Chapter 101

For some reason, Cherry couldn't taste her food. It wasn't that she didn't like it, it just had no taste. It was strange. She liked this sort of food. All of the food that she had eaten since joining Mark and Maple had tasted wonderful. But not this time.

She couldn't concentrate on eating, either. She kept thinking about the small number of memories she had of Aroma. She hadn't known the Meganium-woman for long. In fact, most of the time she had been near Aroma, they had been separated by a prison wall. But she couldn't ignore the hurt, the…emptiness she felt, knowing that Aroma was gone.

Gone forever. Never coming back. Dead.

It had never happened to someone that Cherry knew before. She knew about it, but had never experienced it. What was she supposed to do? Gradually, she realized that the answer was very simple: nothing. There was nothing she could do.

She sat with Mark and Maple, silently munching on her tasteless hamburger. Before them, Mark's other Pokémon had their own lunches. They were oblivious to the grieving boy and Pokémon-girls sitting around them. Cherry couldn't help feeling jealous of them. They were all eating nothing but Pokémon food, but at least it would have a taste.

Eclipse finished eating before the others. Once he finished, he leapt up onto the bed, where Maple sat, and nuzzled against her leg. He lied down, placing his head by her knee, occasionally flicking his tail.

At first, Maple paid no attention to her brother. However, he persistently rubbed his chin against her knee, reminding her of his presence.

"Hey," Maple greeted, speaking softly. She patted his head a few times and scratched behind his ears. She wondered if he had any idea what was happening.

"We should warn Kim and Eric," Mark announced, "in case they haven't heard."

Maple and Cherry both nodded, but didn't speak.

"And stay close," he added. He didn't want to say why, but he knew that if Team Deus had attacked Aroma, it had been either during or after their match. While he was worried about winning a Pokémon battle, someone had taken Aroma's life.

"What about Lily?" Maple asked as she stroked Eclipse.

"I don't think so," Mark shook his head, "even if we could help, I don't think they want to see us right now."

"Right…" Maple nodded and hung her head.

Mark watched her for a few moments. Maple looked so defeated and worn out. All of them felt the same. Just that morning he had believed that their lives were turning around. Cherry had evolved and they had won another round of the tournament. But now…everything had fallen apart so fast.

He had no idea what to do next, either. Warning and protecting his friends was the farthest extent of his capability. They could not attack the shadowy group that hid beneath their feet and had taken away one of their friends. He felt helpless, unable to do anything but train Maple and Cherry. He couldn't even fight beside them.

And what about Maple? What was happening to her? Katana insisted that it was possible to control the Red State, but Mark had seen Maple slip too many times. They were meddling with a power they barely understood and Maple was a victim of it. If she wasn't ready by the time Team Deus attacked, she could be as much a danger to herself and her friends as to the enemy.

That Team Deus was going to attack Himitsu seemed like an inevitability to Mark. He kept thinking back to the fight against Farin, how totally confident and smug he was. He wasn't going to hide forever. He had no reason to. Team Deus had all of the advantages while the human-Pokémon above them had nothing.

He even doubted Silph's security force. They would help, certainly, but if Team Deus attacked, the streets would become flooded with twisted human Pokémon controlled only by Team Deus. There was going to be a war in the streets of Himitsu, and Mark could do nothing to stop it. No one could.

Just then, he heard a strange noise. He turned to Cherry to see her sniffing back tears.

"She…she's gone…isn't she?" Cherry asked. Her plate rattled as she shook.

"Yeah…" Mark let out a defeated breath.

"I didn't…I mean…I…" the little Charmeleon-girl shook harder and her breathing turned into hitched gasps. Maple was by her side in another moment, folding the girl in her arms. Cherry's half-finished meal tumbled to the floor as she clutched Maple's dress and let herself cry.

Dammit, Mark thought. There was nothing he could do or say to make this any better. The bitter helplessness of losing a friend was not a feeling that Mark knew well, thankfully. He hardly knew Aroma, but still her death had hurt them all.

But Cherry felt it more than he or Maple. Before Mark and Maple rescued her, Aroma had been her only friend and the first human-Pokémon she had ever known. And now she was the first death Cherry had ever experienced.

Eclipse bounded over to Cherry and gently began pawing her thigh. Mark couldn't understand it, but Eclipse seemed to be the most sensitive towards his new human Pokémon. The others seemed to ignore them as easily as the wild Pokémon in Palkia's Woods did. But, Eclipse…something was different about him.

Cherry's tears slowed as she patted the Umbreon on his head. What would he say if he could speak? Would he know anything more about what to do or say?

"Cherry…" Mark started.

"Y-yeah…" she sniffed.

"You don't want to train today, do you?" he asked as gently as possible.

Cherry shook her head.

