, there's no way to for you to know for sure. For a dumb person, you're too smart for your own good, and it would be unfair to give you an answer that would mean nothing to you."

Boo shook her head at this, "But whether I'm a ghost or a figment of your imagination, what makes you think I have ANY idea what's going on? I'm just as new to this as you are. I could be a split personality in your head, something that you tossed aside. I could be all of your memories, and how you would see the world with them. I might be an honest to God ghost, or I might not have any idea. All I can do is all I can do, and all you can do is take it at face value."

I was hopelessly confused at this point, and rested my head in my hands, covering both my eyes 'When did the very act of THINKING become so complicated.'

"Good question." Boo interrupted, "No, that was not a mind read. Or maybe it was. But I meant what I said before. As much as I hate to say it, ask yourself 'What would Scar say'. I mean, don't actually ask him, because who knows what that lunatic would do, but what do you think he might say, on a good day."

I continued to rest my head in my hands, letting the cogs turn in my head as I stared at the darkness between my eyes and the palms of my hands. "He would say it's foolish of me. That I should stop focusing on the things that are so far out of my control when I can instead take hold of what I can. Then he'd mumble something to Rui that I wouldn't understand, and she'd smile, and I'd feel like the butt of a joke."

Boo actually laughed, a real, honest to God laugh not made at my expense "Now isn't that the truth."

But my mind only glanced over the fact, the cogs in my head still spinning, "I should have saved him." I decided, "Or should have been able to save him. Him and Jenny and Lawrence. Or I should have tried."

"Well, what would Scar say to that?"

"That it would be foolish to put my neck on the line for such a slim chance of success. And even more foolish to regret not taking that chance." I sighed, "I don't want to be like Scar though. Not yet, at least. Probably not ever. Not like Robert either. But it felt like I was close to being both earlier."

"What DO you want to be like then?"

"I don't know." I admitted, "I don't want any of this, or at least, I don't think I would if I knew anything else. Everyone here is fucked up, Scar, Robert, Jenny, Rui, even Lawrence, no matter how much I wish he was here. Does growing up mean becoming like them?"

"I never really had the chance." Boo admitted awkwardly, "What do you think the old man say."

I looked at her, somewhat stupefied by the suggestion. "I don't know, I barely knew the guy."

"I didn't ask what you knew he would say, just what you thought he would say."

'Why am I even doing this?' I sighed, putting aside doubts for just a little bit longer, "Probably that I don't have to worry about growing up any time soon, and that when I do I'll know it."

"Well, that's the most pertinent and helpful response he could have left you with. Dead people are pretty inconvenient."

I finally raised my head from my hands and tried to shake the doubt free with some success. "Yeah, well, I didn't really know him at all."

"Well, it shows." Boo confirmed, rising to her feet and placing a hand on her hip and pointing a thumb at herself, in what must have been a really, really, stupid looking attempt to look cool. "Just listen to the angel on you shoulder, ME, and I'm sure you'll turn out alright."

"You? An angel? HA!" I laughed, long and hard, a true, genuine laugh.

'When had it been since last laughed? The expression felt foreign on my face in the dream, had I at all? What had only been a couple of months felt like years now, or had it been a couple of months?'

I turned away from my musing and looked at Boo again, and I was struck with how familiar it all felt, her standing there, dramatically posing, myself laughing, and then at once my good spirits crashed.

'She's dead.'

That was more than enough to put an end to my laughter, and my head suddenly felt heavy, and I bent over, bracing my elbow against my knee and resting my forehead in my palm. "I really, really don't like you."

Boo's mood soured immediately, her gleeful joking immediately being replaced by a sour look, "Wow, gee, fuck you too." She scowled, and mockingly place a hand over her heart, "And here I thought we were having a moment. Shit."

