Chapter 51

In a very peculiar way, it was no surprise to Mark that he was shocked by the display of power that he had just seen. It was odd to think that he was becoming accustomed to being surprised, but it was rapidly becoming the norm as he spent more and more time on Himitsu Island.

PureBlueSky hadn't exactly dominated the match in the way that Aurum had, but at the same time, he had faced a much tougher opponent. In fact, if PureBlueSky had known what to expect, Mark was willing to bet that he would have. In either case, Alex walked away from the match with one of PureBlueSky's human Pokémon down and another severely injured. Some might call that a win.

But that was something else that confused Mark. Why had Alex forfeited? Mark knew for a fact that Alex had at least two more human Pokémon. Granted, they weren't as strong as the Zoroark, but why just give in after acquiring an edge like that? He would have to remember to ask Alex in person when they next met.

Next to him, Maple was whistling and cheering along with the rest of the crowd as PureBlueSky left the stadium. First there was Katana, now there was Tempest. Maple certainly had no shortage of female role models present at the tournament.

On Mark's opposite side, Cherry was smiling to herself, her gaze fixed firmly on Tempest, down on the field.

"A dragon…" she whispered. Her orange-red flaming tail swished back and forth a few times. Maple wasn't the only one inspired by Tempest's victory. But for Cherry, it went deeper. True, the Charmander family wasn't actually dragon-types, but along with several shared abilities, the difference was relatively minor. Charizard, of course, had plenty of physical characteristics in common with Salamence.

Now that Mark thought about it, he wondered if Cherry would still be capable of becoming a Charizard. It was a very crucial question, especially now that he planned on using her in the tournament. Could a human Charmander evolve into a human Charmeleon? For her sake, Mark hoped that she could. He supposed that they would find out together once they started training.

And they would need that training to defeat Lily, the young girl that was sitting just two seats away from him.

Sadly, Lily hadn't been able to enjoy that match. She had tried to concentrate on what was going on down on the field, but she could only incessantly glance over to the side at Silver and Aroma. Her two best friends were currently very involved with each other.

At first, Aroma had pushed Silver off to the side, complaining that the tournament stands was no place to be doing that sort of thing. That made Silver point out that at the very top of the stadium, there was no one that would be watching. This worked to some extent, but it was the kiss he planted at the base of her neck that made Aroma give in. After that, she simply focused on enjoying the feel of his lips on hers. Before she knew it, they had missed the entire match.

Lily had wondered how long she would have to endure this, but once the match was over, it became clear that they had no idea anyone else was around.

"Ahem," the first one didn't work, so she tried again, "AHEM!" Aroma scrambled to, reluctantly, push Silver away and try to compose herself. It might have been reasonably convincing if Silver hadn't messed up her mint-green hair as much as he had.

"Sorry," she quickly apologized, though she wasn't entirely sure why she did. She and Silver weren't doing anything wrong. Well…maybe a tad undignified, but not wrong.

Seated in between Lily and Aroma, Shinobi remained silent.

"Are we ready to go?" Lily asked as pleasantly as she could manage. She directed it more to Mark, Maple and Cherry more than her own group. For her, the time to go had started fifteen minutes ago.

Mark didn't respond, but looked to Cherry for confirmation. Now that Tempest and PureBlueSky were gone, she was eyeing the suspicious crowd that was filing out of the stadium. Her fear of crowds might keep them there much longer than what they wanted.

"Give us a few minutes," Mark responded.

"But, didn't you want to talk to PureBlueSky?" Lily urged.

"Huh?" Mark had forgotten. It had been the entire reason for coming to the match at all and somehow it had slipped his mind. He was going to recruit PureBlueSky into their fight against Team Deus. Coming to the match had been Tsunami's suggestion…

"Wait," Mark skipped PureBlueSky, "where's Eric? Didn't he say that they would be here?"

In between Lily and Mark, Maple's long ears shot straight up in alarm. She stopped cheering at the empty field and her gaze twisted back and forth as she followed the conversation.

"I kinda assumed you knew…" Lily bit her lip.

"I haven't heard anything since this morning," Mark shook his head, "you haven't either?"

"No…"

"Okay…" Mark nodded to calm his sudden fear, "let's call him. I'm sure that they're fine." He pulled out his phone and dialed Eric's number. After a few dull rings, he was greeted by an automatic message system.

