Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Broken Ideals

Chapter 68: A Dark Sunrise

Chapter 68

A Dark Sunrise

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Zekra stood there in the midst of the jungle, finding herself at a complete loss.

Crystelle's harsh words still rang clearly in her ears, cutting deep into her soul. And while the pain wasn't heart-wrenching, there was still quite a bit of inner turmoil, something that she hadn't felt in a very long time. Sometime during her stay on Shirra, her heart had become practically non-existent, only conjuring up an emotion out of her occasionally. And even then the emotion was incredibly subdued and easy to stifle. Nothing was able to linger long in her heart after she had adapted to a life of normality and monotony.

But that wasn't the case right now. She could clearly feel a deep sense of guilt worm its way through her heart, because deep down she knew that Crystelle had spoken the undeniable, cold truth; Zekra was a selfish coward. She had abandoned her friends without a second thought and ran away to Shirra because she wanted to escape all of her problems instead of dealing with them. She had left everything behind because she had quit caring about everything she once held dear. All she cared about was herself.

She was selfish, unthoughtful, and most of all, a weakling.

Zekra squeezed her eyes shut as she felt tears well up in her eyes.

No, she's wrong. Zekra told herself. Crystelle doesn't know anything. She doesn't know that I had to leave because I would have died if I stayed on Shiron. She doesn't know that I had to leave Tear because if I stayed with him, I'd crack one day and tell him something that would ruin his life. Keeping Tear safe and happy isn't selfish. Crystelle doesn't know anything!

Zekra opened her eyes as she growled bitterly, feeling a spark of wrath flare up within her, incinerating all of her grief.

She's wrong. I don't have to listen to a single word that obnoxious brat says to me. She's just being this way because she thinks she knows what's actually going on with the world since she got to go visit the main land. Tch, she doesn't know anything. She's just stupid and insensitive.

Zekra snorted as she felt the last of her heart-break fade away as the fire in her continued to rage. Then, upon realizing that she was still in the jungle with the dead Gliscor Crystelle had slain resting beside her, she stormed out and headed back home.

After minutes of fuming in silence whilst walking through the rough sand, Zekra finally found herself back on the doorstep of Lyra and Frazil's home. She shoved the door open and then wandered inside right as the doorknob crashed into a wall. She only had to glance around for a second to find that nobody was home. It seemed that Lyra was still out wherever she went and Frazil was presumably on an errand. Zekra honestly couldn't remember why she didn't see him for most of the day. She was sure that he had something at breakfast that morning, but she hadn't been paying attention.

But hardly any of this mattered, for Zekra also realized that Crystelle wasn't in the house either. Zekra knew it was probably because she was still upset with the Zorua and didn't want to be in the presence of a supposedly selfish and pathetic Pokémon. However, Zekra found that she didn't care; Crystelle wasn't home, and she didn't want to see her. She had enough of that Umbreon.

Zekra closed the front door shut with her hind leg before making her way down the long hallway of the house and into her bedroom. Zekra's bedroom, for the most part, had remained unchanged since she began living with her guardians once more. There was still a mirror hanging near the door, still a dresser containing absolutely nothing in its drawers, and the bookshelf filled with various novels remained untouched and dusty. There weren't any sort of paintings on the walls, nor was there any sort of plush toys that Zekra had seen a few times while at the market.