psmd-lingering-shadows

[psmd-lingering-shadows]

Howdy, guys. Just wanted to let you know that Part 6 of PSMDLS is out. I’m gonna tell you right now - writing this chapter was a little painful for me (no pun intended). I’m not gonna explain why. If you read it, you’ll understand…probably. Anyway, as usual, if you’re interested, go ahead and give it a read. Alright, with that done, I’m gonna get in bed and curl into ball. See you all later…

Part 6: Painful Connection

“…”

"..."

"..."

"..."

Once the two of us had left school, we began walking down the path that led to the plaza.  Although, neither of us had said a word to each other since we began walking.  The two of us have just been making our way towards the village in awkward silence.  I wanted to say something to Kokai and kick off some sort of conversation, but whenever I'd try to speak to him, I'd end up looking at him only to see that he has this strange expression on his face.  He looked like he was lost in thought, or like he was pondering something.  Now that I mention it, he had that same look on his face when I went back to check on him right before we left.  I can't help but wonder what he could be thinking about...

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

At this point, we had been walking for quite some time, and Kokai still seemed like he was lost in his own little world.  I huffed in annoyance as I was starting to lose my patience.  Seriously, has he forgotten that I'm here, walking right next to him?

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Ugh..."

...Okay, that does it.

Finally fed up with the constant silence, I shouted Kokai's name so I could  to get his attention.  It definitely did the trick, because as soon as he heard me shouting, he quickly whipped his head towards me, seemingly surprised.

"...H-huh?  What's wrong?" he asked.

I gave him a small frown and asked if he was absolutely sure if he was alright.

He gave me a nod.  "Yeah, like I said earlier, I'm alright.  Don't worry about me," he reassured.

"..."

Realizing that I was still unconvinced by his words, he gave a small smile and spoke again.

"Come on, don't make that face.  Worrying so much doesn't suit you at all.  I've just got some stuff on my mind, that's all.  It's nothing too serious."

Well...if you say so...

Kokai paused for a moment before seemingly coming to a realization.  Then he looked at me with a slightly guilty expression.  "Oh, wait...have you been trying to talk to me this whole time?" he asked.

Geez...it looks like he's finally starting to remember what we were supposed to be doing.  I gave him a small nod, causing him to sigh guiltily.

"I'm sorry.  I wasn't trying to ignore you or anything.  I guess I kind of just zoned out without realizing it..."

Yeah, no kidding.  I was actually starting to get a little worried when you just kept walking with that blank stare...

After I said that, Kokai aggressively shook his head as if he was trying to rid his head of whatever he was thinking of.  Then he turned back to me.

"Alright, I promise you that it won't happen again.  Let's get to chatting, yeah?" he asked.

I gave him an excited grin and nodded my head.  To be honest, ever since the incident at the Foreboding Forest, I've been hoping for an opportunity to get to speak with him again.  Not just because of my curiosity, but also because he really seems like someone who would be enjoyable to be around.  That's the kinda vibe I'm getting from him, anyway.  Despite appearing cold on the surface, he seems to be a genuinely kind Pokémon deep down.  Especially after what he said to me yesterday...

Kokai noted the expression on my face and chuckled.  "Geez, you really wanted to spend time with me, huh?  Are you this eager to talk to every Pokémon you meet, or am I really just that special?" he asked.

I paused and looked down, slightly embarrassed.  Did I really seem that desperate to hang out with him...?

"Heh, I'm just joking, Nozomi.  To tell you the truth, I think I kind of needed this.  After everything that's happened to me lately, it's nice to just relax and spend time with someone else...even if we haven't known each other that long," he said, his face softening up a bit.

After everything that's happened to you, huh...?

...

No, I shouldn't bring it up now.  Kokai's right.  Let's just relax for a bit and spend time with each other for now.  My questions can wait for a bit.

I gave him a warm smile and nodded in agreement.  Although he wouldn't know, that sentence applies to the both of us.  After experiencing all the weird stuff that's been happening to me recently - my sleeping problems and that dream I had - I think it would do me good to just slow down and take it easy today with Kokai.

...Haha, that sounds so unlike me.  But hey, even I want to just chill out and take breaks sometimes.  Even the most energetic Pokémon will burn themselves out if they don't rest from time to time.  Well, that's what Pops told me, anyway. 

"...Oh, we're here already."

"...?"

Pulled out of my brief thoughts by Kokai's voice, I looked ahead, only to realize that we were already at the plaza.  Huh...I guess I was so caught up in talking to him, I wasn't even paying attention to how much farther we had to walk.

Kokai turned towards me and spoke.  "Alright, then.  We've got plenty of time to kill before we both have to head home.  What do you wanna do?" he asked.

Hmm...that's a good question.  I, uh, honestly didn't think that far ahead...

"..."

...Oh!  Now that I think about it, Kokai still doesn't know this place too well, does he?  He's only just arrived in Serene Village yesterday, after all.  This is actually a good opportunity, then!  I could show him around the place and help him become more familiar with it!

I excitedly told Kokai what I had in mind, hoping that he would be on board with it.

"Oh...I already showed myself around yesterday," he said.

Wha...Really?

He nodded.  "It was right before I headed to the Foreboding Forest.  I didn't have anything better to do, so I decided to explore the village for a bit.  Although Mr. Nuzleaf wasn't too happy about it when I got back..."

Ah...I see...

Kokai shook his head.  "There's no need to look so dejected, Nozomi.  We can just do something else," he said.

Yeah...I guess you're right.

...

Oh, I know!  I can take him up to the hill that's near the entrance of the village.  Everyone here loves the view there, so I just know he will, too!

"..."

"...Huh?  You...want to take me somewhere special?"

I replied with an eager nod.

Kokai stayed quiet for a moment, then gave me a morbidly serious expression.

"...No."

"...?!"

No?  B-but, you don't even know what it is yet...Come on, you'll really like it!

Kokai slightly furrowed his brow and looked down.  "...You're talking about that hill, aren't you?"

"...!!"

Huh?!  How did he...?

"I heard some other villagers talking about it the yesterday, if you're wondering how I know about it," he said, somehow guessing what I was thinking.  "I ended up having to go past it when I got here with Mr. Nuzleaf, too, so I've already seen it."

That might be the case, but even so...that still doesn't mean we can't go there...

"...I'm sorry, but I just...I can't go there," he said.

...

...Again.

There it was again.

Those same painful feelings I felt from yesterday.

After he said that, I ended up catching a glimpse into his eyes.  They were filled with the same intense emotions as yesterday, when we were in the Foreboding Forest.  Staring into his eyes like that...It made me feel an inexplicable sorrow.  A sorrow so intense, it caused me to visibly grimace.

Noticing the look on my face, he turned away with a sorrow-filled expression. "...I'm sorry. I'm bringing down the mood. Maybe this wasn't the best idea. It would probably be best if I just headed home..."

"N-no, wait!"

"...!"

Without realizing it, I ended up quickly grabbing Kokai's wrist, which kept him in place. He looked up and stared at me with a mixture of surprise and confusion on his face.

"Nozomi...?"

"..."

Once I saw my own flipper gripping his wrist so tightly, I widened my eyes and let go as quickly as I had grabbed him. Then I gave him a guilty expression and looked down shamefully. I...honestly don't know what came over me just then. When it looked like he was about to walk away, I was just...overcome with this intense feeling. Like, if he left right then and there, then...

...I'd never see him again.

...

Argh, what the heck is wrong with me?! Why would I even think something like that? I'd never see him again? He's my neighbor! Of course I'd see him again! And, even if that weren't the case, why do I care so much?! I mean, yeah, he seems like a cool Pokémon and all, but we haven't even known each other for that long! I'm acting like we've known each other our whole lives! Get a grip, Nozomi!

"Um..."

"...!"

I looked back up to find Kokai staring at me with concern. It looked as though he wanted to say something, but was holding back for whatever reason.

I, on the other hand, began to profusely apologize for what just happened. No matter how I felt in that moment, that was definitely wrong for me to just grab him so harshly like that.

Kokai, slightly taken aback my apologizing, shook his head. "N-no, it's okay. It's just, um..."

He tried finishing his sentence, but he ended up trailing off at the end. Now the two of us were just staring at each other, not saying a thing.

...Ugh, this is so awkward. This wasn't how I wanted this to go down at all...

Finally, after a few more seconds of silence, Kokai finally spoke.

"...The cafe."

...Hmm?

"How about we go to the cafe? It seems like it's a nice place to visit. We could both grab some food and drinks there," he said.

...

...

...Oh.

O-oh, right! The cafe! How did that not cross my mind earlier? That sounds like it would be pretty fun!

I excitedly nodded my head, still hoping that the two of us could still have a good time together.

"Heh, alright. Then let's head on over," Kokai said as he started to walk towards the cafe. I followed him, though I was still shocked about what just happened a moment ago. That...I don't even know how to explain something like that. That intense sensation I felt and...how I reacted. I still couldn't believe it. Why in the world did I do that...?

...

Well, I couldn't really think about it now. We were already at the entrance to the cafe. ...Well, of course we were. It only took, like, five seconds to get there from where we were. Anyway, the two of us stood there for a moment, then looked at each other. Kokai, sensing my unease from earlier, gave me a small but reassuring smile. I smiled back at him, letting him know that I was alright. Once he saw that, he nodded, and we both walked inside together. Upon entering the cafe, I immediately started to look around. The place had other Pokémon seated at some of the tables, but it's not like it was completely full, either. There were still some empty tables scattered here and there. I figured Kokai and I would sit somewhere in the back so no one could disturb us.

"Well, well, if it isn't Carracosta's little girl!"

"...?"

I turned to where the voice was coming from, only to make eye contact with the cafe's owner, Miss Kangaskhan, who was serving food to a group of Pokémon near the front. I gave her a warm smile and politely greeted her.

"I have to say, it's been quite some time since you've stepped foot in here, Nozomi! How have you been? You haven't been causing too much trouble around the village, have you?" Miss Kangaskhan asked teasingly.

Uh...

I didn't know how to answer that, so I awkwardly chuckled and simply shook my head, causing her to giggle.

"I'm just teasing, dear. There's no need to act so sheepish. Sure, you might cause a bit of trouble every now and then, but I know you're a good sort," she said.

...

Once she gave her customers their food, Miss Kangaskhan shifted her attention from me to Kokai, who was still standing next to me. "Oh? I see you brought along a friend, too. Although...Oh! I remember now! You swung by here yesterday, didn't you?"

Kokai nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I'm new to the village, so I decided to explore for a bit and eventually came across your cafe."

After hearing that, Miss Kangaskhan widened her eyes in realization. "Ah, so you're the one my earlier customers were talking about! I overheard them talking about how Nuzleaf brought back a child from one of his trips. I get so many customers from outta the village that I just assumed you were one of them the other day. Didn't even cross my mind that you were his kid!"

"...!"

"..."

"...He's not my dad."

...?

Kokai...?

I turned to look at him, only to see him hiding the smallest scowl on his face. I stared at him, confusion and concern both expressed on my face. Kokai noticed me, quickly returned to his neutral face and sighed.

"It's...complicated. He offered to let me stay with him, but it's not like we're family or anything," he explained.

Miss Kangaskhan gave him the same expression that I did, but chose not to press for any more details. "Oh...I see."

She then cleared her throat and decided to change the subject. "Well, I've talked both of your ears off, and you haven't even sat down yet! How about I show you to your table?" she asked.

Kokai nodded. "That would be great, thank you," he replied.

And with that, Miss Kangaskhan led us to an empty table that was closer to the back, just like I wanted.  She seated the both of us and began taking our orders.

"Now then, what would the two of you like?"

I looked through the menu's contents, taking a little longer than I had wanted to decide on something.  Finally, I gave a content grin as I found something that I wanted.  I plopped the menu down and told Miss Kangaskhan what I wanted.

"Apple juice and pancakes, please!~"

Upon hearing that, Kokai glanced up at me with a baffled look on his face.  "...You're eating pancakes in the afternoon?" he asked.

I looked at him and gave a nonchalant shrug.  Hey, what can I say?  I'm a breakfast Pokémon.

Miss Kangaskhan simply chuckled at our exchange and wrote down my order.  "Alright, then.  And what about you, Kokai?" she asked.

"Oh, I'll just have a plain black coffee and a few cinnamon rolls, please," he said.

...

I'm sorry, WHAT?!  BLACK COFFEE?!

Miss Kangaskhan, seemingly sharing my sentiment, gave Kokai a bewildered expression.  "Err...are you sure you don't want any sweetener or milk in it, dear?  Black coffee on its own is pretty bitter...especially for children," she warned.

"I'm sure.  This isn't my first time drinking the stuff," he answered.

Huh...?

Miss Kangaskhan and I both eyed each other before she wrote down Kokai's order.  "Alright, if that's what you want..."

Once she was done, she looked back at both of us and smiled.  "Okay!  Your orders should be ready in a few minutes.  Just sit tight in the meantime, okay?"

We both nodded as she walked off to prepare our food.  The moment, she left, I instantly turned to look at Kokai.

"Huh?  What's wrong?"

"..."

"What?  I like bitter stuff, alright?  Sue me.  And to be fair, I ordered cinnamon rolls, too.  So it all balances out," he argued.

Yeah, yeah, whatever...I just can't believe that there's a kid who drinks coffee...BLACK coffee, at that.

Kokai playfully rolled his eyes.  "Oh, please.  Get off my back already.  There's no way I'm taking criticism about my drink preferences from a Piplup who literally ordered breakfast for dinner," he said.

H-hmph!  There's nothing wrong with that!  Miss Kangaskhan's pancakes taste amazing!  You're just getting on my case because your food palette isn't refined enough for you to understand!

"Pfft..."

...?

Kokai let out a small laugh.  "My food palette isn't refined enough...?  The heck is that even supposed to mean?" he asked as he kept laughing to himself.

...

I let out a small smile at the sight of Kokai laughing.  I think this was the first time I've seen him let out a genuine laugh.  This is the most relaxed I've seen him since I've met him.  I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, since I've only met him pretty recently, but considering how he's acted before, this was completely refreshing to see.  I'm glad that he seems to be enjoying himself. 

I'm glad...that he seems to be happy.

...

Kokai and I spent the next few minutes talking about the most random topics.  Whatever came to our minds, we'd end up talking about it.  It was nothing but us sharing a bunch of silly thoughts and engaging in idle chit-chat, ranging from what our favorites foods were to why Mr. Farfetch'd always carried that stalk of his around all the time.  Needless to say, we were both having a good time.

"Coming through!  Make way!"

"...!"

Kangaskhan had arrived with both of our orders ready.  She quickly but carefully set them down one-by-one, making sure she didn't accidentally drop either of them.  Then she looked at both of us and gave us a warm smile.

"Here you go.  I hope the two of you enjoy!" she said.

"Thanks, Miss Kangaskhan!"

"Thank you," Kokai said.

She nodded and left to deal with the other customers in the cafe, leaving the two of us by ourselves once again.  I wasted no time as I began cutting and eating the pancakes that were in front of me.  Kokai, who was about to take a sip of his coffee, stared at me in disbelief as I destroyed the small tower of flapjacks.

"For the love of Arceus, Nozomi, at least put some syrup on them before you devour them like that..." he said.

I looked up at him and chuckled at his reaction.  Though, he was right.  I should put some syrup on them first...

We spent time after that talking to each other while simultaneously eating our food.  Just like before, we weren't talking about anything in particular, just whatever came to mind.  I was actually pretty satisfied with that.  Even though I was still curious about Kokai, I figured I could ask about him some other time.  The two of us were having fun, and I didn't wanna kill the vibe by bringing up all of these questions I had.

"Hey, Nozomi?"

"...?"

"Miss Kangaskhan mentioned that you visited this place before," he said.

Hmm?  Yeah, that's right.  What about it?

"It's just...For some reason, I was under the impression that this was your first time coming here."

I shook my head.  Nah, I actually came here a bunch of times here when I was younger with Pops.

Kokai's eyes widened slightly.  "Really?  Then what made you two stop coming together?" he asked.

I shrugged.  I guess neither of us have the time to go anymore.  I ended up being busy with school, and Pops got busier tending to his berry field and helping other Pokémon in the village.  Even on the rare occasions I come home early, he might still be out doing his own thing...just like the other day.

Kokai took a small sip of his coffee and looked down.  "...I see."

I gave him a confused look and asked why he wanted to know.

"O-oh, I was just curious, that's all.  Sorry if that question seemed odd to you," he said.

Oh, of course not.  Although, now that you brought it up, I guess it is a little sad that Pops and I don't spend as much time as we used to.  But I guess that's just how it is when a you get older...

"..."

"..."

The two of us stayed quiet for a while, occasionally taking a bite of our food or a sip of our drinks.  Drat.  Looks like I did end up bringing down the mood, after all.

I apologized to Kokai for my slightly depressing comment and for ruining the fun atmosphere, but he stayed quiet for a few more seconds until asking something that totally caught me off guard.

"Nozomi...are you... are you happy with your life?"

"...Huh?"

"Are you happy with your life the way it is now?" he repeated.

Wha...That's a really random question to ask someone!  And a bit of a personal one at that...Where in the world is this coming from?

After not immediately answering his question, Kokai gave an apologetic expression.  "...I'm sorry.  That's a strange question to ask someone you've just met.  I should have just kept it to myself..." he said.

...

...

...Well, I mean...

"...?"

It's not like I can go and say that I've lived the perfect life.  I've had my fair share of bad experiences.  And, of course, some of those experiences only happened because of...the way I am.  I'm fully aware of how reckless I can be and much trouble I cause.  Even though I don't mean to, I just end up becoming a nuisance for others.  Even though the villagers here have been friendly to me for the most part, I know that there's a part of them deep down that think I'm nothing but a pain in the backside.

Kokai looked at me with a sorrowful expression.  "H-hey, come on now.  That's not true..." he said.

I shook my head in disagreement. 

I know I can be pretty dense, but I know how much of a handful I can be sometimes.  To the villagers, to my teachers and classmates, even to Pops.  And because of that, I can't help but feel a little lonely sometimes.  It's rough, having everyone getting on your case, not having anyone who understands you.  I've been trying to do better and not cause any trouble for others, but...it's been hard, you know?

"..."

But still...despite how hard it can be, despite how lonely I feel sometimes...I don't let it get to me!  I just gotta keep smiling and keep doing my best.  No matter how hard things get, you can't let yourself give up!  Because...if you do...then all the effort you put in will have been for nothing...

"..."

And hey, it's not like my life's been this one, depressing mess.  I've had a lot of good experiences in Serene Village, too.  Even though I annoy him to death sometimes, I know Pops still loves me a whole lot!  Heck, I've made a lot of good memories with him, ever since I was little!  And, it's not a lot compared to him, but I do have a handful of good memories with my classmates, too.  Oh, but since Pancham and I made up yesterday, hopefully I'll get to make a lot more soon!

"Nozomi..."

Er, so to answer your question...I'd say I'm pretty happy.  It definitely hasn't been perfect, and I've got a long way to go before I get where I wanna be, but overall, I've been pretty satisfied with my life so far.

After hearing me say all of that, Kokai stayed silent for a long while.  I simply stared at him, still wondering why he'd ask something like that.  Eventually, after waiting a few more seconds, I decided to just keep speaking.

"...Hey, Kokai?"

"Huh...?"

"Do you have a dream?  Or a goal that pushes you to keep moving forward?"

Kokai once again fell silent.  When it became apparent that he wasn't going to answer, I spoke again.

"My dream is to join the Expedition Society and create a map of the whole world!  That way, I'll be able to go on all sorts of adventures and meet all sorts of Pokémon!  For the longest time, that dream has kept me motivated.  It's one of the things that have kept me going whenever I felt bad in the past.  Do...do you have something like that?"

"..."

...No, huh?  Yeah, I guess most kids wouldn't have such a grand dream like this so soon -

"Yes...I do."

"...!"

Wait, really?!  What is it?!

Instead of telling me, Kokai gave me the same pained expression he had at school and looked away.

"...I can't tell you."

Huh?!  Why not?!

"I just can't.  It's..." he started before I cut him off.

"...Complicated?"

"...Yeah."

I furrowed my brow slightly and frowned at him.  Everything about you seems to be complicated, Kokai.  Your past, why you're living with Mr. Nuzleaf, this weird feeling that shows up whenever I see you...

"...What?"

"...?"

"This weird feeling you have around me...what exactly does it feel like?" he asked with a slightly furrowed brow.

O-oh, well, uh...I don't exactly know how to describe it...

"Try."

I was slightly caught off-guard by Kokai's sudden shift in attitude.  Why did he suddenly become so tense...?

Anyway, I described the sensation I felt when I first saw him in the Foreboding Forest, the same sensation that made me feel like the two of us had met in the past.  Though, while I was talking, I could see Kokai becoming paler and paler by the second, which I immediately noticed.  Kokai, who came off as calm and stoic this entire time, looked like he was starting to lose his cool, which was more than enough reason to be concerned.  Eventually, I stopped talking and asked him if he was alright.

Kokai, despite looking unwell, did everything in his power to try and remain calm.  "...I'm fine," he simply said.

No, you clearly aren't.  You look like you're about to pass out.

"I'm...I'm just tired," he said.

I furrowed my brow at him.  Was that really the best excuse you could come up with?  I'm not that dumb, Kokai.

"...It's probably the coffee.  I guess it was too bitter for me, after all, ahahaha..." he said with that pitiful laugh at the end.

...Kokai, please stop lying to me.

Kokai frowned in response to what I said.  "I'm not..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Miss Kangaskhan walked over to our table.

"Hey, you two!  Is everything alright?  Are you enjoying the food-" she said before looking at Kokai and letting out a small gasp.  "Oh my goodness!  Sweetie, are you alright?!" she asked.

Kokai nodded.  "Yeah...I just need some fresh air.  I'm sorry for worrying you two," he said as he got up from his seat and made his way outside, leaving Miss Kangaskhan and I to look at each other worriedly.

"My goodness...I wonder what happened to him?  He seemed fine a moment ago..." she said.

...That's what I intend to find out.

I quickly got up from my seat and ran outside, hoping that Kokai didn't just end up running off somewhere.  Thankfully, he really did step outside to get some fresh air, as he was taking deep breaths to try to calm himself down.

"..."

He was so into his breathing, he didn't notice me approach him from behind.  While he was distracted, I gently reached out to him and touched his shoulder, which...wasn't the best idea in hindsight.

"Gah...!"

"!!!"

After we both managed to startle each other, Kokai realized that it was just me and sighed deeply.  "Geez...it's not polite to startle others like that, you know?" he said with a forced smile.  Even after that entire display in the cafe, he's still trying to act like nothing's wrong...?

Kokai...please...just stop it.

Once he heard me say that in that pleading tone, Kokai finally dropped the act and simply looked down.  His fist was clenched so tightly, I was afraid he was going to accidentally pierce his palm with his claws.

In a gentle tone, I asked him why he reacted the way I did when I spoke earlier...why it ended up bothering him so much. 

However, despite my persistence, he stayed quiet.

"Kokai, please.  Tell me what's bothering you."