"Dammit…" Mark cursed, hanging up, "no answer. I should have realized it sooner…anything could have happened. And right after Silver…"

He left that sentence unfinished. Silver had been a good leader before, but he was a far cry from the young man that was flirtatiously starting to play with Aroma's hair again. There was no help there. Silver's motivations apparently began and ended with Aroma.

"I'll try Kim," he said instead, "maybe she's seen him." The phone barely rang twice before Kim's cynical tone greeted him.

"What now, noob?"

"Hey," Mark began as he watched the crowd leaving the stadium. Maybe just another few minutes and they could leave…

"Have you seen Eric recently?" Mark asked, hoping for unexpected good news.

"The kid with the Swampert-guy?" Kim sounded as though she barely remembered last night at all, "can't say that I have. Why? Is something wrong?"

"Uh…" personally, Mark still wasn't sure if anything was wrong, but he instinctively feared the worst, "not yet, I guess."

"'Not yet?' What's that supposed to mean?" when Mark didn't answer, she continued, "Did you try his room? People don't always answer their phones, you know."

"Right…" Kim was not very much help, "we'll do that. Where are you?"

"Down at the beach, trying to pry Sprinkle away from her fans," she said 'fans' with an unusually high amount of disgust, even for Kim.

"Alright…" Mark concluded, "We'll let you know if we see him."

"Later," Kim finished, "HEY, ASSHO-!" The phone call cut off.

Defeated, Mark turned back to the worried faces of Maple and Lily.

"I guess we're on our own," he shrugged.

There was no answer at Eric's door and they tried his cell phone three more times with no results. Lily had sent out Shinobi to search the island, but it would be some time before he returned. As quick as the human Ninjask was, he had a lot of ground to cover.

By that time, Mark was growing frantic. What could have happened to Eric? Had Team Deus caught up with him? He tried not to think about it, but as the worst thing that could happen, it became the first thing Mark thought of.

The poor kid had been through so much since coming here. Fernelia had been kidnapped, Tsunami had nearly died and he had lost his tournament match all within a short time period. The kid was unbelievably tough to keep fighting after all of that. Eric was only ten and Mark actually found himself envying him for his strength of will. If it were him, he would probably want to run away and leave this place far behind.

But with that thought, an idea occurred to him.

There were two main reasons for Eric to not answer his cell phone. Either he couldn't, or he wouldn't. Mark had assumed that he couldn't, but what if Eric was deliberately ignoring him?

How long did they have before Eric left the island?

They were already heading towards the docks when Shinobi caught up with them. Of the original group, only Mark, Maple, Cherry, Lily and Shinobi remained. Silver and Aroma had returned to the hotel room, for obvious reasons.

They found Eric, along with Fernelia and Tsunami, waiting to board the last ship off of the island. The usually strong boy looked worn and tired when they caught up to him.

"Hey," Mark greeted. Now that they had found him, Mark didn't know what came next.

"Hey," Eric said, without looking up.

"So, you're just gonna leave?" Mark asked, "Just like that?"

"What's wrong with that?" Eric retorted. His adopted parents looked away. This was his decision and they would stand with him, no matter what he decided.

"Alright," Mark nodded, "You know, I'd probably do the same thing, honestly." Maple's eyes widened. Out of all of them, she wanted Eric to stay the most.

"You really are a tough kid," Mark continued, "sometimes I forget how old you really are." He knelt down on the ground, in front of him.

"Thanks," Eric said bitterly, "but, no offense, you really don't know much about me."

"No kidding," Mark shook his head, "but that's actually why we want you to stay," he gestured behind him, "all of us."

"You want us to stay and get beaten up and risk our lives for you?" Eric asked, "I don't want to fight anymore. I want to go home." Eric's family had been threatened twice in as many days. Himitsu Island was not for him. Besides, he shouldn't have come in the first place. There was no telling what Aunt Rita had been doing while he was wasting his time here.

"I'm not asking you to fight," Mark corrected, gently, "I just think that now isn't the right time to say goodbye to each other. We just met and you're already leaving?"

