x

Chapter 80

I Miss You

You know, I used to hate Plagued Ones. Like, really, REALLY hate them.

I spent pretty much every single day thinking up ways of getting rid of them. I mean, they're monsters ruining everything! They took everything away from me! They didn't deserve to live! They all deserved to die, and I was going to be the one to kill them all!

I was going to be the one to kill them because I was Zekra, the all-powerful Zorua! Nothing could stop me when I could turn into literally anybody! I could turn into Arceus if I saw him even once! And then I'd just have to trick him into using his powers, and just like that, I'd become a god! A GOD that can end the world with a single attack if I really wanted to! I knew I could kill all of the Plagued Ones when I had that power in me.

And then I actually became a Plagued One.

Well… a lot happened after that. A lot of stuff. I went crazy and went on rage-filled killing sprees, I went suicidal and threw myself off a cliff, I became a total doormat and pretty much died on the inside, and then got my guts ripped out and blood spilled all over the place at least twenty times. I'm really glossing over what happened to me, since even MORE CRAZY stuff happened than that, but it's a really long story that I don't feel like sharing. I already told the Eevee family the story and I kind of don't want to say it again. Took me like two hours to tell it all and by the time I was done, my throat hurt and I didn't think I could talk for the rest of the day. So I just told them that I had to go somewhere and they just let me go. They really didn't want to, but they trusted me, so they were pretty cool with just letting me go. Or maybe they let me go since they knew that they couldn't stop me. You know, since I literally can't die…

I kind of wish I didn't have to leave them behind honestly. Well, leave them AGAIN. They were really nice to me when I crashed at their place after I gave up on everything and took me in even though I was pretty much a broken mess. They were patient with me and tried to make me happy. And I'm really thankful that they did all of those things for me and even came after me when they thought I was in danger after I had to go back to Shiron. But I had to leave them a third time. Yeah, it's no fun, but I have a place in life and I have to be there. So I told them goodbye after I told them my entire story and then headed out to go somewhere I needed to be. I wasn't about to let anything stop me.

Except food. I need food. I haven't eaten in a long time.

And that's what I'm doing right now. I'm in some jungle and I'm in the trees, looking for some prey. And it's dark too so that nobody notices me. I mean, it's okay to hunt in the day, but hunting at night is cooler. It's easier to blend in and it's just way more thrilling.

I can't remember the last time I actually hunted something. It used to be… so boring really. Because that's what depression does to you. It makes everything you used to like really, really boring. You feel tired of life and you get disconnected from the world and everything. It's not fun.

But I'm not depressed anymore! I feel great! I haven't felt this way in a really long time. I feel like I did back when I first made my resolution to kill all the Plagued Ones. I feel all powerful and invincible. I feel just like I did way back then! Except… there's one small difference between the me of now and the me from way back then. Well, a huge difference.

I don't hate Plagued Ones like I used to anymore.

Ah, hold on. I'll explain that thought in a second. There's a Clefable walking below me. Those things are great! I just used to have a bit of a hard time killing them because they were bigger than me. I only saw them when I couldn't transform too well. But not anymore! Now I'm bigger than them!

And I can kill them way better than I could as a Zorua!

I jump down from my branch and I land in front of that Clefable. It starts panicking and tries to attack me, but I'm not scared. I tackle it down and I push my claws into its chest. I feel the tendrils crawl out of my claws and dig into its body. I grin as one second later, they go into its heart and make it explode.

And then the Clefable quits struggling and dies.

The weird tentacles get out of the body and then slip back inside of me. It feels kind of weird, but I don't care too much since this power is awesome. I can kill anybody in like one second thanks to this! And I've got so many other awesome powers! I can feel them going through me! I just… don't know how to use them yet. I don't even know what they look like.

But I'll figure it out. I know I will! I've figured out how to kill hundreds of Pokémon at once, how to instant-kill anyone with my heart-exploding power, and how to make my claws really tough so that they can slice through anything! Surely figuring out the rest of my powers won't be that much harder!

But first I need to eat. I'm hungry. I'll eat this Clefable and then I'll go kill a bunch of other Pokémon in the area. So I pick up the corpse and I drag it up into a tree branch. And then I start eating it, sinking my fangs into it and savoring all of the salty sweetness of its blood and the tenderness of the meat and how it's still so warm from getting killed literally a minute ago… There's nothing better than fresh meat! No fruit or berry or grilled meat will ever replace the satisfaction of eating your own kill! You can practically taste the effort in the blood! Makes it taste a little bit sweeter really. Literally. Kind of like someone sprinkled sugar into the blood when you've killed something that was scared.

I don't know. I just like how it tastes.

It's so good.

...

…

Ugh, finally. Sometimes it takes her forever to stop talking. Nice to have some sweet silence for once. Maybe now I can actually say something.

I'm the only one here who knows how to do a real introduction here. I'm Venri, and I'm like three things at once. I'm a bit of a weird creature, but hey, I'm not ashamed of what I am. I'm the reason Zekra doesn't hate Plagued Ones as much. She still hates them, just not as much thanks to me.

What the… Venri?! Why are you here?! I THOUGHT YOU WENT AWAY!

Hahah, you actually believed that? No, I've always been here. ALWAYS. I've just been watching you. You're fun to watch, you know that? Especially when you don't think anybody is around.

But you disappeared! You and I became one! I thought you were me now!

As if that would actually happen. Yeah, we're sharing the same body now and you've got all of my power and you're invincible and blah blah blah, but I'll never disappear. I'm still here with you. I just don't show up in the real world because why should I? I can talk to you just fine here. But if you really don't like talking to your own thoughts, I can always show up in the real world. I can do that way better now, now that you're a Zoroark.

Yeah… yeah, just do that for me. This is weird.

