Gain Of Trust
CHAPTER 12
"Aah, back in Sinnoh!" Dawn chimed, stretching her arms with a bright smile. The group was currently stepping off of the ferry on the coast of the blunette's homeland, after docking in Canalave City.
"So, I take it we're heading straight to the Pokemon League, then? I doubt they'll just answer a phone call if we ask for Cynthia," Misty pointed out, hands on her hips with a frown. The young researcher gave a nod.
"That is true, although I was thinking some things over on the ferry...I don't think we should all go there," he said, confusing the others.
"But why?" Max asked.
"We all know Ash has Zekrom to help him, and now May has Kyurem, but we can't depend on only Kyurem," the man started, his eyes scanning the distance until he found a particular building he recognized. "I say we split up. I want to go check out the Canalave Library for a few things."
"The library? What are you looking for?" Dawn asked, head tilted in confusion.
"Canalave has a lot of legends in ancient records stored in the library, so I think it's worth looking into to see if we can find anything else that can help us stop Ash. Besides, we don't need all of us to convince Cynthia of what's going on, at the very least it only needs to be May."
"Me?"
"If Cynthia doesn't believe our story, showing her Kyurem should be enough on its own to convince her that this is serious. We need her to be on the defense and ready for when Ash comes, because we can't let him defeat all the world champions. I'll try and finish the research quickly so I can join May at the League, just in case."
"That is a good point...Alright, so if Gary's going to the-"
"Hey, Brock, I think I have an idea," everyone's attention was on Dawn. "If we're looking for extra help, why don't we try the lake guardians?"
"The lake guardians?" Misty asked, the former breeder pondering on the blunette's idea.
"...You know, that's not a bad idea. If you can convince Mesprit to help, then I'm sure I can get Uxie to agree as well. And if we explain what happened to Ash, then I'm sure Azelf will want to help too," the man explained.
"Alright, then it's settled," May spoke up, looking at Gary. "So I'll go tell Cynthia at the League what's happening, and you'll go to the library."
"I'll go ask for Mesprit's help," Dawn added.
"And I'll try Uxie," Brock added.
"Then if you say Azelf would help, I'll go to Lake Valor and try," Max stepped in, everyone giving a nod. Everyone but Misty.
"Well, since I don't know any of the lake guardians like you guys do, and I'm no good at researching, then I'll go help May," the redhead stated, the brunette giving a smile.
"Actually..." everyone's eyes were drawn to Gary, who appeared to be deep in thought. He then looked at the redhead. "...I think there's something else worth looking into that you can do."
A few hours later...
"Lake Verity...good to be back home..." Dawn said to herself happily, looking at the fork in the road ahead of her. To the left, the pathway to Lake Verity, and to the right, Sandgem Town. She gave a smile as she glanced behind her to her hometown, thankful for being able to visit her mother quickly, before taking the path to the lake. It was only a few minutes before she could see the large body of water in front of her. The blunette gave a curious look around. "Okay, so the first time I was just standing here...and then she kind of just appeared over the lake...I wonder how I get her to appear on purpose...?"
"Bii!" the blunette looked to her side to see a small bidoof by the water's edge a short distance from her, giving her a curious look. It looked out over the water's edge, pointing towards the center and looking back at her.
"...Uh, no offense, little guy, but I'm not exactly prepared to go swimming..." she told the pokemon with a chuckle. The small normal-type then covered its eyes, tapping its paws on its own face. Dawn gave the pokemon an odd look, glancing down at her own hands, before hesitantly raising them over her own eyes. She stood there a few moments, staring into the darkness of her palms. "...Okay, I've lost it. Why did I think anything was gonna happen when I'm just standing-" the girl lowered her hands and opened her eyes again, blinking in confusion. "...here...?" the blunette stood frozen in shock for a few moments, before shaking her head and looking around curiously. She was no longer standing by the lake, but inside some sort of cavern. She stepped forward curiously, hearing a echoed splash noise. She almost jumped, looking down at her foot and noticing she had stepped into a puddle. Her eyes drifted across the cavern floor, noticing the puddle stretched in different directions, forming some sort of strange shape. "...What the...?"