"Do you want to go see Claire, instead?"

Cherry wiped her eyes and nodded.

"Okay," Mark nodded, "let's do that, then."

There. That was something. Cherry could spend the day with her newest friend. They could easily find her at the stadium, when the next tournament match started. It would help take her mind off of Aroma and ease the hurt. And there would be few places on the island safer than next to Alfred Silph's daughter.

Mark stood and recalled his Pokémon one by one. All but Eclipse. It would have been selfish of Mark to say that he wanted Eclipse to evolve, but he had to admit it to himself. His Umbreon was always one of his strongest Pokémon and having another human-Pokémon ally would be invaluable. If he did evolve, it would take three days to complete the transition and in three days they would be fighting their third tournament match. If Team Deus didn't level Himistu Island before it happened.

Was it all too perfect? For the first time, Mark really and truly hoped his other Pokémon would take the same leap Maple had. That journey was proving to be a walking disaster, but something in Eclipse made him pause. He couldn't force his Umbreon to do so, but he couldn't deny how much they needed him.

"Mark?" Maple asked, gesturing at her brother, "are you sure about this? I mean…is he…coming with us?"

"Yeah," Mark nodded, "he is." Her trainer did not explain any further. "Come on," he gestured towards the door, "we'd better get going if we want to catch the start of the next match."

Cherry stood up to go, absently wiping at her eyes, with Eclipse following shortly behind her. Maple, however, lingered behind for a short time, biting her lip as she watched her brother.

There was a knock at the door, but Alex did not move to answer it. On the third knock, Cascade opened the door, instead.

Standing in the hallway was a young man dressed in a soldier's camouflage and body armor. He saluted with a snap of his wrist, making Cascade take an involuntary step back.

"Sorry to disturb you, ma'am," he said with practiced precision as his eyes quickly scanned her from head-to-toe, "is your trainer present, by any chance?" He must've taken notice of her horn.

"Umm…yes, he is," she answered, but was unsure if she should have, "what seems to be the problem?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am," the soldier, if that's what he was, shook his head, "but I have orders to talk to each trainer directly."

"I see…" Cascade hung her head before turning back into the room, "Alex. There's…somebody here for you."

Alex's sigh was a groan as he got to his feet. He should have cancelled the rest of his reservation and gotten off of the stupid island days ago. He hadn't even gone to see Cara's show, despite his promise to do so. Instead, he opened the window and listened to it boom across all of Himitsu.

Whisper was loose and it was his fault. There was no telling what the crazed Zoroark would do. So far there had been no word on his whereabouts despite PureBlueSky's promise to track him down. Whisper had vowed to kill Alex himself one day, was he still plotting it? Or had he moved and forgotten the whole thing?

Alex stumbled over to the door, where his perfectly coiffed human Seaking stood waiting. His eyes widened when he saw the uniformed man standing in the doorway.

He's killed someone, Alex knew it immediately. They found Whisper and he killed somebody. God, he was responsible for the murder of an innocent person…again.

"Sorry to disturb you, sir," the soldier snapped off a second salute, "I just need to ask you a few questions." He held up a clipboard and pen.

"Certainly," Alex nodded, feeling his stomach turn over.

"You are a human Pokémon trainer, correct?"

"That's correct," Alex nodded and the soldier made a mark.

"Name?"

"Alex Weston," he answered.

"And how many human Pokémon do you train?"

"Four, I mean, three," Alex stumbled, "three."

"And they are what kind?"

"A Seaking, a Banette, and a Snorlax."

"Seaking…Banette…Snorlax…" the soldier repeated as his pen scribbled, "alright, that should be everything. I just need you to sign here." The soldier flipped his clipboard around and indicated a small X next to blank line.

Alex glanced over the form. It had already been signed dozens of times with a wide variety of Pokémon types copied down.

"What is this?" Alex asked.

"I'm not really at liberty to say, sir," the soldier answered with the same practiced precision.

"It looks like a registry," Alex accused, "what's going on?"

"You haven't heard?" the soldier asked.

Alex shook his head.

"Well, this is just between us, then," the soldier shrugged, "there's been a human Pokémon murder."

"I see…" Alex nodded. Here it comes, he thought.

"I know a bit about Pokémon myself," the soldier went on, "and if that's really all you have, then you're innocent."

What? Alex thought, but did not say. He couldn't be sure if he was relieved or not.

"The attacker used a combination of Psychic and Dazzling Gleam."

"So you're searching the island for all human Pokémon that could know those attacks," Alex concluded.

"Yes, sir," the soldier nodded, "it's going to be some time, but once we catch the bastard who did this, we can all sleep better."

"Right…" Alex nodded, keeping his thoughts to himself. He quickly signed and handed the form back to the soldier.

