FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 10.

At the same moment that they returned to reality and Enzlo had pushed his nose, Rook felt himself fell backward, and then-*SPLASH!*

Rook let out a gasp and then instantly choked as he swallowed water, his gasp lost as a large bubble that floated up towards the glowing surface of the water above him. Immediately, small bits of rock, dust, and particles began to fall free of Rook's body, and he felt how the bare element of water sapped his strength.

Frantically, he paddled back up to the surface of the water next to one of the now startled and wide awake Buizel. Rook sputtered and coughed, his entire mane of fur now hanging heavy over his head, with the heavier, solid back tip of it drooping back into the water while the Buizel helped to keep him afloat. A cloud of rocks continued to fill the water around them and left a gleaming trail as it washed from his fur.

Enzlo floated just above them at the edge of the Hearth's opening, and as a few of the other Buizel would stir awake from their dozing, along with Nether's own eyes peeking open while he laid on the coals, Rook snarled at the psychic type. "What the heck, why did you do that? I just lost my rock coat...I had that coat for the last year." He said sadly and then the otter started to pull him towards the edge of the floor so the wolf could begin pulling himself up out of the water.

"To remove you from what you have become dependent on." Enzlo said as Rook heaved himself onto the floor and flopped onto his back, panting and coughing up the water from when he had practically breathed it in.

Enzlo hovered up over Rook's head to look down at him, "You must learn to control your power yourself, without the assistance of those rocks you have infused your energy into. They have always protected you on their own, providing you with that solid defense that you have depended on for your victories. You lack the ability to use your power for offense, as defense has been what you have always desired from your time in the labs, trying to keep the pain at bay. Your power responds to that desire, and provides you with that perfect defense. I strip you of it now so that you may instead focus your desire towards attacking for our training."

Rook panted throughout Enzlo's explanation, then he frowned at the end of it, "How can you possibly know that for sure?" He thought. Sure, he avoided using his power for attacking in the fights that Jack had consistently pitted him in. He tried to never directly strike an opponent, instead outlasting them by simply taking his opponents blows with his fur protecting him, or channeling his power into a Rock Tomb move to incase and trap the opponent. That was more because he didn't want to give Jack the satisfaction of seeing him kill than anything else though!

"Recall, if you will." Enzlo continued in response, "How you felt in your battle with Ruli. He pushed your defense, and when you realized it was failing you, you subconsciously switched gears, you switched on your offense. But, you never before thought of your power as a force of attacking...and you failed in visualizing it into being."

Enzlo winced as he forced himself to hold up an arm and reaching out with his paw, and his purple glow of his power flickered and faded over it for a short moment as he tried to channel it through his damaged limb, but quickly, several of the now floating and inert rocks from Rook's fur floated up from the water and would create a small ball in the air. Rook regarded it in silence for a moment, the size of the small sphere looked like it barely had enough rocks to cover two feet of his body.

"This," Enzlo said, as he made the ball float over to Rook, where the glow of the rocks' turned from purple to yellow as Rook lifted up his own paw to catch the swirling ball. The rocks still resonated to him, having only been removed from his presence for a brief moment. "is all you will get to keep. I want you to create a weapon with it. Exactly how you were about to do it, back in the forest." The Psychic type finished, and then began to float away towards the stairs that led up to the second floor.

Rook sat up with the ball held in both of his paws, the rest of his fur still dripping and matted across his body in spiky clumps. So this ball wasn't for him to use as a rock coat... "But, how do I do that?" Rook tried to call after the Abra.

"That is up to you to figure out..." Enzlo answered, pausing his floating at the foot of the stairs to look at the Lycanroc with a soft smile. "Your power is your own Rook. Your power's basis is formed from the principles of our clan, but I can only guide you in the right direction. Figuring out the solution is up to you, I cannot hand you the answer to controlling your power."

Enzlo sensed the annoyance and frustration his answer gave the Lycanroc, and the psychic type's tail would suddenly flick and slap the wood of the stair he floated over, making Rook and a few of the Buizel jump from the sharp cracking noise.

"I told you before that this would not be easy, Rook. Without a new Focus, you will find this task extremely difficult, but if you can manage it, that new Focus will make itself known to you in a natural way. Like when you made your Connection to Jack, shortly after you awakened to your power in your first battle after evolving, succeeding in controlling your power will lead you to a new Focus. You will probably not even notice it until far later. Now I'm sorry, but my uh...earlier breakdown and the damage I inflicted to myself is catching up to me again, I need to rest...I will check up on you when I wake."

Just as the Abra began to float up the stairs Rook would blurt out a few questions that even Enzlo had not anticipated. "Enzlo...what is your Focus? Is it what helps you in being so smart?"

Enzlo paused and contemplated the question, and whether or not he wanted to answer, before he said, "Most of that is me reading the minds of everyone around me," He chuckled, "But, yes, I too have a Focus Rook...and it changed once in my life." He began, "You already know about my human partner, Tod. His soul is now merged with my own...A Connection made upon the moment of his death..."

"Before that moment and throughout most of my life and initial journey with Tod, I believed my Focus to be the pursuit of all knowledge, so that I may answer that question that pokemon in the Corsova Clan were tasked to search for. I told you of the resentment I felt towards Tod because of the way our clan's bonding magic works, should the human die, so too does the partner pokemon, but the human lives on if the pokemon dies..."

"At that moment of Tod's death...as I watched his life fade from his eyes among the rubble and even as the lab crumbled down upon us that same day we assisted Lilian in your rescue..." Enzlo trembled visibly, and his voice shook a bit as he kept going on, "I wanted nothing more in the world in that exact moment than to save him. Where once I believed I would feel anger and remorse that I would be dying with him, that was not what drove the emotion I felt at that moment...I wanted to save Tod because he was Tod, because he was my companion, because I loved him. At the same time, the only thought that was going through Tod's mind was his desire to save me from being crushed by the falling ceiling...and our shared thoughts sparked our Connection."

"My Connection was not like yours, Rook. It was a fleeting one, like those I mentioned the Master's of our Clan could achieve, and it lasted only long enough for the last parts of Tod's soul to merge with my own, and thus I was allowed to continue living on even after his body passed, and that part of his soul now resides within mine. His knowledge is now my knowledge, and while he didn't have nearly as much as I had already collected in our time together, he was -always- the better student when it came to listening to our elders." Enzlo chuckled sadly. "This was unheard of in our clan, but then again, never before had a Connection been achieved at the moment of the human partner's death..."

"Tod loved pokemon..." Enzlo continued, "when he discovered Jack's intentions for you, he bullheadedly rushed into the danger. Alongside Riley and Lilian, they disrupted the security of Jack's lab long enough for you to escape his clutches. But that moment of his death...it became my new Focus. I would live for him. Much like how a pokemon will share their life with ghost types. I made that promise to us both, but before I could try and go through with that desire and make a plan on how to achieve it, I knew the knowledge of what had happened there that day had to be made known first."

"I made myself the Messenger that day, in returning to my clan and alerting them, and in doing so alerting Arceus...and soon after I was 'recorded' by Mega Alakazam, frozen at the moment of my entry to this world. Now, here, just today, I've discovered that I have a new purpose..." The Abra's eyes locked onto Rook's own with the most frozen and steely gaze the psychic type could manage with his eyes.

"The legacy of the Corsova must not end in despair...You, Me, and Jack...are now the last remaining souls of our order. We will decide how it ends...and I now am just hoping...that we can mend what has been done." Enzlo stopped, and then turned his head back up the stairs as he silently floated up and vanished onto the second floor, leaving Rook alone with the dozen Buizel now looking at him, deep in their own thoughts.

"I'd go for a sword."

Rook's ear flicked at the sudden words that Nether spoke up from upon his bed of burning coals. He didn't move, but his eyes were both wide open and focused on the Lycanroc sitting on the floor about fifteen feet away from him.

Rook merely frowned at the fire type for this input, but he accepted it just the same, before he thought further. "What would you think your Focus would be, Nether?"

The captain laughed lightly, "I don't understand a damn thing behind what he means about a Focus, but from everything I've overheard I think I get the gist of it. A source of power for yourself, yes? A drive and ambition."

