Outsiders (ZnT/Pokémon Reverse Summon)
Season 1, Episode 15, Chapter 3

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Maindo teleported away from the Pokémon Center, reemerging into the physical realm with a faint pop. The Kirlia was no longer in an urban environment. Instead, he was somewhere in the mountainous forest about a mile away from Geosenge Town. Which route he was specifically on, he didn't know, but at the moment he didn't really care. After taking a few seconds to calm himself with some deep breaths, he quickly glanced around, finding himself alone in the dead of night. Only the light of the full moon illuminated the forest, and a few scattered clouds dimmed even that.

A follow-up psychic scan confirmed it. For the first time in months, Maindo was utterly alone. At first, he felt a sense of satisfaction at finally achieving his goal. Then he looked down at the collapsed Pokéball in his hands. His expression was calm at first, then he felt himself grow angrier and angrier as he bored his eyes into the device. Finally, with a wordless roar, Maindo threw the Pokéball as hard as he could against the ground, where it harmlessly bounced off the grass and settled near a small rock.

'Gagh! Giratina dammit!' he yelled, falling to his knees and gripping his head as tightly as he could. His mind was a swirling mixture of emotions. Maindo felt angry, frustrated, humiliated, as well as other feelings he couldn't quite describe. They all served to make him angrier and angrier with each passing second. Then he glared at the Pokéball again, and he marched over to pick it up and start slamming it repeatedly against the rock it fell upon.

'Why! Won't! You! Break!' he roared, not caring if anything heard him. Maindo was too angry to care, but unfortunately his efforts were in vain. The Pokéball, outside of plenty of scratches to the red and white paintjob, was otherwise intact. With one final throw to the ground, Maindo stomped away and began kicking the ground.

'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' he shouted with each kick, but when he accidentally kicked another rock hidden under the grass he yelped in pain. He grabbed his injured foot and hopped on the other, but he wasn't able to keep his balance for long before he fell onto his rear. Bringing his foot closer to him, he gently nudged the stubbed toe before scowling and shaking his head.

Maindo stewed in silence for what seemed like forever. With no one around him, he was forced to focus on his own thoughts and feelings, which only served to make him angrier. A small part of him was angry at himself for running away, but the rest was reserving that anger for everyone else. How dare they get angry at him for merely pointing out the truth? How dare they blame him for Louise's failures, and how dare they insinuate that he was the weakest among them? Had they not been paying attention? Maindo was the strongest Pokémon on Saito's team, and at the very least the smartest. If they had listened to him, none of this would have happened, but no. Instead, they did what they always did and went with what the girl wanted. So what if he made her cry? As far as Maindo was concerned, she deserved it. Plus, at the moment it did feel good to finally get a rise out of her beyond simple anger.

It wasn't as fun when Tanuki started going after him. As an empath, Maindo was more than aware as to how the others felt at all times. Normally, when he mocked, teased, or bullied them, they merely felt a small spark of indignation and anger before letting it go and moving on. The latter had become more and more common the longer he stayed with them, which was one of the reasons why he had seized this chance Louise had oh-so-helpfully given. Yet, when it was all said and done, the others reacted in a way he hadn't expected. Instead of letting it roll past them, instead they erupted in sheer rage, to the point where they all wanted a piece of him.

Which brought Maindo to perhaps the greatest source of his current anger. When Tanuki had told him that he was stronger than Maindo, at first the Kirlia didn't want to believe it. But after a few blows that he was unable to stop, or even attempt to, he was finally able to glance into Tanuki's mind. He found that Tanuki was telling the truth. The Riolu was stronger than him, and when Ronin insisted that the rest of Saito's team was as well, he was able to determine that they were telling the truth, too. For the first time in what seemed like years, Maindo felt afraid. He knew that if he tried to fight them off, he would lose and there was telling what they would do to him after the emotional torment he gave Louise. So he did the only thing he could think of: he ran away like a coward.

Maindo didn't know what was worse. The fact that he felt like a coward for running away, or that he felt humiliated at the notion that everyone else had merely been humoring him this entire time. Either way, he felt his pride stringing at the dual blows, and felt as though he was a bomb ready to explode at the slightest touch. He pulled his knees to his chest, resting his chin on top of them, and glared into nothingness.

Eventually, he heard some heavy thuds coming his way. Without saying a word, Maindo turned his head towards the source of the disturbance, which he saw came from a large, heavyset, bipedal bear with dark green-blue fur around its arms and back while the face, belly, and feet were the color of cream. Its eyes were closed, and a yawn escaped its mouth as it waddled over, each step causing its belly to jiggle along with earth. Maindo recognized this Pokémon as a Snorlax, having seen some before in Lumiose before Saito captured him, and he huffed before turning away.

