Pokémon PrismGold

Chapter Thirteen: "Broken Harmony"

Mark watched Lugia turn its head to look at Nate, following his eyes to him. The disheartened look on Nate's face pulled at his heartstrings before Nate tilted his flask and hastily drank it down. The second Nate passed out from drinking the alcohol too fast, Mark started to rush toward him. Zoey shot him a glare that made her eyes glow with a red light as she bared her sharp fangs at him. Skidding to a stop, he raised his hands in surrender, asking guilty. "Is he ok?" Zoey scooped Nate up into her arms, growling back at him. "No. He's not. But what do you care?" Mark lowered his hands, stating out seriously. "Hey! I do care! Whatever happened to him because of my Team wasn't me! I'm not... my Team." Zoey's eyes turned back to normal, before coolly sneering out to him. "And yet you stand there in their colors, talking just like them." Zoey carried Nate to the edge of the shore, giving Lugia a respectful bow that Lugia returned. Then she laid him down to put his legs in the water. Cyndaquil trotted along after her, snorting in a cute disgusted way at Mark.

Mark stood there feeling dirty. The words had poured from him like a reflex. Zapdos draining the power grids had been a problem... but they had used their own pokemon to keep eggs warm. Their own electric pokemon had managed to supply the back-up generators with enough power to help them save the injured pokemon in surgery. Yet, his Team had been angry over the incident because it had happened. Anger that he hadn't realized he had absorbed until now. He felt ashamed of himself. What would his dad think of him? Removing his hat, he crushed it in his hand as he thought about all the times that he might have hurt someone with his actions. From the water, Lugia addressed him in a warm voice. "Mark... The past is in the past. How you move forward is all that matters." Mark saw Cyndaquil trying to get water, but he was scared of it because the black sand of the shore kept threatening to pull him into the water as it shifted under his weight. Licking his lips, Mark moved to the shore and kneeled down.

Cyndaquil dashed away to huddle up by Nate's side with distressed squeals. Putting his hat down, Mark cupped his hands to collect water and turned slightly to see if Cyndaquil would come back for it. Zoey stared at Mark with a cautious look, but after looking at Lugia, she tapped Cyndaquil to go. Cyndaquil crept forward nervously, ready to dash back to Nate in a second's notice. Mark stayed still, watching Cyndaquil timidly touch his hands with his tiny front paws. Leaning over, Cyndaquil quickly began to drink and then dashed away. Zoey removed a water bottle from her bag, tossing it to Mark as she asked a bit guarded. "Fill that for me... Please." Mark caught the bottle and began to fill it. Nearby, Sean asked Lugia bluntly. "You didn't answer my question." Lugia looked away from Nate to answer in a soothing tone. "It's not my place to tell you. You want to know? Ask him yourself." Sean huffed, sitting down on the rock to say bitterly. "He'll lie." Lugia lowered his head to eye level to say bluntly in return. "Have you ever tried asking him? It's true, he may lie... but don't people lie because they don't trust each other?"

Pryce smirked, listening quietly to Lugia. After a minute though, Pryce tensed, asking curtly. "What the-?" Lugia looked away from Sean without fear. From a small tunnel at the end of the cave, a small group of pokemon were approaching Lugia's lake. A pink pokemon that looked like sea coral, bounded over to the shore to set down a small glinting scale. A Corsola with a Prism Scale. As Corsola left, another pokemon that looked like a small red crab moved in to put another scale down. The Krabby dropped the scale from one of its pinchers then retreated away. The last pokemon, an Omanyte, quickly crawled over to give up yet another scale. Omanyte had a large helix spiraled tan shell on its back and ten small blue tentacles. It timidly set down its scale and began to scramble away as Pryce rose and uttered out. "An Omanyte? They are supposed to be extinct!" Mark snorted, handing the water bottle back to Zoey as he blurted out in a chuckle. "Maybe in your time. They are pretty common around the island." Pryce looked shocked, then crept after the pokemon to get a good look at him. Omanyte noticed him following, stopping to look at him with just as much curiosity.