Book II: Impending Twilight

Chapter 100: Goodbye forever

Point View Black

"It was around nine P.M, last night near central Shalour on Masqurlane that a threeway battle took place on a scale large enough to be considered war," A female voice spoke from a TV that was set up across the room. "Hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage has been done, and many people and pokemon have been injured or killed. First responders are still reporting to the scene this morning trying to find and help those still trapped under debris or worse…"

My eyes clenched shut as I tried to ignore the lady on the TV, but her words felt so loud, and each word stung my brain. My claws tore into the mattress of my bed as I let out a pained scowl. My head was dominated by the worst headache I have ever felt in my life. An agonizing throbbing pain pulsed through my head and made me feel as if my brain was just going to burst at any moment.

"Just turn that thing off!" I snapped at Hesh who was the one with the remote.

"oh… sorry, didn't even know you were awake," Hesh spoke quietly as he clicked a button on the remote and the video and sound ceased.

Flare, Ebony, and Gray were also in the same room as me. Alex decided to leave everyone in here while he went to get some food for us. The pokecenter was just a mess, I could hear talking throughout the building. The sounds of pokemon being carted off to be be treated, and occasional groans of pain could be heard throughout the building.

"So, Ebony," Hesh began as he looked at the newly evolved espeon that was sitting on the counter and gazing out the window. The espeon jolted as she came back to reality, her head turned back towards Hesh.

"Well… you're an espeon now I see. Congrats, but how exactly did it happen?" Hesh asked Ebony. The espeon began to nervously tell Hesh the story as she struggled to have the confidence to tell the story. As the talking continued my claws continued to tear into the mattress. I couldn't take this, I needed silence. My paws went over my head as I tried to contain the pain in my head. I found myself curling up into a ball of pain as my muscles tightened with great strain.

"Hey you guys," Flare interrupted the two.

"Yeah?" the pikachu asked.

"We should keep it down, Black doesn't look good," Flare told the two as he pointed at me.

"Oh, sorry," Hesh said as he scratched the back of his head. The room became quiet and the only noises we heard were from outside the room. My pounding headache continued as we all waited for Alex to return. Although, the headache wasn't my biggest concern, it was Kana.

'They don't even know...' I thought in my head, 'How am I supposed to tell them that she's gone. Especially Flare. I mean the two of them were best friends, I know Flare cares for Kana,' I thought. I tried to take my mind off her just until my head recovered, but the image of Skull Face in her form haunted me.

'It's all my fault, if I wasn't endangering everyone then she'd be okay. Not just her though, everyone. Everyone who died last night died because of me.'

'I should have left when I had the chance long ago, why did I bother trying to be normal?'

Thoughts of my guilt continued to cycle through my mind until the door to our room opened. Walking in the room was Alex with a bunch of bags.

"Hey guys, I got some late breakfast," Alex said with a weak smile.

Point of View Aiden

"Why in the Hell do I have to come with you?"

"Because you owe me," I replied to the servine named Lucy. The grass type followed a few footsteps behind me as I held a map out in front of me. My body was pretty stiff from my injuries, but nothing a night at the pokecenter wouldn't fix.

"Stupid charmander," Lucy muttered, "I still don't get why you bothered saving me, did I not try to kill you last night, or maybe you liked it?"

"Just follow me," I replied to her. "Okay listen, I helped you last night, so do me a small favor and watch my back for this meeting," I told the snake pokemon.

"Meeting, with who?"

I let out a sigh as I folded up my map. "A meeting with Crimson Dawn. I'm meeting an espeon named Vincent."

"Crimson, why would you want anything to do with those scumbags?"

"Because, they're holding my human hostage. They said if I helped them capture that umbreon they'd give my human back to me. So… I helped them, but I don't know if I trust them honestly."

"Ouch," Lucy said with surprise as she caught up with me. "So, you just want me to make sure they don't off you or something?" Lucy inquired.

"I'd hate to think they are lying, if they are lying I don't know what I'm going to do," I began to say as a shudder ran through my body, "But yes, if they do anything, please just help me."

"Tfff, you're such a wuss," the servine laughed as a vine smacked my back.

"Hey!" I snapped as a stinging pain agitated my back.

"Just relax charman-"

"It's Aiden!"

"What ev," Lucy said dismissively with a wave of her hand. "As I was saying. I'll help you, but only because those bastards fucked with the wrong servine. The moment you get your dumbass friend back, I'ma bust some-"

"No-no-no!" I frantically interrupted, "I don't want trouble, I just want help if things go bad."

