Aika was still there, standing with Yuki alone in a room. She'd already given up her appearance, and she was set to continue her journey.

"Alright, I've done what you wanted, now you have to fulfill your side of the deal. Tell me where Hunter is."

Once more, Yuki smiled. "He had an a-ppren-tice named Oscar the garchomp. They trained together in the city of Alf-re-ton. They first met before Hunter left the guild, but Oscar became a greater priority once he left," the ninetales began explaining.

Aika's eyes focused. Finally, there was some new information. But it wasn't enough, not yet. "Why was he training Oscar?"

"Oscar was a member of a place called the 'Pokemon Persistence and Freedom Foundation'. Quite the mouth-ful, but I think they just like to say the 'P.P.F.F.' It's all the talk these days: an full organization dedicated to fighting back against humans and making sure we never have another Armin. Hunter wasn't the founder, but of course he'd help out for a place like that."

Aika was taken aback. "An entire organization for fighting humans?"

"Yes," Yuki confirmed. ""The most im-por-tant movement in history: true pokemon finally taking a stand against the cruel humans who seek to suppress us', or at least, that's what they like to say."

At the back of her head, Aika had always figured that such a thing existed. Contempt for humans was far more common after what Armin did: she herself had it before she had gotten to know Dylan more. Yet, she had imagined it as a cultural background, not an organization that gave it a face.

"How long has he been interacting with Oscar and this 'P.P.F.F.'?"

"Since it was founded, I believe?"

"When was that?"

"Sooner than you'd think," Yuki said. "It really didn't take long after Eno died and the story broke before people started banding together against the new common enemy."

"So he was training with Oscar before I came into existence? Before he suddenly left the guild?"

"I believe so, but I apologize if I can't give absolute a-sure-ance. There was already a chasm between us before he left."

"You… don't know for sure?" Aika asked.

"I'm giving you all I know."

"But you are sure that he trained with this 'Oscar' person?"

"With cer-tain-ty," she said. "If there is a single pokemon on this planet that would know where he is, it would be him."

"Alright. Do you know anything else about him?"

"I'm afraid that's all I've got. He never did want to speak with me after Eno passed away," Yuki said.

"Alright…"

AIka looked at the floorboards as she took in the information. Disappointment. That was the biggest feeling coursing through her. For so long she hoped that Yuki would be the key to finding Hunter so she could finally meet him. But now, she was just one step to the longer journey. First her objective was to find Yuki to find Hunter, now it was to find Oscar to find Hunter. On a logical basis she knew she had made progress, but on an emotional one she felt she was still back at the start. "...You're sure you know where Oscar is?"

"I know where they trained. Do you have a map on you? I could point it out to you."

"Yes, let me get it."

Aika got her backpack again and pulled some sheets of paper out of it to give to the ninetales. "These are some pages I pulled out of a book of maps from my home. It works for what I need but it- uh- isn't the most durable meterial."

Yuki looked over each of the maps. "These are cer-tain-ly old versions. Might even be copies of the maps that Ssareth o-rig-in-al-ly made all those years ago," she observed out loud. "But here is where you need to go."

She pointed to one city named "Uflreton" using the end of one of her black tails.

"Thank you," Aika collected the papers again.

"Although come to think of it, I think the city might have been renamed…" Yuki said. "I can't quite re-mem-ber what its new name is now, though. Re-gard-less, the city will be in the same place."

"I understand," Aika put the pages back into her backpack and put it back onto her back. "I and Dylan will be going now. Thanks for what you could give."

"Hang on now. It is going to be sun set very soon, don't you want to spend the night here?" Yuki said. "You won't be able to walk very far before you have to sleep outdoors anyways."

Aika considered that prospect. Being able to sleep somewhere indoors sounded nice, although she still felt she couldn't perfectly trust Yuki. Then again, nothing was stopping Yuki from following them and going to where they were if they slept elsewhere.

"Alright," she replied. " But I'm going to be sleeping beside Dylan. And I'd like to sleep in a room that has a lock on the inside, if you have that."

"Why so spe-ci-fic?" Yuki asked.