Hahahah. Yes, "weird". You're still amusing as ever, Zekra.

And then the next thing I know, there's a Sableye sitting next to me on the tree branch. She's smiling at me, waving her claws at me and making her eyes do that weird shine thing. I hate it when she does that. Ugh, I don't get why she does that.

"Because it's fun to creep you out," Venri then says outside of mind, speaking through the Sableye.

Ugh, that's right. She can read my thoughts. She's connected to my brain in the first place…

"And I'm you, don't forget that," she adds. "You creep a lot of Pokémon out, you know. So naturally I like to do it too. But I'm much more willing to admit that it's fun to creep others out and that there's nothing wrong with traumatizing Pokémon sometimes. I'm not oblivious to my creepy ways, unlike some Zoroark."

"Shut up, Venri," I growl at her. "Let me eat in peace. I've got a lot on my mind and I don't need you messing up my brain even more."

Amazingly Venri actually does shut up. She sits there and lets me eat while she looks down at the jungle below. I watch her while I eat. It's really weird to see her again. I mean, when the two of us synchronized, I really thought that she was going to disappear. I thought… she became me. Literally. I thought that I was feeling so strong and powerful again because she became me and all of her attitude went into me. I thought that some of the thoughts in my head were really hers. But I guess that's not true. She's still here with me. She's still got her own thoughts. We're connected and one, but at the same time, we're still kind of separated and can talk to each other as two different entities.

So I guess being synchronized just means that we're a little more connected than before. And you know, I'm way more powerful and can kill things more easily thanks to her. And a Zoroark instead of a Zorua.

This synchronization thing sounds more complicated than I thought it was going to be. I really thought we'd just turn into one Pokémon instead of just share power together and still kind of remain separate. Maybe we're just special since Venri is special. I mean, she's mutated thanks to me hurting her with that anti-plaguing pin, so maybe we're special like that.

I don't know. I kind of don't care. I'm awesome and powerful again thanks to whatever happened between us. And that's all that counts.

I keep eating and Venri keeps sitting with me. We don't say anything to each other for a while since there's nothing to really talk about. I imagine Venri is hungry too since she's sharing my stomach and can feel how hungry I am and likes the meat I'm tearing apart.

"You really are going to see Tear huh?" Venri then asks.

I choke on a piece of meat in my throat when she asks that. Venri frowns at me, and the next thing I know, I feel these tendrils come out of the insides of my cheeks and slide down my throat. I can't do anything as they slid down my throat and wrap around the meat lodged inside of me. Then they throw it out of my mouth before going back inside of my body. I really don't know how to react to whatever just happened to me, so I don't even bother trying to talk about it. But uggggggh, that was creepy. Those tentacles felt so wet and gross. Was like a bunch of tongues were going down my throat…

Note to self, don't ever choke on anything again.

"You better not," Venri then says with this glare. "I don't like saving you from a death that was all because you don't know how to swallow food right. That's got to be the stupidest way to die."

"Would you quit reading my thoughts?! It's really…" I start sighing and shake my head since there's no point in arguing with what's basically myself. "Ahh, alright, yeah, I'm going to go see if I can find Tear again. I wasn't lying when I was thinking about that earlier and told Frazil and Lyra and Crystelle I was going to find my friends."

"I know you weren't lying," Venri says to me. "You really can't lie to me. I know what you're going to do when you find him. But I'm trying to ask is if you really think he'll take everything you're going to say to him without having a meltdown."

"Well, I think so," I say to her. "I mean, I don't know if I'll actually tell him about the secret, but I at least want to apologize for running away from him all this time. I can't imagine how much pain he's been in. And I guess if he doesn't hate me for being such a wimp, then I'll tell him the truth. It just really depends…"

Venri makes this weird laughing sound that kind of sounds like a snort. She looks over at me and she's doing that weird laugh. I squint my eyes at her and I think about asking her what she finds so funny.

"Yimtri's going to kill you if you tell Tear about himself," she tells me, beating me to my question. "You know he was threatening you before, and you know that he really will go after you if he finds out. You willing to take those consequences?"

Hearing Yimtri's name again sends shudders down my spine. I haven't thought about him for a really long time… but yeah, just thinking about him gives me the chills. I still remember how close he was to killing me that one night. I remember how cold I felt even though I could feel the flames burning down the church we were in. I remember how much hate was sparkling in his eyes when he was so bent on murdering me. The flames made him look even creepier than he already is, like he was a demon straight out of the underworld ready to rip my soul out and eat it…

I sometimes can't believe that he's Tear. I mean, I know that Tear can be kind of nasty when he gets mad, but he at least doesn't murder anybody in cold blood like Yimtri does… he must have had some serious demons inside of him when he was still a human. I don't even think Venri is as bad as Yimtri even though she's… well, my own demons. And I have some pretty messed up demons apparently.

"And yet you still like him anyway," Venri interjects coyly, smiling all smugly. "And we both know why, don't we, Zekra?"

"If you're just going to keep responding to my thoughts instead of my voice, you might as well just go back to being a voice in my head!" I yell at her in exasperation.

Venri just laughs at me some more before she disappears. As soon as she disappears, I feel kind of weird. I feel like my head's less empty. I'm feeling less agitated and a whole lot more motivated to do… well, something. I don't really know what I want to do right this moment, but I feel really empowered right now for some reason.

It's because I'm back here again and synchronized with you.

What are you talking about?

Well you see, it works like this. When I'm in your head and I'm not talking to you or anything, you and I really are one Pokémon. You feel way better and way stronger. As you would call it, you feel "more awesome" when I'm quiet and just being you. My thoughts really do become yours and you can't tell which thoughts are mine and which are yours. There's no "you" and there's no "me". It's just "us". But when I'm in the real world or I'm talking to you like this, we're not totally synchronized anymore. You can still use your special powers and all, but it's just that you might not feel as confident as you could before because I'm not there. I'm being my own being and in order to do that, I have to take some things with me. That confidence is one of those things.

