Chapter 21: Finding His Kin

Kai groaned to himself as he leaned against a tree. The trees around him were slashed up, and his invoker armor was engaged. Quaxly had become the katana Kai held in his hand.

"Where the heck are Tinkatuff and Nemona!?" Kai cried. "Dang it… we've been waiting here forever!"

Clive, who was sitting on the grass with his legs crossed and his eyes closed seemed unbothered.

"Ugh- I'm calling Nemona," Kai said. Just when he was about to reach for his phone, it rang. The boy saw as his phone flew out of his pocket and showed Nemona's phone number and picture blinking on it. Kai pressed a button to start the video call and his friend's face appeared on the phone monitor. She was grinning widely as she was running.

"Nemona?" Kai asked.

"Just wanted to call you to let you know I found your Tinkatuff and I'm chasing her!"

"Ah, okay, that's grea- CHASING HER!?" Kai cried out. "How?! I mean- Why?!"

"That's because she doesn't want me to catch her friend or something, it's weird. But I took it as a challenge! Now I'm chasing her until the bitter end!"

"What?! WHY!?"

"I dunno!"

"I- Ugh- grab Tinkatuff, and let's get going, I wanna go do something, maybe challenge the first gym!"

"Well, the gym's really far, and since I'm chasing Tinkatuff it'd be best to just stay in the area, wait for me to grab her, then we can go."

"Ughh… how long do we have to wait!?"

"I dunno! Let's check- Hey, Tinkatuff! Wanna give up!?"

Tinkatuff cried out her own name in anger.

"Well- you heard her!"

"Ugh… just nab her and let's get going, okay?" Kai grumbled.

"Yup, yup! Just wait on me!"

The call went off.

"Ugh… now we have to wait longer…" Kai said.

"Now's a good time to sit down, take in the atmosphere and just…" Clive breathed in through his nose, then out his mouth. "Let yourself be alone with your thoughts."

"I did. I didn't like it, and I'd prefer not to do it again."

"Hm. Well, if you need me, I'm going to be meditating."

"Oh, yeah, sure. Meditating All you're doing is trying to get me to be alone with my thoughts, huh?"

Clive didn't say anything.

"So I'm right! Dang it, old man! Fine. Okay, Quaxly, can you please undo the tera-fusion and come out here and talk with me?"

Quaxly did not respond.

"Wh- C'mon, Quaxly!" Kai wiggled his sword. "Turn back to normal!"

"It seems that Quaxly thinks that it's best for you to be alone with your thoughts, as well."

"What?!" Kai cried. "No, no, no, no. That- that other me's just gonna start complaining and moaning and crying about things and it's going to be so annoying, you have no idea!"

Clive said nothing.

"C'mon, you can't just ignore me, say something! Don't you dare do this to me! Don't you dare!"

Clive did not respond.

"Dang it! Ughhh…!" Kai groaned and sighed. He turned his head to the nearest tree, let out a battle cry, and cut it in half. He watched the tree fall onto the ground with a massive thud. Kai turned his head, expecting the noise to at least startle Clive, but the old man didn't flinch. Kai groaned, walking up to Clive, and then prodding him with his finger. "C'mon," He said. "You've gotta give in sometime."

After a while, Kai gave up. Clive wasn't moving at all despite all the things he tried to do to get his attention. Kai groaned and walked deeper into the forest alone.

All alone.

No one was there to bother him, and he was finally, truly, alone with his thoughts.

"Why did you chain me up, again?" Kai suddenly heard his true self's voice in the back of his mind, due to the quiet.

Kai groaned to himself.

"Why. Did. You. Chain me up again?"

"...Go away." Kai responded to the voice in his head with his thoughts. He couldn't help but remember the reason why he did decide to suppress himself. It was before he met Nemona. Before he went to Uva Academy. Back when he was five years old.

"This guy thinks he's an anime character in real life!" a kid's voice, one that he'd heard before came to him. He learned to resent that voice- because it was one belonging to one of his bullies.

"He's so cocky and he can't even back it up, what a clown," Another voice that belonged to another of his bullies rang in his mind like an alarm. The words cut deep enough for Kai to lower his katana and fall to his knees.