"Really? You really are a wussy charmander. Those bastards took your friend, aren't you pissed? They could have made him a slave this whole time. On top of that, look at what they did to me!" Lucy yelled with anger as she opened her mouth and one of her vines showed me the spot that she once had teeth. "That bastard Mandus… he tortured me. I'm a modified pokemon so I heal quickly, but those teeth won't just grow back. On top of that, the freak tortured me in other ways as well, if I didn't escape... " Lucy began to say as her anger became silence, "If I didn't escape, I don't know what would be happening right now. I tried to act tough, but truthfully, I've never been so terrified in my life," Lucy said quietly.

"Listen, I'm sorry you went through that, but if I just get my human back, I just don't care really. You can do what you want after, I won't stop you."

"Fine, then make your reunion quick so I can kick this pokemon's ass," Lucy said more energy than a moment ago.

"Yeah, I'll try," I said with a nod.

The two of us navigated until we were near the outskirts of the city. I glanced at my map and I checked to make sure we were in the right area, but this couldn't be our meeting spot. A large metal fence surrounded a big open field of grass. In big long rows in the grass were tombstones.

"This can't be it?" I said with confusion as I glanced at the map.

"Let me see it." Lucy quickly snatched the map from me and glanced at it. "Hmmm." the servine glanced at the map before she glanced at a street sign behind us and then at a sign that was the name of the graveyard. "Yeah, this is it. Prob chose this place so they can bury us right where they killed us," Lucy said what I hoped was a sick twisted joke.

"Not funny," I growled as I walked through the open gate of the large cemetery. A soft breeze blew through the air as we walked down a path to the center of the cemetery. The tombstones seemed to all be in peak conditions. The gravekeepers did a fair job at preserving this place, everything here was pretty peaceful, despite how depressing these places can be. My eyes widened at the sight of the white espeon standing beneath a gigantic tree that provided shade to him and a few other tombstones below it.

"Where is David," I whispered to myself as I sprinted towards the espeon. I slid to a stop with my fists clenched as I tried to find the power not to attack him on the spot. "Where is he!" I yelled at the top of my lungs with fury.

"Aiden, this is a place for mourning, please respect that," the espeon calmly responded to me, completely unfazed by my anger.

"Listen you little albino prick, I've had it with your BS, I want to know where David is now!"

"He is here," Vincent responded as he moved to the side, revealing the writing on a tombstone. My eyes froze on the writing on the tombstone. I couldn't read, but I could recognize one name on it, 'David Kent'.

"What… you're… you're bullshitting me," I said to the espeon as I continued to look at the tombstone. "Why are you doing this, just give him back," I continued to say as the writing only looked more and more like how his name was spelled with each passing second.

"This is where your trainer has been the whole time, I'm sorry Aiden," Vincent said with empty emotions.

I locked my eyes on the espeon for a full minute, but his eyes didn't look like the eyes of a liar, only the eyes of someone who was looking down at me. I fell to my knees in front of the tombstone as I placed one hand on it and slowly slid it over the carved writing. "I can't read it… I don't even know what it says, I don't even know if any of this is true," I spoke frantically as my eyes began to grow heavy.

Lucy let out a long sigh, "In loving memory of: David Kent. ." Lucy read aloud.

"But… how?" I cried out as tears began to fall from my eyes, "What happened to my friend?"

"About three months back your human was trapped in a building where he burned alive with a few others. He was a journalist that did a lot of things on illegal activity, he angered the wrong group and he was targeted."

"No… not like that, anything but that," I choked out as I began to sob on the ground. I couldn't bear the image of him trapped in a building that was on fire.

"I'm sorry Aiden. I found you shortly after all of this, your mind couldn't handle the stress of losing someone so important so it just blocked everything out. I found you shortly after that, you were just the pokemon I needed at the time. I'm terribly sorry for manipulating you just for this outcome, I really do wish I could reunite you with your trainer."

"Just go," I muttered.

"Aiden, if there is anything you want just-"

"I said get the fuck away from me!" I lashed out as I tackled the espeon to the ground and began to strangling him. I pushed tightly as he struggled to get air and tried to claw at me, but I only increased the pressure. "You fucking shit! You made me hurt people because of a lie! You don't care about anyone, that's why you killed your-"

"Aiden stop!" Lucy yelled at me as her vines grabbed my arms and yanked me off him. I tried to yank on the vines in a desperate attempt to free myself, but every bit of energy left me and I just laid flat on the ground in tears. I sobbed out loud as the espeon panted for air while getting up.

