Chapter 27
Later that evening, the team congregated in Scythe's room to give him the day's news. They'd spent all day anticipating what his big reward was going to be, so they were all smiles when they reported that their second independent mission had gone off without a hitch. But Scythe had a rather unexpected response.
"Let me get this straight," Scythe said, almost laughing. "You chose the easiest mission possible, just so you could tell me you won, just so you could get the reward I promised?"
Somehow, the way Scythe said it made Char's smile fade. He hadn't considered that Scythe would actually disapprove of the idea!
"There's a word for that," Scythe said. "Cheating! That's not how I trained you! I expect you to take the missions you're capable of, not the ones better left for Team Stripes!"
"I'm sorry," Char said, his smile long gone and his head hung. "You're right. I just wanted the reward."
"That's just not how the division works," Scythe continued. "Imagine what would happen if my team took the sentry missions day after day. Not only would the training teams all be out of business, but… It would take us years to make any money! Plus, who would take the bigger jobs? Who would get the real work done? The Master would smash us in the blink of an eye!"
"We understand," Saura said. "It won't happen again."
"So," Scythe sighed, "I'm sorry, but this really was a cop-out on your part. I don't think I can give you the reward quite yet. Better luck next time."
Char slumped back, defeated. In retrospect, he really should have seen this coming. Scythe had every right to scorn them for taking the easy way out. Exchanging glances with his teammates, he saw that Saura and Ray both returned expressions of disappointment in acknowledgement of their failure. Ray, especially: he saw something fiery burning deep within Ray's eyes, a belief that it was mostly his fault for letting the team down by agreeing to take the easy way out, and a determination to never, ever let the team slack again. Honestly, it scared him a little; Ray wasn't exactly easy on him in the first place.
Oh, well, Char thought. At least we accomplished something today. We have Otto, and—
"Naah, I'm just joking with you," Scythe suddenly laughed. "The reward is all yours! You won fair and square."
The team froze, speechless. Char blinked.
"You should have seen the looks on your faces," Scythe chuckled. "I just couldn't resist. It's all good. Really, it is. You were being opportunists, which demonstrates good judgment. Some Pokémon with big egos actually have a lot of trouble lowering themselves for the sake of a good profit. Like Daemon, for instance. He'd be the one telling you everything I just said. But he's not here right now, so his opinions don't matter. Congratulations, you three. You've earned your reward!"
Team Ember responded with a weak, nervous laugh which shortly escalated into a hearty cheer.
Scythe took them down the hall, explaining the rewards he had planned. Team Ember was to move up in rank! They would now have free reign to take the more difficult missions from the division-wide task lists. They would be allowed to take missions up to the two-star risk level. But, best of all, they would no longer pay half their earnings to Team Remorse; only a miniscule ten-percent tax would be required from now on, since they were still apprentices and not completely independent.
This alone was enough to make Char and his friends leap for joy, but Scythe had something else in store.
As he lead them to the front door of his team's quarters, Char noticed that several other members of Team Remorse were falling in line behind them. Marrow was there, as was Raon, and Shander…
When Scythe reached the front door, he stopped to address them.
"As you can imagine, a higher rank implies greater responsibility," Scythe announced with his authority. "Since you have grown in strength, and in skill, and in number, more will be expected of you. That's why, as your reward for attaining a new level of reputability, I will bestow upon you… chores!"
Again, Team Ember fell silent and tongue-tied. When Char glanced back at the other members of Team Remorse, he realized why they'd chosen to come. They were all struggling to hold back laughter. They had expected this, and wanted to watch in amusement as it played out. By now, Char was used to being the subject of Scythe's good-hearted jokes, but he couldn't quite understand this one…
"Chores?" Char repeated. "You mean, like, manual labor? On top of doing missions?"
"Of course!" Scythe said, not even cracking a smile this time. "We all have our chores to do while we're not on duty. What, you think you can just spend all that time lounging around the base and doing nothing? You've got to make yourself useful! So, today, I'm assigning to you a chore which I expect to be done every day. As a reward."
"What's the chore?" Saura asked, with strangest expression on his face that Char had ever seen.
"I was just getting to that!" Scythe bellowed. "Now, you must understand that this chore is of utmost importance. If you ever fail, the Division's opinion of you might plummet. Understand?"