"Finally!" the blunette flinched, looking around quickly at the sudden voice.
"What the...?" the girl muttered to herself, slowly turning on the spot. She stopped turning when she noticed she came face-to-face with a small floating figure, smiling happily at her. "Wha- Mesprit!"
"You're finally here!"
"Been a long time since I've been here..." Brock said to himself, pulling his hood closer to his face as he stared out at Lake Acuity before him. He glanced around. "Guess I didn't think this far...well, worth a try. Uxie! Hey, Uxie, I know you might not remember me, but I'm the man you met a few years ago! I helped you stop Team Galactic when they tried controlling Dialga and Palkia!" Brock paused. Silence. He gave a quiet sigh, crossing his arms. "...Crap...Don't tell me I have to go swimming..."
"...You..." Brock flinched, looking around again. The man pondered, rubbing his eyes for a moment.
"Man, maybe I'm just getting my hopes-" removing his fists from his eyes, the man surprised as his eyes re-adjusted. "...up..." no longer standing in the cold wind on the edge of the lake, he was now standing in a cavern.
"...It's you...You're here..." Brock turned his head to see a small figure floating a few feet from him, eyes closed with a neutral expression as it faced him. "...Thank goodness..."
"Uxie! I'm so glad to see you, and I'm sorry for bothering you, but I'm here because- ...Wait...Thank goodness? You're glad I'm here?" the man asked, the small legendary floating towards him.
"I've been...waiting...I sensed you..." the man stared curiously at the small pokemon as it extended its two tails to each side, reaching forward and pressing them lightly against his forehead. "Mesprit also felt your pain..."
"...It's because of my friend. You've actually met him, it was the boy who was with me back then, the one chosen by Azelf," Brock started, the small pokemon tilting its head in curiosity. "...He's doing something bad. Real bad. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but he says it's something that's gonna change the world, and I can tell he's not who he used to be."
"Indeed...The boy...He was here, some time ago...with others...And now we sense it..."
"We?"
"We have each sensed it...Mesprit has already contacted me recently...as well as Azelf."
"Wow, so this is Lake Valor..." Max said quietly, looking impressed at the large lake in front of him. Hands on his waist, he looked from one visible end of the lake to the other.
"You...You're a friend, right?" Max almost jumped, turning around quickly at the voice. But there was no one around him.
"What...?" he trailed off, surprised as a flash of light appeared behind him over the water. He turned around as the light faded, surprised to see a small figure hover towards him quickly, stopping a few feet from him. "Are you...Azelf?"
"You're a friend, right? You're a friend!" the small pokemon smiled, wavering back and forth slightly in the air. The boy gave a confused look. "I've been waiting! You're his friend! You know him!"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down. 'Him'? Who's 'him'?" Max asked, the legendary extending its tails out and touching his forehead. Images suddenly flashed within the boy's mind, showing a particular scene he didn't recognize. The boy was surprised to see two large dragons in the air ahead of him, confined in what appeared to be red chains, but to the side was a small group of people. One of which in particular that caught his eye.
"That boy! You know that boy!" Max stumbled back slightly as the vision flashed, his sight returning to normal and re-adjusting to his surroundings. He shook his head, rubbing his forehead as he looked at the legendary in front of him.
"Was that...Ash? The guy you're talking about is Ash?" Max asked, the small pokemon nodding with a smile. "He's actually the reason I'm here! It's a long story, Azelf, but please, we need your help with Ash! He's changed and now he's trying to change the world somehow, and we can tell it's not something good by the wa-"
"Right, we sensed trouble!" Max stopped, giving the pokemon a curious look. "But his power is too much for us, we don't stand a chance. We need help! Uxie said we should wait for you!"
"Wait, you knew we were coming? But how?"
"Uxie could feel your desires to stop him, and we recognized your friends from Spear Pillar. We knew we could trust you, so we wanted your help!" the small pokemon hovered over his head, lowering itself and resting on top of the boy's head. Max glanced up.
"So you'll actually help us?" he asked excitedly, the legendary giving a happy nod. "Yes! Perfect! Okay, we have to get to the Pokemon League! That's where Ash is gonna be and we need to be ready-"
"No! We need to meet with the others first! We agreed to meet there once you came and found each of us!" Azelf told him, the boy getting confused.