"Anyways, I think I'll be taking my leave now. Aiden, one day I promise I will do something to make this right. I know you won't forgive me, I'm not worthy for forgiveness," Vincent said before he began to walk away.

As I continued to sob I felt Lucy's vines release me. The servine then turned as she began to walk away, "Anyways, sorry about your luck, but I gotta-"

"Please dont!" I cried out as I grabbed her tail, "Ivy, please don't leave me to!"

"Ivy?" the snivy replied with confusion.

"Please don't leave me again!"

"You're really starting to piss me off!" she snapped as she drug me along with her. "Let me go!" she yelled as her vines pried my hands off her. "I don't know who the fuck I remind you of, but I am not this person!" the grass type yelled at me as she looked around for Vincent. "Wait, where did he go?" she asked out loud. "Great, you made me lose him!" the servine yelled as she turned back towards me. "Alright fine, you want me to stay, then buy me something to freaking eat I'm starved and pissed."

I remained on the ground for about a minute before I responded, "I'm... broke."

"Ughhhh, alright, time to get a meal the good old street way," Lucy said as a devious sneer formed on her face, but it went away as I continued to lay on the ground sobbing. "Will you just get a grip on yourself and shut up!" Lucy yelled as a vine wrapped around my waist and forced me up. I was about to say something, but a vine smacked me straight across the face.

"Listen, I'm about one more tear away from leaving you. So, stop the waterworks or you can deal with your own problems."

"Okay… I'll try," I whimpered as I wiped my tears away. The tears did not stop, but I was at least able to force myself to not break down again.

"That's better. I guess I still owe you for saving me last night, so leave lunch on me. Just get a grip on yourself before then."

Point of View Stark

It was now around mid afternoon and there was still no sign of her. She was supposed to be here already, about an hour ago actually. I paced back and forth in the forest just outside of Shalour city. An impatient scowl escaped me as I began to really lose my cool. My ears rose up from the sound of of twigs snapping.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Stark, I got tied up in all the aftermath of last night," Naomi said with an uneasy smile as she walked towards me.

"Guess I was getting nervous over nothing then," I responded with instant relief. Naomi and I nuzzled up against each other as I wrapped my neck around hers and she did the same.

"But Stark, we need to talk about a lot of things," Naomi said as she pulled away from me and began to look around as if she was expecting someone to be watching.

"what's on your mind?" I asked as I looked around as well.

"Stark… I don't know how to say this, but last night you really messed up," Naomi told me.

"Yeah… Well I would have done things differently had I known you were alive."

"Stark, these pokemon were my friends. Black especially, him and I were close."

"Wait are you saying, was their something betw-"

"No-no-no, not that" Naomi quickly defended.

"Well, then what is your relationship with them, I'm very confused with how you happened to get mixed up with the one pokemon I am after," I asked Naomi.

"Hmmm," Naomi began as she looked away. "Well, I suppose this story goes back a few weeks. It's kind of funny actually, I mean how lucky Black and that fennekin, Flare, were. Basically a Blaziken was trying to drown them by driving a van into a lake. Well, I happened to be on the scene because I was trying to get intel from this pokemon. Intel about Sam and Jack," Naomi told me as her eyes lowered away from mine and refused to show me how she was feeling. "I never got over what happened, I couldn't take it. I thought Jack killed you and I survived by pure luck. There was also Sam, I can never fucking forgive that monster," Naomi spoke tensely. "I swore that I was going to avenge you, I needed to so I could move on, at least I would have known they wouldn't come after me again."

"Why would you put yourself in danger like that? I would never want you to do that," I told the umbreon.

"Well… I wasn't exactly thinking straight," Naomi said as she looked up with a small smirk, "But my stupid decisions probably worked for the best. I ended up teaming up with Black and his friends, and we survived a battle with Jack's team. Then that Skull Face creature from last night confronted me with a deal. He told me if I helped Black learn dark matter he would help me kill Jack and Sam. I accepted the deal, and over the small time I spent training Black we became good friends I guess. He's a nice guy, kind of makes me sad that things are the way they are."

"I see," I said with a nod.