Oh… so you do kind of disappear then when we're synchronized.

Well, kind of. I mean, I'm still there and can kind of keep my mind separate from you, but I can't do much else. I just become you and watch it happen. It's like I'm watching a little performance really. But I don't really care. I know that I can break off the synchronization when I want to, like what I just did five minutes ago. And technically right now.

I get it. I think I understand this synchronizing stuff a little better now. It's just weird thinking that I'm two Pokémon sometimes. It's really hard to understand and yet it gives me all of these cool powers and confidence and stuff. And I get a feeling that I'm just scratching the surface of what I can do thanks to being synchronized with you…

Oh I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually! Can't possibly take too long. But I guess in the meantime, you've got a certain someone you need to go see.

Yeah… yeah, I guess I do. I've got to tell Tear I'm sorry. And maybe tell him other things too depending on how things go. And hopefully not have Yimtri kill me afterwards…

Well I can't promise anything. But at least he can't kill you as easily now! You're a lot stronger now. You can take him on if you have to. Hopefully. We'll be finding out soon!

And then Venri stops talking to me and I feel her synch up with me. I feel the reluctance in my heart go away, and there's like a weird ripple in my mind for a split second. It's hard to explain, but it's something that I see happen when Venri's mind merges with mine. It's kind of cool really.

But anyway! I've waited around long enough. I've gotten my food, I've rested and talked with Venri, I think it's best to get headed to a certain somewhere. I've got about three days to get there, but I'll make it there on time. I'm not too far away from Aurora Town. Besides! I can fly way faster nowadays. So I really could make it to the city in a day if I really wanted to. But I think I'll take my time. I mean, there's no reason to rush getting there... I need to give Tear and Novus and Nyx time to get to the town. They're not as fast as me since they don't have any awesome powers.

Well except Nyx. But she's a Darkrai, so of course she has awesome powers too. But I doubt that they're there right now. I can be a little slow.

I can avoid Tear a little while longer…

I'm about to get heading off, but then I notice something about the air. It doesn't feel right. It's weirdly gloomy and dark. I mean, I know it's night time and night is supposed to be like this, but it's stranger than usual. It's more sinister. It's almost like… like…

Like someone's watching me.

I hear leaves rustling, and I jump out of the way. The next thing I see is this weird black thing that kind of looks like a Seviper strike where I was standing a second ago. When it figures out I'm not there, it gets sucked into these bushes nearby. I don't waste any time looking toward those bushes. I'm not scared of whatever's trying to hurt me. They can't hurt me at all! I'm invincible!

And then I see it. There, standing in plain sight and not hiding in the bushes anymore, is the thing. I don't even know what it is. It's not any Pokémon I've seen before. It's this tall, black figure that doesn't actually have any shape. It's about as tall as me, but it doesn't have anything distinguishable about it. It's just this giant silhouette that looks like it's made out of black fire that keeps moving and flickering. And it's just staring at me with these glowing slits for eyes. And there's just no emotion on its face at all.

And I have to admit… it's pretty creepy. I mean, I've seen some pretty messed up stuff in my life. Trust me, I have. Not many things can faze me these days. But this thing… whatever it is… I don't know. There's just something about it that's so… wrong. Something unnatural and weird!

"Alright, I don't know what or who you are…" I say to it, forcing myself to sound like I'm not scared at all. "But clearly you don't want to just talk if you're just going to try and kill me while my back's turned."

The thing doesn't say anything to me. It just keeps looking at me.

And then, its face changes. Its eyes split so that it now has six red, slit eyes glaring at me, and something black and long starts growing out of its back. It gets bigger and bigger, bigger than whatever's standing in front of me, and then I find myself looking at that monstrous Seviper shadowy thing. It hisses at me and it's got tons of glowing teeth in its mouth, which I know can tear me right open and rip my guts out with just one bite.

I don't even get time to react as that Seviper shadow lunges at me and coils around me. I can feel it growing tighter around me, crushing my bones and making it really hard to breathe. I can't even let out a scream of pain or anything because of how strong this thing is. But I don't panic, because I know I won't die. I can get out of this. I know that I can. I have to!

I take my claw and I push it against the shadow the best I can, even though it's really hard to move with being strangled and all. I make those tentacles get out of my claws and try to go into the shadowy thing so it can make it explode. I mean, I know I won't kill the actual source of this shadow thing, but I can at least get rid of it so I can fight back.

But it doesn't work. The tendrils go into the shadow but they don't find anything. They can't find anything to latch onto. There's no heart that they can explode or any organs they can rip out and stuff. There's not even a brain or something that they can sink their ends into and mess up! It's just empty darkness. I try to do that weird thing I did with all those Plagued Ones where I make that giant bomb of energy, but then I see that Seviper thing's head lunge down at me. Its teeth are glowing with this black haze that flickers with orange and yellow light.

Now I know I shouldn't be concerned. I mean, I know that I can't die. I'm a Plagued One! Plagued Ones don't die! I mean sure, I'll be headless for a second, but Venri will make sure that my head stays connected to me by one of her tendrils and then put my head back on my body. Or she'll just grow me a new one. One of those two things. I personally would go for the first option since it sure sounds a lot less time consuming, if really gross and bloody, but I'm not the one who gets to decide how these regeneration things work.

But I don't feel that reassurance here. I feel like I'm actually going to die if I let that shadow thing bite my head off. I'm going to have my blood and guts spilled all over this jungle if I don't do something right now. I'm not going to live unless I get out of this bind. I don't know why I feel this way really. It's just some weird hunch I'm getting.

