Boots collided with floor, creating an odd, rushed rhythm. Suddenly, the rhythm stopped, hands banged on a small dresser. Victen had only just been able to stop his seemingly uncontrollable pacing. He couldn't have been walking in his tiny room for more than a couple of minutes, still, his dark brow was covered in beads of sweat, his arms were shaking, seeming to barely be able to hold his own weight. His head was bowed over the table as if he were about to vomit, his breath came in heavy pants.
Two and a half weeks, two and a half weeks I've been here. And already I- What's happening to me? Victen thought, his mind a jumbled mess. He stared at the top of his-no- their wooden dresser as if it would answer him. He picked up his hands, only to slam them on the dresser once more. "I can't think straight." he said to the wood, his voice louder than he was aware of. Victen heard a sound behind him, it sounded faint, distant. Victen paused, and listened.
"Uh, um.." a clearly feminine voice sounded, seeming confused, worried. This time it sounded closer.
Victen could feel his heart swelling with a nearly divine warmth. Startlingly quick, he turned to face the source of the voice. Instantly, he was disappointed, his heart sunk and grew cold, leaving him with an almost empty feeling. His door was open. That was odd, since the door was closed the last time Victen walked past it and he never heard it open. Within the door frame stood a small girl, skin clearly white, light brown hair. Far from the dark skin and black hair Victen envisioned when he heard the voice. He realized she must have been standing there quite a while. Why did her voice sound so far away?
The girl, still not completely settled, spoke again. "Um, hi, Victen. Are- are you okay?"
It took a few moments for the message to register with Victen, who quickly warmed his blank expression as soon as it did. "Yeah, fine." He assured the girl, his adoptive sister.
She didn't seemed convinced, and got closer to Victen. "Are you sure? It's okay to be sad, you know. After what happened to your parents and all." She said, her voice practically a whisper as she trailed off her last sentence. Though Victen still heard every word, and felt his stomach lurch at the lie. He had to plant his feet firmly on the ground to prevent himself from visibly recoiling.
Apparently, he didn't do a very good job as his adoptive sister looked into his face, teary-eyed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." she said, still whispering. Victen, his own eyes tearing for a very different reason, reached for his hat to cover them, though found he didn't have it on. The girl only seemed to be more saddened. She backed away from Victen. "Everyone is leaving for the celebration now." She informed him before hurriedly exiting.
Victen had forgot completely that there was a celebration that day, though he was now beginning to remember. Some sort of festival the natives put on for whatever reason. Victen took a deep breath and turned his focus to that. He had never been to a native celebration, for that matter he hadn't even been in the native-owned land in Kalay. He smiled a genuine smile, and actually got excited. He grabbed his slouch hat and placed it atop his head before jogging out of the small Rancher house to meet up with a small group of boys already walking to the festival. He didn't know them, but that didn't matter much, he was a neighbor, a new one at that, and they would talk to him. So long as someone was talking to him, so long as he could focus himself on conversation and celebration, that was all that mattered.
Later, and still with a way to go until the main town was reached, the conversation switched from Victen, the boys, who were already close friends, began conversing amongst themselves, Victen had no room to remark on anything. According to them, there was a group of girls nearby that they were very intent on meeting with. Victen's adoptive sister was most likely with them.
Victen nearly stopped dead as the thought crossed his mind. In an instant, images of here teary, completely believing and trusting face flooded his mind. Her whispering apologies rung in his ears. Her misplaced trust, sorrow, and sadness that made Victen himself feel horrible. Victen realized that the rest of her family, her parents, her siblings, all probably shared feelings concerning the boy they took into their own family under false pretenses. They're not dead! Victen wanted to scream. I still have a family. A mother, a father, grandparents, brothers, sisters, cousins, I have them all! A pause overtook Victen, a sinking feeling. And I abandoned them. I packed my things and got out without a word. I left them behind, I left them all behind. And for what? What do I get from this? I get to run off to a family who can barely support themselves and get them to take me in with a sob story-with a lie!