"Uh, okay," Char said. "Understood."
"Now, this is the chore: from this point forth, you, Team Ember, will be responsible for cleaning one of the division's halls downstairs. You must keep it swept, washed, tidied, and free of clutter. Every single day. Understand?"
Char couldn't stop his heart from sinking this time. He'd expected Scythe to surprise him with something positive, as he usually did. He was expecting the chore to be an honored privilege or something, but it turned out to really be a chore. A rather annoying and unpleasant one, at that.
"Now, come with me," Scythe ordered, opening the door. "I'll show you."
So, Scythe lead the disillusioned team out into the halls. Scythe's teammates still followed, as if still eager to see some kind of reaction from them.
They went down one flight of stairs…
And then down a hall that appeared similar, if not identical, to the one above it. In fact, it was a hall that Char and Saura had mistaken for Team Remorse's quarters a few times in the past.
He lead them down to the end of the hall. When the hall ended, there was a door, not unlike Scythe's door one floor above.
And then, Char saw it.
Above the door, adorned with four billowing torches, was a stone plaque. Etched into the plaque were five large human letters: EMBER.
Char was about ready to faint. Scythe was giving his team rooms all to themselves!
"And here it is," Scythe said, proudly introducing the door. "Do you like it?"
"No way! This is for us?" Saura cried. "Scythe, it's beautiful! I don't know what to say!"
"Wow, Scythe! This is too much!" Ray gasped. "I would have done ten independent missions for this!"
"Well, it's yours," Scythe said. "This old hall has been abandoned for a few years, ever since Team Flamewheel picked up and moved to the Emerald Division. For some reason, the Division wouldn't let anyone else take it for the longest time… but I convinced them, finally. So, here are your own rooms. Use them, abuse them, just try not to get them too messy, alright?"
"Scythe was waiting until he could get some rooms close enough to ours," Raon explained. "In fact, I don't think he's even planning on ever letting you become totally independent. I think you're stuck with us forever."
"Yeah, Scythe has loads of plans for your team," Marrow said. "One day, you'll probably wind up as our personal helper team. Imagine: you'll be training new recruits, running your own missions, and helping us with ours all at the same time. It'll be a blast, really!"
"You might change the world someday, and we will keep doing everything in our power to get you ready, as Alakazam instructed us to do," Shander said mainly to Char. "With this new home of yours, your team can enter a completely new phase. You are now free to expand your team as you see fit without overcrowding our rooms."
Char was so happy, he had to resist the urge to run up and give Scythe a hug. It was a marvelous, thoughtful gift, even if it was just another step in their development as a team. Char could already imagine the sweet privacy of his own room, of not having to be woken up by a Scythe or a blaring Exploud each morning, of being able to recruit some new members and giving them decent places to stay…
"Thank you," Char said sincerely. "It's perfect. It's just what we needed."
Scythe blinked. "Well, those are all very interesting responses for just showing you the front door. Want to take a look inside?"
Without waiting for an answer, Scythe rapped on the door. A moment passed before it slid open, revealing several members of Team Stripes standing on the other side, including Taka, an Eevee, and a Larvitar.
"You'd better like it," Taka pronounced. "Team Remorse had us working on this for two whole weeks just for you guys. It was not easy."
"Hey, quit your complaining! We paid you!" Marrow said. "We would have done it ourselves if we hadn't all been busy enough!"
"Yeah, as if Team Stripes even gets to keep more than ten percent of our money in the first place," Taka said. "But yeah, whatever. It's done. Go on in and look at it."
Ray hung back to chat with Taka for a little while, and Char and Saura eagerly stepped in to explore their new living quarters.
It was better than Char had expected. The personal hall had the exact layout as Team Remorse's quarters, complete with fourteen bedrooms, a long yet spacious main corridor, a meeting room, a planning room, an office, and an extra storage room. The hall was lined with twice as many ghost-torches as Team Remorse had, all in various, ornate kinds of containers that stood on the floor or hung from the walls and the ceiling—presumably in honor of the team's name. A bright red-and-orange rug lined the main hall's floor, embroidered with images of Moltres, Entei, Flareon, and Charizard. Char first wondered if the rug was custom-made for them, but figured it was probably left behind by the previous team who, judging by their team name, were obviously just as associated with the element of fire as his team was.
