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What Lies at the Core	By : Twill Category: Pokemon > General Views: 6203 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story. I'm not worth anything so don't sue.

Chapter List
- 10
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Fortree. They were heading closer, though not towards it, but closer. The city dominated her thoughts. She had no knowledge of the place, no picture to pair with the name, but he was there. Eric. One of the three. She would kill them. They were heading closer.

“Are you ready to start training again? Your illusions might have some trouble with the next gym.” Alex didn't turn to speak, he and Grovyle leading the way through the dense forest. A bridge connected the cities they traveled between, but Alex had decided to take the forest route, adding days to their trip.

Rel didn't mind though; the time would be spent making her stronger. “I don't see how it will be any different.” She didn't have to maintain her disguise out here, away from any resemblance of a path or human occupation, so she walked with her dark fur exposed, each day feeling more the predator her angular body looked.

“Watson uses electric types. The attacks are less precise, but I'm sure you are well aware of how electricity works.”

Rel grunted. “I've almost perfected night slash, and you said you had a plan to reveal me anyways.”

“Not yet, and your attacks won't help if you lose focus of your illusion when hit by a stray bolt. Paralysis is also a concern. Have your ever been paralyzed?”

“I can keep an illusion even when hit now, you've seen.”

“We'll see. If you're ready we can stop at the next clearing we run across.”

Rel looked down at her claws, forcing them to glow with crimson light before banishing the dark energy. None of the human owned pokemon had stood a chance against her, and this new gym leader would be no different. With only one pokemon to train, Alex forced her to grow quickly.

“When will you explain your plan?” she asked Alex's back.

“Soon enough, I just need to make sure you're strong enough.”

Rel growled but let it drop. If she could be rid of Alex she would, but he seemed to know more about her skills and development as a fighter than she did. This was the best way, for now. The trees ahead thinned, and soon sunlight shone down through the wide break in the canopy.

Twisted black trunks littered the ground, a few husks still standing from what she cold only assume was a fire. A hint of char lingered in the air. While no open meadow, the space would be good enough for training, and the fallen trunks would give a varied battlefield to use.

Alex picked out an area with fewer fallen trees and dropped his pack. He held a pokeball in his hand. “This is what I picked up the night before we left Slateport.” He pressed the button on the front, and a Raichu appeared in the grass before them.

“This little guy isn't the strongest, but on such short notice, he should do well enough. Why don't you take a spot over there.” Alex indicated a short distance away.

Rel turned. If he planned for her to dodge lightning at such a short range- A crack accompanied her complete loss of control over her body. Her vision flashed, and she was on the ground, face in the tall grass, unable to move a muscle. He limbs burned, muscles fighting each other to contract, sending her into shuddering convulsions. Panic gripped her mind.

Alex's thick shoe rolled her face up. “Paralysis is a devastating condition, especially if you've never felt it. A pokemon can train to overcome it, but as I'm sure you're trying now, struggling seems useless.”

She tried to speak but only a low gurgle escaped her throat. Breathing also became a struggle, each labored gasp barely enough to calm the gut-wrenching dread of asphyxiating. Her claws twitched, but whether by her own will or the lingering effects of whatever attack struck her, she couldn't tell.

“This is a good opportunity really. I can't offer you much advice on how to overcome this; there's no trick other than to figure it out yourself, to exert a greater control over your own body. And even if you pass out, you will not suffocate, so don't worry about that.”

A small relief, but she still sat on the brink of uncontrolled terror. Control, she had control, simple movements, claws first.

Alex's face appeared above her. “But there's something else holding you back. You're terrified. Not just now, though I can see you're not comfortable, but all the time. You've been afraid since we first met. I want us to become champion of this region, but I need more from you.”

He sat down beside her head. “I need you to not break at the first struggle, or at the first person who doesn't step around you like you're a sleeping Tyranitar.” Alex brushed a hand through her mane.

Steel bands crushed her oxygen starved chest. The human had her, felled and helpless, face smirking in victory. Her vision swam.

“I can see I've struck a nerve, and I haven't even done anything yet. Now I want you to create an illusion.”

Rel struggled against the invisible bonds, but it was useless. An illusion though, maybe she could – she concentrated. Above her, standing tall and firm was a Zoroark. Rel closed her eyes, about the entire amount of control she commanded over herself.

“Good, now I don't want that illusion to falter, do you understand me?”