"Hey, were you the one making that racket?" Snorlax asked, yawning once again. When Maindo didn't answer, Snorlax continued "Because I gotta tell you, waking me up is an accomplishment…"

'What's it to you?' Maindo asked curtly, which Snorlax took as his answer.

"So it was you. Figured it had to be a Psychic-type. Nothing else could scream inside my head," Snorlax pointed out, then he walked closer to Maindo and looked down at him. "What's got you making such a ruckus at this hour?"

'None of your business,' Maindo immediately replied, shooting the Snorlax a sharp glare.

The Snorlax raised an unimpressed eyebrow, and stated, "Well, considering you're willing to scream about it in the middle of the woods at night, it's not exactly a secret now, is it? Noisy little punk," Snorlax muttered the last part under his breath. Maindo, however, heard him clearly and felt his eye twitch at the insinuation under the Snorlax's words.

'Help? You think I need help, Fatty?' Maindo asked, and the Snorlax sharply angled his head back.

"'Fatty?'" Snorlax repeated, and Maindo responded by stomping over and poking at his large belly.

'Well, what else am I supposed to call you?' Maindo asked, glaring up at him. 'Would you prefer Fatass, instead? Or maybe Lardo?'

The Snorlax was quiet for a few moments, then he glared angrily at Maindo and replied, "You can call me Snorlax, you little twerp."

'Oh, how original,' Maindo immediately declared, rolling his eyes then.

"Says the runt who went straight for the lamest, most overused fat jokes ever told," Snorlax countered. "Step up your game, you basic brat."

'Whatever, Fatass. Out of my way, I'm not in the mood.'

Maindo tried to stomp off, moving straight towards the Snorlax as though he was expecting the much larger Pokémon to get out of his way. To his surprise, however, the Snorlax didn't move, and Maindo bounced off of his enormous belly and fell onto the grass. As the Kirlia glared back up at him, he shouted, 'Hey!'

"Did you honestly think I was just going to move because you demanded it? Or are you just blind and stupid?"

'Boohoo!' Maindo shouted back, jumping up to his feet. 'Does it look like I care what you think?'

"Hey, you woke me up with your hissy fit, remember?"

''Hissy fit?!''

"Just calling it as I see it, kid. You may be trying to act tough, but I've come across more than enough runaways to know one when I see one."

Maindo growled, grinding his teeth together as psychic pulses went off around him, buffeting the snow. The Snorlax wasn't moved by the display of power, merely passively glaring at the Kirlia. He recognized the air that Snorlax was giving off, one of quiet superiority. It only served to remind him of his earlier humiliation, and as his rage reached a boiling point, Maindo suddenly shouted without thinking, 'What, do you want to go?'

"Excuse me?" Snorlax asked, more confused than anything.

'Is your ears full of fat, too? If you want to fight me, then just say it! Otherwise, shove off!'

Snorlax angled his head and leaned down over Maindo, incredulously asking, "You're kidding me, right?"

'Does it look like I'm kidding?!' Maindo replied and attempted to push Snorlax back telekinetically, but the Sleeping Pokémon didn't even budge. Instead, he stared silently at Maindo before yawning once again, and Maindo felt his eye twitch erratically.

"Look, kid. I'm too tired to deal with you anymore. So do yourself a favor and just turn around and walk away."

Maindo's eyes widened, then he smirked and remarked, 'Oh, too scared, Doughbear? Afraid that I'll turn you into a dozen fur rugs?!'

The forest grew silent and tense as the Snorlax and Maindo stared at each other. Then the Snorlax sighed and muttered, "Well, I tried to be nice…"

Maindo smiled, and as he prepared to hit Snorlax with Psychic, he shouted, 'Finally! Let's go-!'

With surprising speed, Snorlax kicked Maindo. Snorlax' foot was larger than Maindo's entire body, and he was kicked away like a soccer ball far off into the trees behind him. When Maindo's body finally hit a tree and stopped his momentum, the truck partially shattered and he felt the air get knocked out his lungs. Maindo slid to the ground, grasping his chest and gasping desperately for air. With wide, surprised eyes, he watched as the Snorlax, without even turning around to see where Maindo had landed, stomped away, pushing past the trees blocking his path as though they were merely toothpicks.

