Chapter 9: Hope and Revenge
The rest of the day helping Russ or now named Sol, which Russ and Izalith agree to use albeit after some heated discussion, get used to his new body. In the beginning, Sol could stand few second before collapsing. Once Sol gets the hang of standing, he starts walking. At first, Sol walks awkwardly and clumsily. Cass pitches in " You need to use alternate legs. Right front leg and left back leg and vice versa." Armed with that advice, Sol walks a lot better although the movement feels alien to him. After getting the hang of walking, Cass says " Now, the next lesson is how to run."
Sol's heart sinks like a stone until he notices Izalith come back with a heap of blue-coloured berries in her arms. "Cass, can we please take a break? I need to rest my legs for a bit." begs Sol with a puppy dog face. Cass notices Izalith with the berries as well and says "I see why not. I am pretty hungry too. Also 'your cuteness' does not work on me." Sol sighs in relief and collapses on the ground in exhaustion. Izalith chuckles at the expression of Sol, sits next to him, places the berries between them and plops one in her mouth. Sol tries to pick up a berry with his paw but is unable to do so. "God damn it." Izalith laughs at Sol and says "You know some pokemon do not use always their appendages to eat like Shogun and Eden. Just use your mouth." Sol hesitates at the thought but eventually opens to the idea. He eats a couple of the berries, leaving the rest to Cass and Izalith.
After the snack and short rest, Sol, Izalith and Cass go back to training. Learning to run as a quadruped is just as hard to walk as a quadruped. The way quadrupeds walk is not the same that the way they run. After an hour, Cass announces "All is for now. Tomorrow we start our journey to the Kanto region, I believe. There, we will find the next pokemon to train you. That is what Master said at least." Sol and Izalith look at each other and then at Cass. "Is that not across the ocean? How are we supposed to reach it?" Cass replies "Yes, it is a considerable distance away. We will have make a plan don't we? For now, just get some rest. Goodnight Sol and Izalith."Cass flies up and roosts on a low hanging branch.
Sol remembers something, goes to his clothes and finds his necklace. He remembers Izalith's advice, picks it with his mouth, and trots overs to Izalith Sol asks "Can you help with this?" Izalith looks at Skoll up and down and says "Sure but I do not think you neck is viable for a necklace because of you big bushy mane but we put it on one of your front paws. How does that sound?" Sol looks at Izalith with smile "I can barely notice it. My right paw would do great." Sol offers his right paw and Izalith ties the necklace around his paw. Once done, she says "There you go. Quick question. What about your clothes and backpack?" Sol thinks about it for a moment before replying "I will bury my clothes and you carry the backpack."
While Izalith takes care of the backpack, Sol goes to his heap of clothes, digs a hole next to the heap, puts the clothes in the hole and covers the hole with dirt. Sol goes over to Izalith as she is finishing up with the backpack, lays down next to her and gives a big yawn. Izalith smiles at Sol. "Being a pokemon is not so easy, is it?" Sol replies sheepishly "I just have to get use to my new body." Sol rests his left left paw, looks at the necklace and goes into deep thought. Izalith notices this and says "You miss her. I can tell on how you are staring at the necklace." Sol does not interrupt. Izalith continues "Do not stay up late. You will need your rest for tomorrow. Goodnight Ru- I mean Sol." Sol replies "Goodnight Izalith."
- Meanwhile at south of route 117 and north of route 103-
Cacturne and Grumpig travels south along a river for a complete of days since their last target. Cacturne is in a better mood but is still deeply concerned about Luna's response. Cacturne is still confused on why his partner is not scared of Luna. Cacturne asks his partner "Why are you not scared of Luna?" Grumpig laughs back at Cacturne and says " I am scared of her since she has a type advantage on me. I just don't worry about things like death. I rather have fun and die than be a worry wart than live." This does not comfort Cacturne. After some time of silence, they arrive at the source of the river as the sun is setting. Cacturne speaks up again "This is the meeting place, isn't it?" Grumpig answers " Yes. Now all we have to do is wait."
The sun disappears beyond the horizon and moon soon rise high up in the sky and the moonlight glistens across the water. A white figure with red accents forms in the middle of the lake. Even from a fair distance, Cacturne and Grumpig can feel the malice from the figure and know it is her. Cacturne is shaking vigorously and Grumpig has his serious face on. The figure walk across the water without causing a ripple. It walks right to Cacturne and Grumpig and speaks "Report." Since Cacturne is too scared to speak to the figure, Grumpig says "Some old people suffering from 'madness', some traumatized hikers and trainers, some kills staged to look like suicide, depress loved ones from kills. The usual spread of despair and suffering." The figure nods at each box ticked off and once Grumpig is done, it waits expectantly for more.
After a moment of silence, it speaks up "What about new recruits to our cause?" Grumpig and Cacturne look at each other and back at the figure. "Uhm. We haven't find any. We have been so focused on the other things we forgot about that." The red accents flare up and scaring both Grumpig and Cacturne. "You idiots. You are lucky I am not there myself or I would have gut you both. The next time you fail to do your job properly, you will suffer dearly and to make sure you do your job properly next time, I am sending someone to you. If you do not follow their instructions, they have permission to punish you as they see fit." With that, the figure disappears without a trace.