"Wait, what? Meet where?" before the boy could get a response, the world around him flashed and temporarily blinded him. At the edge of Lake Valor, the water rippled away from the coast where the boy had once stood. Then disappeared.
"Why was I the one to do this...?" Misty asked herself, looking around the small town curiously. She knocked on the door of the home in front of her, waiting a few moments before the door opened. The one who opened it was a smaller elderly woman with short brown hair, wearing a white lab coat over a purple skirt and top. "Hello, are you Professor Carolina?"
"Yes, and you are?" the woman asked.
"I'm Misty, I'm a gym leader from Kanto. I'm actually here to ask for your help with something..." the redhead said, the woman eyeing her curiously. "It's a long story, but as we speak, there's a man out there who's planning something bad for the world. I can't say exactly what it is, but he's captured a legendary pokemon from Unova, Zekrom, and he-"
"Someone's captured Zekrom?" the woman asked quickly, the redhead giving a slow nod. The woman opened the door completely, gesturing for her to come in. Misty stepped in, glancing around the home as she carefully made her way into the living room. "This man, do you know who it is?"
"Yes, actually...It's a friend of mine, and me and some other friends are trying to stop him. One of my friends are actually on their way to the Pokemon League now to speak to Cynthia and make sure she's on the defensive for when he gets here in Sinnoh."
"So he's out to challenge Cynthia, then?"
"Right. He's already become the champion of Unova, Kanto, Johto and possibly Hoenn, so he's working quickly."
"That does sound serious...So, what's the reason you're here?"
"Well, one of my friends is a researcher, Gary Oak, and he said that there was someone named Carolina here in Celestia Town that might be able to give some help. He said you know Sinnoh's legends better than anyone else."
"Hm, must be Sam's young boy...Did he mention anything in particular?"
"Yeah. Some other friends are actually going to talk to the three lake guardians in Sinnoh, since they've met before, but there was something that Gary mentioned to ask you about..."
"Aah, man, my eyes..." Max groaned as he rubbed his eyes. Wincing, he slowly opened his eyes and looked ahead of him, noticing another change of scenery. "Wha...Wait a sec, isn't this...?" the boy looked around, confirming his suspicions. "What the heck are we doing here? Azelf?"
"Here!" the boy glanced up, almost forgetting the pokemon was resting on top of his head. "We're here to meet the others! They should be along any second!"
"But how do you know?" Max asked, seeing the small pokemon's arm extend forward. He looked ahead in the direction of the pokemon's pointing arm, noticing a flash of light, revealing a pair of figures. Then another flash. "Brock? Dawn?"
"Max? You're already here?" the older man asked, the small figure floating away from his shoulder.
"You both came! Thank goodness!" Mesprit floated out happily towards the other legendaries, the trio floating in a circle between the three humans.
"Of course! They can help us!" Azelf exclaimed, Dawn and Brock exchanging curious looks.
"Indeed. It is their friend, after all...They want to help him..." Uxie said.
"Hold on, hold on, guys! Mesprit, you never even explained this to me! How did you know I was coming?" Dawn asked.
"It's because they sensed trouble. They recognized it was Ash who was behind it, and Uxie could feel that we were coming to them, so they waited," Max explained. The blunette crossed her arms, giving a confused look.
"So...Then they are going to help us?" she asked.
"More like we're going to help them," Max added, his friend giving him curious looks. "They were already planning on trying to stop Ash, but they could feel Zekrom's power. They knew they wouldn't be strong enough on their own, so they wanted to get help from us. Right, Azelf?"
"Right, partly! It's not just you, that's why we're here!" the small blue-headed lake guardian stated happily, Max giving a nod.
"See? ...Wait, partly? Is there someone else you're waiting for?" he asked, the small pokemon shaking its head.
"Not waiting, searching! We have to go to them and ask!" the three humans glanced at each other curiously.
"Um...Mesprit, do you know what Azelf means?" Dawn asked, the small pink-headed figure giving a nod.
"We're going to ask for help, and here is where they will answer," Mesprit told them, the blunette giving another confused look.