Rook nodded lightly, as yes, that was his current understanding of it too, and the fire lizard had a quick answer, "My relationship with the sea."

Nether would finally slide up, turning his upper body so that he could dip his head over the edge of the burning hearth he laid upon, and stared down upon his own reflection in the water. "As a Quilava, I had a near death experience with the sea...falling from a cliff and into the crashing waves below. However, that danger of death wasn't what I ended up recalling and remembering from the plunge into the water. Instead, I remembered the short glances I received of the coral reef under the water's surface. The bright and vibrant colors, so different from the vast, bland color of green upon land. The deep vastness of blue that laid beyond the edge of the reef was far more appealing."

Nether reached down with his arm, and dipped his paw into the water and traced a finger along the surface to make his reflection shimmer, before he pulled himself back up onto the hearth to look at Rook, "This world is vast, too large for us to have bothered trying to map even in the 20000 years we've lived in it, and most of it is covered in water. Many things, many lands, lay unseen and unexplored. The Ocean is what connects it all. I decided that day I would master the sea, rather than shy away from it. What did I hope to achieve from that...?" Nether asked, mostly to himself and he paused in thought.

"Perhaps it was just something I wanted to prove to myself...I can't recall..." He said lightly, staring ahead silently again for a moment, with the Lycanroc simply sitting in front of him with that ball of rocks still floating and swirling in his paws. "I ended up needing to become a pirate to survive upon the open ocean. A place where nearly every pokemon and even the environment was my mortal enemy as a fire type...it was difficult. It forced me to think outside the usual way I had approached problems on land. It was how I came up with this kind of setup, ya think this hearth was that Conkledurr's idea? Hah!" The Captain chortled at the notion that only he really thought of.

Rook regarded the Typhlosion and his words carefully, but he already realized. Nether did not have a Focus, but he did have his drive. "Perhaps your true Focus will be in commanding that new fleet of ships that the Espeons want you to lead."

A wide grin spread across the fire type's muzzle, "Yeah...I like that idea. I had never bothered to think about what my legacy would really be. As a pirate it's not something that you really think you have the right to leave hehe."

"What do you -think- I should focus on...?" Rook asked next, peering down upon the swirling ball of rock he held in his paws again.

"Like I said, a sword. If you're talking about that Focus stuff again though...I don't know much about you except for what was said through word of mouth to me and what I have already witnessed...I can tell you have a deep hatred of Jack, yet you hold it back. Enzlo said you get your power from your connection with Jack?"

Rook nodded, and the large fire lizard let out a huff. "That's a bit of a pickle in my eyes. How can it be that you get your power from someone you not only hate, but who you have been slated to slay? What happens afterwards if you do destroy him? Does your power just...poof?" He asked, making a motion with his paw into the air as he did, "Gone? Forever?"

Rook's eyes widened at this. Would that be the case? If he destroyed the human to who he owed his Connection to, would the power he unlocked with it also be gone? And suddenly, a new thought came to his mind. To the Corsova, if the human died, the pokemon died with them...

"Enzlo! Enzlo!" Rook suddenly shouted in worry, scrambling up to his feet and throwing the ball he had been holding aside. It rolled across the floor of the raft before shattering into a small pile of rock and rubble up against one of the walls, and the Lycanroc would bolt up the stairs, leaving the Typhlosion in confusion and looking at one of Buizel crew members.

"Did I say something important?" He asked, to which the otter shrugged.

Rook squeezed himself down the somewhat narrow hallways through the second floor of the raft, reaching and opening his and Enzlo's room while shouting again. "Enzlo!"

Rook would pause at seeing Ruli sitting beside the Abra who was laying in his bed, the Lucario's paws paused over the top half of his arms as Rook had burst into the room and with his shouting.

"Don't take the advice the captain offers with as much value as you do Rook..." Enzlo said lightly, while wincing as Rook watched him flex his arms. "He may mean well, but any advice he can give you is unlikely to help you in mastering your power, and your worry, while once may have been true, I do not believe applies to you anymore. Again, you are an unknown, your Connection is not one maintained between yourself and the human you are bound to. You maintain it on your own, without really knowing how ssssssss." Enzlo would suddenly make a loud hissing noise as he felt pain spike throughout his arms.

At this point, Ruli would stop his Healing Pulse, a fatigued look upon the Lucario's face as he lightly advised, "I think I'm spent...sorry...that damage is just so extensive..."

Enzlo only nodded and he would stop trying to flex his fingers, "We'll keep our regular sessions going. Thank you Ruli. Would you leave us here?"

"Yeah. Goodnight." Ruli stood up and he looked at Rook briefly, "Make sure you also get some sleep yourself, Rook."

Rook blinked and flicked an ear at the suggestion, he didn't feel at all tired, even after Enzlo push him into the water which would normally completely sap most rock types of their energy, but he quickly realized, of course he didn't feel tired, he never did unless nearly two weeks passed since he last slept. Another 'perk' he had been given because of his power.

Rook decided to just nod to the advice, and to be honest, a bit of sleep sounded good anyway. "I will, I just have a little more I want to speak of to Enzlo before he sleeps too."

"Don't keep him up too long." Ruli smiled and then made his way around the Lycanroc, closing the door behind himself again as he made his way towards his own room that he was sharing with the Espeon, who hadn't once left it since their departure from the coast.

"What if it ends up being the case...?" Rook asked worriedly.

"Then we will deal with that when it shows to be." Enzlo said flatly, and then followed up by saying, "Besides, the human has to die for the pokemon to also die with him. Jack is no longer a human, he has become a Weavile, a pokemon just like you and me. Those rules no longer exist between you two, I am confident of that."

Enzlo shuffled to lay himself down within the bed with a low sigh, "So please, ease your mind on those rather baseless worries and focus on your task at hand, creating that weapon. If I may be blunt for once, you have fluff for brains."

Rook tilted his head and blinked, "Uh...sorry?"

Enzlo laughed heartily and a smile grew on his muzzle, "I say that in both fondness and seriousness. After you were freed from Jack and it became clear to you you were safe on your island, you've lived in the present, lived for the moment. You do not think well about the potential possibilities you may find yourself in your near future, or of what may come before you, instead facing it as it comes. You met your days one at a time, and it has given you a relaxed and naive mindset. Now though, you can't afford to have that kind of naivety, to jump at every sudden thought and worry that pops into your head. You also can't afford that lack of discipline."

The Abra turned his head towards Rook upon the pillow he laid on, "After everything you have learned about yourself, me, Jack, and the Corsova Clan just today, I want you to think hard on it all, as hard as you possibly can. Realize how important you and your power are."

"I do, I do." Rook grumbled, narrowing his eyes and looking down a bit.

"Do you...?" Enzlo lightly chidded. "If you did you wouldn't be in here worrying about the what ifs that the captain mentioned."

"And what about the expectation that has been laid before me...?" Rook asked lightly, looking back up at Enzlo, "To kill Jack? To be the Avenger in doing so?"

Enzlo could not respond, for he did not actually have the answer. Instead, after a short moment, the psychic type answered with, "No, Rook...the only expectation that I have for you is you being yourself...I know that is not an answer, but yet at the same time it is the best one I can give you. Think about that as you try to build your weapon. Think VERY hard about who you ARE, at this moment. I believe you will find your answers that way."

______________________________

Who he was...at that very moment...

What the fuck did that even really mean?

Rook snarled and grumbled in frustration as he stared at the swirling ball of rocks he again held in one paw, his other paw holding his head with his elbow on one knee.

It had been twenty days since that first night of departure, and Rook still couldn't get this ball of rock to turn into any kind of weapon, no matter how much of his energy he poured into it. As the days had gone by, frustration built up inside him, and while he knew that it was probably what killed his ability to even accomplish it, he couldn't get the frustration to go away.

It also didn't help, he believed anyway, that he could now feel how the ocean breeze flowed through his fur and licked across his sensitive skin. Years and years of having his rock coat had numbed most sensations like feeling the wind or even just the grass brushing against him when he would make his way through the forest of his island.

Without it, he now had this constant tickling sensation upon his body, as no matter where he was on the raft, there was always some kind of breeze and thus, the same stimulation. Even on the bottom floor where there were no windows, the heat of the hearth was now far more prominent because he lacked that layer of protection that had once rested at the roots of his fur and coated his skin and kept him at that perfect temperature.

