Chapter 3

Scouter

Dash wakes up from a not so good semi-night, semi-day sleep. He gets up and sees that Sparks and Cyndaquil are up already. He looks outside to see Sparks and Cyndaquil talking to a patrat. Dash starts walking to the group but before he gets there the patrat runs away. Sparks and Cyndaquil turn to see Dash. Dash continues walking to the group and then the patrat unexpectedly comes back and says "Ah okay I thought that he the enemy."

"Hm?" Dash said, "None of us said anything."

Sparks answered, "Oh I did"

"But I didn't hear it and your lips never moved."

Dash hears Spark's voice in his head say "I know. I can do that."

"Woah..." Dash said out loud, "How can you do that?"

"I can use dark magic to talk to others telepathically."

"Y-you know dark magic?"

"Yep. I'm pretty good at it"

"But, doesn't that make you evil? Dark usually means that you're evil."

"Nah. I'm not evil. If I was evil I wouldn't have taken you in with us, plus I would had killed you if I was evil. You can't always assume with what you first think."

"Ah"

"I can do it too." Dash hears the patrat's voice in his head.

"Cool." Dash says out loud looking at the patrat. Dash turns to Sparks, "So... you were communicating with Cyndaquil while I was sitting with you yesterday weren't you?"

"No. I can't seem to communicate with him telepathically. I'm not sure why. Maybe when he hit his head before I met him that somehow blocked my ability."

"That is very strange"

Cyndaquil walks away from the group.

"Where's he going?" Dash asks.

"He always leaves to train," the patrat answered.

"Oh. I'm Dash"

"Hi Dash, I'm Scouter"

"So you're Scouter. You were mentioned last night.'

"I know. And I'm supposed to decide whether you join the group or not, if you live, and whether you are a spy from Sparky."

"How do you know? You weren't there and who's Sparky?"

"Sparks and I telepathically talked."

"That's right. It'll take me a while to get used to that. If you let me live that long."

"Sparks, leave me alone with Dash okay?"

"Okay" Sparks said and he walks away.

"Why did you want him to leave?" Dash asked.

"So I don't have any outside interference into deciding what to do with you."

"Ah... now who's Sparky?"

"Sparky is an emolga."

"Okay. Why are we against her?"

"We? How can you be against something that you don't know about?"

"I... I don't know. I guess I just assumed that if Sparks was the good one then Sparky was the bad one."

"Don't assume."

"Well you can't both be good or bad."

"We can."

"How?"

"The definition of good and bad changes from person to pokèmon. Plus sometimes their ideals blind them from what's truly good for all. "

"If that's so than why do you fight this battle?"

"Battle. I wish this was still a battle. This is war we're fighting. This is war. Many have died countless have be injured. There are only two sides. Theirs and ours. Lines have been drawn. This isn't a battle." Scouter pauses to gather his thoughts. "Now, to answer your question, I'm fighting for my belief that Spark's side represents. Sparky tries to do the opposite thing that we want and that will only benefit her in the very end. The only reason they fight for her is because she gives them empty promises or she is very care about how she presents her truth. Now if Sparks lets you into the group, which I believe he will, he will give you an order. There will be no explanation for the job he'll give you. You just need to trust him. There might not seem a reason right then and there but if the job isn't done then it'll greatly affect you and us later. Therefore you need to do whatever he asks you to do. You will kill someone. You might not know why. But you'll need to do it. Don't hesitate. Don't think. That is what will kill you. You think before the fight not during. For if you think when you're fighting then you will hesitate and you will take a slash in the neck. You will lose your innocent soul. Now, you may think that you can just escape the war but you're wrong. You met Sparks and I. Cyndaquil I don't trust but that's beside the point. You met one side of the war. Therefore you are an asset to this war. If you met Sparky and she learns that you met Sparks before her. You will have your life taken away faster than you can blink. Whether you like it or not, you are a part of this war now. You will die because of this war unless we can end it soon. Now I do believe that you haven't met Sparky. I do believe that about you even though Cyndaquil doesn't trust you. To be honest, I had my doubts on you at first. I thought you were just playing everyone at first, like many other spies of Sparky but as I got to read you and learn more about you, I saw that you truly didn't know Sparky and saw that everything you were talking about was true. I am proud to say that I approve you to be able to join our group. Remember what I have told you because that is what will keep you alive."

