Chapter 6
Spying on your own
Dash wakes up in the middle of the day again but this time he was the first one up. Cyndaquil is missing again, although this time of his disappearance is earlier than normal. Dash sits on a warmed rock waiting for the other two to wake up. Dash starts to talk to himself, "So, Sparky is the bad one? Sparks' memory proved that. Who was Sparky talking to? To herself? That's a very strange thing to talk about out loud. It's kind of strange to talk to yourself in general. Sparky. Sparky. Sparky. Why do you have to be the evil one? As Scouter has said before, 'The definition of good and bad changes from person to pokémon.' Sparky is clearly the bad one though. Why would Scouter say that to me? This is very confusing. I need to get these thoughts together and make sure I understand."
Sparks walks out of the sleeping quarters and makes his way towards Dash. Dash swings around to the approaching squirrel. "Some interesting words you were saying there."
"Oh... you heard."
"Ya... Scouter was the same way when he started. He had trouble putting the pieces together too. Every time you think you know the path you're going it suddenly it changes. It takes a while to see what is going on. The worst part is that no one can help you. You have to do it on your own. They may be able to guide you or hurt you but in the very end only you travel the path you're on."
"I see. So this confusion is normal?"
"Yes. Even I was confused at first when I started fighting against Sparky. I was wondering if I was doing the right thing. If it was right to fight against my own little sister. Sparky answered that for me when she tried to capture me, probably to get rid of me."
Scouter walks out of the sleeping quarters rubbing his eyes. He examines the surrounding area to see the missing body on the team. "It's a little early for him to disappear like that isn't it?"
Dash answers, "I thought the same thing."
Sparks looks into the sky, "Hmm... it is very strange, he's not the type to run off without the whole team being awake. What to do? What to do? Should we go look for him?" Sparks asks directing the question at Scouter.
"Eventually," Scouter answers.
"Okay, Dash I'm going to have you pick up something for me. If he isn't here when you get back, we'll search for him."
"Okay. Where do you need me to go? What am I picking up?"
"You'll need to follow the trail, to the town. You'll see a purple shop ran by a meowth and you'll need to go in and say 'that your picking up something for Sparks' and the password is 'Let's go to the back.'"
"Password? Why would I need a password?"
"Well, there has been a problem with stealing other pokémon's items in the shop so the owner decided to create a password system to help prevent stealing."
"What am I picking up?"
"Just an item."
"What item?"
"You'll find out, just don't open the box it's in. Oh, and don't let anyone know you're picking this up for me."
"Um... okay. Why not?"
"My name is frowned in that town. Sparky spread a rumor about me and my dark magic. Said that, 'Because I know dark magic that I'm the evil one. That I'm the one that has lost my mind. Everything that knows dark magic is evil.' Blah. She lies through her teeth and they just eat up that trash. So, I'm not allowed into the town. Only that one store will sell to me but they have ties to all the other places in the town so they can get a lot of the things I ask for."
"Okay. So the password is 'let's go to the back' and don't let anyone know I'm picking up for you."
"And don't look at it. You'll see it when you deliver it."
"Okay. Shall I go now?"
"Yes"
Dash leaves for town. He has never been in a developed area before. He replays the password in his head multiple times. "Let's go to the back. Let's go to the back. Let's go to the back." He walks on this path that stays linear clearly not natural. He passes by a few families of pokémon each giving him an alert but wary look. Some of the parents even stood between him and their children. "That's very strange," Dash thought to himself, "Is everyone in the developed areas always this paranoid? They act like I'm
going to attack them or something. Why would I do that? Why would they think that way? Do they think that way with everyone that happens to pass them by on the same trail?" Dash without thinking another thought sees the developed town in front of him. He said to himself, "I know I'm on a mission but I'm going to explore a little." He looks at the tall structures around him. Most of the colors in the town were bright and well taken care of with exception to a few abandoned buildings here and there. Dash had never seen colors so bright. There were banners all over the place some with words that Dash can't understand. He sees the wide variety pokémon there but not the one that he needs to find. Of course he hasn't been really looking. All these colors. All these movements. This was fascinating to him. After a few minutes of checking out the new world, he finally gets on with his mission by going to find that meowth. He finds the dark purple building easily spotted being around all the bright colors. Out of the whole town, around this building was the least populated. Dash walks into this building and see the meowth, clearly bored, sitting behind the counter with his head resting on the counter. The lighting was dim but it didn't disturb Dash. He walks to the counter and said, "I'm here to pick up a package for Sparks." Dash expecting a reaction from the meowth but he doesn't react so he continues in a softer and quieter voice, "Let's go to the back." This time the meowth looks at Dash and nods and then walks across the room to many boxes and he looks through the boxes and gives one of them to Dash.
"May your trip back be safe." the meowth said.