That was a bit harsher than I expected, and admittedly, a little harsher than I intended "It's…how do I put this…"

Boo wasn't done though, "Was that it all along, pretend you actually grow some self-awareness and took a long look in the mirror so I'd let my guard down and you could put me down again. Shit, I didn't think you had it in you. I can respect that." To the last line she gave a mocking salute, and I felt a vein swell in my temple as I rose my head, and then realized what was going on.

"Fuck, you know what I mean. Of course you know what I mean." I looked at her again, her face stony, "It's not your fault, it's just weird. You're dead, you look dead, and in your in my fucking head. Just…ah shoot…" My mind wrapped itself around the strangeness and the discomfort that came form the not-memories, and settled back onto what I originally wanted to ask. "Be honest for a moment. Is there anything you could have done today? Something that could have helped give the old man a chance? Just…anything at all, if I hadn't sent you away."

Her face was still stony, no more jokes, this was all business now. After a moment I noticed her lower lip began to quiver slightly as she chewed on the inside of her mouth in careful consideration. "I don't know how I could have helped, but I would have done what I could have done, I think."

I nodded, expecting such an answer I scratched my jaw in a feign of indifference as my heart fell.

'There may have been a chance…'

The next course of action was obvious, but dreadful, but the plummeting of my heart reminded how desperate I was.

'I don't care anymore.' I swallowed.

"I…please don't leave me again. If something like that happened again, I…" My mind screamed no, and thrashed against the idea, my revulsion and my fear coming to the forefront of my thoughts.

'I don't care anymore.'

I swallowed my revulsion, and my pride "I need all the help I can get."

A brief nod, and a smirk "Say no more."


September 12th

I awoke to the sound of wet coughing, and slowly roused myself from my slumber, swearing under my breath as I felt popping erupt from my spine with every tiny movement as I pushed myself off from the shaky metal plate that I had been resting against. I glanced about my surroundings as the events of the night before came back to me.

'Shitty little shack, stupid fight, fires, smoke, existential questions…right.'

The fire was still burning somewhat, small embers spewing more smoke than heat, with Robert hunched over it in an attempt to absorb its heat, as he twiddled his thumbs and stared up at the sky in thought. Rui looked as if she had not slept at all, and only now seemed to be nodding off. Scar was nowhere to be seen.

I began to shuffle out of the shack as carefully and quietly as I could, Rui jerked for a moment as I passed her but immediately continued her gradual descent into slumber, Robert was too lost in thought, and did not so much as turn as I stumbled out the door.

The sky was just on the cusp of dawn, the air chilly, and wet with fog. I shivered as a stiff breeze ran past me, and scratched at my shoulder, finding the thick flannel still soaked with blood from the Ursaring before. A small part of myself was gleeful at the reminder that there was now more blood out of the monster than in it, but by and large I was too exhausted and terrified by the encounter to care.

The reminder that I was still sticky with blood was unwelcome, and I had already begun to miss my brief period of cleanliness. I doubted I'd find the opportunity for another shower anytime soon, and if I did, my turn had come and gone.

'There was a river nearby, come to think of it, maybe there?'

"Yes, let's jump into a cold, moving river with man eating fish in the middle of winter, this blood is REALLY inconvenient."

'And she's back' I recalled my dream from the night before and tilted my head back and stared at the sky. 'And already trying my patience. Whatever or whoever is up there, please give me patience.'

"My Arceus, I made him a believer. I fixed him, he's fixed!"

'Please, please, all the patience you can spare.' I amended. My aimless prayer completed, I lowered my gaze and turned my attention back to more worldly matters. I heard the wet coughing again around the corner of the shack, and I rounded it to find Scar, sitting cross legged with his back against the shack, dried blood staining the bandage over his one eye, a long drop of spittle being slowly crawling down his chin, a charred ekans in hand.

He did not stop coughing for my sake, instead another fit racked his body, so violent he almost dropped his meal. A solid half-minute passed of him hacking and wheezing as quietly as he could, while my concern swelled, "Are you okay? That doesn't sound good."