Rel opened her eyes to look into Alex's cold expression. The illusion firmed in her mind, and nothing could break that image, not the strongest attack he could unleash upon her. She could do this one thing at least.

“I'll take your silence as a yes.” He smirked at his own stupid joke. “Now my Zoroark, what is it that you're afraid of? I've seen it, true fear in your eyes, and always around humans. Usually me, but also when you were watching that report on Freyd. You looked ready to attack, but like a caged animal backed into a corner. What is it?”

Rel concentrated. The illusion, that's what she needed to think about, that's all that mattered, but his words plunged into her like knives, piercing to the very thoughts she wanted to forget.

“What did we do to you? I could do it too you know, you helpless like this.” His hand gripped her chin, forcing her to face his wicked smile. “What do you think I could get away with before you regain the ability to stop me? Or will you ever move again?”

No. A low whine sounded in her useless throat, her limbs dead weight. She tried to pant but her chest refused to rise more than a painful fraction of what her body required to live. The bands gripping her chest tightened.

“Keep the illusion steady.” Alex's face hovered inches from hers. “You're distracted. Do you think I'd hurt you after all this effort I put into training? Fear makes you stupid, creates mistakes. I thought you high and mighty Core inhabitants were better than us, not scared little animals afraid of their own shadows.”

Rel made the illusion menace him, bare its fangs in a warning, but the display only made him laugh. Her hand twitched, a claw definitely responding to her desire to tear the human's throat out. Just a little longer.

“Not bad,” Alex said. He stepped across her twitching body and knelt over her to sit on her hips. “But someone did hurt you, didn't they. You've told me as much. It was more than pain wasn't it?”

Her vision flashed to the room. Concrete walls, the wooden boxes. She hated the boxes, her only company, stoic as she bared her soul before them, indifferent to her suffering. No darkness, always light, no place to hide.

Alex shook her muzzle. “The illusion. Good. You need to keep the illusion steady. It doesn't matter what I do to you, not if you can keep the illusion steady. Focus.”

Rel focused. His words tossed her about, a storm of fear, hatred and anger whipped her mind into a frenzy, but the illusion remained firm, an absolute necessity. She balled her paw into a fist.

Alex's hand stroked her sides, fingers running through her gray fur. “You let them control you, didn't you? You still do, the fear they placed in you is as much a collar as your full submission.” His hands dug into the soft fur of her belly, stopping just underneath the thick black fur that covered her chest.

The illusion. Loathing and hatred of herself and others. These were all feelings that normally filled her. She poured them into her illusion. That was all that mattered. Her arm lifted from the ground, only for a moment, but her strength began to return.

“I'm impressed, but how much can you take? You broke before didn't you? You wanted nothing but to make them happy, to stop.” Alex leaned in close, his lips almost touching the fur around her ears. “What was it, did you sit and beg? Fight? Kill maybe? Maybe you let them fuck you, anything to please your human betters?”

Her vision tunneled. She could feel the dark energy rippling around her in a malignant aura. If she could scorch every last life from this miserable planet she would. Instead she fumbled with her numbed limbs, unable to even growl at the human that sat atop her like she were a throne.

“Keep the illusion.”

She reached for him, arm trembling, claws reaching for his exposed throat, such a weak piece of anatomy, blood waiting to pour from the gaping hole where his larynx used to be.

Alex swatted away her pitiful attempt, easily pinning her arm to the ground. “Killing me won't make you less of a slut.” His last assault dispelled her illusion.

She slurred her words, yet she managed to speak. “You don't know anything you son of a bitch.”

“Perhaps.” Alex held her wrists to the ground with ease. “But what happens when your opponents learn that the little whore has feelings? Maybe you can offer to fuck them too in exchange for letting you win.” He rose from her and stepped away from her struggling form.

Rel made shuddering motions in an attempt to pull herself up off the ground, her face twisted in a feral snarl.

“And you were so confident in your ability to hold that simple illusion.” Alex nodded, and Raichu cut her down once more. “I asked one simple thing. Again.”

Electricity erased all progress, tears filled eyes, staring skyward. Why did it still hurt so much? She created the illusion.

Alex sat atop her once more. “So what? You let few humans fuck you. Maybe you enjoyed it, offered yourself instead of letting them hurt you? No one cares. You survived.” He grabbed her snout in a harsh grip. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop romanticizing the event. You did what you had to, and you're alive.”