Then I figure out why I'm feeling this way as soon as I see that shadow monster standing there, controlling the thing binding me. I notice how familiar the weird haze on its body is and the weird, otherworldly glow of its eyes. There aren't any Pokémon that look like that, even with any special abilities.

That is… except for Pokémon that are special Plagued Ones like me.

Who can also kill Plagued Ones. Like me.

Uhhh… yeah, this isn't good.

But I've got this! I can stop this! I'm not going to die!

The next thing I know, Venri shows up in front of that shadow monster looking like a creepy-looking Zoroark. She attacks it and makes her claws creepily long. She sinks them into the shadow beast's head with a loud scream. But much to both of our horror, she doesn't get to cut off that thing's head like she wants to. Her claws actually get stuck into its head, like she's stuck in some tar or something like that. And she can't get them out either. She's pulling and tugging, but she can't get them out.

The only good thing that comes out of this is that the Seviper thing stops. It doesn't bite off my head, and it retreats back inside of the thing controlling it, dropping me onto the ground. That monster looks at Venri, and then it starts making this sticky black stuff wrap around her arms and consume the rest of her body. Venri just giggles evilly and vanishes.

She shows up again in my hair, peeking out of my mane with this twisted little smile on her face, now looking like a Sableye again.

"You can't hurt us," Venri proclaims smugly, twirling a strand of my hair around one of her fingers. "We're invincible! You really think you can beat both Zekra and I when it's just you, wannabe Plagued One?"

The shadow monster stares at us with that blank stare again. It still doesn't show any emotions. It doesn't even look like it's angry that it can't kill me or confused with why there's suddenly a Sableye that's popping in and out of existence. Because you know, I'm sure any normal creature would be confused with that. But not this thing. It's just staring at us.

But I do notice something weird going on with it. Its six eyes are shifting around a lot, merging into two eyes and then four eyes and then two eyes again. It's like it can't make up its mind about it wants to do with its face. And not only that, but something weird is happening to its body. All of the darkness covering its body is getting stronger, and a bunch of it is flying into the air, like it's trying to get rid of the shadowy stuff. But even though it's got a bunch of darkness flying off of it, more darkness just keeps taking its place. I don't get to see what's underneath all of that blackness. I just see quick flashes of green and lavender before it gets covered by darkness again.

I don't get to watch that shadow thing much longer, because then Venri disappears again. I'm waiting for her to pop up out of nowhere and scare me half to death, but then I feel the weird ripple in my mind and I know that she's synched back up with me. And as soon as that happens, I know that I need to strike while this shadow thing is doing weird stuff. I've got to kill this thing before it kills me.

I lunge at that shadow thing way faster than I was expecting. I blink, and then I'm suddenly in front of the shadow monster, kind of like some sort of awesome teleportation like what Venri does. I can see that shadow thing stagger when it sees how fast I move, and I can't help but laugh when I see that. So its emotionless thing really was just a show! It really isn't as strong as it was pretending to be!

Hah, I was so stupid for being scared of this thing. How many times do I have to keep telling myself this? I'm Zekra.

I'm Zekra, the unstoppable Zoroark! The slayer of all things plagued!

I plunge my claws into the chest of that monster. I send the tendrils into its body so that I can make its heart explode. Or whatever it has inside of it. It's got to have something that can explode and make it die. Venri will find it while she's in this thing's body.

"Where's Novus?"

I freeze up. The tendrils stop moving in the shadow monster's body. I'm just stuck, standing there like an idiot, my jaw dropping open as I look at the shadow monster's eyes. They're not panicked anymore. They're glued to me, looking at me with this literal fire burning behind its eyes.

How… how does it…

"There's no longer any reason to fight now that I know who you are," the shadow monster says in this warbled, evil voice. "Now where is Novus? He is not at Aurora Town even though Terron's group is there. You were all supposed to gather there. He was with Terron's group."

"Wait what? How do you know about that?" I try to ask, baffled by all of this. "How do you… why do you… what are you…"

My voice stops working. I've got so many questions, like how this thing knew we were all meeting at Aurora Town, why it wants to see Novus, and all sorts of stuff. But I'm just so confused that I can't talk anymore. So I just stand there. I don't even bother trying to get my hand out of that thing's body. Not that I could. It's probably stuck in there.

"I know who you are, Zekra," the shadow monster answers. "I know about your group and what all of you are trying to accomplish. You're working with Terron, Novus, the Dusk Mines leader, and that plagued Darkrai and all of you want to kill the Plagued Ones. I know everything about you and your group. Now tell me, where is Novus?"

I don't know how to respond to any of this. I just stand there, not knowing how this thing would know any of that. I mean, I know it could know about my friends because the whole world knows that the five of us are working together… But it shouldn't know about that last part. The Fellowship was telling everyone that we were helping the Plagued Ones. Nobody believes that we're trying to save the planet.

So then how…

"I am not patient, Zekra," the shadow monster says, tightening its grip around my claw so that I can feel myself sinking more into its weird, muddy flesh or whatever it is. "Where is Novus?"

"I don't… I don't know," I tell it, not knowing what else I'm even supposed to say. "He was supposed to be with Tear… I don't know."

The shadow monster stares at me for a second, and then it tosses my claw out of its body. I fall back and almost hit the ground, but I stop myself from doing that.

"We will meet again," that demon thing tells me. "I can't tell you what I am just yet, as there is still work to be done. But know that you have no reason to fear me."

Then that shadow monster slips into the jungle, disappearing from me.

"Hey! Hey wait!" I call after it.