"Thanks." Dash said. He walks out of the store. He holds the box close to him. He notices that every takes a note of him and the package that he carries. Dash looks at the box and hides the label so no one can identify it. Even though he can't read he could see the writing and he assumed that was how meowth was able to identify it from the others. He walks normally out of the town checking over his shoulder making sure no one was following. After he knows that no one was follow he shakes the box. The box wasn't very heavy. The item didn't make much noise. It sounded like some kind of fabric but maybe that was what he used to protect the item. That temptation of seeing what's inside is growing exponentially. Dash tries to keep his mind off the box but that box always remind under his nose. Dash start to hum a tune trying to distract himself. It seemed so much longer to walk back than it did to walk to the town.
Finally, he made it back to Sparks and Scouter and he immediately hands the box to Sparks so that his temptation doesn't get the better of him in front of them. After examining the box, Sparks and Scouter look at each other and then they smile at Dash. "The box wasn't opened." Sparks said, "Good job." He hands the box to Dash. "You can open it now."
Dash, a little mad, said, "Then why did you two have me walk all the way over there and all the way back?"
Scouter answers, "Your temptation is a weakness. If you can control your temptation, then you can't be distracted by it."
"I see." Dash looks at the box, "You sure I can open it now or is this another test?"
Sparks said, "You can open it. You passed the test."
Dash opens the box and pulls out a folded fabric. He unfolds it and looks at it. It was all dark except for a white dot. He stares at it for a little figuring out what it means. He then sees that the handkerchief that he was holding was the same that Scouter and Sparks were wearing. Dash puts it on proudly. He looks around, "So no cyndaquil I see."
"Yep." They both reply.
"So we need to go looking for him?"
"Yep." Sparks answers.
"So what's the plan?"
"We're all going to spilt up and look for him."
"So I'm not going to shadow Scouter this time?"
"Nope."
Dash nods and they all go their own direction. Dash walks into the dark forest. Sparks walks the path that was the opposite way of the town. Scouter also checks the forest in a different direction of Dash. Looking for Cyndaquil Dash knew would be very hard but he has walked this forest before and he knows how to track stuff down. Dash talks to himself, "This is now my element. I have lived in this forest for many years. Only recently have I been somewhat out of touch with nature. Living with, what they call themselves 'developed,' has been hard to understand them sometimes but I guess they don't understand me at points too. This war is hard. I can't believe that I had indirectly killed a human. How I will survive this war; I really don't know. Maybe death will get rid of all my guilt that I will gain but I will help Sparks with this war till I am dead. Hopefully I won't die yet. Death. Life. This war is going to change me. Maybe it already has changed me." Dash stops to listen to a sound. He continues, "Scouter is very interesting. He is developed but he wants to learn from me. He fighting for Sparks but he doesn't admit that he is fighting for the good side nor does he say he's fighting for what's right." He stops again. He was about to start up again but he hears Cyndaquil's voice in the distance. Dash hears him towards the direction of a faint light but he hears another voice. No. There's a third voice too. He slowly, secretly, and silently walks towards the direction of the voices. He hides behind a tree and finally sees Cyndaquil but he can't see the other two. Dash walks around to change the angle of his viewing point. He sees the other two figures. It's a snivy and emolga. "Is that Sparky?" Dash thought. He tries to listen in but he's too far away and too worried about getting caught to move any closer. He stands there for a few minutes. They all seem to be having an enjoyable conversation. He also notices that Cyndaquil doesn't have his handkerchief on but instead he has a bow tie on. Dash feels a light tap on his shoulder. Dash quickly turns around and he sees Scouter. Scouter gives Dash the 'be quiet' signal. Scouter moves up closer to the talkative group and Dash follows him. They were both so silent that their breath was inaudible and the soft dark ground absorbed their footing. Sparky's ear twitches towards them. She then looks into Dash's and Scouter's direction and Dash and Scouter immediately freeze in place. Sparky whispers to Cyndaquil and he walks the opposite direction of Dash and Scouter. Sparky then continues talking to Penny, but the conversation was clearly less serious and less important. They stand there a few minutes listening in when Scouter gets attacked from behind. Dash looks over and sees Scouter and Cyndaquil on the ground fighting but Scouter was just trying to get Cyndaquil off of him while Cyndaquil was clawing away at him trying to kill him. Blood of Scouter has already hit the ground. Before Dash could help Scouter, Sparky is already on him also clawing at him and shocking him. Scouter's looks at Dash for one last time but his look told Dash that it wasn't his fault and that it was meant to be this way. Scouter shoots a dark ball at Dash and Dash's body absorbs the dark ball. Scouter's last reaction to Dash was him yelling, "Run!" Dash makes eye contact with the wary Penny, who was on the sideline of the attack. Dash runs away from the commotion. Before he was out of range of the sounds, they stopped.