Once again, Maindo was left alone, but now his humiliation was even worse. Even when he was able to breath normally again, he stayed still, sitting against the tree and not moving a muscle.


It had taken Saito nearly half an hour to finally get Louise to stop crying. He had never seen her so low before. Whatever torment Louise put herself through after the horrific attacks in Cyllage City, which he had previously felt was the worst, was nothing compared to what Maindo inflicted on her. The poor girl had been nearly inconsolable, crying hysterically and needing Saito to reassure her a lot just to get her to accept none of this was her fault.

Saito knew that none of this was her fault. Had it been risky to test the Absolite on Auspice? Of course it was, but they had accepted that risk from the beginning. They knew that there was a chance that things might not go so well, and had prepared accordingly. It was unfortunate that those fears came to fruition, but in Saito's opinion, it was better for them to have tested Mega Evolution and failed while they were alone than to try it out for the first time against some other poor, hapless trainer. None of their Pokémon were seriously injured, and after a night at the Pokémon Center, they'd be right as rain.

Of course, he doubted Louise had been entirely focusing on their most recent escapade. After all, Maindo had been very clear in how he blamed her for all their problems as of late. The Kirlia might have had something of a point, but that point was quickly buried by the sheer vitriol he had added on top of it. Maindo's treatment of Louise was completely unjustified and downright cruel, and after Louise had finally calmed down and they returned to the waiting room, he had intended to finally give Maindo a piece of his mind.

Only he couldn't, because his Pokémon had beaten him to the punch and Maindo had subsequently run away, taking his Pokéball with him. Part of him wanted to just leave it at that and be done with it, no longer having any tolerance towards his Pokémon's behavior, but even after everything Maindo had done, Saito somehow still somehow cared enough to go out and try to find him. Derflinger had elected to come with him while the rest his Pokémon comforted Louise, and now the two of them were scouring the woods outside Geosenge Town in search of Maindo.

"When I get my hands on him," Saito growled as he walked through the dark forest, using his Pokédex' built-in flashlight to see where he was going. At the same time, his Pokédex' GPS was on, showing a red dot where Maindo's Pokéball was located. It was times like these where Saito was grateful that the latest generation of Pokéballs had built in trackers in them, that way if they were lost or stolen it was easier to find them.

"Can't say I blame ya," Derflinger added, shaking his head and sighing. "There's a fine line between brutal honesty and outright bullying, and Maindo had decided to long jump way past it."

"He's been nothing but a pain in my ass ever since I caught him," Saito complained, his voice low and his free hand clenched tightly into a fist. "Maindo only does things if he wants to. He doesn't train with us, he only participates in a battle if his opponent pisses him off, and he constantly bullies and belittles everyone around him. Yet I never thought he would have gone this far."

"That's the thing with bullies," Derflinger pointed out. "They do what they do to get a rise out of people, and if their old stuff isn't working anymore, they'll up the ante."

"Yeah, well he certainly did that." Saito sighed and closed his eyes while shaking his head. "I just don't get it. Why is he like this? More importantly, why do I still care?"

"I can't answer the first question," Derflinger admitted, "but to answer the second, it's because you're a good trainer. Good trainers are supposed to care for their Pokémon, even if they're being difficult."

"Well I don't feel like a good trainer right now. A good trainer would have stopped this from happening," Saito insisted, but Derflinger shook his head.

"You tried, it's just that Maindo didn't want to reciprocate. That's his fault, not yours," Derflinger insisted. "Don't blame yourself for him being so spiteful."

Saito looked at Derflinger silently for a moment, only able to see him through a faint reflection of the moonlight against his steel body. Finally, he smiled and nodded before saying, "Thanks, Derflinger."

"No problem, partner," Derflinger replied, then the two set off once again deeper into the forest.

As they continued to walk, Saito couldn't help but think back to the battle against Auspice. He shuddered at the memory. The last time he had come across a Mega Evolution, it had been terrifying but he had only directly interacted with it for less than a minute. After that, he and Louise had simply been running for their lives. The wild Beedrill swarm had been more of a direct threat than the wild Mega Beedrill. But with Auspice, he hadn't been able to run away. Doing so might have put other people in danger, and while his Pokémon luckily got off light, he saw first-hand just how powerful a Mega Evolved Pokémon could be when it only took a single direct hit to knock out each of Louise's. Had they not prepared beforehand and not already placed their Pokémon on standby, things could have gotten very ugly very fast.

