Growing more and more anxious, Guts looked back and forth from Chen to Diana. After that initial moment of panic, he stared at a flame, trying to relax himself and remain focused. Chen looked at him, a feeling of guilt instilling upon him.
I should've known he wasn't trustworthy. I should've seen that he would be betraying us. I could 've told Matt to keep an eye on him. Instead, I was sure that he was on our side and I've been fooled. Now, Matt will pay for my mistake.
“So, have you decided, my dear?” the leavanny asked, satisfied by the turn of events. “I haven't got all day. ”
The krokorok turned back at them, holding the same determination he had when he confronted Matt. Guts walked up to the leavanny, glaring at her with a firm grip on the pecha berry. The berry's juice leaked from the berry, staining both the krokorok's hand and the floor with a pinkish liquid. When Guts arrived to Diana, she looked down to him, being the tallest of the two. Despite the seriousness of it all, she still maintained her jovial smile. It seemed as if nothing could affect her in the slightest.
“I've made my choice,” the krokorok started, “and I won't change my mind.”
“Go on,” she said.
“I won't give out Matt's location.” He took a step back. “You'll have to get through me.”
She smiled with delight. “Very well, Guts. I'm wondering why you would risk your life for such an inconsequential being, but that is your choice.”
“I won't give him out. Chen doesn't want him suffering, and it's not like he deserved to be held hostage by the likes of you,” he said with resentment slowly showing through his voice. “And I'll never forgive the PLF for what they did to my people. If my only revenge is to stop you from getting your hostage, then so be it. You wouldn't have any problem killing me after I gave him out, so I don't see why I should obey you. Moreover, why would I believe you're holding my friend hostage? I have no reason to believe you.”
She glanced at the zoroark. “You do have no reason to believe me. Well, then, I think the time to give you a reason to believe me. Cicero, show yourself.”
The zoroark waved at the krokorok, a smirk slowly forming on his face. “Guts, long time no see.”
Upon seeing Cicero, Guts' eyes widened. He backed off, surprised by the zoroark. He went on until he felt the cold wall against his back.
Wait, does that mean that Guts wasn't aware of that pokémon's presence? How come he never saw him? He was there when we first met him and the leavanny, so why is he surprised to see him?
“What is the meaning of this?” the krokorok asked, still shocked by Cicero's appearance.
“Guts, please listen to me. Be reasonable. We are only here to help you and this shroomish. You know this human is only interested in his own benefit. He has no reason to help any of you. We want to help every single pokémon in the world by ending the humans' tyranny. They've been oppressing us for centuries, holding us into poké balls against our will and forcing us to fight in their wars. There is only one way we can stop this: end all of their lives once and for all. As long as there will be a human, there will still be possibility for enslavement. You should know this more than anybody, as you once were enslaved.”
“Cicero, I can't do that. If I were to support the PLF, I would be condoning their action against Thornor, where all of my friends have died. It would be as if I spat on their tombs. I'll find the traitor who has given us out to them and I'll murder him.”
“Well, you won't have to look any further. I was the one who sold them out.”
Guts remained speechless. He stared at zoroark, as if there wasn't any way for him to wrap his mind around that. Regaining his senses, he rushed to the zoroark, his fist ready to strike his opponent. As he was about to hit him with all his might, the pokémon swiftly side stepped, causing the krokorok to miss his attack. Cicero moved one of his foot forward and tripped Guts up. The krokorok did his best to get back on his feet, his hands shaking.
“I can't believe you've betrayed us,” Guts grunted. “You aren't the friend I once knew. How could you have given up on your honor as a thief?”
“Thieves have no such thing as honor, Guts. You know it. It's a shame to see you in such a horrible position, but I promise that things will be better once you join us.”
The krokorok stood up to Cicero, looking at him directly in the eyes. “I won't join you. I've made my choice.”
“Very well, then,” Diana interrupted them. “Let's finish this now. Prepare to die.”
The krokorok remained there, as if he had momentarily accepted his fate. Chen watched them, knowing he was helpless in such a situation.