"Are you talking about...?" Brock trailed off, the three legendaries giving an affirmative nod. "And you really think you can get through to them?"
"Of course, they will listen if it's all three of us," Azelf said cheerfully, the three humans exchanging glances before following the three floating figures towards the cavern exit ahead of them, large ruins starting to come into view.
"Man, this place has everything..." Gary muttered, rubbing his fingers across some old books on the shelf. Gary pondered, recognizing various symbols from different legends he had studied in the past, looking for a few in particular. His hand stopped on the spine of one book in particular, one with a blue and pink gem inside a triangle. He pulled it out, taking it to an open table and sitting, flipping it open. "Sinnoh's lake guardians...and the peace they maintain with the dragons..." he read to himself, scanning each page carefully as he refreshed his memory of the legends. He gave a quiet sigh to himself as he flipped to the final page. "Just like I thought, this doesn't- ...Wait..." he stopped, noticing something about the final page. Depictions of another pokemon, one he recognized only from stories, but never from a real story. Including an image of a particular item. "...I knew it...So it really does exist..."
"Man, this traveling is taking its toll...But at least I have your company, Pikachu," May sighed, stretching her back as she flashed a smile to the electric-type on her shoulder. Looking at the great entranceway standing in front of her, she moved in quickly, stopped by two guards.
"Hold on, may we see your badges?"
"Badges? Oh, no, I'm not here to challenge anyone, I just really need to talk to Cynthia. Please, it's an emergency."
"The champion? Do you have any proof as to why we should believe this?"
"Of course, yes, I do. This pokeball right here, it's Kyurem, one of the legendary dragons of Unova. If you don't believe my word, then please, let him explain."
"Alright, miss, you expect us to believe you-"
"Hold on," the guards stopped, moving to each side. May looked curiously ahead, surprised to see the Sinnoh champion herself, Cynthia, walking towards her. "She's telling the truth. I was contacted by Alder not too long ago, said he was defeated by someone who managed to capture Zekrom. Capturing Kyurem wouldn't be out of the question if this really were a serious matter."
"Yes, yes, it is! Please, miss Cynthia, my name is May, and I'm here to warn you-!" May stopped short, noticing Cynthia hold up her hand with a smile.
"He's on his way here soon to challenge me for my title as well, yes?" May gave a nod. "Then I suppose we'll have to make this more difficult for him. And please, just Cynthia is fine."
"Uh...okay...So, how do you plan on making this more difficult? Believe me, Ash has gotten a lot stronger, even without Zekrom-"
"Ash? You couldn't possibly mean Ash Ketchum, right?"
"Y-Yes. I know it's hard to believe, it really shook me too, but he is nothing like he was in the past. He claimed he was working towards pokemon liberation, but then it turned out he was lying to his friends, so now his secret agenda is a mystery to everyone."
"Then there really is no time to waste. I'll warn the Elite Four here so they're on guard."
"There's no point."
"Right, then- Wait, what?" May asked, the older blonde looking back at her in question. "That...wasn't you, was it...?"
"Nope, and there is no point in doing that," the pair looked behind May, a short distance away, stood a familiar blonde in a pink vest, arms crossed with a smile. "Leader should already be on his way, and no amount of preparation can stop him from defeating you."
"And you are?" Cynthia asked, noticing May turning against her and standing defensively with a serious look.
"You're that Lexi girl..." the younger blonde gave a nod. "Why are you here? Where's Ash?"
"Leader, like I said, should be on his way right about now," the girl said, stepping towards them, noticing the pair take a single step back. "Relax, I'm not gonna challenge you myself. I'm only here to confirm my suspicions."
"...Suspicions?" May asked carefully, not taking her eyes off the girl.
"Right. I figured since you guys are so intent on stopping Leader, and given how powerful he is, I was wondering if you were still gonna stop by Hoenn to try and stop us. But, I thought you guys would kind of be smarter than that and go straight to Sinnoh, and here you are," Lexi explained, noticing something. "...Or, at least one of you. Where's the rest?"
"We're starting to broaden our options, so don't expect us to fail again in stopping you," May replied, Lexi giving a curious look.
