By the way, would you guys like to read more gym battles?
Polaris–Ponyta, Tsuki–Serperior, Mamoru–Samurott, Tlaloc-Braviary, Carrara – Liepard, Croatan - Scolipede
Unworthy Ideals"What do you mean you're out of Gracidea flowers?" Hari exclaimed.
I winced. "Don't you have any in the back? Even a single flower?"
The florist clerk looked rather alarmed at the small crowd of people and Pokémon facing him down. "W-well," he said uncertainly," We sold out last bouquet almost a week ago. There really aren't any left, and they won't come back into season for a few more months."
Shaymin leapt onto the counter and glared at him. "Listen," she said, making the florist go wide-eyed at the talking Pokémon. "I need those flowers so that I can fly and rejoin my friends. Tell me where you sold those last flowers too."
"Please," Ben added.
Drew pushed his way to the front. "Listen you know me, right? You can tell us. We just need to see them for a minute."
N nodded in agreement.
The florist sighed. "Well, I do know a lady that bought one of the bouquets. I can call her up."
"Thank you," Drew said, relieved.
Shaymin smiled sweetly (or at least pretended to). "Yes, thank you very much."
The florist seemed rather relieved to see us go, address in hand.
The woman was happy to bring her gracidea bouquet out for us.
Shaymin buried her face in the bouquet of flowers with a happy sigh. A moment later, she leapt into the air even as her body changed shape. She circled joyously above us. The woman watched in awe.
"Thank you," Shaymin called down to us. "See you around!"
We waved, and Shaymin dashed across the sky and out of sight.
Her abrupt departure seemed to unravel all of the emotion of the past couple days. We thanked the woman once more and headed back to town.
"Well, this whole mess is finally over," Drew sighed, smiling slightly. "I guess I'd better get on home. And you wanted to challenge the gym, right Cara?"
"Yeah, we need to get back to training." We hadn't really done any of that since we left Nimbasa City. "It was nice meeting you."
"Thank you so much for your help," Drew said, facing us and bowing his head. "I almost did something I would have regretted the rest of my life."
N hesitated, and then stepped towards Drew. "I wanted to thank you too. Even though you might have… hurt Keldeo, you were just trying to help other Pokémon. And you let Keldeo choose to help on his own. Not every person would do that."
Drew cocked his head and scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah? Well, thanks then. Good luck in your gym battle, Cara. Thanks again, all of you!" He raised a hand in a final farewell and disappeared into the crowd.
We stared after him for a minute, and then I turned to Ben, Hari, and N. "Well, do you guys want to help me train?"
…
We spent about a week in Driftveil, until I defeated Clay. Then the four of us continued north, towards Chargestone Cave and Mistralton City beyond. It was a few more days before we reached the entrance to Chargestone cave, and we set up camp nearby. It was too late to enter the cave today.
Ben and I let our Pokémon out for dinner. Hari and Gro gathered some herbs and roots from the forest, and we made a big pot of soup (a big pot of soup doesn't seem very big when it's shared between four people and 13 Pokémon).
After traveling all day, I lead my Pokémon in a few practice matches, so they could let off steam before bed. N actually joined me, by asking some wild Pokémon to practice with us.
As Tsuki battled against a wild Accelgor, I shifted over to talk to N.
"Is this how you always work? I mean, when you need to battle, you just go out and ask some wild Pokémon to join you for a while?"
N nodded. "Yes. Since I teach people to free their Pokémon, I can't very well keep Pokémon of my own. That would make me a hypocrite, wouldn't it?"
I nodded slowly and watched as Tsuik wove back and forth, trying to avoid her opponent's attacks. "How do you train them then?" Whenever I'd battled with N, he was always very skillful in battles, and it took a lot of effort to defeat him. Could he really battle that well with Pokémon he'd just met?
N shrugged. "If I know I need to battle, I'll find a team and work with them for a while. I get to know them enough so we can understand each other during a battle."
We stopped our practice battles when it got dark, and we all got ready for bed. I stopped next to Croatan and patted his neck. He pressed his nose against my shoulder.
I glanced over at N, who rolling out his sleeping bag. Then I said to Croatan, You know, I don't think I ever apologized.
Croatan cocked his head and blinked inquiringly.
I sighed and continued. I caught you the way that typical trainers always catch Pokémon – they just jump on any Pokémon they lik, attack it, and catch it. I didn't ask what you thought about joining my team. And… I kind of wonder…. Since you don't talk that much if you never wanted to be here.
