Chapter 2 – Xavier’s unwilling path

Leo and Xavier walked along the forest path, an unsettling silence between them. Both of them were trying to start up a conversation, but both of them were afraid of being awkward.

“So, can you tell me something?” Leo worked up the courage. “What are those wild Pokémon? Did the one who attacked me die?” Leo asked.

“No, I don’t think so. When I attacked that Shroomish with my ember—“

“Wait, that was you?!” Leo interrupted, shocked. “How did you even shoot that fire?!”

Xavier stopped walking and Leo followed suit. They turned to each other and Xavier took a deep breath.

“We, Pokémon, can channel moves. Some of them are physical like that Tackle from Shroomish that knocked you onto a tree, special like the ember that I used against him or status, like, for example, a yellow spore cloud that he most likely used against you to paralyse you.”

“That still doesn’t explain why those moves are even possible? Can yo—”

“Physical and special attacks deal damage while status moves affect you in different ways. There are many—”

“Are you ignoring me or what?!” Leo stomped the ground. “Answer my questions more directly! None of this makes any sense to me. I’ve only just begun to trust you; that doesn’t mean I’m not still wary about our relationship.”

Xavier sighed with growing frustration. “Look okay, amnesia hit you pretty hard and I can understand that you want to get specific answers, but anger is not going to get us anywhere. I’m sorry that I interrupted you and I know it was not nice of me, but there can’t be things like this between us.”

“…Fine, you are right. But please, at least answer my question.”

Xavier grunted. “All of us Pokémon are of different typings. For example, I’m fire type and you are electric type. If you concentrate your power enough, you can conjure attacks based on your typing. Though, many moves don’t require being the same type, but they won’t be as powerful.”

“You are telling me that I can release electricity from myself? But how? Where is that power even coming from?”

“From your body,” he shrugged. “Isn’t that obvious?”

“Uhh… that doesn’t make things more simple.”

“Well, I will tell you that if we ever have to fight together, we can combine our attacks to create synergy- an even more powerful attack!”

“But… how do you know about synergy if you are alone?”

Xavier stunned for a second. “How did you even know I was alone?”

“You seemed like that type of person.”

“What is a “person”?”

Leo groaned. “Uhh, right. But my point still stands. How do you know about it?”

“Yeah, I did the synergy with…”

“With… who?”

“Nevermind. Let’s just start walking home, we won’t make it with this pace.”

“Fine.” He is definitely trying to hide something from me. Was he with someone before? I will bother him with this later.

As they continued their journey through the dense forest, Leo’s mind was consumed by thoughts of the Pokémon Xavier had almost mentioned. Although his curiosity burned brightly, Leo wanted to respect his companion’s wishes. 

A few minutes later they saw an exit from the forest.

“Oh, we are finally getting close. Let’s get going!” Xavier led forward.

Harsh sunlight revealed to them blinding both of them for a second. To Leo, a beautiful scenery was revealed, and he stopped to fully gaze at it. A vast open field came into view, stretching in every direction. The sun rays reflected from the moist grass, giving out little sparks of light that added a touch of enchantment to the scene. A faint breeze splashed on Leo, which infused the moment with refreshing liveliness. He couldn’t recall the time he felt as great as this.

“This looks so great!” Leo exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “Ahh, maybe it’s not so bad being stuck here.”

“Well then, maybe you want to clear your head a little and try racing with me?”

“Why would I do that?”

“It would be good for getting you used to all of this. And, so I can show you how slow you are.”

“Are you really challenging me? Why would I even stand a chance?”

“Well, you are a quadruped and so, you should be able to run a lot faster than me.”

I have a bad feeling that he has some kind of other plan, but maybe it’s his way of showing me the world? “…Fine, I guess we are doing it.”

Xavier aligned with Leo more or less on the same line to prepare for a race.

“Okay, if you just run down the path you will see a sign with a crossroad. That’s where we stop.”

“Sure thing, Xavier.”

“Okay then.” He got into his starting position. “So, ready? 3… 2… 1… go!”

Both of them started running. Leo got a large head start, losing sight of Xavier on the hills. He started slowing down but suddenly, a red blur ran past him.

Was that Xavier? I couldn’t even see him! I have to catch up!

Leo kept on running, faster, fueled by his competitive side. In the distance, the sign was finally coming into view. He suddenly stopped as he saw Xavier speaking to a penguin, much bigger than Xavier with black and blue colours. It also had on its face what looked like a yellow trident.