He stayed quiet.

"You're hiding something, aren't you?  Something that's eating you up inside.  Something that's making you feel all these painful emotions."

He stayed quiet.

"I could sense it, you know?  When we made eye contact for the first time.  I could sense the pain that you were in.  It was...so intense and horrible.  You've been trying to hide it, but it was bound to come out on its own."

He stayed quiet.

"Please, whatever you're going through, let me help you deal with it.  You don't need to do this by yourself..."

He STILL stayed quiet.

Eventually, I got frustrated at his silence, causing me to accidentally raise my voice.

"Darn it, Kokai!  Why won't you say anything?!  Why won't you tell me what's bothering you?!" I asked.

"BECAUSE I CAN'T!!!"

When Kokiai shouted that, the tail on his flame briefly grew bigger.  His voice echoed throughout the entire plaza, causing the other Pokémon around us to look and stare at us.

"..."

Seeing that I had flinched at his shouting and the amount of eyes on us, Kokai quickly covered his mouth, then gave me one of the most apologetic looks I had ever seen.  In a hushed tone, he continued speaking.

"I...I'm sorry, Nozomi.  I'm so sorry...but I can't.  I can't tell you anything," he simply said.

I gave him a expression that displayed a mixture of empathy and confusion, then asked him what he meant by that.

"I can't tell you.  If I do, then..." he paused before shaking his head.  "I can't...I won't risk you getting involved in this.  I won't risk you getting hurt again.  This...this is my burden to carry."

I looked at him with widened eyes.  Getting hurt again...?  His burden to carry...?  What is he on about?

He looked at me and gave me a melancholic smile.  "I had fun spending time with you, Nozomi.  I really did.  I want you to know that you really are a wonderful Pokémon.  But after today...I want you to stay away from me.  It's for your own good."

"!?"

What...?  Stay away from you?  Why?!  I don't understand!  What are you trying to-

Before I could finish what I wanted to say, he started to walk off.  However, he quickly stopped and looked back at me.  Then, with the same smile from before, told me:

"Make sure you fulfill that dream of yours, alright?  I'm sure the Expedition Society would be lucky to have you.  As for me...I'll be sure to fulfill mine."

And with that, he slowly walked off, leaving me and the Pokémon who witnessed the entire thing to watch him until he was out of sight.  Everyone around me was murmuring and whispering amongst themselves, wondering what could have happened. 

As for me?  I just stood there, a mixture of emotions running through me.  Confusion, frustration, helplessness...and sadness.  A deep sadness that pierced me deeply.  No matter how much I tried to shake it off, I just couldn't. 

...Not this time.

It's funny.  When Kokai agreed to spend time with me earlier, I had hoped to learn more about him.  But, in the end, I just have even more questions.  Have we really met each other before?  What type of burden was Kokai carrying? 

...And just how heavy of a burden was it for it to cause him so much pain?

[psmd-lingering-shadows]

Part 6: Painful Connection

“…”

"..."

"..."

"..."

Once the two of us had left school, we began walking down the path that led to the plaza.  Although, neither of us had said a word to each other since we began walking.  The two of us have just been making our way towards the village in awkward silence.  I wanted to say something to Kokai and kick off some sort of conversation, but whenever I'd try to speak to him, I'd end up looking at him only to see that he has this strange expression on his face.  He looked like he was lost in thought, or like he was pondering something.  Now that I mention it, he had that same look on his face when I went back to check on him right before we left.  I can't help but wonder what he could be thinking about...

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

At this point, we had been walking for quite some time, and Kokai still seemed like he was lost in his own little world.  I huffed in annoyance as I was starting to lose my patience.  Seriously, has he forgotten that I'm here, walking right next to him?

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Ugh..."

...Okay, that does it.

Finally fed up with the constant silence, I shouted Kokai's name so I could  to get his attention.  It definitely did the trick, because as soon as he heard me shouting, he quickly whipped his head towards me, seemingly surprised.

"...H-huh?  What's wrong?" he asked.

I gave him a small frown and asked if he was absolutely sure if he was alright.

He gave me a nod.  "Yeah, like I said earlier, I'm alright.  Don't worry about me," he reassured.

"..."

Realizing that I was still unconvinced by his words, he gave a small smile and spoke again.

"Come on, don't make that face.  Worrying so much doesn't suit you at all.  I've just got some stuff on my mind, that's all.  It's nothing too serious."

Well...if you say so...

Kokai paused for a moment before seemingly coming to a realization.  Then he looked at me with a slightly guilty expression.  "Oh, wait...have you been trying to talk to me this whole time?" he asked.

Geez...it looks like he's finally starting to remember what we were supposed to be doing.  I gave him a small nod, causing him to sigh guiltily.

"I'm sorry.  I wasn't trying to ignore you or anything.  I guess I kind of just zoned out without realizing it..."

Yeah, no kidding.  I was actually starting to get a little worried when you just kept walking with that blank stare...

After I said that, Kokai aggressively shook his head as if he was trying to rid his head of whatever he was thinking of.  Then he turned back to me.

"Alright, I promise you that it won't happen again.  Let's get to chatting, yeah?" he asked.

I gave him an excited grin and nodded my head.  To be honest, ever since the incident at the Foreboding Forest, I've been hoping for an opportunity to get to speak with him again.  Not just because of my curiosity, but also because he really seems like someone who would be enjoyable to be around.  That's the kinda vibe I'm getting from him, anyway.  Despite appearing cold on the surface, he seems to be a genuinely kind Pokémon deep down.  Especially after what he said to me yesterday...

Kokai noted the expression on my face and chuckled.  "Geez, you really wanted to spend time with me, huh?  Are you this eager to talk to every Pokémon you meet, or am I really just that special?" he asked.

I paused and looked down, slightly embarrassed.  Did I really seem that desperate to hang out with him...?

"Heh, I'm just joking, Nozomi.  To tell you the truth, I think I kind of needed this.  After everything that's happened to me lately, it's nice to just relax and spend time with someone else...even if we haven't known each other that long," he said, his face softening up a bit.

After everything that's happened to you, huh...?

...

No, I shouldn't bring it up now.  Kokai's right.  Let's just relax for a bit and spend time with each other for now.  My questions can wait for a bit.

I gave him a warm smile and nodded in agreement.  Although he wouldn't know, that sentence applies to the both of us.  After experiencing all the weird stuff that's been happening to me recently - my sleeping problems and that dream I had - I think it would do me good to just slow down and take it easy today with Kokai.

...Haha, that sounds so unlike me.  But hey, even I want to just chill out and take breaks sometimes.  Even the most energetic Pokémon will burn themselves out if they don't rest from time to time.  Well, that's what Pops told me, anyway. 

"...Oh, we're here already."

"...?"

Pulled out of my brief thoughts by Kokai's voice, I looked ahead, only to realize that we were already at the plaza.  Huh...I guess I was so caught up in talking to him, I wasn't even paying attention to how much farther we had to walk.

Kokai turned towards me and spoke.  "Alright, then.  We've got plenty of time to kill before we both have to head home.  What do you wanna do?" he asked.

Hmm...that's a good question.  I, uh, honestly didn't think that far ahead...

"..."

...Oh!  Now that I think about it, Kokai still doesn't know this place too well, does he?  He's only just arrived in Serene Village yesterday, after all.  This is actually a good opportunity, then!  I could show him around the place and help him become more familiar with it!

I excitedly told Kokai what I had in mind, hoping that he would be on board with it.

"Oh...I already showed myself around yesterday," he said.

Wha...Really?

He nodded.  "It was right before I headed to the Foreboding Forest.  I didn't have anything better to do, so I decided to explore the village for a bit.  Although Mr. Nuzleaf wasn't too happy about it when I got back..."

Ah...I see...

Kokai shook his head.  "There's no need to look so dejected, Nozomi.  We can just do something else," he said.

Yeah...I guess you're right.

...

Oh, I know!  I can take him up to the hill that's near the entrance of the village.  Everyone here loves the view there, so I just know he will, too!

"..."

"...Huh?  You...want to take me somewhere special?"

I replied with an eager nod.

Kokai stayed quiet for a moment, then gave me a morbidly serious expression.

"...No."

"...?!"

No?  B-but, you don't even know what it is yet...Come on, you'll really like it!

Kokai slightly furrowed his brow and looked down.  "...You're talking about that hill, aren't you?"

"...!!"

Huh?!  How did he...?

"I heard some other villagers talking about it the yesterday, if you're wondering how I know about it," he said, somehow guessing what I was thinking.  "I ended up having to go past it when I got here with Mr. Nuzleaf, too, so I've already seen it."

That might be the case, but even so...that still doesn't mean we can't go there...

"...I'm sorry, but I just...I can't go there," he said.

...

...Again.

There it was again.

Those same painful feelings I felt from yesterday.

After he said that, I ended up catching a glimpse into his eyes.  They were filled with the same intense emotions as yesterday, when we were in the Foreboding Forest.  Staring into his eyes like that...It made me feel an inexplicable sorrow.  A sorrow so intense, it caused me to visibly grimace.

Noticing the look on my face, he turned away with a sorrow-filled expression. "...I'm sorry. I'm bringing down the mood. Maybe this wasn't the best idea. It would probably be best if I just headed home..."

"N-no, wait!"

"...!"

Without realizing it, I ended up quickly grabbing Kokai's wrist, which kept him in place. He looked up and stared at me with a mixture of surprise and confusion on his face.

"Nozomi...?"

"..."

Once I saw my own flipper gripping his wrist so tightly, I widened my eyes and let go as quickly as I had grabbed him. Then I gave him a guilty expression and looked down shamefully. I...honestly don't know what came over me just then. When it looked like he was about to walk away, I was just...overcome with this intense feeling. Like, if he left right then and there, then...

...I'd never see him again.

...

Argh, what the heck is wrong with me?! Why would I even think something like that? I'd never see him again? He's my neighbor! Of course I'd see him again! And, even if that weren't the case, why do I care so much?! I mean, yeah, he seems like a cool Pokémon and all, but we haven't even known each other for that long! I'm acting like we've known each other our whole lives! Get a grip, Nozomi!

"Um..."

"...!"

I looked back up to find Kokai staring at me with concern. It looked as though he wanted to say something, but was holding back for whatever reason.

I, on the other hand, began to profusely apologize for what just happened. No matter how I felt in that moment, that was definitely wrong for me to just grab him so harshly like that.

Kokai, slightly taken aback my apologizing, shook his head. "N-no, it's okay. It's just, um..."

He tried finishing his sentence, but he ended up trailing off at the end. Now the two of us were just staring at each other, not saying a thing.

...Ugh, this is so awkward. This wasn't how I wanted this to go down at all...

Finally, after a few more seconds of silence, Kokai finally spoke.

"...The cafe."

...Hmm?

"How about we go to the cafe? It seems like it's a nice place to visit. We could both grab some food and drinks there," he said.

...

...

...Oh.

O-oh, right! The cafe! How did that not cross my mind earlier? That sounds like it would be pretty fun!

I excitedly nodded my head, still hoping that the two of us could still have a good time together.

"Heh, alright. Then let's head on over," Kokai said as he started to walk towards the cafe. I followed him, though I was still shocked about what just happened a moment ago. That...I don't even know how to explain something like that. That intense sensation I felt and...how I reacted. I still couldn't believe it. Why in the world did I do that...?

...

Well, I couldn't really think about it now. We were already at the entrance to the cafe. ...Well, of course we were. It only took, like, five seconds to get there from where we were. Anyway, the two of us stood there for a moment, then looked at each other. Kokai, sensing my unease from earlier, gave me a small but reassuring smile. I smiled back at him, letting him know that I was alright. Once he saw that, he nodded, and we both walked inside together. Upon entering the cafe, I immediately started to look around. The place had other Pokémon seated at some of the tables, but it's not like it was completely full, either. There were still some empty tables scattered here and there. I figured Kokai and I would sit somewhere in the back so no one could disturb us.

"Well, well, if it isn't Carracosta's little girl!"

"...?"

I turned to where the voice was coming from, only to make eye contact with the cafe's owner, Miss Kangaskhan, who was serving food to a group of Pokémon near the front. I gave her a warm smile and politely greeted her.

"I have to say, it's been quite some time since you've stepped foot in here, Nozomi! How have you been? You haven't been causing too much trouble around the village, have you?" Miss Kangaskhan asked teasingly.

Uh...

I didn't know how to answer that, so I awkwardly chuckled and simply shook my head, causing her to giggle.

"I'm just teasing, dear. There's no need to act so sheepish. Sure, you might cause a bit of trouble every now and then, but I know you're a good sort," she said.

...

Once she gave her customers their food, Miss Kangaskhan shifted her attention from me to Kokai, who was still standing next to me. "Oh? I see you brought along a friend, too. Although...Oh! I remember now! You swung by here yesterday, didn't you?"

Kokai nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I'm new to the village, so I decided to explore for a bit and eventually came across your cafe."

After hearing that, Miss Kangaskhan widened her eyes in realization. "Ah, so you're the one my earlier customers were talking about! I overheard them talking about how Nuzleaf brought back a child from one of his trips. I get so many customers from outta the village that I just assumed you were one of them the other day. Didn't even cross my mind that you were his kid!"

"...!"

"..."

"...He's not my dad."

...?

Kokai...?

I turned to look at him, only to see him hiding the smallest scowl on his face. I stared at him, confusion and concern both expressed on my face. Kokai noticed me, quickly returned to his neutral face and sighed.

"It's...complicated. He offered to let me stay with him, but it's not like we're family or anything," he explained.

Miss Kangaskhan gave him the same expression that I did, but chose not to press for any more details. "Oh...I see."

She then cleared her throat and decided to change the subject. "Well, I've talked both of your ears off, and you haven't even sat down yet! How about I show you to your table?" she asked.

Kokai nodded. "That would be great, thank you," he replied.

And with that, Miss Kangaskhan led us to an empty table that was closer to the back, just like I wanted.  She seated the both of us and began taking our orders.

"Now then, what would the two of you like?"

I looked through the menu's contents, taking a little longer than I had wanted to decide on something.  Finally, I gave a content grin as I found something that I wanted.  I plopped the menu down and told Miss Kangaskhan what I wanted.

"Apple juice and pancakes, please!~"

Upon hearing that, Kokai glanced up at me with a baffled look on his face.  "...You're eating pancakes in the afternoon?" he asked.

I looked at him and gave a nonchalant shrug.  Hey, what can I say?  I'm a breakfast Pokémon.

Miss Kangaskhan simply chuckled at our exchange and wrote down my order.  "Alright, then.  And what about you, Kokai?" she asked.

"Oh, I'll just have a plain black coffee and a few cinnamon rolls, please," he said.

...

I'm sorry, WHAT?!  BLACK COFFEE?!

Miss Kangaskhan, seemingly sharing my sentiment, gave Kokai a bewildered expression.  "Err...are you sure you don't want any sweetener or milk in it, dear?  Black coffee on its own is pretty bitter...especially for children," she warned.

"I'm sure.  This isn't my first time drinking the stuff," he answered.

Huh...?

Miss Kangaskhan and I both eyed each other before she wrote down Kokai's order.  "Alright, if that's what you want..."

Once she was done, she looked back at both of us and smiled.  "Okay!  Your orders should be ready in a few minutes.  Just sit tight in the meantime, okay?"

We both nodded as she walked off to prepare our food.  The moment, she left, I instantly turned to look at Kokai.

"Huh?  What's wrong?"

"..."

"What?  I like bitter stuff, alright?  Sue me.  And to be fair, I ordered cinnamon rolls, too.  So it all balances out," he argued.

Yeah, yeah, whatever...I just can't believe that there's a kid who drinks coffee...BLACK coffee, at that.

Kokai playfully rolled his eyes.  "Oh, please.  Get off my back already.  There's no way I'm taking criticism about my drink preferences from a Piplup who literally ordered breakfast for dinner," he said.

H-hmph!  There's nothing wrong with that!  Miss Kangaskhan's pancakes taste amazing!  You're just getting on my case because your food palette isn't refined enough for you to understand!

"Pfft..."

...?

Kokai let out a small laugh.  "My food palette isn't refined enough...?  The heck is that even supposed to mean?" he asked as he kept laughing to himself.

...

I let out a small smile at the sight of Kokai laughing.  I think this was the first time I've seen him let out a genuine laugh.  This is the most relaxed I've seen him since I've met him.  I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, since I've only met him pretty recently, but considering how he's acted before, this was completely refreshing to see.  I'm glad that he seems to be enjoying himself. 

I'm glad...that he seems to be happy.

...

Kokai and I spent the next few minutes talking about the most random topics.  Whatever came to our minds, we'd end up talking about it.  It was nothing but us sharing a bunch of silly thoughts and engaging in idle chit-chat, ranging from what our favorites foods were to why Mr. Farfetch'd always carried that stalk of his around all the time.  Needless to say, we were both having a good time.

"Coming through!  Make way!"

"...!"

Kangaskhan had arrived with both of our orders ready.  She quickly but carefully set them down one-by-one, making sure she didn't accidentally drop either of them.  Then she looked at both of us and gave us a warm smile.

"Here you go.  I hope the two of you enjoy!" she said.

"Thanks, Miss Kangaskhan!"

"Thank you," Kokai said.

She nodded and left to deal with the other customers in the cafe, leaving the two of us by ourselves once again.  I wasted no time as I began cutting and eating the pancakes that were in front of me.  Kokai, who was about to take a sip of his coffee, stared at me in disbelief as I destroyed the small tower of flapjacks.

"For the love of Arceus, Nozomi, at least put some syrup on them before you devour them like that..." he said.

I looked up at him and chuckled at his reaction.  Though, he was right.  I should put some syrup on them first...

We spent time after that talking to each other while simultaneously eating our food.  Just like before, we weren't talking about anything in particular, just whatever came to mind.  I was actually pretty satisfied with that.  Even though I was still curious about Kokai, I figured I could ask about him some other time.  The two of us were having fun, and I didn't wanna kill the vibe by bringing up all of these questions I had.

"Hey, Nozomi?"

"...?"

"Miss Kangaskhan mentioned that you visited this place before," he said.

Hmm?  Yeah, that's right.  What about it?

"It's just...For some reason, I was under the impression that this was your first time coming here."

I shook my head.  Nah, I actually came here a bunch of times here when I was younger with Pops.

Kokai's eyes widened slightly.  "Really?  Then what made you two stop coming together?" he asked.

I shrugged.  I guess neither of us have the time to go anymore.  I ended up being busy with school, and Pops got busier tending to his berry field and helping other Pokémon in the village.  Even on the rare occasions I come home early, he might still be out doing his own thing...just like the other day.

Kokai took a small sip of his coffee and looked down.  "...I see."

I gave him a confused look and asked why he wanted to know.

"O-oh, I was just curious, that's all.  Sorry if that question seemed odd to you," he said.

Oh, of course not.  Although, now that you brought it up, I guess it is a little sad that Pops and I don't spend as much time as we used to.  But I guess that's just how it is when a you get older...

"..."

"..."

The two of us stayed quiet for a while, occasionally taking a bite of our food or a sip of our drinks.  Drat.  Looks like I did end up bringing down the mood, after all.

I apologized to Kokai for my slightly depressing comment and for ruining the fun atmosphere, but he stayed quiet for a few more seconds until asking something that totally caught me off guard.

"Nozomi...are you... are you happy with your life?"

"...Huh?"

"Are you happy with your life the way it is now?" he repeated.

Wha...That's a really random question to ask someone!  And a bit of a personal one at that...Where in the world is this coming from?

After not immediately answering his question, Kokai gave an apologetic expression.  "...I'm sorry.  That's a strange question to ask someone you've just met.  I should have just kept it to myself..." he said.

...

...

...Well, I mean...

"...?"

It's not like I can go and say that I've lived the perfect life.  I've had my fair share of bad experiences.  And, of course, some of those experiences only happened because of...the way I am.  I'm fully aware of how reckless I can be and much trouble I cause.  Even though I don't mean to, I just end up becoming a nuisance for others.  Even though the villagers here have been friendly to me for the most part, I know that there's a part of them deep down that think I'm nothing but a pain in the backside.

Kokai looked at me with a sorrowful expression.  "H-hey, come on now.  That's not true..." he said.

I shook my head in disagreement. 

I know I can be pretty dense, but I know how much of a handful I can be sometimes.  To the villagers, to my teachers and classmates, even to Pops.  And because of that, I can't help but feel a little lonely sometimes.  It's rough, having everyone getting on your case, not having anyone who understands you.  I've been trying to do better and not cause any trouble for others, but...it's been hard, you know?

"..."

But still...despite how hard it can be, despite how lonely I feel sometimes...I don't let it get to me!  I just gotta keep smiling and keep doing my best.  No matter how hard things get, you can't let yourself give up!  Because...if you do...then all the effort you put in will have been for nothing...

"..."

And hey, it's not like my life's been this one, depressing mess.  I've had a lot of good experiences in Serene Village, too.  Even though I annoy him to death sometimes, I know Pops still loves me a whole lot!  Heck, I've made a lot of good memories with him, ever since I was little!  And, it's not a lot compared to him, but I do have a handful of good memories with my classmates, too.  Oh, but since Pancham and I made up yesterday, hopefully I'll get to make a lot more soon!

"Nozomi..."

Er, so to answer your question...I'd say I'm pretty happy.  It definitely hasn't been perfect, and I've got a long way to go before I get where I wanna be, but overall, I've been pretty satisfied with my life so far.

After hearing me say all of that, Kokai stayed silent for a long while.  I simply stared at him, still wondering why he'd ask something like that.  Eventually, after waiting a few more seconds, I decided to just keep speaking.

"...Hey, Kokai?"

"Huh...?"

"Do you have a dream?  Or a goal that pushes you to keep moving forward?"

Kokai once again fell silent.  When it became apparent that he wasn't going to answer, I spoke again.

"My dream is to join the Expedition Society and create a map of the whole world!  That way, I'll be able to go on all sorts of adventures and meet all sorts of Pokémon!  For the longest time, that dream has kept me motivated.  It's one of the things that have kept me going whenever I felt bad in the past.  Do...do you have something like that?"

"..."

...No, huh?  Yeah, I guess most kids wouldn't have such a grand dream like this so soon -

"Yes...I do."

"...!"

Wait, really?!  What is it?!

Instead of telling me, Kokai gave me the same pained expression he had at school and looked away.

"...I can't tell you."

Huh?!  Why not?!

"I just can't.  It's..." he started before I cut him off.

"...Complicated?"

"...Yeah."

I furrowed my brow slightly and frowned at him.  Everything about you seems to be complicated, Kokai.  Your past, why you're living with Mr. Nuzleaf, this weird feeling that shows up whenever I see you...

"...What?"

"...?"

"This weird feeling you have around me...what exactly does it feel like?" he asked with a slightly furrowed brow.

O-oh, well, uh...I don't exactly know how to describe it...

"Try."

I was slightly caught off-guard by Kokai's sudden shift in attitude.  Why did he suddenly become so tense...?

