Matt walked outside of the pokémon center, a determined look on his face. Behind him, Guts and Kira seemed rather tired by the day they just had. All they wanted now was a good night of sleep. Before them, Chen and Aiden were satisfied by their day, having taken it to learn about each other.
Chen didn't ask Aiden where he came from, but he was rather surprised by the fennekin's extensive knowledge about the pokémon civilizations. At this point, the shroomish wondered if he really was the one the quilava had been looking for at the temple. He learned that most pokémon civilizations had led to disasters, as they weren't strong enough to hold up against the human ones. However, some of them managed to fight the human opposition and stay strong regardless. One of the ways they had been able to do that was by training pokémon through various guilds. This had proven effective, as it both gave the civilians the safety that they had been seeking, and it gave these societies what they needed to hold their owns against the humans. Aiden told him about several guilds that had been made across the generations and all around the world. When Chen asked him about the history of their world out of curiousness, the fennekin shrugged; he only knew about the cultures they had, but he had no idea what the bigger picture was.
“Unfortunately, most libraries around the world have been burned down,” he said with a hint of sorrow. “And the one I went to had been targeted by the PLF. I think that's why the librarian was so reluctant to let them go.”
He's probably talking about xatu, the shroomish guessed. Maybe I should tell him that I know about this. After all, what harm could that cause?
Remembering the horrible fate of that pokémon, Chen shivered. The fennekin tilted his head slightly, wondering what the shroomish was thinking about.
“Maybe I've heard of your library,” he started. “Could you be talking about a xatu?”
The fennekin's eyes widened upon hearing his question. “Not really,” he answered, “but I've lived with a xatu in the past, and I don't wanna talk about it.”
“Alright,” Chen replied, not wanting to go any further. “Anyway, what are your thoughts on Matt?”
“He seems weird. I haven't seen a human before, but I've always thought that we had some sort of resemblance. He always seems to be in his own little world. It's as if there was a wall between him and us. Even if he was a pokémon, I still wouldn't trust him.”
“Yeah. Guts said the same about him, but I still feel like he cares for all of us.”
Aiden gazed at Matt. They were behind him, but the fennekin still gave this answer in a whisper. “And what if he cares about us as if we were mere tools to be used? With his attitude, he cannot see us as equals. If he's not talking to us, it's because in his mind, he wouldn't stoop so low as to talk to us. His compassion is disguised condescension.”
The shroomish was left speechless. He hadn't thought about it before. Maybe the PLF had been right all along; maybe the humans were truly despicable creatures. Maybe he had been fooled by his own gut feelings. At that moment, the shroomish felt as if a part of himself had betrayed, and maybe even condemned him to a worse future. He momentarily grew unsure of himself, but then, he remembered what had brought him to that conclusion earlier. He had watched Matt spare a croagunk from his very own eyes, he had seen him promise to find his uncle; but was his promise genuine, or simply a way to get the shroomish to follow him? All of these thoughts surrounded the shroomish's mind, and they strangled him. He couldn't see clearly anymore. He walked away from the fennekin, telling him he needed a moment to think about it.
Why would the fennekin lie to me? Maybe he wants the whole team to split, or maybe he thinks I'm the weaker one. Well, I must be the weaker one. Guts and Kira haven't hesitated to fight when it was necessary. What have I done? I've hidden myself like the coward I am. I've lost Guts' trust, and now Aiden probably sees me like any human would see us: a soldier to be used for their own good.
For the first time, Chen truly felt like a little pawn in their game of chess.
“Matt, why have you decided to continue on?” Guts inquired. “We could've stayed at the pokémon center, and we would've been fine.”
Chen snapped out of his stupor upon hearing the question. He saw that they had stopped and that Matt was right besides him. Startled by the question, the human glanced at the krokorok for a few seconds before collecting himself.
“They had no other rooms,” he said. “Besides, we're now a little closer to our destination thanks to this walk.”
“And where are we going exactly?” Guts questioned. “I'm sure everyone wants to and deserves to know since they've decided to follow you.”
His eyes went from Kira to Aiden, taking some time to look at Chen's expression. “We're simply going to a human city. I don't see what the whole fuss is about.”
“There wouldn't be a 'whole fuss' if you had told us that from the get-go,” Aiden interjected.
Matt ignored the fennekin's words, “I'm going to gather some logs with Guts for the fire. You guys can stay here and protect the place.”