"I'm glad you believe me. And I will keep those words that you told me close to my thoughts. I also trust you. You seem very smart and because I'm considered non-civilized by most others and I do want to learn about some of the things you guys do when we're not killing anyone."

Scouter smiles, "I want to learn a little bit about not be civilized because we clearly have different thought processes. You are also the first non-civilized to not try to attack me. You are very different. You also have that stripe on your face and I think that's what makes you very cool and interesting."

Dash smiles, "Thanks. I think out of everyone, for some reason, I trust you the most in the team."

"Sparks is also someone you can trust. He will tell it to you how it is. If he doesn't like you, he'll tell you."

"Well, I guess that's good."

"So do you mind if I test you?"

"Test me? With what?"

"Your fighting skills."

"Um... okay. Like I said earlier I trust you. So, what's my target?"

"Me."

"You? Why you?"

"What's the point of using a stationary target? Your enemy isn't going to sit still and let you beat on them."

"True..." Dash grabs his scalchop, "Ready?"

Scout readies himself, "Never ask your target if they're ready because if you're weaker and they prepare themselves, you've already lost. The only way to beat them is to beat them when they're not ready."

Dash charges at Scout. He swings his shell at him but Scout backs away out of the range of Dash's arm swing. Dash tries to swing at Scout again and again.

"If you do the same thing over and over again," Scout said, "Then your target will be able to read you." Scout on Dash's next swing disarms Dash by using his energy and momentum.

Dash surprised to see Scouter with his scalchop says, "I have a lot to learn."

"Nah. You just need practice. That's a new style of fighting I saw there. Never have I seen an oshawott swing his scalchop like that. The way you were swinging it not only this way," Scout does the movement with Dash's scalchop, "but you also did a back swing too that was pretty powerful too. So you do have increased swinging speed. Plus I noticed that you switched hands in the mist of the battle. It confused me for a second but I was able to recover. That's another way to defeat your enemy. Confuse them into making a mistake."

"That makes sense."

"But you can't do the same move over and over and over again because your enemy will predict that move and be able to disarm you just like I have done." Scout hands back Dash's scalchop. "Keep good hold of that because next time you lose that, you may not get it back with you in your grave."

"I can tell that this war is very serious."

'It is. Can I ask a question about you?"

"Sure."

"Since you're an oshawott and oshawotts live in groups, how come you're not in that group? When Sparks found you, you were alone. That's rare."

Dash looks away for a minute. "You see, it wasn't my chose to be alone. I wanted to be in the group. But I was different. This dash, this blue dash was the main reason I was kicked out. They wondered if I was diseased and that I would be the one to kill them off. So they got rid of me. Like a piece of waste. When I was young. My scalchop just finished growing. So I was about two maybe three months old when they got rid of me. So I had to learn by myself how to survive, how to fight, how to live, and how to avoid. Somehow... I lived against all odds. I was lucky to meet the right pokèmon to help me. Of course in survival when you meet some bad people and pokèmon too. I met some who used me, beat me, and teased me. That's why or at least I believe why, I'm wary of many things." Tears start to form in Dash's eyes.

"Well... Why don't you try to go back into the group?"

Dash starts to cry, "Because every time I go near the group they chase me away and if they catch me, they beat me to near death sometimes."

Scouter wipes the tears from Dash's face. "There. There. Everything will be alright. It's there lost that they kicked you out. You're a great oshawott. I'm glad that I have gotten a chance to meet you, even if you don't join the group."

"But... I might join the group."

"It's all in your hands. You can choose whither you join or not. After Sparks hears that I believe that you don't know, he'll give you the choice."

"I see."

"Plus you should know that you want to join the group not that you might. Because once you join the group, you can't leave it."

"Ah... well, I do want to join the group. I feel like I could learn a lot from you guys and I do feel safe around you guys."