Anyway, I described the sensation I felt when I first saw him in the Foreboding Forest, the same sensation that made me feel like the two of us had met in the past.  Though, while I was talking, I could see Kokai becoming paler and paler by the second, which I immediately noticed.  Kokai, who came off as calm and stoic this entire time, looked like he was starting to lose his cool, which was more than enough reason to be concerned.  Eventually, I stopped talking and asked him if he was alright.

Kokai, despite looking unwell, did everything in his power to try and remain calm.  "...I'm fine," he simply said.

No, you clearly aren't.  You look like you're about to pass out.

"I'm...I'm just tired," he said.

I furrowed my brow at him.  Was that really the best excuse you could come up with?  I'm not that dumb, Kokai.

"...It's probably the coffee.  I guess it was too bitter for me, after all, ahahaha..." he said with that pitiful laugh at the end.

...Kokai, please stop lying to me.

Kokai frowned in response to what I said.  "I'm not..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Miss Kangaskhan walked over to our table.

"Hey, you two!  Is everything alright?  Are you enjoying the food-" she said before looking at Kokai and letting out a small gasp.  "Oh my goodness!  Sweetie, are you alright?!" she asked.

Kokai nodded.  "Yeah...I just need some fresh air.  I'm sorry for worrying you two," he said as he got up from his seat and made his way outside, leaving Miss Kangaskhan and I to look at each other worriedly.

"My goodness...I wonder what happened to him?  He seemed fine a moment ago..." she said.

...That's what I intend to find out.

I quickly got up from my seat and ran outside, hoping that Kokai didn't just end up running off somewhere.  Thankfully, he really did step outside to get some fresh air, as he was taking deep breaths to try to calm himself down.

"..."

He was so into his breathing, he didn't notice me approach him from behind.  While he was distracted, I gently reached out to him and touched his shoulder, which...wasn't the best idea in hindsight.

"Gah...!"

"!!!"

After we both managed to startle each other, Kokai realized that it was just me and sighed deeply.  "Geez...it's not polite to startle others like that, you know?" he said with a forced smile.  Even after that entire display in the cafe, he's still trying to act like nothing's wrong...?

Kokai...please...just stop it.

Once he heard me say that in that pleading tone, Kokai finally dropped the act and simply looked down.  His fist was clenched so tightly, I was afraid he was going to accidentally pierce his palm with his claws.

In a gentle tone, I asked him why he reacted the way I did when I spoke earlier...why it ended up bothering him so much. 

However, despite my persistence, he stayed quiet.

"Kokai, please.  Tell me what's bothering you."

He stayed quiet.

"You're hiding something, aren't you?  Something that's eating you up inside.  Something that's making you feel all these painful emotions."

He stayed quiet.

"I could sense it, you know?  When we made eye contact for the first time.  I could sense the pain that you were in.  It was...so intense and horrible.  You've been trying to hide it, but it was bound to come out on its own."

He stayed quiet.

"Please, whatever you're going through, let me help you deal with it.  You don't need to do this by yourself..."

He STILL stayed quiet.

Eventually, I got frustrated at his silence, causing me to accidentally raise my voice.

"Darn it, Kokai!  Why won't you say anything?!  Why won't you tell me what's bothering you?!" I asked.

"BECAUSE I CAN'T!!!"

When Kokiai shouted that, the tail on his flame briefly grew bigger.  His voice echoed throughout the entire plaza, causing the other Pokémon around us to look and stare at us.

"..."

Seeing that I had flinched at his shouting and the amount of eyes on us, Kokai quickly covered his mouth, then gave me one of the most apologetic looks I had ever seen.  In a hushed tone, he continued speaking.

"I...I'm sorry, Nozomi.  I'm so sorry...but I can't.  I can't tell you anything," he simply said.

I gave him a expression that displayed a mixture of empathy and confusion, then asked him what he meant by that.

"I can't tell you.  If I do, then..." he paused before shaking his head.  "I can't...I won't risk you getting involved in this.  I won't risk you getting hurt again.  This...this is my burden to carry."

I looked at him with widened eyes.  Getting hurt again...?  His burden to carry...?  What is he on about?

He looked at me and gave me a melancholic smile.  "I had fun spending time with you, Nozomi.  I really did.  I want you to know that you really are a wonderful Pokémon.  But after today...I want you to stay away from me.  It's for your own good."

"!?"

What...?  Stay away from you?  Why?!  I don't understand!  What are you trying to-

Before I could finish what I wanted to say, he started to walk off.  However, he quickly stopped and looked back at me.  Then, with the same smile from before, told me:

"Make sure you fulfill that dream of yours, alright?  I'm sure the Expedition Society would be lucky to have you.  As for me...I'll be sure to fulfill mine."

And with that, he slowly walked off, leaving me and the Pokémon who witnessed the entire thing to watch him until he was out of sight.  Everyone around me was murmuring and whispering amongst themselves, wondering what could have happened. 

As for me?  I just stood there, a mixture of emotions running through me.  Confusion, frustration, helplessness...and sadness.  A deep sadness that pierced me deeply.  No matter how much I tried to shake it off, I just couldn't. 

...Not this time.

It's funny.  When Kokai agreed to spend time with me earlier, I had hoped to learn more about him.  But, in the end, I just have even more questions.  Have we really met each other before?  What type of burden was Kokai carrying? 

...And just how heavy of a burden was it for it to cause him so much pain?

[psmd-lingering-shadows]

Part 5: This Curious Feeling

After a bit of time had passed, I ended up making it back to Serene Village. I don't exactly know how, but I somehow ended up running all the way back here. But, just like I expected, the moment I stopped running, I went into a massive panting fit. I was basically gasping for air for a while there. Cripes, I don't think I've ever run such a long distance before. Maybe that's a sign that I needed to start laying off the sweets and get into shape. I'm chubby enough as is...

After panting for a few more seconds, I managed to collect myself and took a deep breath. Then I took a look up at the sky, only to see that the sun was nearly out of sight and the moon was clearly visible. I stared in shock as I began to realize how much time had passed since school had let out earlier. Kids like me should've been home around half an hour ago, at the latest.

...Yeah, I'm totally in for it when I get home.

Pops is gonna yell my ear off the moment I step through the door, I'm sure of it. A part of me just wanted to stay in the plaza to prolong my inevitable doom. But I already knew that doing so would only make things worse for me in the end.

Ugh...I might as well head home and face my punishment...It's not like it would be the first time, so I should be used to it by now...

After letting out an obnoxious sigh, I slowly began making my way to our house.  I crossed the bridge and took a look at all of the houses in the area.  The doors were all closed and the lights were on inside, meaning that the villagers were inside and probably about to settle down for the night.  I noticed that the houses of my classmates were lit up, too.  Now that I think about it, Pancham and the rest of them ended up leaving right after me, right?  Did they end up making it back before I did somehow?  I wonder if they ended up getting in trouble with their parents, too?  Yeesh, if that's the case, I feel bad for them, especially Pancham.  His mom might be on the same level as Pops is when it comes to how scary they can be when they get upset.  But then again, he kinda put himself in that position in the first place by doing what he did, so...I guess it can be considered karma?

While I was thinking about all of this, I ended up freezing in my tracks when I noticed something that caught my attention.

The lights are on in Mr. Nuzleaf's house, too...

Wait, if his lights are on, then that means that he really is back from his trip!  It looks like Kokai was right.

...Oh, but wait.  Wouldn't that mean Kokai is inside, too?  He did say that he was staying with Mr. Nuzleaf, so he'd totally be inside right now, right?  In that case, maybe it wouldn't hurt to take a quick peek inside and see what he's up to...

...

No, what are you talking about, Nozomi?  Looking into someone else's house?  Isn't that an invasion of privacy?  Come on, even you wouldn't do something like that.

...

But...it would only be for a moment...and I do wanna see Kokai again, even if it's only for a few seconds...

...

N-no!  Come on, now.  You're better than that.  Besides, I shouldn't be wasting any more time.  I need to get home right now.

Managing to suppress my curiosity and my desire to see Kokai again, I forcefully shook my head and walked past Mr. Nuzleaf's house.  After taking only a few more steps, I found myself in front of my own house.  I looked at the door and, as expected, saw that it was closed.  I doubt it was locked though - Pops usually leaves it unlocked until it becomes completely dark outside.  Besides, I hadn't come home yet, so he wouldn't just lock me out.

"..."

Well, this is it.  Once I swing this door open, I'm gonna get scolded into total oblivion.  Maybe if I told him why I got home so late, he'd be at least a little more lenient.  It's worth a shot, at least.  Either way, what's about to happen next is gonna be pretty unpleasant for me.

Making a nervous gulp, I put the tip of my flipper on the knob and turned it, then slowly pushed the door open.  I only managed to takes two steps into the house before I immediately heard loud footsteps approaching from the other room.  Pops had gotten up from where he was and instantly ran over to see me.

"Nozomi!?" he said with a hint of relief in his voice.

I scratched the back of my head and gave him a sheepish smile before announcing that I was home.

When I did that, Pops's brow furrowed and an angry expression appeared on his face.  Oh, boy.  Here we go...

"You come home hours later than you were supposed to and THAT'S all you have to say?!  You little fool!  Where in the world were you?!  I was worried sick!" he yelled.

After initially flinching at how loud he was shouting, I began telling him what had happened once I had left school.  I told him just about everything - from me falling asleep in class and leaving later than everyone else, to me overhearing Shelmet and Deerling and following them to look for Goomy, to me ending up going through the Foreboding Forest with Pancham and meeting Kokai.  Even if he got more upset about me going against his warnings by going into the Foreboding Forest, I figured it was better if I was completely honest with him.  I at least owed him that much for making him worry so much.

When I was finished explaining everything that happened, Pops closed his eyes as though he was deep in thought, then let out a heavy sigh.

"Goodness, Nozomi.  You really do know how to get yourself into troublesome situations," he said.

I looked down at the ground and quietly apologized for making him worry about me for the millionth time.

He looked at me and shook his head.  "Hmph.  At this point, I'm used to it...though I'm not sure if that's necessarily a good thing," he said.

I looked back at him, remaining quiet for a moment, then took a risk by asking him how much trouble I was in.  In response to that, Pops paused, stared at me for an uncomfortably long time, then gave his answer.

"I will admit, I am rather upset with how you went about the situation.  Instead of coming to me or one of your classmate's parents, you all decided to handle the situation by yourselves.  The Foreboding Forest is no place for children to run around in.  There's no telling what could have happened to any of you if the rescue didn't go well," he lectured.

"..."

"But..."

Huh?

"...I do understand that you meant well and were only trying to do the right thing.  You saw that someone else was in trouble, and you decided to lend a helping hand.  I can understand the desire to help others, no matter how much danger is involved with doing so."

P-Pops...

"So, to answer your question, Nozomi, the answer is no.  You're not in any trouble...this time."

When he gave me that answer, I couldn't help but smile gleefully.  I couldn't believe my ears!  I thought for sure that I was totally done for!

"However..."

"...!"

"...You must promise me that if a situation like that ever happens again, you won't act so recklessly.  Let me or any other one of the adults from the village take care of it.  Is that understood?"

Ugh, I figured there would be some sort of catch.  Well, I guess that's just Pops for ya.  He acts like a stern old Pokémon, but I know that deep down, he's super protective of me.  A bit overly so sometimes, but I guess being a parent does that to you.  I'll be honest - I didn't like the idea of having to get an adult every time something bad goes down.  It kinda makes me think that Pops doesn't believe I'm capable of handling problems like this.  I mean, I know I can be pretty irresponsible sometimes, but that doesn't mean that I'm completely incompetent!  He probably doesn't mean it like that, and this is just him being him as always, but it still bothered me for some reason.  Still, it's not like I have a choice here.

I begrudgingly promised that I'd do what he told me to do, making him respond with a nod.

"Good," he said, seemingly satisfied.  "Now then, moving on from that...you must be quite famished after everything you've been through today," he said.

Before I could reply, I heard a low grumbling sound coming from my belly.  I looked down in embarrassment as Pops gave a small chuckle.

"I'll take that as a yes," he said as he started walking towards the kitchen counter.  "Very well, then.  I had planned on having you help me fix tonight's dinner, but I suppose you won't have enough energy to be of any help.  Just head into your room and wait while I fix everything, alright?"

I nodded and went into my room to wait.  It took a little longer than I expected, but Pops finally finished making everything.  The two of us spent the rest of that evening in the kitchen, chatting and eating his amazing food.  Overall, I was pretty happy with how today turned out.  I got to go on an adventure in Foreboding Forest, Goomy ended up getting rescued, I got to meet Kokai, I was able to bury the hatchet with Pancham, and despite turning up late, I still managed to spend some time with Pops.

...Heh, I don't think I've ever had such an awesome day like this before.

Once we had finished eating, I was about to head back into my room until a thought popped into my head.  I turned around and called out to Pops.

Pops, who was gathering the dishes from the table, looked up and tilted his head.  "Hmm?  What is it, Nozomi?"

"..."

"When did Mr. Nuzleaf come back from his trip?  Hmm...if I recall correctly, it was in the afternoon, a little while after school had been let out.  Based on what you told me earlier, you were still at the school while everyone else had already left," he replied.

Right...that makes sense.  Well, if Pops saw Mr. Nuzleaf, then...

"..."

"Oh?  You're wondering if I saw the child that was accompanying him?  You told me his name was Kokai, yes?"

I gave him a small nod.

"Well, I did catch a brief glimpse of both of them while I was out gathering ingredients for tonight.  They were both heading towards Mr. Nuzleaf's house.

Huh...I see...So, Mr. Nuzleaf left Serene Village for one of his usual trips, then ran into Kokai at some point during that time, and ended up taking him back with him?  But why?  What caused him to do something like that?  From what I can tell, Mr. Nuzleaf doesn't seem like the type of Pokémon who'd wanna care for a kid...

Realizing that I was lost in thought, Pops asked me a question.

"Why are you asking me all of this, anyway?  Are you perhaps curious about the young lad?"

"...!"

W-wow...Was it that obvious?

Well, I mean, why wouldn't I be? There's so much about him that I wanna know more about!  Where he came from, why Nuzleaf took him in, how he's so good at exploring...

...But, there are two things in particular that I wanna know more than anything else.

First off, when we had first introduced ourselves, and I had stared into his eyes, they were filled with such intense pain and sorrow.  I've never seen a pair of eyes hold so much emotion in them like that before.  I had only looked into his eyes for few seconds and I was able to feel everything he had felt at that moment...It was awful.  Why?  What could have caused him to feel like that?  Did something set it off?

And secondly, the whole time we were exploring, I couldn't shake this weird feeling I got whenever I would look at him.  This weird deja vu sensation...It was as though I had met him already.  But, there's no way that's the case.  I mean, if I had met him before, I definitely would have remembered.  There's no way I would have forgotten someone as unique as him!

...

Hold up...Now that I think about it...it's that exact same feeling I had when I had that dream last night!  Yeah, when I was talking to that weird voice!  I remember pointing out that it sounded familiar to me somehow...

Wait...don't tell me...could that voice be related to Kokai in some way?!

...

...

No...no, of course not.  Even if those two seem familiar to me, there's no way could be related.  I'm just being weird by coming up with these crazy theories...

"...Nozomi!"

"...!!"

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Pops shouting my name.  I looked up at him, seeing his confused and slightly concerned face.

"Are you alright?  What exactly are you thinking about?" he asked.

To that question, I looked down, paused for a brief moment, then looked back up at Pops with a slightly determined expression.

...I wanna know more about Kokai.

When I said that, Pops looked at me curiously.  "Oh?  Do you, now?" he asked.

I nodded vigorously.  Yeah, if I want answers to my questions, then I'll just have get them by seeing him again.  I'll be sure to find out more about him if we see each other again.  And of course, even if I don't get any info from him, just being able to spend time with him would be pretty nice...

Pops gave me a small smirk.  "Hmm, I see.  I didn't expect him to pique your interest that much.  Are you sure it's just curiosity that's making you so interested in this boy?" he asked.

...Huh?  What does he mean by...

...

...!!

WHA-?!

The moment I understood what Pops was trying to imply, a huge blush formed on my face.  I frantically shook my head in an attempt to tell him that it wasn't like that at all.  This only caused him to let out a hearty chuckle.

"Ahahahahaha!  There's no need to get so riled up.  It was a mere jest," he said.

I furrowed my brow and frowned at him.  That wasn't funny at all.  Geez...

Then Pops's expression shifted into a serious one.  "...That being said, if you were to try and pursue a relationship with someone, I would have to put a stop to it.  You're far too young to be involved in that sort of thing," he said.

C-CAN WE PLEASE STOP TALKING ABOUT THIS?!

After unintentionally blurting that out, Pops stared at me with slightly widened eyes, then awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Alright, alright.  I can see that I've embarrassed you enough for one night," he said, giving me another small smirk.

I turned away from him, crossed my arms, and pouted, making an obnoxious "Hmph!" in the process.

Pops let out a sigh before speaking again.  "In all seriousness, if you really are as interested in this child as you say you are, then by all means, go ahead and speak with him.  I'm sure he'll be happy to see you again."

Is that right?  I sure hope so...

...

*yawn*

Oh wow...I didn't realize how tired I was becoming.

Hearing me yawn so suddenly, Pops looked outside the window and realized how dark it had become.  Then he looked back at me and gave a small grunt.  "It's getting late.  You should head to bed soon.  We can talk about this more in the morning, if you'd like," he said.

I gave him a small nod before rubbing my eyes.  I ended up letting out another yawn, which prompted me to start walking towards my room.  I thanked Pops for dinner and wished him a good night before turning in for the night and drifting off to sleep -

...Oh, hold on!

I never told Pops about my dream!

So much stuff happened today that it caused me to forget to tell him!

Ugh...Oh well.  I'll just tell him tomorrow.

*yawn*

...Okay, I should really go to sleep now.  Wouldn't wanna add to my sleeping issues by staying up late...

...

...

...

THE NEXT MORNING...

...

...

"...zomi..."

...

"...Nozomi..."

...

"NOZOMI!"

...Huh?

...

...Bwuh!  Not again!

Hearing Pops shouting my name with that booming voice of his was enough to instantly make me realize what was going on.

I had overslept...again.

Geez Louise...this was starting to become a real headache…I wonder how much longer I can keep going like this?

I turned to look at Pops, who was motioning for me to get up.

"Hurry and get ready, Nozomi.  I'll prepare a quick breakfast for you so you won't have to go to school on an empty stomach."

I wanted to protest to that idea so I could have a better chance of arriving on time, but then I was quickly reminded of the last time I left for school without an actual meal.  Getting through the day with just an apple was pretty rough, and I'd rather not go through that again.  So I went along with what Pops said and slowly stood up so I could get ready.  I did a brief stretch to loosen up my body, then I grabbed my satchel and put my belongings in there, just like last time.  When I had gathered up everything, I went into the kitchen and sat at the table to wait for Pops to finish cooking.  After a few minutes, he had prepared a plate and set it down in front of me.  I looked down to see what he had made - some toasted bread with Chesto jam and some hash browns.

...I couldn’t help but grin as I realized he had intentionally used Chesto jam to help me keep my energy up. Nice one, Pops.

I quickly chomped down on the toast and gobbled up the hash browns.  Unfortunately, I failed to take into account the fact that they were freshly made, and therefore still pretty hot.  As a result, I ended up flailing around for the next thirty seconds trying to chew and swallow all of it while also trying not to let it burn the inside of my mouth.  Pops watched the entire scene unfold and couldn't help but let out a tired sigh.  Honestly, I couldn't blame him.  It was just the beginning of the day and he was already having to put up with my antics.

After recovering from that experience, I put my plate in the sink, ran up to Pops, gave him a brief hug, and thanked him for the meal before running out the door.  I heard Pops telling me to enjoy my day at school as I rushed out, and I couldn't help but let out a smile at what he said. 

Just like the other day this had happened, I hastily ran past the other houses, across the bridge, and through the plaza to get to school.  Hopefully, there was still some time left before the bell ends up ringing.  Even if there wasn't, maybe the teachers would be pretty understanding, considering they all know about my situation.  ...Well, at the very least, Miss Audino and Mr. Farfetch'd know.  But even if the other two don't, I could explain it to them.  I'm super sure Principal Simipour would understand.  Vice Principal Watchog, on the other hand...I honestly don't know how he'd react.  He'd probably find a way to still lecture me for being late...that definitely sounds like something he'd do.  Out of all the students at school, I'm the one who gets called out by him the most.  Even Pancham and Shelmet don't get in as much trouble with him compared to me.  I know it's because of my reputation, so it's pretty much my fault, but still...

As I got closer and closer to the school gate, I let out a confident smirk.  It looked like I was gonna arrive on time again, after all.

...Or at least, that’s what I had thought.

*RING RING RING*

"...!"

That was…the bell…

…

AW, NO!

Realizing that I had failed to make it to school on time, my running ended up turning into a full-blown sprint. I knew that it was kinda pointless to do so, since I was already late, but I wanted to believe that if I got there as quickly as possible, I wouldn’t be in as much trouble. I closed my eyes and put everything I had into my sprint. I was going so fast, it didn’t even feel like I was running anymore - I felt like I was using the move “Quick Attack”! Heh, I wonder if that’s how it really feels for other Pokémon who use it?

Unfortunately for me, I was so focused on my running, I initially didn’t realize that I had already zoomed past the school gate after a minute or so. It, uh, didn’t really help that I still had my eyes closed, too. I had finally wised up to that fact that I was there when I started hearing the surprised voices of my classmates and teachers. But by then, it was too late. The second I figured out that I had made it, a wave of confusion and panic washed over me. I had too much momentum to just stop in my tracks, and it seemed as though I was gonna crash straight into something at the speed I was going.

And, to my dismay, that’s exactly what happened.

…Well, kinda.

*thud*

“…?!”

A confused expression formed on my face as I was trying to process what just played out. Just like I was afraid of, I did end up making contact with something. But the impact wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be. In fact, it kinda felt as though it had been…cushioned? It felt as though I had ran into something soft…and warm.

…Hold on.

Maybe it wasn’t “something” I ran into?

Rather…it was “someone”?

Once that thought had occurred to me, I slowly opened my eyes and looked at what - or rather, who - I had crashed into. And the instant I did, my confusion was completely replaced by total shock.

“G-good grief…I didn’t know you could run that fast.”

When I had opened my eyes, I ended making direct eye contact with Kokai. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I mean, I knew he was staying with Mr. Nuzleaf, but for whatever reason, I didn’t think I’d see him again so soon. Especially not here at school! What was he even doing here?

“…?”

Wait a sec…

…

Eh?

It was then that I realized that Kokai was grabbing both of my shoulders. It was a gentle, yet firm grip that had a lot of strength behind it. Hold on. Did Kokai… did he manage to stop my sprinting by grabbing me so suddenly like that? N-no way! He just supposed to be a Charmander, right?! Charmander aren’t supposed to be that strong! And yet, he managed to stop me like he was a full-grown Charizard! How in the -

“Oh, goodness!”

“…?!”