He put his backpack down and went with Guts into the woods. The three other pokémon stayed there, looking at each other for a few seconds. Chen decided to lie back on a patch of grass, taking his time to recover from that walk. He noticed Aiden from afar who was walking towards Matt's bag, which left the shroomish wondering what his fellow pokémon was up to.
“Aiden, what are you doing?” he asked, raising his voice so that he could hear him.
Ignoring his question, the fennekin turned back to Chen, “Do you know what he has in this bag?”
The shroomish looked at him, unsettled by his question, “Well, I-I know he puts his sleeping bag inside, but, outside of that, I dunno.”
“That's what I thought,” Aiden said. “He must be hiding something inside of this bag.”
Why is Aiden so persistent with this? Why is he doing all he can to discredit Matt? Why would he want to do that? Wait, am I getting a bit paranoid here?
“Alright then,” Chen replied. “You can go ahead and look inside, but make sure Matt doesn't find out about it.”
The fennekin glanced at the bag for a few seconds before looking at his paws, “I don't know how I could open it, though.”
“Let me take care of this,” Kira interjected.
Chen glanced at the yanma, who had decided to land on a branch. Kira flew to the bag and took it with her. Using her paws, she opened the bag and its content dropped on the ground. She threw the bag on the side and went towards what the bag previously contained, followed by Aiden, who was also interested. Chen's curiosity was piqued, so he decided to find out what was inside.
The first item that Chen recognized was Matt's sleeping bag, followed by his flashlight. He also quickly found out that Matt had hidden some food inside of his bag.
He probably kept it there, in case we starved during all this traveling, Chen guessed. If he wanted to eat it, he would've eaten it already. I mean, he didn't eat much during the whole journey, even after all of the injuries he had. That might explain why he had a hard time recovering.
“Hey, check this out!” Kira shouted.
“What is it?” Aiden asked, examining some red case.
“There's a book over here,” she explained. “You might find that interesting, book-worm.”
“Yeah, yeah. I'm coming,” he said, disregarding her attempt at mocking him.
Interested, the shroomish went along with the fennekin towards what Kira had discovered. They saw a book with some writing Chen couldn't decipher, lying on the grass. Aiden walked towards the book, fascinated by it.
Maybe he knows what this book is about. After all, he seemed pretty smart. Maybe he's able to read the language this book is written in.
Using his paw, the fennekin lifted the cover of the book and started skimming through the pages. The yanma flew behind him, looking at the book over his shoulders.
I would like to be able to read. I guess that's just another thing we wild pokémon can't do. I wonder if they'll teach me how to one day. That would be–
Suddenly, the fennekin spat a few embers on the book, lighting it up. The flames spread, quickly burning the book and bringing it to ashes. Kira took a step back, looking at Aiden suspiciously. The shroomish was left to wonder why the fennekin did such a thing.
“What was that for?” she asked, wondering his intentions.
“This book is dangerous,” Aiden rambled, “it was written by someone with bad intentions; it's truly evil. I have no idea how Matt could've gotten a hold of this book.”
“And now he'll know we know about the book's existence when he'll open his bag. “'Grats for being such a moron.”
Abruptly, the fennekin, irked by what he heard, raised his head in Kira's direction and spewed embers at her. She swiftly flew up in the air and grinned at him.
“Too slow, book-worm.”
Lowering his head, Aiden groaned in pain. He stumbled on the ground, clenching his teeth to ease his discomfort. Chen went to his side, wondering what happened to him and worried about his state.
“Aiden, are you alright?” Chen inquired, genuinely troubled by what the fennekin had just been through. “Is something the matter?”
“It's... it's nothing,” he muttered. “I'm... simply... not used to... breathing fire like that. I'm sorry about that outburst. I'll make sure not to let myself get driven by my anger from this point on.”
The shroomish approached Aiden a bit more, smiling warmly, “It seems like we've got something in common,” he said. “I mean, I'm also not that good at fighting, but I'm sure we'll get better at it some day.”
The fennekin turned his head towards Chen. Seeing a smile on his face, he returned one himself, “I hope so.”
I wonder what Matt will think of that. He'll probably not take that well, especially if he wants to become a pokémon trainer. I guess we'll have to train, and make sure we are at the best of our capacities went we're going to fight. Maybe he's waiting for us to arrive to that human city he was talking about before starting our training.