Scar nodded and wiped the spittle from his chin and nibbled on the ekans, peeling flesh back from its bone as one would corn from a cob, "I'll live. Had worse."

"Oh Arceus, we're fucked"'

"You're dying, aren't you?" a sudden bout of panic welled in my chest "Oh no, please tell me you're not dying. Oh no no no no you're dying."

"I am NOT." Scar asserted, coughing once as he placed emphasis on the final word. A moment passed and with my concern not abated he grumbled something I did not understand and slowly lifted the bandage off his eye, squinting immediately when it made contact with the sun in the distance. "The air here is not good for me. Too wet, too cold. The deserts were better to me, as were the Hoenn's swamps, but this cold…" he sighed, "I will not die peacefully to- of all things- humid winter."

I nodded, put more at ease, "So your ribs aren't bothering you that much?"

Scar shook his head slightly, "I'll live, had worse. Lived through worse."

"Worse than that?" Boo asked not quite believing, and I also felt some curiosity.

"Worse than getting trampled by an Ursaring and dragged through jagged gravel by one?"

"Lived through worse."

I sighed, resigning myself to the vague mentioning's of outlandish stories, and allowed myself to fall onto the ground next to Scar watching the horizon dye itself pink with the promise of the coming day, figuring he was likely better company than the exhausted Rui and the moping Robert.

"You are awake early."

I looked at Scar slightly surprised that he initiated a conversation without scolding me, and surprised to find that he was correct; this was my first time waking before sunrise since… at least since the second morning after the…shattering, Scar had called it.

"You're right, just not tired, I guess. Maybe I'm still on edge after the last couple of days." We sat there for a while longer, Scar munching on his snake as I attempted to appreciate the sunrise. As sun began to lift itself above the horizon Scar briefly stopped eating, considering the sun rise for a moment, and then removed his current pair of goggles, his unbandaged eye squeezed shut as he did so. Scar reached into his bag blindly and pulled out another pair of goggles- identical to those that he had broken the day before, removed the bandage from his other eye, and quickly slid the dark lenses over his eyes. He then handed me the broken pair of goggles.

"Throw them."

I took them without question and threw them as far into the forest as I could manage. Scar only nodded and mumbled "Old habits." Then returned to his meal quietly.

We sat for several more minutes quietly, and for the most part it was quiet and calming. Before the sun had risen fully though I realized something had happened while I was asleep, and questions I could not answer came to mind.

"Rui looks like she didn't sleep at all last night, she was just nodding off when I came out."

"She doesn't typically sleep well." Scar said simply, and seemed content to leave it at that, but after a moment of my staring he clarified, "It doesn't very much matter if it's bright or dark out there for her, does it? I don't think it sits well with her, to be alone in the dark, knowing every person is as ignorant as she is. She tends to sleep as we walk, at least, when she can be convinced."

"Ah." I nodded, the explanation seeming patently obvious, "What about Robert? it looks like he's been awake for a while."

"He has taken the challenge poorly." Scar stated, as if commenting on the weather, "He awoke hours ago, announced that his name was 'Ryoma', ignored whoever tried to call him otherwise. His strong reaction has surprised him, and he is thinking of his place. But he is thinking, at least."

"Ryoma? That's not Common."

"Kantonese. He is lashing out, dislikes the tradition of the Common name." Scar appeared thoughtful for a moment, "His Grandfather was nothing of the sort. Ryoma is not his traditional name. It has some historical significance to Kanto, but I do not recall."

A sudden bang on the wall we were leaning against sent me scrambling away in surprise, "He was the greatest general to ever live, Sabaku!"

Scar simply exhaled and traced a cross his forehead, "As I said, he has reacted poorly. He will mellow with time." Scar raised his voice slightly, "He could also be useful, and carve the magikarp." No response came from within the shack. "Enough then."

That sounded somewhat concerning, "Should I talk to him?"

"Do you think you COULD?"

"Probably not."

I was inclined to agree. "What did he call you, anyways?"