I turned to my left, only to see all of the teachers looking on at the scene that had just unfolded. Even Principal Simipour was there, who was looking at both of us with a curious expression on his face. Mr. Farfectch’d simply stared at us, not quite sure how to react to what just happened. Vice Principal Watchog had a mixture of shock and outrage on his face, most likely due to the fact that I had yet again caused another scene in front of the whole class. The only one who actually said anything was Miss Audino, who ended up blurting that out in surprise and concern.

“Kokai! Nozomi! Are you two alright?!” she asked.

Kokai turned to her and nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he answered.

I looked at her and awkwardly nodded, confused as to what the heck was going on. Noticing my confusion, Principal Simipour gave me a warm smile and spoke.

“Good morning, Nozomi! It’s good to see that you managed to make it to class today. I was afraid that you wouldn’t be here for this special occasion,” he said.

I looked at him and questioningly tilted my head. Special occasion? What is he talking about?

“I was just announcing to the rest of the class that we had a new student here with us today. Though, from their earlier reactions, it seems as though most of them have already met him outside of class,” he said.

N-new student? Wait, is he talking about who I think he’s talking about?

I turned back to Kokai, who had let go of my shoulders and nodded his head, as though he knew what I was thinking.

“Yeah…it’s me,” he simply stated.

…

…

…

W-WHAAAAT?!

Did I hear that right?! Kokai is actually a student here now?! He’s gonna be coming here every day? That’s…

Before I could finish my thought, Principal Simipour continued with his explanation.

“Kokai here came here to Serene Village with Mr. Nuzleaf. He plans on staying here with him for a while, from what we heard from Mr. Nuzleaf. So with that being said, let’s all make sure he feels welcome here, not just at school, but in the village too.”

The rest of the class, who I didn’t pay any mind to until now, all responded in unison to Principal Simipour with a “Yes, sir!”.

Principal Simipour hummed in delight and turned to Mr. Farfetch’d. “Mr. Farfetch’d. Now that we’ve all been introduced to Kokai, would you mind starting class?” he asked.

Mr. Farfetch’d, still processing what just happened, stammered a bit before answering. “N-not at all, sir,” Mr. Farfetch’d replied.

“Alright, then. In that case, I’ll be heading back to the office. I hope you all enjoy listening to today’s lesson!” he said as he waved to everyone and walked back to his office. Vice Principal Watchog briefly looked at both Kokai and myself, then grunted and followed the principal back to the office.

Miss Audino stared at the two of us, making sure we weren’t hurt from what happened earlier. When she was done, she gave a small sigh of relief and waved at everyone before heading back to the nurse’s office, leaving just Mr. Farfetch’d to the rest of us. Mr. Farfetch’d awkwardly cleared his throat before managing to move on.

“W-well then…” he started, “…if everyone is ready proceed with the lesson, then we shall get started.” Then he turned to me. “Nozomi.”

“…!”

I quickly looked at him, waiting for him to speak again.

“I’m willing to excuse the fact that you were late to class if you simply take your seat and pay attention to the lesson,” he said.

…Oof. Looks like he remembered that I ended up coming to class late. I was hoping that me crashing into Kokai would cause him to forget, but I guess not.

I nodded and quickly headed to my desk, then plopped down in my seat. Mr. Farfetch’d then turned to Kokai. “Hmm, let’s see…Kokai, do you mind sitting next to Nozomi?” he asked.

He turned and looked at me with the same stoic expression he always seems to have, then shrugged. “…Sure,” he said as he walked over and casually sat at the desk that was right next to mine. Once he was settled in his seat, I couldn’t help but stare at him with a wide-eyed expression. I still couldn’t believe that he was actually here right now…

Kokai immediately noticed that I was staring at him and was about to say something, but was cut off by Mr. Farfetch’d.

“Oi, eyes up front, Nozomi! I expect you and everyone else to be on their best behavior today!” he shouted with a stern expression.

I turned back to the front and briefly apologized before sulking a bit in my seat. Kokai allowed his eyes to linger on me for a few seconds, then he did the same thing I did and quickly faced the front. And with that, Mr. Farfetch’d’s lesson began.

…

…

…

THAT AFTERNOON…

*RING RING RING*

“…And that is all for today. Class dismissed!” Mr. Farfetch’d announced before leaving the podium and walking to the office building. Once he had left, I felt myself finally relaxing since class had started. It had taken everything in me not to let myself become distracted during the entire day. It was even more difficult to do so today because of the Pokémon who was literally sitting next to me. I wanted to talk to him all day, but I knew if I tried getting his attention, Mr. Farfetch’d would have noticed and come down on me harder than a Snorlax using Body Slam on a Weedle.

Once I was done gathering up my belongings, I stood up from my seat and walked over to where Kokai was sitting. He was gathering his stuff too, so he didn’t notice that I was there until he looked up and saw me in front of his desk. His eyes widened slightly, but he quickly recovered and greeted me.

“Oh…Nozomi. Nice to see you again,” he said.

I greeted him with a friendly smile and asked how he was doing.

“Me? I’m doing well enough, I guess. Though, I didn’t expect that I’d end up attending classes here. Seriously, I have no idea why I’m even here. I don’t know why he’s being such as pain about all this…” he murmured the last part to himself.

I gave him a questioning look and asked who he was talking about.

Realizing that I had heard him say that, he calmly shook his head. “Don’t worry about it,” he replied. “And what about you? Are you doing alright?”

Before I could answer his question, I heard someone else shout Kokai’s name. I looked at where the voice was coming from, and saw Deerling and Goomy walking towards the two of us. Kokai turned around with a questioning look, wondering what they wanted.

“Deerling and Goomy. What’s up?” he asked.

Deerling paused for a moment before speaking again. “Well…we never got to thank you properly for rescuing Goomy in the Foreboding Forest, so we just wanted to say that we’re both really grateful for what you all did,” she said.

Goomy nodded. “Mm-hmm! Thank you again for saving me!” he said happily.

Kokai gave a small nod. “Don’t mention it. Pokémon are supposed to help each other out when they’re in trouble, aren’t they?”

Deerling smiled and let out a small giggle. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Still, I’m pretty curious about one thing though,” she said.

“Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

“How did you even know that Goomy was in the Foreboding Forest to begin with?” she asked.

Kokai paused for a moment, then gave his answer.

“…I saw you and Shelmet arguing about it in the plaza. I couldn’t just walk away, so I ended up following you guys.”

Deerling’s eyes widened at Kokai’s response. “Wait, you followed us, too?” she asked.

Kokai gave her a confused expression. “Huh? What are you talking about?” he asked.

“Oh, it’s just that Nozomi did the same thing. She said she followed us right after we left the plaza,” Deerling explained. “Although, it’s a little weird that you two didn’t run into each other at all if you did the same thing. And now that I think about it, it’s even stranger that we didn’t see you near the entrance, since it’s the only way into the forest.”

“…!”

…!

Wait, now that I think about it, she’s right. Even if we somehow managed to miss each other when we both followed them, there’s no way we would have missed him heading into the forest. Even if he went in after Pancham and I did, Deerling and Shelmet were still at the entrance. They definitely would have seen him. But they didn’t recognize Kokai at all when the three of us returned to the entrance…

When he heard that, Kokai froze. He looked down for a moment, and even though he was trying to hide it, he has a slightly distressed look on his face. After a few more seconds, he returned to normal and simply shrugged.

“Is that so? Huh, how odd. Maybe I managed to get past you guys while your backs were turned or something,” he said.

Deerling and Goomy gave each other uncertain looks before Deerling spoke. “W-well, maybe, but-”

Kokai abruptly cut her off. “Anyway, I’m sorry to cut the conversation short, but I’m about to head out shortly. Nozomi wanted to hang out with me a little after school ended.”

…Wait, huh?!

Kokai turned to me and gave me a small smirk. “…That is why you approached me, right? So you could talk with me?” he asked.

W-well, yeah, but…how in the world did he know about that?!

Recovering from my initial shock, I looked away sheepishly and nodded my head. Kokai’s smiled widened ever so slightly and nodded. “Alright, then. If that’s the case, I’m ready to leave whenever you are.”

Deerling and Goomy stared at Kokai for a few more seconds before deciding to drop the earlier conversation entirely. “Well…alright then. If you two are planning on spending time with each other, then we won’t hold you up,” Deerling said.

Kokai nodded at her. “Thanks, you two.”

“Yeah, of course. Come on, Goomy, let’s go,” Deerling said as her and Goomy started to leave. They quickly said their goodbyes to the two of us before completely leaving the school.

Once they were gone, I turned to Kokai with a confused expression on my face. Man, there’s so much about this Charmander that makes me so curious about him. I’ve never met anyone like him before. I wonder if talking with him is really going to give me any insight as to who he is…

“…It’s not polite to stare, you know.”

“…?!”

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Kokai, who had noticed that I was looking at him. “You know, you were struggling not to look at me during class today, either. Is there something about me you find interesting?” he asked.

Eep! He noticed me looking at him during class, too?!

I couldn’t help but let out a small blush as I looked away and tried to collect myself. When I finally managed to, I looked at him with a slightly furrowed brow and frowned. This was apparently enough for him to get the message.

“Alright, alright, I’m done with the teasing…” for now.

“H-hmph!”

I gave him a glare started walking off on my own, expecting him to follow behind me.

Kokai watched me walk down the slope, then sighed to himself before looking down with a pained expression on his face.

“…”

“…Kokai?”

“…Huh?”

I ran back to where he was when I noticed that he was still there. Then, in a concerned tone, asked if he was alright.

He stayed quiet for a few seconds, then nodded.

“Yeah, I’m alright. Sorry for the holdup. Let’s get going,” he said.

I nodded and the two of us walked down the slope together to leave the school.

[psmd-lingering-shadows]

I just wanted to make a quick poll to see where people stood with the story. If you like it, I’ll be super happy to hear it! If you don’t, then that’s fine, too. And if this is the first time you’re even hearing about it…I honestly wouldn’t be surprised. XD

Feel free to leave a comment if you have something more you wanna say or elaborate on your answer! And if there’s something you wanna ask me, I’ll do my best to try and answer.

[psmd-lingering-shadows]

Part 4: The Enigmatic Charmander

“…”

"..."

"..."

The three of us simply stood there for what felt like an eternity.  A slightly tense silence filled the small area we were in as Pancham and I stared at the odd Charmander that was in front of us.  He was staring back at us, too, only instead of appearing confused like we were, he seemed to be completely caught off-guard.  The stoic, nonchalant expression from earlier had been replaced with a shocked, wide-eyed one, which only made the two of us even more puzzled.  If I had to guess why he was so surprised, maybe it was because he wasn't expecting anyone else to be in this dungeon.

"..."

"..."

"..."

...Well, this is getting awkward pretty fast.  He just keeps staring at us like that.  Why is he just keeping quiet?

Eventually, Pancham ended up breaking the silence by trying to speak to the Charmander, who was still staying silent.

"Uh...hi?" he said while awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

"..."

"So...I'm guessing it was you who dealt with these Furfrou, huh?"

"..."

"Who exactly are you?  I've never seen you around in the village before."

"..."

"Er, I guess you're not from the village then.  So, what?  You an explorer or somethin'?  Although, now that I think about it, that can't be the case.  I mean, you're the same age as us, right?"

"..."

"Uh...helloooo?" he said obnoxiously as he waved his hand in front of him.  It looked like he was starting to get annoyed that he wasn't saying anything back.

However, despite doing that, Charmander still didn't react.  He just kept staring at us as if we were ghosts or something. 

Pancham furrowed his brow and grunted in frustration.  "Alright, what the heck is your deal?  Skitty got your tongue or something?"

"...Why are you two here?"

"...!"

"Wha-?" Pancham replied in confusion.

"Why are you two in the Foreboding Forest?" the Charmander repeated.  It seemed as though he had managed to compose himself for the most part, although he still appeared to be somewhat unsettled.

Pancham briefly stared at him in disbelief before shaking his head and shouting at him.  "Why are we...Ugh, never mind us!  What about you?!  Why are YOU here?!" he asked him.

The Charmander looked away as his brow furrowed slightly.  "...That's none of your business."

"Are you kidding me?!  Who the heck do you think you are?!  You show up outta nowhere and ask us what we're doing, but the minute we do the same to you, you tell us it's none of your business?!" Pancham shouted, appearing as though he was about to blow a fuse.

"...Keep your voice down.  You're going to attract Dungeon Pokémon," Charmander said while gesturing at him to lower his voice.

Pancham gave him a low growl,  then closed his eyes and gave an exasperated sigh.  "You know what?  Forget this.  We have better things to do than waste our time with an annoying punk like you," he said as he turned to me.  "C'mon, Nozomi.  Let's get back to finding Goomy."

...Huh?  W-wait, hold on a second...!

Before I could protest, Charmander suddenly called out to both of us.

"Hold up."

Pancham and I turned back to face him, curious as to what he was going to say now.

"You two...you're looking for Goomy?"

Upon hearing him ask that, we both looked at him in confusion. 

"H-huh? You know Goomy?" Pancham asked.

He paused for a moment, then shook his head.  "No, but I overheard a couple of kids talking about him in Serene Village.  I got curious and tailed them, and I ended up figuring out that he was stuck here somewhere," he explained.

“…?”

...Wait, what?  A couple of kids?  Does he mean Deerling and Shelmet?  If that's the case, and he really did overhear them, then we should have run into each other, right?  But I didn't see him at all in the plaza.  Maybe...maybe I just ended up missing him.  I was completely focused on their conversation, after all...Though, now that I think about it, he should have seen me listening in on their conversation. I wasn’t that far away from them, after all. But here, he’s reacting to me like this is the first time he’s seen ever seen me. If he really did listen in on them and followed them like I did, then he would have seen me doing the same thing too. What gives?

Pancham gave him a small grunt.  "Hmph, so you ended up following them, too?" he asked.

Charmander turned to Pancham with a slightly confused expression.  "Too...?" he murmured to himself before dismissively shaking his head.  "Well, I guess it doesn't really matter.  What I'm trying to say is, if you're looking for him, let me come with you.  We'll be able to find him faster if we join forces."

Pancham frowned and gave him a small glare.  "What, now you suddenly want us to go with you?  What happened to you saying that what you were doing here was 'none of our business?'"

Charmander looked at Pancham and returned the frown.  "Tch, don't be a moron.  We have the same goal.  Why wouldn't we work together?"

Once he heard that insult, Pancham's face became red with rage.  It looked like that remark was the final straw for him.

"Who are you calling a moron, you little-!" Pancham shouted as he started walking toward Charmander in a fit of anger. 

...Oh, cripes.  This isn't going to end well.

Before he could get to him, I quickly ended up getting in between the two, desperately making sure that the situation didn't escalate any further.  Both Pancham and Charmander looked at me in shock, as though they didn't expect me to suddenly come in between them.

"Wha...Hey, dude!  What gives?!" Pancham asked, still surprised at what I just did.

I looked him and shook my head in disapproval.  Fighting with each other wasn't going to get us anywhere.  We were all here to rescue Goomy, right?  So...maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to team up with him for the time being.

Pancham's eyes widened at what I said.  "Wha-? You...actually WANT to go with him?" he asked.  I answered by giving him a small nod, causing him to stare at me in disbelief.  "S-seriously? You sure this is a good idea? I mean…do you actually trust this kid?"

“…”

Ah…do I? Can I really bring myself to trust him?

When he asked me that, I turned to face Charmander, who was staring at me with an expression that I couldn't quite make out.  I stared deep into his eyes, trying to get a read on what type of person he was.  From the brief time we've interacted with him, he didn't seem to be the most pleasant Pokémon to be around. He came off as rude, standoffish, and even a little hostile. And on top of that, what he said earlier about overhearing Deerling and Shelmet still bothered me. This entire thing honestly seemed kinda fishy to me…

Yet, despite all of that…

...

"Yup!  I totally trust him!"

"...!!"

Charmander stared at me as though I had lost my mind.  He stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking again.

"You...trust me?" he asked, though it was hard to hear since he was speaking in a quiet tone.

I smiled and nodded my head.  Though, if I'm being honest...I had absolutely no idea why.  When I looked at him just now, I just...felt like he was someone I could trust, you know?

It was...just a strange feeling I had.

Charmander looked down at the ground, staying silent for a moment. Then he took a deep breath and looked at both of us.

“A-alright, then. If we’re all in agreement, then we’ll proceed together from here on out,” he said.

Pancham looked between the two of us before frantically speaking up. “N-now wait just a second! I didn’t say I was fine with-“ he started until he cut himself off and sighed in resignation. “…You know what? Fine, whatever. You’ll probably still go with him even if I say no.”

…Heh, you got me.

Once he took a moment to collect himself, Pancham turned to Charmander and spoke again. “…So, how should we go about this? Just search every corner of each floor until we find him? He shouldn’t have gone that far, so it’s not like we’ll be searching the entire dungeon, but…”

Charmander shook his head. “There’s no need for that. If I’m right about this, he should be a little past the 4th floor.”

Pancham and I both gave him a questioning look. “Huh? How can you be so sure?” Pancham asked.

“…It’s just a hunch I have,” Charmander simply replied.

Pancham’s eyes widened in shock. “Just a hunch?! That’s not very reassuring, you know!”

Charmander slightly furrowed his brow in annoyance. “Just shut up and go along with it. He’ll be there, alright?”

Pancham gave him an angry glare, but decided not to shoot back with a remark of his own. Instead, he simply let out a “Tch,” and walked past him, heading into the corridor that led out of this small area.

Geez…I have a feeling those two are gonna be butting heads the entire time we’re here.

“…Hey.”

“…!”

I turned to look at Charmander, who was giving me an expression that seemed to be one of concern. It was honestly a little hard to tell how he was feeling, aside from when he first encountered us.

“Is something bothering you? You’re just standing there.”

Oh, cripes! I am, aren’t I?

I apologized to him and said I was fine. I was about to start walking so we could head for the stairs, but I stopped once I realized something.

Charmander gave me a confused expression when he saw that I had stopped. “What is it?” he asked.

Pancham and I never properly introduced ourselves. If we’re gonna get through this dungeon together, we should at least know each other’s names, right? Besides, I don’t wanna keep calling him “Charmander” if he goes by an actual name.

With that in mind, I cleared my throat and gave him a warm smile before I spoke.

“I’m Nozomi! It’s nice to meet you!”

“…”

“…”

“…”

…Uh…he isn’t saying anything. And he’s giving me another strange look… Was introducing myself like that a bit too forward?

Ah, geez…I think I messed up. Now he thinks I’m weird…

Before I could apologize for introducing myself out of the blue like that, Charmander looked down and spoke.

“…Kokai.”

“…!”

“My name is Kokai. It’s, uh…it’s nice to meet you,” he said.

…?

Kokai…?

…

Huh…

…

“It’s a wonderful name,” I simply replied.

Kokai’s eyes widened at my response. He stared at me for a few seconds, then looked away, causing a confused expression to form on my face. I was about to ask if he was alright, but then I noticed something that caught my attention. Even though he was trying to hide his emotions with the neutral expression on his face, I couldn’t help but notice his eyes, which told me a completelydifferent story.

They were…filled with sadness, and… sorrow. Just looking into his pain-filled eyes was enough to make me feel a twinge of sadness, too. That sad feeling, although brief, was so…intense. But why? What could have possibly made him feel so sorrowful?

“…We should get going.”

“…?”

I was pulled out of my thoughts and quickly looked at him.

“We’ve been here for too long already. Let’s catch up with your friend,” Kokai said.

O-oh. That’s right. Pancham already went ahead, didn’t he? I had kinda forgotten…

Kokai walked ahead and left the area, immediately ending the conversation. I just stood there, wondering what all of that was about. I still couldn’t get over that look in his eyes and how sad he looked. It just…made me feel so bad for him. But why did he feel like that in the first place? What exactly has this Charmander been through?

…

I shook my head and sighed. I guess now wasn’t the time to think about this. I just gotta focus on finding Goomy for now. Once I took a couple seconds to clear my head, I ran out to catch up with Pancham and Kokai.

…

…

…

The three of us ended up making it to the second floor. Thankfully, it didn’t really take too long, since we had already covered most of the first floor. We were all walking together in silence, trying to be on the lookout for any enemy Pokémon. We weren’t that far in yet, but we were all certain that this floor was full of ‘em, just like the previous one.

…

…

…

“Hey, Kokai.”

…!

Pancham suddenly called out to Kokai in order to get his attention. However, Kokai didn’t answer him. Letting out a small huff, Pancham spoke again. “Hey, Kokai! You never answered any of my questions! Uh…that is his name, right Nozomi?” he asked me, to which I replied with a nod.

Kokai didn’t make eye contact with him, but still replied to him. “What questions?” he asked.

“You know, the ones I asked you when we first saw each other! Where did you come from? I’m sure I would have seen you around if you were from Serene Village!” he said.

“…Why does it matter to you?” he asked.

Pancham slightly furrowed his brow. “Oh, come on! Why wouldn’t we be curious about you? You just showed up outta nowhere in this big, scary dungeon and expect us not to ask questions?” he asked.

I turned to him with a sly grin on my face. So…you admit that the Foreboding Forest is scary to you, huh?

Pancham quickly turned to me with a small blush on his face and shook his head. “Huh…? O-of course not! Don’t put words in my mouth, Nozomi!” he shouted.

Yeah…suuure you aren’t.

He ignored me and turned back to Kokai. “…Anyway, back to what I was saying. I think it’s fair that you tell us at least a little bit about yourself,” he argued.

“…No,” he simply replied.

Pancham frowned. “Ugh, why do you have to be like that?! Is it too much to ask for just a little info?!”

“We’re here to rescue Goomy, not make small talk,” Kokai said.

Pancham grumbled to himself and looked at the ground in frustration. Geez…Looks like I was right about these two.

Anyway, even though Kokai was adamant on not sharing anything about himself, I couldn’t help but be curious. Although he still probably won’t say anything, I decided to try to get him to open up a bit.

“…”

“…Huh? You want to know what I was doing in Serene Village?”

I gave him an eager nod, hoping that he would decide to answer.

Pancham looked at me and shook his head. “Tch, don’t bother, Nozomi. It’s clear he isn’t going to say anything.”

Kokai stayed quiet for a moment, as if he was trying to decide whether or not he should say anything. He looked back at me, only to be slightly shocked when he saw me giving him a pleading expression.

“A-alright. I can at least tell you that. Can you just…stop making that face?” he asked, looking away awkwardly.

I smiled excitedly and nodded. I didn’t think he’d actually say yes!

“Are you serious?!” Pancham shouted. “Why are you willing to answer her questions, but not mine?!”

Kokai ignored Pancham and started to explain. “Uh, well, to be honest, there isn’t really a specific reason why I’m here. I just sorta…ended up here.”

Pancham and I looked at him in confusion. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Pancham asked.

“Look, I’m not going to go into too much detail about this. Just know that…well…one thing led to another, and it ended up with me coming to Serene Village with someone else.”

“Someone else? And who would that be, exactly?”

“I don’t know if you two have seen him around the village often, since he’s apparently always leaving to travel. I think his name was Nuzleaf,” Kokai said.

…

Wait, WHAT?! Mr. Nuzleaf?!