Rel tried to snarl, tear off the human's limbs, force him to die slowly before her. What had happened to her, the things she endured weren't inconsequential, they defined her, made her into the monster that took up Rel's name.

“It's pathetic. Hate the people who did it to you, but stop devoting your life to them. It's weakness. Focus on keeping the illusion, better yourself.” He placed his hand against her chest, fingers just brushing the thick black tuft.

“Because it could happen again. I could do it. You think you could stop me?” His fingers entered the black fur and traced the curves of her breast. “I could keep you paralyzed and fuck you until I couldn't stand up. No one would stop me. Because you couldn't.”

Rel struggled against the useless shell trapping her mind, forced to watch Alex toy with her, unable to raise a claw. Something snapped within her. Cold, ice that froze the roaring flames of hatred. Oh she still felt hatred, sharp, deadly. If he touched her ever again, she'd make it hurt. It would be days before he died. An arm twitched, her lips drawing back to reveal the fangs that lined her maw.

“Kill- You-” she struggled out.

“Then show me my little harlot. I'd threaten your life too, but I think you like having humans play with you; you just lay here so willingly for me. You did like it, didn't you?”

-----------------------------------------------------

Rel sat against the charred remains of a fallen tree. She wanted to leave, but she hadn't regained enough movement to go far. Not leave forever, she still may kill Alex for what he had done to her. Again and again he ordered her struck, just so he could taunt her without retaliation. He had shown her much about cruelty, and still his intentions remained unclear to her, clouded by cold, bitter anger. No, the word didn't quantify what she felt, the world stripped her soul and flayed it before her, took everything that was her and ruined it. They broke her.

Alex's part was less clear. Did he want to help? Sometimes it seemed like he did, but he had a twisted way of showing it. She raised her shaking claw. It had taken time to convince him that she wouldn't kill him once the paralysis wore off. She hadn't decided if her promise had been a lie or not. For now, Raichu's lingering effects ensured his safety. For now.

You survived. What a joke. She only lived because she couldn't end it, or maybe there was more to it now. She did want, desired, needed to finish things. There were those who lived that shouldn't. She owed it, to Rel, to at least try. Alex instilled that drive. She hated him.

Her legs worked somewhat, enough to stand, to walk towards him. He had his back to her, her approach silent. She tested her hand, claws extending and retracting into a fist. She reached him and placed a paw on his shoulder to spin him around.

Alex's eyes were wide. “I-”

Rel struck. Pain warmed her knuckles. She watched the human fall to the ground from her punch. If she had full control of her muscles, the strike may have snapped his neck. Instead he only cried out, hand covering his face where she hit him.

Rel towered over the human, his one eye looking up at her, the other covered by his hand. “If you ever do that again, to me, or another, I'll kill you. I'll kill you, human.” She laughed. “I'll kill you, and no pokemon, no words will be able to save you. Trust me, human. I will kill you.” She left him there and walked towards the treeline, towards solitude.

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Rob watched his Zoroark's back before it disappeared into the trees. He gingerly touched his face, wincing. Well maybe he had deserved that, but damn it hurt. He picked himself up and sat against a fallen tree to asses his face. No blood, but it already began to swell. Insane creature.

He leaned back against the trunk and let his eyes rest shut, tolerating the pain. At least he still lived, when he first saw the look in her eyes, he hadn't been sure. Of course it hadn't been unexpected either.

Part of him knew it had been wrong, but what could he do? He didn't have the knowledge or time to fix the damage, better to live with scars than die. Maybe he'd gone too far though, but she didn't kill him. Yet.

Besides, she'd promised him days, but she didn't have it in her. Maybe she'd been tortured, but there was no way she could do it herself, no matter how much she thought she could, that much was plain to him. Killing though, that was a different matter. It wouldn't surprise him if she'd killed before. Killing was much easier.

Yes maybe he had gone a bit too far, necessary or not. He got up with a sigh and moved to his pack. He didn't think he had anything that would help his eye, but it couldn't hurt to look. If that pokemon wasn't at least a little harder after that, he would be very upset. She needed strength, and he didn't know any other means of forging a person. Hopefully at some level she saw through him.

What the hell was he even doing? He had wanted to fade into obscurity, and this pokemon drew him right back in. His planned revival, risking his life by tormenting a crazed pokemon, he was an idiot, yet he couldn't quit now. That damn pokemon would be the death of him. He had just wanted simplicity, hadn't he?

