Chapter Seventeen: Rebellion

"There are bad ways to win - and good ways to lose. What's interesting and troubling is that it's not always clear which is which. A flipped coin doesn't always land heads or tails. Sometimes it may never land at all…" - Grimsley, Pokémon Black and White

Half a day must have passed.

The rain poured on. I covered Alex's body as best I could with our scarves, but it wasn't nearly enough. Evie lay on her side, breathing slowly, still not stirring. Ange kept trying to pull away. Lights flashed every now and again as they struggled to break free of their bonds. But the tether held. Zygarde, what is that thing made of? I thought to myself.

A knocking sound came from under the battlefield. I whipped my head around. A trap door in the centre of the field was sliding away. A Plusle in a black, red, and blue tunic emerged. Her face fell at the sight before her.

"Solana…" I choked out.

I wanted to cry with relief, but I was too exhausted even for that. Lunick followed close behind. Soon more than a dozen of them were around me. The Plusle and the Minun lifted me off my feet. I held myself together long enough to see a Happiny pick Alex up in her arms, and a Bellsprout hold her leaves over him to shield him as he was carried down into. Then I let myself rest.

The flickering of candlelight.

I turned my head. Not candlelight, but torches built into the wall. A long, semi-narrow cave area. I could see a slightly larger room across from me, with rickety wooden bridges and untreated hemp ladders.

I looked to my left. The entrance was sealed off.

Then I felt a lightness around my wrist. I held up my arm and immediately pushed myself up. I felt paws on my shoulders, gently guiding me back down.

"The prisoner is in quarantine," Lunick said softly, "don't worry. We won't let anything happen to her."

I blinked up at him. "You know about Soleil?"

"Of course we do," he said. "We're sorcerers."

An orange shape behind him. I gave a pathetic little wave and Lunick stepped aside.

Alex was lying on a straw bed, Solana standing over him, her paws glowing an energetic green. She was healing him.

Alex's body looked golden, almost like a Shiny Charmander. He was perfectly still.

"We don't have our best healers with us," Lunick said, apologetically, "but we'll do whatever we can for both of you."

"He was out in the rain for hours," I said.

"With you protecting him. He's alive thanks to you."

"You've got it wrong."

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm the reason he got hurt in the first place. I was supposed to protect him…"

"I see. So who's the one protecting you?"

The fire danced on the ceiling. The Relic Guardians worked over us.

"Evie."

"Hm?"

"Where's Evie? Is she okay? She didn't—"

"She'd already awake. She's been helping to run supplies, as much as we'd prefer she rest."

Solana was still working on Alex.

"Is he going to be okay?"

She took a second to answer.

"Under normal circumstances I wouldn't worry," she said without looking at me, "a week or so in the hospital to monitor him and he'd be back to normal, no trouble at all. Unfortunately, these are not normal circumstances."

I finally felt tears welling in my eyes. I leaned back and put my hands over my eyes.

"I just want someone to tell me what I should do." My voice came out in a squeak. "Ugh, I sound like a child."

"It's not childish to ask for direction, Tobias. Just so long as you take the steps yourself."

"Oh who are you, my guidance counsellor?"

The Plusle raised her eyebrows at me. I felt heat rise in my cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, that was rude of me. I'm just…"

"It's all right. I did work as a guidance counsellor, actually."

We shared a smile.

"Are all magicians aspiring therapists?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Healing is healing."

She moved her paws lower down Alex's body. I watched her work in silence for a few moments.

"As for what we do…" she continued.

She moved her paws to Alex's tail, and within a few seconds, the flame was glowing just a little brighter. Alex's breathing grew deeper.

"We give ourselves time to do so."

The glow faded, and she took her paws away.

"I know your friend is missing, and you're afraid for him. But I'll tell you what I told Evie. We've lost Pokémon too, and we're just afraid as you are. But none of us are any good to them dead."

She left us to rest. As soon as she was gone I got up and went to Alex. My whole body was groaning, but my soul was intact.

I trusted Solana, and Lunick, but I still just had to check. Check his breathing, check his heart, check is flame wasn't about to snuff out, even as it burned much brighter than it had hours ago.

My head turned on its own to the gem on the table. I brought it to Alex's head. I had no idea what I was doing. The wound had already been stitched. I tapped on it, pressed it, tried twisting it, trying to play a memory, any memory. It didn't work. Then I noticed the long scratch along its surface.

They brought us food. Bread, berries, fruit, even cheese. I couldn't bring myself to touch it.

"You need to eat, Toby," came a voice.

