Chapter Fifteen
Secrets and Lies

As night fell on the long, exhausting road to the familiar haunt of Saffron City, the travelling party decided it was time to stop and rest. They had been travelling for what felt like hours and after the incident with the Ekans, Jack in particular was physically and mentally drained and in need of a good night's sleep. As they found a place to crash, Sebastian was glad that it was a warm night, meaning there was no need to build a fire, which would take both time and effort to make and sustain. Time and effort that the four exhausted trainers simply weren't willing to invest. Instead they simply threw down their backpacks and sleeping bags wherever there was room and ate whatever cold food they could scrounge from their bags. The mood was slightly solemn as they ate while the darkness rolled in. They stifled yawns, but no-one spoke.

The silence eventually began to unnerve Sebastian, and he cleared his throat loudly. "Well, this is the quietest we've been all day!" he announced, trying to inject cheer into his voice.

His efforts for conversation went basically ignored. Ivy was exhausted by this point, barely even awake, limply holding onto a half eaten piece of bread, her eyes lidded. "So tired…" she said weakly, looking like she was about drop at any second.

Jack seemed distracted. He was clutching tightly onto the Pokeball that held his newly caught Ekans, his knuckles white, almost like they were going to burst right out of his skin. The newly evolved Phoenix was out of his Pokeball, curled up next to Jack, fast asleep, his chest rising and falling rhythmically. The Pokemon looked totally at peace, but Jack kept shooting worried glances at him, like he was afraid he was randomly going to disappear from his sight. It was only after a few minutes of heavy silence that Jack seemed to even recognise someone had even spoken. "S…sorry." He muttered, not really meeting Sebastian's eye. "I'm a bit… distracted."

Sebastian nodded in acknowledgement. He couldn't blame the other young man for being so distant. He had nearly almost lost his Pidgey earlier in the day, after all. A traumatising, deeply upsetting event, that was for sure. It was inevitable, really, to have a Pokemon in serious danger of its life at some time or another. It was also inevitable that one day in the future, a trainer would lose a Pokemon too. As much as Sebastian hated to think about it, he knew it was true. The death of a Pokemon, a trusted friend and partner, would affect every trainer one day. It was an experience every trainer would have to go through. It was a pain Sebastian knew all too well, and he was glad that Jack didn't have to experience it just yet. It was something Sebastian could never wish on anyone; regardless of how much he disliked the individual. He would never wish the death of a Pokemon, a friend, on someone, even if they were his worst enemy…

Letting out a sigh at the macabre thoughts that had invaded his head, Sebastian turned to look at Robert as a last hope for conversation. His cousin met his eye only briefly, scowled and pointedly looked away. Sebastian grimaced. "Like getting blood from a stone…" he thought darkly.

A further fifteen minutes passed in silence, before Ivy eventually gave up, took a blanket, completely ignored her sleeping bag and curled up into a tiny ball underneath the thin fabric. She was asleep within minutes, soft murmuring coming from her slumbering figure. After seeing Ivy fall asleep, Robert got to his feet and dragged his sleeping bag into a secluded spot away from the other three. He went silent a few minutes later, evidently asleep, leaving a despondent Jack and a rather uncomfortable Sebastian alone.

A few moments of awkward silence passed before Sebastian dared to speak again. He looked at the Pokeball Jack was still squeezing, thinking it was as good a conversational starter as any. He cleared his throat again. "So…" he said, as lightly as he could muster. "How's your new Ekans?"

"Kaa."

Sebastian blinked, floundering at the one word Jack had said, wondering if he had just heard right. "I, uhh… I beg your pardon?"

Jack was looking a little sheepish. "Kaa." He repeated. "That's the Ekans's name. I, uhh… used to be obsessed with The Jungle Book when I was a kid. It was all I could think of," he added, looking almost apologetic.

"I see," Sebastian said, a small smile escaping him at this revelation. "Well, how is Kaa?"

Jack bit his lip, glancing momentarily at the Pokeball he was still holding. "He's alright, I guess." He said, rather limply.

Sebastian immediately realised what was bothering Jack. For a moment, he deliberated if he should even press the issue. "Still worried over what happened to Phoenix?" he ventured after a moment's hesitation.

Jack looked up, fixing Sebastian with a curious stare. "How'd you know?"

