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It was not a common thing in Crimea Village to view Pokémon as anything but fearsome beasts. Perhaps that was a reasonable response to beings who could be stronger than any human and control the natural elements of the world. But Ike had never been raised to fear them. His father viewed his Kleavor as a trusted partner, and thus Ike saw all Pokémon as potential allies rather than enemies that couldn’t be reasoned with. When he was young, he couldn’t wait to catch his first Pokémon. And earlier than anyone had expected, he had befriended one of the Rufflet he had always enjoyed watching, and brought it back to base before Greil had even entrusted him with a Pokéball.
Among the residents of Crimea village, only those who intended to battle or research Pokémon caught Pokémon of their own, as it was a difficult endeavor not for the faint of heart. Most of the villagers with Pokémon of their own were guards charged with protecting the village from dangerous Pokémon outside. But Ike’s father led a team of mercenaries - people who used their Pokémon to help safely escort people into the wilderness outside the village. The other mercenaries were perhaps not quite as comfortable with Pokémon as Ike was, being more wary of wild Pokémon who would attack if they felt threatened, but each of them had Pokémon who they fought beside and treated as comrades.
And now, Ike was leading some of those mercenaries on a mission on his own.
It was about time, Greil had said. Ike and his Rufflet had trained hard over the years, and Greil felt he was ready to lead a mission without his help. They’d received a request from Professor Ramon: to escort his daughter and research assistant, Elincia, through the wilds of Tellius as she documented the Noble Pokémon that could be found throughout the region. Elincia had no Pokémon of her own, so it was up to the Greil Mercenaries to keep her in one piece.
Ike was confident in his battling skills, but leadership was another matter entirely. He had always learned best by doing, though, so he pushed down his doubts and led his team the best he could. It helped that Greil had assigned his most reliable team members to go with him: Titania, Greil’s deputy who had led countless missions on her own, and Soren, staff officer and Ike’s closest friend.
Ike’s group had done quite well in guiding Elincia through the fieldlands that surrounded Crimea Village towards the jungle where the first Noble Pokémon resided. Though they faced a few tough and aggressive Pokémon here and there, it was nothing beyond their abilities to handle. Ironically, their most difficult trial arrived upon encountering other humans.
“My my, aren’t you a brave group of beorc, venturing so far from your village?” drawled the lithe, languid man who stood in their path, his mismatched eyes scanning over them shrewdly. At his side, a Liepard slowly swung its tail back and forth with deceptive calm. “I’m afraid even courageous folks like yourselves will have to stay away from this area, though. It’s forbidden to disturb our lord who lies beyond.”
“Oh, but I must!” Elincia protested. “I believe my father—that is, Professor Ramon—has spoken with your clan leader about this matter, but I am to research and document each of the Nobles of Tellius…”
The man seemed to warm slightly at her words. “Professor’s Ramon’s daughter is it? That changes things! …Well, that’s what I’d like to say, but unfortunately it actually doesn’t change things much at all,” he sighed.
“What do you mean?” Elincia asked. “Oh, but forgive me, I’ve forgotten my manners. My name is Elincia, and my companions are the Greil Mercenaries, who are escorting me on my travels.”
The man tipped his head in acknowledgement, and Ike nodded back. “I am Ranulf, warden of the Lord of the Jungle. And these two—” he snapped his fingers, and two people leapt down from the trees behind him, “—are my assistants, Lethe and Mordecai.”
Mordecai, a bulky man accompanied by a Shinx, nodded at them, but Lethe, a short-haired woman with a Torracat at her side, merely grunted. “As to what I mean, in the last few days, the Lord of the Jungle has begun to act oddly and erratically. He attacks anyone who tries to go near him, even me. It’s not safe for anyone to go near him right now.”
“Oh, dear,” said Elincia, frowning. “Do you know what might be wrong?”
“Afraid not,” Ranulf said. “We’re trying to figure it out, but no leads yet. In the meantime, well…I suppose I can take you to Gallia, the Beast Clan settlement. You can speak with our clan leader, Caineghis, there, and see what can be done forward.”
“This is a rather unexpected occurrence, but I suppose there’s not much I can do otherwise,” Elincia acquiesced. “Then, will you be so kind as to guide us there?”
“I’ll take you there, but your escorts are going to have to remain here. I can’t take this many beorc to Gallia without notice.”
Ike frowned. “I understand that, but we have been charged with Elincia’s safety.”
Ranulf waved this off breezily. “Not to worry, Liepard here’s quite capable in battle. Elincia will be plenty safe, I assure.”
“Alright. Are you okay with that, Elincia?” Ike asked.
“If I’m not mistaken, Gallia isn’t far from here, so I believe I shall be alright. I thank you for your diligence,” replied Elincia.
