Chapter 23: Resolve

  Newleaf Village had grown quiet by the time Auri slipped away from Yuki. She’d still looked worried, but hadn’t tried to stop him. He’d told her he needed space, and that much was true. He needed air, quiet, a place where the weight pressing against his chest could settle into something he could hold.

  He ended up by the stream on the village’s edge, where the water curled softly around smooth stones and the grass leaned toward the current. It wasn’t a place he had ever chosen before. He hadn’t really chosen at all. His paws had brought him there on their own, as though the silence had called him.

  The night hummed faintly, Dungeon Cicadas in the grass, the water’s low murmur, a distant flutter of leaves, but compared to the storm in his head, it felt like stillness. The memory of Miu’s voice lingered there. Her words replayed in his mind with uncomfortable clarity, like echoes that refused to fade. Human. She had said it with such gravitas, as if the word itself was a curse she was handing him.

  He still had no idea what a human even was. He should've probably asked Yuki before running off like that. It was definitely something he would remedy tomorrow when he met up with her again.

  Auri shifted where he sat, his tail curling around his paws, the air around him heavy and cool. The last human-turned-Pokemon had brought destruction to the world, Miu had made that much clear. And now, if she was to be believed, he carried that same spark. That same danger.

  He’d never asked for this, whatever it was. He wasn’t a god or a monster or a harbinger of anything like that. He didn't even see himself as fervant in upholding justice around himself as everyone else thought. He just refused to stand idly by if he could actually right a wrong instead. In his own perspective he was just… Auri. Or at least, he wanted to be.

  His gaze drifted downward to the water below, where the current rippled against the stones. He watched it for a long time, breathing in time with its slow rhythm. The reflection that stared back at him didn’t feel like his own anymore.

  Was that what Miu had seen, the shadow of another world reflected in his eyes? Or was it something else entirely, something that neither of them could yet name? He didn’t know.

  Above him, the sky had already begun to turn. The day’s gold had faded into streaks of violet and blue, stars emerging one by one in their fragile constellations. Auri tilted his head back, tracing them with quiet focus, as if they might hold answers too, some faint sign that he wasn’t alone in this. But the stars, like the wind, only watched in silence.

  He let out a slow breath, shoulders slumping. The truth was simple: He was afraid. Afraid of what it meant to be seen by things he could not name, afraid of being pulled along by forces he could not fight. And it wasn't like the Mythicals, especially Miu, would just leave him alone if he asked them nicely.

  The breeze lifted again, curling across the water’s surface, raising faint ripples. He shivered, curling tighter into himself. "Why me?" he whispered under his breath, voice barely audible above the stream. There was no answer, of course. Only the rustle of leaves, the endless, indifferent sound of air in motion.

  The only path forward was, of course, to get more answers. Gain other perspectives. Vian had denied them, most likely because he was just as focused on the awakening process of Lord Noctem as the other Mythicals. The villagers of Newleaf Village wouldn't be able to give him answers either. Well, maybe a few of them could. But he knew none of them would risk interfere with the designs of the craters Mythicals if he told them why he asked these question. And they would definitely want him to tell them.

  The only other option was Sia. Sia was obviously occupied with her fathers awakening as well, they knew that much. Miu, however, had given them a way to get into contact with her. Normally he would've hesitated and probably just waited in Newleaf Village until after Lord Noctem's awakening to talk with her. He had no right to occupy Sia's attention while she got to talk to her father the first time in over a century.

  But now that he knew Miu was actively looking for a way to 'deal with him', he might just had to prioritise getting to meet Sia, even in the current situation.

  Sighing he stopped that line of thought. There was nothing to gain from thinking about his moral right to even interrupt Sia right now. That was definitely something he would discuss tomorrow together with Yuki. No, he had other things to worry about.

  "What am I even doing?" he muttered to himself. "As if moaning everything I've supposedly 'lost' would somehow make me feel better or help me out of my current situation."

  Pokemon or human, did it really matter? To him, someone who didn't even know what the difference was? He'd known from the very beginning that by beginning a new life in Newleaf Village he'd probably left behind Pokemon who knew him, who maybe even missed him. He had already accepted that truth. So what if the same was true for humans? It wasn't even like he could change anything. An while the thought did make his chest twist painfully, it didn't change the facts itself.

