Forgetting the Past

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The only thing keeping the utterly exhausted Cheng Hong moving forward was the prospect of a better life in the future.

A better life in the future.

Baimu believed that at a time like this, nothing mattered except the benefits soon to be within reach. Whenever Cheng Hong slowed down, he used words like these to spur him on.

As the encouragement piled up, Cheng Hong's God's expression visibly grew more irritated, but his steps also became stronger.

However.

As if fate were toying with them, their journey was always full of hardship and suffering.

Just as they reached the fork where they had encountered Graveler earlier, danger struck again!

From the tunnel on the left charged a dirt-gray, four-legged Pokémon that resembled a tank. Looking somewhat panicked, it carried a wailing man on its back, his right arm twisted at an unnatural angle.

The moment their eyes met, Baimu frowned deeply. Cheng Hong's eyes filled with despair, while the panic and pain on Shibata's face rapidly turned into delight and malice.

"Hahaha! You think I won't recognize you just because you're wearing a mask? Rhyhorn! Kill him!"

His roar quickly echoed throughout the entire cave.

"Run! Keep running forward!"

Baimu barely freed up one hand, quickly pulled a purple ball from his pocket, and slammed it onto the ground.

Bang!

The ball exploded, and thick purple smoke swiftly engulfed the entire fork.

[Smoke Ball], an item that could confuse a Pokémon's vision and sense of smell. It was not cheap.

Rhyhorn had never been interested in chasing down prey while fleeing in the first place. Now that it could no longer find its target, it grew even more sluggish.

Shibata shouted furiously again and again.

Within the smoke.

Cheng Hong, who was behind Baimu, quickly overtook him. Though his stamina had clearly long been at its limit, he suddenly erupted with a new burst of strength and sprinted faster than before.

"Staying alive comes first! Put them down for now!"

Baimu reminded him in a low voice. There was no need to insist on saving people at a time like this. If they could not even save themselves, how could they worry about anyone else?

"You put yours down too! If you do, I will!" Cheng Hong decisively refused. Without even looking back, he remained certain that Baimu was still carrying the other two people.

Idiot!

Was this really the time for that? If they had to give up, then give up!

Baimu gritted his teeth. Feeling the tremors behind him, he knew Rhyhorn had already figured out the direction in which they were fleeing.

There was no helping it. Both of them reeked of sweat and blood. It would have been strange if Rhyhorn could not smell them.

And Pokémon like that were extremely fast when running in a straight line. Even at his peak, Baimu would not have dared claim he could outrun it. Now he was carrying two people...

"Run! Keep running! Let's see how far you can get!"

Shibata's venomous voice carried from afar.

That guy had turned all his pain into intense hostility. He had probably imagined some ridiculous scenario in his head too. Being targeted by someone like that was truly rotten luck.

What a pity.

With a sigh in his heart, Baimu decisively threw the person in his arms toward the edge of the cave. They were less than five hundred meters from the exit. Even though the path climbed steeply uphill, carrying two people should have taken them just over a minute at most.

What a waste.

The two of you, fend for yourselves.

Maybe Shibata would spare them in order to pursue the others. That would at least give them a slim chance of survival.

"I'm doing it! Don't hesitate!"

He shouted and reached with his other hand to untie the rope around himself.

Just then, Shibata suddenly screamed from behind them.

"Ah! What is that?! Where did this thing come from?!"

Baimu dropped the person on his back without slowing down. He swiftly turned his head for a fleeting glance and vaguely saw silver light burst forth, dazzlingly brilliant!

A Pokémon's cries followed.

"Guh!!"

"Rrhh!!"

—Aron!

Baimu would never forget that familiar cry. It had frightened him twice during their earlier panicked escape.

It had followed them again?

And it had clashed with Rhyhorn and Shibata?

Aron...

Rumble—!!

Violent tremors and falling gravel interrupted Baimu's thoughts. When he turned back again, he saw countless rocks crashing down from above, blocking the path behind them.

Shibata's shouts and the cries of the two Pokémon were swallowed up, utterly cut off from him as he ran, like a gate slamming shut.

A gate called safety.

Baimu: "..."

He abruptly stopped, spun around with lightning speed, rushed toward the first person he had dropped, scooped him up, then grabbed the second one as well.

Cheng Hong, who was running ahead, had just been about to put his person down. When he instinctively turned around and saw what Baimu was doing, he was dumbfounded.

"You really dropped them? Wait, if you dropped them, why did you pick them back up?"

"Shut up. Run."

Baimu said nothing more and stared straight ahead.

Cheng Hong had wanted to ask what was going on, but seeing Baimu's solemn gaze, he shut his mouth and followed.

Who would have thought that Baimu would only run faster and faster? Despite the steep uphill slope, he opened a gap of more than ten meters in an instant, and it kept growing.

"Huh? Huh??"

Only then did Cheng Hong realize that if Baimu had not been looking after him, he might have escaped long ago.

