CHAPTER 25

Rylan glared at the impostor. It was quite a convincing act. He looked and sounded exactly like Rylan did. To top it off, there was a key piece around his neck, but it looked somewhat different to Rylans' piece.

"Where did you get that?" Rylan asked as he struggled to break free of his bindings.

"Rylan, stop struggling or you'll hurt yourself," said the doppelganger, dropping Rylans' explorer bag by its owner's feet. "You're going to need your energy now more than ever."

"Shut up!" yelled Rylan.

The impostor sighed. "We're gonna have to wait until things quiet down to have our little chat. You will be seeing me again. Until then, I need you to get as far away from this place as you can."

"Why?" Rylan asked. "The guild is my home!"

Upon hearing this, the impostor looked as though he was resisting the urge to vent a lot of frustration.

"It's not your home now," he said, "and it never will be. You have no allies there anymore, and if you go back inside, you'll be arrested. Just stay away from this place."

With a swift motion of his paw, the impostor broke Rylan's bindings and then fled.

Rylan looked over at the guild, stricken with fear. What had this impostor done in there? He continued to hide in the cover of the bushes, hoping that someone would exit the guild and explain what happened so that he could hear.

Seconds later, Buizel and Vulpix stepped out of the guild. Buizel looked as though he was overwhelmed by guilt.

"Vulpix," he said, "I don't know what to think anymore. I just realized something, and now I feel incredibly stupid."

"What is it?" asked Vulpix.

"That was not Rylan," Buizel said. "It was someone entirely different."

"What?" Vulpix asked.

"He looked exactly like him," Buizel explained, "and his voice was spot-on. However, before he threw the smoke ball, I noticed one thing. The thing he was wearing around his neck looked entirely different. It was not the same shape as the one Rylan was wearing."

"Wait, that thing around Rylan's neck?" Vulpix asked. "It looked like the bottom half of a key that had been split in two."

"Exactly," said Buizel. "When I called out Rylan, the Riolu that made everyone else disappear had a piece dangling from his neck, but when I took a closer look, it resembled a top half."

Vulpix looked shocked. "So you think this Pokémon was impersonating Rylan? But what would anyone have to gain from doing that?"

"I don't know," Buizel replied. "I still don't know if I trust him, but I know for sure that we need to find the real Rylan before anything else happens. I'm going back inside to tell the Guildmaster about this. I hope he believes me."

Rylan's heart lifted. His two closest comrades realized the truth. He grabbed his bag and quickly dashed out of the bushes, attempting to catch up to them.

"BZZT. RYLAN SPOTTED," said Magnezones' voice from a distance away.

Rylan was about to run away, but then remembered that Buizel was going to tell Aggron that someone had impersonated him. If he was taken in by Magnezone, Aggron, Buizel, and Vulpix would definitely fight to have his name cleared.

"No!" a voice hissed. "I told you to run away!"

Rylan quickly found himself pinned down by the impostor Riolu.

"I can't let you go back into that guild," he said. "I've come too far to quit now. You get going, and I'll lure the Magnezone away."

The impostor leaped out of hiding and taunted the Magnezone. "Come and get me!" he yelled, racing off in another direction. Magnezone quickly followed.

Now that the coast was clear, Rylan stood up and resumed his walk back to the guild. At least, he did until the key piece around his neck touched his chest, prompting him to look down at it.

"Wait, didn't that thing have a-?" Rylan looked down. The piece he was wearing belonged to the impostor. When the impostor had pinned him moments ago, he had taken Rylans' piece and swapped it with his own. It didn't take long for Rylan to realize that he now resembled the impostor, and this would mean more trouble, even if he took the piece off and hid it.

Without another thought, Rylan quickly ran away from the guild, the place he was finally comfortable enough to call his home. He ran and ran until he couldn't run anymore, falling to his knees in the middle of a forest.

He did not understand what was going on or why. Tears began to drip from his eyes as he realized the situation. The impostor was going to give him a bad name and he had no more home to return to.

Perhaps if he could seek out the Pokémon who knew him as a human, he might be able to find some form of kindness or shelter from him.

Rylan's heart sank as he quickly realized something else. The impostor Riolu had insinuated that the two knew each other as children. It was highly likely that this cruel Pokémon was the outlaw who Rylan was curious about this whole time.

Still shedding tears of sadness, Rylan wandered aimlessly through the forest. His stomach was growling madly since he had missed breakfast, so he was forced to seek food within the forest. He found some apples and various berries to eat, and he was able to fully sate his hunger over time.

He walked and walked until he finally reached an edge of the forest he had not been to before. The sea was not too far away, and there were a few small islands scattered about. Judging from the current position of the Sun in the sky, evening was not too far away. He had been running away all day long, the urge to survive burning strong in his heart, but the flame was beginning to fade.

Feeling defeated, he took a seat on a log and buried his face in his paws. "What am I going to do?" he asked out loud.

Rylan's bag began to radiate a brilliant silver light. Wiping away a few more tears, he grabbed his bag and opened it. The light was emanating from the conch shell given to him by the outlaw Pokémon. He picked up the note that came with it and looked it over.

"Keep hold of this conch shell," Rylan read. "When it starts to glow a bright silver color, I need you to seek out Shell Island. That is where you and I will meet. Best wishes until then."

Rylan pulled out his map. He had been running west this whole time, and according to the map, Shell Island was out at sea a bit further to the west.

The Pokémon had escaped Magnezone and was waiting for Rylan just across the sea. Rylan knew he had to settle things with this impostor once and for all. He was not much of a swimmer, so he decided to settle for the next best thing.

He quickly chopped down a few trees using his bare paws. He took some rope out of his bag and tied the logs together into a raft. He then carefully pushed the raft out into the water and climbed aboard.

The sea was quite calm that evening, so Rylan had to paddle his raft most of the way over. As the sun began to set, the reflections shining in the water glistened even more. The beauty of this scenic view might have eased Rylan's heart if he wasn't so distraught.

After a few minutes of paddling his raft, Rylan finally reached Shell Island. As the name suggested, the island was decorated with shells in various spots. Rylan looked up toward the sky and what he saw was a true spectacle.

There were no words to describe how clear and stunning the evening sky looked from where he was standing. Several Wingull and Pelipper glided through the air gracefully.

"Heh," a voice chuckled. "I see you like the view as well."

Rylan looked back downward and straight ahead. The impostor Riolu was standing before him.

"I knew this had to be the place," said the impostor. "This had to be the place where I reveal everything to you. It's the most beautiful place I've seen in years."

Rylan clenched his fist. "Alright," he snapped. "No more messing around. Answer my questions. Who are you? How do we know each other? Why can't I remember my past life? How did you get this key piece?"

The impostor took a few steps forward, then his body began to glow. It rapidly started to change in size and shape, revealing a much taller and slender figure.

The glow faded. Standing in front of Rylan was the illusionist Pokémon, Zoroark.

"Rylan," he said, "my name is Zorian. I am your older brother."