Scar said nothing, instead picking the last remnants of meat from the bones of the ekans. Seemingly unsatisfied, he twisted a part of the skeleton away and popped it into his mouth. "It makes no sense to me. I think 'desert', but it is the thought that counts. Doubly so, in Kantonese. His speaking of Kantonese is better, but I do not know why that word."

I nodded slowly as Scar sucked on the bone, but another thought occurred to me, "About yesterday…you could have killed that thing easily, and you knew it was dangerous, so why didn't you?"

"I explained already."

"But why didn't you shoot it?"

"Robert already had."

I nodded hesitantly, "Then why did you shoot the other one?"

"Less muscle, less bone, better shot. No bullets would bounce off the skull of it. I had run out of patience." Scar paused, spitting out a bone and popping another in his mouth, "The heartshot failed, but the headshot did not. Let us be thankful Robert was wearing his armor, and the attack weak."

I swallowed, "And…what is that gun? There's…there was nothing like it at the base."

Scar considered me briefly, "You are uncomfortable. Why do you want to know?"

"I don't know." I admitted, "Not knowing will not help me."

Scar reached into his bag and removed the long rifle, "It is an older rifle, a design unlike any in our world, and the father of Orrean and Hoennese small arms doctrine. Akim, after the man who…found it. They were used in the last great war, but have been publicly sold to militias with the younger rifles being made. It has many flaws, but it is reliable."

"Is that the one you used in the war?"

"This one? No. I did not use one in my war. But this is a different time."

The statement confused me somewhat, and I opened my mouth to continue, but Scar stood up suddenly, looking at the sun. "We leave now. I will carry Rui and allow her sleep, you have the bags again."

There was no room in his words to argue, to ask more questions. I simply nodded, and resigned myself to learning more at a later date.


We had been a way into the trek when Scar suddenly stopped, let Rui slide off his back. I watched curiously as he walked off of the road and into the trees, reemerging a minute later, dragging a large sign on the ground behind him, which he promptly let fall to the road behind him, "What is this?"

I considered the sign briefly, it being a large white sheet of metal with large, bold white letters saying, 'FOSSIL FUN', with all sorts of pokemon that I couldn't recognize peeking out from behind letters, dancing in corners, and generally doing all sorts of silly things that made the thing seem obnoxious. "Something about fossils, I guess those are ancient pokemon or something."

"I suppose you wouldn't know" Robert-Ryoma, whoever, interjected, "There's a bunch of fossils around here, though I don't remember why. Some scientist thought it would be cool to open an amusement park to help educate kids about prehistoric pokemon, and it opened a year and a half ago."

"An amusement park about prehistoric pokemon?" Rui asked confused, "How would that even work? Does it have roller coasters and stuff like that?"

"I do not know, I've never had a reason to go." Robert said.

"Not relevant." Scar ended the discussion, "We may come close to it, but if so, we will avoid it until it is scouted, and we know there are few people and no threats."

'People bring problems with them.'

'What does that make us?'


A reasonable update time, a bit more actual characters acting like people (albeit, a wee bit to edgy for my tastes), and a taste of what is to come. Truth to be told, I considered ending this story right here- in word count and time in production it exceeds all of Cornova's stories except the one he is working on currently. I figured I could have ended this right here, and picked it up in a new story, new name, same cast and journey, but from a different POV... Then, I remembered that Pops didn't raise no bitch. Nonetheless, I'm considering writing brief one shots-either attached to the story, or independently in a sort of "Gaiden chapters" story, or as one shots, that looks at their interactions, and events from different points of view.

Again, the Undampendex will likely be uploaded before the next chapter of next story- but the pidgey line is comparatively simple compared to the starters, and will probably take comparatively little time.

Who knows when the next chapter will come, next chapter will likely be largely different, and may take me some time to get down...but I'll try to have it in a month's time, for what little my intent is worth. As per the usual you four beautiful bastards that actually reads these end notes, I always appreciate a review.