"Wyatt!"

I ran to him, hugged him as tight as I could. He put his arms around me gently, like he was trying to hug a cloud.

"Are the kids all right?"

"All accounted for," he said, "no one seriously hurt, although Giuseppe did twist his ankle. He was holding one of the Sunny Day kids' hand to stop her crying." He chuckled. "You know, they never cease to surprise you."

He looked over my shoulder.

"How is he?"

"Not good, Wyatt."

"Tooobyyyyyyyy!"

Cynnamon came bolting down the corridor. She jumped into my arms so hard she bowled me right over. I looked behind her and saw Spencer give me an apologetic look, as if he were responsible for her. I was just glad they were both safe.

"You okay, kiddo?" I asked her.

She nodded furiously, still lying on my chest. "Don't worry, I took good care of them!"

"I knew you would. That's why I trusted you."

She beamed. "Wyatt says I'm strong for my age."

Her most advanced move was Ember, I wasn't so sure that counted. Then again, she'd never had any formal training and we could never have afforded any vitamin bottles or gummies, so I suppose—

"I just turned two!" she said. "So I'm going to be even stronger now!"

"I thought you were one-and-a-quarter?" I said as she finally climbed off me. "That should leave at least 3 more months!"

Cynnamon giggled. "No, silly! I'm two months old, not two years old!" She looked behind me and gasped. "Eeevieeeeeee!"

"Uh-oh," Evie said as the ball of fluff approached. There was a loud thump as they both hit the ground.

A vague creeping horror curled in my stomach. I took Wyatt by the arm and dragged him aside.

"How has she had so much battle experience in two months?" I hissed. "When we were that age we were still learning the alphabet!"

"Things aren't like they used to be, Tobias," he said roughly, suddenly on the defensive, "we don't have a keen-eyed Fearow or a big strong Blastoise to protect us anymore. Sometimes the kids have to defend themselves. I can't always be there for all twelve of them. Yes, they know how to fight. Would you rather they be powerless?!"

I swallowed. I knew he had a good point, and that I shouldn't comment on how he raised the kids considering I wasn't the one who'd been caring for them on his own all these years. But still, I'd seen how hard Cynnamon had fought back there. She'd been put through a lot of combat.

More footsteps came around the corner.

"Dad!"

Ken got to his feet and ran past us. The Pikachu jumped into his fathers arms and Taka held him tight.

"What are they doing here?" I asked.

"They were waiting at Hope when the Guardians came to rescue us," Wyatt explained. I must have given him a dirty look, because he added: "Look I know you're not a fan but they're not my enemies, Toby."

"I don't want them here," I said, "I don't want them anywhere near Alex when he's—"

"I came here for my son!" Taka snapped.

"They're on our side," Wyatt said softly, "and we need all the help we can get. C'mon, sit down, I brought dinner."

We sat next to Alex. Wyatt handed me a slice of bread and I reluctantly picked at it. I told him what happened. My old friend listened in silent horror.

"What did she want with his gem?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the broken thing lying on the table.

"She didn't even take it," I said, "that's the weird part! She just… removed it. And I have no idea why."

Alex's flame flickered. His breathing was deep, but slow.

"Grieve recognised him."

Wyatt digested this.

"Do you think, maybe," he said slowly, "there couldn't possibly be a… relation?"

"How could there be? He's human!"

"I meant between Grieve and Sasha."

"No," I said. "Sasha came from the River."

Wyatt blinked. "Oh."

Suddenly my hands were balling into fists, bread crumbs falling to the floor.

"I want to kill her, Wyatt. I want to kill her."

"What good would that do?"

"It would remove the threat of her, for a start."

"There are always going to be threats, Toby."

"She deserves it. She almost killed Alex."

"No offence, Toby," Wyatt said, in a tone of voice I'd never quite heard before, "but you fought in a war."

"That was different! We were the good guys!"

Wyatt looked sceptical. I wanted to slap him.

"I didn't hurt anyone! I've never killed anyone!"

"Neither did she."

"Why are you grilling me, now, of all the times to tear into me, why now?!"

"Because I don't want my oldest friend to become a murderer!"

Silence. Fire crackling along the walls.

"I'm not going to," I said. "But she does deserve it. She's just bad. She was born bad, she'll live bad, she'll die bad. She'll probably manage to screw someone over even then. Probably give someone tuberculosis or something."

Wyatt popped a cheri berry in his mouth, chewed for a moment.

"Do you believe in bad egg theory?" he asked. "The idea that truly bad people are born that way, and there's nothing you can do to change them?"