"Anyways, the events shortly led up to me being reunited with you last night. Now, I'd like to hear your side of the story, what have you been doing this whole time?"

I froze for a moment from the question, my mind began to come up with an appropriate answer that she could understand. "Well," I began nervously before I straightened out my face, "I survived as well. Genesis saved me, they also altered my body a bit, so I now have blue eyes. I'm not a reanimation if that's what you were thinking, of course I don't even know your background with Genesis."

"Genesis was the one who saved me as well," Naomi said with shock, "Then they lied to us!" Naomi yelled out with fury, "Those assholes knew it and they kept us a secret from each other!"

"Hey, calm down," I nervously asked Naomi, which she let out a sigh and calmed herself.

"I'm still pissed about that, but continue your story," Naomi said as she sat down.

"Anyways… Genesis saved me, then they ended up making me work for Crimson. I guess I was their spy, so all I did was collect info on them while pretending to work for them."

"Oh, so you know a lot of things about Crimson?" Naomi said with a smirk as she leaned closer to me.

"I know quite a bit," I admitted.

"You'll have to tell me all of this later, but first I think we need to talk about some other things."

"Like what?"

"A lot of stuff having to do with last night," Naomi said with a stern voice.

"I said I was sorry for trying to abduct Ryder."

"No… not that. Let me just try and get this list straight. Last night you injured and nearly killed a croagunk names Tyson, Aiden, a leafeon named Dante, and then you later tried to kill everyone else despite you being injured…"

"Yeah… I had a long night," I responded nervously as I inched away from her.

"Stark… there is something you need to know… That leafeon, he's my brother, and you almost killed him."

Point of View Aiden

A few hours passed since I was in the cemetery with Lucy. The two of us were now hiding out in some crappy, unfinished underground tunnel. My tail flame was the only light in the darkness, yet this didn't seem to bother Lucy. I leaned against a wall with my tail resting near my feet. For the past hour I have been staring at the eternal flame. Lucy rested against the same wall, although she kept a small distance between each other. My tears had ceased quite a while ago, but my sniffled could be heard throughout the tunnel. This all had to be a lie, I did not just go through all of that just to find out he was gone. I can't even begin to imagine what I have left in this life, getting my trainer back was the only thing keeping me running.

"Are you going to eat the sandwich I stole for you?" Lucy asked me. I glanced down to see the sandwich she got for me. I was hungry, but I couldn't even begin to think of eating food right now.

"I'm not hungry," I quietly answered the servine in a tone that lacked any energy.

"Ughhh, how long are you going to mope over this?" Lucy scowled as she grabbed the sandwich for herself.

"David isn't someone I'm just going to forget, ever."

"Okay, then tell me about him, how did you meet this human and stuff?" Lucy asked as she stuffed her face. "Not that I care, but if it'll get it off your chest then go for it."

I remained silent for a moment as I stared at my tail flame. After about a minute I let out a depressed sigh, "David was my best friend. He kind of saved me when I was young. My parents didn't really want me, guess I wasn't supposed to be born… So, they abandoned me when I was very young. One day when I was half crazed from hunger I tried attack this little human kid who had food. He was still bigger than me, but I would have done anything for his meal," I told Lucy as I let out a small chuckle, "I was to weak to even put up a decent fight, couldn't even use fire yet because I didn't have anyone to help me learn. I think I tried biting him, but I collapsed before I could even do anything to this kid. Well, this kid was actually my future friend. He saw that I was just starved and gave me his meal. After that him and I were cool, he even took me home. Boy his asshole dad was pissed."

"Asshole Dad, is their a story behind that," Lucy asked me.

"David's Dad was a ass, yes he was. An abusive drunk who cheated on his wife, yet his ass still got rights over David. Bastard only cared about the child support checks, just what he needed to feed his addictions to drugs and alcohol. But, despite the shitty father, David managed to get a job and moved out. The dude worked his ass off with jobs and schooling. He eventually became a journalist and got enough money to move to Lumiose."

"Lumiose? Where were you originally from?"

"Originally from Laverre city, which is kinda far from here. I wonder why he was buried in Shalour… probably his mother, I know she lived near this city, but I didn't see a lot of her until David got more money so he could travel to see her. Nice women though."

"I see, I guess you two shared a lot of years then," Lucy commented.

"We did, David was my best friend…"

"So, now what're you going to do?"