Pancham’s eyes widened. “Hold on. Mr. Nuzleaf?! THAT Mr. Nuzleaf?! The one who lives next to Nozomi and her dad?!”

“If you’re talking about the house with the blue roof, then yes,” Kokai answered.

So, Mr. Nuzleaf ended up taking Kokai to Serene Village with him? Wait, but hold on. Mr. Nuzleaf has been gone for a few days now, and I didn’t see him this morning when I left for school. Did he come back later in the day, then? Is that when he showed up with Kokai?

“Wait, just back up for a minute,” Pancham started. “I get that you arrived in Serene Village with Mr. Nuzleaf and all, and I understand that you don’t want to talk about what led up to that, but why did he decided to take you with him in the first place? I mean, what was the point? Are you gonna be living with him or something?” he asked.

“Actually, that’s-“

Before Kokai could finish his sentence, he ended up being cut off by loud footsteps approaching our small group. When we all heard it, we quickly looked around to locate where it was coming from, only to realize that it was approaching us from behind. That’s when we turned around and saw a trio of Stantler running towards us!

“Gah!” Pancham shouted in a startled tone.

I furrowed my brow and told him and Kokai to get ready. Even though there are three of them, there are three of us, too. It shouldn’t be a problem if we took on one Stantler each.

However, instead of preparing himself, Kokai grunted in annoyance and started walking towards them.

“Move,” he said as he lightly pushed both of us aside.

Pancham and I both looked at him in confusion as we wondered what he was doing. Was…was he about to do what I think he’s about to do?!

“H-hey hold on! Are you crazy?! Don’t tell me you’re about to take on all three of them at once?!” Pancham said.

Instead of answering him, Kokai just kept walking towards the Stantler with an emotionless expression on his face. The Stantler kept running at him at full speed, appearing as though they were about to ram him with their antlers.

“!!!”

I couldn’t help but shout at Kokai in concern as it looked like he was about to be attacked by all three of them at once. However, just as the Stantler were closing in on him, I noticed that Kokai was building up an enormous amount of fire from within his mouth. A couple of seconds later, he released all of that fire and directed it at all three of the Stantler, causing them to completely scorched!

“?!”

“Holy-!” Pancham blurted out.

One by one, the trio of Stantler fell to the ground and became unconscious. Kokai, who was clutching his chest and wincing slightly, looked at them and sighed.

“…Geez, what a pain,” he said nonchalantly.

He then turned back around to look at me and Pancham, only to be met with our shocked faces. He didn’t bother addressing it though, as he simply walked past us.

“Let’s keep moving,” he simply said.

Pancham took a moment to recover from his initial shock and shook his head. “Oh, no! We are NOT just gonna brush that off like it was nothing!” he said.

Charmander stopped walking and turned back around with an annoyed expression. “I have a fair bit of experience going through Mystery Dungeons, okay? This is far from my first outing,” he explained.

Y-yeah, but still…from what we saw, that wasn’t any plain-old attack like Ember or even Flame Burst. That looked like a whole Flamethrower attack just now! And it dealt enough damage to defeat those Stantler instantly…I’ve explored a good amount of dungeons too, but I haven’t learned any super-powerful moves like that yet. How did you…?

Kokai cut me off and tried to elaborate further. “While it’s true that I can use more powerful attacks like that, they end up taking a toll on me. Using that Flamethrower just now cost me a bit of my strength…” he said while putting his hand to his head. “I don’t quite understand it myself…even though I should be able to use moves like that without any issues, whenever I do actually end up using them, it ends up draining me of my energy…”

Huh? Really? That’s weird…I’ve never heard something like that happening to a Pokémon before. Using more powerful moves makes them feel tired? Even if a Pokémon is inexperienced with using certain moves, it doesn’t drain their energy whenever they use it.

Pancham nodded in agreement. “Yeah, what Nozomi said. I’ve never heard anything like that happening to other Pokémon. You sure you’re not just tired from going through the dungeon?” he asked.

Kokai rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. We’re only two floors in.”

“Hmph. Well, if what you said just now is true, then why did you bother using Flamethrower in the first place if it was going to drain your energy like that?” he asked.

“If I’m being honest…I just couldn’t be bothered dealing with those Stantler,” he answered.

Pancham gave him a dumbfounded expression. “…Huh?”

“I didn’t feel like battling them using my weaker attacks. I just wanted to defeat them and be done with it,” Kokai elaborated.

“Well…I guess that makes sense, but isn’t that kinda risky? Like, if you use it too many times, you’ll eventually end up being completely exhausted, right? That’ll make you vulnerable to enemy Pokémon,” Pancham argued.

Kokai looked at him with a slightly raised brow. “Huh. I didn’t expect someone like you to be so perceptive,” he said.

“…Oh, shut it,” Pancham replied in an annoyed tone.

“You are right, though. Using more powerful attacks would tire me out a lot faster, and it would make me a lot more vulnerable. That’s why I usually have to be careful with how often I use them, and it’s also why I tend to use weaker attacks more often,” he explained.

I ended up frowning at what Kokai said. That must be really inconvenient, having to fight with a handicap like that. Though, from what he said earlier, it seems as though he’s still experienced enough to go through Mystery Dungeons like this one. The fact that he has a disadvantage like that and is still able to do stuff like this is actually pretty epic.

Kokai briefly looked at both of us, then shrugged. “…Though I suppose I can use it more in the Foreboding Forest since I’m not by myself,” he said.

When Pancham heard him say that, he looked at him excitedly. “Wait, really? We’ll get to see you do more stuff like that, then?” he asked.

Kokai pondered it for a bit, then eventually shook his head. “…On second thought, maybe not. Dealing with being tired all the time is a pain.”

Pancham’s excited faded and he let out a disappointed sigh. “Oh…Right. I guess that’s fair.”

I can understand why Pancham would be disappointed, but that’s honestly for the best. I wouldn’t want him to keep using those types of moves if it was just going to make him feel bad.

Once that was settled, Kokai turned back around. “Alright, then. If we’re done here, let’s keep moving.”

Pancham and I nodded as we followed him and continued to search for the next set of stairs.

…

…

…

Getting to the third floor was, surprisingly, not as difficult as I thought it would be. We ran into some more dungeon Pokémon in the previous floor, but we all managed to defeat them with a fair amount of ease. We also got our hands on some cool-looking items that were useful for dungeon outings like this. A few Oran Berries, some Petrify Wands, two Blast Seeds, and the Holy Grail of all dungeon items: Reviver Seeds. …Well, specifically, Tiny Reviver Seeds, but still. They’ll definitely come in handy if we’re in a bind.

Fast forward to a few minutes later, after dealing with a group of Spiritzee that kept spamming the move “Sweet Kiss” on Pancham (seriously, what’s the point of repeatedly using a status move if you’re not gonna follow up with a damage-dealing one?), we ended up finding the next set of stairs and proceeded to the fourth floor. I smiled excitedly knowing that we were almost close to our goal. Well, assuming what Kokai said was true. But of course it was! It had to be! Like I said earlier, I definitely believe in Kokai. If he says that Goomy is past the fourth floor, then I’ll take what he’s saying as true.

Our small group kept walking and looking around, trying to find the last set of stairs that would take us to Goomy. Unless we ended up getting attacked again, looking for it shouldn’t take too long. Despite how spooky the Foreboding Forest is, its floors are actually smaller than you’d think.

“…Hey, Kokai,” Pancham called out.

Kokai turned his head slightly and looked at Pancham. “What is it now?” he asked.

“I still can’t get past how you’re so sure Goomy is just beyond this floor. You’ve got some sort of super-rare ability you’re not telling us about or something?” he asked.

Kokai paused for a moment, trying to come up with a response to Pancham’s question. Then he looked back at him and spoke. “…And if I did?”

Pancham and I gave him a astonished look in response to what he said.

“N-no way! Are you telling us that you DO have something like that?!” he asked.

“…Eh, not really.”

At that answer, Pancham looked to the ground, a mixture of disappointment, dejection, and exasperation showing on his face. After staying like that for a few seconds, he looked back up at Kokai, who was giving him the tiniest smirk.

“You really are a piece of work, you know that?” he said in a low tone.

Kokai glared at him with a frown. “…Like you’re one to talk,” he retorted.

At that comment, Pancham looked back up at Kokai with an eyebrow raised. “What are you talking about?” he asked.

“From what I heard right before I came to the Foreboding Forest, the reason Goomy even came here to begin with was because you and that other kid were messing with him, right?” he asked.

Pancham eyes widened slightly to his unexpected response, but he quickly furrowed his brow in defense. “Hey, that’s not fair! It’s not like we made him go or anything like that! He’s the one who decided to come in order to prove how ‘tough’ he was!” he said.

“…Because you two kept egging him on. If you had just left him alone, he wouldn’t have felt the need to prove himself at all.”

Pancham shook his head and scoffed at him. “Tch, now you’re getting on my case, too? Who are you, Nozomi? I don’t need to hear this from someone who doesn’t even know me!”

…

Kokai grunted in irritation as Pancham’s reply. “Stop being such a pain and just listen to me for a second-“

Before he could finish, Pancham, cut him off. “How about YOU stop being so annoying and mind your own business?!” he shouted.

This time, Kokai was the one who furrowed his brow. He stopped walking and turned around completely to face Pancham.

“…Listen here, you little brat. I don’t know where you get off picking on others, but you’re going to stop if you know what’s good for you.”

Wha…?!

I was completely caught off guard by Kokai’s sudden change in demeanor. He went from stoic and emotionless to hostile and intimidating so quickly. I mean, yeah, he kinda acted that way when we first met him, but it was nowhere near as intense as this. It was like I was looking at a completely different Pokémon!

Pancham, also taken aback by what Kokai just said, made his clenched teeth visible and puffed out his chest to him to make himself seem more intimidating.

“Who the heck are you talking to, you little freak?! At least I’M not some weird, lonely little excuse of a Pokémon who can’t even use their own moves correctly!!” he shouted.

“…!”

Oh.

Oh no.

At that insult, the flame on Kokai’s tail flared up intensely, and Kokai himself clenched his fists in anger. I don’t know how he managed to do it, but it looked like Pancham had managed to strike a nerve somewhere within Kokai. I watched as the two stared each other down silently. This wasn’t good at all. It was the complete opposite. Things were going south really fast. I knew that the two would end up not getting along, but I didn’t think it would come to this. At this rate, these two will…

Before I could finish my thought, Kokai started walking toward Pancham, glaring at him with an amount of intensity I had never seen before. Pancham, on the other hand, stayed right where he was, preparing himself what what seemed to be an unavoidable battle. Although he seemed to be a little shaken at the sheer amount of rage that came from Kokai, it was clear that he wasn’t backing down from this.

“You want a fight, punk?! Fine, then! Don’t expect me to go easy on you! I don’t care if you are stronger than either of us, I ain’t goin’ down without a fight!”

Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap…they’re really doing this. They’re gonna fight right in the middle of the dungeon!

In a small state of panic, I swiftly looked between the two before shaking my head and calming down.

…No.

I won’t let that happen!

Even if they don’t like each other, that doesn’t mean they should fight each other like this. I have to stop them!

However, right before I could get in between the two of them like last time, Kokai suddenly stopped. He closed his eyes for a moment before taking a deep breath and opening them back up. He unclenched his fists, and looked back at Pancham with the same emotionless expression from before.

“…I’m sorry.”

Pancham dropped his guard and look at him, completely perplexed. “…Huh?”

“That…was out of line. You’re right. I don’t know you that well. I don’t know what you’ve been through to make you act the way you do, so I can’t judge you too harshly,” he started. “However, I can say this. If you keep going on like this, you’re going to end up pushing others away. Even the ones who are close to you now will eventually get fed up with your antics and not want to be around you anymore. Then…you’ll be completely alone.”

“…!!!”

…

“Take it from someone who’s seen it happen before. Being oblivious to others and not taking their feelings into consideration is going to cause them to not want to be around you. You won’t look good making the Pokémon around you look bad. So for the sake of other Pokémon as well as for your own…just…drop the tough guy act and stop being such a bully to others, okay?”

…

…

…

I was at a loss for words. I didn’t expect things to play out like this at all. Kokai, despite his neutral tone and expression, seemed to be speaking genuinely for the first time since we met him. No sarcasm, no jabs or sly remarks. Just him trying to give some sincere advice. It completely caught me off guard. Although…that comment he made about being more considerate of others…I couldn’t help but dwell on that. I know he was talking to Pancham, but I can’t help but think that it applied to me, too. When Pancham and I argued earlier, he said that I was always dragging Goomy into trouble because I get them mixed up in my adventures. As much as I wanted to deny it, he was right. And not just him. I tend to inconvenience everyone I interact with. Is…is it because in the end, I really am selfish, like Pancham said? Am I just too self-centered to be considerate towards other Pokémon?

…

I closed my eyes and forced myself to stop thinking about that for the time being. Then I looked at Pancham, who was looking down with an unreadable expression, similar to the one Kokai gave me before. Then he looked back up and faced Kokai.

“I…”

“…”

Pancham wanted to say something, but he couldn’t find the right words for it. So instead, he simply looked back down and started to walk away from us, still not saying anything.

“…?!”

I tried calling out to him to make sure he was okay, but Kokai stopped me.

“Don’t. I think he just needs a minute to himself,” he said.

I looked at Pancham, who was slowly getting smaller and smaller as he walked away, then back at Kokai, and gave him a small nod.

“I’ll admit, that…wasn’t my finest moment. I’m honestly annoyed with myself for losing my temper like that. He really knows how to piss others off, doesn’t he?” he asked.

Although I was slightly taken aback by how he chose to phrase that last part, I still ended up nodding in agreement. It is true that he’s said a bunch of mean things to not just me, but to Goomy, too. He also just happens to say a lot of rude things in general…

Kokai closed his eyes and sighed before continuing to speak. “Anyway, I’m sorry if I ended up scaring you when I got angry. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.

I told him not to worry about it, causing him to nod.

“Yeah? Alright, then let’s get going…huh?” Kokai spoke before noticing the somber expression I was making. He frowned worriedly and tilted his head in confusion. “Hey, what’s wrong? You sure you’re okay?”

“…”

I ended up telling him about what I was thinking - about how what he said stuck with me and how it felt like he was talking to me just as much as he was talking to Pancham.

Kokai’s eyes widened slightly at what I had said, as though he was suddenly realizing something. “I see. I didn’t think it would affect you the way it did,” he said, his tone slightly apologetic.

It’s fine. You couldn’t have known. Besides, it’s my fault for being the way that I am.

I…I am the troublemaker, after all.

“…”

Kokai’s expression subtly shifted into a sad one. He stared at me for a few seconds before putting a hand on my shoulder.

“…!”

“Listen, Nozomi. We’ve only just met, so just like with Pancham, I can’t claim to know that much about you. But…from our brief time together, you…you seem to be a pretty nice Piplup to be around.”

“…!!!”

I stared at him as I processed what he just said.

“You…really think so?” I asked.

He nodded and gave me a small smile. “I do. I don’t know what you’ve gone through or what you’ve done to earn that title, but I believe that you’re a wonderful Pokémon.”

A small blush formed on my face as I looked down sheepishly. No one’s ever given me such a genuine compliment before…

Just as I was about to look up at him and say something else, we both heard Pancham shout from a different room.

“GUYS! I FOUND THE STAIRS!”

“…!”

O-oh! The stairs! Right!

Kokai and I looked at each other briefly and nodded, then ran to where Pancham shouted from. When we got there, we were both surprised to find that there was indeed a set of stairs there. It looks like we didn’t really have to look too far this time.

Pancham looked at both of us with a determined expression. “…This is it, then? Goomy’s just beyond these set of stairs?” he asked.

Kokai nodded. “Yeah. Once we climb them, we’ll look for him and then get out of here,” he answered.

“Alright then. Let’s do this.”

We both nodded and the three of us headed up the stairs together. Once we were there, we looked around for a bit to get an idea of where we were. Then Pancham spoke again.

“If Goomy ended up making it here where we left the tarp, then we should head for that first instead of just wandering around,” he said.

Kokai nodded. “Good idea. You know where the tarp is, right? Lead the way.”

“Got it,” Pancham said as he started leading us to where the tarp was. Soon enough, after quite a bit of walking, we started hearing small whimpers and sobs coming from just ahead. We all perked up at the sounds and immediately rushed over to where they were coming from. When we did, we all found what we’ve been looking for this entire time.

“Goomy?” Pancham called out.

Goomy, who was sitting on the tarp that Pancham and Shelmet left, looked up in shock, only to see the three of us. He looked at all of us with his tear-filled eyes.

“P-Pancham? Nozomi?”

The three of us walked forward and approached him.

“It’s alright. We’ve come to get you,” Pancham said.

Kokai nodded. “That’s right. There’s no need to be afraid anymore,” he said reassuringly.

Goomy looked at Kokai with confusion. “W-who are you?” he asked.

“That, uh, isn’t really important right now. Just come with us, okay? We’ll take you back to the entrance.”

Goomy looked between the three of us before breaking down and sobbing into me in relief. I held him gently, letting him release the emotions that he had stored up in himself.

…

…

…

Back at the entrance, Deerling and Shelmet were still waiting for us to come back. Deerling was walking around anxiously, while Shelmet was watching to see if we would come out.

After a few minutes, Deerling stopped walking and sighed. “Oh, they’re still not back out yet?” she asked Shelmet.

Shelmet shook his head, then spoke. “It hasn’t been that long, Deerling. They’ve only been in there for around an hour or so,” he said, trying to reassure her.

“I guess, but still…maybe I should have gone with them, after all.”

Before Shelmet to respond to what Deerling said, he saw the four of us emerging from the Foreboding Forest. Completely shocked at our sudden appearance, he quickly turned to Deerling to get her attention.

“Deerling! They’re back!” he shouted.

Deerling perked up and ran to where Shelmet was, gasping when she saw us walking towards them. She sighed in relief when she saw that we were all fine.

“We’re back,” Pancham said.

I flashed a wide grin as I pointed to Goomy, letting them know that he were successful in our mission.

Deerling returned the smile and approached all of us. “Oh, thank goodness you all are okay!” she said.

“We were starting to get worried, you know,” Shelmet added.

Deerling turned to Goomy and gave him a concerned expression. “Goomy, are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?” she asked.

Goomy shook his head. “N-no. I was pretty scared, but I didn’t get hurt,” he answered.

Kokai nodded and chimed in. “That’s right. Not only that, but he managed to get to the tarp,” he said.

Deerling’s eyes widened. “Really? You made it to where the tarp was?” she asked.

Pancham nodded, then held out the tarp for everyone to see. “Yeah. He even managed to sign it and everything. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. Getting through the dungeon, and managing to sign the tarp like that, Goomy…well…that took a lotta guts,” he said.

Goomy looked at him excitedly when he heard him say that. “Really? You really mean it?” he asked.

“Mm-hmm. I do. You should feel proud of yourself,” he said, looking away awkwardly.

Deerling and Shelmet looked at Pancham in confusion.

“Wow, Pancham. I never thought I’d hear you actually give praise to Goomy like that,” Deerling said.

“H-huh? Oh, well, uh…” he stuttered before Kokai cut him off.

“Let’s just say he’s had a bit of a change of heart,” he said, looking at him with a small smirk.

Pancham looked back at him and nodded. “Uh, yeah…what he said.”

Deerling stared at him for a few more seconds before shrugging it off. “Huh…Well, alright then…”

That’s when her and Shelmet suddenly realized that they haven’t even seen Kokai before now. They quickly turned to him with confused expressions on their faces.

“Wait a minute…who are you?” she asked.

Before Kokai could speak, I cut him off and told them that he was a kind stranger who helped us look for Goomy. Pancham nodded in agreement.

“Really? I’ve never seen him in the village before,” Shelmet said.

Pancham shook his head. “He’s not from the village. He arrived here recently with Mr. Nuzleaf,” he clarified.

Deerling and Shelmet looked at Pancham in shock. “Wait, Mr. Nuzleaf?! Why?” Deerling asked.

Rather than explaining himself, Kokai shook his head. “That’s unimportant. What is important is the fact that the sun’s going to be setting soon. We should all be heading back to the village soon,” he said, changing the subject. “I’ll see all of you later…probably.”

…Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?

Kokai started walking off, then he quickly turned around and looked at me, which slightly caught me off guard. He stared at me and gave me a small grin before turning around and finally leaving. I simply stared at the direction that he was headed and smiled back, although he couldn’t see it since he was already gone.

“…Huh. What a weird kid,” Shelmet said.

“I wouldn’t really call him weird…We just didn’t get a chance to speak with him that much,” Deerling replied.

Goomy chimed in and smiled. “Well, if he helped save me along with Nozomi and Pancham, then he can’t be that bad.”

Deerling nodded in agreement. “Yeah…I guess you’re right. Speaking of which…” she said as she turned to look at Pancham and me. The two of us noticed and turned to look at her as well. “You two really came through for Goomy today. If it weren’t for you two, he probably would have still been in there. So thank you, Nozomi. You too, Pancham, even though you and Shelmet were the ones who created this problem to begin with…” she muttered that last part to herself.

Pancham looked down and stared at the ground in response to what she said. The four of us noticed and gave him concerned looks.

“Hey, Pancham? Are you alright? You haven’t said much since you guys got back,” Shelmet said.

“...Hey, Shelmet?”

“Huh? What’s up?”

“You and me…we’re pals, right?” Pancham asked.

Shelmet gave him a confused look before replying. “Huh? Of course we are.”

Pancham became quiet again, thinking about what to say next.

“And, uh, I’ve never done anything to…upset you, have I?” he asked.

Shelmet, even more confused than before, simply stared at him for a bit before shaking his head. “Uh, no. Of course not dude. Where’s all of this coming from?”

Pancham nodded. “Alright…good,” he simply said, ignoring his question. Then he turned to Goomy and me and gave a small sigh. “Hey, Goomy, Nozomi? I, uh, wanted to say sorry for pickin’ on both of you all this time,” he said.

Everyone else looked at him as though he had gone crazy.

“Wait…am I hearing this right? You’re actually apologizing to them?” Deerling asked, still not believing what she’s hearing.

Pancham nodded. “Yeah. The truth is, you two have gone through some downright awful times because of me, and, uh, I just wanted to apologize for all of it. I also wanted to apologize for today, specifically. In Goomy’s case, for goading you into going into the Foreboding Forest. And for Nozomi…well, for the stuff I said back in the dungeon. You don’t really have to forgive me or anything, I just wanted you both to know how sorry I am.”

Everyone but me looked at him with an dumbfounded expression. The more I thought about it, the less unexpected this apology seemed. After what went down right before we found Goomy, I guess it would make sense that he’d be doing all of this.

Deerling turned to Goomy, who was still staring at Pancham. “…Well, Goomy? What do you think? Do you want to forgive him?” she asked.

Goomy kept looking at Pancham, who was appeared to be waiting for his answer. After a few seconds, Goomy smiled and gave him a nod.

“Mm-hmm! I forgive you!”

Pancham’s eyes widened at his answer. He stayed quiet for a bit until he gave him a small smile.

“Heh, thank you,” he said sheepishly.