Taking in the visage of his new home, Char felt similar pangs of awe and joy to how he had when he'd first seen the interior of the base. The Charmander within him was deeply satisfied and wanted to live there forever, and the human part of him could barely keep up. He ran from one room to the next, inspecting them all and watching as the magical torches flared to life at his proximity. The rooms all had extremely simple furnishings, but no more than a Pokémon would need to be happy: a rug, a sleeping pad made of something like artificial straw and cloth, and a few bare shelves to keep belongings.
Finally, Char found the last room at the end of the hall: the team leader's room, just like Scythe's room upstairs. It was as big as two of the other rooms put together, and filled with many more pieces of furniture, including golden statues and crystal-imbued wall ornaments. The bed was bigger, too, and it was made out of a different kind of tough, cloth-like substance that had to have been fireproof, but still appeared invitingly comfortable. Char's heart leapt when he realized why the bed was so huge: it was big enough for a Charizard!
On both sides of the bed were huge, floor-mounted dishes of billowing fire. Upon further inspection, Char realized it was real fire, giving off warmth, smoke, and a forceful roar. The smoke was all filtered out by the many surrounding ghost-torches, leaving the air as clear as could be expected. Char leapt up onto his bed and let the bliss simply overcome him, relaxing and nearly falling asleep right on the spot. The fire calmed him in more ways than he could count, and he knew he never wanted to sleep anywhere else again, especially not on the hard stone floor of Scythe's lair.
…Come to think of it, he never noticed whether or not Scythe even had a designated sleeping place in his own room. He'd always sleep sitting upright somewhere on the floor.
"…Lucky!" Saura shouted as he wandered into Char's room, causing him to snap back from his blissful daze. "How come you get the only good room, huh?"
"You can always sleep in here if you like," Char said, sitting up on his bed. "We all stayed in Scythe's room when we were up there, right? You can stay here if you want."
"Oh, no thanks," Saura said. "I don't think I could feel comfortable with… those things… in the same room," he said, indicating the live torches. "I think it would feel like sleeping on the edge of a bottomless pit."
Char laughed. There was no way he was going to give up his torches.
"This place is just amazing," Saura said, exploring Char's spacious lair. "Scythe really outdid himself this time! I'm going to enjoy coming home to this place every day. Now, if only I could get some sunlight to shine in my room, it would be just perfect."
Char agreed, it was more than he would have asked for. But as much as having an entire upper-class hall to himself made him feel giddy, it also made him feel guilty. He knew full well that he didn't deserve any of it, that it was all due to the favor and generosity of the high-ranking team that trained them. He had seen the cramped, diminutive rooms that he'd always expected to have one day, the rooms the other teams called home; the hall of Team Stripes only had two rooms total, forcing most of the members to share, and even the fairly reputable teams such as Team Dread only had five tiny rooms to dwell in. He always figured that the rooms of the division base were not built for luxury, but judging from where he now sat, he knew that some exceptions were made.
"Do you think, one day, if we work hard enough, we might actually deserve this?" Char wondered.
"Hmm?" Saura answered absently, inspecting a wall decoration that had the likeness of Ho-oh.
"You heard Marrow," Char said. "Scythe expects us to become one of the best teams. So does the whole Division, probably. This is big. I knew from the beginning we had a lot to live up to, but this is getting a little scary!"
Saura was about to answer, but Scythe, Ray, and Shander all barged in.
"Ah-ha, you already found your place," Shander said to Char with a smile. "I bet you like the fire, don't you? We had to pull a lot of strings to get those. Don't tell High Intelligence about them, now; real fire was declared a safety hazard a while back, and we had to deactivate all of those things. Hmm, remember how furious Char was when he had to give up his fire? The old Char, I mean."
"Oh, don't remind me," Scythe said, shaking his head. "Yes, it was all because some poor Staravia suffocated somewhere downstairs when the fire was burning the air faster than the spiritual torches could replenish it. As you can see, we've made sure to go overboard on the spiritual torches, so you should have no reason to worry. But Intelligence may throw a fit if they find out, so don't let them in here if you can help it!"
"Got that," Char said, jumping off his bed.
