Chapter 7: Hand of Sorrow

It was burning, tearing, and multiplying all of its prior constraints. The sensation of encapsulation was completely localized and its bond made for a seemingly permanent connection. Time lingered, and fear grew.

"ARGH!" Feyera shouted as he took his quivering left hand and pummeled it into the sand, trying to rid himself of the heightened responsiveness of the freshly activated nerves there. His entire arm shook in periodic convulsions. It was a steady flow of thick tingling, accompanied by a tight tenderness that seemed to be very out of place. It reminded him of the sensation of a limb falling asleep, only the difference was: with each and every burst of prickling pins, there were amplified residual sensations echoing the first. It was wonderful and awful all at the same time. What he felt was knowable, yet undefinable.

The Reilken Mercurius caressed the Pokemon researcher's thin wrist. The ancient relic was aglow with bright neon green, the type of piercing light that Feyera had only seen before in the gambling signs riddling the alleyways of Celadon City. Its sleek stealth fighter black contour was covered in multiple rivers of the mysterious chemical-like light. The lighted lines were all perfectly straight, intersecting each other at perfect angles. Amid their numerous tracks lay multiple cubed lakes of the glowing green light. His eyes could see it unadulterated by his current emotion and trepidation. Although not having his sight forced to be influenced by emotional perception was a nice feeling, the young researcher remained buried in his fear of the unknown.

Edge winced as he looked at the device; it seemed far too complex to figure out how it worked, or why it was doing this all of a sudden. One thing was for sure; his hand was violently shaking in spasms and the burning feeling would not subside. What did it do to him? What was it doing to him?

[Boss, you okay?] asked his Charmeleon, who soon was by the trainer's side, patting his bony back with a small hand.

"Brucie…?" asked the trainer in confusion. Edge gasped for air, feeling as if he had just run the Fuchsia—Celadon marathon, "*Huff* Ha! …Brucie… *huff* W—what is going on?"

Pokemon and trainer both looked at the armlet Fredrick had retrieved. If this was what did everything to him, then Feyera had a problem bigger than merely figuring out the complexity of the device. For suddenly, it had begun attacking him. It had only done this one time before, and that was when he innately got it back south of Lavender Town after vanquishing Haunter. When he was in the Sanctum, it never hurt him. At least he did not remember it possessively clutching onto him. Did everything change when he impaled Sephiteos?

[I don't know. Ever since you put it on you haven't been able to take it off right?] Brucie said, reminiscing how his trainer had first put the device on as per Fredrick Irving's suggestion.

Feyera let out a long exhale. He rubbed the perimeter of the artifact to find that it was sealed shut, only faintly reverberating every now and again.

[You think that you screwed up by doing that?] Feyera's Charmeleon recollected the time where Edge had told him that when donning the Reilken Mercurius, it was Brucie's responsibility to 'kill him' should things get out of line.

However Feyera did not even consider the possibility. Instead, he thought about how he had tried to obtain the coconuts and failed. "Yeah. *pant*, mess—messed up," he said whilst gasping in uneven intervals. Edge felt lethargic. He had completely forgotten why he had invoked his psyonics. The action seemed foolish in retrospect.

Feyera looked up at the palm tree he sat under. Even in the evening sky, he could still see those coconuts thanks to the moonlight reflecting off of the Southern Sea and illuminating the shoreline. They looked delicious, and were tragically so far away. However, the strange thing was he had lost his appetite almost completely. Feyera felt fulfilled, nourished even. Of course, he would still eat a yummy coconut if he hadn't miserably botched up using psyonics. If he ate one now, it wouldn't be out of necessity, only out of desire. How quickly his circumstances had changed was unusual to say the very least. Nevertheless, the trainer paid little attention to this oddity in his stomach and instead focused on the Reilken Mercurius against his wrist.

[Y—You think that maybe there is a way to slip it off now that you made it go all glowly and bright?] feebly asked July.

"I…hmm," Feyera reached down and clutched the material with his right hand. Did he even want to slip the device off? Would it spoil his chances of reverting back to normal? Had he already moved past a point of no return? These questions made the young man's palms start to sweat uncontrollably with anxiety. "Can I?" he asked himself.

As he made contact with the bracelet, it issued a dull hum. It felt smooth. Very solid too, though light as a feather. And really warm. The bright green glowing sections were not divots in the perfectly curved ebony metal. Strangely, the tributaries of light only appeared on the surface of the material, but then again the item in question was bizarre to begin with. Edge had never seen anything like it. Even his dream memory, courtesy of Sana, had little recollection of the Mercury Relic. The only real thing he could find as the artifact's common trait was the hooped chakram-like form it took. Rationally Edge concluded that either: it had changed a lot since impaling his experiment, or he did not properly remember it in the dream memory. Doubt crept in; maybe Sana had altered the memory. Feyera shook his head in disgust, he truly knew nothing.

Now the item in question was pitch black with bloody lines of green tracing ambiguous patterns and flowing into exactly eight small squares of denser looking green light. Each block of green light seemed to be a source for the lines of light connecting the eight of them together around the perimeter of the amulet. He touched one of the lighted tetragonal parts with his right index finger. It was perfectly flat and as smooth as the black metal surrounding his wrist.

Feeling brave, he tugged softly at the piece. This caused his unexposed skin to become tense, as if it were connected somehow to the armpiece's interior.

"Urff…" he groaned, tightening his grip on the device and narrowing his eyes. It gave a little bit along with his less taut epidermis. The slight wiggle startled Edge; he was expecting it to have been latched on to bone based on his experience with the Gardevoir horn. That was preposterous. Just because he felt bound by one said nothing of the other. The two were not the same. The Gardevoir horn was hideously organic and the Reilken Mercurius was probably synthetically refined Mercurius. In curiosity, he brought his wrist to his eye and tried to see what was between the metal and his flesh. He squinted. As far as he could tell, it was conjoined tightly, but only at the surface. Closer inspection made him freeze up further. The worst was seeing a hue of mint green partially buried in his slightly translucent skin, bordering about an inch on either side of where the armlet lay.

Worriedly, Feyera took his right hand and took his ring and pinky fingers and slid them slowly along his radius bone from about midway on his left forearm. As he inched along, his skin grew finer and paler as it approached the pulsating relic aglow with spectacular irrigated emerald lights. He shuddered as the soft skin's sensitivity gradually rose as he graced his hand along, feeling the membrane's temperature rise with his meager advance. Feyera stuck his tongue out slightly and bit down closing an eye as he did so to offset the foreign feeling.

"Mmmm…ahhh…" he cooed as he touched the narrow trench where his flesh had adopted a color to match Sanaria's complexion. He stuck his pinky finger into the would-be crevice where metal met skin. The short nail barely dug between the two, before it was stopped by a taut fleshy substance whose tenderness that rivaled Edge's ocular cavities.