  He let out a small huff, pressing a paw against his temple. "You’re thinking too much again,” he muttered to himself. The words didn’t help. His mind kept circling back to the same impossibility. He didn’t even believe it, not really. But the thought clung to him like smoke. A faint ripple of movement drew his eyes back to the stream. For a heartbeat, he thought he saw something glint beneath the surface, a shimmer like glass catching moonlight. Then it was gone, carried away by the current.

  The night deepened, stars sharp and cold above. His breath came out in faint wisps, and somewhere in the grass, the Dungeon cicadas quieted all at once, leaving the sound of the wind to fill the gap. It wound around him in lazy circles, tugging faintly at his fur, like a whisper that didn’t care if he understood it or not.

  “...Right. Of course I wouldn't even get that moment to myself,” he whispered again, but softer this time, almost a laugh.

  He sighed and lowered his head, ears folding back. "Are you just going to float there?" he said quietly to the air, "or are you actually going to talk to me?" He turned his head to the right, to the other side of the stream, where a Dusknoir floated. "Elder Gorun. I would say it's a pleasure, but I think we both know that I would've prefered the peace over company."

  Elde Gorun disappeared just as quickly and silently as he'd come, the breeze only stirring reeds in answer. Auri shook his head. "Didn't think so either."

  “Then you have thought wrong, young Pikachu,” the elder said, his voice low and deep, carrying more calm than reprimand. “Auri, if I remember correctly?”

  Auri turned slowly, his heart still caught somewhere between guilt and surprise. "That’s me," he said, voice quiet. "Am I really that close to the village's ancestral hall that I get a personal warning for sneaking around unannounced."

  "Few do." Elder Gorun drifted closer, the water undisturbed by his passage. "And you are not such a case. Your distance to the ancestral hall is still accepable. But you came close enough for me to pick up a troubled heart, so I decided I can spare a few moments to visit."

  "I just needed… some time away from everything after I found out a few disturbing things earlier today," Auri muttered, looking away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bother you with my emotions. I guess I should've picked a better spot."

  The Elder’s eye curved slightly, something between amusement and sympathy. "Don't worry about it, you didn't. At least not really. And there are worse places than this one to get lost in thought in."

  Silence settled again, broken only by the stream’s soft rush. Elder Gorun let it linger before speaking once more. "Whatever weighs on you," he said, tone slow and deliberate, "don’t let it decide the actions you take from here on. Doubt is heavy, but it’s only dangerous when you let it stay and fester. If you let it influence your decisionmaking, in the process making a salvageable situation far worse. I've seen it happen too often already."

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  Auri’s paws tightened against the earth. "You make it sound easy. If I trusted myself to keep such tight control over my emotions and thoughts, I wouldn't be here in the first place."

  "Nothing about it is easy." Gorun’s gaze softened. "But peace of the mind rarely comes from answers. It comes from how you choose to stand when none will come. Because searching for the correct answers is a long and ardeous process that comes with many failiures before you find success. Finding out for yourself how to push through and endure, that is what you will need to learn."

  The stream caught a glimmer of starlight between them, a thin line, bright and trembling. Auri looked at it, then at the ghost next to him. "...And you came out all the way here just to say that to me?"

  "No," Elder Gorun said. "I came to make sure you still remembered how to listen and that you haven't given in to your frustration and inner turmoil. I'd like to think I managed to distract you from your problems for a moment, so that you could ground yourself again before you inevitably coninue to stir in your own thoughts.

  His shape began to blur at the edges, mist curling from his form like breath on glass. "I recommend you to rest while the night allows it, Auri. Morning always brings new light, new perspectiives and new hopes."

  And before Auri could respond, the elder was gone, dissolved into the quiet he’d momentarily disturbed. Only the stream remained, murmuring against the stones like a voice too ancient to care whether it was heard. He watched it go until it vanished downstream.

  Again, he fell into quiet contemplation. The stream kept its rhythm, a low and steady murmur threading through the hush of the trees. He just sat there, paws pressed into the damp grass, the cool scent of water clinging to the air. The world was still, save for the ripple and splash where the current stumbled over stone. His reflection wavered on the surface, stretched and broken into fragments, as if the water couldn’t quite decide what he looked like.