After that, Deerling turned to me. “And what about you, Nozomi? Do you forgive him?”

I turned to look at Pancham, who stared at me tensely. I stared at him for a while, trying to decide whether or not to bury the hatchet with him. I’m not going to lie, he was right when he said that I went through some awful times because of him. And the things he said back in the forest… they really did hurt.

But, even so…

“…I forgive you.”

“…!”

Pancham was in complete shock. He couldn’t believe that I had just forgiven him so easily, that after all the bullying he’s done to me over the years, I was so willing to put all of that aside.

“R-really? You mean it?” he asked.

I smiled and nodded at him.

Yeah…there’s no point in holding on to stuff like that. It’s better to just let it go and move on.

Pancham stood there for a moment, not knowing how to respond. Then he did something that no one expected.

He started chuckling.

“Hehehehehe…You…you really are a softie, you know that, Nozomi?” he said jokingly.

I stared at him for a moment before giving him a wide grin. It looks like what Kokai said to him earlier stuck with him, too.

Deerling, Shelmet, and Goomy just stared at us, not knowing what the heck was going on. Eventually, Deerling spoke up.

“Geez, I’ve never seen you two get along like this. Did something happen in the Foreboding Forest to make you so buddy-buddy with each other?” she asked.

“Heh…something like that, I guess,” Pancham answered.

Shelmet was going to say something, but was quickly reminded of what Kokai had told us before he left when he looked up at the sky.

“Uh, guys? I don’t mean to let down the mood, but the sun is starting to set,” he said.

Everyone else looked at the sky and widened their eyes when they confirmed what Shelmet had said.

“Oh, geez, you’re right, Shelmet! We should get going!” Deerling said.

Pancham nodded. “Sounds good to me. Alright, you guys. Let’s hurry and get outta here,” he said.

He’s right. We accomplished what we came here to do. We should hurry back to Serene Village. After everything that’s happened, I’m actually a little tired. I can’t wait to go home, grab some dinner, and -

…Wait.

…

Oh!

OH, CRIPES!

Everyone else saw me freaking out and turned to me.

“W-what’s wrong, Nozomi?!” Deerling asked.

Pops! Pops and I were supposed to eat dinner together today! But I never got the chance to go home! I didn’t get to tell him about the situation with Goomy! He’s probably worried sick!

Oh, man…I can just picture it now…He’s gonna give me the lecture of a lifetime when I get home…I’m totally done for…

Shelmet heard me ranting to myself and chuckled. “Oh, right. Old man Carracosta is your dad, isn’t he? Man, I genuinely feel sorry for you, Nozomi,” he said.

Deerling nodded. “Yeah. You should probably get home soon before you end up in deeper trouble,” she said.

I frantically nodded and started running back to the village. I quickly waved goodbye to everyone and told them that I’d see them tomorrow at school. While I was running, I couldn’t help but think about everything that happened today. Looking back on it, it really was strange, wasn’t it? So much stuff happened. That weird dream, me going to the Foreboding Forest, teaming up with Pancham, of all Pokémon, rescuing Goomy, and of course, meeting Kokai. So much stuff happened that it was kinda overwhelming to think about. But despite that, I also couldn’t help but feel excited. This was exactly the type of life that I wanted. Going on adventures, meeting new Pokémon…I’m glad that, even for one day, I was able to experience it. And who knows? Maybe I’ll get to experience more of it soon.

…

…

…

Nah. Probably not. Not yet, at least.

…

But, you know…there’s something else I’ve been thinking about lately. Of course it would be cool to experience all of that, but…wouldn’t it be even cooler to go through all that with someone else? Someone who shares the same interests as you, someone who has your back, someone who will support you through thick and thin.

Someone who you can call a friend.

Or maybe even…a partner.

…

Hmm…

Kokai…?

!

I shook my head vigorously. Oh, what am I talking about? I’ve only known him for a day! Why was he the first Pokémon I thought of?

…

Though…looking back…while we were in the forest, I couldn’t shake this feeling about him. When I told him that I trusted him when we first met, there was more to it than that. I got a weird deja vu feeling when I was around him. It was almost as if…

The two of us had met before.

[psmd-lingering-shadows]

Part 3: Into The Foreboding Forest

…

“Nozomi?”

…

“Nozomi, please wake up.”

…

“Nozomi!”

“…?!”

I quickly jolted my head up and frantically looked around until my eyes landed on Miss Audino. I stared at her with a confused expression, wondering what was going on.

“You fell asleep during the last few minutes of class. I would have woken you up earlier, but the bell was about to ring, so I just let you be,” she explained.

I fell asleep?! I didn’t even realize! Aw, nuts…I figured it would happen eventually because of my sleeping troubles, but I didn’t want it to happen in her class…

I gave her an apologetic expression, only for her to respond by shaking her head.

“Oh, there’s no need to apologize. If I’m being quite honest, you looked like you needed it,” she said with a grin.

I gave her a small smile and thanked her for being so understanding, even though I still kinda felt bad about it. Then I turned and looked back, realizing that I was the only student left.

Miss Audino saw me looking back and spoke again with an awkward chuckle. “Oh, yes…I might have let you sleep for a little while longer after the bell rang. I spent that time getting this for you.”

“…?”

After she said that, she revealed a cup of juice from behind her back. I looked at it with a confused expression, briefly wondering what type of juice it was and why she’d go out of her way to get it for me. That’s when I noticed the purple color and the aroma it had.

…Wait. This is-!

“Mm-hmm. It’s a cup of Chesto Juice. I asked Mr. Farfetch’d if he could run down to the cafe and get it for you.”

I excitedly sat up when she told me what it was and stared at the cup, eagerly waiting for her to hand it over. Miss Audino giggled at my reaction before giving it to me.

“Here you go, dear. It’s all yours,” she said.

I thanked her once more, took the cup from her, and quickly chugged the Chesto Juice down. Within seconds, I could feel my body regaining energy, and the drowsiness that was plaguing my body vanished. My mind felt a lot clearer, too. I sighed in satisfaction and smiled happily. Oh, yeah. I felt soooo much better.

Miss Audino noticed that I was in much better spirits and gave me a warm smile. “Oh, what a relief. I’m glad to see that you’re back to your usual self. I was pretty concerned about you during class, you know?”

Wait, she was concerned about me? Does that mean…?

As if she knew what I was thinking, she nodded. “Yep. I didn’t buy it when you told me that you were feeling fine this morning. I just knew that something was wrong. I am a nurse, after all.~”

Gah, that’s right! If she’s a nurse, then I guess she’d be more observant of this type of stuff, wouldn’t she?

I mentally facepalmed and awkwardly scratched the back of my head for being caught in such a blatant lie. I was about to apologize for fibbing, but then I noticed that Miss Audino’s expression had shifted into a serious one.

“Um, while we’re on the subject…” she started.

Noting her sudden shift in mood, I looked at her with a neutral expression and waited for her to finish her sentence.

“…Why were you so tired this morning, anyway? You didn’t stay up too late last night, did you?” she asked.

I shook my head, causing her to tilt her head in confusion. “No…? Did you have troubling sleeping, then? Or did you have trouble staying asleep?” she asked.

Once again, I shook my head at both of her questions. The truth was, I had an idea as to why I felt so tired today. It had to be because of that dream I had. Although, I was kinda hesitant to call it a dream. After all, it felt so…real. I don’t think I’ve ever had a dream that was so vivid before. I don’t know for sure if that’s what caused it or even how it would be able to cause it, but I just can’t shake the feeling that it somehow has something to do with it.

“…Is that right? Hmm…” Miss Audino stared at me for a few more seconds, trying to think of a possible cause to my exhaustion. However, it seemed like she couldn’t think of anything, because she ended up closing her eyes and sighing.

“I see…That’s pretty strange…and a little worrying,” she said with a concerned expression on her face.

“…”

As soon as those words left her mouth and I saw her expression, I couldn’t help but frown. Don’t get me wrong - I appreciated her for being concerned about me, but at the same time, I kinda…didn’t want her to. It…made me feel guilty. I mean, just look at Pops. When we talked about it yesterday and this morning, it ended up stressing him out a lot. Well, of course it would - I am his daughter, but still…I just don’t want other Pokémon to worry about me so much…

After all, I…I’m not someone who’s worth stressing over…

Miss Audino noticed me frowning and quickly shook her head. “O-oh, there’s no need to worry! I’m sure it’s nothing serious. I’m just confused as to why it’s happening. …Er, this is the first time it’s happened to you, right?” she asked.

I nodded my head. Technically, that was a lie. I’ve woken up feeling just as bad for the past few weeks, but this is the first time I’ve had a weird dream to go along with it.

“Hmm…okay, then. Like I said before, I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. It was probably just a one-time thing. But, if it does happen again, please don’t hesitate to come to me, alright?” she asked.

…!

“If it happens again, please don’t hesitate to come to me.”

…

“Very well. I’ll choose to believe your words for the time being. But…if you have any sort of problem, you had better talk to me about it like you promised you would, understood?”

…Again. That guilty feeling washed over me again.

I just couldn’t help it. Yesterday, when Pops brought up my sleeping issues, I told him that I would tell him if something else happened to me, and now, Miss Audino is asking me to do the same with her. It just…bothered me. I know it shouldn’t - it meant she cared about me and just wanted to help. But it did. Having other Pokémon worry over me like this. It felt…wrong. After all, to everyone else, I was nothing but a troublemaker, right? I did nothing but cause trouble for others, even when I didn’t mean to. So, why?

Why would anyone ever be concerned about someone as bothersome as me?

“…Nozomi?”

“…!”

Realizing that I had stayed quiet for a while, I quickly looked at Miss Audino, who was staring at me with the same concerned expression from earlier.

“You looked like you had zoned out for a moment. Are you sure you’re alright? Do you still feel tired?” she asked.

I shook my head at her, then told her that if I felt like this in the future, I’d tell her.

…It was the third lie that I told her today.

Miss Audino smiled at my reply gave a satisfied hum. “Good. That’s all I needed to hear. I wouldn’t want you walking around the village while you’re still half-asleep, you know?” she said with a chuckle. I chuckled as well, hoping that she wouldn’t catch on to how guilty I felt in that moment.

After that, she looked around for a moment before letting out a gasp, causing me to look at her in confusion.

“Oh, dear! That’s right! School’s already been let out! I didn’t mean to keep you here for so long!”

…!

Oh, she’s right! School was already over. I had kinda forgotten about that…

She turned back to me and gave me a sheepish smile. “I’m so sorry, Nozomi. We were talking for so long, I ended up losing track of time. If you’re ready to leave, then you can head out right now.” she said as she pointed to the exit.

I nodded at her and stood up from my seat. Then I headed down the slope and walked past the school gate.

“Take care! I’ll see you tomorrow!” Miss Audino shouted.

I looked back at her and gave her a small smile before I finally left. While I was walking on the path to the village, I thought more about our conversation - more specifically, about the fact the I ended up lying to her about my situation. A part of me was upset with myself for constantly lying about it, but it was for the best. I didn’t wanna inconvenience her with my problems. Besides, if I’m right about this, I already have an idea as to why this was happening. Like I mentioned earlier, that weird dream seems to have something to do with this. I have no proof - that’s just the feeling I have. Hmm…I wonder if I’ll have the same dream tonight? If if do, maybe I could get some answers. Maybe I could try talking to that creepy voice, see if it knows anything.

…Now that I mention it, I haven’t mentioned my dream to Pops yet. Should I tell him…?

Yeah…I guess I should. Even if I didn’t want him to worry, he is my dad. He has a right to know. And besides, unlike with Miss Audino, I did promise that I would.

Before I realized it, I had arrived in the plaza. I stopped and looked around in surprise. The walk from school to Serene Village seemed a lot shorter for some reason. Maybe it was because I was wrapped up in my own thoughts.

Anyway, I stood there for a moment, wondering what to do next. I had all this time to kill, and it would be a waste to just go home now…

…Oh, wait!

Pops said that he would be home early today, didn’t he? He said that we would eat dinner together!

I smiled excitedly at the idea of actually being able to spend some time with him. We haven’t spent some quality time together for a while. Even if it was something as simple as eating dinner with each other, it was still enough to make me happy.

With a wide smile still on my face, I started running towards the direction of my house, eager to see Pops and fill myself up with delicious food. Aw, man! This is gonna be great-

…Huh?

I suddenly stopped in my tracks when I noticed something odd in the corner of my eye. I turned to my left and saw Deerling and Shelmet together. They were having a conversation, and it looked like they were both upset about something. I slowly walked closer towards them until I could hear what they were both saying.

“…What?! Goomy did?!” Deerling asked with a look of shock on her face.

“Yeah, well, he insisted on going-“ Shelmet said before Deerling quickly cut him off.

“No more excuses, Shelmet!” Deerling shouted, clearly angry at him. “Tell me the truth! You and Pancham pushed him into this, didn’t you?”

When I heard Deerling say that, I couldn’t help but frown in concern. Of course, I don’t have all the details yet, but from what I’ve heard so far, it seems like Pancham and Shelmet goaded Goomy into doing some crazy dare. If that’s actually what happened, then I wouldn’t be surprised. Though it’s not as bad as when they pick on me, Pancham and Shelmet also tend to mess with Goomy from time to time. They usually do so by riling him up into doing something reckless so he can prove himself to them. And it always ends the same way - with Goomy getting into some sort of trouble and needing someone else - usually Deerling - to bail him out. But still, even though they don’t mess with him as much, it’s still upsetting whenever they do. After all, Goomy is younger than us, so the heckling is going to get him more than it would me. Thankfully, Deerling’s usually around to make sure things never gets out of hand. But it looks like she wasn’t able to keep things from escalating this time…

Shelmet nervously squirmed for a bit before speaking again. “Th-that’s…not fair, Deerling! He’s the one who said he wanted to go! How can you stand there and blame us?”

“Quite easily. You’re the ones who are always teasing poor Goomy, after all! Someday you’re going to go too far, and it’ll be too late for sorries then!” Deerling replied in a stern tone.

Shelmet let out a small gulp. “I-I know that! No need to worry so much!”

“You’re going to show me the way there. Right now,” Deerling commanded, her intense expression never leaving her face.

Shelmet hastily complied and with a defeated sigh, led Deerling to wherever they left Goomy.

Huh…so it looks like I was right, after all. I shook my head as an annoyed sigh left my beak. Darn it, you two…don’t you have anything better to do than pick on a little kid? You can be so irritating sometimes…

…Though I guess I don’t have a lot of room to talk, do I?

…

Well, whatever.

After hearing all of that, I can’t just sit back and do nothing. I wanna help, too! I wanna make sure Goomy’s okay! And, from the way they were talking, it sounds like Goomy could have gone to a Mystery Dungeon. If that’s true, then I definitely want to go with them! Traversing through a Mystery Dungeon, battling against fierce Pokémon…it’s just an adventure waiting to happen!

…Ah, but would they even let me?

If I just barged in and said I wanted to help, Pancham and Shelmet would probably make fun of me and tell me I’d just get in the way. Even Deerling might try to stop me…As much as I don’t wanna admit it, I know that I don’t have the best relationship with my classmates. Even though I’ve tried my best to get closer to them, my reputation as “Serene Village’s Resident Troublemaker” makes it hard to make friends. Heck, I think the only other kid in the village who doesn’t mind being around me as much is Espurr…

B-but that doesn’t matter right now! I wanna help Goomy, so I’m gonna help Goomy! It doesn’t matter if they don’t want me around! I’m not going to sit here while he could be in trouble!

With a determined expression on my face, I nodded to myself and ran towards the village gate. Deerling and Shelmet shouldn’t have gone that far yet. I’ll follow both of them from a distance and see where they end up going…

A LITTLE BIT LATER…

Thankfully, the trip to where Goomy was didn’t take too long. Though, it would make sense that it wouldn’t. I doubt they would go anywhere too far from the village. As I kept tailing Deerling and Shelmet, I quickly looked around to see where we were. However, it only took me a few seconds to figure out where Goomy ended up going.

…The Foreboding Forest.

My eyes widened slightly as that realization sank in. Pops has constantly told me to stay away from this place, just like with most of the other Mystery Dungeons. Just like the name suggests, the dungeon is bad news. It’s an ominous, sinister forest with almost no light shining in it, meaning that it’s constantly dark. Combine that spooky atmosphere with the wild Pokémon crawling around in there, and you’re in for quite the experience…

It’s absolutely perfect! This is just the type of dungeon that I’d wanna go through!

…

…U-um, but that’s not important right now. Goomy’s safety is the top priority!

I continued lagging behind the two until they both reached the entrance to the forest. That’s when I saw Pancham standing there, tapping his foot impatiently. It looked like he had been waiting there for a while already. But once he saw Deerling and Shelmet approaching him, he widened his eyes in surprise.

“Huh? Shelmet? Why’d you bring Deerling here? I mean, I’m not complaining, but-“

“I made him lead me here. He told me about your stupid little dare,” Deerling said angrily, catching Pancham off guard. He quickly turned to Shelmet and gave him a angry glare.

“Dude, you told her?!” he asked.

“She forced it outta me! It’s not my fault!” Shelmet quickly replied.

Deerling ignored the two and looked around for a bit before realizing that Goomy was nowhere to be seen. She turned back to look at the boys and interrupted their bickering.

“…Where is he?”

Upon hearing this, Pancham and Shelmet both exchanged awkward glances before Pancham decided to speak up.

“Uh…still in the forest?”

Deerling couldn’t help but stare at him in shock in response to his answer. “What?! He still hasn’t come back out?”

Pancham nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. It’s been a pretty long time, too. I knew he was a total wimp,” he said with a smug smile on his face.

“No surprise there. He shoulda just admitted what a wimp he is and kept his mouth shut.” Shelmet added.

“But he had to go and talk big, like he could handle that kind of place. He was boasting, saying, ‘I’ll show you!’. That’s what got him into this mess.”

“He’s probably huddled up somewhere in the forest, petrified and sniffing back tears!”

The two boys both started laughing at their own insults towards Goomy, causing Deerling to become even more upset at them.

“You are so mean, Pancham! Goomy isn’t even the same age as us yet!” she shouted.

The two stopped laughing and looked at her again.

“Yeah, but he’s the one who talks big. He got what was coming to him. We figure it’s our job to teach him a little something about how harsh the world is,” Pancham replied.

“And if something happens to him in there? What are you going to do then, huh?” Deerling paused and looked at the two before shaking her head disapprovingly at them. “I’m going in after them!”

She tried heading into the Forboding Forest, but she was quickly stopped by Pancham and Shelmet, who had worried expressions on their faces.

“No way! You can’t go in there, Deerling!” Shelmet shouted.

“What if something happened to you? We can’t let that happen to our idol! We’re not letting you set foot in such a dangerous place!” Pancham said, agreeing with his friend.

Deerling backed up and looked at both of them in disbelief before groaning in frustration. “Are you kidding me? Then fine! You go in after him!”

When he heard what Deerling had said, Pancham froze. He stared at her awkwardly, hoping that she was somehow joking.

…She was dead serious.

When he realized that, he gulped and awkwardly repeated what she said.

“Y-you want us to go? Into the Foreboding Forest?”

He quickly glanced at the path that led deeper into the forest, then looked back at Deerling, who was still visibly angry.

“…No way. Why would we do that?”

…

…

…

I couldn’t help but sigh disappointingly at his answer. Typical Pancham. He talks a big game, but is never able to back it up.

Deerling, rather than say anything, just kept staring at him, her eyes full of a silent rage that I rarely see from her.

Pancham flinched at her death glare before shaking his head and trying to elaborate.

“I mean, it’s n-not that we’re scared or anything like that. I d-don’t want you getting the wrong idea or whatever. You understand, right?”

…Oh, brother. You were picking on Goomy for being scared earlier, but now you’re saying stuff like this? Ugh, whatever. I suppose now would be a good time to show myself.

I stepped away from the tree I was hiding behind and started walking towards the three. They all heard me approaching and quickly turned around to see what was making the noise.

“Hello?! Who’s there?” Deerling shouted, slightly startled.

I kept walking until I was clearly visible to all of them. When they saw me standing there, they stared at me with confused expressions.

“N-Nozomi?!” Deerling blurted out.

“What the heck are you doing here?!” Pancham asked.

Shelmet kept staring at me until he figured out what happened. “Wait…did you follow us?!” he asked.

Oof…looks like the Skitty’s out of the bag.

I nodded, causing Pancham to groan.

“Ugh, seriously?! We’re already in the middle of something here. We don’t need to deal with you, too!” he said, clearly annoyed just by the fact that I was here.

Deerling turned to Pancham and gave him another glare. “Knock it off, Pancham. You’re in no position to act like that,” she said.

Pancham crossed him arms and looked down with a grunt. “Hmph…”

Then she turned back to me with a confused expression. “But seriously, why did you follow us?” she asked.

…

“So you heard our conversation in the village and wanted to help Goomy…” Deerling summarized.

I nodded and told them that I was willing to go into the Foreboding Forest to look for him.

When I said that, Deerling gave me a concerned look. “A-are you sure? This is the Foreboding Forest we’re talking about. This place is pretty dangerous…you could get hurt if you’re not careful,” she warned me.

Pancham turned to her and scoffed. “Oh, please. It’s not like this is anything new for her. After all, she’s an expert at going into places she doesn’t belong,” he said mockingly.

…Well, he’s not wrong.

Deerling turned to Pancham and gave him yet another angry glare, instantly causing him to clam up. Heh, like I said, all bark and no bite.

It looked like Deerling was about to shout at him again, but as soon as she opened her mouth, she stopped herself and looked down as if she was thinking about something. Then she looked back up at Pancham and spoke.

“…Actually, Pancham, why don’t you tag along with Nozomi?”

Pancham and I both looked at her with a confused expression.

“Wait, what?!” we both shouted in unison.

“I’d be uncomfortable having Nozomi go into the Foreboding Forest all by herself. And you and Shelmet refuse to let me step even one foot in there. So the only other Pokémon who can go with her are you and Shelmet. So unless Shelmet wants to go instead…” she said as she turned to the Bug-Type Pokémon.

Shelmet tensed up and started to stammer. “Uh…well…I…”

“…I’ll take that as a no,” Deerling simply said, then turned back to Pancham. “Well, Pancham? You said you weren’t scared earlier, right? So it shouldn’t be a problen…right?” she said with a slightly smug smirk on her face.

Pancham glanced at me, then at the entrance to the forest, then back to Deerling. It looked like there was no talking his way out of this one…at least, not without hurting his precious ego. I had to hand it to Deerling…she got him good. She had him completely backed into a corner.

Pancham stayed quiet for a few more seconds until he let out a low growl and furrowed his brow. “F-fine! I’ll go with her! You happy now?” he asked.

Deerling nodded and let out a content hum. “Then I guess that’s settled! We’ll leave it to you two!” she said with a smile.

I couldn’t help but let out a sigh at the way things turned out. As cool as it was watching Deerling one-upping Pancham like that, in the end, it meant that I had to go through the Foreboding Forest with him. I know Deerling said she was worried about me going by myself, but I honestly would have preferred that than going with Pancham.

