Chapter 67

"Believe me, it's not your fault," Quickstep tried to comfort Maple as they rode the elevator back down to ground level, "like I said, the wizard is just an asshole, plain and simple. He'll rot away to nothing holed up in his tower and die without anybody caring about him."

This had the opposite effect that he intended. The Leafeon-girl looked like she was going to be sick.

"That's horrible!" Maple gasped as she looked at him. She had never expected PureBlueSky to refuse her request. He was the most powerful trainer on the island and he could probably beat everyone in Team Deus by himself. Why would he refuse to help?

You shouldn't have come to me, he had told her, I'm no leader. I can't help you.

That was it.

He had listened to her entire story, start to finish. He had been calm, patient, he asked questions to help her be clearer and he still refused her. Then he just said a few quick sentences and disappeared. You shouldn't have come to me. I'm no leader. I can't help you. And then he turned around, walked back into the study and abandoned them all.

"How could he do something like that?" Maple asked. She felt like she was going to be sick. "Why won't he help?"

"I stopped asking those questions a long time ago," Quickstep hung his head. He had seen it all. He had been human for the entire thing. The Four had fallen apart and instead of working to fix it, Sky had run away. He hadn't even run home. He ran to a tiny corner of the Sinnoh region and resigned to bury himself in ice and snow.

Sky left behind everyone but his own human Pokémon. He took all of them along as if they were his property. Maybe Tempest, Flurry and some of the others would have made that decision all over again, but Quickstep would not. If he knew what the asshole planned on doing, Quickstep would have gladly let him go by himself. His life didn't belong to PureBlueSky. Not anymore. The day he evolved into a human had changed that.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Maple's voice shook, "he was supposed to help us…I was going to bring him back…Mark would've…would've…" She broke off and hid her face from Quickstep.

"Hey, where'd this come from? Dammit, you're not crying, are you?" Quickstep shuffled in place, utterly at a loss for what to do. Wonderful, Sky, now you're responsible for making this girl cry. Just when he thought he couldn't loathe his trainer any more, he found new depths to his hatred.

"No…" Maple regained control of herself, "no, I'm okay." She wouldn't let something like this hurt her that much. It was over. Crying wouldn't help her.

The elevator opened and the two stepped out. Quickstep had agreed to escort her to the beach to meet up with Kim. They would go their separate ways from there. Quickstep led the way, politely quiet and careful to set a slow pace.

Maple had to think. What would Mark do in a situation like this? PureBlueSky wouldn't help them. So…what did that mean? She still knew that without a member of the Four, they couldn't attack Team Deus. They wouldn't be strong enough.

So, if that was why they needed PureBlueSky, what difference did it make if she found another member of the Four? What if she could convince RiverofTears or EdgeoftheEarth to help out instead?

"Umm…Quickstep," she called out to the human Mienshao, "can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" Quickstep turned to look at her.

"So, you know all of the members of the Four, right?" she asked.

"Sure do," he nodded back, "what do you want to know?"

"Well, I was wondering if you knew where we could find them…" she began, "if PureBlueSky won't help…do you think the others might?"

"Hmm…" Quickstep scratched his chin, or tried to despite his overly-long sleeves, "it's tough to say. Aurum? Definitely, no. He's even worse than Sky with helping people. Edge or River? Now those two I'm not so sure."

"Can we go ask them?" Maple asked. She had already been rejected once. A second time couldn't hurt worse than the first. But, if all three of them said no…

"Well," Quickstep weighed their options, "I think you're better off going to see RiverofTears's human Pokémon first. They're a bit more friendly than most."

"Really?" Maple brightened, "okay…can we do that, then?"

"Sure," Quickstep nodded, "be warned, though, they'll know you're coming," inexplicably, he looked up into the sky, "yes, I'm talking about you, Astral! Thanks to your prying ass I can't pick up chicks the way Arceus intended!"

"Huh?" Maple asked.

"It's nothing," Quickstep grinned, "though after this…you might start censoring your thoughts a bit more."

"Censoring my thoughts?" Maple was even more confused.