"I swear, this kid's the weirdest person, why does he even speak?"

Kai covered his ears with his hands.

"Wish he'd just shut up and go away."

"Yeah, dude. Seriously. I don't think anyone likes him."

"I literally see zero people around him, so he has to have no friends."

Kai took in a long, deep breath as he remained on his knees. At that moment, Everything around Kai became dark around him, as though he were meditating. Kai's suppressed self- his true self, appeared in front of him, locked in chains.

"You chained me up because you said it was the right thing to do," The other Kai said.

"It was," Kai thought, standing up.

"You never did give me a chance to do anything, afterward."

"Because you don't deserve it."

"But letting me out is what you truly want, right?"

"All I want is to be confident in myself."

"And in order to do that, you have to let me out."

"No I don't."

"You've let me out before. You've let me out without even thinking. When you become angry, I come out. When you become overwhelmed with emotions, I come out. It makes you look like a two-faced person, y'know that? Wonder how everyone else sees you...?"

"Stop talking."

"Remember that time when you talked with Aeon? How one time, you were flirting with him, saying that you wanted to kiss him?"

"Why are you bringing that up again? What do you gain from this?"

"But then you became worried about how he'd react. So you went back to acting like you were shy. And what about that time with the klawf-"

"You literally said this before."

"And how excited you were- you were so cocky, talking down on that Klawf. 'Quaxly, do it to em'. God, it was so cringe-worthy when you said it like that-"

"No. Shut up. Just stop talking. Go away and leave me alone...!"

"What're you going to do, huh? Gonna stand around, do nothing? We both know what you should be doing is thinking of ways to let me loose. You know it's the right thing to do."

"There's no safe place for me to 'let you out'. You know that! The only time I can let you out is when… I can't even think of a safe place where I can let you out without being embarrassed!."

"You're pitiful."

"Leave me alone."

"Pathetic. Worthless. Trash."

"Stop it…!"

"I hate you."

"I hate you more!" Kai's grip on his blade clenched. "I'm tired of you always talking down on me, saying that I'm worthless- when I'm trying!"

"You're trying..?" Kai's suppressed self started to chuckle. "You're trying. Seriously? Is that all you have to say for yourself?"

"I am!"

"Remember that time when you fought against Team Star…. And lost to Mela in front of everyone? How many of them do you think were laughing? How many of them were probably happy that you ate dirt? I bet they're laughing about you right now, right this second. I bet they're thinking about how pathetic you are."

"No. Shut up. Shut up!" Kai raised his sword. "If you don't shut up… I'll..!"

"What are you doing? Don't you know I'm not really here? I'm literally just a figment of your imagination. Look at how stupid you look. Aiming your sword at me like it's going to do something- how stupid can you be?"

"Shut up.. Stop mocking me.."

"You're pathetic for not letting me out, and you know it. Nemona knows it, Clive knows it, and now everyone in Team Star knows it. They know the truth. You're pathetic. Worthless. Trash."

"Shut up..!"

"Everything that the bullies said about you was right. They were right to laugh at you. And now Team Star is probably laughing about you, too."

"Shut up!"

"You stupid, naive, idiotic.."

Kai grit his teeth, then lunged, thrusting his blade into where his other self would have been- but instead, he blinked, returning to reality and realizing he had cut into a tree. Kai became angrier, and with all of his might and rage swung his sword upward, slicing the tree in two, and causing both halves of the tree to separate.

Kai let out a deep breath. He knew if he stayed here, his suppressed self, who was also known as his inner critic, would come back to haunt him again. He couldn't have that.

"Clive!" Kai cried out with newfound anger, turning to the old man who opened his eyes.

"Yes?"

"I'm done standing around, being alone with my own thoughts. I'm going back to the Team Star Base and I'm going to fight them."

"But they said they weren't prepared-"

"I don't care!" Kai cried. "I'm going there, and I'm fighting them."

"I think you should reconsider. You seem rather angry-"

Kai marched on past Clive. Clive sighed, and then followed, lagging behind the now running Kai.

Mela sighed to herself, she was outside with her Starmobile, watching all of her team star grunts have conversations with each other, some were in the process of healing their Pokémon with refreshments placed around them for healing. The fight against Kai had left their Pokemon rather wounded, and Mela knew it'd take a while for all of their Pokémon to come back into fighting shape.

