Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Seasons of Heaven

Episode 23: Rising Spirle

However, moments later, all the pain and discomfort vanished. Somehow, despite staying underwater for longer than any air breather should have been able to, he fully recovered without doing anything. In fact, his vision became as clear as it was on land, and his hearing enhanced to pick up sounds from miles away. His aches stopped and he could practically fly through the water. This was even after he choked and spasmed in an effort to gain oxygen.

The moment he realised that he was okay, his focus locked onto the drowning Sophitia. She was passed out, so it was easy for him to swim over. He caught her in his front paws and shot for the surface, and breathed water the whole time. It was probably the most heroic he had ever looked, yet it felt the most disturbing.

"Never mind all that. Isn't that okay?" Naivie said. She fluttered between him and Esther. "So you hate this world that's created you, huh? And you wanna destroy everything that contributed to it."

Lute didn't answer, but his eyes thinned.

"Then let's go do that. And this isn't even some fancy twist and stuff to get you to do what I want. This world is filthy!" Naivie announced. "So let's destroy it by awakening the remaining flowers. Do that, and everyone gets what they want."

"Naivie!" Esther cried.

"Trying to get me to follow your orders like I'm some kind of slave. That's exactly what I've grown to hate about everyone," Lute said as he coiled back to into bed.

"Hold up, listen for a sec. You remember that when the flowers are awakened, V-Wave technology stops working, right? But aren't you a product made entirely outta V-Waves?" Naivie continued. He got up again. "Exactly. You destroy the basis of society, and you stop functioning, too. You wanna die, so you take the world with you. You already tried to kill yourself once, so might as well do something useful with it."

"Naivie, that's fucking horrible!" Esther cried.

"But it's what he wants. The world isn't gonna change as long as V-Wave stuff keeps existing. So if you wanna remove it all as well as yourself, do it all in one fell swoop with the help of the ancient flowers," Naivie explained.

"That's still a horrible way of thinking! What kind of twisted masochist do you have to be to help someone kill themselves for your own gain? Weren't we friends?" Esther shrieked.

"Ha! Hardly. With stuff like this, I can't afford to let emotions and 'friendship' get in the way of stuff that has to be done. It's do or die for the world. Friendship has no place in it," Naivie said.

"That's a good way of thinking, actually," Lute said, getting up. Esther took in a breath. "I'm tired of treating everyone like fake friends."

"Don't say that," Esther said. She held him in place, but he didn't fight back. "We're friends, aren't we? We understand each other more than most Pokémon."

Lute's face tightened. "You're annoying, you know that?"

Esther gasped and flinched back.

"You're annoying. You're obsessive and controlling, and you have no sense of shame. Your idea of us being friends was you inserting yourself into my life and dragging me into this mess, careless about how I felt or how any of it really affected me," Lute stated. He completely ignored her look of disbelief. "And then you have the nerve to try and coax me with asinine statements like falling in love with me? You and I were never friends. That was just a dumb status you convinced yourself you had for your own satisfaction."

"But I- we—" she mouthed and shuddered. "I-I m-meant... I didn't—"

"Hey, you confessed, and he responded. You can either deal with this maturely, or run off crying like a sissy," Naivie said. Esther let out a hoarse groan and then stifled it after a second, left shuddering with a furious glare on her face.