Defenders of Evodusai Part 5
The soft pattering of rain
gently hitting the ground was soothing to the ear. Still clutching
tightly onto my long lost friend, new found instincts told me to seek
out shelter. Breaking off from Liru's embrace, I took her paw and led
her towards one of the nearby trees. Wiping away a final tear, she
gave me a stare that reminded me of her old self. "What happened to
you, momma? You used to be a human, but now you look like an ordinary
char-" I shook my head in confusion. "Momma?" I cried, "I was
a guy before turning into a charmander." Liru looked away with a
feeling of doubt. "But momma, you fed and took care of me when I
was little. Whenever I was alone, you were the only one who showed up
when I started crying. Then when you let me follow you around, I saw
how hard you worked and it inspired me to become the pokemon that I
am today." Moving closer to me, Liru grasped both my paws and held
them up to chest height. "No matter what you look like, you'll
always be my mommy." I couldn't say anything to her.
The way her eyes glowed with sincerity as she talked just melted my
heart. I accepted her words and grinned with a sense of maternal
pride. A cough from the side ruined the moment between us. "Sorry
for intruding," an uncomfortable Truce said, rubbing the back of
his neck nervously. Liru, turning purple out of embarrassment,
instantly dropped my paws and charged at the zangoose. Despite her
insane speed, Truce was able to see her coming and managed to dodge
her attack with his own amazing speed. "Woah, calm down! I said I
was sorry," he huffed from the treetops. Liru stomped the ground
for a bit to let out her rage. "Promise me that you won't tell
anyone back at headquarters," she screamed out. Dropping down onto
a branch, he gave her his promise and fell to the ground. "Oh,
yeah," he said, brushing the dirt off his fur, "speaking of
headquarters, we gotta start heading back. Can you go and get our
packs? I kinda left them back in the forest clearing."
Liru grumbled out something
profane and left to gather their things. Turning to me with a serious
look, Truce got in real close and whispered into my ear hole. "Char
girl, I won't force you to come with us but we could really use
someone with your abilities. I've seen the way you took control of
that fight after breaking the crystal and I gotta say that it was
impressive. Also," he nudged a shoulder towards the direction that
Liru went, "you two seem pretty close. Truth is, that girl over
there needs some help with her anger issues and you're the only one
that can potentially fix them. After meeting up with you, she's shown
me a side of her that I didn't even know existed." A few flags were
raised after sensing something wrong in the tone of his voice. It
reminded me of my younger bro who knew how to manipulate others using
only his--. I grabbed his mouth shut, a bit pissed after realizing
his true intentions. "Look, you don't have to use your honeyed
words to lure me in. I was already going to join so that I can help
out my buddy and see if I can find out anything about myself along
the way." Letting go, Truce rubbed his maw in disappointment.
"Feisty. I can see where Liru gets her attitude from." Hurrying back with bags hanging
from her tail, Liru returned with something in her hand. "Truce,
you have to be more careful with this thing." I walked up to her to
get a closer look at the object. It was a flat golden piece of metal
that was slightly bigger then the size of her paw and shaped like an
eye. There was a green jewel encrusted in its center that glowed with
energy. "What is that?" I asked Truce. Approaching us, he gasped
and snatched the object from Liru. "It's my badge," he said,
rubbing it gently. "This particular badge is actually a one of a
kind item. I'd like to tell you more about it but not here." He
looked around the area, a bit troubled by something. "Okay, looks
like we're ready to go. Huddle up next to me and we'll be back in
headquarters in no time." Practically hugging, we waited as Truce
held up the badge. The blinding light hit us and the feeling of
travel was nauseating. What used to be a forest soon turned into
buildings that looked modern and man-made. Letting go of the
zangoose, Liru and I looked around in awe. Feeling a claw placed on
our shoulders, Truce smiled. "Welcome to Sofeda."