Pokémon Chronicles 零 (ZERO)

Episode 34: The crisis of Vilé

"Crystal... thank goodness, you're awake," Brine greeted. After learning Angel's story about the history of Heroica, everyone went to sleep to prepare for the travel to the last trial – we still had the remainder of the desert to cross, after all. The sun hadn't risen yet, but Brine was awake, and had spotted me stargazing. I was about to finish up though, as the sun rising somewhere in the distance had started to warm up the sky.

"You okay? I didn't wake you, did I?" I whispered. She denied with a shake of her head and walked off, grabbing a few things from her tent.

"I've started getting up earlier to prepare you guys' breakfast. We eat a lot, you know," she giggled. I shrugged and decided to help her set up, even though I wouldn't be eating myself.

"How are you doing, anyway? After all this time, we haven't even found a clue about your parents... sorry," I casually conversed, laying out firewood whilst she rummaged through some tools.

"Ah, don't worry about them anymore. I've been asking around when I've had the chance, but no luck. Like we said yesterday, barely anyone seems to know what a watermarked Pokémon even is," she replied, slowing down. "I have been paying attention to everything happening, though... kind of observing, if you want. You haven't been eating that well, have you?"

"Ack! It's... okay, trust me. I'm fine," I replied, sweating a little. She waddled a finger at me.

"We're meant to be buddies, right? I've been observing everyone and everything, trust me. Everyone's still asleep, so now's a good time to talk about it," she pointed out. "I've got something on my mind, too."

"Okay... you first," I said nervously, still too shaken to talk. Megan already knew my thoughts on the murders; Brine didn't need to know them, too.

"... Okay, I don't know whether it's safe to talk about this since she's in the scarf and all that, but I think we might be in trouble," she began, looking away for a moment. Once she saw my eyes widen, she resumed her work, gathering a few fruits and chopping them up. We would be having a juicy breakfast, it looked like.

"Its fine, she's asleep. She sleeps hard," I lied, not knowing whether Angel was awake or not.

"It's that story she told us, obviously. There's some questions I have that I know she won't answer... and the way Lucca stopped me concerns me, too," she continued, rubbing her chin. "The part about Theria praying at the six fountains. Angel said that he was granted anima power at the six fountains, right?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Doesn't that seem a little different to what we're doing? Angel didn't mention the amulets... nor did she mention them having a guide like her. Plus, when Theria activated all the fountains, he used the power to make a sword that can control all and bestia energy. Could our anima powers even do something close to that awesome?" she explained, making me think as well. "If we're supposed to have that kind of power, then... where is it?"

"Are you suggesting something about Angel?" I asked.

"Angel and Theria. If Theria is this almighty O.G shining warrior, then why is Angel guiding us, and not him? And why exactly are Pokémon trying to stop us?" she quizzed. My mouth opened. "If we're to believe that this is a world worthy of a future, then we should think that there's a good reason Pokémon want to stop the shining warrior legend. Like, I'm sure Angel is telling us the truth... but not the whole truth, you know?"

"I'm not going to deny your points. But we can only learn about this by going forward, right? The only other Pokémon that would know a lot about this is Panzer and Ion..." I suggested. She slumped forward.