His life had taught him that this sensation meant something was wrong, as in the past these sensations meant a part of his rock coat had been destroyed, and he couldn't shake how it continued to bother him. Rook knew this to be the case, he knew there really was nothing actually wrong now, but that didn't help.

Right now, Rook was sitting on the top floor close to the staircase which led up onto the raised platform that the wheel and Riley's contraption was on. It was the middle of the day, with the sun shining brightly in the sky and across the sparkling ocean. There was a light, westward wind that caused the trees to sway back and forth and there were several clouds in the sky that did sometimes cover over the sun, but it was an otherwise peaceful day.

Riley and Nether were not on the platform at that moment though, as they were set on course and there was no need to alter it. The Buizel sailors were taking shifts in pushing the raft, with currently seven of them pushing the raft through the water while the other five were enjoying the hot tub that was situated above the hearth and hung in the gap on the second floor. Enzlo was sleeping, his arms had healed the damage he had given himself, but occasionally, when using his power to float something around, he experienced involuntary muscle twitches caused by the extensive damage. This may or may not fade over time, Ruli had told them.

And of course, that left a worry in Rook's mind, further distracting him from his task of turning his ball into some kind of weapon. The Abra could only give him the same kind of advice he had that night, and five days in had told the Lycanroc that his frustration was natural, but unnecessary. Enzlo told him he needed to learn to ignore that kind of frustration, ignore his feeling of vulnerability now that he didn't have his rock coat.

A breeze that floated through the air ruffled through Rook's mane of fur and washed over his back and shoulders, sending another involuntary shiver through him as he felt it upon his skin and he growled, quickly standing up and making his way to the staircase down to the second floor, holding the ball of rocks in his paws lightly against his chest.

He stepped down the staircase and then shifted his way through the hallway towards the room he shared with Enzlo in the upper right corner of the raft, passing by one of the two openings in the wall that led to the hot tub in doing so.

"Hey Rook!" A sudden, happy chirp called out to him.

Rook paused at the opening and turned his head towards the hot tub, where one of the five Buizel's who were currently enjoying the warm water were lounging, with two of them smiling and looking right at him. Over time, Rook had gotten to hear each of the dozen Buizel speak, and while so far, they were all keeping their names to themselves, which was understandable, he had begun to number them one through twelve in his head based on the pitch and tone of their individual voices.

"You should join us!" The other Buizel chirped in then as well.

Rook had to take a moment to try and think of which of the twelve Buizel these two were, he believed it was number four and number seven...but he still couldn't be too sure. He shook his head lightly and said while holding up the ball of rocks briefly, "Sorry I've got to focus on this, I need to ask Enzlo something."

Before he could even begin to leave the first of the Buizel said, "But this thing was -your- idea, and you haven't even soaked in it yet yourself since we left! Come on! It will help you relax and then you can tackle that problem with a fresh mind!"

The two Buizels shifted away from each other in the hot tub, and the other three with them shifted a bit too to make a large enough space for the Lycanroc to join. Rook looked to all five of them and then to the space they had made, before he sighed and nodded. "Yeah all right...I suppose that is a good point..."

Rook stepped over the gap between the floor of the second deck and tested his footing on the edge of the tub. Like the hearth below, the tub was connected by chains that connected it to the walls surrounding it, eight in total. This kept it suspended in midair above the roaring fire of the hearth that floated on the water just below it. The tub itself appeared to be made of stone, and the inside was smoothed down into a bowl-like shape which served to hold the pool of water. The smoke from the fire billowed up around the tub and up out through the ceiling of the raft, with the glass platform just above making sure the smoke scattered and wasn't too thick as it made its way up into the air.

Once he was sure his weight wouldn't jostle the tub, Rook stepped further into the water and was surprised at how warm and toasty it was. Upon the pads of his footpaw, he could feel the heat of the stone tub's bottom that was caused by the fire just under them.

As Rook carefully sat himself down into the water, he couldn't help but close his eyes and let out a content sigh as he felt all those tickling sensations he'd been feeling suddenly become a buzzing feeling across the entirety of his body as the water surrounded him. He sank down to nearly his neck before he recalled the ball of rock he still had in one paw and shifted back up, looking quickly towards where his paw was holding it just above the water.

"Duuuuude...." One of the Buizel groaned across from him, and he believed this one was who he had given the number six to, though really, did the numbers mean much anyway? "This thing is the best...I'm so glad you had the suggestion to add it Rook."

"Yeah, I would never have thought to add this thing. It definitely helps keep the chill of the sea away and recharges me like nothing before!" The one next to him smiled while laying his head back over the edge.

Rook smiled slightly at the compliment. If he was being honest, he actually had the idea at the spur of the moment, and hadn't had any intention in using it himself, given his aversion to water in general. Despite the glowing warmth this tub filled him with, at the same time he could feel how being surrounded by the water sapped his energy as a rock type. Yet, now he realized, the ball of rock he kept with his paw remained unaffected. Perhaps...

With only two of the Buizel's actually watching him, Rook dipped his paw below the water, letting his power pull the ball with it under the water too. Immediately, Rook felt his grip upon the ball slip, but he focused hard to keep it in form and grimaced as he did so, bringing up his other paw to hold it over the top of the ball just above the water while his first kept the bottom. Never before had he tried to hold his rock type energy in shape like this under water.

Rook's eyes began to glow brightly as he had to pour forth a massive amount of energy to keep the ball in shape, its own yellow glow showing under the water. The other three water types would start to also watch Rook as he silently focused. Rook almost forgot they were even there, as he continued to mold and respape the sphere of rocks in the water as it just continued to nearly burst and break.

This was so, so difficult! Outside of the water, in the air, it was very easy to keep his power in the shape of a sphere or any other shape he wanted, his power pushed the air outwards around itself then. Here, the natural energy within the water pushed upon his sphere of rock type energy from different angles with varying degrees of power, fading and then returning with softer or harder forces to push on the ball again and again. It squished down upon his power like it was a squishy, soft doughy ball, malleable and weak rather than strong and steely like it otherwise would be.

Despite his best efforts, after about twenty seconds of this, dozens of small pebbles began to escape from his influence and became lost to the pool of water, sinking down slowly to the bottom of the tub and then sliding down its curved bowl shape towards the middle.

"It is far different than how it feels in the air, yes?"

Rook jumped and suddenly the entire remaining ball of rocks he had popped like it was a balloon in the water, and there was a moment of short amusement from the Buizels as they watched the rocks trickle down to rest at the bottom of the tub and form a pile there.

"Whoops, sorry, didn't mean to startle you." Ruli said apologetically from where he was standing in the opening of the wall, looking in on the Buizels and Rook.

"Don't know why I was trying to do that anyway..." Rook grumbled, and he began to reach into the water to try and scoop the pile back towards himself as best as he could.

"It's good practice in controlling your power." Ruli offered, turning towards the opening and then he would sit at the edge of the floor close to Rook, "How do you picture your power?"

"Picture it?" Rook repeated, his ear flicking as he kept trying to scoop the rocks toward him. "I...I don't know."

Ruli frowned and he reached forward with his paw while leaning closer, his other arm holding himself over the edge of the tub. Rook stopped trying to scoop the rocks and looked over at the jackal's paw.

A small blue sphere of energy formed upon the Lucario's paw. As Rook watched it grow in size, he could see how the sides of the sphere would sometimes cave forward and then push back outward. The middle of the sphere glowed a brighter white than around the edge, where most of its blue color was present, and in the middle, a thin ring of blue surrounded a ball of white.

"As a fighting type, flying types and therefore, the very air of the world, has an advantage against me." Ruli said, before he turned his paw over upside down, and his sphere of energy dipped into the water. Suddenly, the sphere took on an absolutely perfect round form, the wavering spikes and dimples that had been obvious when it was in the air completely stopped. Rook watched and tilted his head in thought as Ruli continued, "While the forces of water are more neutral towards me, and therefore my power and it can exist in relative peace, I don't have to exert as much energy to keep this Aura Sphere in shape under water."