Sebastian grinned at the other man's puzzlement. "You might be nowhere near as transparent as Ivy, Jack, but I'd like to think I'm a good people reader."

Jack flushed, looking a bit embarrassed. He looked away for a few moments, before sighing and running a hand through his spiky blonde hair, making it stand on end. "It just… it just… caught me off guard, I guess. Kaa was vicious. I'd never seen a Pokemon that violent before. I mean… I was worried. Ivy told me that Ekans can… eat Pidgey…" he said the word with a violent shudder. "I thought… I thought I might end up losing Phoenix." He admitted, his voice thick.

Sebastian knew all too well the emotions the other young man was experiencing and he was sympathetic. "Unfortunately a lot of wild Pokemon are just that. Wild." he said with a mild sigh. "Violent, unpredictable, sometimes they seem completely incapable of being trained sometimes. Thankfully, nine times out of ten those Pokemon will calm down after being caught and after being shown a bit of structure and discipline. However you can also get Pokemon that are naturally that little bit outspoken and bolshy… Take Toni for example."

"The Mafia Boss Lady Pidgey…" Jack managed to chuckle.

"Yeah," Sebastian was grinning too. "Remember I was telling you Pokemon are just like children? You're training to be a teacher, Jack, you know how kids are. Some respond straight away to discipline, some don't, and some are kind of in the middle. Rarely it's an innate badness to them, it's just their personality. Pokemon are just the same, they're just like people. They all have their unique personalities. And just like you wouldn't give up on a kid because you have a bit of trouble with them to start off with, or because they're a little outspoken, you wouldn't give up on a Pokemon either. You just gotta accept them for who and what they are, just like people."

Jack had been nodding the whole way through Sebastian's speech. He was staring at Kaa's Pokeball intently now, like he was trying to learn its curves, contours and feeling off by heart. He swallowed deeply. "I guess you're right." He said, raising his head to meet Sebastian's gaze. "You… you really care about that sort of thing, huh?" he attempted to say casually, but he wasn't sure he had been successful in coming across as nonchalant.

"I've seen way too many abused Pokemon to not care." Sebastian said with a saddened sigh.

Jack frowned. "Abused Pokemon?"

It was a concept Jack wasn't totally unfamiliar with. He had seen many adverts on television in regard to the subject, and he was the first to admit that the idea that someone could do that to a Pokemon was completely and utterly horrifying. He had remembered there had been a big media interest in Pokemon abuse in the build up and aftermath of the government's decision to raise the legal Pokemon training age, but after everything died down and the controversies and protests ceased, the issue had simply seemed to fizzle out.

Sebastian was nodding. "Yeah. I took a break from Pokemon training some years ago, worked in an abandoned and abused Pokemon shelter for six months." He dropped his gaze down, looking saddened. "I saw a lot of nasty cases there…"

Jack looked horrified at the sheer thought, his mind suddenly awash with horrific images of these 'nasty cases' Sebastian had mentioned. "I thought Pokemon abuse was rare…"

"Not as rare as you may think." Sebastian said with a heavy sigh. "Rogue trainers are bad offenders in particular. I once heard about a case of a rouge trainer from Pallet Town who abused his Mareep so badly he almost killed it."

"Killed it?!" Jack said in shock.

"Yeah. It almost didn't make it through the night." Sebastian was shaking his head again, pinching the bridge of his long nose fiercely. "The Mareep became totally distrustful. Shocked anyone who came within six feet of it. Thankfully it was given to another trainer and, last I heard, it was doing just fine." He ran a hand through his long red hair. "I saw pictures of that poor thing after it had been attacked... I've never seen abuse like it…"

"I can't believe anyone would beat and abuse their own Pokemon…" Jack said hoarsely, looking at his peacefully sleeping Pidgeotto, his heart twisting.

"I can, unfortunately…" Sebastian said solemnly. "Nine times out of ten, abuse cases happen because the trainers can't handle the personalities of the Pokemon. Most trainers expect Pokemon to be obedient and listen straight away. That's not always the case. Some Pokemon won't obey their trainers if they don't have reason to respect them or trust them. And that can frustrate beginner trainers, regardless of the age, whether they're ten, fifteen, twenty, whatever. And if it goes on long enough, it can lead to abuse."

Jack couldn't say anything at this point.