I remained silent as I pondered this question, even though I have been asking myself this all day. "I honestly have no idea, I'm just so lost right now."

"Hmmm, I don't know what to tell you bub. I'm a bit screwed myself right now. I got separated from someone important to me, and now I'm going to have a hard time getting to him. While I do work with my friend Rhys, I'm not actually registered with Genesis… Rhys wouldn't let me, and now I have no way of getting near a Genesis base," Lucy said with an annoyed scowl.

"Well… here's to being screwed," I said as I weakly rose my hand and made a fist.

Point of View Gray

I glanced upward from the crowded setting of people and pokemon outside of the pokecenter to see the open sky. Today would have been any other boring day if none of this happened, we'd possibly be training right now, but instead all of this happened. My eyes came back down to earth as I began to navigate through the busy crowd of pokemon and humans. This place was a mess after all the events from last night, most pokemon didn't even get a room to themselves from what I heard, but our team was lucky due to Black's connections.

"Gray!" A voice called out from the rowdy crowd. I turned back to see a bandaged up flareon weaving through the crowd.

"Zack," I said with a small bow so I could remain formal with my former leader.

"No need to bow," Zack quickly laughed out.

"Za- ur sir, looks like you had a rough night, are you sure you should-"

"You can just call me Zack, I don't know why everyone has to be so formal, I don't care for it. But, I am fine, I'm just overwhelmed with everything right now. And I still haven't even had a second to see my son, is he awake yet?" Zack inquired from me.

"Your son is awake, he's just having some severe headaches. I don't know why though. Any word on who that greninja was?"

"No," Zack quickly answered, "I wish she would have at least told us what happened to him, she just put him on the floor and left."

"I wonder," I said to myself as I thought about the strange greninja, "I wonder if she had anything to do with that thing from last night," I said to Zack.

"You mean that thing that was called Skull Face? Tff, I got a serious bone to pick with Naomi next time I see her. She knew something like that was plotting against my son and she kept quiet, she's just lucky I didn't have time to deal with her," Zack muttered.

"And what about Isaac, he was seriously injured last night?"

A small smile formed on Zack's maw, "Don't worry about him, he's already up and moving. I talked to him a bit this morning, he told me you and everyone fought well last night."

"I was just trying to find Kana and Bl-urr Ryder," I corrected myself.

"You know, you waste a lot of potential with that trainer of yours. You would have probably made a huge difference if you stayed in WPA this whole time."

"Well… it's the world I tried to help that changed me, I'm not really the absol I used to be. I guess I'm full of a lot of bitter emotions now," I told Zack.

"Well, you should come back to WPA, a lot of things have changed since then. You've been through hard times, I think it has made you stronger, you know what it is like to suffer, and I know you'd want to prevent it from happening to someone else," Zack offered.

"Join… back?" I said with astonishment. I tried to say something else, but I didn't even know how to respond.

"Yes, join back. There are plenty of team openings. If you really wanted, I could even put you in charge of a nooby team, I know you're experienced."

"I-I don't know, I have my friends and trainer to look after."

"Hmmm, if you think that is what's best. The offer is always open for you though, so don't hesitate to ask if you change your mind," Zack said as he turned towards the pokecenter and glanced back at me.

"Anyways, I think I finally have a chance to check on my son. So, I'll talk to you later," Zack as I lost sight of him in the busy crowd.

Point of View Black

A sigh came from across the room, "Still no sign of Kana. She should have turned up by now," Flare said to himself as he paced around the room. Everyone has been cooped up in this room for the majority of the day, except Gray who disappeared earlier, and Alex who was busy with the police. Everyone continued to grow more and more worried about Kana, and I know what happened to her, yet I'm too much of a coward to tell them.

"I can't take this anymore, I need to go look for her," Flare finally broke as he went for the door.

"Hey! WPA told us to stay here while they look for her!" Hesh shouted out as he ran in front of the door and created a barrier.

"My best friend is missing, how can you expect me to sit in here all day just pretending that she isn't missing!" Flare snapped at the pikachu.

"These WPA guys are resourceful, I'm sure they'll get her soon," Hesh responded as he kept his posture tall and didn't wane with his position.

"Move," Flare growled as his fur stood on end. Hesh opened his mouth to say something, but someone knocked on the door.

"Now what?" Hesh mumbled as he pushed a door up next to the door and opened it up.

"I hope I'm not intruding on anything, but I was curious if I could see my son," A voice came from outside the door.