Raising his head, he looked out for the yanma. He saw her flying out of the field they were in, without looking back. For some reason, she seemed to have lost interest in searching Matt's backpack.
“Wait!” Chen shouted as loudly as he could. “Where are you going?”
Hearing him, Kira turned back, hovering on the side of the forest, “I'm not getting myself involved in this story anymore. If you guys want to rub Matt the wrong way, go ahead. I'll go scout the area to make sure we aren't followed. If he ever asks you about anything, I wasn't part of this and I wasn't there at the time.”
“Kira, Aiden doesn't deserve to be treated that way. You can't just go away like that. Please, admit you didn't mean to insult him. Please.”
Kira stared at Chen for a few seconds, taking some time to process Chen's demand. She decided to ignore the shroomish and turned back, flying into the woods. Chen was now alone with the fennekin, whose state seemed to have gotten a bit better.
There's no reason to back down now. Matt will know we looked into his bag, no matter what happens, and I won't let Aiden get all the blame for this. He's one of the kindest pokémon I've met so far, and I wouldn't want him to get on Matthew's bad side.
Chen looked around for other things they could look for. He noticed all of their poké balls that were scattered on the grass, and went to them, wondering if he could get Aiden back into his poké ball to rest. Counting each and every poké ball, he noticed that there were more than four of them.
If I wanna find out which one is Aiden's, I'll have to try each and every single one of them.
He stepped near one of the poké balls before stopping right on his track. He looked at himself for a few seconds.
Wait, how am I gonna be able to pick them up? What if I touch my poké ball and get sucked into it? I won't be able to help Aiden, in that case.
“Hey, what's the matter?” a feminine voice said behind him.
“Kira, I thought you didn't want to be involved in this.” Chen turned around and stepped back, surprised to see that he wasn't talking to Kira. In fact, he was in front of a smiling misdreavus. Aiden, who was behind her, seemed a bit cautious about that, but his attitude wasn't directed at her directly. Seeing that she visibly meant no harm for them, the shroomish sighed and decided to let his guard down a bit.
“Sorry for that, miss,” he apologized. “I got you mixed up with someone else.”
“Oh, that's fine. It's no big deal. That said, are you guys part of Matt's team?”
What? She knows about Matt? Does that mean that she was inside one of these poké balls while we were travelling with him? Why would he hide such a thing from us? Why would he let us be free, while she isn't allowed to? Maybe she's a pokémon he wants to sell as a pokémon hunter. That would explain why he wouldn't want us to be aware of that. I mean, if Guts ever finds out about that, he'll get furious.
“Yes, we are part of his team. And I'm guessing that you're also one of Matt's pokémon,” Aiden said.
“Hmm, no.”
Where is she coming from, then? How come she knows about Matt?
“I actually belong to Nathan, Matt's father,” she added, lowering her head slightly.
Wait, what does that mean? Has he stolen her from his father? Or did his father give him this pokémon for his journey?
“You don't belong to any human,” Aiden said. “You should be free, just like anyone else.”
“I owe him my life. Nathan has saved me and Matt has taken care of me all of that time. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be talking to you right now.”
“Matt has saved me from the predators of the wild,” Chen interjected, walking towards the misdreavus. “He helped me when I needed it the most, but we've also saved him a few times. We help each other. I've decided to follow Matt by myself, so nobody had to own anybody.”
“I... I could see why a wild pokémon would think that way. From all I remember, I've always lived with their family. Maybe I'll talk to Matt about that once he gets back.”
“That's a good idea,” Aiden acknowledged. “Anyway, we'll have to continue searching. There's still that red case over there.” He pointed the briefcase he had inspected before Kira had told them about the book. Arriving at the object, both exchanged glanced, not sure what they should do next.
“This looks suspicious,” the fennekin said. “Maybe we shouldn't look at his things.” Doubtful, he looked back at the misdreavus. “Hey, do you have any idea of what this contains?”
“I literally have no idea,” she replied. “I've never seen Matt with that case.”
Aiden gulped, having a bad feeling about this, “Alright then.” Bothered by the situation, he glimpsed at Chen, “How about you open that briefcase? I'm already kinda hurt, so if there was some sort of trap in there, that wouldn't be wise for me to open it. Don't worry; I'll stand by in case something goes wrong.”