"So, I guess what I'm trying to say to you, Jack…" Sebastian was trying to instil a little more light-heartedness into his voice. "Don't be afraid of Kaa just because he might seem a little difficult to control. If you discipline and raise him right, you'll be okay. But don't expect him to be perfect either." He paused. "No Pokemon is innately bad. Pokemon only become bad because of bad actions done to them. And I'd hate to see your Ekans end up the same way as that Mareep I saw five years ago."

"It won't," Jack vowed. "I won't let it."

Sebastian smiled. "Good." He then let out a short chuckle. "Whoa, that got a little heavy, huh? Not sure it's good bedtime conversation, but hey."

Jack chuckled back. "No, it's all right. Gave me something to think about."

Sebastian was grinning in an embarrassed sort of way. "Yeah, but here I am getting all emotional about abused Pokemon… guess it's not the most macho thing in the world."

"I've never been much of a macho guy myself," Jack admitted, without meaning to and he wished he could have slapped his hand over his mouth as the admission slipped out.

He looked across at Sebastian, suddenly afraid that the other man would laugh at him or mock him for what he had just said. However, Sebastian merely smiled, leant across and slapped Jack good-naturedly on his shoulder. Jack looked at the other man in mild shock, before Sebastian drew away.

"Well, I don't know about you, but all that heavy conversation's got me quite tired. I'm going to sleep now," he said. "Goodnight, Jack."

Jack was momentarily silent as Sebastian moved away. He heard Sebastian shuffle around in the darkness, laying out blankets and climbing into his sleeping bag, but it wasn't until everything fell silent that Jack finally trusted himself to speak. "…night…" he eventually replied into the still darkness.

Sighing slightly as no-one answered, Jack simply rolled over where he sat, pulling a blanket over him in the process. He reached out one last time to touch the bristly feathers of Phoenix, as if verifying his Pokemon was still real, and still there, before eventually settling down. On the other end of the campsite, Sebastian tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable, his mind swimming with the thoughts of what he had just explained to Jack. Eventually, both young men fell asleep.

The morning came too soon for the four trainers, and after a quick, and rather unsatisfying cold breakfast, the sleepy travelling party was on the road once again. Progress was slower, but spirits were comparably higher, and the journey was conducted with hefty doses of laughter and friendly banter. The route into Saffron City was surprisingly busy, heaving with trainers both experienced, inexperienced, and middle-of-the-road. Sebastian good-naturedly responded to every challenge he was faced with, and beat every single one with a well-practiced ease, looking like it was barely even an effort for him. Robert on the other hand completely ignored other trainers, whilst Jack and Ivy were far pickier and choosier about their opponents, being careful to only battle people they were sure they could win against.

Sebastian monitored each and every battle the two novice trainers participated in simply out of curiosity, and as the battles continued, he found himself smiling. They were improving. He had to admit, he was impressed with the way Jack handled Phoenix, the Pidgeotto once again proving itself an extremely competent battler. Furthermore, after a shaky start with Kaa, Jack also showed himself capable of dealing with an entirely new Pokemon and battle strategy exceptionally well, he reckoned.

Ivy was developing her skills well too, though not as well as Jack, Sebastian privately felt. Scorpio the Beedrill seemed to have improved tenfold since evolving and was a valuable asset, even though the Poison Sting and Fury Attack moves Ivy relied on were basic at best. Toni the Pidgey, although a bit reluctant to listen at first and still not showing any sign of the move Gust, was also a competent fighter, if a little too enthusiastic at times. Juliet was more difficult, still terrified at any opponent whether they were big or small, a threat or a pushover, but she had developed a strong Double-Kick after some intensive training with Ivy and was even beginning to win some battles, a change which Ivy welcomed with enthusiastic cheer.

It was evening by the time the weary foursome trudged into the familiar surroundings of Saffron City. As Ivy breathed in the familiar city scent and took in the sights of such a bustling and busy urban life, she felt happy and comfortable. The whole place was such a hive of activity and noise, even at a later hour and she felt energised simply being there. A satisfied smile broke over her face as she took in the city skyline.

"Saffron City at last!" she cried exuberantly.

Jack nodded, also smiling. "It's nice to be home."

