Chapter Nine: Hope

"You see, sometimes friends have to go away, but a part of them stays behind with you."

Ash Ketchum - Jirachi: Wishmaker

My name is Tobias. It's the name my caretaker Bruiser gave me after I hatched. It was too difficult for me to say at first, so people used to call me "Toby".

One of the other kids at Hope was another Squirtle named Wyatt. Only a year older than me, and less than three inches taller, it always felt like he towered over me; he had this worldliness that I expectantly waited for every day. My caretakers, well, they were proper adults. They had knowledge and wisdom I could only dream of. I looked up to them with distance reverence, it was inconceivable that I could ever be as old as one of them. If I'm remembering correctly, one of them was twelve. Yveltal, only a year away.

But Wyatt was my inspiration. I made a conscious effort to be like him, to walk and talk and fight just like him. At one point I even went around widening my eyes a little just to look like him, with his big red saucers. Just a shame that mine were purple.

Then he evolved. I'm not sure what happened exactly, I just remember feeling my motivation to be like him slip away. I still looked up to him (now in the literal sense), supposedly I was meant to look up him even more, now that he was a Wartortle, and myself still a mere Squirtle. I'm still not sure what caused that distance between us when he came back from Mossgreen Spring. I just remember feeling like he was both close to me and far away, a figure I could aspire to become, but never actually be.

Close, but far away. That's exactly how it felt looking at him now after all those years. Then the distance was closed in an instant as Wyatt sprinted across the room and held me so tight my feet lifted off the ground. I put my arms around him and squeezed back as hard as I could.

"You're alive," he breathed. Then he put me back down, and shook his head. There were tears in his eyes. Thank Xerneas, I wasn't the only one. "Of course you're alive. I knew you would be I just… I can't believe you're here."

"I kinda can't believe you stayed," I said with an awkward smile.

"Someone had to."

Alex shut the door behind him. Dim light shone through the cracks in the blinds. I could still see the dust floating around the room. But the floor was clean, the paint on the walls intact, and there didn't seem to be a single hole in the roof.

"The place looks… well-kept," I said. Which was true, given the circumstances. It was strange to imagine the care home's resident trouble-maker actually working here.

Wyatt glanced around with a self-conscious expression. "Yeah, well, it's not exactly Sunny Day Care, but it'll do."

"Can you believe that place only keeps their kids for six months?" I said, hoping that dragging the rival care home would re-connect us a little bit.

He sighed, and picked up the broom to lean it against the wall. "Ours usually don't stay much longer."

I blinked. "They don't?"

"Why would they?" he said with a shrug. "There are better options out there for a Pokémon who knows how to walk, talk, and fight to some degree. Still, we get for a year or two. Usually when they're too old for Sunny Day they come here as kind of a half-way home. A few times I've found an egg by the River and hatched it myself. Whenever any other kind citizens stumble upon them they take it to the J's. Fine by me, I can barely handle the twelve I do have on my hands."

He sounded drained, like a father done scolding each one of his children for some misdemeanour.

"But they need this place," he continued. "Even if they're still holding out for something better, the kids in this city need to know it's there for them if they find they can't carry on. They need to have that small bit of hope, at least."

"What about the others?" I asked. "Who else is working here?"

I recognised the subtly pitying smile I'd seen on him so many times, when the year between us had shone a light on my childhood ignorance.

"There's no one else, Toby. I'm the only one left."

"What… What about…" my eyes moved around the room. Why? They weren't exactly about to jump out of the walls, were they? "What about the other kids?"

"They've all left us." He held his arms out. "That's why I'm here."

"The caretakers?"

He shook his head.

"What about…" I could hardly bring myself to say it. My voice came out in a childish, pathetic whimper. "… What happened to Bruiser?"

Wyatt's face gave it away. But I needed to hear it. Otherwise I could never have accepted it.

"They found her, Toby."

Suddenly standing was too much. I fell hard on my knees and put my hands over my mouth to stifle it. Tears burned out of my eyes. Alex immediately dropped down and put his arms around me. It was in that moment I realised he really did care for me. There was nothing selfish about him holding my as I shook and the wetness on my face and hands stung his skin.