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Rel grunted, taking the full force of the electric attack, her muscles contracting against her will. She collapsed to her knees but remained upright, her chest aflame, the soles of her feet scorched as the lightning left her body. She didn't fall, and the illusion remained. She growled, victory, pain, anger all wrapped up in a single guttural noise.

True electric attacks mixed in with the paralyzing shocks, the pain and intensity familiar. Her previous captor had favored electric shocks almost as much as scorching metal, though Raichu lacked the precision the twisted human had. The thought of the device still in her neck sent a bolt of fear and hatred through her. The attacks might just break it and kill her. Release.

“More complex.” Alex's voice held no indication that his training fell just short of torture.

She focused, her mind grasping to anything that might distract from the damage the electric mouse caused her body. He planned something, something involving her illusions, there was no other reason to push for such complexity. The figure behind him billowed, thick motes of smoke exuded from the distorted illusion. It resembled a pokemon, almost, a lean figure of fur and claws, a shadow of herself that mirrored her desires, her angel of death.

A swirling miasma of inky black whirled as if a fire burned at the core of the creature, cloaking the illusion, its violent features obscured. She made it larger, more smoke, crimson bolts of its own to crackle amongst the aphotic mist.

Lightning struck. Rel grunted, face in the dirt. She hadn't even seen it coming, her attention poured into her creation. It didn't matter; the illusion never wavered. With the sliver of concentration she could spare, she attempted to push herself back to her feet. Her limbs wavered disloyally.

“Good. Now stand.” Alex moved towards her, sizing her up in a languorous circle around her. He stopped behind her, and she turned to face him.

“You look like shit.” He stepped closer to inspect her ragged fur.

Sweat matted her body along with dirt and debris collected from spending half of the morning with her face to the ground, unable to move. She growled at his superior grin.

“Don't look so angry, it doesn't suit you.” His finger lifted her chin, but his eyes stared past her. Another test, and he pushed it. He always did.

Alex placed a hand to her furred belly. “So would you fuck me?”

She struck his hand away with the back of a clawed paw. Malevolence lit her eyes. “I told you, human-”

He pointed. “Your illusion faltered.”

“It didn't.”

“I'm looking right at it.”

“It didn't.”

“I can show you again.”

She gripped him by the collar of his shirt, claws tearing through fabric to scrape red lines in his throat. “Right before you died, human.”

“Well are you going to stop me?”

“You want me to blacken your other eye?”

He met her gaze with calm, the levity gone from his voice. “If it would make you less of a coward, maybe I would.” He held her eyes.

Rel threw him to the ground with a disgusted noise before walking away. She dispelled the illusion. She stumbled in her haste to get away. The recovery from Raichu's attack took less time every day, but she had not been able to shrug off the effects like Alex said was possible.

Alex told her a lot of things, and she believed him. Her feet carried her in a staggering lurch away from their tiny camp and into the brush. She sagged against a wide tree and slumped to the ground, the rough bark scratching her back.

She was a coward. Every day she took his cruel words and constant attacks while forbidden to retaliate. To make her stronger, like such a thing could be done. The forest air filled her lungs, loam mixing with the floral scent of life and death. Seon had always wanted to take a trip to the vast preserves Unova kept; her father had forbade it.

She leaned back against the tree, eyes closed. Unova seemed so far away now, in distance and time. Seon probably found himself a mate, Mewtwo another pawn to toy with, the entire world going on as before, ignorant of her disappearance. No one cared. She would make them care. Others would know what she endured. But her thoughts betrayed her, all that mattered now was the present.

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Rel barely held it together by the time they reached Mauville. It looked nothing like Goldenrod, the skyline low, an old, poor city, one that had been left behind during this country's industrialization.

She had cloaked herself in invisibility once more now that they were around other humans again. No one jostled her on the streets, the sidewalks providing plenty of room in the listless city, and her eyes focused on following Alex. Exhaustion threatened to overcome her.

When they had entered the pokemon center, Alex made arrangements for a room. The demeanor her kept up around humans instantly returning to make the girl working the counter giggle at his every word. The man had a perverse talent for making others think he was a decent being.

Rel only watched, too tired to do more than hold her illusion. She dropped it once they were alone in their room.

“Are you ready for the match.” Alex's black eye had almost faded.