"Because I have faith that you're unwilling to hurt me. But I don't have that same faith that you'll be unwilling to do anything to Dylan."

Yuki's eyes widened. Just like when Aika suggested that the drinks might have been poisoned, Yuki found herself impressed by Aika's ability to think ahead far more than she was insulted by her accusations that she was in bad faith. "Very well. I cannot say you are wrong with your a-sser-tions," she said. "I should have a room that will fulfill your desires well. Let me show you and get some bedding together."

Aika thought it would be hard to explain why her fur colors were suddenly different, but the human has already begun accepting everything strange around him without doubt. He realized he wasn't going to get far if he kept stopping to question every little thing.

Despite her worries, resting the night was much better than the previous nights were. Yuki still scared her, but she preferred the known threat over the unknown threats of sleeping in the wilderness. The house had a good temperature, the bedding was good, and it was all dry. The previous nights left them a little short on sleep, so they both slept very hard in Yuki's house.

To their delight, the room remained exactly the same as it was when they went to sleep.

Departure took longer than they had expected or wanted. Yuki kept trying to find any way she could help AIka on her journey without coming along herself. The ninetales kept digging up old traveling gear and camping gear from the corners of her house to offer to them: so much so that Aika had to reject most of it simply because there was no feasible way for her and Dylan to carry it all with them. Yuki also was offering them food to take with them. Aika maintained a (possibly irrational) worry of the food being tampered with, but even she couldn't find a reason to reject the canned food that Yuki offered. Those were well-sealed and before their expiration date, it wasn't possible for them to have been tainted.

Eventually, Aika and Dylan were ready to depart. Their bags were full, their bellies were well fed, their mind and eyes were rested, and they were the most clean they had been since they first set foot on the journey. They were in the entry room and facing the door- but right before they left- Yuki spoke to them one last time.

"Wait now," the ninetales said.

"What is it?" Aika asked.

"Before you leave, there's just one more thing I want to say," she sounded sincere.

"What would that be?" Aika asked.

Yuki let out a heavy breath before she began. "My re-la-tion-ship with your father was at its strongest when we were young. Back when I was a vulpix and he was a zorua, the two of us practically ruled that guild. Ruled it with all the fun parts, and without the bore of bu-reauc-ra-cy. It's when we grew older that we started to drive apart, and I could feel it. It was shortly after he evolved into a zoroark that he backstabbed me for the sake of his girlfriend Eno, and that marked the abrupt end of our re-la-tion-ship.

Ninetales have far longer lifespans than zoroark do, so I always knew that I would be spending decades without him. That was a thought I tried my best to ignore. But once he be-tray-ed me, I decided to cut it off there. I didn't try to reconnect, I decided then and there it would be when I started my decades without him. I was saddened- of course- but as a matter of fact I knew it would be the best for both of us.

Yet, when I look at you, it's like seeing him when he was still young once more. You remind me of when our re-la-tion-ship was at its greatest. Seeing you is like having him again without the burden of history.

If things do not go well with your father, then my door is open for you to return here. I would love nothing more than to have you here with me. It could just be like the good old days for me again. But this time, you'll be the threat while I'll be the tall grass that you hide behind."

Aika was not prepared to hear that, and she found herself without words. It took a few seconds before she was able to give any response. "...Thank you, I'll keep that in mind," Aika said.

Yuki smiled and nodded. "Goodbye. May you have better luck than I."

"Goodbye, Yuki," Aika said.

"Bye," Dylan sheepishly said.

After one more nod between them, Aika and Dylan finally turned and left the house. They heard the house's door close behind them, and they kept walking.

They traveled in the direction that Yuki had pointed them in. While they were able to hitch a ride into Evelyn forest, they knew they had to walk out of it on foot. The start of the walk was silent as they put distance between themselves and Yuki's house.

Dylan waited for a minute to ensure they were a little distance away from Yuki's house. After he felt they were comfortably far enough, he spoke up. "So… your father wasn't that great of a person?" he asked.

"Well… he wasn't at first, but he became a better person later on. I don't think the same can be said about her sister though."

"Yeah, I have to be honest, she was kind of… giving me a bad feeling that whole time."