"I honestly don't know."

"What do you know about Sasha's upbringing?"

"Well… The team she started with was very high rank. It didn't challenge her but she still reaped huge rewards. It can't possibly be Team Origin's fault; they gave her everything she could ever have wanted."

He scoffed. "Do you think I give my kids everything they want the moment they wanted it? Even if I could, I wouldn't. Childhood is your trial period for life. Bruiser said that. And what sort of "trial" is a childhood like that?"

"Childhood shouldn't be a trial."

"But it should be a lesson."

He picked up an apple, split it in half. He handed one to me.

"That doesn't excuse her actions," I said, ignoring the offering.

"I'm not saying that."

"You kind of are! If we're all just products of how we were raised, then… what does anything mean? Can anyone call themselves "good" or "bad" if we were never even given a choice?"

He shrugged helplessly. "I'm just trying to raise them right. But I do believe choice comes into it. Sasha isn't the first Pokémon raised in privilege, and she won't be the last. I've seen first-hand what a lack of discipline does to a developing mind. Discipline just doesn't develop. You know how Bruiser was always saying we need to make every kid feel special?"

I nodded.

"I'd it's just as important to make sure they know they're no more special than anyone else, as cynical as it seems. Because it's going to be one hell of a shock when they realise they're not." He bit down on a stick of cheese, winced, but kept on chewing. "That's when they start acting out. The more superior they think they are, the more superior they try to be. Things get dangerous."

I glanced over my shoulder. He was still asleep.

"Alex used to be like that," I said quietly. "When he was human. He told me himself. He's not proud of who he used to be. But then he made the choice to be different."

"I've read the book, Toby."

I blinked. "You… You've read…" I stammered on my words.

"The moment I heard you were in it." He nodded to the items bag. "You working on the sequel in there?"

"Yeah," I confessed. "I've been writing in it during quiet moments."

"Can I take a sneak peek?"

"Absolutely not. I haven't even proof-read."

Wyatt chuckled.

"You know, it seems to me you kind of raised Alex yourself."

My eyebrows arched. "I did?"

"You didn't treat him different, you didn't make him feel like he had to be something completely apart from the people around him. You raised him to be a treasure hunter, not a soldier."

Alex's badge and scarf lay beside him. He'd always kept them both immaculately clean. Just like me.

"But yes," he continued, "it is true that two people raised the same way can make vastly different choices in life."

"What do you think about bad egg, Wyatt?"

"It doesn't exist," he said firmly. "I will never be moved on this. No Pokémon is born bad. No human, either, I don't care if they're a different species, I don't care if I've never met one, I do not believe any soul is brought into this earth tainted. It's all just stories people tell themselves to make themselves feel superior, or so they can pretend that the "bad eggs" are just naturally bad, that there's no way to change them, so why even try? It's an excuse to stop treating them like people. It's an excuse not to see the same darkness in themselves."

"Mmn."

I whirled around. Alex's upper lip twitched.

I ran to his side, skidding on my knees. After a few seconds his eyes blinked open. He looked up at me. He managed a weak smile.

"Did we win?" His voice was a hoarse croak.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "Are you in pain? Do you want me to fetch Solana? Is your flame okay? Do you need a drink of something? We have juice—"

Alex held up a hand. I shut my mouth. He squinted up at the ceiling.

"Where are we?"

"In the Guardians' tunnels. They came to rescue us."

Alex gently touched the stitch in his head.

"You probably shouldn't—" I began.

His eyes widened. He sprang up.

"My gem!" he cried. "I can't— I can't feel it, where—"

He turned around. His mouth hung open.

I placed my hand on his. "Sasha… took it out. I don't know why, she didn't try to steal it, she just…"

"But they're still there, right?" He looked back at me. "The memories?"

My face was still.

Wyatt stood and said calmly: "I'll go fetch one of the Guardians."

"No…" Alex whispered.

The fire flickered across the walls, tossing our shadows around. Alex was quiet for a long moment.

"It's weird. I'm upset, I'm angry, but I'm also… kinda relieved?"

So was I. I wasn't going to admit it, but I was very glad to see the back of that thing.

"I just want to know why she did it," Alex said.

"I'm wondering that, too."

"Alex!"

Evie came sprinting down the tunnel. Her fur was a mess and there were bags under her eyes, but for the first time in a while there was a genuine smile on her face. She snuggled up to him, putting her forelegs around his shoulders.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'll survive. How 'bout you?"