What are they doing?

Using the terrain to his favour, Leo made himself very hard to spot and at the same time, at least faintly, he could hear the conversation. He was in a spot on a hill behind the sign while Xavier with the other Pokémon was standing in front of it.

“So, where is the payment for my efforts?” the penguin asked.

“Empoleon, I only have this,” Xavier took out the coins that he was somehow holding in his left arm. “Please, I almost don’t have anything else at this point. Continue your search.”

“Call me by my name, Xavier!” the penguin growled loudly. “Not my species, like someone lesser.”

“S-sorry, Braxton.”

“You know, this money…” Braxton picked up the coins. ”It’s not even close to my standard paycheck for this type of job, and you might already know what happens when I’m displeased. I know you have more. Give me the rest of it.”

“N-no, I d-don’t have any left…”

“Ah, we will see then, when I knock you out!”

Xavier is in trouble! He is about to get hurt! What am I even supposed to do?! I can’t just—

“I’m telling you, I don’t have any left!” Xavier shouted.

Braxton looked like he was taking a deep breath to attack from his mouth, but then Leo came rushing down from the hill. The electricity grew on Leo’s body, making little sparks on him. “Leave Xavier alone!”

“Leo, what are-“

And then Leo rammed into Braxton, trying to replicate what the Shroomish did to him. But, to his surprise, he released his stored electricity into the penguin. Braxton screamed in pain as the electricity surged through his body.

“Agh, it hurts so much! And here I thought it would be so easy to get rid of you, Xavier. There is no hope for your lost friend, no matter how much you try. It was nice stealing money from your gullible side.”

“Get out, before I hurt you further.” Leo looked like he was prepared for another attack, growling at him, trying to intimidate him. He struck a formidable stance while sparks were emitted even more violently from his fur.

“Hugh! Next time we meet, you will also be dead, blue fur ball!” Braxton turned to one of the three splitting paths and slowly disappeared into the horizon. Leo relaxed and with him, the electricity did too.

What was that? Why did I do it? How did I do it? Was it a good thing that I completely let my senses do everything? What’s happening to m—

“Hey, thanks. I appreciate your help,” Xavier said, his gratitude evident in his tone. “That guy deserved it after what he said.”

“Who was that? Why was he so mean?”

“It was a diamond rank solo explorer, but an exceptionally greedy one. In our world, explorers assist Pokémon in various ways, such as guiding through dangerous areas, aiding those in peril, or catching criminals. Most of them form teams as it’s much easier and safer to do jobs with multiple Pokémon, but some prefer to go alone. Unfortunately, their pride increases their greed very often, particularly with those in higher ranks like Braxton.”

“Uhh, you are not making this world easier to understand. At least tell me you are alright.”

“Yeah, he didn’t even manage to touch me, thanks to you. That was a really good attack, by the way. You have really given it all…”

“Yeah, I guess you can say that.”

Xavier smiled. “Well, let’s move on to my house?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Xavier and Leo took a different path than Braxton and continued on to Xavier’s home. The sun was slowly setting as they arrived near a steep cliff.

“This is it. We just need to get off the path for a second,” Xavier showed the way.

They went slowly around a cliff until they saw a small hollow hole, an abandoned hiding place. Xavier welcomed Leo into the hole.

“Are you sure this is the place?”

“Yeah. I know it’s not much, but I wanted to stay out of town, at least for now.”

Leo lowered his head and slowly squeezed through the hole, as it was barely larger than himself. After a few seconds, he found himself in a small chamber big enough for at least both of them containing what looked like a haystack in the middle. Two torches lit the room, and a large chest, almost the size of Leo, rested to the left of the entrance. 

“So, what do you think?”

“It’s humble enough, but are we supposed to sleep here? On the floor? It’s a little late already, the sun is almost set.”

“What do you mean— of course not— oh, I forgot you lost your memories,” Xavier recalled, making a false smile. “We sleep on haystacks. Let me look in the chest, I should have enough for you.”

In the meantime, Leo noticed what looked like an abandoned piece of cloth on the right side of the cave. What is this? Is that a scarf? It’s tarnished… it doesn’t even seem to be usable. Is he keeping it as a reminder of someone? Leo came closer to inspect it.