I knew it. I always did, but for some reason it'd never really sunk in. I wish it had. I could have gone through this long ago, on my own terms, and then I wouldn't be here, kneeling on a dusty old floor in my childhood home, crying in front of an old friend who was now a stranger, my best friend powerless to help me. Sometimes there's a dark side to holding onto hope.

We had a very important rule at Hope Care Home, and I was glad to see it still being enforced. When someone is upset, they're to be brought a hot chocolate. No exceptions. Even if they say they're not in the mood for one, just having it there to warm their hands, or the comfort in having a loved one care for you, that's enough sometimes. It was almost medicinal, in a way. The sugar to replenish your energy, the heat to calm you down. Cream and marshmallows on top because why not?

From the door to one of the corridors leading to the bedrooms, out poked a long blue-and-cream snout.

"Are you okay, mister?" the Cyndaquil asked.

"Mister". Zygarde, did she really think I was a grown-up?

"I'm all right," I said, holding up the mug as evidence, "thank you, ma'am."

The Cyndaquil beamed, then shuffled away. Kids often appreciate it when you speak to them like adults, I know I did at that age. We were all in such a rush to become the Pokémon we looked up to. We never realised how many of them wished they were our age again. Enjoy it while you can, kid.

Oh Yveltal, I really am a grown-up!

Wyatt came and sat beside me as I sipped my hot chocolate. I lowered my cup and Wyatt cracked a grin.

"Cream?"

He nodded. I wiped under my nose with the back of my hand.

"I've fixed your friends some and asked them to wait, I thought you'd appreciate some space."

"I do. Thanks, Wyatt."

"Nice necklace," he said, cocking an eyebrow.

"It was a gift from Alex," I said defensively, turning it between my fingers.

The Wartortle leaned back and rested his arm on one knee. "He calls you "Tobias". When did that happen?"

"When I learned how to pronounce three-syllable words."

We both laughed. I wondered how to fill the silence that followed. While the milk boiled (side note: Itorans really need to stop putting water in their hot chocolate) Alex and I had filled Wyatt in on our shared life in Emerald Town. The Treasure Hunter's Academy, Ruby Forest, the war. But I'd skipped five years ahead. I left Karma City in 146 A.S., met Alex in 151. What about the years in between?

"I was part of a treasure hunting team."

"A different one?"

I nodded. "We were called "Team Tenacious.""

Wyatt snorted. "That's so corny."

"I'm glad you're finding this amusing."

"Sorry," he said, settling himself down. He really had changed.

"They found me lying unconscious on Oran Berry Beach. The first thing I remember seeing is their faces peering down at me in the Academy's hospital. A Misdreavus, a Gothorita, and a Pikachu. I'd been out for two days. I could hardly move, so they stayed with me and brought me food and talked to me even if I could barely say a word back. They stayed with me for a whole week, together or in shifts, I don't think I was alone for a single moment until I was able to walk. They took me back to their place. It's this small cave dug into the cliffs. It's nothing much, barely room for four medium-sized Pokémon, but it's home.

"As soon as I was ready they took me on my first mission. Geyser Sea. The Pokémon were too strong for me, but still they never let me be alone for a moment. It was terrifying, but exhilarating. I saw Pokémon twice my size drop after a single Thunderbolt. I remember one mission where we were tracking down a missing Sewaddle in Skein Sierra. A fire-type dungeon."

"That doesn't sound like the safest place for a Sewaddle."

"No, it wasn't, not for us either. She was twelve floors up. We were out of healing items, our leader was poisoned, two of us were getting hunger pains, and we finally saw her huddling in a corner of a wide open room; she looked scared out of her mind. Can you guess what happened next?"

"Please don't tell me…"

"A Monster House. Salandit, Salazzle, Numel, Pupitar, Krokorok, and a couple Pyroar thrown in for good measure. It was a bitter fight, we used every single item we had left in the bag until we were smashing orbs against the ground at random hoping they would do something. But one by one they were all knocked out. Four wild Pokémon left."

"What did you do?"

"I ran. I ran and ran, and I made sure they were chasing me. Finally I came to a narrow strip of land between the trees. They had to run single file, and then I turned around and…" I gestured with my hand.