"Believe me, if I wasn't blood related to her, I would've avoided her at all costs. And I don't plan to be going back to her."

"I think that's for the best," Dylan said. "So to make sure I'm getting things right, 'Hans' is your biological father you're looking for, but you also had a father you were raised by?"

"Yeah, that's correct."

"Did I hear his name was 'Locke'?"

"Yes," Aika said. "He's a luxio and an explorer as well. It's not… I don't hate him, he's a great dad. It's just… I don't want to die without meeting Hun- Hans even once."

"I know. I was kinda there when you were having this conversation with Yuki."

"Oh, right."

Aika and Dylan continued on their journey, continuing to chat to pass the time.

Aika tried to keep a smile on, but her mind was torn. She was wanting to meet Hunter, but she was still wanting Locke to be her father. She was wanting to meet the "human slayer" himself, but she was still wanting to keep Dylan as a friend. She was conflicted. She wanted to ignore all of this and persist onwards, but she knew that sooner or later these things would cause an undesirable outcome.

Even after repeatedly telling herself that she was committed to the journey, the idea of simply going back home crossed her mind more times than she would've liked. She kept chatting with Dylan, but the thoughts haunted her. She wanted to talk about what kind of person Hunter was, but that was hard when she had to keep referring to him as "Hans" and dodging the question of what exactly he was known for.

Aika's only reprieve was the frequent conversations with Dylan. He had his own world he came from, with its own culture and society that he was happy to talk about. There were moments where Dylan seemed to quickly change the subject, but otherwise it was interesting for both of them to talk.

The hours went on, and the sun seemed to travel across the sky faster than they expected. Aika was thankful Dylan was so friendly and a good travel companion.

As she talked with him, a thought crossed her mind: "I'm not going to be able to keep secrets from him forever." That was a fact she knew at the back of her mind, but kept returning to the forefront of her mind the more she would talk with him.

When it was an hour past noon, Aika and Dylan finished a conversation where they talked about what sports they knew about from their respective worlds and which were their favorite, Aika let out a sigh. She knew the conversation she needed to do.

"...Dylan?" Aika said.

"Yeah?"

"There's… things I've been keeping from you that I think I should be telling you about," she said.

Dylan was surprised. "What are they?"

"Well first of all, 'Hans' isn't his real name. His real name is 'Hunter'," Aika said.

Dylan's expression turned from surprise to confusion. "Okay? Why were you keeping his real name from me?"

"Because I didn't want you asking any questions about him to find out more," she let out another sigh to prepare herself, and give Dylan time to process that information. "So… promise you won't freak out when I tell you everything, please?"

"Uh… yeah, I promise," Dylan wasn't even sure how to feel at that point.

"Let me pull things back to the start.

Locke, Hunter, and my mom were all members as a guild. They were explorers, but they also helped pokemon all over who needed help. They track down criminals and they save lives. There were much more members than just those three, though. Including one who was named 'Armin'.

Armin… he was a human-turned-pokemon like you are, but that wasn't it. It was discovered that he was helping some very bad people out behind the scenes and secretly taking missions to assassinate people in political positions. He was doing that for years unnoticed.

Then, an absol in the guild named 'Eno' started investigating what was going on. So to buy himself some time, he murdered Eno. He betrayed everyone in the guild."

"I- I'm very sorry about that," Dylan said. "I've never heard of Armin before. I'm sorry that he turned out to be a bad person."

"But Eno wasn't just a regular person," Aika continued the story. "At the time, Hunter and Eno were in love. So when it was discovered that Armin was the one who did it, Hunter sought to avenge her.

He killed Armin while others in the guild worked to bring down the people he was working for. And for that reason, Hunter has gotten the title of being 'The Human Slayer'."

Dylan fell silent. "Your dad… the person you've been on this journey to find… is known as the 'Human Slayer'," he asked to ensure he understood.

"Yeeaaaahh…." Aika said, scratching the back of her head awkwardly. "I was kinda reluctant to let you know about that, I didn't want to freak you out."

"Well, thanks for telling me now!" Dylan said, half-sarcastic.