"Well, regardless, since I have you here, I suppose Leader will forgive me for being a little selfish," May and Cynthia watched the girl move towards them again, stopping a few feet from May, looking her in the eye. "...Why exactly do you want to stop Leader?"
"What kind of question is that? Because what he's doing doesn't make any sense!"
"But there's more to it, I can tell. Why do you want to stop him?"
"I just said-"
"No. Why do you want to stop him? Why does May want to stop him?"
"Because this Ash is not the one I care about!"
"..."
"..."
"...Huh," Lexi took a step back, crossing her arms with a puzzled look. "I figured it was that, but I didn't expect you to outright admit it."
"It's only because that isn't the Ash I love! That Leader- whatever he's become- is not Ash! And I just want Ash back!" May shouted, feeling her eyes begin to well up. Lexi watched curiously as the brunette's fists clenched at her sides, starting to shake slightly. "...I just want him back...So we have to stop him! I have to stop him!"
"...I guess I'm lucky you're the one who's here, then..." Lexi replied, confusing the brunette. "You really love him, don't you?"
"...Of course..."
"And you spent a lot of time together? You were really close?"
"Of course..."
"..."
"...Why are you asking me this?" May asked carefully, watching the blonde move her fist to her chest, giving a weak smile as she looked down at her feet.
"...Like I said, my suspicions," Lexi replied, looking up at the brunette. May noticed her smile grow weaker and more forced. "...I've kinda been thinking this since we met in Unova, but I guess this confirms it. I'm kinda envious of you."
"...What...?" May was unsure how to respond, watching the girl turn away from her and look up into the sky.
"...You were with Leader for a long time in the past, and were able to be so close to him. And something tells me he was just as caring back then as he is now," Lexi weakly smiled to herself. "He really doesn't mean anything bad, you know. I'm sure Pikachu can agree to that."
"Pika," the mouse gave a nod, the brunette exchanging curious glances between the two.
"Look, his motives may make this kind of a touchy situation, considering no one knows what he's really thinking now...not even us..." Lexi trailed off, rubbing her arm and looking at the ground beside her. "...But despite his motives, he's still the nice guy you care about. Because he cares about us, and he brought us together when we were outcasts in the world," Lexi explained.
"Outcasts?" May asked.
"...I wanted to be a coordinator, believe it or not. But one mess-up on a performance and the media never let go of it. That embarrassement, that sense of failure, it haunted me every day wherever I went, people laughing at me as they recognized me..." May began to felt bad as the younger blonde told her story, turning to face her again. "But I was only able to recover from all that because of Leader. He was nice to me, and gave me the sense that someone cared. It might not be the whole world, but at least one person knew how I felt..." Lexi moved her fist to her chest again, smiling. "He saved me when I was all alone. And their situations weren't exactly the same, but it was the same idea with the others. Leader saved all of us, he became our friend, and helped us to become friends with each other."
"...That does sound like Ash..." May said quietly, the blonde moving towards the brunette. "But that doesn't mean I'll give up. That just proves that he's still the same Ash on the inside, but this 'Leader' persona is the real problem. Lexi, I can tell you care about him too, so please, you can't help him go through with whatever he's planning. If he's being this secretive about it, it can't be any better than pokemon liberation-"
"And you think it's gonna be a mistake, right?" Lexi finished, the brunette hesitating before giving a nod. "...It's true that I care about him, but not like you do, he's more of...a father figure to me. He helped me get back on my feet without asking for anything in return, so I kinda started looking up to him like that."
"Then that's more reason for you to help us stop him," May told her seriously, putting her hands firmly on the girl's shoulders. "If you care about him, don't let him make a huge mistake."
"Um, May, was it? I believe your phone is ringing..." Cynthia interrupted, the brunette looking back curiously before her ears picked up on the ringing tune from her pocket. She quickly pulled it out, answering it.
"Hello?"
"May, how are things with Cynthia? Did she believe you?"
"Yeah, don't worry about that, she's on our side."
"That's good. You didn't run into any problems, did you?" May hesitated, her eyes drifting slowly towards Lexi. Staring at the girl for a few seconds, May gave a quiet sigh to herself.