Ruli pulled his paw up out of the water, releasing his energy and the sphere would fade away like a fire just slowly going out until it vanished entirely. He took hold of Rook's paws and brought them back into the position he had them in before, "Focus your energy without the rocks between your paws."

Rook blinked, but did as he was asked, and his eyes glowed brightly again as he poured energy through his paws. The yellow glow once more showed within the water between his paws.

"Focus it into a sphere, just like you had before." Ruli told him, as the yellow energy just seemed to spike out in all directions.

Rook frowned, narrowing his eyes, "That..." He huffed, "the only reason I could even keep it somewhat of a ball before was because of the rocks...they help to anchor the energy, without them it's just going to break out into the water."

Ruli nodded, "I know, try it anyway."

Rook huffed again but he continued to obey the request, pouring forth his energy into the ball of yellow energy between his paws. Without the rocks, the intense glow seemed like a lightbulb he was just holding there, but the yellow energy lanced through the water at erratic times, almost looking like a bolt of lightning; and this caused the nearest of the five Builzels to shift away and wedge themselves against their brother beside them. This bolt would quickly fade and dissipate in the water, but another one quickly followed it over and over.

As seconds ticked by and more of his energy continued to escape the sphere and arc out through the water like this, Ruli whispered beside the Lycanroc, "This is incredible..."

Rook flicked his ear, "What is?" He asked, his glowing eyes starting to narrow in his focus in trying to keep his power in the shape of a ball underwater.

Ruli looked at the side of the Lycanroc's face a moment and then back down to the sphere he was holding under the water as it sparked like it was made of electricity instead.

"You really don't realize it huh?" Ruli hummed, and then he said, "The amount of life energy you are pouring out is incredible, and yet you just keep going with it. Do you even feel fatigued?"

Rook blinked in response once as he then responded, "Uh...no...not really. I mean, being here in this pool of water, I feel my physical strength being sapped and do feel a little more tired, but I mean...who's to say if that's because of my typing and not because it's a relaxing hot tub?" He let out a giggle at that while he turned his paws around to instead try and hold the ball from the left and right underwater.

With both of his paws under the water now, the errant strings and bolts of his energy were even worse. As he channeled his rock type energy through his submerged arms, it meant the energy was even more unstable by the time it left his palm.

"Can I try something?" Ruli asked, and Rook just nodded. He expected the Lucario to do something himself then, but instead Ruli motioned to one of the Buizel's in the hot tub with him.

"Can you do a Water Pulse?" The jackal asked the otter.

The Buizel to Rook's left, who had been the one who had shied away from him and his errant energy earlier, widened his eyes, "Ya mean me? Uh...y-yeah."

"When I say so, do a Water Pulse under the water, and focus it right in the middle of Rook's energy here for me, all right?"

"Y-yeah, sure." And the Buizel inched a little closer and reached out with his arms, his hands under the water and ready for Ruli's order.

"Rook, when he starts the Water Pulse, I want you to focus your energy -around- his, and make the resulting sphere larger."

The Lycanroc blinked again, "Uhhhhhhh..." focus -his- energy -around- someone else's? That was impossible, holding a sphere meant you had to have a focal point, if the focal point was already filled with someone else's energy... "Whaaaaaat do you exactly mean-"

"Now." Ruli suddenly ordered the Buizel.

Suddenly the Buizel sent in his own water type energy right into the middle of Rook's rock type sphere between his paws. The water within the hot tub was instantly splashing, nearly exploding violently above and around where Rook poured in his own energy. Rook's energy completely bounced off of the sphere of water type energy when it had appeared in the middle of itself and lashed out in violent arcs.

Just as quickly as this had started, the Buizel stopped his Water Pulse because he grew afraid, and Ruli tutted. Rook also completely stopped his power, leaning away from the intense splashing it had all caused, the yellow energy dissipating in the water in random directions.

"I didn't tell you to stop."

"I'm sorry! That's just...it's so chaotic!" The otter said in a bit of a panic

"It's all right, but here, both of you. Watch me again, watch it carefully and try to feel what it is I'm actually doing." Ruli said, and he held up his paw into the air again.

Slowly, a small ball began to show in the air above Ruli's palm again, and the blue energy swirled and circled around the white center within it. It hummed and occasionally, like Rook had noticed before, the edges of the sphere would collapse in on itself but then just as quickly push back out into a near perfect circle.

"Do you think that this is just fighting type energy?" Ruli asked Rook.

Rook frowned at the question, and he lifted up his paw from the water and then sent his own towards the sphere. He instantly felt how when his energy met that of the fighting type energy, it was shredded, pulverized into nothing like a buzzsaw to wood. Just like how an actual rock may be broken to tiny bits by the fierce punch of a fighting type.

"It certainly feels like it." Rook said, and Ruli chuckled.

"That's because your focus is upon the edges. Send your energy straight to the middle." Ruli told him with a smile.

Rook tilted his head, and he moved his paw so that the middle of his palm faced the Aura Sphere's center more directly, and then focused his energy and willed it to the middle of the sphere instead of approaching it from the side.

Suddenly, Ruli's Aura Sphere began to grow in size rapidly, and the white middle began to gain a yellow, center glow. As it began to grow rapidly Ruli stammered, "E-easy, gently!" Ruli stammered, suddenly having to quickly lean across gap between the floor and the tub to hold the top of the sphere with his other paw where it had begun to waver and fall apart. The Lucario's hip now dug into the side of the tub while his legs kept him from outright falling through the gap to the floor below. If he actually fell from there he'd probably fall right onto the hearth! The white and blue energy swelled to match that of the new, yellow growth held in the middle as he said, "Your power is far more vast than mine and I have to match it!"

"S-Sorry..." Rook said quickly, folding his ears back, and he pulled back on his energy, even though he honestly didn't feel like it had been that much. There was now a small yellow circle surrounded by the white layer that the middle of the Aura Sphere was made of, the blue energy swirling rapidly around both like a sun.

Rook stared at this in puzzlement and awe. That was his energy, encased in that of fighting type energy rather than being destroyed? No...wait...now that his energy was there and he could feel it...

"The white energy that is there...that's not fighting type...it's...flying?" Rook asked, looking over at Ruli. He had thought the different color was just because of how an Aura Sphere looked.

"That's right." Ruli nodded. "The only fighting type energy here is what you see that is blue along the edge and close to the middle, the rest is flying, and now also that yellow part of yours that is rock."

Ruli stopped his Aura Sphere then, and it dissipated, leaving only Rook's small yellow ball in the air. Rook released the ball himself and it too slowly faded away.

"Build your power around a core of energy you are weak to, and you can discover how to counterbalance the force it places upon your own energy, and therefore keep it more stable and even enhance its power with that of the opposing one. This is a training exercise that I was taught by Lucarios of the Lucario Clan shortly after my battle with my family, as I tried to master the power of a Mega. You can do the same around energy you are already strong against as well, and increase your power against that type."

Ruli looked up at the Buizel then, "Do the Water Pulse again, keep it small, consistent, and easy this time, not as fierce as you had before please."

The Buizel nodded, as this time he also understood the practice they were trying to accomplish. "Yeah, all right. Ready Rook?" He asked the Lycanroc as he held his hands out in the water again.

Rook nodded, looking down into the water and bringing his paws back into place. "Yeah, go."

The Buizel started his Water Pulse, which appeared as a bright blue point that caused the water around it to swirl rapidly between Rook's paws.

"Now, send out your own energy, but try to have it match that of the water core he is creating, and let it just...flow with that." Ruli finished, unable to explain it better than that.

Rook nodded again and he began to carefully pour forth his energy again, being gentle and careful because; as it had appeared, what he believed to be normal for himself was overwhelming to others, and then surrounded the blue core of Water Type energy with it.

So close to an opposing type of energy, Rook tried to encase and surround the core of water type energy, but whenever his own brushed against and touched this new focal point it bounced off completely and would spark out in a violent lance through the water for several inches.

"Easy, visualize the water core and keep your own energy around it, leave a little bit of space between them if you need at first, but the goal is to completely surround it, and then squeeze it tight with your own energy while matching the kickback it causes. You'll feel it." Ruli instructed beside him.