"Gah, not now," I muttered quietly as the flareon was allowed to enter.

"Yeah, he's right there," Hesh pointed over towards me.

"Wait," Flare interrupted the flareon as he headed towards me. "What about Kana, has anyone found her yet?" Flare desperately asked the flareon. My Dad kept a straight face as Flare looked up to him with hope.

"I have a team on the case, I'm sure she'll show up soon. Shalour is a big city, maybe she just got lost yesterday," Zack said as he gave him a reassuring smile, but I saw through it, my Dad was lying. I could tell he had no idea what to expect, he's probably only holding off the truth to avoid further problems in his day.

"I just hope she shows up soon, this isn't like her," Flare moped as he sat down on the floor and waited patiently in a depressed state.

"I promise we'll put everything into finding her," My Dad said before he turned to face me. I buried my head into the pillow on my bed as I tried to not show him my depressed state. That and my head still ached.

"Ryder, how're you feeling?" My father asked.

"Like shit," I bluntly answered.

My Dad remained silent for a moment, which caused me to look towards him. The flareon stared off in a trance before he looked towards me.

"Listen, I'm sorry you had to go through what you went through last night. This all happened because of some loose ends I didn't clean up many years back."

"Wait, what?!" Hesh piped up, "'The Hell do you have to do with all of this?"

"I suppose an explanation should be given, so I'll start from the beginning," My dad said as he sat on the ground to make himself comfortable for what I was expecting to be a long story. "Many years back when I was still in my youth, I ended up in trouble. To make a very long and depressing story short, a lucario named Mandus helped me out of this problem. During all of this I lost some important things and I was pretty angry. Afterwards I was craving justice for what happened to me, which the ones who did me wrong was Genesis. That lucario Mandus and I teamed up and formed what you know as the World Peace Association."

"Wait, you're telling me that the one responsible for this is with WPA?"

"No… He was with WPA, but one day he left us for reasons I didn't understand. His only explanation was telling me that my cause is just a revenge quest and that true salvation will never come with WPA's methods. I haven't seen that lucario once until last night, to think he was plotting to kidnap you Ryder," My Dad said as he looked towards me.

'Either way… my friends were hurt because of me, I shouldn't have put them in danger,' I thought to myself as I gnashed my teeth together in self disgust.

"Some really dry storytelling, but I get your story," Hesh said with a nod.

"Wait," Flare said as he stood up, "Why would you let that lucario get away if he's dangerous?"

"Because, he is a powerful opponent. Only one pokemon I know comes near his level."

"And where is this pokemon when they are needed?" Hesh asked.

"She works alone most of the time. She has trust issues, so usually she takes on missions where she can be on her own," My father answered.

"I see, must be an interesting women if she has a chance of beating the lucario that destroyed WPA last night," Hesh teases.

"I wouldn't talk so lightly about that, pikachu," my father spoke sharply.

"Oh no, I didn't mean any offense dude, I just open my mouth a lot, sorry," Hesh apologized nervously.

"It's fine. She is an interesting one though, not very social. Anyways, I'd like to change the topic away from that wretched prick Mandus, I already had to put up with him all night," The flareon said as he looked towards me with a smile, "Ryder, I didn't have even a second with you yesterday. I'm sorry this is late, but happy late birthday!" my father exclaimed, which forced me to cringe from both pain and embarrassment.

"Uhhh, thanks," I groaned out with pain from my pulsing headache.

"Oh sorry, I forgot your head was hurting," my Dad apologized.

"It's fine," I blandly responded.

"Anyhoo, we'll have more time to talk. I think you've all earned time for rest, so please take it easy." The flareon gave everyone a small nod before he exited the room.

I exhaled a sigh as I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep. Time passed by as I slowly fell asleep.

Hours later I found myself awakening in the middle of night. The only noise that could be heard was a snoring from Hesh and the ticking of a clock mounted above the door. I glanced around the room. Alex seemed to be back, but he was dead asleep with Ebony in his lap with his hand resting on her back. Flare was asleep in a corner, which left Hesh propped up against the wall snoring out loud with drool escaping from the side of his mouth. It took a moment for me to realize it, but Gray seemed to be the only member of our party that was missing, although I'm sure he was tangled up with my Dad's WPA thing.