“If you’re good with it, then.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Ranulf said brightly. “I’ll have Lethe and Mordecai stick around here to look after the rest of you in the meantime. Now Elincia, we’ll be going this way.”
As the pair departed, Ike decided that the rest of them might as well set up camp while they waited. After checking with Mordecai that they were okay to do so here, since Lethe seemed a bit prickly, the mercenaries got to work pitching tents and gathering wood.
“Do they really think we need protection?” Ike muttered surreptitiously to Soren after they’d all settled in for the evening. The two of them had walked a slight distance from the camp, checking the perimeter a final time. It was seeming likely that Elincia and Ranulf wouldn’t return until the next day. “Besides the Noble Pokémon, there shouldn’t be anything too powerful around here, should there?”
Soren looked at Lethe and Mordecai, who still lingered nearby, with a hint of disdain in his eyes. “It’s not that they’re staying near us to protect us. They don’t trust us, so they’re meant to keep an eye on us to make sure we don’t do anything, like intrude on the Noble Pokémon’s territory. After all, only the laguz are worthy of such honors,” he scoffed sarcastically.
The laguz—Ike hadn’t really considered that they would meet any until Elincia had mentioned each of the Noble Pokémon having laguz wardens. The laguz lived far differently than the beorc did, despite them both being groups of humans who had arrived in Tellius from distant lands generations ago. While the beorc had created fortified self-sustaining villages to protect themselves from the dangers of Pokémon, the laguz had chosen to live lives integrated with nature and Pokémon, even naming their clans after the types of Pokémon they chose to live with.
Because of this stark difference in lifestyle, the beorc and laguz had never gotten along. Each viewed their own culture as superior to the other’s: to beorc, the laguz were uncivilized, and to the laguz, the beorc were cowardly. Ike had never fully understood why there was so much bad blood between them. If anything, he was fascinated by the idea of living side-by-side with Pokémon that weren’t only meant for battles. But he had never met any laguz until now.
Unfortunately, one of those very laguz had overheard Soren’s comment. “And why should we trust you?” Lethe scoffed. “Beorc are so weak and afraid of Pokémon that they either hide away from them all their lives, or capture them to use them as tools of war. How are we to know you won’t try to shove the Lord of the Jungle into one of your ridiculous little balls?”
“Lethe! We are not meant to fight with them,” Mordecai admonished.
“Hey, now,” Ike said, frowning. “We aren’t planning on going near the Noble without permission. And we don’t intend to try to catch it either—we just want to learn more about it.”
Lethe sneered. “A likely story. And what will you learn from it? How best to enslave it, and force it to do your bidding like you do other Pokémon? I’ve seen how beorc treat the Pokémon they keep in captivity, as if they’re nothing more than unfeeling, unthinking weapons.”
“I won’t deny that there are a few of us who treat their Pokémon like that,” Ike admitted. “It’s reprehensible. However, there are many more of us who treat our Pokémon as trusted allies. We may keep them in Pokéballs, but it is not for the sake of forcing them to take our orders. My Rufflet is my friend and my partner.”
“Ha! And do you keep all of your friends trapped in tiny spaces for most of their lives, bringing them out only to fight? You delude yourself!”
“Lethe!” Mordecai scolded.
“And I suppose you think yourself superior?” Soren interjected. “Living in the wilderness and sleeping in the dirt?
“Excuse me?” Lethe hissed incredulously. Her Torracat’s hair stood on end as it mirrored her anger. Mordecai, too, seemed triggered by his spiteful words, turning away from Lethe to glare at Soren intimidatingly.
With a haughty air, Soren continued, “You think the beorc barbaric? Then, what of you laguz, who worship the strong regardless of their intelligence? Who battle violently over every choice to be made? You’re nothing more than brutal, superstitious savages!”
“Torracat, silence this fool!” Lethe shouted, and Torracat sprang forward, fangs bared. Shinx, too, leapt from a livid Mordecai’s side, sparking with electricity.
“No—Rufflet, use Whirlwind!” Ike called, hastily running forward as he threw his Pokéball.
Upon its release, Rufflet immediately flapped its wings to blow a strong gust of air at Torracat, who wasn’t expecting the pushback and was knocked off balance. However, it wasn’t able to hit Shinx, which tackled Ike, shocking him with the built up sparks. “Augh!” he yelled, falling to the ground.
“Ike!” cried Soren, rushing to his side.
“Shinx, stop! Return to me!” Mordecai commanded. Though clearly still agitated, it did as he said.
However, Soren wasn’t satisfied. Reaching for his Pokéball, he hissed, “Night Sla—”
“Soren! Stand down!” Ike ordered. He was still trying to push himself upright, but he managed to grab Soren’s arm, stopping him.
“Ike, they hurt you! That could have killed you!”
“They wouldn’t have attacked if you hadn’t provoked them like that,” Ike pointed out, and Soren bit back his words.