"You knocked out all four of them?!" Wyatt said, eyes wide.

"You don't have to sound so surprised!" I exclaimed. "Besides, they'd taken damage, and my egg move is Brine, so…"

"I'm sorry," he held up his hands, "I'm impressed, is all. Finish your story."

"We rescued the Sewaddle and took her home. That mission boosted our ranking by just enough to level us up. We were gold rank. That'd always been our leader's dream. Gold. And we made it. Thanks to me."

I realised then how— what's the right word? Wistful, I think that's it. How wistful I sounded, as if I wasn't recounting one of the worst experiences of my life. I guess at the time, though, it was one of the best. It's such a shame how the following months poisoned it.

"What happened?" Wyatt asked. We were finally getting around to it.

I puffed out my cheeks and exhaled. Should I even be telling him this? Was it worth bringing the shame in my current life to the people from my past? In Emerald Town, everyone knew what Team Tenacious had done. I couldn't be sure they hadn't heard of it in the north, either, considering I was now pseudo-famous up there, as well. Funny how when your name spreads, all your dirty secrets tend to spread with it.

But here, only a handful of Pokémon even bothered to know my name. They knew me as "Toby".

"We didn't work out," I said.

Wyatt opened his mouth, closed it again.

"Folks around here seem real worried about the new Archon," I said. Gods, had I gone back to my Tenraian dialect that fast?

"No one even knows where he is half the time," Wyatt said. "Some folks can't remember the last time they saw his face. I reckon he isn't even here half the time."

"Where else would he've gotten himself too?"

"Hell if I know. He certainly doesn't have to worry about the docks being closed, like most of us do."

"You can swim," I pointed out.

"Like hell am I swimming across that ocean in autumn."

Can't say I blame him.

"Do you have any idea why he closed the docks?"

Wyatt rolled his eyes. "Keep folks in. Stop them migrating to Itori to get the hell out of this crumbling city. Buildings may be overflowing, but he sure doesn't seem to want to turn down the chance to squeeze tax money out of even more of us."

"You pay taxes too?"

He snorted. "He's tried. I give 'em just as much hell as the J's give 'em, and then some." He sighed. "It wouldn't be so bad if people had any idea why he was doing this. He keeps going after all these small settlements or semi-civil wild areas, but his movements are so random, no one knows why he's ordering his Pokémon to go where."

"Those Ferroseed out there certainly didn't seem happy," I said.

"Imagine that."

There was a pause.

"Have you told your friend in there the Archon's a Charizard?"

"Alex?" I said. "No… why?"

He shrugged. "He might just want to know."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Not all Charmander know each—"

"Don't you think it's strange how Charizard seem to have such a tight grip on two entirely separate countries?"

That gave me pause.

"The Charizard in Itori are the royal family," I said, "it makes sense they'd be the ones in charge."

"But what does that have to do with us?" he asked. "Archons are elected, not chosen by birth. If he had anything to do with the Itoran royals, what's he doing here? Does it not seem like a bit too much of a coincidence?"

I felt a tightening in my chest. Why was he drilling me like this? How was I supposed to give him any answers?

"I don't see what any of this has to do with Alex," I said.

Wyatt glanced in the direction of the kitchen. "It's just, he is a Charmander—"

"For your information, Alex was born a human," I said, defensively.

"I'm sorry he what?"

"Surely you must have heard of the human in Itori."

"Sure how was I supposed to know it was him?!" he exclaimed, yet kept his voice hushed. "How the hell did you even meet?"

I ran my finger across the cup. "I found him in Oran Berry Cave. I took care of him, the way they took care of me. We didn't even find out he was human until much later. But he is human, Wyatt. Or he was. He has no blood relation to any Charizard, royal or otherwise. He became a Pokémon."

"But… why a Charmander?"

There was a long pause we both knew neither of us could fill. I looked down. My hot chocolate had gone cold.

I plucked the marshmallows out of the melted cream and popped them in my mouth.

Wyatt chuckled. "You always used to do that. Your fingers got all sticky. You used to say: "That just makes the taste last longer.""

I winced at myself, and made sure to get none of my fingers sticky. Wyatt was looking at me now as if he'd only just remembered I'd been gone.

