Chapter 24: No Matter What

  Morning light spilled in through the window, sharp and golden, catching dust motes that swirled whenever Yuki’s wings twitched. She lay sprawled across her nest in a half-tangle of straw and feathers, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling as if it had personally offended her.

  Her mind hadn’t stopped since yesterday. No matter how she tossed or fluffed her feathers or buried her head under her wings, Miu’s words just wouldn’t leave her alone.

  "Why Miu?” Yuki muttered into her blanket. "Why Auri? And why do you have to see the world so black and white?"

  "Talking to yourself again?" Ayra’s voice drifted lazily through the door.

  Yuki shot upright, feathers on end. "I am processing! Important stuff!"

  A very unimpressed snort came from the hall. "Sure. Loudly."

  Yuki groaned, flopping backward with a thud. "Processing loudly,” she muttered to herself, wings spread wide. It wasn’t helping. Every time she thought she’d gotten over it, some other aspect of Miu's explanation threw her back into contemplation.

  It still felt unreal. To know that Auri wasn’t actually a Pokemon at all. That he was, or rather had been, a human once. Yuki rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling like it might suddenly decide to explain everything. "A human," she whispered. "He doesn’t even know what that means, does he? I don't think so. And now I’m supposed to just handle that!? I'll probably be the one who will have to explain it to him, after all."

  She threw her wings over her face with a frustrated groan. The stories had always said humans were saviors. Protectors. The ones who stood between the world and its end. Her parents had told her bedtime tales about them, about how the last human-turned-Pokemon saved the Tree of Life itself!

  And now Miu had come along and ripped that story apart like it was paper. She had claimed that the very human who did that was the one who, year later, burned the world ouside of the Umbral Abyss to ash.

  Yuki’s voice came out small, trembling into the silence. "She’s lying," she told herself. "She has to be lying." But the more she tried to believe that, the less certain she felt. Miu was a Mythical. She shouldn't be capable of lying to them.

  Her wings curled closer around her chest. "No," she whispered to herself. "Even if she’s right… that doesn’t automatically mean that Auri’s going to be like them!" He wasn’t a monster. He couldn’t be. She’d seen him help strangers, risk himself for others, be willing to sacrifice his own safety for the sake of others. Where she was an explorer, he was, without a doubt, a rescuer. Human or Pokemon, why should she care who he had been? He was Auri! And for her? That was enough.

  She pulled her blanket tighter around herself. "I’ll protect him," she murmured, barely audible. "And if the world thinks he’s too dangerous… then I’ll just have to protect him from the world."

  The door creaked open and Mira poked her head in, the smell of berry porridge drifting with her. "Breakfast is ready, my little Whirlwind. You sound like you’re having a crisis."

  "I am having a crisis!" Yuki groaned. She peeked through her feathers to see her mother’s amused smile and groaned louder.

  "Then you’d better eat before you burn out," Mira said simply, already turning back toward the kitchen.

  Yuki flopped upright with a huff, feathers puffed in every direction. "Eat before you burn out?" she repeated under her breath. "As if it's that easy." Then she trudged out of her room anyway, because honestly, her stomach was already growling.

  The kitchen was warm as always, sun spilling in across the table. Mira stood at the stove, stirring with practiced ease. Ayra already sat at the table, neat and composed as though she hadn’t a care in the world, while Daigo leaned against the wall, arms folded, his steady gaze following Yuki the second she stumbled in.

  Normal. It was all so painfully, unbearably normal.

  Yuki dropped into her chair with far more force than necessary, the legs scraping against the floorboards. Mira, unbothered, set a bowl in front of her, steam curling up to tickle her beak. She stared into it as though the porridge had betrayed her.

  Ayra arched a brow. "What did breakfast ever do to you?"

  "Nothing," Yuki said, lowering her voice to a dramatic whisper. "Nothing except sit there while my entire world implodes!"

  Daigo’s mouth twitched, his chuckle muffled behind a paw. Mira only shook her head with her soft, knowing smile. "As I said, eat first. Save the implosion for after. Solutions usally come with time, not by you panicking about them."

  Yuki dipped her beak into the bowl without much enthusiasm, then yanked back up so fast that a smear of berry clung to her cheek. "You just don’t understand! This isn’t a small implosion, it’s-!" She flung her wings wide, nearly knocking her spoon to the floor. "It’s a disaster! Just why do things like that have to happen!? Why-!?"

  Her words tangled. Her throat closed up. How was she supposed to say what Miu had told them? She couldn’t. Not here. Not out loud. Her feathers puffed up in pure frustration. "Never mind. Just… things happened yesterday. Big things. And I don’t know what to do with them."

  Ayra leaned back in her chair, smirk curling. "By the rate you’re going you'll combust before you finish a sentence."