"Hey, Char, nice room!" Ray cheered. "This even looks better than yours, Scythe!"
"Oh, you know that I don't care about things like aesthetics," Scythe said dismissively. "A room is for thinking and sleeping. The rest is just excess."
"Yeah, right, then why'd you go through all the trouble to make this place look so nice, huh?" Ray laughed. "Hey, Char, Saura, I was just talking to Taka. She doesn't want to admit it, but I think she's starting to reconsider wanting to join the team! I don't think she can stand seeing this place and not living here! Not to mention all the rest of Team Stripes, they all want in, too!"
Scythe took some time to explain a few of the details about housekeeping, such as how the locking mechanism worked on the doors and how they'd have to either use their Mobile Scarf or ask a ghost Pokémon for help if they would ever accidently lock themselves out. He explained how to get their own copies of the news posts, the registration documents, and the task lists. He explained how to turn on and off the ghost torches, and what telepathic commands they would respond to. He also explained that, while the food delivery service was available to them, it depended solely on the Division's willingness to grant it to them on a case-by-case basis, and shouldn't be abused until they were sure they'd gained enough of a reputation for it.
After all was said and done, the torches turned red for the evening, and Scythe was ready to give his final words and return to his own team.
"Well, I can see you're all eager to settle in, so I guess we can all call it a day," Scythe said. "But, I expect you all to report to my door tomorrow morning. Don't forget to take a mission for tomorrow, and have a good night's rest!"
"Scythe?" Shander suddenly said. "Um…"
Shander held up his claw. He was holding a strange sparkling object. It seemed to Char like a gold nugget, or some kind of jewelry.
"Oh, of course," Scythe groaned. "I almost forgot! I know I also promised I'd throw in something else… well, here it is."
Shander offered the strange object to Char, who accepted it and looked it over. It seemed like a glimmering pebble made of gold, but there was something strange about it that he couldn't place. It was incredibly lightweight, and it had a shell that was smooth and unbreakable. It almost seemed like the object was… organic.
"This, my friends, is one of the rarest, most valuable items in all the land," Scythe said. "It's also one of the best-kept secrets of the highest-ranking teams. Want to know how we really manage the impossible jobs? Well, sometimes, it can all come down to just a few of these."
"We call them Reviver Seeds," Shander explained. "Nobody knows where they come from, or how they form. We can't engineer them from plants like we can make Heal Seeds or Sleep Seeds. The only places they are ever found are in Mystery Dungeons, and they are incredibly, incredibly rare. You see, somehow, a tiny spirit has gotten trapped within this seed. The spirit is a benevolent one, and it's aware of its surroundings. If you have it in your possession, it will consider itself your guardian. In effect… if you suffer a fatal injury, the spirit will break out of the seed and it will heal you completely, curing every wound, poisonous effect, or even reconstructing your body from dismembered pieces if that's what it comes to."
"Say you're walking along in a Mystery Dungeon, and a wild Scyther jumps out and decapitates you!" Scythe roared, making a dramatic motion with a blade in illustration. "The seed would save you. Say you make a misstep and plummet to your death into a pitfall trap! The seed would heal you and lift you out. Say your food is depleted and you finally pass out from hunger. The seed would revive you, return you to full strength, and even fill your belly so you don't soon starve again. There is nothing the seed will not do to revive you! It is a lifeline for all circumstances. A second chance."
Char's grip on the Reviver Seed loosened as he heard what it was capable of. He held it reverently, in respect for its incredible power.
"There is a catch, though," Shander said. "It seems to rely upon the strange nature of Mystery Dungeons to perform its work, and so, it can only save you when you are within the confines of a dungeon. Outside of one, it cannot help you, and you will succumb to death as normal. Also, after the spirit has done its work, it leaves, so the seed loses its power and can never be used again."
"There are times when things happen that are simply out of your control," Scythe said. "A Reviver Seed gives you the ability to overcome those things. But never, ever plan on using it. You must pretend with all your heart that it is not there, and fight until the very end. Protect it as you would your very life, for someday, that's what it could become."
As Scythe and Shander left to return to their own rooms, Char was still staring incredulously at the priceless gift he held in his claws. He didn't notice Scythe's reverent gesture to him right before he stepped out the door.