"Yeah, I'm really hoping I'll survive too, to be honest." She shrugged. "Hey, I'm an Eevee now, right? We're known for being pretty adaptable."

A green-and-yellow head poked around the corner. A Wartortle's tail pendant hung from her neck, along with the green gem welded into the golden collar.

"Peridot!"

The Turtwig smiled.

"Would a Tobias, an Alex, and an Evie please come to the front room?" she said. "You have around four dozen or so guests waiting for you."

A Monferno came ambling around the corner, followed by a group of watchful-eyed, questionably-mannered Pokémon.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

Jude pointed at me with a big grin. "There's our guy! Told you we knew him," she said, giving Peridot the side-eye. The sorcerers rolled her eyes and left us.

"We never heard back from you," said the Diggersby, "so we came to investigate, found ourselves in one of their tunnels."

"We owe you one," said Jude, throwing herself down on a cushion as its previous occupant (Lunick) frowned, "we dropped your name back there and it really got us out of a jam."

"I never told you my name."

"We kept saying "the highly-strung Squirtle" and eventually one of them dropped it."

Lunick blushed and quickly walked away.

"Is it true," a Sewaddle called out, "is our home in danger?"

"Tenrai itself is in danger," I answered.

Jude cracked her knuckles.

"Not as much danger as that fucker!"

We sat in a wide circle in a larger room. By Alex's suggestion, Wyatt had drawn a diagram of Karma City on the ground. Peridot took the lead:

"With Malik's Pokémon spread out, that leaves less guards in Goldenrod Tower. We can travel by the River. We'll need every one of our numbers. We'll only attract a small number of guardsmon; city Pokémon rarely take displaced groups seriously. We'll set upon the small number and knock them out. With the amount of surveillance in the city, Malik will definitely see us.

"That's what we want. He'll send his whole army out to the location. By that time, we'll have snuck through the under-city tunnels and made our way to the tower. The Rumble Rangers will draw them away."

Jude gave a disappointed half-moan, half-howl.

"That's the most boring job!"

"It is the job you are most suited for," Peridot said in a clipped town.

The Monferno's expression changed in an instant.

"I'm aware of that, Peridot. Do you really think you've seen more battles than me? I'm still allowed to voice my emotions."

There was an uncomfortable silence. Peridot cleared her throat.

"Well. Yes, I suppose you are. I apologise. I just hope I don't need to remind you not to eat anyone, Jude."

Jude raised a hand. "No problem. This isn't my land. I don't have that claim."

Meanwhile, the rest of us would move through the tower. There was nothing we could do from there but right our way through. The plan agreed, we went to prepare.

Alex, Evie, and I were told to rest for the night. It would take a day to travel to the north end of Karma City by way of the River. We would be there by the Dustox's hour. Evie was running laps across the room, her face tight with concentration. Alex was picking at his food. I finally forced myself the eat.

Evie collapsed onto her side, panting. She rested her head against the ground. Alex and I ate in silence.

"I was supposed to protect him," she said suddenly.

"You did the best you could—" I began.

"And it wasn't enough!"

I'd never heard her snap before, I was taken aback for a moment.

"I should never have brought him here in the first place! This was my mission, this was my stupid "self-discovery" journey, I should never have gotten him involved in this. It's my fault!"

"You and Mikey are partners," I told her. "You came into this world together, and you both wanted answers as to why. This is just as much his journey as it is yours."

She didn't answer.

"Think about it. If the shoe was on the other paw, if it was Mikey asking you to come with him on a mission like this, would you ever turn him down?"

"… No. I wouldn't."

"Exactly. So you shouldn't put yourself down for asking for help… Because… You'd do the same for him…"

Oh.

Oh.

"Mikey isn't going to blame you, you know," Alex said. "If anything, he's probably blaming himself for getting caught."

"But it's a human's job to protect their Pokémon," Evie rebutted.

Alex and I shared a look.

"I agree," I said. "It is the human's job. And it's the Pokémon's as well. They have a responsibility to each other. You're doing everything you can do live up to that responsibility, just like Mikey would do for you. Being human doesn't make you any different. If it did, it wouldn't be equal. And the best relationships are built on even ground."

"I just want him back," she said meekly.

"We do to," I said, "for what it's worth."

"When I see that Charizard, I'm going to tear him limb from limb."

A long silence. The fire danced along the walls.

"Remember when we were in hiding, and we all had to come up with fake names?" I said to Alex. "Yours was "Booster.""

"Yeah. I still remember watching that happen, at least."

"Did I ever tell you where I got the name "Bruiser?""