A thought struck Ivy as Jack spoke. While Ivy only lived in Saffron because she attended university here, Jack had grown up in Saffron all his life. His mother lived here, as did his father and his stepmother. But while his mother lived in a tiny, two-bedroom flat in the centre of town, his father was much better off, living in a huge house in the richer suburbs in the farther end of the city. Ivy looked up to her friend, tugging on his sleeve to get his attention. "You want to stop and see your family?"

Jack looked down at Ivy, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "What? Why would I want to do that?"

"Uh, cos they're your family?" she said, giving Jack a slight push.

"But I thought you said you didn't want to hang around Saffron any longer than you needed to, Ivy?" Jack grinned, giving Ivy a slight push back.

"I… I don't…" she admitted. "But we stopped to see my family in Pewter and we had my sister following us around for ages. It only seems fair that we stop off to see your family too. It has been a while since you saw them, right?"

"The old man's a waste of space as far as I'm concerned," Jack said with an idle shrug.

"Well, what about your mum?" Ivy asked, knowing full well the close bond Jack shared with his mother. "You haven't seen her in a while. Wait, she does know you're out on a journey, right?"

"Oh, don't be so silly, Ivy. Of course she knows." Jack said primly, before softening and placing a reassuring hand on Ivy's arm. "It's alright." He told her. "We shouldn't stop, we need to keep going."

Sebastian was nodding. "Jack is right," he told Ivy gently.

Ivy sighed and eventually gave in. "So… what's the plan?" she asked.

Sebastian shrugged a little. "I guess we stay here overnight and carry on to Lavender in the morning."

As Sebastian spoke, Ivy struggled to stifle a yawn. "Yeah…" she murmured. "That sounds like a good idea."

That night, as Ivy climbed into the lumpy Pokemon Centre bed, she had to admit that she was becoming quite excited at the prospect of reaching Lavender Town. The possibility of finding and catching the Cubone that she so desperately needed for her course was prominent in her mind, fuelling her body with so much excitement that she wanted to just throw back the covers of her bed, run to Lavender by herself and begin her search right there and then. Having that Cubone would mean she would be in possession of three out of the six Pokemon that she needed after only a month had passed, which would relieve some of the pressure she was under for completing the list. She was daring to feel a little confident now as she dropped off to sleep, knowing that by the end of the following day, she would be in Lavender and could begin her search for the Cubone.

They set off bright and early in the morning. Ivy's spirits and energy levels were high, and her sunny disposition couldn't fail to put a smile on Sebastian's face and even inject a little cheer to a once again serious Jack's disposition as they walked. They reached their destination of Lavender Town under Sebastian's guide earlier than anticipated. It was approaching evening by the time they reached the tiny town, but everyone had remained in relatively good spirits despite the aching muscles they had developed over the days of walking. As they relaxed and strolled into Lavender at any easy pace, Ivy was quite stunned at the quietness and sparseness of the town, completely unused to a place with no big buildings, blocks of flats or busy roads. But while she was quite taken with the little place, Sebastian had noticed something worrying as they reached the quiet centre of town.

There was a massively tall building in the distance that Sebastian didn't recognise and which stood in place where he had expected Pokemon Tower to be. Sebastian swallowed nervously, trying to figure out what was going on. "What is that…? That shouldn't be there…" he thought in shock as he looked at the modern towering building above him, casting a gloomy shadow onto the sleepy surroundings of Lavender. He turned around to look at the other three following him. "Hey… that building… What is that?"

Ivy and Jack stared up at the building, looking about as flummoxed as Sebastian felt at the stark contrast of modernism juxtaposed in the sleepy, traditional suburbs of Lavender. They shook their heads, unable to answer. However, while Jack, Ivy and Sebastian were puzzled, Robert was smiling deviously to himself.

"And if that's there, where's Pokemon Tower?!" Sebastian cried, panicked.

Ivy looked at Jack in confusion, before looking back at Sebastian. "Pokemon… what?" she asked, rather uncertainly.

"Pokemon Tower!" Sebastian exclaimed, sounding panicked as he rounded on Jack and Ivy. "It's a tower that was built in honour of Pokemon that passed away… but… it's not there! It's not there and that thing, whatever it is, is in its place!"

Robert had been chuckling to himself the whole time through Sebastian's panicked cries and it was only now that Sebastian seemed to notice this. His eyes wide behind the fronds of red hair splayed haphazardly over his pale forehead, he turned on his cousin. "Robert! What is that thing?!"