Rook nodded and he focused first on making a ball about twice the size of the Water Pulse's sphere and then slowly, as slowly as he could manage, squeeze his energy shut around it. He could feel the moment when his energy met with it, and it caused the first tiny spark of his energy to fire off into the water he would pull back to hold it just outside that point he knew it would kickback, then slowly squeezed the rest of his energy across this new point of contact, molding it around the blue colored sphere in the middle. His paws only just briefly moved in the water as he focused on this, spinning them up and around the sphere in a slow circle.

As Rook continued to surround the energy, Ruli looked up. "Buizel, stop pouring your energy, I think he has it." Ruli said, his voice full of admiration.

The otter pulled his hand back, and while the water stopped swirling because the Water Pulse move itself was ended, his small sphere of power did not fade away, held in place by the opposing force of Rook's rock type energy, it was unable to dissipate.

"Rook..." Ruli said lightly, "I don't want you to lose your focus, but look at the edges of your own sphere of energy now..."

Rook eyes flicked to the edges of his yellow sphere, wondering exactly what Ruli was expecting him to notice, and after a small bit of seeing no oddities, he suddenly realized that was exactly what Ruli wanted him to see. There were no oddities.

His yellow sphere was a perfect round ball, even as it was absolutely surrounded by water, it no longer sparked or sent out erratic lances of energy as the surrounded water pushed against it. Rook could feel how it simply matched the energy of the water around it, the water core gave awareness to his own energy of what it could expect from the surrounding water and it pushed back to maintain its shape!

Excitement suddenly flooded him, his eyes widening and he took in a quick gasp of air, but his excitement caused him to squeeze the water core too hard, and it violently rejected his energy and the ball literally exploded in the water, causing water to shoot up into the air and the rain down upon them.

"Fuck!" Rook snarled, punching his fists into the water, but then he smiled, "But I did it!"

"You did indeed." Ruli chuckled and the Lucario began to stand back up rather than leaning in over the tub as he had been.

"Nature, Rook." Ruli said as he brushed off his legs, "Nature is always balanced. Air is everywhere, and the physical energy that makes up fighting type moves exists right along with it somehow, as the Aura. The sea has a sea floor made of rock, so somehow, rock and water can and do coexist. Our life energy as pokemon stems from that Nature, and while we are attuned to a specific form of it, we coexist together as well. Learn to balance your energy with those around you, and you will find your control."

Rook smiled up at the Lucario, and he immediately, and rather excitedly, began to create a new ball of his energy in the water, surrounding a small spot of blue water energy that he could now feel from the water itself with his own to reform the same perfect sphere. Now that he knew what to do, his energy was right there with him it seemed, creating a large and shining orb in the water that didn't spark or falter at all.

The rocks from before rested at the bottom of the tub for so long that they had been completely forgotten about.

_______________________

Ruli stepped into Enzlo's room right afterwards. The psychic was sitting up in his bed, his eyes peering out the window beside him and across the sparkling water.

"Thank you for helping him." Enzlo said lightly shortly after Ruli would close the door.

"It's not going to help him at all in accomplishing what you want him to do with creating a weapon, I know that because I wouldn't have the faintest clue what he actually needs for that, but I believe it was a lesson of control he still needed..." Ruli said lightly and he sat down on the chair next to the bed.

"It will help him." Enzlo nodded, still staring out into the distance.

Ruli watched the Abra for a short moment and then reached with his paws, "Let me see your arms."

"Don't bother...no more healing sessions are going to fix those little jitters, I'm stuck with those for the rest of my life." Enzlo let out a sigh of resignation, "And you've already expended a large amount of your energy teaching him just now."

Ruli paused, but he relented because he knew it was the truth, for both statements. Instead, he said, "Rook doesn't understand how vast his power is..."

"I know." Enzlo said softly again.

"And you're incredibly distracted and that isn't really helping him." Ruli then pointed out, adding a bit of a curt tone to the end of his statement, honestly getting a little fed up with the psychic type's atypical attitude. He got enough of that from the Espeons.

Enzlo sighed and he looked down, "I wouldn't know how to help him in mastering his power. He has to figure that out himself."

Ruli shook his head, "I'm not really talking about that..." The Lucario stated, and he sent a mental prodding of his own upon the Abra, and Enzlo shivered slightly at the contact. "I know now what I felt from you was way back then, after that night in town. Your Aura changed, shifted..."

"That..." Enzlo started to say but his fingers gripped upon the sheets of the bed as he would cut himself off, then fell silent as Ruli stared at him.

"It's something both you and him need." Ruli said after the moment passed and it was clear Enzlo would not speak, "Take it from someone who knows that feeling. Do not run from it. Doing so will only hurt you and him."

Enzlo's paws relaxed slowly but he didn't say anything still, his gaze returning to the window and looking out over the sparkling waters.

After another half dozen seconds Ruli just stood up and he silently left the room, and Enzlo continued to stare out the window. After Enzlo was sure Ruli had gone to his own room, one of the psychic's hands came up to his chest and he gripped it into a fist there.

"How can't I run...?" Enzlo quietly questioned the empty air now that he was alone. "It's something that's unattainable anyway..."

Enzlo felt pain...not the kind of pain he had felt with his arms. This pain had started long before that fall into the ocean, and it had grown recently and over the last week. Enzlo recalled the look of concern and worry upon the Lycanroc's face those few seconds before he had fainted. The wolf had caught him in the middle of his self mutilation, and his concern had been so palpable to Enzlo that as he remembered it that pain intensified in his chest.

"Fuck...how could I let myself fall in love with such a big goofy ball of fluff." He could only lightly chuckle then shortly after he frowned, despair immediately filled his heart, compounding onto that first pain.

Enzlo couldn't understand. Love logically was something that wasn't typically this spontaneous. It wasn't the kind of love he had felt with Tod, something built over years of companionship, it was spontaneous and sudden. He had sex with the Lycanroc back in the coastal town to help him relax, and instead Enzlo had fell in love with him, because as soon as Enzlo had felt his energy, he felt as if he had belonged there with the Lycanroc all his life. But Rook...Rook didn't feel that same way about Enzlo...the psychic type knew this. Sure, Rook cared for Enzlo, but it was as a companion, and as someone who had helped him through his despair after killing Oscar.

Rook was a free spirit, goofy and only concerned with what was happening in the moment. While the Lycanroc understood the intensity of their situation and knew their goal, he was in no rush, and he remained himself despite the danger he knew Jack represented. Indeed, when they had been told the actual time frame to get to the continent Jack was on, Enzlo had expected Rook to get angry, and instead the Lycanroc had merely said "I'm fine with that." and then just enjoyed an Oran Berry.

Enzlo had later examined that emotion and he was surprised. Rook knew there was no point in even getting upset, there was nothing that could be done about their speed. Enzlo also knew that the wolf recognized this fact without even really realizing it himself in his happy go lucky, relaxed mood, instead deciding to focus on the enjoyment that the Oran gave him. The only thing that had triggered him was the mention of being Jack's pokemon shortly after, and even after that irrevocable truth had been revealed and proven to him, that anger just...took a back seat to his acceptance.

His power welled from some kind of seemingly infinite source, and with everything that was happening...Enzlo couldn't get it out of his head anymore, he was confident Rook was the Bright Star reincarnated, his personality and his power were practically like they were copy pasted from the legend. That was obvious to him and he suspected Rook would have a bit of inclination towards believing that himself if it was pointed out to him, as the Lycanroc had really, really liked the legend and the picture of the pokemon it had painted to him that night. Rook was a mystery, a conundrum. Power like his shouldn't exist, yet it did. And Rook himself was as simple minded as a child seeing their toes for the first time! Details and hard facts were seen more as annoyances by the wolf, one reason why his training was so difficult.

In Enzlo's mind's eye, when he let the Lycanroc into that space, Enzlo could brush his own soul against Rook's, like when he had touched his cheek just some few days ago, before he had done his cruel, but necessary, trick of pushing him into the water. Back on the islands when Rook had been raging and so hurt over killing Oscar, when he had gripped Rook's head with his paws and touched him for the first time within his mind's eye, his soul energy buzzed against the psychic's own like it was meant for him, like it had instantly trusted him.