To my surprise, Croatan gave a small chuckle. Well, some Pokémon just don't talk much. I'm happy here, you know. Wild Pokémon know about the possibility of capture. And those that want to stay free are careful about it. They wouldn't hang out near a human trail. I didn't mind joining a team, but I suppose it would be courteous to ask before battling a wild Pokémon.
I sighed and stroked Croatan's neck. Thanks. I've been nervous about that for a few days, so it's nice to know.
Croatan nodded. I guess hanging out with that N guy has started to change your thinking?
I frowned slightly. Maybe it had. But I wondered… if I saw a Pokémon I really wanted, would I really ask its permission first? I sighed again. Maybe. But I still have a ways to go before I respect Pokémon as much as he does.
Possibly. But you're better than almost every other human I've seen.
Thanks, Croatan. I'll do my best to improve myself. To get to those ideals N keeps talking about. Let's get some sleep.
…
Cara?
Something nudged my shoulder. I rolled over, frustrated at having someone disturb my sleep. It happened a lot more than was necessary (though admittedly, when it's early morning, nothing seems necessary for disturbing sleep).
Cara?
"What is it, Polaris?" I groaned as she nuzzled me again.
N is gone.
I opened my eyes and squinted at her. "What do you mean, gone?"
He packed his bag and walked off, just a minute ago.
I sat up and cursed under my breath.
Do you need to go after him?
I ducked behind a bush and changed out of my pajamas. I want to see why he's sneaking away like this. I quickly returned my other Pokémon and dragged a hairbrush through my tumbleweed-hair. Hari sat up, groggy, as I jumped on Polaris's back and she trotted after N.
We stopped when we found ourselves facing the black mouth in the mountain that lead into Chargestone Cave. I slid off of Polaris's back and walked inside, with her following.
The flickering blue and yellow light took me by surprise. I expected the cave to be dark, but there were strange boulders that fizzed with an electric glow. There must have been something magnetic about them, because a few of the electric stones were actually suspended in the air. The whole cave was lit in an eerie light.
We made our way hesitantly forward until the passage opened up into a massive chamber. Off to one side, the floor dropped away into a pitch black chasm. Standing by the edge of a cliff, examining one of the glowing boulders, was N.
N must have heard us, but he didn't turn around. Instead he said, "I like the electricity of this place. It reminds be of formulas, and the electric power that many Pokémon have." He faced us. "I wondered if you would follow me."
I scowled. Something about that sentence made me wish that I'd just left him. "Well, what do you expect, when you go sneaking off at the break of dawn?"
N gave a small laugh. "Sorry. I would have waited to say goodbye, but the Shadow Triad sent a message that I had to be somewhere."
"Shadow Triad?" I watched as a small charged stone drifted out across the chasm.
"Thank you for letting me travel with you for these past couple weeks. It was a lot of fun."
I sighed and tried to act civil. "Yeah. Thanks for keeping us company."
N glanced over and stared at something across the chasm. I followed his gaze. On one of the cave walls, a little Joltik was scrambling across the rock. The floating stone bashed into the wall just below it, and the stone that Joltik was on crumbled, sending the little bug tumbling down. He barely managed to cling to the floating stone, but as we watched, the stone drifted away from the wall and stopped, hovering over the chasm and leaving Joltik stranded.
"Ah!" N exclaimed. And, eyes fixed on Joltik, he took a step forward, right off of the edge of the cliff.
N let out a cry of alarm as he began to slide down the steep slop at the lip of the chasm. He tried to reach around for a handhold, but he was in the wrong position. I flung myself forward, grabbing the back of N's shirt. As I slipped down after him, my free hand gripped onto a ledge of rock. The two of us hung there, N's feet dangling over the sheer cliff, me straining to hold both of us up. Above us, Polaris whinnied and pranced back and forth, helpless.
"Tlaloc!" I shouted.
My Braviary's Pokéball burst open and Tlaloc circled above us. He swooped in and grabbed N's shoulders in his talons. He carefully flapped up and deposited N on solid ground. Then Tlaloc returned for me and set me down safely.
I crouched next to N, who was gasping on all fours.
"What were you thinking!" I shouted. "Why the hell weren't you looking where you were going! Do you want to kill yourself?"
He sat up and glared at me. "I'm sorry. I suppose you would never risk anything, even accidentally. You wouldn't give your life for Pokémon."
I stared at him, my face blank. "I did."
He stared back. "What?" Clearly I was sitting here in one piece, so his confusion was understandable.
I gestured to Tlaloc and he pushed the floating stone back to us. I lifted Joltik off and he clung to my shoulder, trembling. I scratched his head with a finger. "See, this is what I was talking about before. "If you don't keep Pokémon with you, you could not have helped that Joltik."