“Okay, that should be eno—“ Xavier saw Leo moving towards the scarf. “…I think you already know what it could be. Maybe it’s time that I will tell you at least a little.”

“Oh… I’m sorry.” Leo turned towards Xavier. “You don’t have to, my curiosity got the better of me.”

“Nah, it’s all right, but let’s prepare you a place to sleep first.”

Leo and Xavier moved the central haystack more to the right and they slowly prepared a similar one on the left. After a few minutes, it looked almost the same as the other one.

“It should be good enough. I would guess you are hungry now. I have an apple for both of us, but tomorrow we will have to travel to town if we want to eat something.”

“That’s understandable, but where do we eat?”

“Well, you will just have to manage with eating on your haystack as there is not much space. Here you go,” he said, handing him an apple. “I’m surprised both of these apples are still in good condition. Eat up!”

I want to eat this really bad, but at the same time… I still can’t bring myself to trust Xavier…

“You are not hungry? You should eat up, it’s been some time.”

“…I guess I should take a bite.” And once he took said bite, he smiled. “Wow, it tastes way better than I expected.”

Leo started eating the apple really fast.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down. You shouldn’t eat that fast, even if you are hungry.”

Both of them enjoyed their apples. Xavier seemed to have been laughing when Leo was eating, but his expression became sombre, as he recalled what he promised to tell him.

“Leo, I will tell you about that scarf. I at least owe you that after you’ve helped me with Braxton.”

He took a breath, as they looked at each other, getting comfortable on their haystacks.

“But first, let me start by explaining what wild Pokémon are. For a while, it was known that if a Pokémon got lost in an area with wild Pokémon for a long time, they would become one themselves. They abandon the civilized part of themselves in order to survive to the next day. They raid normal Pokémon on paths and try to take as much as they can from them, especially food, as that is hard to come by for them.”

Xavier’s eyes narrowed, emphasizing the harsh reality. “Their place to sleep most of the time becomes what is known to us as mystery dungeons. They contain valuable treasures since those are likely places for the wild Pokémon to store their things. That’s why normal Pokémon still go inside those dungeons. They can get rich pretty quickly, of course, but they are very dangerous places, filled with traps to catch potential treasure hunters. I should mention that not every wild Pokémon is the same. They may only be considered wild but have normal personalities, and they have a chance to rejoin society if enough Pokémon are backing them.”

With a nostalgic smile, Xavier concluded, “That’s how I met my friend Ryder.”

Leo tilted his head. “What kind of Pokémon was he?”

“He was an Axew and he looks like a small dragon you know? Green scales covering him blending with his cream-coloured body. And he’s got two teeth on opposing sides sticking out of his mouth. All you need to know is that he was wild and I managed to convince many Pokémon to count him as a normal Pokémon, but that’s where the new way of becoming wild comes in.”

“Hmm?”

“You see, there was an attack on the village by one of the famous bandit teams called Team Cross. The both of us were trying to fend them off. We managed to defeat everyone, but their last standing leader, Bisharp, managed to hit Ryder with a strange shadow ball. It was supposed to be fully black, but instead, it also had a green aura.”

He paused, a somber expression clouding his features. “He tried to hit Ryder with it, and while it missed it quickly circled back and hit him. After that, the leader ran away, but Ryder was… screaming in pain on the ground. There was a healer Audino who came and tried to help, but then my friend tackled me to the ground, and his eyes turned to a different color.

Xavier took a deep breath, the pain evident in his words. ”Audino knocked Ryder strongly in the other direction, but for some reason, he didn’t fall to the ground. He ran away after that and no one has seen him since. There wasn’t any search organized since the town’s mayor considered him a wild Pokémon. Everyone forgot him, like he… never existed. And I really want to meet him again, but… is it even possible? Why did something like that happen? I, I really miss him… that wasn’t fair, and I…”

Leo got up, walked up to Xavier and hugged him.

“I may not know why, but I want to help you find Ryder and find a way to make the town’s Pokémon reconsider his wild status. I… We will find him.”

“…Thanks, maybe that’s all I needed. It’s getting late, maybe we should sleep.”

Leo returned to his haystack and both of them laid down.

“Goodnight, Leo.”

“Goodnight, Xavier.”

I hope his story holds true, but at the same time, I have no one else to turn to. I just returned the favour and nothing else, I can’t just go so easily about trusting someone. Though, who knows how long I will be stuck here. It doesn’t seem I have any other choice in this world…