  For a long while he only stared. At the yellow fur, the black-tipped ears, the faint scar just under his eye. Sometimes the reflection sharpened, sometimes it broke into ripples, and each time he wondered if he was supposed to see something more. Something hidden. A ghost of the human he had once been, some truth waiting to push through. But no. Every time he looked, it was only him. Pikachu. Auri. Nothing else. Nothing pointing out what he'd just found out from Miu.

  After talking with Elder Gorun, the weight in his chest had indead weakened slightly. So he breathed. Slowly. He pressed his paw into the damp earth until it left a mark, then pulled it back and let the soil crumble away.

  That mark faded, washed with dew, gone as though it had never been. Maybe that was him, once. Maybe the life before had left its shape, its echo, but the stream had passed over it, carried it away. What remained wasn’t a ghost or a shadow of his old self. He refused to see it that way! No! This body, his morals and his thoughts? They were his! He may not be who he was in the past anymore but now he was Auri. A human turned Pikachu? Maybe. But also someone who now lived a great live in Newleaf Village! And there was no way he would let this be taken from him!

  He thought of Yuki. Not her face, not her words, just the warmth of her presence at his side. The way her voice always filled a space with more life, the way she laughed even when things seemed too dark to deserve laughter. She didn’t care who he had been before either. To her, he was already enough. Not because of some past, not because of a hidden truth, but because of who he was when he walked beside her now.

  And truthfully… wasn’t that all that mattered? He had been a human? Fine, then so be it! That hadn't to affect who he was right now at all!

  He clenched his paws and let his claws bite the grass. No, he would not let that past, or the mystery of it, chain him or be held back by it! He would not be defined by shadows or holes in memory! His worth wasn’t buried in what he had lost, it lived in what he still held! And this right here, right now? It was a promise to himself. A promise that he would keep moving forward, no matter what! Because everything else would be nothing more then spitting into the face of everything he'd build up for himself and there was no way he'd do that!

  The current shifted, a stronger pull breaking the water into white streaks against the stone. He watched it race ahead, unbothered by obstacles, flowing into whatever lay beyond. And he realized that was what he wanted too. Not answers carved in stone, not a past to shackle him, but the freedom to flow into tomorrow without fear.

  He stood. His legs trembled a little, but he didn’t let them falter. The damp breeze swept through the leaves, carrying the smell of moss and water and distant soil. His reflection quivered one last time in the stream, then broke apart into nothing but light and ripple. He didn’t mind. He didn’t need it to be whole.

  He turned away. He knew who he was. And no past, no revelation, no buried truth could take that from him. It was late and it was time to go to bed. And tomorrow he'd see what the future held in store for him!

  On the far side of the village, where the glow of the lanterns dimmed and the path to the training grounds grew narrow and overgrown, Karo crouched behind a half-fallen fence, his tail twitching restlessly. His stinger tapped the ground in quick, uneven beats, the rhythm of someone barely able to contain what they’d heard.

  While he had certainly wanted to find some dirt on Auri to bring him down, he'd certainly not expected to overhear something like that! Now, hours later, he sat alone on the edge of the training field, waiting for Velia to hopefully meet him as he'd asked. All the while he could barely sit still from anxiety.

  Luckily, Velia arrived not long after, moving with her usual lazy confidence. "You dragged me out here for a reason, I hope," she said, flicking her ears. "If this is about losing another sparring match or some half-baked plan to get back on Auri, I swear-!"

  "It’s not that!" Karo cut in. "You’re not gonna believe what I overheard earlier while spying after Auri and Yuki!"

  Velia tilted her head. "Then tell me."

  "They went out past the stream, which I found suspicious, so I followed them to find out what they were plotting this time. Maybe finally something I could use against Auri! But then suddenly Miu showed up!"

  Velia blinked. "Wait. The Miu? The Trickster herself?"

  "Yeah," Karo said, the word barely a whisper. "And she told them things. Big things. About Auri."

  Velia leaned forward, her smirk fading into something more predatory. "Go on. This must be something big."