"Oooooo! OUCH!" Edge recoiled, pulling his probing finger back in shock. "Ow…What the heck! Sensitive as sin!"

[Boss, don't hurt yourself!] Brucie grabbed his trainer's flailing left arm.

"Hey did it look like I was trying to buddy?" Edge yelled. He was angry. Not just because of the sensitivity. He felt trapped. Out of control. Frozen. What was happening?

[Well I…what is it exactly?] Brucie asked, glaring at the bracelet.

Feyera tugged on the armlet and made a low-pitched growl. As he vehemently pulled, it didn't hurt as long as he refrained from trying to touch where it latched on. "I don't know how it works."

[Why not?] July asked politely.

"Argh…I c—can't!…Get!…It!…OFF!" Edge bellowed in disgust.

[It will be okay boss,] Feyera's Charmeleon reassured.

"How do you know!" Edge snapped at Brucie. Feyera's deep doubts periodically surfaced during times of stress and uncertainty.

Brucie tried to be positive towards the trainer. Sometimes that worked. He did feed off emotions after all. Though Brucie would not tell him that during a time like this. [Well, you've been through tougher stuff.]

July added on, [Not only that, but you're made of stronger stuff, Chris.]

"No. This right here," Edge continued to grapple with the relic, "this thing here is stronger."

[Stronger?] asked July.

Feyera nodded and shut his eyes, concealing the mist accumulating there. Could he beat it?

Brucie shook his head, [That's fine but what is it exactly?]

Feyera tugged on the piece again, wary not to disrupt the inflamed and slightly laxer skin beneath the armlet. "I—umm—shoot. GRRRR! HRRRUUUMMMMMM! Ahh…*gasp*"

Both his Pokemon could do little but watch as their struggling trainer continued to wrestle with the mysterious artifact. However, it was a fruitless. The bangle stuck to him like processed Cradily secretion glue. When he had first put it on, it had tightened to fully possess his thin wrist.

Fredrick…Thanks but how the heck do I make it work? Edge asked himself. Or in my case, unwork? He entertained the thought of clicking a simple switch and having his eyes return to normal and the infernal horn oh his chest disappearing. It was probably impossible, but the man had hope that there was a way. Pipe dreams, thought his mind.

[You don't have any idea?] asked July with a soft voice. [Do you?]

"Of course I—" Edge looked left and right whilst considering the facts, or lack thereof, "—Of course, I do. It is a piece of radioactive material."

[Huh?] both Brucie and July asked.

"RAIDOACTIVE!" Feyera screamed, still squirming with the uncooperative piece. The last thing he wanted to call it was magical or ancient or anything that would not be explainable. Even calling it a Philosopher's Stone seemed to be giving the bracelet too much credit. There had to be a reason hidden in the material's annexes. "Mercurius, or 'Mercurium'—once known as 'Ununseptium'—it's a super heavy transuranium radioactive element."

[Radio…active?] Brucie said wide-eyed, trying to absorb all of Feyera's terms.

Feyera grunted. "Yeah! Yeah, it's something like that." He could hardly comment any further on the matter.

[Ta ha, what is that big word supposed to mean?] July asked humorously, [some kind of mood changer?]

"Kinda," Feyera hated how he had to explain everything with feelings and isolated subjective perception. It just felt so wrong for him to conduct any conversation this way. Yet it was the best he could do in his pathetic state.

[So it's a mood ring?] Brucie excitedly said putting both his hands together as if in prayer.

"NO!" Edge retorted in anguish. It was rather ironic that he denied emotions he exhibited with such fervent passion. Everyone that knew Feyera long enough knew this paradox existed and could be easily summoned by even a mediocrely thought out taunt. The thought of Sana seeing him behave like this, especially with the new hue of faint green on his wrist, made him feel nauseous. But then he thought about what his Pokemon had actually said. There was something curious about how his Charmeleon knew about human apparel, even if it was something as silly as what teenage girls wore. "Say what? How do you even know what a mood ring is Brucie?"

[Oh, Lizzie used to wear one,] Brucie replied jovially. He wiggled his nails together.

"Who is Lizzie, some kinda name for your lizard mama?" Edge quipped. As mature as he wanted to be, he still was not immune to childish tendencies. Of course, Edge contributed such behavior to circumstance. It was his way of dealing with the stuff outside of his control.

[Mister Chris…] Brucie said quietly, [I was raised in captivity. I never knew my mother or my father.]

"So you are like me then?" Feyera bluntly said. He tried to be apathetic, but he had seemingly lost that ability weeks ago.

[Like you?] Brucie repeated in confusion. [Um…I'm a Pokemon.]

"No! I mean were you an orphan?" Feyera clarified; once again, upset by the direction the conversation had led them. However, being an orphan was only half-true for Edge. He knew his father and had lost his mother. His father was as good as dead to him though. Maybe not physically but emotionally. And seeing things through the lens of sheer emotion was becoming all that mattered to Edge whether he acknowledged it or not.

[Yeah. I like to think they are two big Charizard somewhere up in the sky.] Brucie pointed up to the cloudless late evening sky at the bright crescent moon, [Maybe…maybe one day I'll be able to fly and go find them…]

Edge felt his heart go out to his Pokemon. All this time and he had been too concerned with himself to even ask about his Pokemon partner's pasts. Brucie wasn't all that different from him. Maybe that is why they got along so well.

"I'm sorry bud. I'm sure you will…one day…yeah…one day…" Edge said lying. He knew that the antidote to Koga's Toxic poisoning would inhibit Brucie from evolving into a Charizard. His psyonic siphoning had helped to guarantee that. His own deceptiveness made him feel sick, but withholding that information was the necessary evil. He could not tell his friend that he'd been responsible for sealing the Charmeleon's fate. His sentimentality welled up inside of him, but he refused to release it, taking every negative thought and systematically placing the blame upon the status quo.

[Hrmm…So yeah, Lizzie was the nice Pokemon Breeder who took care of me when I was still an eggling!] Brucie said, ignoring the solemn expression in his trainer's green halo rimmed eyes. [She wore a bracelet that changed based on how she felt.]

"I didn't know you were so perceptive to things like that," said Edge half expecting this to be a conversation he was having with Sana. She at least knew some things about human beings. Mentioning trains and bright city lights for instance. Edge wondered about her past.

Brucie cut off his trainer's venturing thoughts, [Well Lizzie used to talk about it. Every night, when she tucked me into my pen, I remember it turning a bright orange when she put her soft hand over my belly.]

Feyera pointed a finger at his Charmeleon's tummy. The trainer said with a smirk, "You're kidding, right?"

The Charmeleon delicately caressed his stomach, [It was so warm. She always used to say it turned that color when she was happy.]

"That's because 'mood rings' work based on temperature. Body temperature to be specific," Feyera said putting both his hands into the air. "It doesn't know the way that you feel, just the heat of your body causing the chemicals to react."

