chapter eight: false pretenses

We left in the middle of the night, which was unnerving, not because I was afraid of what lurked in nature. It had become apparent after capturing Murkrow against his will that I at least had some morsel of a chance in the wild, but when an army of humans is hunting you down in a dark forest...

Well, like I said, unnerving.

But, even though I hated to admit it, Aimé was the only person I could trust right now. Even after his and his grandparents' house was overrun by government officials, they never abandoned me. They were, in fact, the only people in the country who hadn't abandoned me.

He and I walked in silence for a very long time. The scratches along my arms from Murkrow's attacks were really beginning to hurt. The sleeves of my hoodie were now stained with blood, pieces of cloth ripped away by his sharp talons.

I don't know how far we made it before we stopped. It was relieving not to have to worry about where I was going or what I was doing. Aimé was a seasoned survivalist. We stayed close to the path for most of the night, just far enough away for us to be in the clear of the few travelers who hiked through it, but close enough to keep us going the right way. Eventually, I followed Aimé as he veered away from it and went further into the trees. Like a professional, he found a nice, small clearing for us to camp out in.

It was obvious that he was tired. Strangely enough, I wasn't. I was still running on adrenaline.

He put together a fire. We sat close to it. I could see the first sign of the sun's rays beginning to climb over the treetops.

"We're probably about halfway to the Connecting Cave. We should be in Cyllage in about four days."

Another uncomfortable silence settled over us.

"Thank you," I said shakily. "I probably wouldn't be alive right now if it weren't for you."

In the light of the fire, I saw him grin. "I don't believe that." His face became even more animated with each passing second. "I've never met anyone with as much tenacity as you. You're a survivor. Ampharos got really lucky that night."

Lucky, I thought. Right.

I looked down. "What was Ampharos' old trainer like?"

Aimé's visage softened. "Matthieu?" He looked down. "I don't mean to scare you, but Ampharos has been through a lot of trainers."

A chill ran down my spine. It did scare me.

He looked up again, fixing a hard look at something off in the distance. "Matthieu was," he said, pausing, "very headstrong, quiet, always felt like he had something to prove. Still, he had a very relaxing presence. We all felt...okay, somehow, when he was around. Safer, I guess." His voice began to shake. "He was on a mission that night. Somehow, the stasis officers caught on to it and began tracking him, which happens sometimes but it's usually not an issue. It's policy for us to form our pokémon teams around how to get out of any and every situation possible if we need to. The threat flew under our radars though until too late, and he was out in the field alone, which is also not something we try to practice very often."

He paused again, this time averting his gaze into the fire.

"I was in his ear when it happened. I heard the whole thing."

"They...shot him?" I asked quietly, recalling the events of the night I found Ampharos. "I think I heard it happen, too."

He nodded and wiped away a tear before it began to roll down his cheek. "The other Soldiers," he began again, choked, "they're not...the easiest to get along with, we'll say. But I really liked Matthieu. Everyone did."

This time the tears began to stream down his face. I thought desperately on whether I should change the subject or just leave the conversation entirely.

"How many of you – us," I said, fumbling for words, " – Soldiers. How many Soldiers are there?"

"Well," he said with a sigh, "regardless of if you make it in or not, we still need a replacement for Ampharos, so that makes," he paused, counting in his head, "five...six, seven, counting me and hypothetically you. And then there are the four Believers who lead us. But you'll meet them all soon."

There was another silence.

"Who is Wulfric?" I asked finally.

Aimé straightened up, regaining his composure. "I didn't know him, I've only heard stories. He was apparently the reason the resistance began in the first place. When the oligarchy took over and began forcing people to turn over their mega pokémon, a lot of gym leaders were left in a compromising position. Wulfric was an ice-type gym leader. He had an abomasnow."

I nodded.

"Of course, as a trainer, it was hard for him to give up his pokémon, and he didn't back the oligarchy in the slightest. He couldn't run though, not like Valerie. He was too old already. So he took execution. He gave my grandmother the pendant in the shape of the fleur-de-lis on his way up to the noose. She was his apprentice, you see. She was going to become the next Snowbelle City gym leader. She traded her future in to help build the resistance."

I shuddered. I knew the oligarchy was ruthless, but I'd never heard anything like this. Come to think of it, I didn't know much at all about the past, only the lies that had been fed to me in school.

"What happened to Abomasnow?"

"The oligarchy got it anyway. Wulfric could have for all intents and purposes just given it up and saved his own life in the process. Must have been a pride thing with him though, or maybe he was just testing their bluff and his luck ran out. I don't know. But a few months later it came out that they'd found its mega stone, too. I think my grandma said it was the first one they'd ever found. They have a handful now."

He looked away again at something in the trees, clenching his jaws. His eyes lit up like a fire.

"You know, mega pokémon aren't even that powerful. Yeah, they can deal and take lots of damage, but they are by no means invincible or altogether dangerous. The oligarchy only wants them as a means to control the population even more. They only care about power and money, not the happiness of their people. I truly believe that if they get their hands on them all, they're going to find a way to manufacture them and sell them to the masses. And then it's going to come out that all these people died in vain and gave up their pokémon under false pretenses just for the entire process to come full circle again. And all for a little bit of money."

A grunt of disgust escaped his lips. I considered pressing the subject further, but I could tell he was exhausted.

"Anyway," he said again, "you should get some sleep. I'll keep watch for a while."

I closed my eyes and shook my head. "I'm not tired. I'll keep watch first. You get some sleep."