… … …
After Team Ember had finished using their brand-new facilities to plan and prepare for their mission the next day, they lounged idly in Char's room. Upon following the instructions Scythe had given them to request the full task list, they were overwhelmed when the registry presented them with several pages of difficult tasks that were probably more than the entire division could accomplish in a single month. Feeling fairly confident in themselves, and still with some lingering shame of their arguably underhanded choice the previous day, they took a moderately difficult task of risk "B" and called it a night soon after.
"So awesome," Ray said, taking a good look at the Reviver Seed for himself. "No wonder the teams can take the really tough dungeons. I wonder how many they use? They'd probably never tell us. Well, now we have one of our own, imagine what we could do!"
Char took a really deep sigh. It was time. The mood, the setting, the sense of confidence it all instilled… it was all perfect, and he wasn't going to let himself escape it. So, taking a deep breath, Char asked…
"Hey, Ray… what do you think about… humans?"
Ray blinked, wondering where in the world the question had come from. "Um… what do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean, what do you think of them? Do you like them? Do you hate them? What's your opinion of them?"
Char glanced at Saura, who now held a serious and steadfast expression. He understood what was happening, and he was ready to back Char up at the slightest indication that he needed help.
"That's a really weird question," Ray said. "Um… well, I don't really know. I never met one, so I… really don't know."
"Really?" Char asked, worriedly. "Not even… the slightest little… anything?"
"Well, to be honest, I can't imagine myself liking them."
Char felt a jolt of horror shoot down his spine. He suddenly felt weak.
"I mean, don't get me wrong," Ray said. "If I met a human, and it was a nice one, it'd be a dream come true! But… It's just… it's hard to have a good impression of humans when… well, you know."
"What?" Saura said, stepping in. "When what?"
"Well, you know," Ray said again. "The only human that Ambera has ever known is… so horrible."
There was a moment of silence as Char tried to understand what had just been said.
"Wait!" Saura yelled suddenly, startling everyone. "Hold it! Hold on a second. You aren't talking about the Master, are you?!"
"Well, yeah," Ray said. "What other human would I be talking about?"
"You think the Master is a human?!" Saura yelped, surprised out of his wits.
"I thought that was common knowledge," Ray said. "How else would he have gotten so many Pokémon to follow him? He's a Pokémon trainer who turned evil."
"That's not what I heard growing up!" Saura gasped. "I was taught that the Master was a Pokémon! I heard he was a skilled psychic that could brainwash other Pokémon into doing his will."
"I've never heard that one," Ray rebutted. "There's no way we would have let just another Pokémon become so powerful!"
"Hey! Stop!" Char yelled loudly, putting a halt to the foreseeable argument. "Why don't we get this cleared up and ask someone who does know? Like Scythe? He met the Master himself, right? He would know."
… … …
So, out they went, back upstairs to the place they'd just moved out of, to clear up a disagreement that they hadn't until that point even known existed. Char felt his head spinning, no longer from anticipation of Ray's opinion of him, but of the possibility that the Master could be a human. He'd always just subscribed to the belief that Saura had fed him, that the Master was a Pokémon. But… a human? He'd never heard such a theory! He had to know for sure if he wasn't alone after all in the world of Pokémon, even if the Master was the most wretched creature in existence…
"Back so soon?" Scythe said with surprise, answering the front door. "Need something?"
"Scythe, we need you to clear up something for us," Char said. "We need to know—"
"Wait!" Scythe exclaimed, silencing him.
He looked intently from Char, to Ray, to Saura, not saying a word. The silence dragged on for several seconds.
"Gah, forget it," Scythe sighed. "I have no idea what you're going to say. Anyway, go ahead. Carry on."
"Scythe, we need to know something," Saura said. "The Master. What is he? I always thought he was a Pokémon, maybe a legendary. Ray here thinks that he could be a human. Who's right?"
Scythe's face changed.
While Char had always considered Scythe to be a close, albeit powerful, friend, the expression Scythe wore at hearing the question truly frightened him. Char was expecting a simple answer, but instead, the Scyther returned a gaze that could have meant "What business do you have knowing that?!"
However, after taking a moment to seemingly collect himself, Scythe opened his mouth to answer.
