Chapter 77: Unbreakable Chains(?)

Arven took a deep breath, staring at a black bowl of which he put the Herba Mystica in. The plant was soaking in vinegar, because it had been in so many different Pokémon's mouths, that it had to be at least a little disinfected. Arven had asked for some distance while he prepared the sandwich, like always, and Aeon agreed.

Usually, Aeon would just sit somewhere and wait patiently and just think to himself, but this time, he had company in the form of Eri. She said she had walked a far way to get here, so she wanted to take a small rest. She and Aeon sat side by side while looking out at the forest. Their backs were turned to Arven. Several Pokémon were frolicking about and exploring, plenty of bug types and flying types moved about in the forest they looked at.

Aeon had no idea what to say. It was kind of nerve wracking how quiet the two of them were right now. What should he say? What could he say?

"Hey-" Eri decided to break the silence. "Are you freaking out too, thinking about what to say?"

Aeon raised his eyebrows, chuckled lightly and said, "Yeah."

The two shared a smile.

"Well uh, my name's Eri. Wait- I already said that. Uh…"

"My name's Aeon. Nice to meet you."

"Right. Nice to meet you too."

There was a tiny silence that hung between them- it felt like an eternity to Aeon. What else could he say? Maybe saying something that killed the small talk would help.

"Uh, what do you think about when you're looking out into the wilderness like this?" Aeon asked.

"...I think about how every Pokémon that's out here has the strength to protect the ones they love. I think about the ones that I'm training to protect. Which is Team Star, of course."

Aeon raised his eyebrows. "...Huh." He said.

"What?"

"I just- I didn't expect…"

"You didn't expect someone who looks like I do to say something like that? That's fair." Eri looked up at the clouds. "With this makeup on, and this outfit, I do look really scary. So it makes sense."

Eri sniffled suddenly, and began wiping her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Aeon asked.

"It's nothing. I-... I can be a bit of a crybaby."

"I see."

Another silence hung between them. Eri let out a sigh and stood up.

"W-Well…" She said. Her voice was beginning to break down, and Aeon looked perplexed. "I-... I have to go-"

"Wait." Aeon said, "You seem…really down. Want to talk about it?"

Eri looked at Aeon for a moment, and just stared at him. After a while, she decided to sit back down.

"All right…" Eri said. "Do you want to know what's troubling me?"

"Sure. I don't have much else to do," Aeon said. "Who knows? Maybe I can help."

"All right," Eri said with a sigh. "Lately, there's been an issue whenever I have to defend my turf. Every time I fight, I get pushed to the point of having to Tera Fuse with my Taros or my Annihilape. When that happens, I fly into a terrible rage, one that makes me unable to discern friend from foe. I just black out, and when I wake up, I stop myself from mercilessly punching my already beaten opponent…and someone's crying out my name." Eri raised her hands and stared at them. Then, she began to grit her teeth as tears began to well up from her eyes.

"I was fighting someone who wanted to go into my turf today," Eri's voice was beginning to tremble even more as she began tearing up. "I-... I tera fused, I blacked out, and woke up with one of my hands wrapped around my best friend's neck, and my fist raised. She…she looked at me with fear in her eyes… like I was a monster…"

Aeon's eyes widened. Eri began hugging her legs and buried her head onto her elbows. "I-..." Eri continued, "I'm thinking of resigning as a Team Star member… I don't want to hurt the ones I'm trying to protect…Someone like me doesn't deserve to be a team star member…"

Aeon frowned. His hands balled into fists as he grabbed bits of grass below him.

"I can relate..." Aeon said.

"What?" Eri said, raising her head.

"Yeah. Long story short, something similar happened to me." Aeon said with a sigh. "Once, I wasn't in control of my body. And my hand was wrapped around the neck of my big brother, the boy who's cleaning up the Herba Mystica behind us. I saw the fear in his eyes… and I could feel myself breaking down. It was like watching a movie, except it was real life, and I could do nothing but watch. I was able to fight back against what controlled me and broke free, though, although I think I just got lucky."