[Oh. That's not what she told me though,] answered Brucie, who still clutched his abdomen.

Feyera blew air up and caused his light bronze bangs to loft, "*Huff* Well she probably was an airhead, Brucie."

Brucie made a sour expression and rubbed his knee. [That's not nice Mister Chris. I liked her.]

"Fine," babbled Feyera, "the mood ring can change with your…feelings. *humph* The temperature of your body can change to various degrees based on where blood is being pumped thanks to your brain ordering it around."

[Really?] Brucie asked in excitement. The Pokemon knew that his trainer was at the forefront of understanding emotion, whether he liked it or not. Of course, Brucie had hardly known Sana long enough to learn about her perception of feelings as a Gardevoir. For now, his trainer essentially filled that role, though quite defiantly.

Edge continued to spew his derisive venom-laced words, "Of course! Lizzie was a very smart lass. And also probably an expert in Applied Thermodynamics along with Entropic Theory. Maybe even a Cardiologist slash Neuroscientist on the weekends to banish the inevitable boredom that all too often plagues such esteemed intellectuals. *sigh* Feel better knowing that?"

[No,] his Charmeleon admitted.

[That seems like a lot of smart people credentials to wear a ring like yours Feyera,] July said hardly noticing his acerbity.

"This isn't a mood ring, July!" Feyera scolded. "And besides you don't need to be an intellectual to wear one."

[But I thought you said Lizzie was—]

"Just…drop it July," Edge suggested with an involuntary low growl ensuing his words.

[How did it do that to you Feyera?] Brucie pointed to the recognizably different tone in skin immediately adjacent to the Reilken Mercurius. [Was it the…rad—radio—radioa—?]

"Radioactive material? In all likelihood. It caused a mutation." He looked at the pale green flesh near the relic's grip. It certainly was not normal. Too fine, too soft, too unnatural. "DAMN IT!" he shouted at the object.

[Why did you m—muh—'mutation'?] asked July.

"I don't know," Edge said. "And don't be calling me 'mutating'!" He grew angrier by the second, and his forehead began to sweat from stress.

Both his Pokemon looked skeptically at the contradiction their trainer wore on his metaphorical sleeve.

"Because…I haven't done any of that!" Feyera belted well aware of how his eyes had been recently altered with Progenitor. The pyramid of lies he spewed out became a very psychologically unstable house of cards.

[Thought you'd know why there was a mu—] July began.

"What the hell do I look like to you, July? I don't have a doctorate in—" Edge froze up. He did. It was sitting in storage. Encased in a nice cherry mahogany frame was his PhD in scientific study—Genetics to be specific.

[In…?] they both asked drenched in curiosity.

Feyera thawed his expression, "—In subatomic physics dealing with the radioactive decay of Mercurium." This may have been true, but he was being very specific in the field of study he described.

[What?] they both asked simultaneously.

Feyera sighed, trapped in his lies.

[What are you talkin' bout boss?] asked Brucie.

"The science behind it…*sigh* I don't know why the chemistry is the way it is and therefore I don't know why this material is radioactive. But radioactivity does cause mutations given enough time. But why and into what I cannot say…" Edge said glowering at the relic.

[I thought you were a researcher Mister Feyera; ummm, don't you know how 'The Science' works…?] asked July.

"I'm just not sure about the specifics," Edge forced an inauthentic carefree shrug. "I do know a lot though."

[Oh? Can you explain something about 'The Chemistry'?] asked July. Once again, she had a comical tendency to butcher nouns. Probably due to her lack of understanding what it was she even was talk about. How could an intellectually deprived Pokemon understand the intercreate nature of human language?

Nevertheless, Feyera was more than ready to educate her. "Sure I can!" he said with a faint smile. "In fact, I'm happy you asked."

[Oh great here he goes…] muttered Brucie seeing the bright twinkle in his trainer's haloed eyes.

"Let's start with the basics shall we?" Edge raised his swollen palm, "Life what is it? July, you should know this…"

July tapped her fleshy root feet anxiously feeling put on the spot by her trainer, [Umm you and me? Brucie and Des too.]

[Err yeah I suppose what July said,] Brucie said in agreement.

Feyera smirked menacingly knowing that his Pokemon had fallen for the obvious answer, "Wrong. Life is Carbon." He then wagged a single finger through the air in rebuke.

[Car—bon?] repeated July.

"Sheesh, it's like talking to Sana…Carbon is an element present in everything living on earth. Millions of combinations make life happen the specific way it does. That's why we call it 'Organic Chemistry'," Feyera said, subconsciously padding his knees in delight.

[Really?] July said. [That's 'The Chemistry'?]

"Pah…yes, at least the start of it. Carbon and Hydrogen nomenclature bonds, those…those are absolutely essential to life on earth. You've got the Alkanes, the Alkenes, the Alkynes…" Feyera rattled off some principle chemistry elements and structures, based on Erector Sets he had constructed in the Academy, but found himself unable to figure out where he was going. Occasionally he would pause, unsure of what he was trying to say. He found himself inhibited by amnesia. Everything was clear up until a point and then nothing, zilch, nada.

[Wow. Are those like Pokemon?] July asked his disheartened expression.

"Humph…" Feyera said with a frown, "No they are elements."

[Elements?] the Charmeleon asked scratching his head. [Oh so like Pokemon types? I'm a Fire type—]

[—I'm a Grass type!] shouted July.

[And Despie is a Water type! You've got all the good ones!]

Feyera nodded his head. "You're right, Brucie."

[Mhmm!]

[Say what type is Sana?] asked July. [Is she like you? What type are you?]

Edge was displeased to hear the Gardevoir's name come back up. The trainer was even more annoyed by being compared to her. "…She's a Gardevoir making her a Psychic type."

[I knew I'd get it,] July said gleefully.

"Yeah…sure they are," Feyera said softly trying to dismiss the relationship being constructed by his Gloom.

[So there are all different elements—types!]

"They are as you said: different types of matter. I learned about all of them back in classes at the Pokemon Academy," Feyera said. He had learned so much more than mere elements yet had forgotten all about the more important constructs. He just had the building blocks. This lack of knowledge mirrored the predicament he now found himself in.

Brucie repeated the term, [Chem—istry?]

"Yes it's science!" Edge yapped.

[Okay.] He nodded.

Feyera leaned back slightly. "…Or at least a type of science. Or maybe a part of science depending on how you look at it. I see things as all being related."

[Is that why 'The Science' tells you everything?] asked July.

"Of course!" Feyera said proudly. Finally, he didn't have to put up with Sana bashing his outlook with her foolish Gardevoir perspective. The ex-researcher then continued to steamroll out his long-winded response, barely even stopping for air. "There are many different fields. Sometimes they overlap. Then you make new fields by doing that. But it all goes back to mathematics, the mother of all the sciences."