He has a good point, he admits. I'm sure he'll see that I mean him no harm if I can help him in some situations like the one we're in. If we get together and confront Matt for who he is, he'll be able to understand that we're not willing to fight and take a stance. I wish I could thank Aiden for opening my eyes to all of this, but it would seem out of place to do it now.
Moving his frilled segments the best he could, he carefully unclasped the two metal parts that locked the briefcase. Opening it up, he found out that it was filled with medical supply and a thought entered his mind.
He has prepared all of that for us, I'm sure. But if he has so much medical supplies, why didn't he-
“This briefcase's filled with medicine, isn't it?” Aiden asked, looking over him and oblivious to their past endeavor. “Antidote, paralyze heal, awakening, and even some potions. It's impressive to see how much thought he put into that preparation. Why didn't he tell us about that earlier?”
I shouldn't have hung around with these inconsiderate idiots, Kira thought. Now, I'm not gonna be on time. Let's just hope that Guts hasn't done anything yet. I wouldn't like having to take both of them out.
Flying over the forest, she scanned everything below her. Spread across the whole horizon, the vegetation flourished and protected the silent haven that was these woods. The sun settled down, giving the night its time of reign. After a while, Kira finally noticed the two of them, walking back to the camp with some logs. As she stealthily landed on the branch of a tree, Guts dropped his logs on the ground and crossed his arms.
“What's the matter?” Matt said, getting a bit nervous.
“Matt, don't act as if there's nothing wrong. I wanna be clear about this, and I'll go straight to the point. Are you aware of any trainer that would be able to control a pokémon against his will?”
“I haven't heard of such a thing, but it might exist,” he answered, putting his logs on the ground. “What is your point?”
“I'm accusing you of using such tactics against them. As a dark-type, I wouldn't be affected by it, so that would explain why I could be aware of that.”
Staring at him, Matt knitted his brows and also crossed his arms, “And what evidence can I put forth to prove my innocence? Look, I have no idea what sort of influence I have on Chen, and I might not be the one you should be pointing a finger at, in that regard.”
“What are you getting at?”
“Aiden seems to have much more of an influence on Chen than me at this point.” He started walking in circles around Guts, taking his time to examine him as he continued speaking, “Quite frankly, your reason for doubting me is totally legitimate. Just know that I'm making this journey to become a ranger and have personal reasons for doing so. I also have no reason to think you might be part of the PLF. This walk in the woods was meant to see if you would try to capture me and you didn't do so, which validates what I've thought for so long. I thought you were a member of the PLF at the beginning, but it's clear you're not one. I was aware that we were near a PLF city when I got attacked by a spinarak. At that moment, you came back to heal me instead of trying to capture me. Also, you got attacked previously by the PLF, which was when we saved you.”
“And you were willing to risk your life wandering in these woods with me to see if I was part of the PLF?”
“Actually, I asked for Kira to watch my back and to make sure you wouldn't capture me. I already knew from the beginning that she wasn't part of the PLF, because she's stronger than anyone of you. If she was with them, she would've had no problem taking us on and capture me, which she didn't do. So I knew I could trust her.”
“Fair enough. Now, it seems clear that me and Kira aren't allied with the PLF, but what about Aiden? I'm pretty sure he would at least accept their ideas. What would happen if he convinced Chen to join the PLF?”
“It might be possible that Aiden is part of the PLF, but he hasn't been there before and I'm pretty sure we had a spy among us before he arrived. You know what that means, don't you?”
“Are you actually telling me that Chen could be part of the PLF?” Guts questioned. “Do you realize he has been with you the whole time and that he's still a kid?”
“Yes, and that's the problem. He's still easily influenced; Have you seen the effect Aiden has on him? Also, his shyness means I have no idea what his life was before. All I know is that he wants to find his uncle, so I'm guessing his family means a lot to him.”
“Maybe you would have an easier time learning about him if you were to talk with him, you know,” the krokorok pointed out to Matt. “Also, we've found his uncle, but we had to go away. Now, Chen wants to find his parents. By the way, all you're telling me here is that he might be a dormant agent for the PLF. There's no reason to believe that he's already one of them.”
“You're right, and that's why I need you to talk to Chen. You already seem to have a connection with him, and I'm sure you'd have an easier time talking to him. He might be weirded out if I go talk to him one-on-one about that.”
“Alright then. Let's go back to the camp.” After saying that, Guts grabbed the logs that were scattered near him.
Matt did the same and they went on their way. Seeing them leave, Kira flew back to camp as the night settled itself upon the gigantic forest.