"Jeez, what a pain," Mela muttered to herself upon taking a mental note as to how long it'll take to get everyone healed. Mela sighed and closed her eyes. Maybe a nap would help her mood.

"MELA!"

Mela's eyes shot open the moment she heard the voice of the challenger she beat earlier, and she turned her head, seeing Kai marching alone. T

"Hey, you can't just come in here-" One grunt said.

"Stop right there!" Another Grunt said.

The boy walked past the team star grunts, completely ignoring them and walked straight toward Mela, who sighed and narrowed her eyes as she approached.

"I thought I told you," Mela said, putting her hands on her hips. "You can't just-"

"I can literally…!" Kai aimed his blade and pointed it around the entire field. "beat every grunt in this field, I've done it before, I can do it again!"

Mela raised her eyebrows, then glared.

"What do you want?" Mela asked.

"To beat you. That's what. So I can prove to you, and everyone around me that I'm strong!"

"That you're strong?"

"Yeah, that's right." Kai said. He aimed his blade at Mela. "I'll prove it to you." He said. He aimed his sword around, aiming at the other team star members who were just staring at Kai at this point. "I'll show all of you. No one will ever laugh at me again. All I have to do is beat you and show you and the world...what I can do."

"No one will…ever laugh at you again..?" Mela blinked in confusion.

"Put on your invoker and fight me! Now!"

Mela shook her head. "No," She said.

"Do it!"

"No, I'm not going to do it."

"All right then, fine." Kai lowered his sword. "What if I attack you, instead? You'll have to defend yourself and fight back…!" Kai clenched his sword with both hands, running forward and charging after Mela. Mela's eyes widened in shock.

The moment Kai swung his blade, it started to shine, and immediately, his sword disappeared, and turned into a tiny orb that flew down and transformed back into Quaxly, who landed in front of Kai with its back turned.

"What're you doing..?" Kai said. "She's right there! We need to fight so we can do something while we wait for Nemona! We've been sitting in the forest for who knows how long, and now we have to wait longer..! I'm not going to sit around and be alone with my thoughts again, that's torture! What is wrong with you?!"

Quaxly turned around, and had a look of pure…Bewilderment.

Kai blinked, and looked around. Everyone was staring at him now. Kai grit his teeth.

"What're you going to do now..?" Kai asked. "Are you going to laugh? Huh? Is that it? You're going to laugh at me? I look like an idiot, don't I? I look like an absolute idiot, not being okay with sitting around alone with my thoughts, huh? Now you're going to laugh at me. Right!? Huh?! Where's the laughter!? Isn't this the funniest thing you've ever seen!?"

Everyone staring at him with immense confusion and saying nothing began to mess with Kai's head. He was beginning to enter flight-or-fight mode, and his heart began to race in sheer fear.

It was like Kai was re-living his worst nightmare, one of the worst days of his life, when he was back in elementary school, when he said something embarrassing, and everyone in the room laughed at him until he ran away. Tears began to fall from Kai's eyes. This was exactly what Kai had feared. Making this mistake is exactly the reason why he should just suppress himself, and stay far, far away from everyone and hide in a hole forever.

Because that way, he would never embarrass himself.

He would never have to relive the time when he was laughed at.

But now, it was too late. Now, everyone saw him make his mistake.

"Go on, I'm ready!" Kai cried. "Go on! Laugh- laugh at me! Do it! Do it already! You're gonna call me names, too, aren't you?!" Kai cried. "You're-.."

Everyone just kept staring.

The sheer embarrassment of his mistake was making the boy tear up even more and put his hands on his head. "Stop staring at me..! Stop looking at me! Stop judging me! Stop it! STOP IT! STOP I-"

Kai's body shook in surprise once he realized that Mela had hugged him.

"It's okay," Mela said, patting his back. "No one's judging you."

"Wha…?" Kai said. "What… are you..?"

"No one's here to laugh at you, man," A male team star grunt came to him and patted his shoulder.

"We're not gonna make fun of you either," A female team star grunt came to him.

