Finding Truth Amongst The Lies

Chapter 60: Multiple POV's

Aryan's POV

After running blindly through the forest for a few minutes I forced myself to stop and take a deep, calming breath. I had royally messed up. Because I had not been able to follow through with my simple job of keeping Serena away from pokemon contests, Ash was in even more danger and who knew what this would do to Neptune's timeline to destroy the earth.

I really should have just arrested her, I groaned inwardly. But those thoughts were unproductive. What was done was done and now I needed to figure out what the next step I needed to take was.

"Aryan!"

I blinked and looked over my shoulder, surprised to see that Serena and Bree had apparently followed me into the forest after I had returned Salamence and let Ash's Pikachu go off to find his trainer. I had planned to follow the mouse pokemon, but he had been way too quick and now I was stuck at a crossroads. Did I abandon the girls to go after Ash and try to help him? Or did I stick with them to protect them if Neptune decided to jump the gun and trigger Armageddon?

I waited for Serena and Bree to catch up to me and noticed that Serena was out of breath but Bree seemed to be doing fine. Although her face was hard with anger and confusion.

"Why are you chasing after Satoshi?" Serena asked between gasps. I flinched at the raw pain in her eyes as she looked up at me and wiped at the sweat under her bangs.

"And who was that chick he was being all friendly with?" Bree asked with a growl in her voice. Serena physically winced at the mention of Neptune and I realized that seeing Ash drag her away had been a bigger blow to her than I would have hoped.

I let out a sigh and turned towards them.

"You two girls need to be quiet and listen to me for a minute. And whatever I say you musn't repeat to anyone. Do I have your word?" I asked them firmly, looking pointedly at Bree. She was giving me a full-on sneer and I could just see her thinking 'you could have done this a long time ago', which wasn't entirely untrue.

When neither of them said anything but had nodded their agreement, I let out one last sigh before beginning to speak.

"Satoshi is not who you think he is," I said slowly, trying to figure out the vaguest way to explain things without giving any important details away. Bree cocked her eyebrow up challengingly at this and Serena frowned slightly but neither of them interrupted me so I continued.

"That woman he was with is called Neptune. She is the leader of the reformed Team Galactic." Understandably Serena gasped and looked mortified at this news, but Bree just narrowed her eyes, so I plunged on. "Satoshi has been... undercover for the last several months trying to gather enough evidence to stop Neptune and her team's plans. Your Majestoat came from one of Neptune's genetic experiments that she deemed a failure. She ordered Satoshi to dispose of Roisel back when you met him, but he chose to give her to you instead, Serena, so now that Neptune has seen Majestoat..."

"Satoshi is in danger?" Serena asked in a choked voice. "Because of me?"

"Don't think like that, Serena. It was Satoshi who gave you Roisel in the first place and it was Aryan who kept his mouth shut when he could've just said this and you never would have gone to that contest," Bree said, her words nearly acidic in their ferocity.

Serena did not seem comforted by Bree's shift of the blame, but it sure did a number on me. Although I didn't have time to dwell on how I had failed. I needed to work towards fixing this mistake rather than beating myself up about how the mistake had come to be.

"In any case, now that Neptune has seen that Satoshi disobeyed her, things could get very difficult for him. I need to go after him to back him up, so I need you two to stick close together and take care of each other, alright?"