At the same time, Saito thought back to Derflinger's performance in the battle. It had been with surprising grace and ability, a far cry from the normally jovial Honedge. Derflinger had taken the battle completely seriously and almost seemed as though he was able to go one-on-one with Auspice without anyone else backing him up.

"Hey, Derf?" Saito called out, causing Derflinger to glance at him.

"What's on your mind?" he replied, slightly confused as to what was on Saito's mind.

"You're the strongest Pokémon here, aren't you?" Saito plainly asked. Derflinger stared silently for a moment, then he nodded.

"Probably, yeah," he admitted. "I've been around for thousands of years. Picked up quite a few things in that time."

"Could you have taken Auspice by yourself?"

"Maybe. I have to admit that I'm still a little rusty, though. But back in my prime, oh I would have run circles around her."

"It certainly seemed like it." Saito nodded, then asked, "That move you used at the end. What was it?"

"That was Sacred Sword," Derflinger answered. "It's the most powerful technique a Honedge like myself can naturally learn. It's very effective."

"I can believe that. Certainly seemed like a powerful move," Saito admitted. "But, if you're so strong and so old, why haven't you evolved yet? I would have thought you'd evolved centuries ago."

Derflinger was silent at first, then replied, "I'm more comfortable as a Honedge, honestly. Sure, I'd be stronger if I evolved into an Doublade then an Aegislash, but being a Honedge…it reminds me of a past life. Know what I mean?"

Saito pursed his lips and hummed contemplatively, then nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that. Sorry if I got a bit too personal."

"Eh, don't worry about it." Derflinger waved him off, and with one final nod, Saito turned back to the forest.

They walked silently for some time, using Saito's flashlight to scan their surroundings. At the same time, they followed the GPS tracker, and soon came across a path of flattened grass, uprooted bushes, and broken tree branches. It was as though something large had come through from the mountain above, then came back the way it came not too long after. Derflinger hovered over one of the visible footprints in the dirt, then looked back up at Saito.

"Looks like a Snorlax came through here," he declared.

"A Snorlax?" Saito asked, looking up at the mountain. "They live here?"

"Snorlaxes live in mountainous areas, only occasionally coming down for food. They're rare, but I'm not surprised to find one living here," Derflinger noted. "I am surprised that it woke up in the middle of the night, though. Snorlaxes are called the Sleeping Pokémon for a reason."

"I know what you mean," Saito said, scratching his head. "What could have woken it up?"

"Probably something loud and or annoying," Derflinger mused. A short, silent pause fell between them, then they turned around to face where the Snorlax had gone to then returned from. They immediately knew they had the answer to their question, and Saito couldn't help but frown once again.

"He's not even gone for two hours before he starts picking fights again," Saito growled as he stomped down the path, Derflinger floating right behind him.

They soon came across a small break in the trees, with thick beds of grass peppered by small stones covering the ground. Thich evergreen trees surrounded them, with a few bushes nearby. Saito wasn't focused on that, though, as he scanned the area for his wayward Pokémon. When the light brushed past a reflective object, he brought the beam back to find Maindo's Pokéball. It was scratched and a little dented, but a quick press of the front button told him that it was still fully functional. Saito wondered what could have caused the cosmetic damage in the first place, and he had his answer when he looked down on the rock it had been resting on. The rock was chipped along the top, as though someone had repeatedly slammed the Pokéball across it.

"Did Maindo try to break this?" Saito asked himself as he knelt close to the rock in order to inspect it.

Derflinger, meanwhile, combed the area, trying to find the Kirlia. At first, he couldn't find any trace of him aside from a few footprints belonging to a Kirlia. The thought of Maindo perhaps just teleporting her then teleporting away crossed his mind, but then he remembered the obvious signs of a Snorlax coming through here. Maindo would have had to have stayed around for a bit to allow that to happen, and if he picked a fight with said Snorlax, it must not have gone over well. So the Honedge instead widened his search, figuring that Maindo was still around somewhere.

Then, when he spotted a small Pokémon resting against a tree, Derflinger called out, "Saito, I found him."

Without saying a word, Saito stood up and stomped over to Derflinger, where he saw the ancient Honedge hovering over Maindo. He was resting against a thin, partially shattered sapling that he must have been launched into by the Snorlax he had angered. At first, Maindo's head was hung downward, but as Saito got closer the Kirlia slowly raised his head to stare at him and Derflinger. From the look on his face, Maindo was surprised that Saito was there.

'Saito? What are-?' he began, undoubtedly going to deliver another insult, but Saito coldly cut him off before he could even get the chance.