"That's Lavender's Radio Tower." Robert said matter-of-factly.

"Radio Tower?" Sebastian said shrilly. "When—?! Where—?! How?! Where did that come from?!"

"They built it quite a few years ago."

"What?! Well, how come I never heard about it?!"

Jack and Ivy had no clue as to why Sebastian was behaving so strangely and looking so panicked at the existence of this so-called radio tower. Privately, they had no idea why Sebastian was so hysterical; however, they knew interrupting to ask about what was happening was a bad idea, so they merely stayed quiet.

"It happened while we were away in Johto." Robert explained patiently.

"What…?!" Sebastian looked horrified. "But… my Pokedex… my Pokedex told me that Pokemon Tower was still around! Where's it gone?! Where'd they put all the graves?! And more importantly, where are we gonna find a Cubone now?!"

Robert was sniggering now, while Ivy's jaw was hanging open. She'd be lying if she said she completely understood what was going on, but she couldn't mistake what Sebastian had just said. For whatever reason, the insinuation of not getting a Cubone was now hanging thick in the air, and it had caused Ivy's palms to suddenly become sweaty, her mouth to run dry and a sense of panic set in.

"Robert!" Sebastian pleaded, and Jack detected a slight harshness to his tone that he'd never heard before. "What on earth happened?"

Robert was still chuckling. "Maybe you should try actually updating your Pokedex, Sebastian."

Sebastian was frowning. "What?"

"Updates for the Pokedex." Robert nodded. "You know? Those updates you can download to your Pokedex? You get updated maps, Pokemon information, evolution lists… Maybe if you actually updated your Pokedex when it told you to you wouldn't be in this mess. Actually, I don't even think that would help…"

"What?"

"Your Pokedex is defunct, Sebastian. It works, yes, but with all the information it doesn't have, it may as well just not work. Come on, it is ten years old! I don't even think updating it anymore will help. You need a new one."

"So wait… my Pokedex… it's broken?!"

"Essentially."

"And you knew that Pokemon Tower had been replaced with this… radio tower… thing?!"

"Yes."

"And you didn't tell me?! Tell any of us?!"

Ivy and Jack now couldn't fail to identify Sebastian's displeasure. His face was twisted in anger and his fists were clenched, fixing his older cousin with such a look of contempt that it could probably have turned Robert to stone had Sebastian simply put his mind to it. Ivy winced as she looked at Robert, who merely shrugged in reply.

"Robert! Why didn't you tell me about this?" Sebastian demanded once again.

Robert just shrugged again, folding his arms idly. "I wanted to see how long it would take you to figure it out."

Jack and Ivy still remained fairly clueless as to why Sebastian had become so angry. All they could surmise was that Robert had kept something from Sebastian which they guessed could jeopardise Ivy getting a Cubone, but that was it. However, while they didn't quite understand exactly why Sebastian was so angry, there was no disputing just how furious the normally mild-mannered young man had become! Neither Jack nor Ivy had ever seen Sebastian so angry! They didn't even think Sebastian was capable of being this angry.

"You idiot! Are you mad?!" Sebastian exploded. "Did you not think?! Did you not even consider how this will impact all of us?! Affect all of us but especially Ivy?! She's on a time limit, Robert! And you've let us believe all this time that we can get a Cubone here?!"

Robert had gone quiet, but he was fixing his cousin with a cold glare.

"Robert! Can you at least answer me this? Can we even get a Cubone here?"

"No." Robert shook his head quite firmly. "When Pokemon Tower was demolished, they moved all the graves somewhere underground. And before you ask, I don't know where they ended up. And when they moved the graves, the Cubone seemed to disappear right along with them."

"Then where—?!"

"Easy!" Robert intercepted coolly. "I'm not stupid, Sebastian. Even I'm not that much of a bastard that I'll disadvantage her…" he eyed Ivy pointedly. "…for my own amusement. You can find Cubone in Rock Tunnel, just north of here."

Ivy, who had been fighting to conceal her panic, the only thing she was able to deduce from the cousins' argument the possibility that she wouldn't be able to get her Cubone, found herself heaving a sigh of relief at what Robert had just said. But while it had appeased Ivy, and Jack to an extent, it only seemed to anger Sebastian further.