"Much appreciated, sir," the soldier snapped a final salute, "and if you happen to see or hear anything that could help with the investigation, we'd appreciate it."

"Of course," Alex nodded. He let the door close as the soldier turned and approached the next door on his list.

It wasn't him, Alex thought as he turned back into his hotel room. Cascade and Coraline stood just a short distance back; Cascade with an expression of eager, wide-eyed concern while Coraline feigned disinterest. The swell of Dozer's hulking form rose and fell as he slept in one of the twin beds.

"You heard?" he asked his two Pokémon-girls and they both nodded.

"If it wasn't him…" Cascade started, "does that mean he's gone?"

"I don't know," Alex shook his head, "I doubt it, though."

"Should we tell them?" Cascade asked.

"And confess accessory to murder?" Coraline scoffed, "not a great plan there, Blondie."

"It's the right thing to do!" Cascade stamped her foot.

"Hey, if you want to go to prison, that's your problem," Coraline shrugged, "I could just fade through the walls anyway."

"Stop it, you two," Alex sighed. The Pokémon-girls stopped bickering immediately.

Alex had to think. Confess and go to prison. As Cascade said, it was the right thing to do. He had already carried around a murderer for far too long. His sentence would not be light, but he could face the world with a clear conscience again. Maybe.

However, turning himself in without Whisper would mean that there was still a murderer on the loose; a murderer capable of killing human Pokémon. Worse still, Zoroark could look like anyone out there. He could disappear in a moment and reappear anywhere just as fast. The only way to catch someone like that would be to lure them out.

And then Alex had his answer. Whisper had threatened to kill Alex and all his human Pokémon several times before. Whether he meant it or not, Alex could not say for certain, but he never once believed Whisper wasn't capable of it.

Bait. It was crazy, but he was thinking about baiting himself to a murderer. Could he even pull something like that off?

He looked over his human Pokémon, reminding himself of all of their abilities. All of them were much weaker than Whisper. Alex had never been a particularly skilled trainer but he wondered if there might have been something he overlooked. Some way to keep Whisper in check…

"Coraline," he spoke up as something clicked in his mind.

"Hmm?" the ghost-girl peered at him. She often played hard-to-get in tandem with Cascade's overflow of affection. Alex made it a point to ignore both of them equally.

"I'm going to need you if we're going to catch Whisper," he told her.

"Me?" she tilted her head, "what do you need me for?"

"Yeah," Cascade put in, "what do you need her for?"

"I have a plan to catch him," Alex smiled for the first time in days, "but it's going to be dangerous."

"What?! How?! What is it?!" the two Pokémon-girls asked together.

"You'll see," Alex reassured them, "but first I'll need to call in a few favors. We need something. And it's going to be expensive…"

"At least tell us what it is," Coraline scoffed, folding her arms and turning up her nose.

"Banetite."

Coraline turned back to her trainer as her lips curled into a devilish sneer of pleasure.

AN: I know I said Alex wouldn't be back, but, hey, I had a better idea for what he could do. Besides, he has plenty of room for improvement and would be incredibly guilty if Whisper ever did kill someone.

And holy crap, I'm back!

God, it's been over a year…I can't believe I let this go for so long. Especially when I started reading old chapters. Typically I hate my own work when I re-read it. there's always something wrong with it that needs fixing and I want to throw it out, but this story? My favorite chapters are still some of my favorite writing.

So, where the hell have I been? Let's see…new job, followed by a move to a new apartment, which meant a new town and all the headache that goes with that. Practically a new life, really. I'm not telling you guys to make excuses, I just think you deserve to know.

After that, though…well, I'm not going to lie to you guys, a part of me really wondered if it was time to move on and forget this story. I worried about a lot of things, like maybe it was time to start taking my writing more seriously and devote time to something…I dunno, just…different, or bigger. A lot of stuff went through my head and I did try a few other projects, but nothing seemed to really pull me in and make me want to keep at it. and I always thought back to this story, which I'm still very proud of.

Ultimately, though, what REALLY made me want to come back was the point where I left off. I can't just leave these characters in this horrible situation. Everyone is in a terrible spot right now and I can't just abandon them. it'd be far too cruel.

So, I'm back. The good news is that with a regular, 40 hour a week job again, I can write more often (now that I'm adjusted/motivated, that is). I'm not talking 3 chapters a week, but more than one a month should be a good starting point.

Btw, if you happened to miss it, I posted a side-story called The Lonely Salamence, which is the story of how PureBlueSky caught Tempest when she was still a Salamence. It doesn't have any human Pokemon in it, but I thought it would make for a nice please-don't-be-too-mad-at-me bonus, now that I'm back.

Anyway, I suppose that's everything for right now. I'll do my best to read and respond to messages that I've been neglecting for far too long.

So, until next time, thanks for reading!