Pancham grumbled to himself for a bit before turning to me. “Hey, Nozomi! Listen up, ‘cause I’m only gonna say this once. Shelmet and I placed a big piece of paper in the forest for Goomy to find. It’s not that far from the entrance, which means that he shouldn’t have gone too far. The two of us are gonna find Goomy as quickly as possible and come straight back here. No wandering off, no taking any detours, and no staying in one place for too long, you got that?! We’re looking for Goomy, not going on one of your stupid ‘adventures!’”

“…”

I gave him a small glare before nodding at him. It’s not like he needed to tell me not to do that stuff. I’m not that irresponsible…am I?

Deerling looked at both of us, suddenly being reminded of the history we had with each other. Then she walked over to me with a small frown and started to whisper.

“Nozomi, are you sure you’re alright with this? I know I kind of forced Pancham to go with you, but I could always go instead. I know you two don’t get along that well, so I could always take his place. I doubt he’d try to stop me this time if I offered to…” she said.

I shook my head and declined her offer. Yeah, Pancham and I weren’t on the best of terms, but who knows? Maybe going through this dungeon together would bring us closer together!

…

…

…

…Yeah, probably not…That’s just wishful thinking on my part…

But even so, I still think Pancham should come with me. He’s the one who got Goomy into this mess, after all. It’s only fair that he helped look for him.

Deerling, despite still seeming a little worried, nodded and backed away from me. Then she faced the both me and Pancham. “Okay, then. If the both of you are ready, then hurry and head into the forest. Let’s try to find Goomy before it gets too dark,” she said.

I hummed to acknowledge what she said while Pancham just let out of “Hmph.”. Then he started walking towards the entrance of the Forbidden Forest.

“Let’s get this over with,” he simply said.

After he said that, I quickly followed behind him, marking the beginning of our quest to find Goomy. As we both walked deeper into the forest, we heard Deerling and Shelmet shouting at us to be careful and that they’ll be waiting for us. Hearing that caused me to smile a little, knowing that despite us not being all that close, they still cared enough about us to say something like that. Even Shelmet, who picks on me just as much as Pancham does. Though, maybe he was saying all that to just Pancham instead of both of us…Meh, it didn’t matter now.

…

…

…

When we both entered the first floor of the Forbidden Forest, I took a quick moment to look around. The place was even darker when you were actually inside of it. The tall trees managed to block most of the sunlight from shining down into the dungeon. Speaking of plants, all of the greenery was all dark and gloomy-looking. There wasn’t a single bright and vibrant plant anywhere to be seen. Yeesh, now that I’m experiencing it for myself, I can see why other Pokémon tend to avoid it like the plague…

“Hey, Nozomi!”

“…!”

I was pulled out of my thoughts by an annoyed-looking Pancham, who was tugging on my flipper.

“Come on, pick up the pace! We don’t have all day, you know,” he said.

Ugh…I can’t even look around without Pancham getting on my case. Maybe I should have let Deerling come with me, after all…

I simply nodded and walked closely behind him. Our plan was to head deeper into the forest until we eventually spotted Goomy. The farthest he should have gone was a little past the 4th floor, where Pancham and Shelmet set up the paper. So like Pancham said earlier, this shouldn’t take too long if we kept moving.

After a little bit of walking, Pancham started shouting for Goomy to see if he was around here somewhere.

“Hey, Goomy! Can you hear us?! It’s Pancham and Nozomi! We’re here to get you outta here!” he shouted while looking around for him.

…No response.

Pancham groaned. “…Didn’t think it would be that easy. He’s probably deeper in the forest. Come on. Let’s keep going,” he said.

The two of us kept looking around, trying to be as thorough as possible. As small as this floor was, it was easy to miss another Pokémon if you weren’t paying attention. The forest was covered in all sorts of thick greenery too, so that made it more difficult to clearly see everything around us. We would also occasionally run into some lower-level Pokémon that would try to attack us. We dealt with them easily enough, but they kinda slowed us down. With all of this extra stuff we had to deal with, finding Goomy quickly ended up becoming tedious. And we were still only on the first floor…

Eventually, Pancham groaned and kicked the ground in frustration.

“Ugh, we’ve searched every nook and cranny of this floor and we didn’t find him! Don’t tell me he actually managed to make it to where Shelmet and I placed the paper?”

I shrugged. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. But since we didn’t know for sure, we’d have to check the next couple of floors like this.

When Pancham heard me say that, he rolled his eyes and sighed in annoyance. “Tch…what a pain.”

I turned to him with my brow slightly furrowed. Pancham noticed me looking at him and frowned.

“…What?”

…

“If it was such a pain, then why did I make him come here…? I didn’t make him do anything! He’s the one who decided to go!” Pancham retorted.

Yeah, probably because you kept making fun of him, you doof…

Pancham heard me say that under my breath and stopped walking. “Who the heck are you calling a ‘doof’?! And like you’re one to talk! You’re always getting Goomy into trouble by dragging him into those adventures of yours!” he shot back.

“…!”

T-that’s…he’s not wrong, but…

Noticing that I was stunned into silence, he kept speaking. “Be honest. You didn’t come here because you care about Goomy. You came here because it was just another adventure to you, right? Goomy was the last thing on your mind!” he said.

That’s not true at all. Sure, I was excited at the idea of coming here, but rescuing Goomy came first! He was my top priority!

“Yeah, right. That was probably just a convenient lie you came up with. You constantly get Goomy into trouble, and now you’re suddenly worried about him? I don’t buy that for one second,” he said with his arms crossed.

I don’t care if you buy it or not, it’s the truth…!

He kept ignoring what I was saying and continued his verbal assault. “And to think someone like you wants to join the Expedition Society. Do you really think they’d wanna accept someone who’s constantly hurting other Pokémon with their stupid antics?”

S-stop it…

“Face it, Nozomi. You’re just a selfish brat who doesn’t care about anyone but herself. There’s no way you’d ever be useful to anyone!” he said with a smug smile.

“!!!”

Who…who the heck does he think he is?!

He’s going on and on as if he knows anything about me…! I-I know I can be selfish sometimes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about others. I…

At this point, I was genuinely starting to get upset. I was trying my best to hold it together, but the last thing he said…it made me feel something I couldn’t even describe. It was one of the most unpleasant feelings I’ve ever experienced.

…

I…don’t mean to cause problems for others…I just…

…

Pancham was about to say something else to me, probably another mean-spirited remark about me.

…That’s when he noticed the tears forming in my eyes.

“Wha…?”

“…”

His smug smile from earlier instantly vanished, and his eyes widened in shock. He just stared at me looking at the ground, trying my hardest not to cry.

After a few more seconds had passed, he looked down with a guilty expression on his face and sighed quietly.

“Aw, crud…” he said to himself before looking back up at me. “Hey, Nozomi, I didn’t…”

*growl*

“Wha-?”

Huh…? W-what was that?

I quickly wiped my eyes and shook my head, directing my attention to the sudden growling noise. Pancham did the same and got into a defensive stance.

“Goomy…? Is that you?” he asked. We both knew the answer already, but he probably asked just to be on the safe side.

…No response.

I followed Pancham’s lead and braced myself for what was about to happen. We briefly looked at each other, then turned back to the bush.

…

…

…

Ah, come on! The anticipation is killing me! We know it’s a wild Pokémon! Just hurry up and show yourself so we can clobber you-

Then, as if the dungeon somehow heard what I was thinking, two Furfrou appeared from the bush. Hold up…two?! I was expecting just one! And these two seem two be stronger than the other Pokémon we ran into earlier…cripes! This isn’t good!

“Holy-!” Pancham shouted, slightly startled.

The two Furfrou slowly approached the two of us, snarling with malicious intent. They both sheathed their claws as they were about to attack.

Pancham gulped and turned to me to see what I was doing, only to be shocked to see me simply staring both of them down.

“H-hey, Nozomi! What the heck are you doing?! Staring at them isn’t gonna make them stop. We gotta attack or use an item or something!” he said.

I internally scoffed at Pancham’s remark. Duh, you doof. I knew that already. I’m just waiting until they get close enough…

A few seconds passed and two Furfrou were only a couple of feet from us. I kept staring at them, waiting for them to make the first move. That’s when one of them suddenly tried to pounce on me.

“Nozomi!” Pancham shouted.

Heheheh…you’ve fallen right into my trap.

Mud-Slap!

I used Mud-Slap to hurl mud into the Furfrou’s eyes, instantly blinding them. Their attack was interrupted and they were stumbling around in confusion, trying to find me. However, I didn’t give it the chance as I immediately used my Bubble attack to finish it off.

Enraged by the fact that I KO’d its ally, the other Furfrou did the same thing it did and pounced on me. I was about to do the same thing as before, but that’s when Pancham got in front of me.

“Arm Thrust!”

Pancham managed to land five blows to the wild Pokémon before it went down. Once he knew for sure that it was knocked out, he gave it a cheeky grin and started boasting.

“Ha! Take that, you mangy mutt!” he said.

I watched him go on like that for a bit before shaking my head and sighing. Geez…he never passes up an opportunity to show off, does he? But, man, that was pretty surprising, getting ambushed like that. Although…now that I think about it, that was odd. I thought the Furfrou seemed stronger, but we managed to take them down pretty quickly. What’s with that…?

After he was done taunting the Furfrou, he turned back to me. “Heh. Looks like we managed to teach both of them a lesson!” he said with his hands placed confidently on his hips.

Yeah…I guess so?

…

I slowly walked over and examined both of the Furfrou out of curiosity. Pancham watched me and gave me a confused expression.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he asked.

I told him what I was thinking earlier, that these Furfrou seemed too easy to beat and that I wanted to take a closer look at them.

“Maybe they weren’t as tough as you thought? Or maybe we were just that much stronger than the two of them?” he said with the same confident tone.

I simply rolled my eyes and kept looking at them. Maybe they had gotten injured before we fought them and that’s why we didn’t struggle that much? No, there’s no way. I didn’t see any injures before-

“…!?”

Wait, what the-?!

Pancham saw my surprised expression and tilted his head curiously. “What? What is it?” he asked.

Both of them…there both had burn marks under their fur!

“What?!” Pancham shouted, running over to get a look.

I double-checked to see if maybe I was imagining things, but no matter how you looked at it, they were definitely burn marks. And, to make things more confusing, they looked...recent? So…this was the reason we took them down so easily. They were already injured…

Pancham stared at the burn marks for a few more seconds, then turned to me.

“Okay…that’s pretty weird. So, what? Were they attacked by another Pokémon or something?”

…Well, that had to be the case, right? The only thing capable of giving burns like this is another Pokémon…probably a Fire-type one. But if that’s the case, who did this? It couldn’t have been another dungeon Pokémon. After all, it didn’t seem like there were any Fire-type Pokémon around here…

Before I could get a chance to think about it some more, I was pulled out of my thoughts by a loud rustling noise.

“Oh, come on. Again?!” Pancham said, furrowing his brow angrily.

Another Pokémon? So soon after those two? Geez, what a pain…Oh, well. I guess it can’t be helped.

Just like last time, we both got into defensive stances and waited for our next opponent to show themselves. The rustling got louder and louder until it eventually reached the same bush the Furfrou jumped out of. We both glared at the bush, expecting the Pokémon to jump out just like those two.

However, we were both caught off guard when we heard a voice from the bush.

“Ugh…I forgot how much of a hassle it was to navigate through the Foreboding Forest. There’s so much shrubbery everywhere…”

Pancham and I quickly glanced at each other before turning back to the bush. That…that wasn’t a dungeon Pokémon.

They came from outside the dungeon, just like us.

From the sound of their voice, they didn’t seem much older than us, either. They had to have been around our age. But…hold on. It didn’t sound like Goomy’s voice…Did that mean that there was another kid in here? But I didn’t recognize it. It didn’t sound like any of the kids from the Village…so who was this Pokémon?

My question would quickly be answered as the mysterious Pokémon casually stepped outside the bush. The moment they did, my eyes widened in surprise. The Pokémon in question had a exploration bag on them, and they were wearing this weird bracelet-looking thing on their wrist. Despite the fact that they were a child, they had a stoic look on their face and slightly baggy eyes. But what interested me the most was the type of Pokémon they were. They were a Fire-type.

…Specifically, a Charmander.

[psmd-lingering-shadows]

Please put your writing under a readmore, it's great but it's also kinda filling my whole dash up, sorry

I’m so sorry about that! I’m still trying to get used to how Tumblr works and I didn’t know how to do that at first. I had to look it up right quickly just to figure it out. Everything should be all good now, though. Again, sorry about filling your dash up with those super-long posts.

[psmd-lingering-shadows]

Part 2: In The Sea of Her Subconscious

…

...

...

...?

...Nngh...

...

...Hmm?

Huh? I’m awake? Did…did I wake up in the middle of the night?  Even though my eyes were closed, a confused expression managed to form on my face.  Well, this was a first.  I was having a problem with sleeping in, and now it looks like I’m having trouble staying asleep, which is kinda the exact opposite of what’s happened before.  I let out a small groan as I lied in bed with my eyes still closed.  I spent that period of time trying to go back to sleep, but to my annoyance, I couldn't manage to do it.  Not only that, but it seemed like I was wide awake at that point, too.  Come on, what gives?  Why has it been so hard to just get a good night's rest lately? Well, I guess complaining about it won’t solve anything. I just gotta deal with it for the time being, I guess.

...Well, if I'm having trouble sleeping, I could try drinking some herbal tea from the kitchen.  Pops does that sometimes when he can't sleep, and it usually knocks him out.  Even if it doesn't put me out immediately, it should still make me pretty drowsy.

Once I decided to do that, I slowly sat up and quietly cleared my throat, not realizing how dry it was until then. Then I finally opened my eyes so I could -

“…?!”

What…?

What the heck is this…?

As soon as I opened my eyes, I was greeted by an unsettling sight. Everything was…pitch black. No matter where I looked, there seemed to be nothing but complete and utter darkness. Not even the smallest amount of light could be found anywhere. I was completely shocked. I’ve never seen anything like this before. A part of me wanted to just brush it off as my eyes not adjusting to the darkened room yet, but even I knew better than to do that. Something wasn’t right.

A small feeling of apprehension started to settle in my stomach, causing me to instinctively gulp. Something was definitely wrong here. As I wondered what could have caused everything to become engulfed in darkness, I suddenly came to a realization.

…Pops! Was Pops okay?!

My eyes widened in fear when I thought of the possibility that something bad could have happened to him. It might have been completely dark, but we were still in our house, right? That meant he would still be in his room! Hoping that I was just being paranoid, I quickly called for him, hoping that he would answer.

…

…

…

No response.

Ugh…

I called for him again…

…

…

…

Still no answer.

No…no, no, no, no…

With panic slowly overtaking me, I frantically tried running towards Pops’s room to make sure he was safe. However, despite how much I ran, I didn’t look like I was going anywhere - in fact, it looked like I was running in place. It didn’t matter, though. I just kept running. The only thing I could do at that moment was to keep on running and hope that it would somehow get me out of this situation. I just kept on running, and running, and running…

…Until I heard someone call my name.

“NoZOmi…”

“…!!”

W-who was that just now? It definitely didn’t sound like Pops. No, that voice just now…it sounded…off-putting, yet somehow familiar? I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

“NoZOmi…”

Again. It called out to me again. Whenever I heard that voice, I would become more and more tense. I didn’t know why, but listening to that voice made me feel so uneasy…

“YoU muST…remEMber…”

“…?”

Huh? Remember? Remember what? What are they talking about?

I hastily looked around to try and figure out where they were, but I couldn’t see anything other than the inescapable darkness that surrounded me. Eventually, in a fit of frustration, I shouted at them, asking them what they wanted from me.

“I aM hERe…tO atONe…”

…Atone?

A confused expression formed on my face. Atone for what, exactly? What did they even do? Argh, none of this is making any sense!

I shouted at them again, only this time, I tried asking who they were.

“WhO I aM…? ThAT iS…”

They tried to speak, but I couldn’t hear them clearly. It sounded like their voice was starting to fade.

No, don’t just up and leave now! Tell me what’s going on!

“YoU…aRE…”

Before they could finish their sentence, their voiced ended up fading away completely. I called out to them, telling them to say something, but to my dismay, I didn’t get a reply.

“…”

Darn it…it looked like they really were gone. What the heck…?

I stayed still for a moment, then looked down at the ground in disbelief. I couldn’t even begin to wrap my head around what just happened. A creepy, disembodied voice appeared out of nowhere, telling me that they came here to atone for something, and then just vanish as quickly as they arrived. And even though they’re gone, I’m still trapped in this dark, empty space. How was I supposed to escape?

As I wondered what I should do next, I noticed something from the corner of my eye. Surprised by its sudden appearance, I looked up and faced the strange figure that had suddenly manifested a good distance from me.

“…?”

Uh…it was pretty far from where I was standing, so I couldn’t get a really good look at it, but from what I could see, it appeared to be a Pokémon. It looked like it was pink - and fairly small. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Pokémon like this before. And yet, despite that, they seemed oddly familiar…just like with the voice from earlier. Could they have been connected somehow?

I tried walking over to them to try talking with it, but as soon as I took one step, the strange Pokémon vanished and was replaced with a small, golden light. My eyes widened in shock, and I couldn’t help but let out a quiet gasp. It disappeared, too?! What gives?!

At this point, I was so confused, I was actually starting to get a little angry. I didn’t understand why all of this weird stuff was happening to me. It was so frustrating that I wanted to scream. I took a moment to try to calm myself down and not let my emotions get the better of me.

…

…

…

…Okay.

Having calmed down enough to focus, I turned my attention back to the light that the strange Pokémon had left behind.

…That’s when I noticed that that the ball of light had begun to grow.

“…?!”

The light kept getting bigger and bigger, overtaking the darkness that filled this empty space not too long ago. I couldn’t help but back away from it, fearing that I would end up becoming engulfed in it. However, my attempt to avoid it ended up being pointless, as the light became so big, it was the only thing I could see anymore. I ended up having to cover my eyes due to how bright everything was becoming. Eventually, the light ended up reaching me, and just as I had feared, I had become consumed by it, along with the rest of the place. I let out a frightened scream, uncertain of what was going to happen to me. Then, all of sudden the golden light that had overtaken everything around me suddenly became white. Then it disappeared, leaving everything in a stated of darkness once more. I could feel myself fading, as though I was falling asleep. And then, after a few seconds, I had passed out, overwhelmed at everything that had transpired…

…

…

…

…

“…!!!”

I opened my eyes and shot up, gasping from shock. I could feel beads of sweat rolling down my face and my body felt shaky. I was also super exhausted - it felt like I had just gone through a harrowing battle or something. I slowly looked around to see where I ended up, and to my relief, I was in my room. I also noticed that it was brighter, so I looked outside and saw that the sun was out. It…it was morning?

What…? I don’t understand. What the heck was all of that? Was it all just some wild dream? That empty world, that eerie voice, that strange Pokémon - they were never real? I mean, that seems to be the case, but for some reason, I just couldn’t bring myself to believe that. I mean, it all felt so real…

“Nozomi! Are you up and about yet, child?”

“…!”

I was suddenly snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Pops’s voice from the kitchen. A part of me instantly felt relieved knowing that he was safe. Even if it happened to just be a dream, not seeing Pops there and thinking that something had happened to him was just…it scared me. A lot.

I quickly shook my head and pushed those thoughts down. There wasn’t any point in thinking about that anymore.

I shouted back at Pops and told him that I had just woken up, causing him to grunt in response.

“In that case, come to the kitchen. Breakfast is ready,” he said.

When I heard that, a small smile formed on my face. After everything that I had just gone through, breakfast sounded wonderful right about now.

I walked out of my room and headed to the kitchen, where I saw Pops preparing my plate. I sat down at the table and waited for him to finish. When he was done, he walked over to the table and set my plate down in front of me. I took a look at the food that he had prepared, and my eyes lit up at what I saw - a fresh stack of pancakes. I turned to him and gave him a warm smile.

Pops looked at me and smiled back. “Heh. I figured I would make your favorite for breakfast today,” he said as he walked back to the counter to make his own plate. After filling it with pancakes and preparing a cup of juice, he returned to the table. Just when he was about to start eating, he heard me let out a loud yawn, causing him to turn his attention to me. That’s when he noticed the tired expression on my face.

“…You look exhausted,” he simply said, causing me to stop eating and look up at him. I gave him a small frown and shrugged. It wasn’t like it was the first time this has happened, after all. If I managed to wake up on my own, I’d end up being completely drained, like Pops mentioned yesterday.

He sighed and shook his head. “I really wish we could get to the bottom of this. Are you sure there isn’t anything that’s troubling you? Nothing at all?” he asked.

…

“I-I apologize. We already discussed this yesterday. I’m just frustrated that I can’t figure out why this is happening to you. As your guardian, it’s my responsibility to make sure you’re okay and…”

He cut himself off and looked down.

“…No, there’s no point in talking about this now. Let’s just enjoy breakfast together,” he said as he ended the conversation and began to eat his food.

I couldn’t help but feel bad for Pops. Of course he’d be worried about all of this. From his point of view, all of this stuff has been happening to me without any explanation. And there doesn’t seem to be a definitive way of dealing with it at the moment. It would make sense for him to be frustrated…

…Actually, now that I think about it, that dream I had last night…could it happen to be related to what’s been happening to me somehow? I mean, it’s not like I have any proof that that’s the case, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was, either. At this point, I’d be willing to assume that any strange thing that happens from here on out is related to all the other stuff I’ve experience already. But still…

*growl*

Wha-?

Oh, right!

I’m supposed to be eating now. I’ll think about all of this stuff later.

…

…

…

After Pops and I finished eating breakfast, I said my goodbyes to him and headed off to school. Unfortunately, he told me that we ran out of Chesto Berries a couple of days ago, so I had to settle for a normal cup of juice and hope that it would give me enough energy to get through the day. Good grief…I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up passing out in the middle of class. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time it would happen…heck, the other times I did pass out, I wasn’t even having sleeping troubles. I fought off my sleepiness as I walked through the village until I found myself on the school path. At that point, I picked up the pace a little to make sure that I arrived to class with time to spare. I didn’t want a repeat of yesterday, after all. When I was nearly at the school gate, I couldn’t help but let out a small grin as I saw Miss Audino greeting the other students as they walked past. If she was at the gate, then did that mean that she would be the one teaching the class today? Heh, that would be nice.

When I got to the gate, Miss Audino saw me and gave me a warm smile.

“Good morning, Nozomi! How are you doing?” she asked.

I turned to her and gave her a big grin, indicating that I was fine. …Well, as fine as I could be, considering everything that’s happened…

Miss Audino stared at me for a moment, then nodded. “I see…that’s good to hear. It looks like you managed to arrive to school much earlier than yesterday,” she said teasingly.

“…?!”

Wait, what?! How does she know about that?

“Mr. Watchog told me about how you suddenly dashed into the classroom right before the bell rang. It seems as though you caused quite the scene, though I suppose that’s nothing new for you,” she said with a chuckle.