"Ahhh! Where did this thing come from?! Hurry up and kill it!"

A human's helpless, furious roar echoed through the mine.

Aron looked up at Rhyhorn, which was snorting through its nostrils and seemed enraged, God's expression slightly wary.

But at that moment, it was thinking about something else.

Had that boy escaped?

It hoped so.

The first time it saw him, it had been stunned beyond belief. It had never expected that it would one day see him again. Only afterward did it realize that the boy merely had similar eyes and hair; their faces were completely different.

Right.

It had been abandoned, left behind in this unfamiliar land. There was no doubt about it.

How could they possibly meet again?

It had fantasized that person might one day come looking for it, but those were only fragments of dreams. In the end, what remained deepest in its memory was still that back disappearing without hesitation.

Hatred?

Perhaps there was a little.

But more than that, it felt confusion. Because... why?

What reason was there for it to be abandoned?

Weak? Slow-witted? Rebellious?

That was not right.

It did not remember ever being described by any similar words.

Besides, you were the one who said, "It is a Trainer's responsibility to make weak Pokémon stronger!"

So why?

It just—could not understand!

"Guh!"

A flame rose in Aron's heart. No longer choosing to remain locked in a standoff, silver light enveloped its head as it charged forward!

Yet Rhyhorn seemed to have been waiting for this. Fierceness flashed in its eyes as it suddenly raised its front hooves, then brought them crashing down.

"Rrhh!"

Bang!

The powerful stomp struck Aron squarely in the face, pinning it down as though two heavy hammers had slammed into it.

The silver gleam of [Iron Head] flashed explosively, kicking up a ring of dust that quickly dispersed.

"Is it dealt with? That damned thing wasted my time! Smash those rocks apart!"

Shibata shouted with a twisted expression, "We absolutely cannot let Baimu go! We have to kill him!"

Rhyhorn paid him no heed, staring fixedly at Aron beneath its hoof. Aron was clearly trying to push itself up, but it could not overcome Rhyhorn's strength.

Where had this little thing come from? It dared challenge Rhyhorn alone—did it really think Rhyhorn was harmless?

With pent-up anger, Rhyhorn decided to make Aron suffer, but the weight beneath its hoof suddenly vanished.

Looking down, it saw that a small hole had appeared beneath its foot at some point, and Aron had already disappeared.

You're playing me?!

"Rrhh!"

Rhyhorn's fury surged. Brownish-red light engulfed its legs, and ignoring Shibata's startled cries, it slammed down with all its weight!

Boom!

A thunderous explosion!

The mine floor and abandoned tracks suddenly split apart, forming a huge, jagged trench. Rocks rained down from the ceiling, countless fragments scattering everywhere and exposing Aron beneath the ground.

The latter's God's expression swiftly shifted from shock to panic.

The next instant.

Boom—!!

The trench suddenly closed, and earth-yellow energy erupted from within it, launching Aron from underground like a volcanic eruption.

Smack.

Aron crashed to the ground. Several areas of its body were unnaturally caved in, half its face scorched black, God's expression dazed.

It looked up at the gradually approaching Rhyhorn. Its scant remaining strength made its consciousness blur, and all sorts of thoughts flashed through its mind.

Like a life flashing before its eyes.

How long had it held on? A minute? Had that boy escaped? It truly hoped he was safe already.

After this.

If it survived, it would truly say goodbye to the past. Farewell.

Through the haze, Aron's eyes passed over Rhyhorn and vaguely made out a blurry figure in the darkness.

He seemed to be waving at it.

But as its mind grew duller, that already indistinct figure became fainter and fainter...

"Aron—!! Where are you?!"

Blinding light suddenly illuminated its vision. A roar echoed in its ears, and the figure shifted from vague to solid, becoming a bright headlamp before the rubble barricade that had collapsed at some point.

And beneath the headlamp was an exceptionally clear face.

Ah.

Why... why had he come back?

Aron's eyes widened. Its limbs flailed wildly as strength from nowhere made it cry out.

"Guh—!!"

Run! Why did you come back? Run!

It watched Rhyhorn slowly turn around and saw the ecstatic, vicious expression on the person atop its back. Struggling, it tried to stand.

But after being struck by that Ground-type attack, how could it possibly still have that kind of strength?

The human and Pokémon, far apart, finally met each other's eyes, each revealing emotions too complex to put into words.

Muddiness, clarity, unwillingness, and that faint trace of relief.

And in the end, all of it became one sentence.

"Don't worry. I came to get you."

Baimu ignored Rhyhorn and Shibata standing in the way. Holding a hammer in his hand, he revealed an incomparably brilliant smile.

"Let's get out together."

"I came to get you."

What a weightless sentence.

Yet battered and bruised all over, Aron simply stared blankly, as if it had gone stupid, unable to make another sound.

Within those bright blue eyes, only one figure remained.

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