[M—Mother?] asked Brucie.

"Yeah like an origin you know? Without math, you cannot have logic, and without logic, you cannot have anything. So there can be nothing without logic," Edge said, rubbing his jacket's fabric.

[That sounds…complicated,] his Pokemon admitted.

"Oh trust me; it isn't so bad once you accept it. Things make more sense as you go along with the rules, I promise," he said adopting a moderately dogmatic tone.

[Umm okay,] his Charmeleon said, losing interest.

"So what was I saying?" Edge scratched his head, "Oh yes! Before I was talking about radioactive chemical interaction at the nuclear level…that's a combination of the science of Chemistry and the science of Physics…"

[Psychics? That's like your power…] started July.

"NO! P—H—Y—S—I—C—S!" Feyera said spelling out the field of science. " Not like my Psychic, uh—shoot…I mean psyonics!"

July smiled childishly, [They all sound the same to me.]

"Well they are all very different from each other. You need to pay attention to the details…" Edge made a discomfited face. "Even being only one letter off can make a huge difference. It can change everything," he said burying his hands into his denim pockets nervously.

[What is a small thing that makes a big difference?] July asked.

[Yeah, can you give us an example, boss?] said Brucie.

"*Sigh* It's like when you have a chemical compound that is normal, but if you change even one small aspect of it becomes ionic and volatile. Everything about it changes. Mutations. Free radicals, unstable compounds, decay, all that lovely stuff that…" Edge clenched his jaw in frustration. He cut himself off from saying "…I don't know about anymore."

[Sounds like someone we know…] July whispered to Brucie, obviously referring to Edge Feyera himself.

"What? Does that make sense to you?" Edge asked.

[Sorta,] Brucie said pawing the sand with his feet.

[Is it like your moods?]

"No it is not like my moods, why do you keep bringing those up, July?" Edge said feeling antagonized.

Brucie defended her, [Well it's hard not to when you're always giving them to us!]

"I…I'm giving them to you?" Feyera asked in confusion.

[Yeah,] Gloom said as she rocked her head back and forth rhythmically.

[Mmhm.]

"Sorry. I don't know why I'm doing that to you…" Edge pointed at the Gardevoir horn, "…it must be because of this…this…thing…"

Brucie pointed at his trainer, [Hey it's okay, just keep it in check.]

[It's kinda fun to see the world through your emotions Mister Feyera,] July said pleasantly.

[As long as they aren't so darn negative,] Brucie added on as a caveat.

"Emotions are not the world!" Feyera belted. He imagined Sana apparating next to him with a Teleport just to statistically twist the verbal knife by saying something cruel like: "They are YOUR world now, veh Feyera!" or "You know what the world is now for a Gardevoir!" even "This is what you deserve, and it's forever." Knowing her, she would even use a voice that was angelic to inflict such provoking perceptions concerning his predicament. She could make it sound like it was permanent. Sana could be a monster like that; she had already slipped up and revealed that.

[Huh?]

[You make it feel that way sometimes boss,] Brucie said. [Especially in battles.]

"Argh…you can't understand," Feyera said, now clearly angry at where his rouge thoughts had taken him. "Brucie, July, you've never studied the physical world in all of its beauty, nor have you seen how it all works together seamlessly as a fluid system of pragmatic equations…"

[Sure we have, we grew up outside and enjoyed it!] Brucie insisted.

[That is true,] said July as she thought about her life on Cerulean Cape.

"Not the same. You don't understand how it works just by experiencing it," Feyera said as he adamantly shook his head in disapproval. "You gotta study it. Dissect it. Find out the little components entombed inside and bring them to the surface." His explanation raised a haunting parallel to his Gardevoir shard, but it was a similarity he quietly dismissed.

[You know an awful lot about science. Are you sure you aren't a doctor like The Professor?] Brucie asked referring to none other than Oak.

"Well the truth is, I did earn my degree. I just forgot everything I learned. Like it was there one day and then gone the next."

[You don't say?]

Feyera whispered, "All of it…gone…" Edge tried not to recollect the expulsion of the horn from the dream, but that is where his mind had already brought him.

[Say Mister Chris…] began July.

"What?" snapped Edge still fighting with the truth.

[You are reeeeaaaaally smart right?] she asked in a pitched tone that stroked his ego.

Feyera automatically smiled saying, "Yes. Yes I am."

For him, 'smart' was a relative term. If July was referring to intellect, then yes, he had that. He could crunch basic equations in his head, make impulsive choices based on outcome tables he ran through in his head, and even calculate probability in his head, so long as his repugnant emotions did not interfere. His mind was a sponge, always absorbing new facts and information. It would adapt to changing variables to solve problems orderly. And yet, as if to spite this seemingly perfect system, his feelings sometimes took precedence and caused him to behave irrationally. Chris Feyera hated that more than the disfiguring Gardevoir horn on his chest. But were the two one and the same?

If however July was referring to academic knowledge, then Feyera was severely lacking—much to his displeasure since he always valued a strong institutionalized and controlled means of measuring worth. Especially something as mint as intelligence.

[Since you are so smart…Can you find out how to fix everything?] she asked innocently.

"Of course." Feyera gave a thumbs up with his bound hand. "We've been down this road before. That's the new mission."

Brucie's ears perked up intuitively hearing the 'M' word. [We got a new mission?] he asked, full of excitement.

"Yeah, yeah." Edge shrugged, "Find out how to fix this with science. I need time though."

Brucie cracked his neck, eager for adventure, [Why do you need time?]

"I have to remember how to do science…or find someone who does…" Edge thought about Ein.

[You coulda fooled me, boss. I think you know an awful lot.]

Edge tightened his grip on his pocket's fabric. "Brucie, the things I know are elementary in Academia. Everyone with half a brain should know them. My memories that deal with the kind of stuff I am in need of solving are fractured."

[Did you ever find out why they went away?] asked Brucie.

"Well my dear friend…Sana wiped my memory," Edge said prodding his Alterieno boots together, tapping their bladed tips together like fingers.

[Wait what?] they both exclaimed.

"Oh I didn't tell you two that lovely little detail?" Feyera asked with a devilish smile.

[N—No what?] July stuttered. [Mister Feyera, you don't tell us a lot!]

Brucie looked appalled. [Why on earth would she do something like that to you Mister Chris?]

"Well it is a long, hmmm…actually very long story. She's responsible for me forgetting most of my post graduate work," Edge said as he clenched a fist with his left hand. His undefined knuckles turned white. "And there are plenty of nasty things she would do to me if given the chance…"

[Wait hold on, you knew Sana before we met her here?] July asked, putting the pieces together at a Slugma's pace.

[That would make sense July!] Brucie exclaimed, [That's why she's the dream girl!]

"Please…" Edge huffed full of conceit, "she's hardly either of those things."