"What's it like being back after all this time?" he asked.

"It's… bizarre. It feels like a part of me never left and doesn't know anything different to being here. But then the stronger, smarter part of me knows he needs to keep the other part safe. I look around this place just… expecting the Pokémon who attacked us to leap out of the walls at me, and when they don't show up I just feel hollow. That younger part of me… It feels like I'm that person again, and "Tobias the Treasure Hunter" is just watching from up above, while "Toby the Care Kid" tries to play his part."

Wyatt nodded as if he understood, but I'm not sure he did, as much as he might have tried. "What made you come back?"

I looked up to see the hopeful gleam in Wyatt's eyes, and it broke my heart not to tell him I'd come back for him. Although I guess, in a way, I had.

So I said: "I came back because I thought you were in trouble."

"What made you think that?"

"That light on Saudade Beach," I said, "it's a distress signal, right? I thought you or maybe one of the others was signalling to me."

Wyatt frowned. "What light?"

Even you, Wyatt?

But now that I thought about it, even Alex never actually confirmed that he saw it. I mentioned once while we were shopping in the town square that a light had appeared on the horizon, and he'd just nodded along. Was it invisible to him too? Had he been humouring me?

"Toby?" he said, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"How has no one except me and some stranger from Sunny Day seen it? It's a giant glowing beam you can see from another country!"

"I think you're wanting to talk to Soleil about this."

"Soleil?" I blinked. "She's still here?"

He got to his feet, offered his hand like he used to do when we were very young and I was still struggling to walk. I took it anyway and he helped me to my feet. He led the way to Soleil's room.

The spiralling staircase was wide enough for two Pokémon our size, but unstable enough that we had to walk single-file. Alex's flame lit the way just enough to see by.

The five of us could barely squeeze into the room. Once Wyatt shut the door behind him, all we could see were shadowy shapes. We could see the few patches of open floor, just enough for a careful Pokémon to squeeze through.

There was a shifting sound from behind the far wall. A door creaked open and a skinny, bipedal Pokémon shuffled from the back room. Her tail touched the lantern hanging from a metal pole, and yellow light shone down on the Heliolisk as she threaded through the room, lighting three more lanterns along the way. Mikey watched with rapt interest at the electricity-powered contraptions.

It was still dim, but bright enough for us to see two heavy eyes peering down at us. She looked like she'd just woken up, despite it being daytime. This was a "sun" Pokémon, right?

Soleil had lived in the basement of Hope for as long as I'd been alive. The other kids and I were always told to leave her be. At first we thought she was standoffish, maybe even dangerous, until one winter night when I'd wandered too far and hadn't found my way back until it was too dark for my young eyes to see by. She'd found me crying under a bush, and had silently taken my hand and led me back to the building. Bruiser had thanked her for returning me so late at night. The Heliolisk had seemed wide awake.

Soleil took a seat on a stool in front of us. There was a bench topped with frayed cushions against the near wall, she gesturing for us to sit. More clearly now I could see the small room was as overstuffed as the houses in the city. Bookshelves crammed with tattered volumes, some of them scattered across the room, placed precariously on tables already overflowing with scrolls, vials, magical jewellery most likely valueless outside of the arcane. Faded-purple cabinets. A little desk with unmarked parchment curling at the corners, ink pot with black Unfezant feather, the ink congealed at the lip. A hooded cloak hung from the wall. Blankets were draped over chests and hung from the walls, hiding Yveltal knew what behind them. A dreamcatcher with feathers of seven different colours took up space above a bed lying in the middle of the room perpendicular to the right wall. Evidently this wasn't the one she slept on. So what was it for?

The sorceress had her own question. "Why have you come here?" Her voice was deeper than I remembered.

I felt a twinge of guilt for waking her, for whatever reason she was asleep during the day.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, ma'am," I shifted uncomfortably. I was still nervous around her after all this time. "My name is Tobias—"

"I remember."

I was oddly touched. I introduced my friends and explained about the light on the horizon, and how only I and one other Pokémon so far had been able to see it. Alex said nothing, I guess I'd rumbled that he'd been humouring me all along. He'd come all this way with me anyway despite that. Zygarde bless your soul, Alex Albion.