"I would have found a way."
"Maybe. But would you have found a way to not splat at the bottom of this cliff? People and Pokémon can accomplish so much more when they work together then when we're on our own."
"Sometimes. But what about Pokémon battles? That's why most people work with Pokémon. They say that it's a way for people and Pokémon to understand one another, but it's just a way fro trainers to compete. Because of this, Pokémon get hurt."
"Pokémon often enjoy the competition as much as the humans do. Well, a lot of the time. It's not always true." I continued to pet Joltik, trying to soothe him. "I agree, if people and Pokémon were able to understand each other better, they wouldn't get hurt as much during battles. But I still think a land where people and Pokémon are separated would be a miserable place."
"What did you mean before, when you said you gave your life for Pokémon?"
I sighed, wishing I hadn't brought that up. I paused as I tried to gather my thoughts. "Have you ever heard that Pokémon tears can bring life?"
N cocked his head. "I don't think so."
Maybe it wasn't part of Unova legends. After a longer pause, I said "Well, I've done what you just did. Thrown myself forward to help a couple Pokémon. It was a worse situation than falling from a cliff, and I miscalculated. I… I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for the Pokémon tears."
I turned away. It always felt so strange to think about. I'd never even told anyone else about it, besides Ben, and Hari. I suppose I wanted N to know that I cared as much about Pokémon as he did, and would risk a lot for them.
All of us were silent for almost an entire minute. Then N stood. "Ghetsis is searching for the Dark and Light stones. Once we have them, I will befriend the Pokémon sleeping inside. That way, people will listen to me willingly."
It took me a minute to realize that he was talking about the stones that contained the sleeping Reshiram and Zekrom. By the time I stood up, N had retreated most of the way across the cave.
"Wait a minute!" I exclaimed. "You're actually going after the legendary dragons? Are you going to try to help people and Pokémon understand each other better?"
N turned and gave a sad smile. "Like me, you have ideals – a world where people and Pokémon understand each other perfectly. It's a wonderful ideal, but I think it's too far away. No, it would be better to separate everything completely." He ducked into one of the side tunnels.
Nothing had changed. Even after traveling together, N hadn't changed his views at all. I clenched my fists and sprinted across the cave. "How can you say that!" I shouted. "After everything, you're still stuck on your same stupid ideas!"
I skidded to a halt outside the tunnel but N had already disappeared. I let out a scream of frustration, which echoed around the chamber. The little Joltik on my shoulder flinched. "If you do this, you won't be a hero!" I shouted down the empty tunnel. "You'll make everyone miserable!"
Polaris approached and nuzzled my shoulder. Come on. There's nothing more you can do here.
I was tempted to run down the tunnel after N, but I couldn't tell what fork he'd taken. I'd probably just get lost. After a few minutes, I turned and followed Polaris out of the cave, returning Tlaloc.
I rode back to camp, with Joltik perched next to Polaris's ear.
…
"I told you he was a jerk!" Hari exclaimed once I finished my explanation.
I growled in agreement.
"Jeez," Ben murmured. "And through all this time, I thought he was starting to open up."
"Me too!" I burst out. "That stupid jerk! After everything we tried to do for him, he's still determined to screw up Unova!"
"Stupid jerk," Hari echoed.
Ben cocked his head. "Well, if you hate him so much, why'd you let him travel with us for so long?"
I fell silent. After several moments, I murmured, "I-I don't hate him. It's just that he, well he reminds me…" I cast around, trying to explain what I meant. N reminded me of Hari – raised among Pokémon to the point where he understood them much better than people, and even had trouble among human society. N also reminded me of myself, with both of us ready to stand against anyone who threatened Pokémon. But most of all…
"He reminds me of Mewtwo." Yes, maybe that was what caught me most. Both he and Mewtwo had lost that hope that good existed between humans and Pokémon. But I really though we were getting through to N. After all, he wasn't nearly as bitter or dangerous as Mewtwo had been.
"Mewtwo's much cooler than N," Hari protested."
"You didn't meet him when he hated humans."
Hari cocked his head, frowning slightly. "Well, we wont let him take Pokémon away, right?" Hari asked.
Ben nodded. "Yeah, they haven't even Reshiram or Zekrom yet. Even if they do, who's to say that they could actually make everyone release their Pokémon? I don't think we need to be too worried about them."
"Yeah," I murmured, nodding. "Yeah, you're right. That's a huge thing to do. N and that Team Plasma don't have enough power to change an entire country. They might not even find the dragons."
Hari grinned. "Yeah! They're stupid. They won't be able to do any of that awful stuff."
I nodded, wanting to believe it.