Four Paws and One Last Tale

Chapter 5: Ace

Look at them. That Eevee carrying his Vulpix, they looked cute as she slept on his back. We had been walking for a while when Pixie began showing signs of slowing down. She had protested at first, but Jacob had convinced her. She then wondered why she protested at all as she lay stretched along his's back. She'd quickly fallen asleep.

Those two don't know what they have, or how lucky they are. Of-course, it's only a matter of time before one of them breaks the other's heart. Emotions are a construct built by a variety of personal, societal and environmental factors. Love is a lie. It doesn't last. It is not some powerful force that conquers all else. It's a pretence. Love is a defence mechanism against the bitter reality of loneliness.

One day those two would learn the truth about love and I didn't want to be there when they did. Love is a beautiful lie but there is no truth more ugly. I've seen it before, it isn't pretty.

"What ya thinking?"

I regarded the Gligar with a disdainful sideways glance as she smiled at me. "Nothing," I informed her.

"That's deep."

"What?"

"Nothing is deep."

"No, it's not. It's nothing."

"But nothing is something."

"Huh?"

"The reality of there being 'no thing' concludes the existence of 'some thing'. Something is not nothing but nothing is something."

"I'm not sure I follow."

"Everything is something. Hence everything has value, or at least as much value as an individual places upon it."

"That's ridiculous."

"Is it? If no one cares about you then you are nothing but you are still something and hold the potential to be valuable. If I place value on you then you become valuable and your potential pretty well limitless."

"That's illogical."

"Logic is illogical."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Logic is based off facts and common sense, but facts can change, and common sense is subjective. Thus, logic, a concept of what is real and sensible is made up and not factual, hence it is illogical."

Ugh, this is giving me a headache. At this point I genuinely can't tell, is this Gligar smart or just really, really stupid? Mind you, that doesn't mean talking to her wasn't enjoyable. She continued chittering away and I just laughed at her eccentric nature. She was fun.

I continued talking with the strange Gligar as we began climbing the mountainous region of Southern Ardua. It was a gruelling trek upwards and Jacob was still carrying Pixie. I even had to help Glair and Tertle keep the Vulpix from falling off Eevee's back. It was strange the way they helped each other to succeed. Their comradery is foreign to me, but it's nice. Maybe they aren't so bad after all.

We finally made it over the mountain's ridge and began down the unstable slope. We slipped and slid and skidded down the loose rocks. Jacob stepped forward, a rock gave way, he began sliding roughly down the mountain. Pixie was launched from his back. I jumped and glided in the way, colliding with her and stopping her from falling a long way down. We hit the ground hard, but I cushioned her fall and in turn the very sharp rocks cushioned mine.

Pixie chose this moment to wake up and was not happy to find herself in my arms.

"What the... You?! Creep!"

She socked me in the face with her paw and walked away. My head was reeling from the punch. Some thanks. Jacob, Glair and Tertle ran to Pixie frantically checking her over, she was fine, me on the other hand, not so much.

"Yep, I'm fine, don't worry about me. I just caught her, fell a long way and landed on the rocks, nope, nothing wrong with me, I'm good," I muttered under my breath.

I picked myself up and began dusting myself off until I was suddenly choked to death by a purple blanket. "Ace that was awesome!" Glair squealed.

I tapped her arms frantically. "Glair! C-can't. Can't breathe!"

"Oh, right." Glair released me. I coughed before deeply inhaling as much fresh air as I could. Glair was patting my back as I coughed and wheezed. I didn't notice Jacob approaching.

Jacob looked at me curiously. "Thank-you. Not bad Ace."

I stood up straight and shrugged it off. "Yeah, whatever."

We kept on walking and soon found ourselves in a small clearing, before us lay a vast forest thick with fog. The mountain range looped around and formed a ring around the valley. The meadow was densely packed with trees but fog thicker than Jacob's skull hid the forest from sight.

"What do you think?" Pixie asked Jacob.

"I think Fogbound Lake is in there somewhere," he replied.