A few things first. Firstly, this chapter contains Sophocles' trial. However, as you will see I do not give it a lot of attention. I also piss over the totem Pokemon battle for personal preferences. I don't really enjoy writing about Totem Pokemon battles and it shows as some of you have mentioned with regards to Lurantis. So there is that haha.

Secondly, this week I will go back to updating every other day. I am writing chapter 40 today so I'm ahead of the game and the next couple chapters are nice and short. They also kickstart our dormant story :). A previous chapter I said I saw this fic getting to around 45 chapters. I lied. It is likely going to stretch into the 50s. So I hope you guys are up for it.

Thirdly, this is just a personal promo really, but I have a tumblr. My username is the-other-road. It's a basic tumblr really. A little barren lately but I will get back into it. Feel free to follow and maybe let me know what you guys think about this fic if you don't want to leave a review.

Lastly, If you haven't figured it out yet I already have ideas for a sequel. However, I will not be working on it right after I'm done with this lol. Well, I say that now. It could very much change but I'm hoping I stick to my original plan of working on it in May or June. Sorry for the rambling, just wanted to give you guys a state of affairs update of sorts.

I was not a fan of Sophocles' trial. He had a maze set up in the observatory and I had to go through it...in the dark! Like what possessed mind thinks that's a suitable idea? Oh and the only way to get through it is by listening to the sounds that were playing. I had 3 sounds to pay attention to.

So there were 3 rounds. Each round had it's own set of noises that were going to play but only one of them was the sound I needed to know, because the correct sound was located at the exit of the maze.

I completed it, but I did not appreciate the bars that were set up at waist high. I had some very unfortunate run ins with them which made the trial harder and unnecessarily painful.

The battle with Vikavolt was less than favorable. I wanted to give Oricorio a shot because I've neglected her, but I really picked the wrong time to do that. Vikavolt is damn electric type too. Oh and it was a quick Pokemon. It didn't help that my Oricorio was obsessed with just hopping around and humming.

I don't know which Pokemon gives me more of a headache, Oricorio or Skitty. At least Oricorio won.

However, this isn't the most important thing that happened today. No.

We were heading down Mount Hokulani when some jackass came flying up on a bike causing me to bump into Caleb. Caleb lost his footing and fell down the side of the mountain on to a ledge. He was fine, but he a couple scrapes on his back.

He had complained of his back hurting and as we got onto the bus to go down I saw there was a little blood seeping through his yellow shirt. We went to the back of the bus where there is just a row of seats up along the back and I checked his back. Lana had a first aid kit, which now I realize I should have in my backpack, and helped me clean the 4 scrapes lining his back.

As I rubbed one of the lower scrapes with an alcohol wipe I caught myself touching the scar that was placed a couple inches below it. I looked to Lana to see if she caught me but she was looking away placing stuff in the plastic bag that we were using as a garbage bag.

However, Caleb caught me.

As we walked down Route 10 back to Malie City Lana went off to the library while Caleb and I did some shopping. I wanted to get a first aid kit. After we finished shopping we walked to the library when he spoke up.

"It happened a little more than 3 years," he said randomly.

"What?"

"My scar. I know you've seen it before today. I'm not oblivious," he said somewhat jokingly.

I began to panic. My mind was racing. "Oh, uh, sorry."

Yeah, that's gonna help, moron.

I looked away hating how I responded to him.

"It's okay. I understand." He smiled as he looked at me. His smile helped me relax but not completely.

I began to wonder if he's always noticed when I've stared at him. My mind was thinking of how to respond to him but then also imagining potential scenarios if he had noticed me staring at him. Like what will happen when he mentions it? Will he tell me to stop? Will he think I'm weird? Will our friendship end? Crud.

"What happened?" I asked.

He looked at me and nodded me over to a desolate area near the library. He took a deep breath and I watched as his throat struggled to swallow whatever was in his mouth.

"Cameron, um." He immediately began to choke up.

