Chapter 15: melancholy

Point of View Flare

My eyes slowly opened as bright lights blinded my blurry vision and I felt a strong sting in my eyes as I tried to force my eyes to open. I began shaking my head as I pried myself up. My eyes widened as I recalled the pokemon that attacked us last night, and I was quickly wide awake.

I frantically looked left and right and I quickly recognized my location to be the pokecenter. Although, I wasn't in a patients room, I was passed out on a bench in the lobby of the pokecenter. The pokecenter was completely vacant, which left me alone with an awkward silence, although it beat the chaos from last night. But this silence also left me with a question: where is Black and Gray?

As I pondered the events from last night a bit, I couldn't quite recall what happened. For all I know Black could be kidnapped by those psychopaths. It didn't take me long to dash out of the pokemon, and begin making my way -*down the streets in search of someone who knew what happened. It wasn't until I picked up the sound of two people arguing that I decided to stop for a moment. I followed the sound of arguing until it led to an alley. I peeked my head in the alley, and I spotted Gray and Black both glaring at each other as if they were about to tear each other's throats out. Before I could be spotted, I swiftly hid behind a dumpster as I carefully listened to what the two were saying.

"You fucking tried selling me out, how is that justifiable!" Black snapped at Gray, but the absol kept a tranquil expression on his face, compared to Black who had a vein bulging on his head.

"I told you, I did what I did to save Flare and myself. I could honestly care less about you, especially when it comes to protecting those around me," Gray spoke venomously.

"Seriously, what the Hell do you have against me? I haven't done shit to you, so what the Hell is your problem? I have done nothing but try and get along with you. You are racist towards me, you backstabbed me and you even left a permanent scar on me!" Black shouted with resentment. I wasn't sure what Black meant by 'backstab' but I could see that this heated discussion was going to lead to something worse.

"Because you almost got us killed last night, and now we have these psychopaths out to get us! Now I'm going to have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of my life and worry about having my throat slit in my sleep or worse. And I'm not the only one who has to live with this too, Kana and Flare are affected by this as well, so thanks a lot," Gray replied.

Black's face went from enraged, so one that was rueful, as he looked towards the ground, "I know it's my fault," Black admitted, "I never wanted anyone to get hurt because of me. I thought I could just live a normal life and move on, but my past keeps catching up to me," Black said as he began to ponder something. "Gray, you don't have to worry about me anymore, because I'm leaving. If I leave you should all be safe for a while. Tell everyone I said I'm sorry that I ruined their lives" Black said as he walked past Gray and headed towards the opposite exit from me. Honestly, I couldn't believe Black was leaving, I didn't quite blame him completely for all of this, I know it wasn't in his control.

After Black left, Gray gave a smirk before he began walking in my direction. My heart rate picked up as Gray got closer to me. Gray began to pass up my hiding spot, before he stopped and turned towards me with a shocked look.

"How long have you been hiding there?" Gray questioned me.

"Long enough," I said stated in a dull tone. "I'm going to speak with Black," I said as I made my way in the direction that Black left in.

"Don't," Gray blurted out. "He left on his own free will. Besides he will get us killed with people like that after him."

"I don't care, he's my friend," I said responded.

"Friend?" Gray said with astonishment, "Flare wake the hell up! That umbreon lied to us and put all of our lives in danger. His name isn't even Kaz. What else do you think that umbreon is keeping from us?" Gray said with fury.

"Gray you are completely right." I admitted. "But I'm not abandoning him. You don't know anything about him and neither do I, but I would also say you got a lot of personal stuff you don't trust people with either. Now I'm going to find him, and you can help if you want or sit there and be bitter," I said as began walking in the direction Black headed towards.

"Fine then, leave. Just don't expect me and him to be buddies when this is all done and over with. I resent him and I don't have a single intention on getting along with him," Gray added in as I continued to walk away from him. I didn't even bother to look back at him. It would have been nice to at least see Gray trying to be nice.

Once I exited the alley, I began to wonder where Black could have ran off to. I just hoped that me looking for him like this wouldn't become a routine. After a bit of searching, I ended up somewhere random on the streets of Lumiose. The good thing was that the sun was now coming up so the streets were slowly lighting up from the sun's rays. After a while, the sky became a fiery orange. The water that flooded the streets and the fiery orange sky and the sun's rays reflected off the puddles and made everything look like a painting. A few humans and pokemon were now making their way outside, some were on their way to work, others were just simply enjoying the great weather.

I then began walking down the street and I noticed a nidoran sitting on the street looking absolutely tired. I walked towards the nidoran and prayed to Mew that he may have seen Black.

"Hey, sorry to bother you, but by chance have you seen a shiny umbreon who probably looked like he was in a bad mood?" I asked the nidoran.

The nidoran let out a yawn before he decided to answer me, "hmmm, yeah I think I saw your shiny pal," the nidoran answered in a lazy voice.

"where did he go? this is very important!" I desperately interrogated the nidoran.

"Whoa-whoa, calm down dude, you are talking way too fast. Also I wouldn't know I'm not the neighborhood stalker, sorry" He said in a snobbish voice.

"Well, is there a stalker that would know?" I asked jokingly, but if there was one I'd take the opportunity for answers. The nidoran just put his palm against his face and shook his head in disapproval.