"Stop. Just stop," Saito demanded, his tone harsh and unforgiving. Not expecting his trainer to act this way, Maindo clammed up and flinched, giving Saito the opportunity to come closer.

"I don't know why I'm out here, Maindo. Why I've been searching for you for the past two hours in this Arceus-forsaken forest. Not after what you just did, what you've been doing," he admitted, glaring down at Maindo as though daring him to speak up. Unused to this change in demeanor, Maindo kept quiet, and Saito's frown grew into a snarl.

"But here I am, regardless of how much of a pain in everyone's neck you've been ever since we met. Despite the fact that you purposefully made Louise cry," Saito hissed. "I have half a mind to just leave you here and be done with you, but for whatever reason that I cannot comprehend, I still care enough about you to ask why?! Why have you been acting like this? And don't give me some Tauros-shit, mocking excuse. I want the truth, got it?"

Maindo sneered weakly up at him. 'Why shouldn't I?' he 'pathed with that oh-so-familiar anger in his mental voice. 'You only care about having another loaded Pokéball on your belt, so why shouldn't I take what shots I can?'

Saito shared a confused glance with Derflinger, but Maindo wasn't done. The Kirlia hauled himself to his feet, and glared hatefully at the trainer.

'If you actually cared so damn much, you would've let me go already! But no, you're just dragging me along to fight your battles for you like the rest of those losers, except I'm not braindead enough to be a good little stooge! You don't-'

"Wait, hang on," Derflinger interrupted. "You want to be released? That's what this is all about?"

Maindo rolled his eyes. 'No shit, dumbass! Don't tell me you're only figuring that out now!'

Saito went very still for a moment, staring down at the injured Kirlia with a blank expression. He then asked, "If you didn't want to be part of the team, why didn't you say something?"

'And what good would that have done?' the Psychic-type demanded. 'You wouldn't have given up your newest trophy just because I said, 'pretty please', you-!'

"Maindo," Saito interrupted, his voice having gone cold. "You're a Psychic-type and an empath. You can tell if I'm lying. If you had ever said you wanted to leave the team and go home, I would have released you."

Maindo froze, and stared up at Saito incredulously. His mouth began to fall open, and his eyes grew confused. He then weakly muttered, 'You're... you're serious. You're not lying. But-'

Saito wasn't done, and he let out a humorless chuckle before admitting, "All this time, I've been wondering why you've been so... you to everyone. And more than once, I thought maybe you wanted to be released. But each time, I told myself 'no, it can't be that, because he's never said a word about wanting to leave. So it's got to be something else.' Because after all, you couldn't possibly be stupid enough not to try the simplest solution."

Maindo flinched at that, before visibly rallying and letting his anger rise to the top again. But before he could say anything scathing, Derflinger cut in.

"Even before you could use telepathy, you could have had Esprit or I tell him you wanted out, so there's no excuse there," the ancient Honedge pointed out. "Even without a translator, you could have just left untraceably whenever you wanted by using Teleport. You didn't try to smash your Pokéball until now, and you only did by beating it on a rock instead of blowing it up with a move."

"Yeah, seriously," Saito added, holding out the scuffed ball. He opened it and took each half in one hand. "These things are tough, but the hinges are really fragile. All it takes is a flick of the wrist... and you were just beating it against a rock?"

Derflinger nodded, then asked, "Did you really want to be released, or is that just what you're trying to tell yourself?"

'SHUT UP!' Maindo roared telepathically. 'You just up and took me from my home! Why the hell should I have thought you'd let me go?!'

"You challenged me, Maindo," Saito sighed, feeling exhausted all of a sudden at all the things he puts up with. "I was walking by and you came at me with your illusions."

'THAT WASN'T A CHALLENGE, YOU MORON!' the Kirlia bellowed. 'YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE AN EASY MARK!'

"...What?"

'See the big scary ghost illusion, then drop your bag and run away scared! How hard was that?! Worked on everyone I ever used it on before you, but no, you went after me with the punch-drunk puppy and the wet blanket! You couldn't just leave well enough alone!'

Saito felt his mouth fall open in outrage, but he bit back on his indignation. He instead pointed out, "And when I turned out not to be an easy mark, you got away clean... and then came back. You kept fighting instead of escaping. Just like a wild Pokémon challenging a trainer."

Maindo froze. His eyes were wide and flicked from side to side as he tried to think of a counterargument, but he seemed to be struggling.

"Face it, kid," Derflinger said softly. "Every bit of this, you either brought on yourself or could have ended in a heartbeat. You have literally no one else to blame."