"...No. No problems here," Lexi gave a confused look. "Look, Gary, Ash is on his way here, right now. Don't ask me how I know, but I just know it, so you have to get here now. And the others."
"Actually, I had a better idea," Gary replied, confusing the brunette.
"What? Gary, we don't have time for any more searches or anything, we have to-"
"It's not searching. I've already called the others, and they agreed to meeting up, but not at the League. You and Cynthia have to head to Spear Pillar, right now."
"Spear Pillar?" May asked subconsciously, gasping as she quickly covered her mouth. She looked at Lexi, who was staring at her curiously.
"May? What's wrong?" Gary asked, but no response. Lexi could tell by May's response that she was probably supposed to keep quiet about that last part.
"...Nothing. I'll see you there, then," May said, ending the call and pocketing the device. She gave a sigh, looking at Lexi. "...I suppose you're gonna call Ash, then..."
"But if we let her do that, then he will be onto whatever your friend is planning," Cynthia stated, May giving her a worried glance before the pair stared at Lexi.
To their expectations, the blonde flashed a smile. A not-so-innocent smile.
"Good thing we're already at Spear Pillar..." Max chuckled, watching Brock pocket his cell phone as the three looked around in awe at the ruins around them.
"It's been so long..." Dawn said to herself, recounting her memories of their previous encounter with Team Galactic on this very mountaintop.
"Come on, come on! We have to contact them!" Azelf said, floating around the trio rapidly as if trying to speed their walking pace.
"And you can get through to them immediately? Just like that?" Max asked.
"No, communicating across dimensions takes time. That's why we want to start right away, just in case it takes a long time," Mesprit explained, the trio floating above the triangle etched into the ground in front of the humans. They each floated out to one point of the triangle, closing their eyes and the gems on their tails/foreheads beginning to glow.
"Alright, so I guess we just wait, then," Brock said, crossing his arms as he looked around. "...I wonder what Gary was talking about with Misty..."
"Must be something important, if he was so unsure about it," Dawn replied, putting her hands on her hips with a slight sigh. "But no matter what it is, we could use anything we can get for help. Here's hoping things are going well for Misty."
"Jeez, they could've at least lent me one of their flying-types...!" Misty sighed, beginning to breath heavier as she hurried through the cavern. Her eyes glancing back to her bag, which contained a specific recently-acquired item, she began to hurry faster. "At least Celestic Town was right beside this mountain...And if this thing was in such tight security, here's hoping it's the real deal..."
"Leeeeex!" Krystal called out, looking around. No response. The icy-blunette gave a quiet sigh, moving her hands to her hips. "...Come on, Lex', where did you go...?"
"Don't you think it's time you gave up?" the girl gave a slight glare over her shoulder to her silver-haired friend. "...Face it, Krys'-"
"No. No way. She did not leave us, leave Leader," Krystal replied quickly, crossing her arms. "You saw how she was yesterday. She was just as happy as ever."
"In appearance," Krys' gave her friend a curious look. "We both know Lexi looks up to Leader, possibly more than any of us. It's just how she is, how she's always been. But given everything with Leader lying to us and refusing to tell the truth, she's still fighting herself over helping Leader or not."
"But she still wouldn't leave," Gina frowned, giving a quiet sigh at her friend's stubbornness. Gina glanced back through the trees.
"...Come on, Leader said we're leaving early. We're heading out in just a few minutes."
"Go ahead. I'm still looking a bit more," Gina sighed again, turning away from her friend and returning towards the camp. Coming into the clearing, she noticed the rest of her companions all packed up, looking ready to go. Leader, arms crossed, gave a worried look.
"She's not giving up, is she?" Gina shook her head. Leader gave a sigh. "...I knew this would be too much for her...I did break her trust, after all, despite what I promised her..."
"That doesn't mean anything, Leader," he looked over at Jack, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed behind his head who flashed a smile. "Even if pinky did disappear in the middle of the night, she probably just needs a little more time on her own to figure this out. It was kind of forced, us meeting again so quickly."
"...Should we really be leaving then, Leader?" Mason asked hesitantly, glancing at the ground nervously. "Lexi is our friend, after all..."