  Karo took a breath. "She said… he’s not really a Pikachu. Or at least, not always. She said he used to be a human!"

  Velia froze. Her tail gave one quick flick. "…You’re joking."

  "I wish I was." Karo dug his stinger into the dirt. "But that isn't all! She said humans aren’t heroes anymore but dangerous tyrants! That the last one brought ruin to the whole world and burned everything down after pretending to save it!"

  Velia stared at him, eyes wide, her voice quiet. "But… humans saved us! They always did! That’s what the stories say!"

  "That’s what I thought too!" he hissed. "But Miu was there! She saw it! She said they destroyed almost everything and that Auri’s the same as them!"

  For a moment, Velia didn’t speak. The night wind rustled the grass, cool and whispering. Finally, she exhaled, shaking her head. "So that’s what he’s been hiding. All that calm, all that mysterious act, it’s not just attitude. No, he just thinks he's something better because he's a human."

  Karo nodded, his chest tight. "He didn’t even deny it! Just stood there and didn’t say a word. He's from outside the crater, so he probably knows that Miu tells the truth. I wouldn't be surprised if that entire story of him having lost his memories is made up!"

  Velia’s eyes narrowed. "And Miu let him walk away? Even if he's such a potential danger?"

  "She said she can’t hurt him. But it was obvious how much she wanted to," Karo said, almost whispering. "She said she’d rather see the world burn again than let another human run free."

  Velia went quiet for a long time, staring out toward the darkened forest. "So we’ve been training beside a human all this time," she murmured. "And no one knew."

  "Not even Yuki," Karo muttered. "She looked like she’d just been kicked. But she’s still sticking by him."

  Velia’s mouth twisted. "Of course she is. She always jumps to his defense, like he can do no wrong. But now?" Her tone sharpened. "Now we finally know what kind of danger he really is!"

  Karo hesitated. "You really think he’s dangerous?"

  Velia turned to him, her expression unreadable in the dim light. "I think Miu doesn’t lie about things that serious. And I think if Auri is actually a human, then sooner or later, he’s going to prove it." Her voice softened slightly, almost coaxing. "You said you wanted to show everyone who he really is, right? How dangerous. And you said you want to bring him down so that everyone gives up on him. Well, now you have a way."

  Karo swallowed. “So what do we do?”

  "Wait," Velia said simply. "Wait, watch, and listen. Auri will slip up eventually. And when he does…" Her tail gave one last, deliberate flick. "We make sure everyone sees it. And together with what Miu told, that will be his end. Everyone will see just how rotten he truly is. Just like these past humans, apparently. They're all just wearing masks, pretending to be justice itself, while in truth they are far worse. And we will be the ones to make sure he gets what he deserves."

  Karo nodded resolutely. Velia was right. This right here? It was the chance he'd been waiting for! And if he could ensure the safety of Newleaf Village while getting his revenge on Auri that was even better!

  Velia stood first. “Come on,” she said softly. “We shouldn’t be seen clearly plotting something together this late in the night. Right now, we really don't want undue attention to fall on us. Not if we want to bring Auri down."

  Karo nodded, rising. But as he followed her back toward the village, a tiny spark of unease twisted in his chest, like he was being watched. Still, as he glanced once over his shoulder he only saw a small flash of pink that instantly disappeared again after Karo blinked once.

  In the end he just shrugged. It was probably nothing more than his nerves playing a trick on him. Nothing to worry about.

  Important characters in the chapter:

  Pikachu (Auri) – Level 15

  Ability: Lightning Rod

  Battle Nature: Lonely

  Stats:

  TE Pool (Health/AP): 71

  Attack: 47

  Ranged Attack: 41

  Defense: 49

  Speed: 55

  Total: 263 (Strength Level: Teenager)

  Moves:

  Close Combat Moves: [Nuzzle], [Tail Whip], [Quick Attack], [Brick Break], [Thunder Wave], [Feint]

  Ranged Combat Moves: [Thunder Shock], [Electro Ball], [Swift], [Thunder Bolt]

  Utility Moves: [Nasty Plot], [Charm], [Double Team], [Growl], [Agility], [Dig]