I chase after that thing. I watch it move through the trees with this amazing amount of speed, going in between them and not hitting any of the branches at all. Every time it's about to hit a branch or not turn fast enough to avoid crashing into a tree and getting its face planted into the tree, it looks like it turns into liquid or something and it swerves out of the way. I wish there was another way to put it since it's weird, but that's the only way I can describe it! It's like its body just stops being solid, and then it starts moving way faster. It becomes like this blob that can move in ways that I don't think are physically possible for the weird, humanoid shape that shadow monster is taking on.

Even with my really fast speed so that it looks like I'm teleporting all over the jungle, I can't catch up to it. I'm always pretty far behind. I can't even touch it with my claws if I reach forward enough. So I start cutting down all of the trees to get to it. I mean, moving in a straight line is the fastest way to go! You don't lose acceleration when you do that. So that's what I do.

I take my claws and I start tearing down all of the trees that get in my way. I swipe at them with my claws, and then they get cut in half and fall down just like that! Even though they're really thick and big and tall, they're nothing for me. Cutting them down is so ridiculously easy. It's like slicing my claws through someone's face. It's really loud, and a bunch of wild Pokémon start running out of the jungle so that they won't get squished by all of the trees falling down, but I'm not exactly going for subtlety. I need to get that shadow monster! I need to know why it wants to find Novus and how it knows me! It can't avoid me if all of the trees get knocked down. And hey, maybe it'll get caught underneath one if I'm lucky. I'm pretty sure it's not strong enough to lift a giant tree off of it.

And yet somehow… I don't know how… that shadow thing keeps getting away from me. I can still see it way ahead of me, but it's able to avoid all of the trees and keeps running.

And then it runs out into this clearing, and it disappears.

I literally mean that. I mean, you'd expect that it would be way easier to see when there's no trees or plants or whatever growing anywhere, but that doesn't happen. Second I go into that clearing, that shadow monster's gone. It's just me all by myself, my claws still glowing and a whole bunch of the jungle behind me totally wrecked thanks to me.

I should have used that exploding power! That would have gotten that shadow monster! I mean sure, I'd destroy like all of the jungle by using it… but I really needed to catch that thing! I need to know what it's up to. I mean, it can't possibly be up to any good looking like some freaky looking demon and knowing all of that stuff about me and my friends. That's just… there's no way it could be good because of all that stuff!

Ugh. But it's too late for that now. It's gone and it's not like I can find it. Not like I have any more powers that can help me. Because I'm pretty sure I don't have any sort of awesome stalking powers that let me know where that shadow thing is. I think. I mean, I could, but I really don't know since I don't even know what I can really do anymore. I just have all of this power and none of it makes any sense!

What did merging give me exactly?!

Auuugh, forget this. FORGET THIS. I can't worry about this right now. I need to get to Tear. If that shadow thing was telling the truth, then he should be in Aurora Town right now. And it might go after him. I don't know why, but with everything's that been going on, it doesn't hurt to be safe. I need to keep him safe.

I need…

I need to talk to him about everything before something goes wrong. I don't know how much longer he's going to be in Aurora Town. This might be the only time I ever get to see him. I might not ever be able to track him down again if I don't take this chance.

I need to see him again, even if it's really going to be awful and awkward. I really, REALLY just need to see him. More than I need food and water. I feel my heart beating and my body shaking a little at just the thought of seeing him again. I don't know if it's because I'm nervous or excited. Maybe it's both. I don't know!

But… I have to see him. I have to talk to him again. Even if we don't ever talk again… I HAVE to talk to him and say some things to him.

I've been hiding from him for way too long. This has to stop now.

I get to Aurora Town way faster than I thought I would. I thought it would take me a day or something, but I actually get there in like half that time. I think it's because Venri was making it so I could fly way faster than I normally could. Like, it felt like I had a constant tailwind behind me or something while I was flying. I don't know. I just know that by the time I show up in Aurora Town, it's almost noon and I feel really tired.

I haven't slept for a while. I don't think I've slept for over a day. So by the time I land by some water fountain in the middle of the abandoned city, I wonder if I should just crawl into an abandoned house, hope to find a nice bed, and then sleep for a little while. I mean, I can barely take in any of my surroundings, so I figure that taking a good nap wouldn't hurt. I need to be fully awake to talk to Tear. He doesn't deserve to have me half-asleep the whole time I talk to him. I need to talk to him with my full attention.

So I stumble on over to the nearest house and go through all of the rooms until I find myself a nice bed. It's a nice bed, and it's not one of the piles of hay either. It's an actual bed, like the one I used to have when I was living with Frazil and Lyra. And it can actually fit me even though I'm way bigger now. So as soon as I see it, I climb on into it and I pass out immediately.

When I wake up again it's way later in the afternoon. The sun isn't going to be setting any time soon, but I really thought I'd get up sooner than this. I thought I'd only be asleep for like an hour or something. Looks like I was way more tired than I thought I was.

Oh well. I do feel a lot better. My brain's not as fuzzy and I feel a little more energized. So I stretch a little, and then I get out of that house and start walking around Aurora Town. I start looking at all of the abandoned shops and houses, seeing them everywhere I go, and I start to remember when this place actually had life to it. You know, when Pokémon actually used to live here and Plagued Ones didn't destroy the whole place. It kind of doesn't feel like there was anybody living here ever, what with how a bunch of paint is starting to chip off buildings, how there's no food anywhere, a bunch of windows are broken, none of the doors are shut, and the general silence everywhere, but I know it was real. I know that this used to be a place of happiness and life.

Just like my old home was.

Now they've both been ruined by Plagued Ones, and it's only a matter of time before this whole world is too.

I feel this pain in my heart when I look at all of the emptiness around me and this lump forming in my throat, but I don't let it get to me. I'm going to make sure that the Plagued Ones don't do this to anymore places. I'm going to stop all of this craziness.

