Chp 11: Leaving

It was quite late in the evening when they got back. After leaving Anna behind at Vic's home, they returned to the abandoned building. They found a secluded place somewhere outside the city, where they buried the gang leader's body alongside his Rattata.

Vic stepped into his home and saw Anna, playing with Zorua in the living room. He turned to Kevin behind and asked, "Do you want something to eat? I still have some leftover sandwich from yesterday."

"No thanks," Kevin said, feeling a little lightheaded. "Can I borrow your toilet?"

"Sure," Vic shrugged and pointed his hand ahead. "The toilet's just right there."

Without uttering another word, Kevin bolted into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. In the next second, the sound of him throwing up could be heard coming from inside the bathroom.

Vic gave a headshake. Clearly, this was Kevin's first murder. He went through the same thing as well. Hearing his stomach grumble, he headed into the kitchen to get something to eat. He was very hungry after going an entire day without eating.

Kevin came out of the toilet around half an hour later with a pale face. He looked so weak that a breeze could easily knock him over.

Slowly, he made his way to the table where Vic and Anna were eating. A plate of sandwich was put in front of him as he sat down.

Without even caring about his poor table manners, Kevin grabbed the sandwich and dug right in. Nobody spoke to each other at the table. Everyone preferred to finish their meals in silence.

After everyone had finished their dinner, Anna offered to do the dishes, which Vic agreed to. Standing up, he and Kevin headed to the living room to relax.

Vic picked up a book from the pile of stuff that they had looted from the gang and tossed it at Kevin, who lifted an eyebrow in surprise.

"What's this for?"

"It's a guide book on how to use aura," Vic told him.

"Aura? I've heard of it from passerby trainers," Kevin replied, while reading the title on the cover. "But this thing must be valuable."

He hesitated to take this book away. It was too precious of a gift for him.

Vic waved it off. "It's fine. I already have one. You can take it."

"Thanks," Kevin replied, keeping the book close to himself. He had seen how strong Vic became after learning aura. He was not going to miss this chance to get stronger.

Vic examined the other items they had brought back, but found nothing he could use, so he left everything to Kevin, including the aura training guidebook he had given earlier.

Although Vic could guide Kevin on aura training by himself, he was not going to help him. He was going to leave soon.

"Vic."

Vic raised his head when he heard Kevin calling him.

"Can my sister read this book too?"

"It's yours now. You can do whatever you want with it," Vic replied. "Just don't let anybody else see it."

"I know. I'll only show it to my sister," Kevin said after hearing Vic's reminder.

Vic decided to go to bed early today as he was leaving tomorrow. After waving goodbye to Kevin and his sister, he returned to his room, where he settled up with a book and read until he nodded off to sleep.

The following morning, Vic woke up early feeling energised and ready. After finishing his breakfast with Zorua, he gave his backpack one last look to make sure everything was in place. Then he sat at his front door, waiting for Kevin to arrive.

Before long, Kevin and his sister showed up with a couple of suitcases.

"We are not late, are we?" Kevin asked.

"No, you're on time," Vic replied before looking at them curiously. "Is it just the two of you?"

"Grandma is still at home packing some things. I thought you might be in a hurry, so we came here first," Kevin told him.

Vic nodded and glanced at Anna standing next to Kevin. She appeared to be in much better shape after a night of rest.

She no longer had the nervous look she had yesterday. Instead, she looked very lively, just like when Vic first saw her.

"Here," Vic said, handing Kevin the key to his house. "You got everything I told you yesterday right?"

"Yes," Kevin nodded. "Keep the house clean and don't forget to water the flowers in the garden. Got it."

"Good. Then I'm off."

Kevin bid them farewell before leaving with Zorua. Since he had no idea when he would return, he simply rented his house to Kevin. Kevin was only happy to take it because it was much better than living in the slum.

Watching as Vic gradually got farther away, Kevin and Anna turned to look at each other. The two siblings were full of hope for their futures.

After travelling for over an hour, Vic came to a crossroads. He had long since left the city by this point. He came to a stop in front of the signpost to gather his thoughts. One path led to the main road, while the other into the forest.

Vic had never been into the forest before. When he went there to explore, he only made it to the periphery and that was as far as he got. Knowing how dangerous the forest was, he didn't dare to go deeper.

In contrast, the main road was quite safe. Pokemon typically avoided this road because it was frequently travelled by people.

Even after thinking for some time, Vic couldn't still make a decision. In the end, he could only turn to Zorua for his opinion.

"What do you think, Zorua? Should we take the safer path or head into the forest? I don't know what we're going to face in the forest, to be honest. It's up to you to decide."

A couple of minutes later, Zorua, with a determined look on his face, took a step in the direction of the forest. Seeing that, Vic started to follow him. Since his Pokemon picked this option, he must follow as a trainer.

Less than half an hour later, they arrived at the forest. They decided to take a short break. Once they rested enough, they went inside.

It was getting darker as they went deeper into the forest. The forest's dense caanpy barely let any sunlight through. There was lush greenery and tall trees everywhere they looked.

Pokemon also started to show up more frequently, however they were all just Caterpie and Weedle. Vic was still uneasy about this though. He was afraid of running into dangerous Pokemon territory, like Beedril for example.

Because of their nervousness and inexperience, they barely covered half the distance on the first day of their trip. Fortunately, they didn't encounter any danger.

The forest got even more dangerous at night. Before the sun completely set, they began looking for a shelter to spend the night. To their luck, they managed to find an empty cave.

They hardly got any sleep that night. It was eerily quiet in the forest. Sometimes, the roars of Pokemon echoed across the forest, startling them from their sleep.

Vic and Zorua, who did not sleep well the night before, were relieved to see the first rays of sunrise the following morning. It was easier to defend themselves against any wild Pokemon attacks during the day than at night, when they could hardly see anything.