"It's a surprise," Quickstep suppressed a chuckle, "don't say I didn't warn you, though." Maple's guide began to walk passed her, heading in the direction of Palkia's Woods.

Actually, you really haven't warned me about anything, Maple thought.

Suddenly, she had a sixth sense that somewhere, someone was suppressing laughter of their own.

After the Leafeon-girl left, Sky started having trouble concentrating on what he was doing. Why did people keep coming to him for help lately? Like he told the girl, he wasn't a leader and he wasn't a hero.

Sky wasn't even sure if he believed in heroes at all, these days. He might have once believed that the Four could be heroes and even were.

Look how that turned out.

Everyone on the island might still revere them as being invincible paragons and the leaders of their little society, but they were worshipping dead heroes. That had taught Sky something valuable. People hung on to their heroes long after they stopped being heroic. They refused to give up the hope that their heroes had once given them.

The Four were never heroes. Not in the way that the people on Himitsu Island told the story. They trained, they fought, and they grew strong together, but did that make them heroes? No, Sky didn't think so. They were just a group of friends doing what they loved.

Alfred Silph was the man who made them into heroes. He spread the word that three kids and an old man had been training human Pokémon on an island in the middle of nowhere. He found others like them, brought them together and made a tournament. Then, before they knew it, their names were being whispered between human Pokémon and their trainers all around the world. That was when they became heroes.

Before then, they were as nameless as anyone else. It was those whispers that made them into what they were. Those tales of the three kids and an old man that had found an old magic and were changing the world.

Heroes didn't make heroes. People made heroes.

But strip away the stories and the fame that Silph generated from nothing and what was left? Sky was still a pale, skinny, shut-in that never told River that he loved her. Aurum was still a grouchy, bitter old man that still fought with Pokémon even though he should have stopped decades ago. Edge was still a cocky, wise-ass, whose mouth got him into more trouble than what he could handle. And River…well…Sky skipped River.

Out of the four of them, Sky was the least likely to lead this collection of drifters and rejects that had gathered together on Himitsu Island. Aurum was the most experienced, Edge the most daring, and River was the kindest and most caring. What did that make Sky? The others had the true qualities that leaders needed, not him.

And where was Silph during all of this? He was the one who used them to create this hidden world. What did he intend to do with it? No one could be so selfless to go through all of that effort without wanting something in return.

And yet, twice now people had come to Sky looking for help. Maybe it was just convenient that way. Alex had been Sky's opponent, but any of the others would have done the same and the Leafeon girl hadn't come just to talk to him. Where could the others possibly be that PureBlueSky, the self-proclaimed shut-in, was actually easier to find?

Why? He asked himself, because I'm the champion.

He often forgot about it, but there was authority in a title like that. Especially amongst Pokémon trainers. It meant power, skill, knowledge and a dedication that not everyone could possess.

But what did it really prove? What did he accomplish from devoting his life to training and battling Pokémon? Was he a stronger, better person than he would've been if he never even started? Again, he doubted it.

So, where did that leave him?

For all of the cheering of the crowd, he was still a sad, lonely person. All of those people that screamed his name when he stepped out onto the battlefield wanted him to be a hero. They needed him to be a hero. And he just couldn't tell them how much of a failure he really was.

If heroes were real, then he hoped they were better than him.

"How long has he been in there?" Tempest peered at the door to the study. It was always open, whether Sky was in there or not. She had returned to the room to find out that Sky was throwing a temper tantrum and had locked himself in his room like a moody teenager.

And here she thought they had been making progress…

"Half an hour," Flurry answered with a shake of her head, "ever since Maple left…"

"Maple?"

"A Leafeon-girl," Flurry explained, "didn't we tell you? Ian and I met her after Aurum's match. He's been training her along with her trainer and whatever other human Pokémon he has."

"You may have mentioned it," Tempest said noncommittally. Her gaze did not leave the closed door. "What did she want?"

"She had some information about a group called Team Deus," Flurry could not keep the fear and apprehension out of her voice, "she and a few others found a laboratory and holding station beneath the docks. Whoever these people are, they're already well-established and active. They're probably the ones that are behind the world-wide disappearances of human Pokémon."