"They'll be after us, though," Eric's fear of Team Deus was deep, and with good reason, "we need to leave before it gets worse…"

"Yeah, you're probably right," Mark nodded, again, "we should probably all get out of here."

"Mark, no…" Maple whined. Her wide-eyed gaze darted back and forth between the two boys. She didn't want to leave and she didn't want anybody else to leave. Why were they talking about leaving?

"But, you're staying, aren't you?" Eric had played enough mind games to know it was a trap, but a small part of him wanted to hear what Mark had to say.

"Yeah, I am," Mark nodded. He could hear Maple's relieved breath and he smiled to himself, "I'm staying because there's a lot of questions that still need answering."

"Like what?"

"Like…" Mark thought for a second, picking a few of his favorites, "why the hell did Farin let us go? He could have finished us, why didn't he?" He paused to gauge Eric's reaction, "and why go to the trouble of luring us down there just to show off his little pets? He could've done that in the tournament, couldn't he?"

Eric lifted his head, "he said something weird during the fight."

"Really?" Mark stopped, his curiosity piqued, "what did he say?"

"Well," Eric thought back, the words didn't make sense, but they sounded important at the time, "I asked him why he was fighting and he said something like 'orders are orders.' Does that mean anything to you?"

Mark rubbed his chin, thoughtfully. It did mean something to him. It meant that Farin wasn't a model employee for Team Deus. Part of what he did was because he had been ordered to do it while everything else was something extra. Farin was a rogue administrator with a lot of power. If they accepted that, then his two-faced behavior made much more sense. But which half had given out orders to abduct human Pokémon? Which half wanted them dead?

"It sure does," Mark smiled and nodded.

Eric brightened a little at that information. Not all of his suffering had been for nothing.

"Come on, Eric," Mark encouraged him, "you're a tough kid, you can take these guys. Hell, you already took down two of Farin's Pokémon by yourself."

"I guess we did, huh?" Eric couldn't help but smile. It hadn't been easy, but who knew? Maybe if Stone Edge had hit that stupid Crobat the first time…no, he couldn't risk his family again.

"Come on, Eric!" Maple leaned forward as she encouraged him, "we'll all be with you! Just stay! Pleeeease?" Lily also smiled down at him, while Shinobi nodded, silently pledging his loyalty.

Eric looked up at his parents sitting next to him, "what do you guys think?"

"It's your decision, son," Tsunami shrugged, "but, personally, I think these guys are going to need our help."

"You have good friends, here," Fernelia added, "we should stay together."

Eric nodded. That decided it, but there was one more person who hadn't said anything.

Cherry had been silent during the entire conversation. Her expression had also been impossible to read. Mark might be playing mind games with him, but he felt like he could get an honest answer out of the Charmander-girl.

"What about you?" he asked her.

"Me?" Cherry was confused that he even asked. She was tired from running around the island and growing hungrier by the minute. The boy in front of her was the same age, but she had never paid any special attention to him because of it. What could he possibly want with her?

"Yeah," Eric nodded, "you used to be with them. Do you think we can win?"

Cherry blinked a few times. She realized that she was supposed to lie. It would comfort the boy if she lied and probably convince him to come back. But what did that matter to her? He wasn't Master Vince.

Still, she felt a strange attachment to the people around her. For all of their faults, they had rescued her from her prison. They wanted to give her a home. Not only that, but despite her arguments with Mark and their constant coddling, she still liked them.

But lying to comfort someone was something that she couldn't do.

"No," Cherry answered, "no, we can't win. There's too many. And they're not just here, they're everywhere. Anywhere you go, you will always be fighting them. They won't leave you alone, ever." The small gathering stared at the girl, shocked by her words. Just how powerful was Team Deus?

"But no one has ever gotten inside before," Cherry continued, "ever." She looked around her at the group that had rescued her. She had no clue what it was, but there was something special about them.

"No one, huh?" Eric smirked, "no one but us," he paused for a moment to make his decision. "Alright, I'll come with you. I guess if anybody's going to beat them, it might as well be us."

"So, you're staying?" Mark extended his hand out to Eric.

"Staying," he answered, and shook Mark's hand.

As the group of friends walked back to the hotel, Mark started to feel like they didn't even need PureBlueSky.

AN: One more chapter and then we're on to Day 5! Yay!

Thanks for reading!