“I will not accept bloodshed in this temple,” a firm voice said from the other side of the hall.
Glimpsing for the source of the voice, the shroomish found the same xatu that had given them the pecha berry a few moments ago. He looked at them with the same tiredness that he had showed in their first encounter. The xatu walked up to them at a slowpoke's pace, gazing into the zoroark.
“Please leave this temple,” the xatu commanded.
“Very well,” Diana said before turning to Chen and Guts. “I'll let you have a twenty minutes head start, to make things more interesting. Happy running~”
The krokorok immediately left the temple by the door, Chen following behind to the best of his capabilities. They passed through the crowded marketplace like thieves who had been caught on the spot. Most pokémon looked at them suspiciously, before going back to their own business. The chattering around them faded progressively as the two walked down the path they had taken to enter the city. In his mind, the shroomish was still at the marketplace, where he had smelled the scent of fresh food, something he hadn't been able to eat in a while. As they stepped up the hill, Guts started panting, exhausted all this running. Chen managed to catch up with him at the top. As he glimpsed at the krokorok's despondent look, he immediately snapped back to reality.
“Is something wrong?” the shroomish asked, genuinely concerned.
“Betraying them was a stupid idea,” Guts said. “I should've seen that coming; we'll never make it.”
“Guts, don't blame yourself for that. You were tricked into that situation.”
“I should've seen that they would be trying to trick me.”
Chen was lost for words.
“We'll have to find a place to hide, and wait for them to look for us deeper into the forest. Once they'll be out of the way, we'll go back to where Matt was and give him the berry. Understood?”
The shroomish nodded his approval. They continued on their way, keeping a similar pace to the one they had earlier. To Chen, it seemed as if they weren't making any progress in this forest; every tree of this looked the same.
How can Guts know where we are? I hope he knows what he's doing. Maybe he already explored this forest. After all, he was in an explorer's guild, wasn't he?
“We're fine,” Guts muttered while running. “We still got twelve minutes to find a spot to hide ourselves. We're almost at the-”
“Hello~”
They both stopped dead in their tracks upon seeing Diana in front of them. She giggled at them, noticing how tired they were. Her giggling slowly turned into a mischievous smile. Every fiber of Chen's being trembled at her sight.
“No. This can't be happening. How could you-”
“I lied~”
Panting, Guts dropped the pecha berry on the ground. He stared at her with newfound might. “This is how it ends. I've had enough of running away from you. Let's finish this quickly.”
He charged at the leavanny, readying his fist for a punch. She remained there, waiting for Guts to attack her first. Grunting, the krokorok's punch pierced through her body. Blood dripped slowly from her wound. Diana simply looked at her adversary without saying a word. Her eyes turned into two lifeless globes as her whole body leaned towards Guts. Everything around them became silent. Suddenly, they heard a voice from afar.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
Glancing at the source of the voice, they both saw the quilava from earlier. When they looked back at leavanny, Guts and Chen gasped in shock. The krokorok had killed the xatu from earlier. Overwhelmed by the gravity of the situation, Guts let down some tears.
Guts... Guts killed... Guts killed the one who helped us... Who did this? What's the meaning of this?
As this last thought crossed the shroomish's mind, he looked around and found Cicero, shrieking on the branch of a tree. When the shroomish noticed him, the zoroark stood up, deciding not to hide anymore.
“Guts, you now see how easy it is for someone to manipulate you. This human could've used the same technique I just did. Please join the PLF. I will make sure Diana doesn't kill any of you. We'll protect this young shroomish.”
The krokorok held his head low. He removed his fist from the xatu's corpse. The quilava hurried to the great priest's side and cried, mourning his death.
“Look, Cicero,” he said solemnly. “I've changed. I'm not the friend you once knew at Thornor. You've changed too. You're now ready to believe anything the PLF would say. The Cicero I knew wouldn't let people tell him what to do. Do you even remember the guild's motto?”
“'For the fellowship; for freedom.',” the zoroark recited.
“So you do remember it. Do you remember how we helped the poor and the wild pokémon? Do you-”
“You will die,” the quilava grunted.