It had only been Rook's emotional state at that time and his worry for him that had prevented Enlzo from realizing it then, but later on, during their time together in Ruli's home and he got to feel that energy more closely in their intimacy...Enzlo realized he wanted to feel that energy all the time, it was so warm and bright and friendly, yet it was strong willed and deeper down it burned dangerously, showing him how it could easily destroy anything it so desired...That day he had fallen asleep with Rook back in Ruli's home had probably been the best, most restful sleep Enzlo had gotten since Tod died...and all of that only further cemented Enzlo's belief that Rook was the Bright Star.

To top all that off, Enzlo had figured out the secret of that message the Alakazam of this world had told him of and learned that his entire clan was gone, that they hadn't even gone through the gates to start with, instead carrying out a 4000 year war and before being destroyed, sending their message to him through the barrier. Himself, Rook, and Jack, were the only remaining members of their people. Rook had only recently really joined, but in a way, he had always been a part of the clan by being Jack's companion pokemon. That fact had him now look upon Rook as one of his only anchors to this world and one of the last remnants of his clan, yet he could only feel happy about that. Why?

'All those that view the Bright Star are filled with happiness...' was what the legend said after all. But if the rest was true too, that meant there was no way Enzlo could possibly hope to make his feelings known to Rook. For someone like Rook, could he even look upon someone and feel the same kind of attraction and love Enzlo felt towards him now? Perhaps this just was a passing attraction? Something brought on by their similar circumstances and the situation? But no, even thinking those questions Enzlo immediately knew better, he felt that much right away.

"What if he does feel the same way, or could be brought to, if you show him how you feel?" That gentle voice within his head that remained of Tod spoke to Enzlo. Tod was always there with him now, but his voice came and went randomly with strange surges. Enzlo was surprised, as he hadn't expected to hear from his human now. He had honestly been worried that Tod had not shown up back when he had been destroying his arms. The last time Tod had appeared was when they had found Riley in the labs, and his energy had surged forth to help Enzlo understand the machine he was connected to and free him.

Enzlo smiled and laughed, speaking out loud still because he honestly just didn't care if someone heard. "It's still not attainable...he's...he'd be called on to do something I could not possibly follow..."

"Does that matter?" Tod's voice asked, and over that short moment, Enzlo felt the human's soul burn brightly and his voice picked up in volume as he continued. "I think you're forgetting our lessons again. Rook isn't the Bright Star...Rook is Rook...The Bright Star is a title, just like him being called the Avenger. Even if he does, what does that matter about the here and now?"

"Because!" Enzlo shouted and he gripped the bedsheets again with his other paw. He couldn't place his thoughts, and he could think of nothing to follow his statement.

"You are worried about losing more..." Tod said softly in his head when Enzlo failed to come up with his reason. "More than you already have...but that is why you know you have to try. Besides, you've seen his soul. You know as well as I do, just like his energy, his love would never fade. It never has for Lilian, and it never will for Oscar...So even if what you worry about happening is what happens..."

"It will never fade..." Enzlo nodded, then whispered, "Tod...are you not upset that I love him too?" Enzlo finished and he gripped the sheets even tighter, pulling them up as he choked on the last few words. He felt Tod's presence recede, his energy falling to sleep once more within Enzlo's own. This left Enzlo's last question unanswered, but the psychic type believed he could infer Tod's answer from this.

Tod was dead, and while his love was not exactly wasted on the dead, it was rather pointless to not love those still alive as well.

It was at this exact moment that the door suddenly burst open and Rook came into the room, his yellow ball of rocks floating above his paws. His fur was dripping wet as he had just launched himself out of the hot tub.

"Enzlo! Look!" Rook eagerly showed the psychic type the ball, closing his eyes and focusing on the mental image he had suddenly had the inspiration of just moments ago in the hot tub.

The rocks within Rook's sphere shifted and arranged themselves into a distinct shape. They created a pointed tip at one end of the sphere, along with what seemed to be somewhat of a straight shaft to make an arrow. "I can make it a point now!" He exclaimed happily while opening his eyes. "I just have to use some air energy with it to help with shaping it!"

Enzlo turned his head towards Rook with a smile, "That's great Rook, keep up that effort, you have to create a stable weapon rather than something you have to continuously focus on."

This made Rook frown and he looked at the ball of rocks again, "Oh damn, I hadn't realized it was something that needed to exist on its own too!" The Lycanroc huffed, but then smiled and he turned away, "I'll keep working on it though!" He shouted back, leaving the door to the room open in his hurry to get back to the top floor where he could go back to trying to focus in solitude.

Enzlo looked at the empty doorway and slowly, that pain returned to his chest. He wanted the Lycanroc to come back and stay in the room with him...but he held off with a smile, as he basked in the warmth of the Lycanroc's excitement he could feel from his mind and let that stem the hurt he felt from his own heart.

__________________________

Two more weeks passed. They were nearing the one and a half month point of their journey across the ocean, and Rook was again stuck on his assignment. His excitement after Ruli's lesson on the control of his energy and combining it with what energy was around him had helped, but just like Enzlo and Ruli had known, it wasn't the secret to finally solving the problem of creating a weapon out of the rocks.

He could now twist and flex the sphere of rocks into any shape he wanted, using the concept Ruli hat taught him by adding air energy to his own, but forming a distinct 'weapon' out of the rocks was not something he could manage. The moment he removed his influence and focus from the rocks, they would fall apart into a pile of rubble.

Frustration had returned to the Lycanroc and it had quickly slipped the point of his already low patience.

"I don't get it! Form a weapon...how the heck can I get something when it can't hold its own shape!?" He growled out in anger while slamming the arrow he had made out of the stones this time upon the floor of his and Enzlo's room in what was basically a temper tantrum.

Enzlo quietly watched Rook as the few hundred pebbles and rocks scattered across the floor. He desperately wished he could help the Lycanroc, but this was not something he could help him learn. There were no lessons he could give the wolf to do this, it was something he had to figure out on his own.

Rook stared at the floor in the relative silence between himself and Enzlo. It was the middle of the night and there was occasionally a loud rumbling off in the distance. A storm was coming, the first one they had encountered in this journey. They had noticed the clouds gathering on the horizon earlier that day. Right now, the waters remained calm, but the fire type warned everyone that a storm at sea could be any matter of degrees in strength, and to be ready for the moment the ship began to rock. Nether wanted his crew to be well rested for when the storm hit, so the dozen Buizel had completely stopped all swimming and spent the day and this night resting. While this would increase their overall time in getting to the continent, because they were coasting and letting the waves carry them now, it was viewed as a necessity.

Rook, because of the enhancements he had been changed with by the scientists, and Enzlo being an Abra and getting plenty enough at other times during the day, didn't need to sleep, so they took to their room that night for a session of joint training, with Enzlo observing the Lycanroc's progress.

"Do you still recall that feeling you had that night you battled Ruli?" Enzlo asked him, and Rook nodded.

"Yeah." Rook answered calmly, though his face was still furrowed in his frustration, he didn't direct it at the Abra. Enzlo appreciated this.

"Describe it." Enzlo said, turning and then he hopped off the bed and walked across the floor. He kicked around several of the pebbles and they rolled along the wooden floor. At least the planks were close enough together that they didn't fall through.

"It...was just intense. I felt...I don't know..." Rook looked up as Enzlo came to stand in front of him, his feet kicking aside more of the rocks there and then the Abra slowly sat down in front of the Lycanroc, crossing his legs.

"Try to know." Enzlo stated, and that just made Rook frown.

"It...was a tight sensation...it came from my back...in my mane."

"The feeling? Or the weapon you knew you had almost made that night?"

Rook narrowed his eyes, then said, "Both?"

Enzlo chuckled and he reached up to tap the Lycanroc's nose with one finger, and Rook made a "Mrawf" noise and flinched back from the poke, wriggling his nose and then grinning at the Abra in front of him.

"That's the only way I can describe it...what should it feel like?"

"I can't answer that." Enzlo said, lowering his hand to rest it within his lap. "But again, try harder, -what- was it you were feeling?"

Rook sighed and he nodded, recalling the battle. "I...was surprised, and a little scared. I mean...Ruli's power actually hurt. Besides my battle with Oscar, he was the first pokemon who could actually hurt me. His strikes cracked right through my armor, broke bones in my chest."