It was at that point that Victen had realized that he really had stopped dead, and was pacing again, on and off the road. He was getting suspicious looks from all around. Embarrassed, he got back to the road and walking.
-------
The festival did a good job at occupying Victen's time and mind, so much so that he didn't even remember his episode on the road, figuring it long behind him. He had long left the Ranchers and was walking around the area, communing with locals and inquiring about their day-to-day lives. The locals themselves seemed rather bored with Victen's conversation, the last thing they wanted to do during this holiday was to think of the day-to-day. Suddenly, everyone seemed to walk in one direction, heading to one central location. Curious, Victen followed, seeing a crowd surrounding a single man Victen didn't recognize. He spoke of a grand event, a race to gather six medallions. The grand prize, a fortune of food and money to be sent wherever the winner may choose. The crowd grew uncontrollable at that, rejoicing at the prospect of being able to bring their family to fortune. It struck Victen deeply, these people didn't think of themselves, they would undertake this challenge solely for the gain of others.
Thinking about it, the entire thing did have a strange sense of romanticism and allure to Victen. The chance to explore the several towns of the land. Meeting new people at every corner. A chance to encounter new Pokemon, battling with the strongest battle masters around. The prize didn't even seem to matter to Victen, the premise alone was enough to excite him. He wanted to do this, to go on this journey. He had a Pokemon, a Flareon that had been a friend to Victen since it was an Eevee, it was practically his Pokemon. He didn't think twice about taking when he left home. That Pokemon, his friend, was now a bitter reminder of his sins. It was for that reason that he hadn't released it from its Apricorn since the day he stole it.
Victen had him mind set on leaving for this journey, but was given pause. What was he thinking? He was considering leaving his adoptive family! These people took him in, they obviously cared for him, despite him not being one of them. He couldn't just leave, he had to tell them first. Am I crazy? Victen asked himself. I leave my family without a second thought, and now when I'm about to leave these guys I barely know I feel bad? Wanting to leave not one, but two families is one thing, but what's with these double standards? No, I shouldn't feel bad about leaving these people, I should feel bad about staying with them. I have to leave. I'm a parasite, draining their already strained money and food. They'd never tell me, but it's true. I can't tell them I'm going, they would just expect me to go back to them if I did. That's not an option. I can't just go off on some journey for my own leisure and then come back to leach off that family again. It's better this way. This is the best way. Victen kept reassuring himself. The celebration would be winding down soon, someone would come looking for him, and if he stuck around, he would be found. Wordlessly, Victen left the festival, and went to Kalay Crossing to lie low for a bit. The entering of the forest solidified his decision. He just abandoned another family, and just like the first one, he could never go back.
---
Victen wandered aimlessly within Kalay Crossing. He didn't really know why, but it kept his mind busy, watching out for uneven footing and roots. A few times, his boots sunk into mud, or he scraped an arm on a tree, dirtying his shirt, which made him annoyed. Still, the forest was quite pretty. Every now and again, he would catch a glimpse or hear the sound of wild Pokemon nearby. At the time, Victen was following what he was sure was a Sewaddle through the forest, wanting a closer look. He was sure that he had long since lost the trail of the wild Pokemon, though having nothing better to do, he pressed on. He must've been somewhat deep into the forest, and the closely packed trees and growth began to fade away into a clearing. Victen began wondering if he would be able to find his way back. Not wanting to take any chances, Victen turned around and began to head back in the direction from which he came. A distant noise stopped him.
The noise was too far away to determine the location, but it was unmistakeably a roar of some sort. More than that there was more noise, getting louder by the second. Once the sounds were close enough to make out, it was the sound of rustling leaves and several snapping twigs. But there was something under that, a low thudding sound, somewhat rhythmic. The leaves and twigs stopped, only the thudding remained. There was a roar, much closer, much louder, much more fearsome.