"And that leaves us with where we go from here," Saito groaned, sitting down on the forest floor to look Maindo in the eye. He held out the Pokéball, once again taking each half in one hand, and offered, "You say the word, and I'll snap this right here and now. I'll turn my back and wash my hands of you, and we'll never see each other again. You can go and do whatever you want, as long as you stay the hell away from my friends. Or..."

Maindo managed to sneer at the human and asked, 'Or what? You gonna try and convince me to stick around and be a good little gladiator for you?'

"Nope," Saito immediately answered. "At this point I don't want that any more than you do. Congratulations, you've successfully convinced me that you're more trouble than you're worth. But, even though you had a thousand and one chances to end all this when I caught you, and a million and one since then, I am the one who brought you this far from home. And if you were stupid enough to pick a fight with a Snorlax, I kinda doubt you'll survive going back to Lumiose yourself, assuming that's what you plan to do."

He ignored Maindo's growl and continued undeterred, "So the other option is this: the same as the first, but we wait until we get back to Lumiose. It won't be immediately, since we've got other stops to make first, but we'll be back there before long. And until then, we come to an agreement. You get fed, but you're off the team in every way but officially. No battles, no training, and in return you be, if not polite, then at least civil to the others. If you're not, I'll release you to fend for yourself no matter where we are or what condition you're in. When we get back to Lumiose, we'll go our separate ways. So what'll it be?"

'Not going to try and make me apologize to Pinky?' Maindo mocked, slightly surprised that Saito was offering this in the first place.

Saito just stared at him and said, "Coming from you, it'd be worthless. Choose already, or I'll just leave you here."

The forest was silent for what seemed like an eternity, and both Saito and Maindo stared at each other. Finally, Maindo answered by nodding, and Saito nodded back before closing the Pokéball and returning Maindo back inside. Saito stared at it for a moment, feeling a sharp pang of sadness shoot through his heart, but then he sighed, collapsed the Pokéball, and put it back onto his belt.

"You did the right thing," Derflinger declared as they both turned around.

"…I know," Saito said after a brief moment of silence, and they walked back to the Pokémon center without saying another word.

When they finally arrived back at the center, he found Louise waiting for him right where he left her, sitting on one of the sofa chairs with the rest of his Pokémon cuddling her. She looked up at him as he entered and closed the door behind him and Derflinger, and remained silent but focused on him as he walked over and sat across from her on another chair. He then looked down at his knees while weaving his fingers against each other, resting his elbows on his thighs. The room was silent at first, and everyone was now staring at the boy.

"Well? What happened? Did you find him?" Louise asked, causing Saito to slowly look up at her and nod.

"Yeah, I did. Maindo and I came to an agreement, and he is no longer part of my team. I'll be releasing him when we get back to Lumiose," he revealed. Both Louise and Saito's team stared at him for a moment, contemplating the deal he had made, then Louise nodded in acceptance while her face turned hard.

"I'm good with that," she declared, and Saito nodded.

"So am I."

[~][~]

Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Outsiders! Special thanks to Jesse K and NaanContributor for all their help in bringing this to life!

We have finally gotten to the bottom of the mystery as to why Maindo has been acting the way he has. All he wanted was to be released, but his pride refused to let him do the smart thing, and now he's successfully burned every bridge he had with everyone else. Where things go from here is an important part for his character development, and I can't wait to show you guys it all.

Now, onto the Q&A:

Sazq: Yep, they certainly are. Although Maindo might not have fully pulled his head out of his ass at the moment, he's now starting on the road to actually do that.

keybladelight: That development is a long ways away. One of the things I set out to do for this story is to more organically lead to a successful romance between the two of them. Right now, they're just two really good friends who trust each other completely.

DRMAK: Yep, he's an ass alright, and him being a fool was the point. But not in a "dumb stupid evil bad" kind of way. He's a broken, flawed character, who did what he did because he couldn't let himself see the truth. Now his eyes are beginning to open, and where he goes from here will be very interesting.

.549: Maindo certainly dun goofed, that's for sure. He finally crossed the line.

Steelrain66: That he does, and luckily an irritated Snorlax was more than happy to do so for us all.

Impstar: Luckily for her, Saito was there to help her out.

EvaShinobiKaiserKnight: Probably not, unfortunately. I will be showing Legendary Pokémon, though.

Shadowwolf of phantasms: He did, yes, and he deserved it.

Vein Bloodborne: That they did.

That's it for this update. I hope you guys enjoy, and let us know what you think! Have a nice day, and stay safe!