"So what?" he raged. "That makes it alright, does it? That makes it alright to lie to me and deceive me?! Lie to all of us?!"

"I never lied outright. I just… didn't exactly tell you the truth."

Ivy and Jack looked at each other in mild amusement, sharing exactly the same thought recognising their inside joke and managing to grin at each other despite the seriousness of the situation. However, somehow Robert's admission seemed to only make Sebastian angrier.

"Robert, you idiot!" Sebastian fumed, throwing his hands up in anguish. "You've gone too far this time! I… I can't even look at you right now!" he yelled, before turning on his heel and storming off.

"H…hey!" Ivy cried as Sebastian rapidly began disappearing from their sights. "Sebastian! Don't—! Where are you going?"

"Ivy!" Jack called out warningly as Ivy suddenly ran off after Sebastian. "Don't follow him! Leave him alone! Ivy! Get back here!" his protests fizzled away uselessly as Ivy too rapidly disappeared.

"Oh, let her go." Robert said, letting out a deep sigh and running a hand impatiently through his cropped black hair. "At least she can't do any damage. Well, so long as he doesn't shout at her."

"You think he will?"

"I don't know!" Robert snapped, before exhaling deeply and seeming to compose himself a little. When he spoke, his voice was noticeably more restrained and he even sounded a little regretful. "He shouldn't. She's not the one who got him angry… I was…"

Jack squirmed a little, feeling uncomfortable. "I… I don't get it. What got him so angry?"

"It doesn't matter," Robert said, sitting down heavily on a nearby bench and collapsing into a slouch.

"Yeah, it does." Jack said, sitting down next to him. "He's angry. I've never seen Sebastian so angry. I never thought he could get angry."

"Believe me; Sebastian's got a temper…" Robert said gruffly. "He's just a lot better at keeping it under control than I am."

Jack nodded slowly. He wasn't quite sure what to make of what Robert had just told him, so he simply nodded, wanting to move the conversation along to what he really wanted to know. He decided to simply forgo the subtlety for once.

"So… so what happened?" he asked as bluntly as he could manage.

Robert sighed. He was also beginning to look distinctly uncomfortable. "Ivy needs a Cubone, right?"

"Yeah…?" Jack replied warily.

"And Sebastian said you could get Cubone here, right? Here in Lavender?"

"Yeah, I remember him saying." Jack nodded.

Robert nodded. "Yes. Well, you actually can't get Cubone in Lavender Town anymore."

"You can't?!"

"No." Robert shook his head. "You could. You could get them here a few years , Lavender Town used to have this thing called Pokemon Tower where people would bury their deceased Pokemon. Of course, that meant that Pokemon Tower was one of the rare few places you could find Ghost Pokemon. Cubone were common around here too because the criminal gang called Team Rocket, I'm sure you've heard of them, once killed a Marowak in Pokemon Tower, so the family of Cubone it left behind would always hang around. Almost as if they were waiting for their mother to come back…"

"Oh my God, that's awful…" Jack murmured.

"Yeah… it was…" Robert said, his eyes suddenly looking glassy. "But all of a sudden, a few years ago, they tore down the Pokemon Tower and moved all the graves away underground and they built that radio tower in its place. So, of course, all the Cubone moved away after a couple of years. Rumours say they settled in Rock Tunnel, just north of here."

"Okay, that I can understand, but… what about all that stuff about the Pokedex?"

"Sebastian's Pokedex is an old model. Almost eleven years old." Robert explained. "He's had it since he first became a trainer, and those things are meant to be updated regularly with new information on Pokemon and new town maps. Sebastian never bothered. So, when Pokemon Tower was replaced and the Radio tower was built in its place, Sebastian never got the updated map. We were away in Johto at the time too, so we never heard about it. I never thought he'd need to know. And then this happened…" he said bitterly.

