Chapter no.14

As I mulled over the concept, I frowned and tried to brush my hair out of my face. Personally, I believe that by the time I reached the age of three, I would have liquefied to the point where I would have been nothing more than a steaming pile of goo on the carpets, perpetually bubbling in the heat.

I wish I could curse Hoenn and its constant summer heat.

I gave another vigorous shake of my head. "Why did you refer to me as soldier-boy when you were leaving earlier?" I inquired because I was concerned that he might be aware of some aspect of my background. On the other hand, my history is his present...

That, by itself, was enough to throw anyone off their game.

I insisted, "I did tell you my name," as I watched another grin form on his face. "I did tell you my name," I added. It started to irritate me that he seemed to take everything as a joke and have a good laugh at it. The fact that I had been brought up in such a solemn environment was something of a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, I admired everyone who was able to take a break from the solemnity of the world every once in a while and just relax. On the other hand, I found it impossible to interact with people who appeared to have no regard for being serious.

"Hey, don't like it; don't dress like one." He shrugged his shoulders once more and laughed as Xander bobbed up along the surface of the water once more. As he turned to face me, he uttered the phrase "Tell ya what." "Come with me, and if you help me explore Altering Cave, I'll give you a lift across this river here." "Come with me, and if you help me explore Altering Cave."

When I went in the direction he was pointing, I discovered an old cave that was directly in front of me. Because the entrance to the hole that led into it was almost entirely on the floor, it gave the impression of being the remnants of an old mining pit. The majority of the surrounding area was comprised of shrubbery, and the entrance to the cave could only be made out partially due to the presence of some larger plants. It indicated that the cave led deeper underground, where a great variety of dangerous animals might be hiding.

"I'm confused as to why you'd offer to assist me." I did not have faith in the assistance he was providing for me, so I asked him. "I mean, come on, assisting a beginner in the training pitch? It sounds like someone would do something like that to try to groom someone who was naive about other things."

It was one of the few and far between occasions in which I witnessed him showing signs of anger on his face. He hissed at me with a malicious tone, "Look at you, you ungrateful shit," "All I'm doing is making an effort to be nice and offering some assistance. It's all right if you don't want it. But please don't accuse me of being something even remotely as messed up as that, okay?"

I nodded, fully aware that I had completely exceeded the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. I apologised sincerely to him as I watched the expression of regret spread across his face and saw him nod in understanding. "I'm... not used to seeing people being so willing to lend a helping hand to one another. Where I come from, people are more likely to shoot you than they are to offer a hand to help you up. If you fall down, don't expect anyone to offer assistance."

It was authentic. Only within our own camps did people treat each other with consideration, and even then, only when everything was back to normal. It was always a matter of self-preservation, regardless of whether Pokémon or people were the aggressors. What I said to him perfectly encapsulated the hostility that exists between the various camps: if they saw you, they would most likely shoot you in the leg and leave you for the Pokémon, rather than taking you in and assisting you in putting your life back together after you had fallen on hard times.

Because of this, it irritated me even more when Adryan laughed at my attempt at an apology.

He laughed and said, "Hey, that's a rough place, sounds like the start to so many rags-to-riches story," but he didn't notice me glare at his completely uncaring attitude towards my upbringing. "Hey, that's a rough place," he said. "In all seriousness, are the Rockets still in play in your region? Or some other deranged and criminal gang of nutcases?"

I was unable to tell him the specifics of the circumstances surrounding my upbringing because I was unaware of the Rockets and the circumstances surrounding my upbringing. I suppose that if I had wanted to freak him out and scare him away, I could have done that. However, something told me that he would take it as a joke and would never stop bothering me to think of other stories that were just as funny.

So I decided to go with the second best option, which was to completely change the subject.

"Why do you take life so lightly and find humour in everything?" I demanded while keeping my anger under control. "You can't just laugh off the seriousness of a situation and pretend it doesn't exist!"

Again, he shrugged his shoulders while cocking his head in amusement. "You will eventually become twisted, bitter, and angry at everyone and everything in the world if you don't learn to laugh at the things that happen to you. During my travels, I've witnessed a lot of different things, including how some people let their experiences transform them into shadows of who they used to be. Consequently, I make it a point to maintain my own happiness through laughter, even if the only amusement I get from it is the result of my immaturity." After a long sigh, he forced another grin onto his face and continued his cheerful demeanour. "Do you know that laughter is the best medicine there is? I'd rather have a positive outlook on life and alienate some people than have a negative outlook and be liked by most."

I didn't intend to, but I ended up taking what he said to heart. Although I was unable to disagree with anything he said, the fact that he showed no sign of being serious about anything bothered me, despite the fact that I grasped his point entirely. I'd seen so many people in my time fall into depression as a result of the conditions in which we were living, and the only way I'd managed to keep my sanity was to give all of my attention to achieving every objective I'd ever set for myself.

It was probably the very first time in my entire life that I ever truly began to question whether or not I was happy.

"Anyway," he said as he jumped to his feet, sending puddles of wet mud flying in all directions. "You now know a little bit more about me, and I now know a little bit more about you. Do you want to go into the cave with me and get a ride, or would you rather sit around here for the next hour or two trying to figure out what to do?"

After giving it some thought, I determined that the best course of action for me would be to spend some more time with him and investigate the cave. To be honest, the more time I spent with him, the more I began to wonder if I had been too quick to form an opinion of him. I felt like I had judged him too harshly.

Even if he did have a pattern of doing things that made me want to suffocate him.