"The Master…"
Char clenched his fists in anticipation.
"…is a Pokémon."
"Ha!" Saura gloated. "I knew it! There you have it, Ray. That's your answer."
Ray looked deeply shocked. "W-what kind of Pokémon?" he asked meekly. "If the Master's a Pokémon, what is he?"
Again, a moment of burning silence. Char's stomach broiled as he watched Scythe's face betray something horrible within him, like a struggle was going on inside of his head. After seeing what kind of effect the first question had on Scythe, he knew the second question was wholly unnecessary and better left unasked, but he bore the torture and waited for the answer.
Finally, Scythe hung his head.
"…I don't know."
"W-what?!" Saura cried in response. "You saw him with your own eyes, didn't you? How could you not know… oh, I get it! He's a kind of Pokémon we haven't seen before, isn't he? A new Pokémon?"
Ray, however, responded differently. His ever-present smile faded, and his eyes wavered, looking betrayed.
"You aren't lying, are you, Scythe?" Ray asked sadly. "Please say you aren't lying."
"LISTEN!" Scythe suddenly roared at the top of his lungs, causing Char and his friends to jump in fright.
Char could see it: Scythe was becoming enraged. He wanted to just run away and say nothing more of the matter, but it was too late. Scythe stepped out, slammed the door behind him, and pulled the team into a corner.
"You will never, ever, accuse me of lying," Scythe growled. "There are a lot of things that I tolerate, but this… is not one of them. It hurts. It cuts deep into my heart to be called a liar. You have no idea. If ever you want to offend me, reduce me to a broken shell of a Pokémon, that's how you can do it. You can't…"
Scythe took a breath, recovering from his initial outburst. Char felt himself trembling.
"If only you knew how much I despise telling un-truths… It offends me… It defies my very nature. I do not lie. I never lie. Ever! Unless… unless I need to, for the safety of the ones I love. Do you understand? And even then, it's… it feels like I would rather die. Do I make myself clear?!"
"Yes," Char barely squeaked.
"I'm sorry," Ray said, starting to cry.
"Let me tell you something," Scythe said. "You've seen my team. You see how we work. Do you want to know what ties us together? What gives us the… the power to overcome the things we overcome? Trust. Total, complete, unconditional trust. My teammates trust me. They obey me because… because… I have given them reason to place their trust in me. Not just most of their trust, but all of it. To those I trust, I tell everything I know. I will not have it any other way. Without trust, this team… and even, to an extent, this Division… would fail."
He took another deep breath. Char saw in the Scyther's eyes how he regretted the show of emotion he'd just succumbed to.
"There are times," he said gravely, "when it becomes necessary to tell a lie. Or… to keep a secret. If I find that I must keep a secret… I try to keep the secret even from myself, to confine it to only the farthest reaches of my mind, to pretend, to act that it does not even exist. Do you understand, … Charmander?"
Char understood.
It dawned on him, for the first time, why Scythe refused to ever acknowledge Char's humanity. He knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, Char's secret. But it was a secret he'd forced himself to keep from the rest of his team… and, likewise, from himself. A secret he buried away in the farthest confines of his mind, to pretend that it wasn't there.
For once, Char understood the reasons behind Scythe's behavior.
"I get it," he answered.
Trust.
The backbone of friendship.
"What gives us the… the power to overcome the things we overcome? Trust. Total, complete, unconditional trust."
Char knew now, more than ever, that he'd made the right decision in choosing to tell Ray what he needed to tell him. Now… he just needed to do it.
… … …
Team Ember sulked back to their own rooms, thoroughly shaken by Scythe's reactions to their questions. They'd never seen their leader act that way before, and didn't really want to see it happen again. They took the message he sent, and did their best to just look forward. Ray, especially, suddenly looked really tired and intent on just heading to his room for a good night's rest.
Just before the threesome was about to split up and head into their separate rooms, Char stopped them one last time.
"Ray… I have something I need to tell you."
Ray already looked somewhat annoyed with some sparks of static escaping from his cheeks, but he visibly tried to swallow it and answered calmly.
"Yeah?"