I feel a little better after I think that, so I keep going through the city. I look around for any sign of life, and I listen really carefully for any sounds too. I can hear things way better now, so if I can't see anybody, I might be able to hear them instead. Then I can just hunt them down from where I think their voices are coming from.

And sure enough, I hear something after a while. It's this weird tapping sound kind of far away, like something repeatedly hitting a rock. Second I hear it, I start heading toward it. I go kind of slow since I don't know what's making the noise. I might be awesome and can kill pretty much anything now, but I don't want to get in trouble all because I was too reckless.

When I get close enough to the sound so that it's in seeing distance, I hide behind one of the buildings. Then I peer around it to see what's making that weird noise.

My heart stops when I see what it is.

It's Tear.

He's just sitting there on this bench nearby these trees all by himself. He's got all of these bones sitting next to him, and he's tapping what looks like a leg bone against the bench. Then he takes the bone and tries to break it in half with his hands. It actually does with this really loud snapping sound, so he just tosses the pieces behind him and then grabs the next bone and does the same thing all over again. He looks like he's testing them to see how strong they are.

Tear looks really… well, different from the last time I saw him. He doesn't have a helmet anymore for one thing, which I find really weird since I remember he used to hate not having one. And since he looked pretty funny and was a total wimp without one, I was pretty on board with wanting to get him a nice skull. Now he's got no skull and he doesn't seem to care. I mean, he doesn't look happy right now, but he doesn't seem to be all upset either.

Second thing that's different is that he doesn't have his coat anymore. He's just got this black thing over him that covers his whole body. I don't know what it's called, but it kind of looks like his coat, except it covers his legs too so that I can only see his feet. I don't know where he got that thing from, and it's weird seeing him wear something new. I got really used to seeing him wearing a coat.

But most of all, there's just something different about the air around him. He looks… stronger somehow. I mean, he doesn't look any bigger or anything, but there's just some weird energy I feel around him, even when I'm pretty far away from him. And the way he's just staring at his weapons as he's testing them out kind of reminds me of someone else's stare. Someone else who looked really determined and stuff.

But I guess none of that is really important. I've found Tear, and I can talk to him. He doesn't know I'm here, so I have to be the one to go to him and talk to him.

I just need to tell him I'm here. I need to tell him… a lot of stuff.

Just need to take a step forward.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Just need to say I'm here.

Just… Just need to say I'm alive.

Just need to say…

…

…

Maybe I should just wait for him to finish. I mean, he looks pretty busy and…

No, you are not wimping out! After all of those cheesy rousing speeches I had to tolerate and all of those nights you were crying over how much you miss him and how much he means to you… you ARE NOT going to run away from this! GO TALK TO HIM.

And then the next thing I know, I feel like I've been kicked from behind and I land in the middle of the road. I make a really loud crashing sound so that I'm pretty sure anybody in the city can hear it. I look behind me and I see Venri standing there in the shadow of that building, glaring at me while she looks like a Zoroark. I'm honestly surprised she doesn't look like a Sableye, but maybe she needed a bigger form to actually push me out of my hiding spot.

I feel like screaming at her, but then I feel something sharp push into my head. I look away from Venri and I suddenly find Tear standing over me, shoving the sharp end of his club into my head, giving me this really malicious glare with this really deep scowl. I swear that I see his blue eyes glowing a little.

I shiver a little at the sight. Yeesh, when did Tear become some terrifying? He sure seems ready to cut me open right now. Maybe he really does hate me for running away from him…

"Are you with the Fellowship?" Tear asks me, his words sounding as scary as he looks. "Or are you some bounty hunter that wants my head to get some stupid reward?"

Okay, so he doesn't know who I am. He thinks I'm some enemy. I don't blame him. I don't look anything like I did as a Zorua. Maybe he doesn't hate me after all!

"No! No, I'm not!" I quickly say. "It's… it's me! It's me, Zekra!"

I see him stagger for a second. But it's only for that one second, because he goes back to glaring at me. He clearly doesn't believe me, which again, I can't blame him for. I don't know what's happened to him since I've been gone, but I bet it's made him paranoid.

"Really! It's me!" I say to him. "We're best friends! Well, sort of. We um… we used to be in the Aurora Town Fellowship together! We used to be there with Syn, and Impetus, and Novus! And… and… even though everybody calls you Terron, I call you Tear. I call you that because… because I felt bad about naming you Terron."

Tear doesn't hold the bone in his hand as tightly anymore. I can see that he's not glaring as much either. He's just giving me this blank stare.

"I'm back," I say to him. "I'm not here to hurt you. Here… here, I'll prove it."

I start changing into another Pokémon. Tear watches me as I shrink down and I become a Zorua. I turn back into my smaller self, and I'm closer to being as small as Tear now. It feels kind of weird being in this old body of mine again, but I don't mind it too much. I still just feel just as strong as I normally do when I'm actually a Zoroark.

I look up at Tear. He's still staring at me, but now he doesn't look as strong. I mean, he's trying to look that way, but I can see him shaking. He kind of looks like his old self again. I smile a little when I see that. He's so funny when he's trying to look strong even though he feels weak.

"It's me, Zekra," I say to him real softly, trying to be tender about this. "I… I missed you, Tear."

I hear a bone drop on the ground, and the next thing I know, I'm being squished by a Cubone. Tear's got me wrapped up in this really tight hug. And I mean really tight. I can feel him crushing my organs and I feel my illusion kind of fading so that I turn back into a Zoroark. But I force myself to keep looking like a Zorua because it's probably easier on Tear. It's easier for him to talk to someone who isn't five times taller than him. And well, it's easier to smother a Zorua too than a Zoroark. You know, the good kind of smother.