My eyes went back towards Flare to see him sleeping alone. My heart began to weigh down as the sight of the fox reminded me of Kana. "I'm sorry Flare, it's because I'm here," I whispered as I pushed myself off the bed. My left paw and shoulder ached from the wounds from the previous night, but that didn't matter to me.

"I'm such a fuck up," I told myself as I jumped off the bed. Upon landing a shock wave of pain ran through my injured body and caused me to grunt in pain, but I was quick to control myself. "I knew it was wrong for me to stay here, now Kana is dead," I continued to tell myself as I quietly pushed a chair up next to the door. I slowly pulled myself up and pulled down on the door handle and a click echoed through the air as the door slowly opened. I jumped off the chair and escaped through the small opening of the door.

The halls of the pokecenter were silent as I navigated my way to the first floor. I only had to travel down one floor before I reached the bottom. Without any hesitation I continued towards the exit. I pushed the door open with my head and a cold breeze from the night air blew into the pokecenter. Slowly I walked outside as the doors shut me off from the pokecenter. My head turned back towards the pokecenter, but I was quick to shake off any hesitation.

"I won't be responsible for anymore death," I said out loud as I walked through the streets of Shalour. "First my family, Crystal, and then everyone who died against Mandus, and now Kana." The night air tonight was frigid, and the streets were empty. "If this'll keep everyone safe, then I'm fine with being on my own, I can handle it again." For around a half hour I walked through the streets until I saw someone walking down from the other end. A white furry mass of fur with a sickle pointing up from its head came my way.

"Black, aren't you supposed to be recovering?" Gray questioned me as I walked past him. "Hey!" He called out as he walked in my tracks.

"It's over, Gray," I said to the absol as I kept my eyes forward.

"Over? What do you mean by that?"

A bitter laugh escaped me as I stopped walking away from him, but I didn't look back. "You were probably the biggest asshole I met in my life. You always preached to everyone that I was trouble. For the wrong reasons you were right, maybe it was one of those absol senses that made you that way."

"Black…" Gray said with a pause, "What are you doing out here? I was just talking to your father, and he's pretty worried about you."

"Gray, I feel that you're one of the few people I can face right now. I'll entrust you with two very important pieces of information. I hope you know how to deliver it back to everyone else," I said aloud with a pause.

"As of today I am leaving Alex's team to seek answers I won't find here."

"Wait, you're leaving, but what about everyone else?"

"It's fine, I'm just endangering everyone with my presence. Besides, I don't belong here."

"You can't just leave us like-"

"Secondly, Kana is at rest." Gray's face went from furious to a confused frown.

"What… What do you mean she's at rest?"

"She's gone, just like everyone else who I've ever gotten close to."

"You're… you're wrong, Kana can't be gone," Gray stammered as he tried to find a proper response.

"Truthfully, it can happen to anyone. For a long time I let myself believe we were invincible, but I was incredibly foolish." Gray remained silent as a strong wind blew through the night. "This is goodbye, take care Grayson." Without another word I began to walk away from the stunned absol. He didn't bother chasing after me, perhaps it was due to him seeing what I've done to Kana.

I walked until I came to the outskirts of the city. I walked along a fence that separated the city from the forest until I found the opening I created earlier when I was with that servine. I squeezed through the hole and began walking through the forest. The ground inclined but I kept heading forward. Around half way up the incline I looked back towards the city one last time.

"You guys may have noticed, but you've changed me, and I won't forget that. You were all like a second family to me, but I won't allow anyone else to get hurt, I swear."

With my last moment of reflection, I continued on my way. From here on out, I'm seeking answers. I don't know what lies ahead, but I will not falter.

Chapter End

Author Note: Well, here is my 100th chapter! It has been a long road to get here, but one I don't regret going down. Writing this story has been a lot of fun up to this point, but I am afraid I am announcing that I am taking a small hiatus from writing this story. I've been writing non stop for a while and I want to take some time to rest and read some other stories I love on FF, and maybe I will take some of this time to finish the third chapter of my other story heh heh. Yeah, that one really got put on the back burner lol. Anyhoo, expect to see an update sometime between mid to late May. If I decide that I want a longer break I'll post an update in this author note. Thanks for reading.

Thanks to my boy genericgamer207 for editing this chapter

POV Anonymous

I woke up with an extremely groggy feeling. I opened my eyes, and blinked a couple of times, but my vision didn't change from darkness. I sent a spark into the air trying to see something for a split second. The snap of light revealed a surrounding cage, but not much around it.

'Where am I?'