"I'm envious." Eri said. "I wish I had inner strength like that."

Aeon wished that he could say something to say that she was already strong, but he didn't know anything about her.

"What's Team Star about, anyway?" Aeon asked.

"...It's a team that me and a couple of other people made in response to bullies that tried ruining our lives. We were supposed to fight back against the bullies and be the shining ray of hope for those that were bullied…but things went wrong. Our leader's gone, and the captains are losing their titles one after another. Soon enough, that challenger's going to face me. And I'm afraid."

"...Because you'll likely have to Tera fuse with your Annihilape or Taros, right?"

Eri nodded.

Aeon had no idea what to say. Logic dictated that Eri shouldn't be fighting at all if she couldn't control herself. She'd become a danger to her teammates. Naturally. But- there had to be some other way. If things went on as they were, Eri would stop being a leader for Team star. And it was making her sad. She may or may not be Kai's future enemy, but she was still a person who deserved happiness.

But what could he say? Nothing he could think of would cheer Eri up. As Aeon scrambled for ideas, he decided that he had to think about things from a different angle. What would Arven say? What would-...

...What would Kai say?

Aeon's eyes widened as he thought about his partner. For a moment, he imagined Kai's smiling, carefree face. He imagined Kai's playful wink. Aeon remembered how safe he felt in Kai's arms. But there was a reason for that- and it was in his way of thinking. Kai never thought twice about things that got in his way, he just pushed through it.

Aeon started having a pretend conversation with Kai in his head.

'Kai,' He said in his mind, 'I'm scared of what I can do to fight against the Professors… when they take control of my body. I can't fight against it, and there's nothing I can do.'

Aeon asked himself again, 'What would Kai say?' Then, a previous thought came to his mind. 'He never thought twice about the things that got in his way, he just pushed through it.'

With that in mind, Aeon began to speak.

"Why- don't you… just break through your berserk state and regain control of yourself?" Aeon asked.

Eri's head rose from her knees as she looked at Aeon with widened eyes.

"What?" She asked. "But- that's not possible. I'm not strong enough."

"Well- you're a part of a team that came together because of bullying. You're a 'ray of hope' for the ones that need it. I'd say that you're pretty strong already."

"S-Strong..?" Eri said. "Me?"

Aeon nodded. "Yeah. I think you're strong."

Eri wiped away some of her tears and stood up.

"Thank you," She said. "I appreciate it. I-... I think I'm going to… go back to my base."

"You aren't going to resign, are you?" Aeon asked.

"No. I'm not. I think I'm going to apologize again to my best friend. Although knowing her, she'd say something along the lines of, 'Stop apologizing, this is the tenth time already!'"

Aeon chuckled, and so did Eri.

"Anyway," Eri continued, "I'm going to go n-"

"Wait- before you go….let me say something to you. Uh…my uh…boyfriend…" Aeon blushed a bit as he said this. He hadn't outwardly called Kai his boyfriend before. The moment he said this, he thought about how Kai said that he'd be his future boyfriend- and the embarrassment was hitting him all at once. He shook his head to snap himself out of his trance. "My boyfriend Kai is going to…fight you one day, I know it. If anyone's able to help you break free from the rage and regain control of yourself… it's him."

"Really?" Eri said. She smiled. "I'll be looking forward to that."

"I'm going to tell him to fight you soon. Really soon. So yeah. I hope you break free from those chains that hold you down when you go berserk."

"I appreciate it...I guess I could learn a thing or two from you. You were able to regain control of your body somehow, right? If I had willpower like yours, I'd be unstoppable,"

"I-..." Aeon lowered his head.

How did he break free? Logic dictated that the control the professors put over him would be unbreakable. Period. Full stop. There was no way that he could just break through the control with sheer willpower and emotion alone...

And yet he did. Eri smiled at Aeon and walked away as Aeon remained deep in thought.

Could he truly fight back against the very thing that threatened to take control of his body...a second time?

Sorry that this chapter was a little short- I have stuff going on. (Don't worry! I'm fine!) See you guys next week!