"A normal pokemon would have a difficult time breaking through your armor, I would dare to say it would be damn right impossible for many except for strong fighting types or a water type." Enzlo agreed, "Oscar was infused with the life energy of other scientists that Jack had killed to empower him, and Ruli is a Mega whose power comes from the generations of Lucario inside his Mega gem, which itself was created by Arceus. So you felt surprised and scared, realizing that your defense was failing you for the second time?"

"It...was more than that..." Rook said carefully, "I realized that Ruli was more experienced than me too, he knew how to actually fight. When I realized I couldn't win by playing defensively, I knew I had no chance, and then I..."

"Yes...?" Enzlo prodded as the Lycanroc paused.

"I switched mode like you had said a few weeks ago...I wanted to attack him with everything I had...but then I remembered Oscar and I lost that feeling..." Rook trailed off while lowering his head.

"I see, so you are still scared of what kind of destruction your power may cause?"

Rook whined, folding his ears back and he nodded. "Yes...Enzlo...when I lost control, I shook an entire island, the coastal town, heck even the Leafon Tower felt the earthquake I had caused that day, remember? That was like, what, fifty or sixty so miles away from there? I -pierced- through the entirety of Oscar's chest and pinned him to a wall..." Rook shook slightly, "While he was a Slaking -and- infused with the energy of who knows how many scientists that turned into pokemon?"

"Rook..." Enzlo said lightly, trying to think of something to say, but the Lycanroc kept going.

"Enzlo, what -is- the limit to my power? Is there one?" Rook asked him, and he lifted up his paw and stared at it like had so many times before, flexing his paw open and closed.

After a minute to gather his thoughts Enzlo responded, "You also lifted that satellite up into the sky by pulling forth a spire of pure rock that, for the area in which we were, right on the edge of an ocean, would never have been possible for any other rock type..." Enzlo said, and he sighed lightly, lowering his head and the psychic decided he had kept it to himself long enough. "Rook, you remember the legend I told you about? Of the Bright Star?"

Rook tilted his head, blinking a bit from the change of topic and he nodded. "Yeah I do."

"Let me ask you this straight up." He began while lifting up his head to look right in Rook's eyes. Even when not channeling his power, the Midnight Lycanroc's eyes glowed a soft purple hue of their own like many of his species would in the dark of night. "If I told you that you're the Bright Star reincarnated, would you believe that?"

Almost immediately, the Lycanroc shook his head and simply said "No."

Enzlo seemed really taken aback by his answer, and Enzlo asked him, "Why do you say that so quickly?"

"Because I didn't start out having this power or grow it myself. The Legend said that the pokemon gained their power by facing self imposed obstacles, conquering several challenges and fights with others, and seeking out adventures and experiences which piled upon its endless energy." Rook stated, looking at Enzlo like that should be the obvious reason. "My power doesn't come from that, I wasn't born with it, I didn't start with it or grow it, and I certainly didn't get to see even what I'd say to be a single percent of our world before this one."

"I think you are." Enzlo returned, "Rook, your energy is your own, your Connection may have unlocked it, but it is yours, you were born with it. It is so vast it expands anything I ever thought capable of. You've faced years of trials and obstacles of your own during your time in the labs. Ruli has to tell you to hold back when helping in your training just so he can even hope to match your energy. If you had brought that energy to bear against him somehow after all, he wouldn't have stood a chance, you would've beaten him without any issue. You pour forth so much energy when you use your abilities that it boggles everyone's mind. The captain's, Riley's, the Buizel's and even the Espeon's. All the pokemon from the coastal town, they looked at you and saw their chosen hero who will stop Jack. The Avenger. That news had only really just reached their ears and they already believed it was you because of your power."

Rook regarded Enzlo with a somewhat blank expression as the psychic talked, and as he saw his words weren't getting any kind of reaction, it made Enzlo speak even faster as he continued on, "You pour that energy out of yourself without pause, when using your power you never show that it fatigues you. The amount of energy I've seen you expand so far would exhaust nearly five thousand rock types together alone! You get damaged, you get hurt, but it heals in seconds, minutes! You brush off attacks that would absolutely knock out anyone else. You don't know it, but when Ruli attacked you back in the forest, he was -not- holding back, those Aura Spheres he hit you with not once, but -twice- would have absolutely knocked anyone in this world out cold at once, possibly even killed them, but again you took it not once but twice. And then he hit you with a point blank Force Palm that slammed you into a tree that -snapped- in half and then you...just...STOOD BACK UP!" Enzlo shouted this last bit as still Rook showed no response.

Enzlo realized he was getting carried away but he didn't care, his voice somewhat shook as he kept going anyway, "Y-you suffered nothing more than a few broken ribs in both of your fights with Oscar and Ruli...You survived the kind of power he used to kill his Aunt and Cousin with and it...it fucking...-healed- in less than three minutes in both cases...You say you felt scared, but you honestly were not in -any- danger to begin with! How can you not think that you are the Bright Star? How else can your power possibly be explained?"

"I don't know." Rook would throw out quickly, "Honestly hearing you say that Ruli went at me with intent to kill kind of scares me even more given how I felt in that fight..." Rook would finally say, but before Enzlo could explode into the indignant rage he felt building in his chest, the Lycanroc continued, "But the legend also said the Bright Star was a savior." He paused, then giggled and shrugged, "Well, it didn't say that exactly. But it was a leader, yes? Leading those who needed it to their salvation. If there's one thing I know I'm not worthy of being, it's being anyone's leader or savior...but an Avenger? Against Jack...that I am capable of."

Then Rook tilted his head Enzlo and he carefully and softly questioned the Abra, "You got really worked up about that though...what makes you so confident of my being the Bright Star?"

Enzlo gulped and he looked down again. "You may not be a leader, Rook, but your energy still fits the description of the Bright Star. It is warm, bright, comforting, despite its obvious power...and when I am with you...I feel happy. When Ruli is with you, he feels happy, when anyone is-"

"All those who look upon the Bright Star are filled with happiness." Rook said, echoing the legend and cutting off Enzlo from continuing to speak his reasons by shaking his head, "Enzlo...I think you're looking a little too closely at that...I simply want everyone around me to be my friend."

Enzlo was suddenly quiet, as quiet as the stones littered around them. Thunder rumbled in the silence that hung between the two pokemon and after it faded, Rook began to grow a little worried.

"Enzlo?" Rook said while he reached out to poke at the Abra, "Did you fall asleep?"

Suddenly Enzlo reached up with both his hands, and they grasped onto and held onto Rook's arm and fur tightly. Rook blinked, and he felt how the Abra trembled through his arms, at first wondering if that was because of the permanent damage he had caused to them, but then he realized Enzlo was also breathing a little erratically.

"Enzlo...?" He repeated. "Why does me being the Bright Star mean so much to you?"

"Because!" Enzlo shouted out, his arms shaking all the more and he would bow his head, "Because! If...if you aren't...! Then I don't know how you make any sense! And...!" He cut off, shaking.

"Enzlo, please calm down..." Rook whined, his ears folding back and the Lycanroc quickly sat down onto the floor, and then both of his paws pulled the Abra into his embrace, pulling him up into his lap while crossing his legs. Much like he had in Ruli's home, Enzlo hugged himself against Rook's front, clinging on as tightly as he could.

Rook just held one paw upon the Abra's back as he looked down at him, and Enzlo kept his face buried into his chest as he breathed heavily, trembling the whole time. Thunder rumbled a little louder through the air.

Suddenly, that rumble was suddenly cut in the middle of its boom, and Rook blinked as he found himself within Enzlo's mind world, the same blue, purple, and yellow glows flowing around them.

"Why did we need to come here...?" Rook asked lightly, just out of his curiosity.

"To keep the ears that were now listening to us from hearing this next part..." Enzlo sniffled from where he kept his head buried in Rook's chest.

"Someone was listening in? That's not very nice." Rook huffed.

"Not really their fault...I was shouting pretty loudly just then..." Enzlo sighed, his grip on the Lycanroc's fur softening slightly and he leaned back on his lap, but kept his head pointed down. "Rook...you see our surroundings right? The colors of our souls...which one do you think is mine?"