Victen turned in time to see a huge brown mass coming towards him. There was a large clump of dark brown, with a lighter brown behind it. Jutting out from the sides were huge, sharp, gold-banded horns. It was the source of the roaring, and it was getting closer at a terrifying rate, clearing the distance from the far side of the clearing to where Victen was standing in seconds, seconds that seemed to go by far too quickly. Victen, fear-stricken, stood perfectly still, not a muscle moving, not even breathing. He was dumbfounded, and his brain wouldn't work. The only thing going through Victen's head is that he would die the instant that thing touched him, yet he was doing nothing to stop it. The thudding grew closer, the roar was deafening. Victen shut his eyes.
He felt grass beneath him, he was moving, rolling down a grassy hill. The only pain was in his leg, the roaring continued. Victen's eyes, iron-wrought shut, suddenly snapped open. Everything was dark, and there was something soft tickling his nose, grass. Victen lifted his head, he had stopped rolling on his face. His pant leg and lower portion of his shirt were covered in mud and grass, but he didn't care. He was at the bottom of the small valley in the clearing. He had tripped and fell down the hill, it must've been seconds before the huge thing would've clobbered him. Remembering that he was still in danger, Victen looked for the thing that was so close to running him over. He found it at the top of the hill, far past where he was standing before he fell. Apparently, the creature was also expecting to make quick work of the boy. Now that it wasn't moving, Victen finally had a good look at it. It had clearly been weathered in its time in the forest, having a long scar beneath one of its savage yellow eyes trained with the intent to kill on Victen. One of the gold rings on its sinister horns was broken, only hanging on the horn because it was so tightly wrapped around it. It let out a snort, and kicked up the earth in clumps. It was ready to charge again, and the best Victen could hope for was to delay his imminent death a little longer, though he doubted he had the luck to do it twice. Victen saw firsthand how fast it was, and there was no way of outrunning it.
It was ready to charge again, when a sharp cry sounded somewhere close to Victen. From out of nowhere, the thing's head was suddenly engulfed in flames. Startled, Victen looked around him, now sure that if the giant charging monster didn't kill him, the one that could produce flames would. Yet, looking down to his side, a ghost of the past stood. Standing steadfast and determined even in the face of the terrible beast was a Flareon. Her Apricorn must've fallen from Victen during his fall, and released what was inside. For the first time in over two weeks Victen laid eyes upon the that which he had dreaded bringing with him. Yet there stood no condescending, disappointed family. No dark representation of his own greed and evil, just Flareon, the childhood friend who didn't give up on Victen like he did on her. She stood, despite all he did, willing to defend Victen. He could feel his eyes welling up, but he pushed away the tears, there was no time for that now. Victen placed his hat, which until then had been sitting on the ground, atop his head, and looked directly at the creature who had taken his Candelara's, Flareon's, attack. By this time, it had shook off the flames, now more angry than hurt. Though now it shifted its gaze to Candelara, who was, on her own initiative, running away from Victen into the more open and flat ground in the middle of the clearing. Her intent was to bring the creature away from Victen so that the two may battle one-on-one. The creature charged at Candelara, who quickly stopped and doubled back, leaving the charging Pokemon to run right past her. It was obvious that the only way out was to fight, and although Victen didn't want Candelara hurt, he also knew that she was the only thing that stood a chance. Victen got closer so that he could try and command her during the battle, her moves almost instantly coming back into his mind as he did.
"Candelara, Sunny Day!" Victen yelled to his companion, whose ears seemed to perk up upon hearing the familiar voice for the first time in weeks. Immediately, her mouth opened and an orange sphere formed just in front of it. She aimed her head to the sky, and launched the ball up. It flew, expanding as it gained altitude before exploding into orange-tinted radiance, brightening the area greatly. Victen noticed that the creature was distracted by the attack. "Now use Ember!" he told her. Instantly snapping back into action, she spit a volley of flame at the Pokemon. The powered up flames seemed to actually do damage this time, as the Pokemon didn't just shake off the attack this time. But it recovered quickly, and quickly built up speed, a downward-sloped surface gave its charge extra momentum and power. It lowered its horns and faster than Victen anticipated it slammed into Candelara, sending her into the air and over the thing's back. "No!" Victen yelled, running in towards his Pokemon, throwing caution to the wind.