  "Don’t tempt fate!" Yuki snapped, wings flaring. "It might just actually happen!"

  Mira slid another bowl across the table, entirely unbothered. "If you combust, please do it outside. Our roof will not survive another incident, even after we patched it up."

  Daigo chuckled again, but his gaze softened as it lingered on Yuki. "It’s serious, then."

  "Yes!" Yuki half-shouted. She slumped forward, wings dragging across the table. "Finally, someone gets it! It’s… it’s not just serious, it’s scary! It’s huge! I mean, how am I supposed to handle this? I’m just me!"

  Her claws tapped against the bowl, restless. She could feel her family’s eyes on her, but none of them pushed. They never did. Mira only stirred the pot with her quiet patience. Ayra rolled her eyes, though her smirk had softened into something less sharp. And Daigo, Daigo was always steady, always the anchor when her feathers spun out of control.

  He crossed the room and set a paw gently against her back. Warm. Grounding. "Then don’t carry it all at once. Take what you can. The rest will come when it comes. You have Auri to share the burden with don't you?"

  Yuki froze, blinking hard. Her chest ached. She wanted to laugh, to cry, to scream all at once. "Auri's probably the last person I should share my doubts with right now. Why do you make it sound so easy?" she muttered, but her voice cracked halfway through.

  "It’s never easy," Daigo said simply.

  Ayra gave a soft snort. "You’ll be fine. You always are. You make a disaster out of everything and then somehow land on your feet."

  Yuki’s head shot up. "That is not true!"

  "Roof tiles," Ayra replied without missing a beat.

  "That wasn’t-! ...Okay, that was kind of my fault," Yuki admitted, wings drooping. "But this is different! This isn’t just roof tiles, Ayra, this is bigger, it's…" She trailed off again, feathers ruffling helplessly. She still couldn't tell them, she knew that. "I can’t even properly talk to you about it."

  Her sister studied her for a long moment, then shrugged lightly. "Then don’t. But stop glaring at your porridge like it’s part of some conspiracy. You'll find a solutuion and that's certainly not it."

  Yuki let out a strangled noise, somewhere between a laugh and a groan, and finally dipped her beak back into her food. She chewed in silence for a while, though her feathers still bristled with every breath.

  Inside, though, the storm hadn’t calmed. It spun faster, sharper. She wanted to scream at the world for putting Auri through whatever he had endured. She wanted to throw herself between him and the weight of all those secrets. She wanted to fight shadows, claw the truth from the sky itself if that’s what it took. Instead, she sat in the kitchen, her family around her, and she breathed. One moment at a time.

  Whatever Auri had been, whatever he had done, whatever scars the world had carved into him… she wasn’t letting him face it alone. Not now. Not ever.

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  Knowing that, Yuki quickly finished her breakfast before jumping out of the house and making her way towards Auri's home next to the training field.

  This early in the morning, Newleaf Village was still half-asleep. For once, there were no voices, no bustle, no sounds of hammers or wagons creaking over the paths. Only the muted rustle of leaves and the faint chirring of distant Dungeon Kricketot broke the silence.

  Yuki lingered in that silence a moment longer than usual, claws curling against the earth. Normally, she would have bounded right up to Auris home, wings half-flared, voice tumbling out before her thoughts had a chance to catch up. Today, though, she slowed. Her energy still crackled beneath her feathers, it always did after all, but this time it felt… tempered. Held in place by something heavier in her chest.

  Auri sat outside, as though he’d been waiting. He was perched by the little stone step in front of his door, tail curled neatly around his paws, fur still damp where the dew had brushed it. His ears twitched once when he noticed her, but he didn’t rise. Didn’t smile, either. Just watched her approach with those quiet eyes of his, the kind that always seemed to carry more weight than he ever put into words.

  Yuki padded closer until the distance felt right, then dropped down beside him with a sigh far too dramatic for someone so small. "You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to look mysterious on purpose."

  Auri gave her a sidelong glance, unblinking. "And if I said I wasn’t?"

  "Then I’d say you’re succeeding anyway," she huffed, though a faint smile tugged at her beak.

  The silence between them stretched, though it wasn't a heavy or awkward one. Rather a... content one. Yuki had grown used to it, even liked it, though it never stopped her from breaking it when she thought it needed breaking.

  She leaned forward, claws tracing an idle pattern in the dirt. "So," she began, a little softer than usual, "I wanted to check if you’re… okay. After yesterday."

  Auri’s gaze flickered toward the grass, ears angling back slightly. "I don’t know if ‘okay’ is the word."

  "Mm." Yuki tilted her head, considering him. "Fair. It was a lot."

  "That’s one way to put it." His voice was quiet, flat at first, but it wasn’t empty. It had that same fragile edge she’d heard when Miu had spoken, when the truth had been dropped like a stone into both their lives.