"Ray… This is… hard for me to say," Char said, his voice trembling everywhere. "But there's something that I really, really need you to know if you're going to stick with us on this team. After what Scythe just told us, I know there can't be any other way. Scythe has his team, and I want to trust you the same way he trusts them. So… I need you to listen. Okay?"
Upon hearing this, Ray's expression changed. His anger was drowned out by an expression of sympathy.
"Char, relax," Ray said gently, his ears folding to the back of his head. "We're friends, remember? You can tell me anything you want."
Ray was listening attentively. Char swallowed hard, then opened his mouth to speak…
"Ray, Saura and I have been keeping a secret from you since the very beginning. The fact is… I'm… not… what I… look like. I'm a human trapped in the body of a Charmander."
For Char, time seemed to stop as he held his breath and awaited Ray's response. For long, too long, Ray didn't say anything. He blinked once.
"Are you… … sure?" he responded, his expression turned completely blank.
"Yeah, we are," Saura told him. "It's a long story, but we'll tell you the whole thing if you want. I found Char in the Gravelerock Tunnel dungeon, just laying there. He had no memories of how he got there, who he was, or even what his name was. All he knew was that he was human."
"And then… there was Dialga…" Char said nervously. "I've been having visions of Dialga and Palkia. I think they sent me here to do something… and Saura and I are trying to figure it all out. Then we got caught up in the Gold Division, and that's why Team Ember exists. And Scythe… he found out about it, somehow, and that's why he's been protecting me and giving us all the special treatment."
"Well, I wouldn't say that," Saura added. "I think we're getting special treatment because Char has the Call. You knew that, right? I don't see how you couldn't. Scythe mentioned it a lot."
There was another moment of heavy, expectant silence as Char and Saura waited for Ray to say something. Ray slumped down onto the floor and sat there, his eyes with a faraway look.
"Wow," he finally said. "You're serious, aren't you?"
"Dead serious," Char said. "I wouldn't lie to a friend. Not anymore."
"Wow," Ray said again. "That's… huh. Wow."
Ray's eyes shifted, his gaze locking with Char's.
"Um… am I supposed to bow, or something?"
Char and Saura both released their breaths with a little nervous laugh.
"Nah, you don't have to," Saura said. "Scythe likes to do that, though, but Char just thinks it's annoying."
"So, are we okay?" Char asked, already starting to let himself relax. "Are we still friends?"
"Are you joking?!" Ray said, wearing a bright smile and getting back to his feet. "You really expected me to say no? This has to be the most amazing thing I've ever heard in my entire life, Char! Having you as a team leader is like… being trained by a trainer! It's an honor! A real honor!… I'm allowed to call you Char, right?"
Char nodded, then held out his hand.
"In that case," he said sternly, "Ray, if we're still friends, I want you to shake my hand… er… claw, and say that you're still my friend."
"Shake your claw?" Ray laughed oddly. "Why?"
"Just do it," Char insisted. "Hold my claw, and shake it. The handshake. It's a human gesture of trust. I've never seen you Pokémon do it, but I want you to do it this time. Please?"
"Whatever you want, Char!" Ray cheered with his newfound glee. "Handshake!"
TZZAP.
A brilliant flash of yellow light filled the corridor as a giant spark of electricity rushed down Char's arm and filled his body. Char fell backward onto the ground, stars dancing before his eyes. Ray recoiled in horror, realizing that he might have gotten a little too excited…
"By Arceus! I'm so sorry!" Ray cried. "Char, are you okay?! Char?!"
… … …
Knock, knock, knock, knock.
In the dead of night, there was a rapping at the door.
Saura's eyes fluttered open. It took him a second to realize that he was now in a room of his own, rather that Scythe's. The night-light torch in his room was glowing blue. It was the dead of night.
Someone's visiting us? Saura wondered. Who could it be? Did someone get locked out?
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.
Okay, already, I'm coming! Saura thought, rolling to his feet and wearily dragging himself out into the hall.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The rapping was getting forceful. Saura wondered how long it had been going on before one of them had finally woken up.
When he reached the end of the hall, he limply extended his vines and slid the door open…
On the other side of the door stood a very, very tired and agitated Scythe, and a serious-looking Alakazam.
"Get Char," Scythe ordered.
"W—" Saura started.
"There has been an important development concerning Char's… abilities," Alakazam announced. "We must discuss things immediately."