Not much longer after he started, Candelara got to her feet, she was clearly hurt, but she wanted to keep on going. Her cry to Victen stopped him in his tracks. The wild Pokemon turned its attention to Candelara, clearly more interested in fighting her than mauling Victen. This is wrong! Victen thought. Candelara has only ever been in a few battles before, none of them were serious. How is she going to beat this thing? The Flareon didn't seem to share its trainer's concerns, as it looked the wild Pokemon dead in the eye, almost challenging it. The creature roared and reared a little before, seemingly for no reason, it just stared at Candelara. The two stood idle for several moments, Victen was too confused to say another command. Suddenly, the wild Pokemon charged in again. Candelara stood still, the Pokemon was getting dangerously close. "Move!" Victen shouted, though his Flareon would not. In an instant, the other Pokemon was on top of her, beating her with hooves and horns. "Candelara! Get out of there! Ember! Do something!" he yelled, practically screaming as he watched the beating, horrified. He couldn't see his Pokemon under the wild one's bulk.
Suddenly, the huge Pokemon roared, rearing as it did. From under it dashed Candelara, who panted heavily, having a difficult time standing. Pure adrenaline was fueling her more than her own strength. The wild Pokemon shook the flames from its face, still showing no signs that it may relent soon. Victen was deeply worried for Candelara, though he had no idea what he could do. Before he could think of anything, the wild Pokemon, rage-driven, started running again. Out of ideas, Victen watched as the beast came straight for a blow that would finish off his Pokemon no problem. Hopeless and defeated, he accepted that he could not win.
A fire lit inside Victen. I can't give up now! I've given up too much already. I've given up on my family, and the family after that. I've given up on Candelara, who would stand to protect me no matter what. I've given up on myself, I've given up on my will to go on. If it was just me, that would be okay. After all I've done, I probably deserve to die. But it's not just me, it's Candelara too. I can't give up on her, not again. I can't let her be drug down with me. She's the most loyal friend I've ever had. She's willing to risk herself despite what I've done. If I don't have the will to continue for myself, I have to have the will to continue for her. Victen didn't really think, so much as felt this within him. "Use Sand Attack!" Pure instinct moved his lips, and produced a voice more confident and powerful than he knew he could produce.
Reacting in an instant, Candelara drug her brush-like tail along the ground, flinging dirt and sand into the wild Pokemon's face and eyes. The Pokemon roared, and veered off course, towards the treeline. Unable to stop itself, the brute's weight and strength worked against it as it slammed its head full force into a tree. This seemed to do far more damage than anything Candelara had used on it. The Pokemon slowly backed up from the tree, trying to no avail to shake away the pain of the attack. But even after all of that, it seemed that it still wanted to fight, even if it may collapse as it did. Clumsily, the Pokemon started to run, though it didn't seem like it quite figured out who it wanted to attack yet, as it ran unsteadily somewhere in between where Candelara and Victen stood. As it picked up speed, it seemed to settle on Victen as its target, changing course his way.
Victen had no way to fight back. Candelara was too far away to do anything significant, and too tired to catch up. Still relying less on his brain and more on instinct, Victen chose to ran. Whether it was adrenaline boosting his speed, or if the knock on the head slowed the Pokemon down, or a combination of the two, Victen was able to maintain distance from the thing, though it was slowly but surly closing in. Suddenly, a light different from the grass caught Victen's eye. It was the spot where he originally fell. Scattered on the ground were apricorns, one of them was Candelara's, but the others must've been empty. Victen wasn't even aware he was carrying empty apricorns on him, or if he was, he forgot. Picking up speed and running out of energy, Victen ran towards the pile, he could hear the charging Pokemon behind him getting ever closer. Completely out of breath, Victen dove forwards and scrambled on the ground for an apricorn. As soon as he felt something in his hand, he whirled around and threw it, not really having enough time to aim. He just hoped that it was an empty apricorn he threw, and not just a random rock or Candelara's.