[Well you know what I meant. I know she's not a dream cause I said 'hi' to her,] retorted Brucie.

[So did I!]

"*Humph* She is most certainly NOT a girl either," Edge fumed. He was still angry about what they had done. But mostly what he had done. He wanted it to have been justifiable, but it wasn't no matter how he approached it.

[Why do you call her a girl though? You never call July that,] Brucie said bringing up the discrepancy that had been addressed on the pathway to the coconuts.

"Well—" Edge said as his face began to grow beet red as he remembered his justification for the kiss they had shared.

[I got it!] shouted July as she tiptoed over to Feyera's other side.

Edge froze up, afraid of her spilling the beans. How could she know about the kiss? "You—you do?"

[What is it July?] asked Brucie, eager to hear at least someone else saw the hidden relationship between his trainer and this new strangely absent member of the team.

[Well I think because Sana looks like him, he gets confused,] she offered as she unfolded her small hands up into the late evening air.

Brucie nodded, [That seems reasonable.]

Edge rocked his head back and forth. "She just is not exactly like me," he stammered, aware of how ridiculous his lies were becoming.

[Yeah but she has the 'Homo Sapien' stuff,] July proudly said.

"What do you mean?" Edge asked, almost wanting to hear the Gloom find a reason for why he had kissed Sana, "by 'Homo Sapien stuff'?"

[Well you are both tall, have the same features, and—]

"—S—Same features?" Edge stammered as he held onto the horn on his chest partially concealing it.

[Yeah,] Gloom said eyeing the part of his anatomy he half obscured.

[She's only trying to be polite, Chris,] insisted Brucie.

"Yeah I know. It's just that…we aren't really that similar are we?" Feyera asked the fear in his voice evident.

[Well if you had given us enough time to actually get to know her then maybe we could tell you for sure. Humph!] Brucie said scowling and crossing his arms.

"I told you, she's off doing 'Gardevoir things'," Edge said.

[Well then what about you? What are YOU doing? You have to eat still right?] Brucie asked as he stomped on the sand in frustration.

Edge smiled in the dark evening. He hadn't thought about food ever since his struggle to obtain the coconuts. "Yeah I needed some food." Strangely, that hunger had been quenched by whatever he had done.

Brucie widened one of his sapphire blue eyes, [Doesn't she need to eat too?]

"Why are you so darn obsessed with whatever Sana is doing Brucie?" Feyera asked.

The Charmeleon had had it. His trainer was being ridiculously emotional. He belted, [Alright, you want the truth? Do you wanna know what I think Master Chris?]

Edge fought the fright of truth valiantly with arrogance, "Hit me."

Brucie showed his fangs, [Fine. Boss, I think you screwed up.]

"What?" Edge shouted at his Pokemon. For Pokemon to disobey their trainers was not uncommon, but to actually hear his Charmeleon's condemnation made it exponentially worse.

But his very first Pokemon did not recoil. Rather Brucie went on to say, [Yeah. I think you messed up and you're just too afraid to say it.]

Edge had to clutch his horn in defense, an action Brucie did not fail to see, before lying, "I'm not afraid."

Brucie gave him a dark leer, [Sure you're not.]

"I don't care bud, listen she is just off on her own. She's wild, untamed, c—confused…This is 'her island'," the words stung Edge's lips as he spoke.

[I think you do care and you're running away again. That's all you know how to do. Run, run, run!] Brucie yelled at his trainer. The young Pokemon took both his arms, stretched them out below his waist, and leaned in towards Edge.

"How dare you talk to me like that!" Edge said, trying to sit up.

Brucie tapped Feyera's shoulder with a clawed hand. [Please listen to me!]

Feeling the pent up aggression, Edge relaxed. "What? What do you have to say?"

[Boss, I'll respect ya and all—] his put his nails against the bomber jacket's material and it made a soft squeak [—but you gotta respect me back.]

Feyera's eyes hurt as he stared at his first Pokemon who was now confronting him. "I—I do respect you Brucie. I always have."

Brucie rocked his small head back and forth, [No you haven't.]

"Lies," Edge retorted. He stroked his precious bronze hair.

Brucie growled as his trainer frolicked through his human hair. [Grrr…] It was a ferocious and feral noise. The unprecedented nature of it startled Edge.

"Then tell me how I'm not respecting you. I always talk to you; do you know how many trainers out there cannot converse with non-Psychic type Pokemon?" Edge asked. "You are blessed to find yourself with a trainer who has psyonics and can talk to you!"

[It isn't about just talking!] Brucie shouted.

Gloom backed off, allowing the two to continue and work out their differences.

"Then what is it about? Battling?" Feyera bluffed, hoping Brucie wouldn't call to attention 'Siphoning'—Edge's way of controlling his Pokemon in battle at the cost of their potential being sapped away by his psyonics.

[Battling?] asked Brucie as he bit his lip, [N—No. Why would you say that? We make a great team! You tell me what to do, and then sometimes you show my body the way.]

Edge relaxed realizing the bullet he had deftly dodged, "Okay then what else could it be?"

Brucie sighed and lowered his arm, [Start with being honest.]

"Honest?" Edge asked.

[Yeah. I'm not asking for much, boss.] Brucie kicked the sand. [You're still my master. I'll do what you say when you say it.]

"Then I don't see what the big problem is—" Edge said stroking his chest nervously.

[Will you just let me finish!] Brucie bawled.

Feyera tried to be apathetic, but was unsuccessful. "F—F—Fine. *Huff* Yes, go on."

[Mister Chris,] Brucie said with a small tear in his eye, [I just want you to be my friend. Friends *sniff*…friends trust each other with their problems. They don't run away from each other.]

Feyera did have a tendency to trust no one except himself. It was the aftermath of a long series of situations in the man's short life. Starting off in a family that was broken, seemingly because of him, he could never recover his self-confidence. Everything had always been so good when his mother was alive. After she passed, his father could no longer take care of him. He was weak. Pathetic. A disgrace. It all rubbed off on young Feyera and molded his future, paving each brick of the man's life-road with negativity and malice.

Starting in the Pokemon Academy boarding school, Feyera had become convinced that he was a nobody. Being abandoned gave him all the rational to do this. Over time, a lack of close friends from a young age made things difficult for Chris. He grew steadily colder. Lost respect for others. Lost respect for all save himself. He could not confide in anyone. Things became purely understood through their functionality. And given enough time, people became things.

Following his induction into the Pokemon University, he became so obsessed with research to the point of becoming academia incarnated. It infuriated those around him when his lack of friends allowed for Feyera's success in schooling. After all, he had no distractions. No reason to stop his work. No family. No ties. It was perfect for his line of work.

"I…" Feyera said fighting back tears that were not exclusively his own, but certainly provoked by retrospect, "I've had a difficult life, Brucie."