"Well, I'm glad that you do feel that way and I hope to learn as much from you as you learn from us."

"I hope you do learn a lot from me."

"So do I"

"Have you been messaging Sparks while we were talking?"

"No. He has been trying to talk to me but I haven't answered because your not a threat. He wants me to tell him if you start getting violent or if I feel that you are a spy or if you're escaping. But as you know I don't think you'll do any of that."

"How long did it take you to start using telepathic communication?"

"A few weeks to start connecting to others minds and a few more months to start using messages."

"Connect?"

"Ya. You have to tap into their thoughts before you can send a message."

"Ah. So you can read their thoughts?"

"No. You see when you think, the thought starts in the brain and is read in a different part of the brain. So, when Sparks and I send a message, that message goes from our brain to your brain. If we could read thoughts, you would know about because you wouldn't actually hear your own thoughts but we can't because thought processes are too fast to intercept."

"Ah."

"Yep. Maybe one day I'll start teaching you how to send messages. I know you can do it, considering how easy it was to send messages to you."

"That would be very cool."

"Ya. Of course it'll be a little before I can."

"Why?"

"Well, I need permission of Sparks to do and even though he trusts you in being in the group, he still doesn't trust you with that kind of power."

"That's powerful? Just sending messages?"

"No, but we use dark magic to send messages which once you are introduced, you are open to endless possibilities. Another thing is that if your mind is weak, than you won't be able to control yourself. The dark magic will. That's why Cyndaquil isn't taught dark magic. That and I don't trust him to teach him."

"He doesn't trust me."

"Because you're a water type and he's a fire type. He didn't trust the last water type either."

"What happen to the water type?"

"She was captured by Sparky. When we tried to safe her, we found her dead. She was tortured, trying to interrogate and when there was wind that we were coming, they flat-lined her."

"That's sad."

"Ya... but that's what happens when you're in war. Like I said earlier, you will lose your innocents."

"I thought I've already lost my innocents being kicked out of the oshawott clan was me losing my innocents."

Scouter silently chuckles, "No, you haven't lost innocents yet."

"When will I?"

"When you can't put a reason to what is happening and your thought process has changed."

"Oh. So it's a bad thing."

"Nah. What can be bad is how we react to it."

"Oh."

"Yep. I'm going to tell Sparks it's okay to come back."

"Okay."

They both stand there in silent for a few minutes as Scouter converses with Sparks telepathically.

Finally Scouter says, "Okay, he'll be here in about five minutes."

"Okay."

"So, do you want to join the group?"

"Well, I have been thinking about it the whole day, and I came to realize that it will be very dangerous, and I may die, but as you said earlier, when I met all of you guys, I'm an asset of the war now even if I don't join. Now, I glad to meet all of you guys. Well, I could go without meeting Cyndaquil though. You And Sparks had taken me in, and even though you didn't know me, you two had trusted me even though I could have been on Sparky's side. I could have been the enemy. But you all trusted the true that I presented you, and that truth is the true truth. I think... no... I know I want to join the group."

Scouter smiles, "I'm glad you want to join and I'll help you during the tough times during this war."

"And I'll help too," said Sparks as he walks into the conversation.

"Hi Sparks," both Scouter and Dash.

Sparks looks at Scouter, "Has this little guy been giving you any trouble?"

"He's only in trouble for giving me a good partner to talk with."

"Oh he is?" Sparks looks at the oshawott nervously standing there.

"Yep. I believe that he isn't part of Sparky's group nor does he know her and I know that if he wants to join that he would be great in the group."

"Oh, but Cyndaquil doesn't trust him."

"He wouldn't trust any water type we throw in his face.

Sparks laughs, "That's true." Sparks looks at Dash, "So do you want to join the group?"

Dash looking him in the eyes says, "Yep."

Sparks smiles, "Okay. Welcome to the team. I'll get you the handkerchief with our team symbol as soon as I can get it."

"Cool. Why is it when I wasn't part of the team, you called it a group but when I join, you called it a team?"

Scouter answers, "Because on the outside, we look like another group but on the inside, were an unbreakable team."