I gave her a small pout and looked down. Other Pokémon just seem to enjoy getting on my case, don’t they?

Miss Audino kept smiling and shook her head. “I’m just teasing, dear. Anyway, I’ve held you up long enough. Go ahead and get yourself settled. I’ll be along shortly to teach the class.”

Ha-ha! Alright! I knew it!

I happily nodded at her before walking up the slope to where everyone else was. I quickly greeted everyone, then plopped down in my seat sighing quietly and relaxing while resting my head on my flipper. Everyone else briefly stared at me with confused expressions, but before I could ask them why, Miss Audino walked up the slope and approached the podium. Then the bell rang, letting everyone know that class was about to start.

“Alright, class! I have an exciting lesson planned for everyone, so let’s get right down to it!” she said cheerfully.

After everyone responded with an enthusiastic “Yes, ma’am!”, we all listened as Miss Audino taught. Well, I listened as best as I could. But it when if feels like your body’s been hit with a Yawn, trying to listen to someone speak for hours becomes pretty difficult. At the very least, it was a good distraction. It kept me from thinking too much about what Pops said yesterday…and about that strange dream. I really hope that all these weird things stop and things can go back to normal.

However, even though I didn’t want to admit it, a part of me knew that this was far from the end of these unusual occurrences. No, it was quite the opposite…

…It was only the beginning.

[psmd-lingering-shadows]

Part 1: Introspection

When I got home, I yelled out for Pops to let him know I was there. However, when I didn’t immediately hear a reply from him, a confused expression formed on my face. Wondering if he somehow didn’t hear me, I went into the kitchen to see if he might have been cooking anything.

Huh…he wasn’t there…

I left the kitchen to see if he was in my room. Whenever I’m not at home, he usually ends up cleaning it because he always complains that I never pick up after myself. Which, uh, isn’t necessarily wrong, but…that’s where I practice my map-making! That’s what I usually do when I’m not outside. And it’s just so inconvenient having to put it all back when I use those materials literally all the time!

…

Uh…Anyway…

I went and checked my room, only to see that it was empty, too. Did that mean he was gone…?

Upon realizing that I was the only one in the house, a small frown formed on my face. I came home early so I could eat together with him, and he wasn’t even here? Aw, what a bummer…

I shook my head and sighed. Well, it’s fine. I’ll just eat by myself, I guess…

I went back to the kitchen and opened the pantry. I saw the leftover food that Pops and I ate last night - half a loaf of Oran Bread. The entire loaf that Pops made was really big, so we couldn’t manage to finish it in one go. I grabbed the bread and set it on the table. Then I grabbed a butter knife from the top drawer and cut a relatively reasonable size off. Then I went back to the pantry and grabbed a few fruits to eat with along with the bread. Once everything was all set, I sat down and started to dig in.

…

…!

Oh my gosh!

A wave of euphoria spread across my entire body. This bread tastes absolutely delicious! They say that leftovers don’t taste as good compared to when they’ve just been made, but this somehow tastes just as good as it did yesterday! Well, I guess that’s Pops for you. Despite being a such a grouch, he’s one of the best cooks I know. I’m so lucky to be able to eat his amazing food every day.

Some time had passed, and before I knew it, my plate was empty. I had completely finished my meal. Geez, I could have sworn that I had some more bread left. Was I that hungry…? Slightly disappointed that I had eaten everything already, I grabbed my plate and put it on the kitchen counter for it to be washed later. Then I took the bread and walked towards the pantry, ready to put it away. That’s when I began eyeing it for a moment, wondering if I should help myself to some more. It wouldn’t be THAT much, just a small piece…

“…”

…N-no! What am I doing?!

For goodness sake, Nozomi…don’t be such a glutton! Save the rest of the bread for Pops! I’m sure he’d want some of it, too.

After briefly reprimanding myself for being so greedy, I put the Oran Bread back in the pantry. Then I headed into my room to work on my map-making skills. I retrieved my materials from my drawer, sat on my bed, and started practicing. I’ve been slowly improving, but I’m nowhere near as good as I wanna be. The geography lessons at school gave me a basic idea of how a map’s supposed to look, but I still need to sketch one on my own to get experience. If I wanna complete a map of the world someday, then I gotta keep practicing!

Yeah, that’s right. It’s been my dream to create a map of the whole world and travel since I was little. I’d go on all sorts of adventures, meet all kinds of Pokémon…it would be so much fun! I’ve been hoping to achieve that dream all this time, and right now, the best possibility of that happening is if I traveled to Lively Town and joined the Expedition Society! If I were to do that, I’d be one step closer to making it come true. But, whenever I mention the idea to my Pops or anyone in the village, they all tell me the same thing - I’m too young to join the Expedition Society or even leave the village. I’ve been discouraged from leaving the village more times than I can count. But you know what? It doesn’t matter! I’m never giving up on my dream, no matter what others tell me! I’ll keep working towards it until it finally comes true. Just watch me!

…Whoa, I kinda got riled up for a moment there, didn’t I? Hehe, I usually get like this whenever I start to think about that stuff. …Um, wait a second. What was I doing before…?

Oh yeah! Map-making!

I shook my head and took a deep breath to get myself to focus, then went back to practicing. From the moment I started to the moment I finished, I was completely into it. I was super-determined to get better at this. Once I was finished with the current map I was working on, I went and got the map that I had completed a few days ago. I looked between the map I had just finished and the previous one to see whether or not I had improved at all.

…

…

…

“…Mm-hmm!”

A satisfied expression formed on my face. Oh, yeah. This one was totally better - loads more detailed than the other one. This was definitely a step-up from before! Alright!

After happily doing a small celebratory dance to acknowledge the fact that I was improving, I went ahead and gathered up all of my materials and put them back in the drawer. Then I looked outside the window of my room and saw that the sun was beginning to set. That’s when I suddenly realized - Pops still wasn’t back yet. I was so wrapped up in my own stuff that I didn’t even notice before. I was starting to get a little concerned. He should have been back by now. Did something happen…?

Suddenly, as if on cue, I heard footsteps approaching the house. I immediately looked out the window again and saw Pops walking towards the front door. A sigh of relief escaped from my beak knowing that he was okay. I excitedly ran towards the entrance and opened the door for him before he got to it. He noticed the door opening and saw me standing at the entrance, causing him to stare at me curiously. When he got inside, I ran up to him and gave him a big hug, causing him to chuckle and pat my head in response.

“Well, now. You seem to be in high spirits this evening,” he jested.

I kept hugging him for a few more seconds until I eventually decided to let go of him. Then I asked him where he was this whole time.

“Hmm? Where was I? Mr. Hippopotas asked me to help with some chores at his home, and I agreed. It ended up taking a bit longer than I would have hoped for, though…”

Then he gave me a questioning look until he realized why I asked him that question. “Hold on…you haven’t been here this entire time, have you?” he asked.

I nodded at him and explained that I wanted to eat dinner with him as a way of making up for leaving so suddenly this morning. Once he heard that, he looked down with a slightly guilty expression.

“I see…I’m sorry for not being here, then. You’re usually off somewhere in the village after school ends, so the thought didn’t even cross my mind that you’d come home so early.”

Well, I guess he does have a point.

“Well, regardless, I do appreciate you wanting to do that. Don’t worry, though. I’ll be home tomorrow, so we can eat together then,” he said with a smile.

I returned the smile and eagerly nodded in response to what he said. That definitely sounded good to me!

When that was settled, Pops decided to switch the subject. “Ah, speaking of school, how did it go today? Did you manage to make it on time?” he asked.

…Oh, right. School.

Not really wanting to go into detail about the entire day, I simply told him that I managed to make it time and that the school day went on normally.

Once I finished speaking, Pops nodded his head. “I see. Well, it’s a relief to know that you didn’t get into trouble…this time,” he said, causing me to avert my eyes and awkwardly clear my throat. “But…this whole situation is still worrying.”

I stared at him with a confused expression. Worrying? What is?

“Well, for the past few weeks, you’ve started sleeping in more. It’s gotten so bad that I’ve had to wake you up from time to time so you could avoid being late for school…like today. Even then, you don’t always make it on time.”

…

“And when you do manage to wake up on your own, you always look so drained…like you didn’t get any rest at all. I usually have to give you a cup of Chesto Juice to rid your body of any lingering drowsiness. The way you look in the morning…it’s the complete opposite of the Nozomi I’ve grown to know in the last ten years.”

…

“When it first started happening, I thought that you might have been sick. But from what I’ve seen, you seem to feel better once you’ve gotten some energy in your system, so that doesn’t seem to be the case. And it looks like you’ve been carrying on this entire time as your usual self, but I just can’t quite shake the feeling that there’s just something…off about you.”

…

“I’ve kept quiet about it all this time because I assumed you would let me know if anything was bothering you. But it’s been three weeks since it started happening and you haven’t said a word. So, I’ll ask you what I should have asked you sooner - is everything alright?”

…

“Nozomi.”

I…

Pops was looking at me with a stern, yet concerned expression. It honestly caught me off guard. I didn’t really know how to answer him. It’s not like I wanted to lie to him. Everything was fine. At least, I thought it was. But, when he mentioned how something seemed off about me, I was overcome with a strange feeling…It was like a memory that I had forgotten was trying to come back to me. But no matter how hard I tried to get it to resurface, it would always be pushed back down into the depths of my mind. It was so darn frustrating…

I turned my attention back to Pops, who was still waiting for an answer. I honestly wanted to try and get to the bottom of the problem, but everything seemed fine at the moment. Or, if it wasn’t, I couldn’t figure out what it was yet. In the end, I simply nodded and told him everything was okay.

Pops kept staring at me, obviously skeptical of my answer. “Really? Nothing is going on? Are you absolutely sure?” he asked.

I gave him a reassuring smile and gave him the same answer: everything was totally fine. Then I promised him that if something was wrong, I’d be sure to tell him.

After a few more seconds of staring, Pops relented and gave me a sigh. “Very well. I’ll choose to believe your words for the time being. But…if you have any sort of problem, you had better talk to me about it like you promised you would, understood?” he asked with a hint of strictness in his voice.

I looked at him with a serious expression and gave him a single nod.

Yeah…I completely understand.

“…Alright, then. If you’re certain that everything’s fine, then I’ll leave it at that. Now then…” he said as he gestured towards his belly, “…I’m quite famished. You made sure to save some of the Oran Bread, right?” he asked. When I told him that I did, he smiled. “Ah, good. A part of me expected you to have eaten the rest of it all,” he said teasingly.

Wha-?! Hey!

I gave him an annoyed pout, causing him to chuckle and pat my head again.

“Alright, now. I’ll be eating in the kitchen. Give me a holler if you need anything.”

And with that, Pops walked past me and headed for the pantry to get the bread. I went back to my room and ended up spending the rest of the evening thinking about what Pops said. Eventually, nighttime came, and I was getting ready for bed. However, despite trying not let our conversation bother me, I just couldn’t help it, especially that one part of what he said. Something was off about me, huh…? I wonder what that could be. There was also that odd sensation I felt during our conversation, too. And on top of that, I keep oversleeping and waking up with no energy? This all just seemed to weird to me. Why was this all happening at once? Could they somehow be related…?

…

Nngh…

Ugh, thinking about this is making me tired.

I groaned in frustration as I plopped down on my bed. No, no more thinking about this. It’s all just in my head. I’m just freaking out over nothing! It’s gotta be a coincidence!

It’s gotta be…

…

Right…?

With those lingering concerns still floating around in my head, I somehow managed to fall into a deep, yet troubling slumber.

[psmd-lingering-shadows]

Part 0: Life In Serene Village

...

...

"...Hmm?"

...

"Zzz..."

"Oh, for the love of...Not again. This Piplup sure is something else..."

"Zzz..."

"Come on, now. It's time for you to wake up."

"Zzz..."

"Hey, wake up."

"Zzz..."

*groan*

"I SAID WAKE UP!"

"...?!"

The moment I heard that thunderous voice, my eyes instantly opened and my body shot up. However, even though my body reacted so quickly, my mind was still half-asleep. In a daze, I slowly looked around to see where I was. Uh...it looked like I was inside of a house? Then I slowly turned to the one who had forced me awake. My eyes were still blurry from just waking up, but from what I could make out, it was a big blue Pokémon with a grumpy face.

...

...Wait a minute.

A grumpy face...?

...

Oof-!

Oh, yikes. I ended up blurting that out without realizing it. I could sense the other Pokémon's irritation from what I said, but they ignored it and kept talking.

"Get up, Nozomi. You overslept."

"...?"

Overslept...?

...

...Oh.

Oh!

Oh, cripes!

At that moment, all of the drowsiness left my body and I was completely awake. I looked around once more until my eyes landed on the other Pokémon's figure again. Only this time, I completely recognized who was standing there: an older, stern-looking Carracosta.

...

POPS?!

I scrambled to my feet, then gave him a questioning look. What the heck did he mean, "I overslept?!"

"It's exactly like it sounds, child! You ended up sleeping in again!" he replied.

Seriously...?  This was the third time this week.  I've never had a problem with oversleeping before.  Why was this happening all of a sudden?

I groaned as I quickly grabbed my belongings and stuffed them in my bag. Then I turned back to Pops and asked him how much time I had until school started. He paused for a moment, then answered.

"I'd say about five minutes."

I nodded, then smiled determinedly. That was good enough for me. I could still make it if I booked it from here. After taking a deep breath and mentally preparing myself for the long run to school, I headed toward the door, but Pops stopped me before I could walk out.

"Wait. You haven't eaten yet. We still have leftovers from last night. Why don't you eat a little of that before you leave?" he asked.

I shook my head. I didn't have any time to waste. I didn't want to arrive late and have Mr. Farfetch'd or the vice principal chew me out again.

"But - " Pops continued, trying to convince me.

However, before he could continue, I reassured him that I would be fine and that I'd snack on something from my bag. Then I gave him a cheerful smile, waved at him, and gave him a quick "Love ya!" before leaving the house. I heard him let out another sigh as I started running. I felt kind of bad, but it couldn't really be helped.

I made my way to the plaza, where I saw some of the other villagers going about their day. Mr. Raticate was sculpting boulders with his son, Ratatta. Mr. Lombre was tending to his lotus pond. I caught a brief glimpse of Mr. Hippopotas relaxing at the dock. And of course, Mr. Kecleon was at his shop, like always. Now that I think about it, that's the only place I see him.  I don't think I've ever seen him doing anything else.  Weird. There was also Mr. Hawlucha, who also seemed to have a shop, but it looked like he was still setting up. I didn't have time to actually stop and chat with any of them, though. My sole focus was making it to school on time. I didn't want to be late again for the third time this week.

I dashed through the path to the school until I saw the school gate up ahead. I stopped for a moment to catch my breath.  It looked like running to school on an empty stomach took a toll on me. Which...wasn't really a surprise when I thought about it. Fortunately for me, I had just the thing to give me my energy back. I rummaged around in my bag until I found an red, juicy apple. Then, as quickly as I took it out, I managed to devour it in five large bites.

"Phew..."

I let out a small exhale. That was really satisfying. Food always tastes better when you're super hungry. Oh, speaking of food, Pops said that he was going to take care of the berries at the field again. I wonder if he'd mind if I helped myself to a few...?

...

...Gah!

I quickly shook my head. I didn't have time to think about stuff like this. I think the bell is about to ring, too. With my body full of renewed energy from the apple I just ate, I made a final sprint towards the school. Just as I had passed through the gate, I heard the bell go off. Hah! I had made it just in time! A triumphant smile formed on my beak as I looked up. However, when I did, my smile instantly turned into a frown as soon as I saw who was waiting for me.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the troublemaker."

...Vice Principal Watchog. He was standing in front of the stairway that led to the other facilities here. He was glaring at me with those creepy eyes of his and with his arms crossed.

"It appears as though you're the last one to arrive. I suppose I must give you some form of credit - you did arrive on time, after all, even if it was just by a couple of seconds.

"..."

Mr. Watchog continued to speak. "Now, as I was telling the rest of the class before you arrived, I'll be the one teaching for the day. I've prepared a special lesson for you all, so I expect you to be on your best behavior! No shenanigans from you, you got that?!" he shouted in a screechy tone.

I nodded and replied with a simple "Yes, sir". Geez, what a pain. I managed to get here on time and I still end up getting yelled at?

"Well if you understand, take your seat already! We don't have all day, you know!" he said as he pointed to my seat.

I didn't wanna hold the class up any more than I already did, so I did as I was told and walked over to my seat. But seriously...I really wasn't in the mood to deal with Mr. Watchog so early in the morning.

Once I sat down, Mr. Watchog made his way to the podium. He cleared his throat in a dramatic fashion before starting with the lesson.

The day went on with Mr. Watchog teaching his "special lesson," though I wasn't really paying attention. Every time he taught the class, I usually ended up zoning out. I prefer when the Principal or Nurse Audino taught. Heck, even Mr. Farfetch'd wasn't too bad, once you got used to his strictness.

...

Well, whatever. Nothing I could do about it. Just have to wait until the day was over. Then I could get outta this place and...hmm? What do I wanna do after school lets out? Eh, I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Hmm...Oh!

Now that I think about it, I never got the chance to speak with any of my classmates this morning. I turned to my left and saw Goomy, who seemed to be listening intently to Mr. Watchog. Heh, at least one of us was interest in what he was saying. Then I looked back at the row directly behind us and saw Deerling and Espurr listening as well, which is what I was expecting. Those two were the top students here, after all. Finally, at the very back of the class, I saw Pancham and Shelmet, who looked like they were whispering to one another. Seeing them like that caused a quiet giggle to escape from me. I was honestly sorta glad I wasn't the only one who wasn't paying attention. However, Pancham ended up catching me staring, which caused him to send me a nasty glare. Before I could react, I heard shouting from up front.

"Hey! Eyes up front, Nozomi!" Mr. Watchog shouted.

"...!"

I jumped in surprise and quickly faced forward. Yikes...looks like I got caught red-handed.

Mr. Watchog huffed in annoyance, then returned to the lecture. I internally groaned as I slouched in my seat. Please let school be over soon...

SOME TIME LATER...

"...And that is all for today. Class is dismissed!" Mr. Watchog announced.

As soon as everyone heard that, we all waited until he was gone, then sighed in relief.

"Phew, finally...I was beginning to think the bell was never going to ring," Shelmet said.

"For real. Mr. Watchog's lessons always end up dragging, don't they?" Pancham added.

Deerling turned to the both of them and furrowed her brow. "Maybe time would go by faster if you actually listened to the lesson instead of goofing off like always."

"H-hey! We weren't goofing off, we were just...chatting with each other!" Shelmet replied.

Espurr, who was listening to the conversation, turned around and chimed in. "I believe that's still considered goofing off, you two," she said with the same neutral expression she always seems to have.

Pancham then furrowed his brow and pointed at me. "Well, what about Nozomi? She was zoning out the entire time! Mr. Watchog even called her out for it!"

"...?!"

I was a little taken aback by him bringing me up all of a sudden, though I really shouldn't have been surprised. Him and Shelmet haven't exactly been the nicest to me.

Deerling briefly turned and glared at me, then back at the boys. "All three of you need to start taking school more seriously! School is important for our futures, after all!" she said.

Yeesh...Deerling can be a little scary when she gets upset. I mean, I gets what she's saying, but...It's not like I'm trying to zone out or anything. School can just be so boring sometimes...and there's tons of other stuff that I'd rather be doing!

Pancham and Shelmet both flinched at Deerling's harsh tone and nodded their heads.

"Alright, alright. We get it! Can please just drop this now?" Shelmet asked.

Deerling stared at the pair for a few more seconds before letting out a small huff and changing the subject.

"Fine...we should all get going soon, anyway."

Goomy, who was uninvolved in that entire conversation, finally spoke.

"Mm-hmm! We're still going to play together, right, Deerling?" he asked.

Deerling turned to him and nodded. "Of course! C'mon, let's go," she said as she and Goomy both left their seats. "See you all tomorrow!"

"See you!" Goomy added.

Once the two of them said their goodbyes, they both walked down the slope that led to the gate and left the school. When they were gone, Pancham and Shelmet left their seats and started walking to the exit, too.

"Alright, we're outta here. Let's get going, Shelmet," Pancham said.

"Y-yeah!" Shelmet replied, following closely behind.

Once those two left, it was just me and Espurr. It looked like she was about to leave, as well.

Hmm...I wonder if she'd wanna hang out with me. Probably not, but it still wouldn't hurt to ask.

I approached her while she was gathering her belongings and stood in front of her. She slowly looked up and noticed me standing there.

"Hmm? What is it, Nozomi?"

Well, here goes nothing...

...

"Oh? You'd like the two of us to spend time together?" she repeated, seemingly surprised.

I nodded my head.

She thought about it for a moment, then shook her head.

"I appreciate the offer, but I have some things to take care of as soon as I leave here. I'm sorry," she said.

I dejectedly lowered my head and sighed softly. I figured she'd say no, but it still sucks.

"But..."

"...!"

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to walk to the plaza together," she said.

Wait, really?!

"Well? What do you say?"

I couldn't help but give her a wide grin as I vigorously nodded my head.

"Very well, then. Come on, let's go," Espurr said as she gathered the last of her belongings and started walking off. I eagerly followed her and the two of us walked together on the school path. We made some small talk with each other, but didn't really talk about anything in particular. Espurr seems like she'd be difficult to approach, but she's actually pretty nice. Walking with her was turned out to be fun.

Eventually, the two of us made it to the plaza. Once we got there, though, Espurr turned and looked at me.

"Well, we're here. This is where we part ways for the time being," she said.

Yeah...I guess so. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

I nodded and stood in place so I could see Espurr off.

"It was nice talking with you, Nozomi. I'll see you tomorrow," she said with a smile small.

I smiled back at her and watched her walk off, but after taking a few steps, she suddenly stopped and turned back to me.

"Hmm...?"

...Wha-?

Espurr stared at me without saying anything. I stared back at her with a combination of surprise and confusion expressed on my face. Was something the matter...?

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Espurr finally spoke.

"Nozomi? Are you...?" she started.

"...?"

Huh? Am I what? What is she talking about?

"Hmm..."

She sighed and gave me a small shrug. "Er, no, it's nothing. Never mind."

...Huh? What was that about? What was she going to say?

However, before I could pry for details, she spoke once again.

"I'll be going now. I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that, Espurr walked away, leaving me very confused about what just happened. What in the world was that about...?

...

Well, thinking about it now won't do me any good. Since school's out, I finally have the chance to actually do something fun! Let's see, what should I...

*GROWL*

...Eh?

I looked down to see where that noise came from. It was my belly. It was growling like crazy! Oh, yeah. Now that I think about it, I only ate an apple today, didn't I? In that case, I guess doing something in the village could wait for a bit. I should go home and eat some dinner. Pops said that there were still leftovers from last night, right? That should be more than enough. Alright, then. Let's get going!

With my appetite steadily growing, I ran home where Pops would be more than likely be waiting for me. I'll come inside and we'll eat dinner together. Heh, he'll probably be surprised seeing me home earlier than usual. Well, I guess it'll be a way for me to make up for rushing out this morning. I can't wait!