Since I wasn't going to get answers, I parted ways with the nidoran. I continued walking around until I was on the outskirts of the city. I knew Black liked quiet places so I figured if he was still in the city, he would probably be around here somewhere.

Then almost as if it was fate, I saw Black lying in the grass. I quickly dashed towards him, it meant so much to me that I was actually going to see him again. I came to a dead stop once I reached him, and I found myself quickly disappointed at the sound of Black gently breathing in a deep sleep. He lied their resting his head on his two arms and was peacefully breathing in a steady rhythm.

Despite my excitement, my eyes managed to look off into the distance, and I realized how nice of a spot this was. Off in the distance were multiple hills, and in the middle of all these hills was a lake. Throughout the hilly area, there were multiple trees that stood tall. The lake's water was as still as glass, and the fiery orange sky reflected off the water, and created a spectacle that was like a painting.

After I took in the scene, my eyes shifted back towards Black, "Hey Black?" I spoke softly, since I wasn't trying to startle him after such a rough night.

"Hey Black, wake up," I said a little louder. Black's eyes began to shift back and forth under his eyelids, until his eyes opened and revealed his crimson eyes. Black looked at me for a brief moment, but then his eyes lazily stared off towards the lake.

"Why are you here, didn't Gray tell you the news… I'm leaving, I figured he'd be dancing in joy by now," Black spoke in a hollow voice that made him sound really sad and lonely, almost as if he was in pain from the choice he made.

"Black, I think you should reconsider your choice. I think you should stay with us, I don't think it's a good idea for you to be alone again," I spoke truthfully. Black gritted his teeth and he dug his claws into the dirt as he stood up and looked at me with a serious glare.

"How can you say that? If I stay with you, you'll all get hurt, don't you know that?"

"I'm aware Black, but you're my friend and I don't think you should be dealing with this alone," I said, in an attempt to sound optimistic.

"No Flare, just please stop… I don't want anyone getting hurt for me. This is my problem and no one else's" Black snapped at me.

"Black, I don't want to see you die though," I pleaded.

"Why do you care so much? Just leave me the hell alone and let me deal with my own problems! I hardly even know you, and I don't see how you can trust me! My name isn't even Kaz, it's Ryder, not fucking Kaz!" Black shouted at me, and his outburst ended with him out of breath.

"Because, you look miserable, and I don't want to see things get worse for a friend." Black responded with a hysterical laugh that made him sound a bit crazy.

"What's so funny?" I asked, not really understanding what was so funny.

"For two years I haven't had one person call me a friend, and I've always tried so hard to keep it that way. I would have been happy living my life in solitude, but then you come out of nowhere, and consider me a friend, when I'm nothing but a complete ass towards you," Black began to say, each word sounding more sad than the last, "Why do you even care… I don't deserve any of this," Black said as a tear escaped his eye.

I stood in silence, not really knowing how to respond to Black's emotional state, until something came to mind, "Black, you may not think so, but I don't think of you as a bad person. I don't know what you went through before all of this, but I know it's hurting you, I can see it every time I look at you. But never say you don't deserve a good life, you're not a bad person," I said in hopes of cheering Black up a bit. The depressed look on Black's face lightened up a bit, and no more tears came from his eyes.

"Thanks," Black said quietly, almost as if he was too shy to say it.

"No problem," I said with a cheerful smile, before I looked off towards the distance, and soon Black did the same. For a while we both remained silent,it was a bit awkward, but I know Black was just cooling off.

"Hey Black, I just noticed something," I said with slight amazement.

"What?" Black said with a bit of interest.

"This is where we first met, remember, where Alex and I caught you," I said with amazement. I mean honestly, what were the chances of ending up here again?

But then Black ruined the moment with his next comment, "Yeah, I know. I come here all the time, it's a nice spot I always come to, it's a nice spot to relax, compared to the city," Black said.

"Oh" I said as if I was a complete idiot, of course the answer was that simple, I should have guessed that in the first place.

"Black I have one more question?"

"huh?"

"I hate to bring this up, but that espeon said something that caught my attention. He said you stole the name Kaz, what exactly did he mean but that." I knew this was probably taking it too far, but this is one thing I wanted to know about Black, it was worth the risk of getting my head bit off.

Black's face went from relaxed, to a rather tense look that made him look troubled, "K-Kaz… Kaz is my brother," Black quietly answered as he looked towards the ground.

"Oh, I've never heard you speak of your other brother before," I said as I continued to pry on his personal life.

"The conversation has just never come up, that's all, plus I don't like to talk about it," Black said in a sad voice. I could tell something about this topic was sensitive for him.

"Well, I'm sure your brother is an interesting pokemon," I said in an attempt to continue the conversation on his family life.

"Was a good pokemon," Black corrected me. Puzzle pieces began to connect in my head as I realized why this topic was always off limits.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I quickly replied, "I didn't mean to bring up something like that."

"No… not just him though, my entire family is dead. All but me and my brother Vincent," Black managed to get out.

"My family was killed two years ago, along with a lot of people in the area. It was a mass genocide of innocent pokemon. I am one of the few survivors of that night."

Chapter End

Author Note: Thank to The pokemon Melody for editing!