"You've changed," Tear says to me quietly. "You're a Zoroark now. I didn't even recognize you."

"Yeah… I kind of evolved," I say to him. "It just sort of happened after some weird stuff went down. But it feels pretty good. I like being a Zoroark, even if I look different than other Zoroark."

"I see," he simply says.

We don't talk for a while after that. Tear keeps hugging me and I try to do the same even though my front paws aren't really good at hugging in this form. But he doesn't seem to mind too much. We just keep quiet and take the time to appreciate being in each other's company after months. It feels really good to be with him again. I missed him a lot. I forgot how much I missed being with him and just being able to sit with him or whatever. We were always so happy together. I mean sure, we'd have fights. We'd beat each other up or we'd have really stupid arguments about things, but he meant so much to me.

So I just take a few moments to just appreciate how happy I am to see him again. I feel all warm and peaceful. I don't think I've felt this way in a long time. Not since I had to leave him because of Yimtri's secret.

And then I suddenly remember why I'm here with him again. And soon as I do, all of that happiness goes away and this really uncomfortable, awkward feeling takes over. It's so bad that I suddenly don't like hugging Tear anymore. Touching him kind of feels like I'm bathing in poison and I can feel my skin shuddering and my illusion falling apart. I start squirming out of his hug before I even realize what I'm doing.

Tear gets what I'm doing, because he lets go of me before I can actually start resisting. He scoots away from me so that he's sitting away from me and puts some distance between us. He's still pretty close to me though since he can easily reach over and poke me if he has to. I look over at him and see that he's staring at me, still looking pretty happy to see me. But I also see that there's this sad look in his eyes. Like he knows what I'm going to say next.

"Is something wrong, Zekra?" he asks me gently.

This was it. This was the moment of truth. I had come all this way to find Tear, and there was no turning back now. I had to be brave and strong.

I take in a deep breath as I let the illusion around me go away so I'm a Zoroark again. I start sitting down like him and have to do this weird crossing thing with my legs since they're way longer than when I was a Zorua. There's no reason to hide what I am anymore. I need all of my strength to say what I have to say next.

"Yeah, there… there is actually," I tell him, my voice way weaker than I want it to be because my throat hurts real bad. "I… I wanted to… to apologize for something."

"Okay. What do you want to apologize about?" he asks me.

I think he knows what I want to say, but he's being patient with me anyway. He's being thoughtful that way, which I really appreciate. I smile a little as I force myself to look down at Tear and not let my eyes wander away from him.

"I want to apologize… for leaving you," I spit out. "I'm sorry that I left you without telling you why. I'm sorry that I ditched you and hurt you real bad. You didn't deserve that. I was a terrible friend for doing that to you. I was… I couldn't be around you anymore and I thought I was doing you a favor… but I think I just made things worse for you. And me. I… I hurt both of us with what I did."

Tear doesn't say anything. He just keeps staring at me with this stare I can't quite figure out. I'm about to start saying more about how I'm sorry for leaving him and that he didn't deserve any of the pain and suffering that I put him through… but then something else comes out of my mouth.

"I left you because Yimtri told me something," I say before I can stop myself. "He told me… he told me… both of you woke up the Primogenitor. All those years ago on Kuron… both of you guys woke it up. I forced it out of him because I didn't know how to keep my mouth shut… even though I had no right to know… and he told me. And it made me realize… why he's the way he is. Why he's so cold and bent on stopping the Plagued Ones. And I thought… you'd be the same if you found out. You'd go crazy or something like that. And I… I didn't want that to happen to you! I didn't want you to end up like him and be miserable! I mean, I know that you're strong. I know you are… you've done so much for me that I don't think anybody else has. But I didn't think you were strong enough for this. I saw how messed up Yimtri was because of it and… I just didn't want you to end up like him."

I start feeling tears in my eyes. I don't bother fighting against them and just let them fall. I let myself start crying and keep telling Tear everything. There's no point in holding back anything anymore.

"So I got away from you so you'd never find out," I go on, my voice all scratchy. "I thought… I could be strong enough not to tell you and still be with you. I really did. I still wanted to be with you. I really did, you have to believe me on that! But I wasn't. I wasn't strong enough… so I ran away from you. I ran away… because I was too weak. Because I wanted to keep you safe. But I didn't. I just made you miserable, didn't I? Because I sure was miserable. Every day… every SINGLE DAY… I'd think about you. I'd think about if you were okay, or if you were even alive. I'd think you were dead because I wasn't there to help you. I'd… I'd have dreams about you. Nightmares… about you dying. About you being miserable and sad and broken. I'd have them all the time. And… and I'd know… it'd be my fault. It'd be my fault you were like that.

"You can hate me. You can never want to see me again. You can start screaming at me! You have every right to hate me. I… I made you miserable. I ruined you. I ruined your life… again. So go ahead! Tell me that you're mad at me for keeping this secret from you for so long! Tell me I was selfish and a coward from hiding something from you that I had no right to hide! I deserve it… I do. But just… just know that I'm sorry. I'm sorry… for everything. Just know… you never deserved to have me abandon you and keep that secret away from you for so long."

I finally stop talking, breathing heavily as I feel all of my energy get drained. I feel this puddle of tears around me, and I've still got lots of tears going down my face, but I don't bother trying to get rid of them. I just look at Tear, who's really hard to see because my eyes are all blurry now. I can't tell what he's thinking because it's really hard to read his face. So I just sit there with him and I wait. It feels good to be able to tell him all of that… but I'm really scared of what he'll think of me now. I can feel my body shaking already. I don't know if Tear can see it.