A wall of flames surged from the quilava's mouth, surprising Cicero. He quickly jumped back falling on the ground. Standing back up, the zoroark noticed that the tree had been ignited by the quilava's attack. The fire spread to nearby trees at an alarming rate. Cicero looked into Guts' eyes for one last time.
“I'm not done with you, Guts,” Cicero said before delving into the woods.
Looking around them, the shroomish grew fearful. They were now around his greatest enemy: fire. The krokorok glimpsed at the quilava, worried for him.
“Are you coming with us?” Guts asked.
“No,” the quilava answered. “I'll stay by this xatu's side until his corpse will be smoldered by the flames. Do not worry about me; I'm a fire-type. You should worry for your shroomish friend.”
Noticing Chen, the krokorok grabbed him and the berry before rushing out of there. The shroomish felt Guts' tight grip. He knew he would be safe with him, no matter how strong the fire was. They ran a race against the fire, trying to arrive to Matt first. To Chen, this all felt surreal, as if all that had happened so far couldn't be anyone's reality. This wasn't what the shroomish had ever been accustomed to. His inner self was comforted by the fact that this would soon be over; they'll be with Matt, and he'll make sure everyone would be safe from harm.
A few moments later, Guts arrived to the place where they left Matt. Kira looked at the two of them with vigilance before noticing the pecha berry. She then turned back to Matt and hovered above him.
“Give him the berry,” the yanma told the krokorok.
Guts quickly put Chen down and rushed to Matt's side. He shook the man, making him slowly wake up. Matt had trouble opening his eyes, the poison in his veins making him linger. He was so weak he could barely raise his hands. Guts placed the berry in Matt's mouth. He took a bite off it, and his state improved gradually. After a few other bites, the man's pale face became normal again. Chen glanced at his surroundings and noticed that the fire was about to reach them.
“Guts, we should go,” the shroomish proposed.
The man tried to stand up on his feet, and all he managed to do was feel back down. “I'm still too weak.”
Guts helped the man stand back up again. They all continued running away from the fire. Soon enough, a few droplets of water fell from the sky. As they went on their way, the few droplets slowly turned into a massive rainfall. The fire was quickly extinguished by the heavy rain, much like the team's morale. All of them stood there, wet. The strength of the rain made it much harder for them to stay standing. The mud on their feet slowed them down. The rain carried on for a few hours, before stopping entirely. At that moment, Chen looked up to see the shining moon. A multitude of stars enlightened the sky and gave an overview of the grandiosity of the world they lived in. They stopped at a meadow, where the ground was still covered in mud. At that point, Matt could stay standing without Guts' help. He simply dropped his sleeping bag on the ground.
“The pokémon center is at least seven hours away from here,” he explained. “So we'll have to sleep on mud for the night. Let's just hope the next pokémon center has some sort of washing machine.”
“Can't we get something to eat?” Guts asked with tiredness. “I'm hungry.”
“Look inside my bag,” the man replied before going to sleep.
Kira looked at her two fellow pokémon. “I think it's now clear; you guys were going there to help him.”
As he was eating a oran berry, Guts gave her an irritated look. “What did you expect? That we would be letting him die?”
Given how Guts didn't care about giving Matt out to those two, that's pretty ironic. We barely escaped death. When you think about it, this whole thing really feels like a joke.
Chen smiled playfully at this thought.
However, it's now clear that Guts is capable of horrible things. Cicero easily manipulated him into killing an innocent. I mean, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have reacted the way Guts has. At least, I hope so. I don't even know if I should trust him anymore. Maybe I should tell Matt about this. Well, if I do tell him, he'll probably leave Guts here, and he doesn't deserve that.
Torn apart by the decision he had to take, Chen looked deeply into Guts eyes. At that instant, it was as if he could see the remorse the krokorok was feeling through his brown eyes.
“I dunno,” the yanma said genuinely. “My intuition is probably playing tricks on me at this point. However, we have a much greater problem right now.”
“What is it?” the krokorok asked, annoyed by her rambling.