The Charmeleon forced a stern grip on the trainer's sleeve, [I know, but it's s'all right.]

"No. No it's not. I had everything taken away from me. Everything is still being taken away from me," Edge said pessimistically. His Pokemon like Jill. His humanity. His world. His life. Crucial components.

[But you have us now,] July chimed in from behind the trainer.

Edge bent his neck back saying, "I know, and thanks for being here for me."

[But you've gotta be here for us too!] Brucie requested.

[Yeah!] July said gleefully.

Defensively, Edge responded, "I am though!" Feyera thought about all the times he had cooked for them, taken care of them, made sure they were safe. He realized that sometimes he was indeed lacking as a trainer, and even more so as a person.

Edge played with his hand in the sand, dipping it into the soft substance. He picked some of it up and allowed it to pour out of his semi open hand. He watched the millions of granulates fall. He was just like them. Nothing special at the end of the day. He had extra-physical powers, but they weren't rightfully his. And strangely, without them he'd be nothing. Just another trainer. A dead trainer too. He was already a man without a memory and without a certain future. For the first time since before meeting Sana he considered what he was losing because of the Gardevoir attributes. What would be the next to go? His humanity? More of his body? His rational mind? All of those were damaged already by the heart's infiltrating ivy tendrils. To what unfathomable reaches would Sephiteos' attributes burrow?

Brucie broke the silence and consequently Chris' deeper thoughts, [Then you have to go find Sana!]

He punched the ground. "What? Why?"

[Because, Chris, she's out there on her own! What do we do for our friends? C'mon buddy!]

Feyera fumed and beat his chest to the right of the Gardevoir horn with a loose fist slightly coated with loose sand granulates. "I'm not perfect."

[No one is,] Brucie acknowledged.

Edge sighed, "Not a perfect person either."

[Homo Sapien!] cried out July.

Both Brucie and Chris shared a laugh over July's overzealous recollection of what Feyera classified himself as. Not because it was untrue—since it clearly was a false statement—but rather because it was funny to hear her telepathic voice shout something so irrelevantly relevant.

"Yeah. But to be honest with you, I'd—" Edge said, and then trailed off. For him to even say 'honest' would be like Sanaria talking about 'Modernic Predicate Logic'.

Frustrated, Edge bent his head back and looked to the crisp sky. His muscles ached as he did so. He didn't want to tell his Pokemon everything he knew. They couldn't help him. Only he could help himself. He was the researcher, he was the one able to figure out things as complex as Reilken Mercurius. That was his strength. His gift.

The only thing Feyera's Pokemon could do to benefit him was be on the receiving end of his denial. The longer he could keep things under wraps the better for his own sake. He used the opaqueness towards his Pokemon to conceal his own creeping anxieties when handling the truth. The first rule of deception is: "Fooling yourself begins with fooling those closest to you"

Then he suddenly thought about something. He wondered whether or not truth and honesty were synonymous terms. Edge thought about what truth meant. What it entailed would often yield results. For instance, knowing something could assist a scientist in many different ways. The entire Baconian scientific method was based off of the premise that knowledge led to power. Feyera knew he needed a different type of power, one not to be confused with psyonics stemming from the whimsical emotions. The power he yearned to have was lost two years ago. The power of unadulterated rationality. That power was slowly being stamped out by the splice. Even if it was replaced with another, this other power did little to comfort him in finding a way out of his predicament. Reading the emotions and minds of others gave Feyera no information on how to remove the Gardevoir attributes from his body, and—by extension—his mind.

Or maybe it was the other way around? Did the brain cause the bodily changes? No, that was impossible. Preposterous. That was 'Sana thinking'. Feyera convinced himself that bodies were only bodies. Nothing more. There was no so—called 'mind' transcending space, only a physical brain. Yet this very idea made zero sensed based upon his psyonics. How he hated the forced dissonance. It was so much a component of him at this point.

Edge vehemently pulled on his light bronze hair. "ARRRGHHHHHH!" he shouted at the moon above the pristine Southern Sea.

[Whassamatter?] asked July.

"I ugh…this…THIS is the matter!" he shouted at the heart projecting out of his chest. It took him a few second to admit to it, but it was his own body now. That's how he treated it. More importantly to his logic, that's how it treated him.

[Hmm?]

[Your body?]

"Nuh…no…this…" Feyera tugged at it feeling the sensitivity grow, and his own emotions blend with it allowing for new cascades of responsiveness to take place.

[That?] asked July.

[Your scar?]

"All of it."

[You've had that since before I met you,] said Brucie with a dry tone.

"True—"

[WAIT A SECOND!] Brucie yelled.

Feyera's eyes opened wide in surprise. His Pokemon had startled him. It was like someone screaming in his ear. "Huh?" asked Edge, feeling a little dizzy.

[Sana has the EXACT same scar! Why didn't I think of that before?] Brucie cried out, feeling incredibly oblivious.

"It…it's not a conventional scar…" Feyera admitted. He wished he could supplant the awful sensation. The sensations it gave, were not awful—they were quite the opposite—it was just so awful to have such sensations part of who he was and who he defined himself as. Edge could only change the latter. He did so with denial.

[What do you mean?] Brucie asked warily.

[Yeah…?] July reached her small hand up to try and touch the material. Edge instinctually pulled back from her.

"D—Don't touch it!" he ordered at his Gloom.

July brought her small hand back, [Um—okay. Sorry. It is just so smooth and shiny even in the dark. I like it; it is pretty almost like a jewel. It reminds me of Misty's Staryu!]

Feyera felt ill. The very thought of him being forced to bear it made him queasy. "It's—" he suddenly imagined Sana caressing it with tender strokes calling it beautiful "—it's just awful," he said with a repugnant undertone that was hardly subtle.

[You always used to say it hurt you,] said Brucie. [The baddies…hmm…the Rockets gave it to you. Did they give it to Miss Sana too?]

"D—doubtfully…" said Feyera.

July interjected, [But you said it was Cipher. The guys here on this island.]

"Yeah. I know." Edge wasn't about to admit that he could have been the one to cause it. "And there was nothing I could do…it was put here."

[So why are you getting so angry about it? It's the same as hers. Just talk to Sana about it and she'll know what to do!]

"She…she doesn't know what it is going on here," Edge said to Brucie, "with me I mean."

[Well maybe you didn't give her a chance to tell you. She has it too, so why wouldn't she know?] Charmeleon struggled with how his trainer claimed to be rational and yet could not be when it came to sensitive topics like these. He was a hypocrite.

"Brucie," Edge looked down at the beach, "I don't know if she knows. And if she does, I might not want to know…"

[You're—I mean it's practically radiating as bright as my tail!] Brucie said cutting off Edge's lamentation.

"I'm what? Radiating?" Edge said gripping the shard tighter, hoping that its glow would dissipate.

Brucie seemed to not care whether or not his trainer held the Gardevoir horn, [Yeah like crazy, I don't know what else to call it.]