"...Lexi can make her own decisions. I never said I would make her choices for her, nor did I say that with any of you," Leader responded, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "...She does have every right to hate me for lying, as do all of you. So I'm heading to Sinnoh, but I'm not forcing any of you to go as well. If you want to make Lexi your priority, I respect that, in fact I would be more proud of you if you did."
"...She may be an idiot sometimes, but only she can sort out her feelings," Trevor stated, crossing his arms. "I trust her. I'm with you, Leader."
"And no questions over here," Jack added with a smile. "It's just like Trevor said, only she can make her choice. We gotta trust her."
"...I'm gonna go get Krystal..." Gina said quietly, wandering away from the group again.
"If Krystal chooses Lexi, then I'm sure we'll lose Gina as well..." Webb commented, the rest of the group giving a nod.
"Well, then we'll just have to make her proud regardless," Jack stated, pushing off from the tree and giving the older man a friendly punch to the shoulder. Webb looked at him curiously, giving a chuckle.
"Fair enough. But remember that I'm still inclined to be pretty mad at you," Webb responded, giving a friendly punch back to Jack. The short-haired man smiled, returning to his tree. But Leader noticed something in particular. The smile on Jack's face was forced. In fact, it almost looked as if Jack had...winced. And he didn't just fall back against the tree like he normally would. He put his hand on it first, easing himself against it.
"I remember, man, I know none of you will ever let me forget that," Jack chuckled, the others giving a slight laugh as well. Except for Leader.
"...Mason, Webb, Trevor," the three looked at Leader. "Would you mind going and finding Krystal and Gina? I believe we should get going soon."
"Right," the three gave a nod before heading out, leaving Leader alone with Jack. Leader looked at the man intently, Jack giving a nervous smile.
"What's that look about?" he asked, Leader moving towards him. "Seriously, Leader, what's up? I do know that they're mad at me, like you said, they have every right to be-"
"It's not that."
"Then what? You're kinda freakin' me out here, more than usual."
"It's this," Leader clenched his hand into a fist, lightly pressing it against Jack's shoulder. The same spot where Webb had lightly hit. Leader noticed the corner of Jack's mouth twitch. "...Why didn't you tell me?"
"Don't know what you're talking about," Jack tried to brush him off and step past him, but Leader grabbed his arm.
"You agreed, Jack. Do not-"
"Like I said, don't know what you're talking about," Jack said, shaking off Leader's hand and walking away. Leader turned and watched him disappear towards the rest of their friends, the man giving a quiet sigh.
"I...still don't understand..."
"Like I said, Leader's motives are a mystery to everyone now."
"Uh...Right..."
"And also like I said, Leader refuses to tell us the truth. So does Jack, the only person that he trusted to tell."
"...I can only believe your word on that..."
"So, if both of them refuse to say anything, then we have to find a way around that to find out something. If Leader chose us based on our histories, or our past experiences, then that must have something to do with what he was really planning. Meaning that he must've chose Jack as well."
"So Jack's past could lead to a clue...?"
"Exactly. And since he never told me - or any of the others - about his past, then there's only one way to find out anything. We have to track down his roots."
"But is this really gonna work...?" May asked hesitantly, entering the final number on the video phone. She gave a curious glance to the girl beside her. "You say that he's Jack's uncle, but how can you be so certain on finding his dad...?"
"Because Professor Oak's lab is in Pallet Town, hence why I wanted you to call him before you take off. But not only that, you say that Leader was raised in Pallet Town as well."
"Right, but- ...Wait, you mean...?" May stared at the girl in surprise, who only smiled back as a face appeared on the screen beside them.
"Hello?"
"Ah, Professor Oak! Hi, it's May," the brunette greeted, the elderly researcher giving a smile. "I was really hoping you could do me a favor right now, I'm kind of in a hurry."
"Of course, May, what is it? And are you having any progress in tracking down Ash?" the man asked, the brunette giving a brief smile and glance to the girl beside her. "Oh? I don't believe I recognize your new friend there."
"Sorry, Professor, she's actually the one who wanted the favor," May told him, moving aside for the second girl to take full view on the monitor's camera.
"Hi there, Professor. My name's Lexi, and like May said...I kind of need your help to talk to someone."
END