"Well that's… not the end of it,' Aika sheepishly admitted.

"What is it?" he asked.

Aika let out another sigh to prepare herself. "Back when I first met you by that pond, I didn't have the best intention in mind. When I realized you were a human, the first thought through my mind was 'I could kill him and continue my father's legacy'. I thought I could attract Hunter's attention with you and find him that way, but I knew no one would believe me if I just did it there. So I led you on, planning to do it in front of witnesses. I assumed you must've been a monster like Armin. I'm… I'm a horrible person.

When we had our first night together, I mellowed out, but not completely. I thought I could lead you to get captured instead of killing you. When we reached Tinkatown, that was my plan. I even went into the town hall to do just that, but I lost my will to.

Ever since we've met, you've only been kind to me. Talking to me about your life, about what you like, about 'Santa', and you've only been encouraging to me. I realized you aren't a bad person once I actually talked with you."

Dylan needed to close his eyes and place a paw on his head to process this information. "The one person in this world I trusted the most… has a father known as the 'human slayer', and wanted to kill me… wonderful."

"I'm not like that anymore," Aika said. "I can see you aren't a bad person now. I was. And now, I promise that I'll keep you safe."

"Well… thank you," Dylan said. "Thanks for telling me that now. And thanks for changing your mind."

Aika let out another sigh. This time, one of relief. "You're welcome."

Aika felt as if an entire world of weight had just come off of her shoulders. She felt unburnended, free. She didn't need to hide those things anymore. A smile cracked onto her face, a genuine one.

"But on that note, I need to admit… there are things I've been keeping a secret from you too," Dylan said.

Aika was surprised. "What is it?"

"Pokemon do exist in the world where I'm from, too. But they're… not like you," he began saying. "The pokemon from my world aren't intelligent like you. They're feral, they don't have societies and craftsmanship."

"I do remember that the first words you said to me was 'a talking minccino?', so I suspected something like that," Aika responded.

"It's not just that," Dylan said.

"Hmm?"

"The humans capture pokemon and have them as pets- although I suppose you don't know what that word means. They own them, and they even have them fight.

But… it's all for fun, it's a sport and a lot of pokemon love their human trainers. But… I know there is abuse as well."

"I…" Aika couldn't even fully visualize what it was that Dylan was describing. Not knowing what humans normally looked like wasn't helping matters.

"It's nowhere near as bad as it sounds. At least, I think. But I'm never going to participate in that if I get back to my world, I absolutely promise that."

Aika needed a moment to take in that information as well. "Well, I can see why Armin didn't have much empathy now…" she said. "But… thanks for coming clean about that too."

"No problem," Dylan said. "So… what now?"

Aika looked to the sky. She rehearsed her plans in her head and she reflected on all she now knew. "...I don't know," she said. "Getting to Hunter doesn't seem like the best of ideas anymore now."

"But I don't even have the beginning of an idea on how I could get back to my own world. Or how I could even survive in this world. I've just stuck with you this whole time."

"...We can reach the next town before sundown. Let's at least make it there, we're not accomplishing anything if we just stand around in a forest."

"Alright."

They kept on their journey. While they walked in the direction of the city Oscar was purported to be in, Aika wasn't sure if she wanted to go there at all. At least, she didn't want to take Dylan to such a place. They could only think in the short-term at that moment.

The subject matters of their conversations turned more serious- and more personal. It wasn't just about their favorite parts of their respective worlds that they discussed anymore, but about the parts they didn't like as well. Aika was thankful that Dylan was still willing to be friendly with her even after her confession. But although Dylan tried to be honest, even he struggled to describe the less savory parts of his own world.

A few times, Aika made sure to remind Dylan "don't tell anyone else that you're a human". She feared that others would have the same disliking towards humans as she once did- and it wasn't long before Dylan began having that fear as well.

A few hours before dusk, they arrived in another town. It was routine at that point, this town wasn't much different from the others and its size was unremarkable. Or rather, it was remarkably small. It had an inn they could stay the night at, so that's all they needed.