[I—I see it too,] said July.

Panicked, Edge looked at his hands. Still relatively normal, barring the infuriating Reilken Mercurius locking onto his left wrist they were human. However, his fingers were softer than he remembered them being. Almost like a pianist's.

"What? I don't see any glowing radiation!" Edge called out at his body.

[That's weird,] said Brucie. [I look at you and all I can see is anger. I feel it.]

"Well maybe because I am angry. That ever cross your lil' mind?" Edge said, as the evening sea breeze blew through his hair, messing it.

[It did, but only because you are being such a projector.] Brucie said gripping Feyera's arm.

"P—projector?" Edge stammered.

[He's spreading it around, right Brucie?] asked July.

[Exactly, that's what he does all the time!] Brucie nodded at his partner. [He is so good at it. But why? Why do you have to be so much of a projector?]

"Well, I—" Edge stammered. "What are you talking about 'so much of a projector'? That hardly makes any—"

Brucie cut him off, [You have a way of making me angry when you are angry. It isn't really fair. I can't help it, boss. I don't know what it is. I try to fight it but…]

"*Gasp* that's…" Edge's mind began to race uncontrollably. Did he instance now too? Now that he knew about where his powers had come from, did he indulge in them too much? Were there consequences for doing so? Both his hands instinctually caressed the piece, amplifying these doubts by flavoring them with various hums and vibrations.

[And every time I try to help you figure out why, you push me away,] Brucie said with a faint nod. [Do you know how upsetting that is to me? Do you even know how that feels—?]

Brucie had not even finished his sentence but the moment he said the word 'upsetting' Feyera's emotional perception automatically honed in on his Pokemon's discomfort. He hated how it was becoming second nature to focus on such things; however, in this case, it was surprisingly detrimental. The Charmeleon's displeasure became as crystal clear as pure spring water to Edge and he immediately felt the involuntary tug of sympathy.

And it was the type of sympathy Feyera could never feel as a human being. Or if he could have, it was never brought to the surface in all of his years. At this point, the inundation of sentimentally had embraced his essence. He struggled to murmur a sentence, "I…ugh…no…I…"

[Boss…?] asked Brucie.

He looked into his first Pokemon's clear blue eyes. Help…I…nuhhh…too much…I… Edge thought in psychological agony. How could he even begin to describe what he felt to his Pokemon? How did he even exist? How was this all even possible? The stress continued to bulldoze through his consciousness at every support structure, casting him further into radical angst.

[Huh?] Brucie asked, oblivious to the infliction he had forced upon his trainer. It was the gift of empathy, but it came at a high price for one incapable of unifying with the embodiment of emotion itself. And that was exactly what Edge was, he was spliced with the epitome of sensation: a Gardevoir.

"*Gasp* Ugh…I…B—Brucie…" Feyera sporadically vocalized in pain. For he felt everything. His Gardevoir heart forced it upon him. He was helpless in every sense of the word. What he now had was a completely shared experience. An emotional manifold, penetrating both of their psychological substratums. And his mind kept looping it back to him. He was nearing the point of a meltdown, and he had barely even felt the conventional trigger of stress. There was no Team Rocket member pulling a gun on him and no ghost murdering his Pokemon. The usual push was not there. It frightened him. How could this be happening? How could everything be so out of his control? He did not know why, but he knew how. Alas, he could not stop it. His mind would defenselessly add on new anxieties and repeat the imposed impression of inadequacy. The unprecedented experience was spiraling out of control, snowballing into a riotous synthesis.

[What is it Master Chris?] his Charmeleon insisted, blissfully unaware of what it meant to touch feelings as powerful as these. It was a completely subjective experience to have them bluntly forced into you and manifested in internal physicality. The phenomenon was akin to a square peg being rammed repeatedly into the round hole of Edge's mind. Nonetheless, even that rational idiom began to lose meaning as Feyera's mind was vigorously lashed by the horn on his chest.

"I…ughh…I…" he began to speak. Feyera felt paralyzed. He could not escape from his body's demands. His hand touched the horn and consequently froze up in distress. The scarlet metal conjoined to his body was too sleek, too smooth, and too foreign. The anxiety had begun to take upon a life of its own. It assimilated new feelings, those he had repressed, those of his Pokemon, and even those he believed Sanaria had.

[What?] pressured Brucie.

"*Gulp*" Edge could not control the tormenting rheostat on his chest anymore. It was no longer just on his chest, but in his chest. Inside of his body. More importantly, it had infiltrated his brain. The repeated driving pain of the allegorical square peg was coercing a new shape for his mind. "I…I…*pant* no…" Edge weakly said.

[He's acting weird,] July concluded.

[You just don't know him as long as I do, July,] Brucie said with a smirk.

"P—please…just stop…" Edge muttered as his body began to shake thanks to the overwhelming sentimentality.

July shrugged, [Well at least he's not making any Psychic vortexes this time…]

The fact that those even occurred also fed into the well of discouragement that now took physical command. "M—make it stop!" Edge hollered at the piece of foreign anatomy. In vain, he cried as if it would listen to him. The anatomy had one purpose and one alone. Feyera was unable to control it. He was unable to wield it. Instead, it directed him, growing more adept with each new experience it shared with its unwilling host. It was a grand finale of surging emotion. He was digging himself further and further into a feedback fall of his own creation. "Na—na—NO MORE!"

[Boss, are you all right? What's wrong!] asked Brucie, who had just become aware of his trainer's spasms.

"N—n—NO!" Edge screeched; he simply could not contain it anymore. It was possessing him, controlling him, and making him into something he did not want to be.

July made an apparent gesture to Brucie as she spoke, [He's losing it Brucie. Something's got him.]

Brucie looked at July and clawed at his neck in nervousness. The Gloom did not express her anxiety as visibly, but Edge could sense anxiety radiating off of them and he unwillingly consumed it, allowing it to snowball into his own. It was out of control, like a Rollout attack.

"D—damn…Why? Why? WHY! Why me…?" Edge swore, breathing in the palatable salty tar sent of the sea.

[Hey, boss,] said Brucie trying to steady the flailing trainer. [Mister Chris Feyera…?]

Feyera shuddered hearing his true name. "I—I… *gasp*!" he said lurching forward. The heat was too much, the sensations too vivid. Edge felt his mind breaking, torn asunder by the lack of an ability to stop the sensations. He could not remove either of his hands from the heart; the crescendo of feedback inhibited him.

[Must be anxiety, that's what I feel at least,] said Brucie dryly. [Plus it's what he's projecting.]

Feyera broke contact with the horn at last, freeing his right hand. He then manically clutched at the sand as if it were his life, but his fingers could not grasp it, "H—haaah—help…"

[He's really making an awful lot of ruckus…] July said looking behind her at the mirror-like Southern Sea.