All I know is that I see him get up on his feet and he starts walking over to me. I don't bother trying to run. I just sit there and watch him get closer to him until he actually stands right in front of me. I can see him more clearly now and I can tell that he's giving me this weird stare. It's not exactly mad but… it's not exactly happy either. It's one of those weird stares that Yimtri likes to give everybody just about all of the time when he's not ready to rip their throat open. I don't know what to expect from Tear, so I just stay still and see what he's going to do.

"I already knew," is what he ends up saying to me.

Now let me tell you, I was expecting him to say a number of things. I thought he might hurt me, or he'd scream at me, or he'd just plain run away from me and say we couldn't be friends anymore. I was ready for all of those things. But I wasn't ready for… THIS.

"What…?" I'm barely able to mouth out.

"I found out that I'm responsible for this whole Primogenitor thing on Shiron," he says to me. "I didn't know right away after you left, but I found out eventually because of… complicated reasons I'll explain to you later. But I knew. I just didn't know if you ran away because you were scared I'd find out the truth or… because you hated me. Because the Primogenitor ruined your life, and I'm the reason it's here on Shiron…"

I'm about to tell him that I really don't blame him for what he did because he had no idea the Primogenitor was a horrifying, world-domination bent monster, but he holds up his hand, making me stop. And then I watch as it starts becoming really difficult for him to look at me. I keep seeing his eyes wanting to wander away from me.

"Zekra… look, you don't need to apologize to me," he then tells me. "You were just trying to help me. You were trying to keep me safe. You and Nyx… you were both trying to do the right thing. I just couldn't realize that for a while and a lot of things happened because of that. In a way, you two were both right in thinking I'd be destroyed if I knew I woke up the Primogenitor. I can't hate you because you were trying to help me."

He sighs as he shakes his head.

"But listen, there's something I need to tell you too," he then says, his voice starting to break. "I haven't exactly been the greatest friend to you either. We had a lot of stupid fights in the past, and I don't think once I ever took part of the blame for it. I just let you take the blame and didn't apologize for my own actions. Even now… with you running away from me… that was kind of my fault too. I should have realized you were hurting because of me. I didn't try to help you. I just let you go instead of trying to fix this whole problem… and we both suffered because of it. We've both lost so much. But you… you've lost more than me. You have… because I am the one responsible for your problems. You can tell me I couldn't have known any better because I didn't know the Primogenitor was a monster, but it still doesn't make up for anything. I'm still the reason your life is the way it is now.

"I'm the reason that you're miserable all the time. And I'm… I'm sorry for that. I know that I'll never be able to make up for it, but… I want you to know that. I want you to know… that I'm sorry for everything's that happened between us."

I honestly don't know how to respond to any of this. I… really didn't expect any of this from Tear. I see tears forming in his eyes as he keeps looking at me. I can tell he wants to say more to me, but I don't think he actually knows what he wants to say. So he just keeps looking up at me instead. And we just stare at each other for a while since I really don't know what I'm supposed to say at this point either.

But I do end up saying something.

"It's okay, Tear… I don't hate you either," I say to him. "I… I don't think I can ever hate you either. Even if you did unleash the Primogenitor on the world… I don't hate you for it. You're trying so hard to stop the Primogenitor now and help me, and really… I can't ever hate you when you're doing that. I really can't, even if I wanted to. We've been through too much together."

Tear starts smiling when he hears me say that. He grabs one of my claws with his right hand. He tries to intertwine my claws with his weird hands, but he can't because he doesn't have any fingers. I look back at him and see that he's still smiling.

"Thanks Zekra," he says to me. "You have no idea how much that means to me. I promise, nothing'll ever tear us apart again from now on. We'll be together, forever."

I see happy tears streak down his face and land on my fur. I can't help but laugh a little as I hold his hand a little tighter and start crying myself. I really could not feel any happier. I couldn't! Because I'm finally with Tear again and we don't hate each other! We're going to be okay. We… we're going to be alright with everything. Him and I… standing together… we'll be okay.

Nothing's going to tear us apart again.

He won't ever let it happen. I won't ever let it happen again.

I promise, on this day forward, to do whatever it takes to be with Tear and keep him safe.

We're going to be okay. I really think that.

And then that's when I hear a really familiar voice.

"Terron, there you are. I need to talk to you about… Oh."

Tear and I look away from each other heart to find someone's with us. All of the joy I'm feeling in my heart… all of the happiness that makes me feel like I'm in sort of wonderful fantasy land… it dies.

It feels like someone literally ripped all of that happiness out of me and threw it on the ground before stomping all over it right in front of me. And what gets shoved inside of me to replace it is this unbearably awful feeling of dread. I feel sick to my stomach and I want to throw up. It's so bad that I want to get up and run away, far away from the one in front of me and Tear.

Because… the one with me and Tear… is Yimtri.

He's just staring at us. He's not moving.

How did he get here? What's he doing here?! I thought he ran away from us because he couldn't stand being around me!

Yimtri looks directly over at me. I see his weird gemstone eyes start flickering as he locks eyes with me, like he's trying to paralyze me with his gaze alone. And he's doing a pretty good job, because I really can't move at all. I mean, I know he won't kill me when Tear's with me and because I wasn't the one to originally tell Tear all about the secret… but with the way he's staring at me right now… and the way all of the claws on his right hand are twitching…

And the way he keeps switching his gaze between me and his twitching hand… And the glow in his eyes getting brighter and brighter each time he does it… And the way his frown is getting deeper and deeper…

"Zekra's back," Tear says to him as he lets go of my hand and puts himself in the space between Yimtri and me, trying to deescalate the obvious tension that's building between the both of us. "She's okay! She's just a Zoroark now. We uh… we were just having a moment. But if you wanted to talk, I can-"

"Never mind the talk. It wasn't important," Yimtri then says so fast that I can barely understand what he says.

And then he turns his back to us and walks away so fast that he becomes a little purple dot in no time.