  She waited, giving him space. He didn’t rush to fill it, but eventually his tail twitched, and he spoke again. "I spent most of the night trying to make sense of it. The war, the memories, the… human thing. And I couldn’t. Not really. I simply lack too many vital information. I'll have to rely on you to explain quite a few things to me."

  Yuki’s claws stilled. Her feathers ruffled slightly, not from irritation this time, but from the way her heart squeezed tight. "I will tell you everything I know. But you don’t have to make sense of it all at once, y'know?"

  His ears twitched, faint amusement flickering there for just a second. "I'm pretty sure that's something your parents told you just this morning."

  Her beak parted, then shut again. She hadn’t expected him to mention her family, but something about it made her chest warm. Of course he’d came to that conclusion with how observant he was.

  When he didn’t say more, she leaned in a little, lowering her voice. "You know what I think?"

  "What?"

  "That… none of it changes who you are right now." His gaze finally lifted to hers. Not sharp, not searching, just steady, like he was testing the shape of her words before letting them sink in.

  Yuki pressed on. "You’ve always been Auri. Not a human, not a danger, not some mystery walking around with half a story stuck in his fur. Just… you. The one who helped me save Mina. The one who willingly steps into danger if necessary. The one who..." her beak clicked shut, words tripping over themselves, but she shoved them through anyway, "...the one I trust more than anyone."

  Auri blinked once, twice. The faintest flicker of surprise crossed his face before his expression smoothed again, softening into something harder to name.

  For a long moment, neither spoke. Then his shoulders eased, the tension leaking out like mist off water. "That’s what I told myself last night," he admitted quietly. "That the past, whatever it might be, doesn’t change the present. That whatever I was, it doesn’t decide who I am now."

  Yuki’s chest swelled with something fierce, almost protective. She nudged his shoulder with her wing, light but insistent. "Then hold onto that! Don’t let it go just because the world wants to throw your past at you!"

  His mouth curved, not a full smile, but close, and it made her feathers flutter anyway. "You make it sound simple."

  "It is simple!" she insisted, beak tilted high. "Hard, sure! But definitely simple!"

  He shook his head slightly, eyes returning to the soft shimmer of sunlight spilling across the grass. The quiet stretched again, but this time it felt lighter, less burdened.

  Yuki let it linger before breaking it once more, her tone softer. "You’re not alone in this, y'know. Whatever comes, you've got the others. You’ve got me! No matter what!"

  Auri’s tail curled tighter around his paws, but his eyes softened in that way that always caught her off-guard, like she’d said something that mattered more than she realized. "…I know," he murmured.

  The morning breeze shifted then, carrying the scent of wildflowers from beyond the villages pallisade. Yuki tilted her head back, eyes squinting at the pale sky. For all the storm in her chest yesterday, for all the heaviness of secrets and shadows, the world looked the same as it always had. Maybe that was the point.

  She stretched her wings once, a lazy arc against the sunlight, before folding them close again. "So. What now?"

  Auri’s ear flicked. "You could explain to me what a human is. Because I haven't ever heard of them until Miu told us."

  Yuki huffed, half a laugh. "Sure! The gist of it is, you’re not the first to go through this."

  He turned, one brow slightly raised. "...What do you mean by that?"

  "Well, our world has no humans. Never Had, as far as we can tell. There have however been cases in the past of humans who turned into Pokemon. Not just in legends, either. Like you probably understood from Miu, to us they're real, if rare, heroes. The kind that actually changed things."

  Auri blinked slowly, unsure if she was joking or serious. Yuki pressed on before he could interrupt.

  "We have five stories of humans turning into Pokemon but only teo of them we know happened for sure. Everything else was just to long ago. First there was that one that build the legendary City of Paradise, ages ago. That human showed up right when the world was losing its future. Literally! Everything was falling apart, Pokémon were giving up, and the sky was just… still. No wind, no sun, no hope. But this human, they showed up outta nowhere, no memories, just a dream of saving the world. Sounds familiar, huh?"

  She gave him a sideways glance, and for a heartbeat, Auri looked like he might object. But Yuki wasn’t done.

  “They built the entirety of Paradise together with their friends. And when things got tough, they didn’t run. They fought through it, even after everyone thought they’d fail. In the end, they stopped the Bittercold, this huge frozen storm of despair, by reminding the whole world how to believe again."

  Auri’s tail twitched thoughtfully. "…And the other story?"

  "Oh, that one’s my favorite!" Yuki said immediately, feathers fluffing. "The human who helped the planet’s energy flow again. They woke up in Serene Village, some small village on the Water Continent and teamed up with a local who wanted just like me to be an explorer! Everyone thought the world was doomed because at that time something called Dark Matter had awoken again and turned all the Pokemon on the world into stone. But those two didn’t give up! Even when it looked like everything was lost they kept going!"