At this point, the Gardevoir shard was burning infiltrating into his visual field, making the world around him tattered by crimson solar flares. All of his senses were elevated. "I—ugh—it hurts—IT HURTS!"

[Give him a hand Brucie,] exclaimed July in fear.

[What do you want me to do?] Brucie asked as he padded his trainer's back with a soft massage. [I don't know what's wrong with him!]

"B—Brucie…where…where is Sana…?" he asked in desperation.

[Sana…?] Brucie repeated in confusion. Things must have been especially bad if he was thinking about her following all the running he'd been doing. [She's not here anymore, remember? I thought you said she left to do Gardevoir things.]

"N—no—what she needs…what I need ah—" he held the horn on his chest and his hands began to quiver with the pulsating rays of unshackled projected emotion. It flooded, it drenched, and it assumed command of who he was. Plumes of heat billowed up flushing the trainer's horror-struck face.

[What!] demanded Brucie, still holding his trainer's back and shoulders unaware of what Seph's shard did internally to the young man. [What do you need?]

He knew what he needed. It was something he could not obtain. Always out of reach, and always slipping further and further away from him. It was too much. Edge gasped as the air in front of him retreated. Eventually he found the strength to tell his Pokemon exactly what he wanted. And more so what he needed.

"All I wish for is to be rid of this…ARGH! Nugh…! *Haaah* This…OBSESSIVE…EMOTION!" Feyera screamed as he fought the impending darkness of unconsciousness with his two eyes open as wide as they would go. As he did this, twin soft reverberating scarlet auras greedily caressed against his eyes, coating his vision in warmth. They flickered, waxing and waning as convulsions continued.

All his Charmeleon could do was watch in helplessness. His trainer's body had begun to buckle and collapse from exhaustion. It was the same as his meltdowns, and yet there was seemingly no trigger. No gravity vortex, no use of psyonics, but instead simply unshackled emotion.

Edge was nearing the peak of what his body could endure. His mind was splitting in pain. He took the hand encased by the clutches of Reilken Mercurius and wrapped it around Brucie, applying pressure to the fire lizard's neck base for support. The trainer, nearly knocked out at this point, brought his mouth to his Pokemon's ear. Brucie shuddered as Feyera's trembling jaw drew close.

"*Pant* Brucie… *wheeze* F—Find her…!" he whispered to his Charmeleon. "…please…"

And then Edge went completely limp. His eyes closed and his once tense muscles relaxed. The man's breathing continued rhythmically.

In fear, Brucie delicately held onto his trainer's head. July had leaned close to her trainer's torso as well in the last moments before his untimely knockout.

[Boss! Boss!] Brucie exclaimed at the lifeless trainer.

Edge's body quivered causing the Pokemon to drop him on the sand. He landed with a soft thump on the white sands below the coconut tree.

[D—damn it. CHRIS! CHRIS!] yelled Brucie in agony. [Get up boss! C'mon!]

[He's not dead,] July said to Brucie. Feyera still radiated warmth, especially from his center.

[But he might be if we don't find Sana soon! July, he told me to go and find her. You need to stay with him and keep him safe from the wild Pokemon.]

[Brucie, the island isn't safe!] July said recollecting Ariados' ambush. There were undoubtedly countless more in the forest. [You can't go in there alone!]

[Does it look like we have a choice?] Brucie hollered. He pointed at Edge's sleeping body. [Our boss is in trouble. He hasn't eaten in days and now this happens to him!]

[But to get to Sana, you'll have to…!] July said thinking about the countless other Pokemon that called this island reservation home. At least on the Kanto mainland human settlements and trainers alike kept Pokemon populations in check. There were never grossly powerful Pokemon permanently living there, and if any appeared, usually the Pokemon League would intervene.

[I told you already, I don't have a choice! This is too important.]

July clutched her master's stiff hand. She sighed, [What about Des?]

[What about Des?] asked Brucie, turning his head and facing the ominous forest. [She's out on reconnaissance.]

[She could help you if we wait for her to come back, maybe she'll find the yacht. Maybe she'll find help, Brucie. You don't need to do this.]

[I…I can't wait,] Brucie spun back around and looked at his first friend's motionless form, […he, Edge, can't wait.]

[Brucie, no…don't go. You aren't strong enough yet. There are monsters in there that are too powerful for you to take on!] the Gloom said worriedly.

[Then I'll avoid confrontation. Besides, who's afraid of some dumb spiders?] Brucie somewhat mocked his trainer's fear, something he could never get away with while Feyera was conscious.

July shook her head and her flower's gently curved leaves rustled. [Brucie, they are nocturnal, the spiders will outnumber you. They might fear fire one on one, but you are outmatched against a group. The one we saw was pregnant too.]

[So? Who cares, I'll fry the lil swarmers!] Brucie said angrily, mimicking Feyera's occasional bursts of self-confidence.

[There are usually mamas and papas…unless the mama gets hungry and eats the papa. But even then they always have lots of mouths to feed.]

[July, I have to be strong for my friend. Chris needs me. I know him. He's my pal.]

[Then don't throw your life away just because he told you to do something in delirium!] July scolded.

Brucie shook his head. [The thing is July, Edge and I, ya see, we're pals.]

[I know that,] July said nodding. [You two have something special.]

[Yeah,] Brucie looked over at his comatose bound trainer, [*huff* between you and me, I see him as the big brother I never had. I don't know if he looks at me that way—like family and all—you know since we're different species and all. He's a person and I'm just his Pokemon…]

July pointed at the unconscious trainer's exposed glossy heart. The once uncontrollable anatomical feature mirroring Sana's now rhythmically rose and fell with the man's shallow breathing. He looked peaceful, though his journey to such a state was certainly unpleasant. She sighed, [You know, people and Pokemon, they might not be that different. Maybe he sees you as his little brother, Brucie.]

[He might be a jerk sometimes and get all jumbled up in emotions or science depending on which way the wind is blowing. But the thing is, he's my friend. When he puts his life on the line to help me, you know that I'll be willing to do the same for him! And do you know why?] Brucie turned and shouted at the dark jungle in front of him, [Because I care about him!]

[Brucie…] July forced a smile, [please be careful.]

[I'll be back in a flash,] the young Charmeleon said with unparalleled determination. He spat a small wad of fire on the cool sand reminiscent of the time when he had gone on his first walk with Feyera. He snorted and bluffed at the odds, [How hard can it be to find her?]

July could only nod at his bravery.

Feyera's starter Pokemon jumped onto on fours and proceeded to run into Chrono Island's dense tropical forest. He bolted forth with blinding speed, his bright flame tail casting out the darkness as he left the moonlit shoreline. Brucie knew that his Pokemon trainer had asked him to do something, but that was irrelevant. Anyone could take orders. The important thing—and all that really mattered at this point—was that Brucie's friend needed his help.