With a small ember, Aiden set fire to the few logs in front of them, lighting up their campfire. Every single one of them sat around the fire. Matt and Aiden were on opposite sides of the fire, glancing at each other once in a while. None of them seemed to be willing to break the ice. Taking his distance to the fire, Chen examined a flower on the grass. Raising his head, he saw Kira yawning, bored by the lack of enthusiasm that was displayed by her peers. Behind her, the misdreavus they had met earlier had hidden herself behind the trees, as they didn't want Matt to know about their discoveries yet. As the silence started becoming even more uncomfortable for the shroomish, he decided to start the conversation.
“Does anyone have a story to tell?” he asked while lowering his head slightly, seemingly afraid of the answers they might give him.
They all raised their head, looking at the shroomish. For a moment, everyone remained silent, the whole scene growing a bit weirder. It was as if they all had something to say, but none of them were eager to speak out on it.
“I think it's time for us to address an issue,” Aiden began, standing up. “I'm sure you all understand what I'm talking about, right?”
Guts stood up, staring at the fennekin. “So you want to talk about your allegiance to the PLF? That sounds like a great idea.”
Taking a step back, Aiden frowned at the krokorok's remark, “Don't tell me Matt fed you those lies, if he did, then he's an even bigger liar than I thought.”
“I don't need Matt to reach such conclusions. I came up with them on my own.”
“I'm sure of that, thief,” the fennekin said sarcastically. “Nonetheless, It's pretty clear that Matt sees us as tools, and that he's nothing but a pokémon hunter. That's why I'll stop him.”
“Aiden's right on this one,” Chen added. “All that time, I've been fooled by my gut feeling on Matt, but now, I see the reality of it all. He's been using my emotions for his own benefit since the very beginning.”
“Actually, you're totally wrong,” Guts replied. “Aiden is the one fooling you since the very beginning. From what I now know about him, there's no way he could be a pokémon hunter. It seems pretty clear to me that he wanted the best for us.”
How come he's spouting that after all he went through? He never wanted to follow Matt around, simply by principle. There's no way he changed his mind so fast. Did Matt buy Guts off?
“Matt's fine,” Kira said, not willing to add anything to the conversation. “If you don't like the way he treated you, you can simply go your own way.”
“You're not aware of some things, Kira,” Chen retorted. “Did you know that Matt hid a case full of medicine in his bag? He already had all that was needed for him to heal, and he still didn't tell us about it.”
Guts glanced back at Matt. The human crossed his arms, taking his time to think about what that meant for him.
“Yes, I already knew about that,” the yanma admitted bluntly. “Matt told me so that Guts could go to the PLF, and that we could leave him behind. He hadn't planned that you would follow him, but I let you two go nonetheless. If you two didn't come back, I would've healed him and left the place with Matt. It was a risk Matt was willing to take, and I went along with it.”
“And what about the book he has in his bag?” Aiden asked. “And what about the pokémon he held hostage?”
Hearing that, Matt stood up and glared at the fennekin, “Don't ever talk about Renee like that.”
“You can't tell me what to do, human. I'm not your slave and I'll never be.”
“She isn't anyone's property. You know nothing, Aiden. You know nothing about her; I can guarantee you that.”
“She told me she belongs to your father. You're the one who knows nothing, Matt.”
Matt decided to keep his mouth shut. All of them remained silent for a few seconds before Guts turned back to face the human.
“I also want some answers. When you met Chen, you told him that you were doing this journey for the money, but now you've told me that you wanted to be a pokémon ranger. It's time for you to clear things up. What is your end goal, Matt?”
Matt took a step back, and his hands started sweating. Chen knew in his heart that Matt hadn't planned for this to happen, and that only now does he see the mistake he had made.
That's what I thought. Even Guts doesn't buy into his lies. I'm sure he did that so that Matt would think he had gained his trust. He's trapped now; there's no way he can get out of this without telling us the truth.
“I... I wanted to join the rangers to get enough money to... become a doctor.”
Upon hearing that, Guts leaped on Matt, clenching his fist. The krokorok punched him in the face, and the human collapsed on the ground. Unable to stand up again, the human spat some blood on the grass. Guts looked down at him, ready to hit him if he was to stand up again.
“That's what I thought all along. We're mere bodyguard to you, and you've blatantly lied to keep us yours. Matthew, you're a monster.”