“Sure.” She looked at him with sunken eyes, her fur a disgusting mat of sweat, dirt and self-loathing.

“Of course you're not, look at yourself. There's a time to admit you need rest.”

“I've been telling you that for days,” she growled.

“And that wasn't the time.” Alex dropped his pack in the corned of the room before stretching, arms over his head. “I'm leaving you here. Rest, and don't answer the door or leave the room. I'll check on you tomorrow.”

“Where are you going?”

“Do you care?” The door closed behind him.

She was alone. The grime she'd collected could wait; the bed called to her, soft and inviting. Warm blankets held her snug, filth and all, and she wept. While Alex had been there, she'd managed to keep it in, not show how much his words hurt, devastating words that sliced to her soul. She had showed him exactly which words to use, which cut the deepest. It was her fault.

Someone did care, they had to. She hadn't enjoyed it, didn't offer herself to anyone. The dragon took what it wanted. Coward maybe, but not a whore. Sobs carried her to the bleakness that awaited in sleep. Arceus why did it hurt?

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Rel followed Alex, his Grovyle beside him. The day sky lay oppressive overhead, thick gray clouds billowing with the threat of rain, but Alex didn't seem to care. So they walked, Mauville city receding on the horizon behind them, its gym challenge no match for illusions.

For once Rel didn't mind traveling. She didn't mind not training, didn't care that their time walking about wasted a chance for her to harden her weak body. Had she not hid under illusion, her fur would have gleamed. Dark gray fur, fluffy as the clouds overhead. The thick black tuft that adorned her chest an opulent black that drank in light, her red accents stark as fresh blood. It was rare she felt good about anything, but she took pleasure in her soft coat, a faint reminder of what was.

Hot water, an undeniable, fundamental right to so many, yet here it was a scarce pleasure. She turned the heat up until water had burned her skin and sat for a long time under the purifying heat, letting it burn away the scum that covered her. She started out again fresh.

In fact, if not for Alex, she might have thought things were taking a turn for the better. Mauville gym had been a joke, and she took another win untouched, her ability too much for the confused pokemon. Even Watson's electricity couldn't find hit her true form. She had ended his pokemon with swift precision and won Alex his badge.

“What is the next gym?” she asked.

Alex didn't turn to speak with her. “Fire.”

She shuddered. Fire had been his favorite. A mixture of fear and anger laced her voice. “Are you going to train me to ignore flame as well?”

“Not unless you think you need it.”

She didn't answer him. Hot knives and brands seared, her mind eager to fill in the sound and scent of flesh blackening. The image almost emptied her stomach, the pain remembered. She would destroy the next gym.

Movement ahead caught Rel's eye. For a people who favored these paths for some inexplicable reason, they rarely met others. This human had a pokemon with him also.

Rel spat. “That human has a Lucario with him.”

“So?”

“Lucario can sense a Zoroark's aura through an illusion.”

Alex hissed. “I thought you said you were undetectable.”

“Almost.” Rel waited. The approaching human didn't seem in a hurry, and Zoroark had long been eradicated from this region. The Lucario wouldn't remember their kind's centuries old feud. Probably. It would however notice an invisible pokemon, especially one it had never seen.

“Remember my plan I told you?” Alex asked.

Her flat tone tried to send the stare his eyes couldn't see. “The ridiculous one where I'm some kind of entertainer's pet?”

“I didn't say it was a clever plan.”

“I remember it, human.”

“If I give the word, I want you to do it.” He seemed to wait for her to answer, the silence growing tense in the face of possible trouble. “You said you were willing to help me didn't you?”

“I didn't agree to be some kind of show thing.”

“And what's wrong with being an entertainer, especially one with the power to back up the act?”

Nothing Rel admitted to herself. “Fine.”

“If I give the word.”

The other group approached, human and trainer striding down the center of the path with backs held straight, strength radiating from the pair.

Alex gave the human a nod and a wave when they met, and both groups moved past each other. She watched a tightness drain from Alex's back. Did he not think she could defeat the single creature? Aura or not her illusions would still make it hard for Lucario to do anything. Not unless it was incredibly powerful.

“Hey, you're a trainer right?” The voice from behind them stopped all three of them in their tracks.

Alex turned to the other human. “Sure, why?”

“Would you care for a quick battle? My Lucario and I haven't seen too many trainers on this road, and the wild pokemon are no longer enough for him.” The human nodded to his Lucario.