  "And in the end, that human just... remained in our world. We don't know what happened to the human that founded Paradise, or their partner, but we know for sure that our last savior and their partner remained. " Her voice softened then, her usual spark dimming into something downtrodden. "That's the newest case of a human we know of, roughly 150 years ago. And that's... probably the case Miu talked about as well. The human that remained and later turned from savior to destroyer." Silence settled over the both of them.

  Finally, Auri sighed. "Be that as it may. I think I understand a little better now, if not everything, unfortunately. We need to meet Sia. There is no other option left for us, as reluctant as I am to interrupt her right now. I think tomorrow should be enough for us to properly prepare. So in two days it's time for us to go and find that ruin Miu talked about."

  Yuki nodded. That was what she’d expected. Still, she couldn’t resist adding, "Two days. I’m holding you to that! No more disappearing just to mope around by yourself!"

  He gave her a look, one ear flicking. "Yuki. I wasn’t-"

  "Uh-huh." She grinned, triumphant, before letting the grin soften into something gentler. "Don’t do that again. If it gets too heavy, you don’t have to carry it alone. I'm here after all!"

  For once, Auri didn’t argue. He only dipped his head slightly, the quiet acceptance saying more than any words could.

  She shifted her claws against the packed dirt, then glanced sidelong at him. "Y'know," she began carefully, her voice softer than usual, "Miu didn’t just leave us with questions. Her first answer was actually just straight up helpful to us."

  Auri’s ears flicked, his gaze steady on hers. "You do know the Obsidian Caverns and the Blackwater Stream, right?"

  "Yeah. I know of them, though I was never there. They're in the northwestern parts of the crater. It should be Honorable Nayru's territory, I think. The Phione living in the crater, maybe you've seen her at the Festival of Veils? She doesn't like people from the village crossing through her territory, but she'll let us pass by without intervening. Probably! And from there, we should easily reach these ruins that Miu talked about. They should be in a part of the crater that is unclaimed as of now," Yuki said while using her talons to draw a map into the dirt.

  For a moment, Auri said nothing, only followed the patterns she was drawing. Then, quietly, he asked, "Do you think Miu told us that as a trap? Answering our question truthfully but while following her own goals at the same time? This all sounds incredibly suspicious."

  Yuki stilled. She hadn’t thought of that possibility yet. But she didn’t back away from the thought either. "Probably," she admitted. "You know how she is. Half riddles, half smiles, like everything’s a game to her. But she wasn’t lying either, I think she meant for us to be there when Sia comes. Maybe even for Lord Noctem’s awakening. She said the Mythicals all prepare for that. So why shouldn't she as well?"

  That earned the faintest twitch of his mouth, not quite a smile, but close. "Then we’re walking straight toward it."

  "Looks like it!" Yuki said, feathers fluffing, but there was a determined gleam in her eye. "And finding Sia is simply important. Especially now, you just said yourself! Besides, it’s not like it’d be our first time marching into something dangerous!"

  That earned a soft exhale, not quite amusement, not quite resignation. "No. It certainly wouldn’t."

  They sat in silence a moment longer, the air carrying the sounds of Newleaf Village finally stirring awake. A shopkeeper’s call, the laughter of children, the creak of wood as shutters opened to the morning. Normal life was starting up all around them, while their world tilted quietly toward mythicals, secrets, and storms.

  Yuki was the first to break the quiet again, voice thoughtful. "We will have to be careful. No one in the village will react positively if we dare to chase down a Mythical. Especially with the Mythicals already on edge because of Lord Noctem's awakening. They would probably do their best to stop us."

  "So just us," Auri concluded.

  "Just us," Yuki confirmed. Her eyes narrowed, a spark of pride flashing there. "We’ve done fine before!"

  Auri gave a faint hum of acknowledgment, though his gaze slipped briefly to the horizon. "Fine isn’t always enough."

  Yuki leaned over, bumping her wing lightly against his shoulder. "Maybe not. But us together? That’s more than fine!"

  He studied her for a long moment, eyes deep and unreadable, and then gave a small nod. "Together."

  Yuki breathed out slowly, letting the tension ease from her feathers. "Together!"

  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]

  Torchic (Yuki) – Level 16 (Evolution Requirements Not Met, Stat Boost Applied)

  Ability: Speed Boost

  Battle Nature: Hasty

  Stats:

  TE Pool (Health/AP): 80

  Attack: 47

  Ranged Attack: 47

  Defense: 55

  Speed: 40

  Total: 269 (Strength Level: Teenager)

  Moves:

  Close Combat Moves: [Scratch], [Quick Attack], [Feint], [Fire Spin], [Flame Charge], [Aerial Ace], [Counter], [Slash]

  Ranged Combat Moves: [Ember], [Sand Attack]

  Utility Moves: [Growl], [Detect], [Dig]