I grab his arm and pulled him as I walked to the back of the library so we can get some privacy. I dragged him down with me and sit down up against the building. My mind shut off. I wasn't going to overthink any of my actions.

"You can tell me Caleb."

"I know, I know." He closed his eyes and took another deep breath. "Okay, first off the scar is a from that day."

I was confused as he emphasized the end of the sentence. However, he went on to tell me how in the morning of that day he and his brother, Zachary, were riding their bikes and these kids who bullied Zachary through a rock at Caleb. The rock hit him and caused him to fidget which led to him to lose control of the bike and crash into Zach's bike.

Something on the bike or the ground was sharp and cut Caleb back. They believed it was some metal piece that had broken and hung off the bike, but there was no blood on it.

However, there was concern for Caleb's health because the bike had some rust.

"I got some treatment to fend off any infection or whatever. When we got home late at night, Zach wanted to go get some food for me, because that's just how he was."

Caleb really got choked up when he said that. I watched as he closed his fist tightly as he breathed heavily.

"I got nervous a half hour later. He should've been home. He wasn't. He didn't answer his phone either so I left my house and..." a tear rolled down his cheek. "I saw him behind some bushes. He was just lying there and not moving. I quickly called for emergency services and once I was done talking with them I heard him whimper. I rushed down towards him and held his hand. I pleaded for him to relax and to stay with me."

His voice was cracking after nearly every word.

"He said, 'Caleb I got you your Malasada. Hope it's not ruined.' He cried to the thought of the food he got for me being ruined. Not for the large gash in his abdomen. Cam, his face turned so white."

He was in the middle of sobbing and breathing heavily to try and compose himself to tell the rest of the story. All I was doing was holding his hand and trying not to lose my composure too.

I couldn't.

"I told him I'd eat it even if it was ruined. He smiled and...and he was gone. Just like that. There wasn't enough time for help, Cam." Caleb was hysterical now. His emotions overrode whatever ounce of composure he had left. "He only cried for the stupid Malasada. Why him, Cam? Why?!"

I wrapped my arm around him and pulled him towards me allowing him to rest his head on my shoulder and cry. Things started to click. Like why he has trust issues with people. He experienced the worst of people. And th-then the incident in Akala Island when my Skitty was kidnapped and I was left unconscious on the ground. His panic. His anger. All of it. He must've felt like he was reliving his brother's death all over again.

"I'm sorry, Caleb."

Nothing I could say would be enough. It was a pointless platitude.

"Don't be," he said solemnly.

"Why?"

"It's my fault," he said coldly as he momentarily stopped crying.

He pulled his head up from my shoulder and pull his hand away from mine. He looked down at his hands and swallowed deep.

"He was only bullied because of me. Because he stood up for his gay brother."

His words ripped me apart. For some reason it was like it was doing acrobatics in my brain. It almost didn't compute and then I watched as my hand went over to his and grabbed it. I felt as I squeezed his hand gingerly. I listened as I said, "It's not your fault, Caleb. It's not your fault there are shitty people out there."

His face was plain for a few moments.

"Was it okay for me to share that with you?"

He looked at me displaying a severe lack of confidence and an extreme amount of fear on his face.

"Of course. You are still my best friend," I said.

At least that's what I heard myself say. I could feel this large disconnect between my brain and my mouth and hand. I was holding his hand and saying things but I feel lost as if I'm not doing those things and it someone else.

He hugged me and for that brief moment everything snapped back together. I took a deep breath as I regained myself.

I didn't want to let go but an alarm of insecurity went off as we hugged so I did. Instead I reassured him of our friendship and how I wasn't going anywhere. He never cried again as we sat behind the library. Meanwhile, Skitty brushed up against his leg and laid down beside him.

We sat and sat for a while until we heard Lana bellowing.

We both got up and took a deep breath. He turned towards me and hugged me.

"Thank you."

"What are friends for?" I respond back. "Now lets go before Lana disturbs the damned Guardians with her wretched screeching."

He chuckled and that was good enough for me to know we can leave.