Rel didn't watch the exchange, her eyes instead fixed on the human's pokemon, and Lucario's eyes stared directly at where she stood. Her eyes narrowed.

“I only have my Grovyle here but if you-”

“Lucario says there's another pokemon with you, one he hasn't seen before. I'm somewhat of a collector, and I'd be very interested to see this pokemon.”

“Well then.” Rob moved away and towards the center of the path. “I can give you a battle if you wish then, but I would ask you keep quiet about it.”

“Fair enough. If you win. If I win, I'd like you to strongly consider a trade I might offer.”

That made Alex hesitate, but he nodded. “Deal. Shall we begin?”

“I don't see your pokemon.”

Rel saw the nod, and she began to weave the flamboyant illusion that Alex wanted. Rel pulled in shadows from around her. From the trees, rocks, even the human and pokemon. Tendrils of liquid shade converged before her on the ground and pooled into her creation. Smoke rose from the puddle of shadow, roiling into a aphotic haze. The fog grew into an amorphous beast that fed off light, dimming their surroundings as it grew, doubling the height of either human.

The illusion strained her abilities, but she continued, working the mass into a demonic form, crimson eyes glaring down at the strangers, thick claws of shadow adorning loosely defined arms.

The human froze, eyes wide. “What the fuck is that thing?” He backed away, placing his Lucario between him and Rel's illusion.

“Still care to battle?” Alex called out. The stranger likely wouldn't be able to see through the thick shadows.

“Lu-Lucario?” The trainer asked, still retreating.

Rel hadn't finished. The beast she created stretched before making rapid swipes in a mock warmup, the shade's claws leaving trails of its inky smoke in its movements.

Lucario didn't share the same fear of its trainer, it could see her after a fashion, but its eyes snapped between her creation and where she stood a short distance away. It seemed to be unable to distinguish the reality of her work.

Alex didn't give them the chance. “Attack.”

Rel moved the illusion first, the shade moving quicker than the eye could track, vapor trails the only indication it didn't just appear in a new location. Her own shadows allowed faint attack to carry her to her opponent.

She struck amidst the pitch darkness of her shade before the pokemon had a chance to react. Her claws tore fur and skin, but Lucario's thick hide offered surprising resistance to her attack. The wounds were superficial but inflicted without retaliation. Rel retreated along with her shade.

The other trainer didn't see what happened inside the shroud of her illusion. All he saw was his pokemon swallowed in darkness, and then his Lucario standing frozen in the road, blood leaking from a dozen scratches with a demon towering before them. Rel smiled.

The stranger's voice wavered. “W-What the fuck are you?”

Rel added to the illusion, the shade's eyes glowing brighter, arcs of crimson lightning flashing between motes of the creature's incorporeal body. The human fled, and his Lucario followed.

Rel banished the illusion. “That was ridiculous. There are no pokemon that look remotely like that.”

“He didn't think it was too funny.” Alex on the other hand looked very pleased with the outcome.

“That was your plan for the gym wasn't it?”

“Of course. I think you could give the illusion a little more flare, but you have to start somewhere.”

Rel felt much less thrilled at the victory however, the three of them regaining their slow pace down the path. Lucario were the only predators her kind had, other than humans, and if the fight had dragged, or the Lucario had been stronger or not taken by such surprise... She took on her Zangoose form instead of returning to invisibility.

“You have money right?” Rel asked.

Suspicion filled the searching look Alex gave her. “Why?”

“I need to ask you for a favor.” She forced the words from her mouth, the admission almost painful.

Alex's face lit up with a malicious glee. “A favor? What is it? If there's much money involved then maybe I can work out some kind of deal. A bargain.”

Rel glared at him. “A bargain? You owe me more than any human could hope to repay.” But she had no way to get what she needed on her own. “You have TMs here, correct? I need a fire type attack. A powerful one. This helps you too.”

Alex nodded slowly. “That would be helpful, but a powerful fire TM wouldn't come cheap, and while I do have the money, getting a hold of it wont be easy. It's set aside for emergencies; I can't just go to a bank and pick it up.”

“That battle could have gone much differently. My attacks are limited.”

“How about this. You prove to me that you're committed to this, to me and my goals, and I'll get you the most powerful TM I can find. Deal?”

Rel narrowed her eyes. “And how would I do that.”

“This is as good a place to stop for the day as any, follow me.”
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What Lies at the Core