Setting foot, they realized they were in a somewhat awkward situation: they couldn't continue the journey since the next piece of civilization was over five hours away and dusk was near. For that reason, they just had to wait around until it was nighttime. It didn't help matters that many of the pokemon glanced towards them frequently- no doubt due to Aika's unusual black fur. They already exhausted almost every subject they could think of, so they both wanted to explore what few buildings were there instead of continuing to talk to each other.

Walking down the roads, something caught Aika's eye as seeming out of place in the town: a boltund taping up fliers to the stone walls. The boltund wasn't like any of the town's residents and just didn't seem like a resident, so her interest was captured. She looked at the fliers being put up, and saw they read "Remember Eno and the Burning of Prenarch! Support the Pokemon Persistence and Freedom Foundation!" in bold letters.

Aika remembered Yuki describing the "Pokemon Persistence and Freedom Foundation", so that wasn't mysterious to her. But not everything about the flier made sense to her. She knew about Eno, she knew about the foundation, but what was "the Burning of Prenarch"? That was new to her.

She glanced over to Dylan. "Stay quiet for one second, I'm going to ask a few things" she said.

The litten nodded. Then, Aika began approaching the boltund she saw putting up the fliers.

"Excuse me, do you have a second?" Aika said.

The boltund turned around. He seemed to look puzzled after seeing the black fur on Aika's body, but he dismissed it. "What is it?"

"I was just wondering, what is this 'Burning of Prenarch' that these are describing? I don't think I've heard of that before."

"Oh, you don't know about that?" he asked.

"No, what is it?"

"It was a horrifying incident," he began to say. "Prenarch was a small, backwater town. Just like this one here. The people lived their lives peacefully and happily, with little to complain about. Until one day, four human-turned-pokemon showed up to it, absolutely merciless things. For no reason at all, they began destroying buildings, stealing people's precious possessions, and murdering indiscriminately. All without a single reason for the violence.

In the end, the town was destroyed beyond repair, and seventeen people were killed on that one night."

Aika's eyes narrowed. "Really?"

"Yes…" he said. "The P.P.F.F. was founded before then, but that event has proved its necessity. So it has grown a lot more since then."

Right," Aika said. "Thanks for telling me."

"No problem! I'm happy to explain. Stay safe out there!"

"Thanks, you too."

The man walked off to begin placing the fliers on other buildings, smiling as though he were satisfied. Aika and Dylan looked at each other, both having a suspicious look to them. Aika gestured to Dylan for them to go elsewhere.

They began walking out of the town, into the immediate woods beside it. They weren't leaving the town, they were just wanting a private place to speak. Once they had some distance, they spoke to each other again.

"I've never heard of this 'Burning of Prenarch' event before. So are there really this many humans coming into this world?"

"I haven't heard of this event either, but the number of humans isn't what's bothering me here," Aika said. "When Armin killed Eno, it wasn't just for fun. He was trying to buy himself some time so she wouldn't reveal his secrets. When he killed other pokemon, it wasn't for no reason. He was getting money for the assassinations. But with this… apparently four different humans all carried out this atrocity 'for no reason'?"

"Yeah…" Dylan said. "I know serial killers exist, but those tend to work alone. I don't think I've heard of anything like this from my own world."

"The motivations just sound off."

"So apparently four different humans with the same psychopathic mindset were all brought into this world around the same time, all met up with each other, and all attacked some random town? This seems like… lottery odds."

"I feel the same as you do, I have some trouble believing this. If it was something more tame I might believe it, but as it is now-"

"I believe what Armin did to be true, but this I'm more doubtful of."

Aika took off her backpack to retrieve her maps again. She found the town they were currently in, and started checking every last town labeled on the pages. There were dozens of small towns located out in the country- but after scouring through it- she found it: a small town labeled as 'Prenarch'. She checked the distance away.

"Prenarch is actually not far from here, should only be two or three days of travel… want to check it out?" Aika said. "It does bring us a bit closer to the city Oscar is in, too. So if I still want to reach out to him, then I'll still be getting closer to that goal."

"We don't have a solid plan going forward anymore, so I think we should. This sounds pretty strange."

End of chapter 16.