"Our very own Team Rocket, huh?" Tempest scoffed. Of course there was one. There would always be one. If it wasn't Team Rocket, there was Team Magma and Aqua, and Team Galactic…and now Team Plasma skulking around the Unova region. Most of them were short-lived, but there was always one. Apparently there was one for the human Pokémon, as well.

"Sky said he wouldn't help," Flurry had never sounded so hopeless before, "and then he just turned around and locked himself in the study."

"For half an hour?" Tempest looked over her shoulder at Flurry. The Glaceon-girl looked so weak and helpless there. She might be a child sick with the flu. But she had misread the situation. She had been with Sky even longer than Tempest had, but she still hadn't learned how Sky thought. Not the way that Tempest had.

He made an abrupt, cold-hearted decision, then turned around and started brooding over what he had just done. It might not look like it, but they were making progress.

Looking for a vanishing murderer was easy. Sky could tell Tempest and the others to search by themselves while Sky retreated back into his corner of the world. It took no commitment and they could hardly be blamed if they failed.

This, on the other hand, was big. The Leafeon-girl didn't just ask him for a favor. She asked him to find out who these people were, track them down, and bring them to justice. Sky couldn't do something like that alone. But all he would need to do was gather up a few more trainers and supporters and he would have the forces he needed. They would rally behind their champion and overcome any obstacle to protect the tiny world that they were building.

Undoubtedly, the little Leafeon-girl had no idea what she had asked him.

Tempest strode up to the door and knocked lightly.

"Sky? Can I come in?" she asked. She listened to him shuffle around on the other side for a little while before the door opened. He was rubbing his forehead.

"What is it?" he groaned.

"Can I come in?" she asked again.

"Sure, whatever…" Sky muttered, turning back to the desk.

The room was dark, but Tempest fixed it by walking over to the window and throwing the curtains wide. The gray light of the day wasn't much, but it would be better than shutting it out entirely. Sky flinched away from the light, but he did not complain aloud. He adjusted to it after a moment.

"So," Tempest turned, trying to decide how to begin, "I heard that you're hiding from a little girl?"

"Shut up," Sky groaned.

"Must have been a terrifying sight for you to lock yourself in your room," Tempest taunted. But this time, Sky just ignored her.

Alright, Tempest sighed, no more games.

"Flurry told me what happened," Tempest admitted, "what she asked you to do."

"What about it?"

"I don't think you wanted to say 'no.' Not really."

Sky didn't answer. Nor did he look at her, but he was listening. Tempest continued.

"Sky, I've been with you for a very long time," she approached the desk, "you're stronger than you think. You beat yourself up and say you're not good enough, but there's more to it than that. You want to be better. You want to prove to yourself that you're good enough. That girl gave you that chance. So, why did you throw it away?"

She didn't want an answer, but she paused anyway. Sky remained expressionless.

"I'll tell you why," she continued, "it's because you're afraid of getting hurt again. You're afraid of getting attached to someone and losing them again. You won't let yourself become stronger. You're working against yourself."

"I know that, Tempest," Sky whispered, "I've known that for years. But, so what? What difference does it make? I'm not strong enough to fix it. I can't fix myself!"

"I know…" Tempest nodded and knelt down beside him. This was the part that would hurt the most. When she had to admit that she failed him.

"But I think I know someone who can."

This time, Sky looked at her. What was the expression in his eyes? Hope? Fear? Maybe they were the same…

"River…" Sky said.

Tempest nodded.

He leaned back in his chair, breathing deeply and thinking.

"Tomorrow," he said it with more conviction than what Tempest expected. The old Sky that had surfaced when they fought Whisper was coming back once more. Tempest nodded again and stood up to leave.

"Tomorrow."

AN: blast…apparently I really can't go any faster than one chapter a week. I blame the season, mostly. I'm too tired to do much more than go to work and come home and go to bed during the week. stupid winter…

Maybe once it's spring again.

Anyways, I don't think I have anything special to say this week.

So, once again, thanks for reading and I'll be back again next week!