Pokémon Chronicles 零 (ZERO)

Episode 20: Heroica's special professor! To Goldenrod Field!

"Okay... that's it- no further... please," Lucca huffed, falling face flat. "I can't go on any more..."

"It's getting really dark, and we're in the middle of stark nowhere. Is this really the time or place to stop and drop like this?" Brine replied. We were all brought to a halt by the fact that he was serious, remaining flat on the ground and unmoving.

"It is... I'm so hungry..." he whined on top of a stomach growl. The rest of us sighed and shrugged, gathering around him to give up and set up camp.

I didn't feel like I had recovered from our earlier discovery of Cerulean Village in ruins, nor the switch of attitude from Lucca that caused him to take Edvard's life. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made for him to do so, and yet, it left such a bitter taste in my mouth that I couldn't get rid of it.

Since the village couldn't be saved, we had been forced to press on straight to Goldenrod Field before our supplies ran out. Lucca had convinced us to take the pokemon we rescued with us, a pokemon he identified as an Azumarill, having Mimia carry them whilst Lucca himself kept Azumarill's weapon hidden from her. His secrecy towards the questions asked no doubt left the rest of us concerned, but with everything that had happened, he wasn't the focus of my worries.

"You're so normal about this..." I mumbled, blankly watching everyone set up a camp.

"Hmm? Normal about what?" he replied. My mouth dropped.

"Killing Edvard? The knight that attacked us? The fact that Cerulean Village is in ruins! What else?" I snapped.

"Wait, you're really still upset about that?" he wondered, sounding surprised. I growled, to which he sighed, getting back up to sit in front of me. "Come on now, Crystal. You already knew that I don't hold back in a battle for survival. We can find out everything that happened from this Azumarill, I hope."

"Is that why you took her weapon away?" Megan wondered. Brine seemed to have gone blank, watching the way Mimia effortlessly set up a campsite on his own. The Stufful didn't even need to use that many tools to do so, hammering in tent pegs and such with his bare paws. All of this was done without untying the Azumarill from his back, whom was beginning to awaken due to the noise.

"Picture this... she was the one getting attacked by the knights... and then eventually, Edvard himself. Why? She seems harmless enough," Lucca proposed. I went into a thought pose. "Trust me; I don't want to have to kill other pokemon either. But as a leader, it's up to me to make the decision of whether someone deserves death, and whether they do or don't, to take responsibility for the sin of taking their life."

"... That's kind of noble for someone who's kidnapping me, don't you think?" Azumarill yawned, drawing all eyes to her. Mimia didn't seem to care that she was awake either, going about his business in setting up for the night. At this point he was making a fire, for some reason interesting Brine even more.

"Yes, I've been told that before... but I'm afraid that if you have a problem with me having to kill another, the only thing you'll be able to do to stop me is to do it yourself," Lucca stated. "Someone had to stop Edvard for good, and putting him in imperial custody didn't seem to do that. That's all there is to it."

"I... I know but... but still..." I growled. Lucca sighed. "When you made a big deal about us going on this journey to save Heroica and all, having to do such a thing never crossed my mind."

"And rightly so. You're only a civilian, Crystal. Leave the darker necessities to me," he smiled.

"... Fine, if that's how you want it to be. But just... promise me that you'll only kill when you absolutely have to, okay?" I sighed.