"What colour is it?" Soleil asked.

"Sorry?" I said.

"The light," she said, "what colour is it?"

"Blue," I said. She waited for more. "Kind of a clear aqua-y blue."

Soleil got to her feet and rifled through a chest of drawers. She took out a small blue orb. She held it in one hand and traced her palm over it. Suddenly a blinding light filled the room, I covered my eyes and grit my teeth. Soleil shut it off.

"This," she said, holding up the orb, "is a Soul Signal. It calls to others of the same soul colour, only they can see it. Do you happen to know anyone adept in this kind of magic, Tobias?"

"Er… you?"

A small smile. "I am not the one sending the signal. In truth, I would not have known which signal to send had I not examined you myself. If you truly believe yourself to be the intended recipient, the sender must know you very well. It must also be the case that your colours align."

"At least the Archon doesn't seem to be a match," Wyatt said.

"If pressured, I would guess Malik Grieve's soul to be red. His straight-forward determination would be admirable in most Pokémon, had he not directed that attention where he did."

"You don't have to convince me," Wyatt said, his face grim. "I reckon the only reason I'm still here is he never had the chance to see my face."

"Do you think he's seen mine?" I asked.

Silence weighed down the room. It had only just occurred to me, really. We'd never met eye-to-eye, but I'd been there, I'd been part of the crowd. I'd been in disguise, sort-of, three dark-blue "birthmarks" painted on that had washed off as soon as I left Tenrai. But could he still recognise my face somehow? Could he see it in my eyes?

"You two should really be keeping a low profile right now," Mikey said.

"Remember who you two are back home," Evie said, "things could get messy."

"Would about the others?" I asked. "The other kids from Hope? The staff? Can't we write to them? Isn't there anyone else we can go to?"

Wyatt wouldn't speak. Soleil simply shook her head.

"I'd suggest you head down to the beach to see for yourself." Her eyes scanned my face. "You're afraid of what you might find, aren't you? Or of what you might not find. Am I correct?"

I looked down, fidgeting with my scarf. "Is it possible to be afraid of both at the same time?"

"Very much so. But impossible to be afraid after you've found it."

She was right, I was afraid. I'd spent the whole day in a kind of low-lying terror, and I hadn't even admitted it to myself.

Suddenly something clicked. I felt a wave of energy flow from my chest to the tips of my fingers. Not magic, but adrenaline, or perhaps determination. Enough was enough. I wasn't putting this off one more second.

I pushed myself off the bench and looked to Mikey and Evie.

"Stay behind if you want," I said, "or go back to Itori. This has nothing to do with you, it never did. Tell Mickey whatever you want, I'm going to the godsdamned beach."

Alex hopped off the bench and followed me to the door.

"Wait!" Evie exclaimed. She jumped down, looking at us with imploring eyes. "We don't want to leave you guys if you're in danger!"

I sympathised. I really did. But I wasn't slowing down for them anymore.

"I think you both have your own answers to find," I said. "Maybe you can start looking here." I nodded to Soleil. She understood a hell of a lot more about magic than I did.

"Good luck," I added, before Alex and I marched out the door and up the stairs.

I led my partner out of the building and across the coastline, until finally we spotted the dark-yellow sands of Saudade Beach, and I saw the cyan-blue light shining across the sea, with three unfamiliar figures standing beside it.

It was a two-mile stretch of damp sand and scattered pebbles below a ledge of dark-green grass. The beaches in Itori would put it to shame, but growing up it'd been the go-to spot for a day out. Not necessarily anyone's favourite, but a middle-ground anyone could have agreed on.

That's why before I saw those three figures on the beach, I'd still imagined the signal was from an old member of the "Hope family", who for some reason hadn't approached Wyatt directly. The shapes on the beach were three Pokémon I had no memory of, but as soon as I could identify their species, it all fit into place.

"No." I was frozen from my feet to my fingertips, and only my mouth was moving. "No, please. Not them. Not here."

The Bolt-Tailed Raichu stepped closer. I could see him clearly, but he hadn't grown up in Karma City, he wasn't used to the fog. My heart hammered so hard I could hear it echoing inside my shell. He stopped a few feet away from me.

"Hello, Tobias," said Takahashi.