"I can tell," Mela said, "You're just like us."

"Just… like… you..?" Kai asked.

"We know what it's like to be looked down on, to be told that we're worthless," A male grunt said.

"We were bullied, too. All of us." Another grunt said.

Clive had just made it to hear what Mela said, and his eyebrows raised in surprise upon what he heard, and what he was seeing.

"Team Star's a beacon of hope," Mela said. "For us to show the world how brightly we can shine. All of us have a flame inside of us that'll never go out, that rose in defiance of the ones who belittle us." Mela pulled away from Kai, putting her hands on the boy's shoulders. "You have that same flame too."

"I do..?" Kai said.

Mela nodded.

"That flame made you come back here. You want to prove yourself to not only us, but to yourself. Heck, I can see a bit of my past self in you. I was the same way. I wanted so badly to… to get back at the ones who bullied me.. And I did, with the rest of Team Star. After we got those Bullies to run away, I thought all of my anger would just disappear. But it didn't. And with those bullies gone, and my anger still there, there was no one to aim it at, no one but myself. You can relate, right?"

"...Yeah."

"Of course you can. It's because you have that flame inside of you, that feeling of being disrespected, that anger at your past self for not standing up for yourself. Deep down, you wish that you had the willpower to yell back at the ones who belittle you for so long. The voice of your bully doesn't go away if it hurts you that much. It becomes your inner voice. It becomes your inner critic. You can hear it when you're alone, the memories of the past just… come into your mind, and the mean words of your bullies come back, and the wounds you took from them just… return like new."

Kai clenched his fists.

"I can see it," Mela said, "That flame right now, burning in your eyes. If you can understand everything I just said, then you and I both know me telling you to back down is like pouring gas on the fire. It's only going to make you want to prove yourself more. So you know what?"

Mela reached into Kai's pocket and pulled out his Tera Ball. She then took Kai's hand and placed the Teraball on it. " I'm going to fight you." Mela said, "Not as one of the Leaders of Team Star. But as Mela. I'll fight until your flame burns out."

"I…"

Mela patted Kai's shoulders and gave a warm smile and nodded before turning and taking a few steps back.

"Fight me with everything you've got," Mela said without turning back. In an instant, Mela's invoker armor engaged and appeared with a flash of light. "You understand?" Mela pulled out her Pokeball, and tossed it so Torkoal could come out with a battle cry. She crouched and patted its head. "Don't worry about destroying my armor in the process, or heck, even destroying me or Torkoal. I want you to put everything you've got into this." Mela slowly raised her upper body, keeping her back turned to Kai as she turned her head to him. "Nothing else matters but this fight, understand?"

"Nothing else…matters…" Kai lowered his head and closed his eyes.

Everything around Kai became dark once more.

Behind Kai was his true self, in chains. One by one, the chains that were holding his true self down were beginning to crack and break.

"You finally found a safe spot… to let me loose, huh?" The true Kai said.

"Are you ready..?" Mela's voice brought Kai back to reality. The Team Star Boss slowly raised her own Tera ball.

Quaxly immediately ran to Kai's side, sensing that his trainer was about to crush his own Tera ball. Kai slowly raised the hand that held his tera ball, the rainbow aura raised around his body- his hair flowed gently in the wind. The tears he cried were flying upwards as Kai slowly raised his head.

Mela finally turned around, looking Kai in the eye.

"I never got your name," Mela said. "What is it?"

As Kai's grip on the ball became tighter, the Tera ball began to crack. The moment the boy finally crushed it, a massive pillar of light rose from below the boy's feet.

The moment the pillar of light disappeared along with the terastilization sigil that appeared in front of it, Kai stood alone with the weapon that Quaxly had transformed into, a Katana he held with one hand. The rainbow aura around the boy was gone.

He slowly raised his Katana at Mela.

"It's Kai." He said. A slightly cocky smile came to his face. "And I'll make sure you never forget how amazing I can be."

"Kai, huh?"

Mela crushed her Tera ball, and a pillar of light exploded from below her feet. The pillar of light soon faded, revealing Mela standing alone with her boots burning with brilliant flames.

Mela grinned back at Kai as her flaming aura exploded around her. "Show me why I won't forget it."