Jack was finally beginning to understand, and he now realised exactly why Sebastian had been so angry. "So when Ivy needed a Cubone and Sebastian thought we'd get them in Pokemon Tower…"

"Yeah, I still didn't say anything. Sebastian's Pokedex is basically broken and I've known it's been broken for a long time. To be honest, it's been quite funny seeing him so confused and oblivious as to what's going on when he's scanning Pokemon for information or getting lost when he relies on the map instead of just winging it. I was going to say something because even I'm not that cruel to disadvantage Ivy to laugh at Sebastian, but then I remembered Rock Tunnel is nearby to Lavender Town and they say you can find Cubone in the Rock Tunnel. So I just thought no harm, no foul. We're still close enough to get a Cubone. I don't really know why he's so angry…"

"I don't even think it's what you did; I think it's the principle…" Jack said slowly. "I think he's angrier that you lied to him than anything else…"

Robert grunted.

"You should apologise to him…" Jack prompted gently.

Robert scoffed. "I'm not apologising to him now." He said firmly. "He'll kill me if I even so much as look at him right now." He sighed, drawing his eyes across to the Lavender Town Pokemon Centre that Sebastian had long since disappeared into, Ivy nervously bringing up the rear. "Just hope he doesn't yell at Ivy… for once, it wasn't her fault."

Jack couldn't help but smile. How unsual it was for Robert to actually show some consideration and concern, but seeing it sent in Ivy's direction was something that he had never expected to see. This rare display of humanity coupled with the sliver of insight about his personal life when he talked about his sister was really making Jack see Robert in a different light, even in the aftermath of such an admittedly nasty action. "See, you're not as much of a bastard as you say you are."

Robert simply shot Jack a confused look.

"What?" Jack said, shrugging slightly. "Robert, you may be a bit of a… of a…"

"An arse?"

Robert's blunt answer made Jack chuckle, and Robert blinked in surprise to see the innately serious trainee teacher actually laugh. "What?" he frowned, beginning to sound irritated.

"Oh, nothing." Jack smiled, shaking his head. "You come across as an arse, Robert, yeah, but you're a nice guy underneath all that dry wit and sarcasm, aren't you?"

Robert grimaced. "A nice guy? First time anyone's ever called me that…" he frowned. "I'm not a nice guy, not really. Not like Sebastian. Look up 'nice guy' in a dictionary and there'll be a picture of him there, I swear. He's your textbook guy-next-door you read about in those stupid romance novels. Always nice to everyone, regardless of who they are or how long he's known them."

"I noticed." Jack nodded. "Not many people would drop everything to help out two strangers they'd never met. Ivy and I owe him, and you, a lot."

"Hmph." Robert huffed. "Thank Sebastian, not me. It was his idea."

Jack smiled. "You're a hard nut to crack, aren't you? I'm not a psychotherapist, you know? My expertise is with children and… Ivy." He added, after a moment's hesitation. "I'm not that good with people my own age…"

"Ivy's your own age." Robert pointed out.

"She's different." Jack said at once. "Plus, she's got the mental age of a child." He added with a grin, before the cheerful expression slowly slipped from his face. "I'm serious for a reason. I don't know how to react to people my own age. People never liked me or accepted me much." He admitted, wringing his hands together nervously. "But Ivy… Ivy's different though. She's never cared about… labels, or the stigmas that go along with them. You… you can say a lot about Ivy, about her being ditzy or stupid or annoying, but she's accepting of everyone… regardless of who or what they are."

Robert was frowning. "Jack… I don't mean anything rude here, but what are you talking about?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter. I digress." Jack said lightly, realising he had gone off on a tangent. "We're not meant to be talking about me after all, Robert. We're meant to be talking about you. So, man-to-man… wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," Robert said defiantly, standing up. "I'm going for a walk. Man-to-man, respect the fact I want to be alone, alright?"

Jack wanted to call Robert back, but thought better of it, slumping back into his seat. "Alright…" he said slowly, letting out a sigh as Robert's silhouette disappeared from his sight."God…" he thought as he looked around his darkened surroundings. "There really is more to people than meets the eye, isn't there?"

And with that, he stood up and also embarked on a walk, hoping it would clear his head.


Author's Note

A long chapter, I know… And a delayed one at that… Sorry guys, updates are probably gonna be a bit slower for the next week as I have a lot of family commitments to deal with at the moment.

Master's Degree hit a hundred reviews, which I am SO happy about! Thank you so much guys! Particular thanks go to Following Padfoot's Pawprints, MidsummerMoonlight99, japaneserockergirl, musa lover, TCo Black Roses, Shadow Serenity 57 and Manser77. You guys are awesome!

Until next time, everyone!