“We've been followed.”
“What?” He swallowed the rest of his berry before continuing. “How come you didn't tell us about this earlier?”
“Well, he didn't seem that threatening. It was just a fennekin.”
Could that be the fennekin that quilava told us about in the temple? I'm pretty sure it's that one. It's not like this kind of pokémon can be seen everywhere. It's pretty rare around here. Guts should be aware of that, and I won't tell Kira about it. It might upset him, and I wouldn't have him against me after all he has done for me. If Guts wants Kira to know about it, he'll tell her personally.
“You do know that this fennekin could potentially be a spy of the PLF? Where is he right now?”
“He's in one of these bushes,” Kira said, pointing the border of the meadow with one of her paws. “Now that he knows we are aware of his presence, he should show himself. If he doesn't, I'll go see him and take care of him if he tries to escape. Happy?”
Guts shrugged. “Yeah, yeah.”
He stepped towards the bush, readying himself for a possible battle. “We know you are here. Show yourself.”
A fennekin walked out of a bush, approaching them. Looking at the three pokémon one by one, he gave them a friendly smile. “I mean no harm. I simply wanted to follow you guys.”
“Why's that?” the krokorok questioned.
“I wanted to join your group,” he said confidently, “but I didn't know how to.”
The krokorok knitted his brows for a second before gesturing him to come closer. The fennekin did so, as the fennekin approached them, Chen noticed that he had a black mark picturing a flame on one of his legs.
“You stab any of us in the back, and I'll make sure you won't be able to stab anyone else ever again. Understood?”
He nodded.
“Fine,” Guts said. “So, what's your name?”
“My name's Aiden.”
He looked at his two companions before yawning. “Alright. I'll guard first. Y'all can go to sleep.”
The shroomish didn't wait any longer. He closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.
“And you let them go?”
Cicero nodded, accepting any judgement that would be laid upon him. The gardevoir looked at the stars before deciding what she would answer. She knew that what she was about to say would change what her army would think of her. Most of her best warriors sat there, on the dirt of the piazza, waiting for her to respond.
“Your cause was noble, but the consequences will be tragic for our cause. We have lost what could have been the perfect tool for our negotiations with them, and they might have fled with information about the infrastructure of this base. If the humans were to find out about this, your mistakes could be very compromising.”
She looked for a few seconds at the crowd, to let them sink in the information. The glance she saw made her understand that they were all waiting for her verdict. If she was to be too kind, the combative branch would want a better leader, one more capable of leading them to victory. If she was too harsh, the pacifist branch would leave her alone, which would make her lose a lot of support. Serah had to think about this for every single decision she made.
“Yet, you're one of the most important members of our group,” Serah said. “Your abilities have helped both our cause and the pokémon's quality of life all around the region by giving us what we needed to stop one of the biggest criminal organization out there. However, you cannot let your old friend be an obstacle to our freedom. That said, I'll make sure that you personally get the punishment you deserve for this. If you had followed him in the fire, you would've been able to capture this man without any problem. Instead, you let Guts run away. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Cicero's head lowered in genuine shame for what he had done. He thought that if he had been more convincing to Guts, he could've shown him the way. Instead, he talked about how he betrayed all of his old comrades. This had been a very bad decision on his side.
“I'm truly sorry, Serah. How can I redeem myself?” he asked.
She looked at the crowd again for a few seconds. A few of them seemed upset by her decision. She stared into every single one of them before staring into Cicero's eyes.
“Meet me at the back alley,” she whispered. “There is business we need to take care of.”
She then looked back at the crowd.
“This will be all for tonight. I hope you'll all have a wonderful night. And always remember what we're fighting for...”
“...For the fellowship! For freedom!” they all shouted.
The crowd slowly walked away from the piazza, each pokémon going into their respective home calmly. Serah walked to the zoroark, putting her hand on his shoulder. Glancing at her, Cicero nodded. Taking her hand off the zoroark, the gardevoir teleported away. Cicero didn't wait a second longer before storming in the back alley. It took him less than a minute to see the veterans all gathered at the same place, staring at him. This atmosphere made him uncomfortable very quickly; it seemed as if he had done something that had irked every single one of them. A few minutes later, the gardevoir teleported at their location. She now had a much firmer look than before. Her eyes quickly met the zoroark's eyes.