"The purple." Rook answered readily.

"Why?" Enzlo asked, but he was happy that Rook had known the answer.

"Because that's the color your eyes glow when you use your power." This answer suddenly cut Enzlo's happiness back, but Rook's follow up brought it back as he said, "And because it feels like you."

"So you can feel that energy?" Enzlo asked with a smile. "You feel it right now against you?"

"Yeah, I can. It feels cold, in a relaxing kind of way, like a wet or icy rock pressing against me..." Rook said, his paw rubbing over Enzlo's back, "I can feel it here upon my paw too. That's your soul right? I mean, this is your mental world, so it makes sense that's your soul."

Enzlo chuckled and smiled, once again Rook was showing how ridiculously easy his simple mind could understand these concepts. "Yeah...that's exactly what it is..."

A moment of silence passed before Rook then asked, "Mine's the yellow yeah...? What's it feel like to you...?"

"Yeah..." Enzlo said, giggling at how many times that word had been said so quickly, "It's warm and inviting and makes me feel kind of fuzzy..."

"And the blue, that's Tod huh?" Rook asked.

"Yes...that's what remains of him..." Enzlo said lightly, his eyes opening and he would lift his head up.

"Sorry..." Rook said quickly, looking down when he felt Enzlo pick his head up and thinking he had ruined the moment by bringing up the psychic's dead human partner. "I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's okay." Enzlo shook his head to the Lycanroc, and he reached up to poke Rook on the nose again. The Lycanroc wriggled his nose with a short 'mrawf' noise and Enzlo watched him for a long moment.

"Rook..." Enzlo started and his arms gripped into his fur again, "I...I am scared..."

"Scared of what...?" Rook asked, tilting his head. "I think you said that before too, that you were scared shitless."

"That was about Jack and everything...but this...I'm...scared of what I feel." Enzlo slowly admitted, "Scared of how I feel about you..."

Rook paused his paw's movements upon Enzlo's back at this and he stared for a long, drawn out moment of a few seconds before he spoke. "Wh...what do you mean...?" He asked slowly.

There was another heavy and drawn out moment of a few seconds before Enzlo managed to push it out, "Because I love you Rook..." He finally said it to him, and for a short moment he gripped onto the wolf's fur. Enzlo could feel the Lycanroc's heartbeat skip and then start to quicken, both through how he was feeling his soul and through his physical body in the real world and he sighed, "and I am scared...because if you really are the Bright Star...then...what I want to have with you I could never get..."

Rook stayed silent for a full minute, his heartbeat fluttering and then eventually slowing back to a more normal speed before he pulled Enzlo away from his chest and smiled down at him when the Abra looked up. "Then it's a good thing that I don't believe I am the Bright Star, huh?"

Enzlo took a full ten seconds to actually understand what Rook meant in saying that, and he couldn't help that tears began to leak from his eyes just like when Rook had seen him injuring himself. "Rook...I..."

"Relax Enzlo..." Rook said with a smile, and he would lift one shoulder briefly in a sort of shrugging motion. "I...don't know how I feel about you, truly, I have been more than significantly distracted by everything that has been going on...but I am more than open to your love...and even if I was, or am, the Bright Star, please don't let that stop you from loving me." The Lycanroc smiled and he let out a snicker, "Who the hell lets titles stop them from loving someone?"

Enzlo paused at the Lycanroc's statement and blinked his purple eyes up at him, the tears dripping from the corners before he smiled and laughed, "Ha...hahaha...hah...you're right...I was being a hell of a silly fool."

_______________________

Before anything more could even be said, both of them were suddenly literally shaken back to the real world by Ruli, who had entered the room in a rush. The loud boom of thunder followed the sudden flash of nearby lightning out the window as the both of them gained their senses.

"Sorry to break you out of your trance." Ruli said, knowing exactly what they had been doing but not what was going on within it. His paws both rested upon Rook's and Enzlo's shoulders. "But the storm is here, and we need all hands on deck, even the Espeon is gonna be helping with this."

The sudden rocking of the ship made Ruli trip backwards as soon after the entirety of the ship was forced to angle with that of the wave that bobbed under the raft. Another flash of lightning cracked through the sky. The angle caused rain to pour in through the window and soaked Enzlo's bed.

"This is it boys!" Captain Nether's voice sounded over the rumbling boom of thunder that followed it from his place at the wheel. "I can tell it's only gonna get more intense before it begins to fade! This is the test of this vessel! Let's not let it be its last! This is afterall, The New Era!"

"Yes sir Captain!" The dozen Buizel's voices would shout back, as they struggled to control the ship's movement and angle through the force of the waves crashing against it from their poles around the still burning hearth.

Ruli managed to get his footing back as the raft leveled out, and he left Rook and Enzlo without another word as he shouted, "Captain! Give us our orders!"

The Lycanroc and Abra followed after as Captain Nether just laughed heartily and scoffed, "You damn land lubbers just hang on to something firm and don't let yourselves get tossed overboard!" Another loud rumble echoed through the sky.

The Typhlosion shook his fist up at the sky, "Bring it on you pissy little rain clouds! Is this all you got!?"

An echoing rumble and a crack of lightning nearby, along with the resulting and loud boom answered the captain, who cackled while he pulled the wheel several notches to the left as he saw an upcoming, large wave that needed to be crested by meeting it head on.

"Captain!" Ruli shouted out from the top floor as he saw the ship head straight towards the large, shifting wall of water that approached them, just as Rook and Enzlo began to scale the stairs and this was when the raft met the upcoming wave of water and tilted backwards like it had before.

Rook nearly fell back off the staircase, and he reached back behind himself to hold onto Enzlo as they were forced to practically hang off the stairs for a scant and dangerous feeling five seconds before they created the big wave and leveled out again.

"Please do not taunt the sea Captain!" The Espeon's voice now called over the sound of the rain as Rook would finally pull himself and Enzlo up onto the top floor, and for some reason, Rook lifted Enzlo up onto the top of his head without really thinking about it, where the Abra readily wrapped his legs around his neck and his hands gripped his mane of fur tightly from the force of the wind that blew rain into their faces.

"Stow it ya prissy psychic! This is when I feel ALIVE!!!" The Captain shouted while spinning his wheel back to where he had it before meeting the wave. "It's us against Nature itself! Show you are worthy!"

"This was not what I wanted to happen on this trip!" The voice of the young Timburr shipwright with them shouted out himself.

Rook couldn't help it. This was so exciting, his eyes glowed and he grinned widely as he came to the edge of the ship and gripped the railing, staring out across the roiling sea and the flashes of lightning and thunder. He'd seen storms upon the shore of his island many times, but this raging storm, out upon the open waters of the sea...

"This is amazing!" He said in his exhilaration, briefly letting go of the railing to just hold his arms up open in the air, letting the rain splash all over himself and Enzlo too atop of his head.

"HAHAHA I KNEW I LIKED YOU!!!" Nether shouted out at the wolf, "GET THE FUCK UP HERE! I WANT YOU AS MY FIRST MATE!"

"Captain I'm your first mate!" One of the Buizel's below called up.

"Sorry boys! But you all know I can't tell any of you apart! I love all of you but damn! Get up here Rook! I'M DAMN SERIOUS!!! Show me you can tame what you're weak against!"

"Yes sir!" Rook shouted and he rushed over to the platform, discarding getting to the stairs in favor of scrambling up onto it from where he had been.

Riding on top of Rook's head, Enzlo watched and listened as Nether, even in the middle of combating the raging storm, instructed Rook on the principles of sailing. The wolf listened in eager attentiveness to every word, but Enzlo instead realized something.

This whole situation just showed even more how Rook was exactly like the Bright Star. The Lycanroc was so eager and focused on the moment, that the tense moment they had just been having about two minutes ago was forgotten.

But Enzlo just smiled, as he had gotten his answer from Rook and it turned out Tod had been right. Rook was simply just Rook, and as Nether dared to let the Lycanroc take the helm; much to the despair of Riley and the Espeon as he then proceeded to just only slightly miss meeting a rogue wave and cause the ship to angle dangerously...He just laughed and his grin brightened the mood.

Enzlo didn't want him to change. Not one bit.