“You're now under my command, understood?” she asked him rhetorically. “If you do anything out of line, I'll make sure you regret it.”
She then looked at the door in front of them. Putting her palm on the lock, the gardevoir grinned.
“I guess the one who designed this wasn't very wise. All I have to do is move some parts of the mechanism to open the door. It's a real joke.”
Serah then proceeded to open the door casually. She entered first, her soldiers following behind. She stopped in the middle of the corridor for no apparent reason, which alarmed the soldiers that something was going on.
“I can take care of this,” she decided without looking at them. “You can all leave. Except Cicero.”
They all obeyed her orders without question, going outside of the building. The zoroark was left wondering what she was up to. As a dark-type, he couldn't be affected by psychic attacks. Sadly, that also meant he couldn't communicate telepathically with a psychic-type like every other pokémon.
“Follow me.”
The two of them walked to another door silently. Serah simply opened it. The room was pitch black, which made it impossible for them to see anything. She raised her hand, and a ball of light floated above it, lighting up the whole room. All they saw was simple desk made of wood in a corner of the room and a grovyle sleeping on a bed made of straw. That pokémon slowly open his eyes at the sight of the light. Seeing the gardevoir, he backed off. He quickly met the cold wall of the room.
“How are you, Ren?” she asked. “So, did you convince that sableye to follow us?”
“Sadly, no,” the grovyle said with a hint of his tiredness. “He didn't want to hear any of it. I'm sorry. He... he decided to leave the village less than two hours ago.”
“That is quite a shame, indeed,” she replied, “but I'm sure you know where he went, don't you?”
Ren looked down to the ground, not knowing what to say. “Well, he didn't tell me where he went.”
“You're lying.”
“I'm not,” he said, defending himself.
“I'm sure you'll tell us what we need under a little pressure.”
She raised one of her hands towards the grovyle's head. Suddenly, the grovyle writhed in pain, possibly attacked by the gardevoir's psychic power. Unprepared for it and exhausted, he wasn't in position to defend himself against this assault. After a while, she let down her attack. Panting, the grovyle gazed at the zoroark with insistence, as if he wanted him to spare his life, to do something about it. Cicero remained there and didn't move a finger for Ren. In the back of his mind, he thought the grovyle wouldn't die, even when under torture. At the same time, he felt bad for him. Ren had worked for them as a spy, watching over Shade. His contribution to the PLF was quite big, as he had given them most of the money he had borrowed from the sableye to their cause.
“He...” he muttered in pain. “He knew... He found out I was part of the PLF after I came back... He knew Guts was part of the PLF...”
Serah seemed rather unsettled by that grovyle's defence. After a moment, she became calm again and looked at him. “He found out because you told him. Now, tell us where he is. And I won't take 'I dunno' as an answer. I know you've grown to like that sableye, but that time is over. We now need him on our side.”
“That is the truth. I have no idea-”
Ren started twitching again in great pain. Cicero was about to tell her to stop, but she probably knew what she was doing. The grovyle's scream of agony resonated through the building, being more atrocious than anything the zoroark had seen before. Cicero had seen a lot of pokémon suffer in his life, but he had never seen someone in such a state. His scream suddenly faded as his body stopped fighting Serah's psychic attacks. All that was left in front of them was a corpse. The zoroark couldn't look at that anymore. Glancing at the desk, he found out no document had been left there by the sableye.
“That is quite unfortunate,” she said. “I thought he would be able to survive that.”
He turned back to her. “How can you say that? You've killed him!”
“Yet, you're the one who killed the priest, like I told you to. And now, you'll find that man and bring him back to me, or else things might not go well for you.”
That reply shut the zoroark's mouth for good. He put one of her hand on his shoulder and approached him to whisper something.
“Besides, you can't change the world without getting your hands dirty.”