Lethe seemed to have lost some of her loftiness at the sight of her Pokémon being so quickly knocked back, but she still jeered down at them. “So you have a Pokémon, too? I wonder, which Pokémon would lower itself to partner with one all Pokémon shun?”
“That’s enough, Lethe,” Mordecai said firmly. “We should not have fought. Ike, I am sorry…”
“I ran into it. I’m fine, don’t worry about it,” Ike said, shaking his head.
With a huff, Lethe said stiffly, “I do apologize for your injury. We will leave you alone for the night.” She stalked off toward the trees, and with a last look of remorse at Ike, Mordecai followed her.
Ike stood up, sighing. “That was a mess.”
“I…I’m sorry, Ike,” Soren said. “You got hurt because of me…”
“You shouldn’t have been so demeaning to them,” Ike said. “But it was…hard, to listen to what she was saying. I didn’t realize that the laguz thought about us like that.” Rufflet flew to him and landed on his shoulder, and he reached up and stroked its head. “Maybe we are the strange ones, keeping our Pokémon inside Pokéballs so much of the time. I’ve always thought of our partnerships with our Pokémon as mutual friendships, but have I just been using Rufflet like a tool…?”
“Of course not!” Soren immediately objected. “I’ve never seen anyone treat Pokémon with more love and respect than you, and they give you that same love and respect back. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even…” His hand trailed back to his Pokéball, but he only brushed his fingers along the painted wooden surface.
Ike knew what he was referring to, and it reminded him of Lethe’s last remark. “Soren…how did she know that Pokémon tend to avoid you?”
Soren froze, his eyes flickering away from Ike’s. He shrank into himself, and it made Ike want to reach out a hand to stop him from retreating entirely. “It’s because—it’s—you wouldn’t know. I’ve only heard laguz talk about it…”
“Talk about what?” Ike asked. Soren bit his lip, hugging himself tightly.
“I—perhaps it’s been wrong of me, not to let you know sooner. I’ve always hoped it was mere superstition, but even so—if it might be true—I couldn’t. I couldn’t bear it if you were to shun me, too,” he confessed, his throat choking up.
Ike grabbed Soren’s shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. “Soren, I would never shun you. No matter what. Whatever it is, I promise to stay with you.”
Soren stared at him, the whites of his eyes reddened. Slowly, he said, “There is…a belief among the laguz. You know how Pokémon are able to sense and run away from natural disasters before they happen? The laguz say that a person who Pokémon will not approach is avoided for the same reason: because they bring disaster to those around them. Each of these harbingers of disaster are marked with a brand somewhere on their body.” He gestured to the mark on his forehead, bloody crimson against his pale skin. “And so, to keep disaster from coming near them, the laguz too shun people born with these brands, driving them away from their settlements and otherwise doing their best to pretend they don’t exist.”
“That’s…that’s terrible,” Ike breathed, hardly able to wrap his head around it. “Did that happen to you? Is that how you were treated before you joined us?”
Soren gave a small nod. “I wandered around the wilds of Tellius for years…everywhere I went, no one would shelter me. I could hide my brand, but I couldn’t hide how Pokémon reacted to me. Finally, I found Crimea—a beorc village—where people didn’t know about the brand, and believed it was just a birthmark. And then I met you, and you gave me a home. I wasn’t sure how long I would be able to stay, but…”
Ike blinked. “How long—Soren. Do you really think you’re cursed to bring disaster or whatever?”
“I don’t know,” Soren answered miserably. “It’s not as though I haven’t encountered multiple calamities throughout my life. How can I prove whether or not they're a coincidence? It seems irrational, but I can never dismiss it as a possibility. And the last thing I would want is for disaster to befall you, but I can’t bear to leave you either, so I selfishly gamble on all of it being false.”
Unable to find the words to respond immediately, Ike followed the first impulse that struck him. He gathered Soren in an embrace, pressing his head into his chest. Soren seemed unsure of what to do, his arms trapped between them. “It’s not selfish,” Ike murmured. “It’s not selfish to want a home, or to stay with the people you care about. And if you are cursed to meet with disaster, then that’s all the more reason for me to stay by your side, so that you don’t have to face disaster alone.”
“Ike—!” Soren sobbed, and Ike felt the front of his shirt grow wet. He hugged Soren harder.
The sound of a Pokéball opening reached his ears, and he looked to the side to see Soren’s Absol, having released itself from its ball. It gently nudged Soren’s side with its horn to get his attention. After a minute, Soren turned his head to look at it, tugging one of his arms free to stroke its head.
“It’s only because of you that I was able to become partners with Absol,” Soren whispered. “If it wasn’t for you, I might have hated all Pokémon my whole life for how they reacted to me. It’s only because you were able to convince us to come near each other that we’re able to work together now.” He gently pulled away from Ike and looked up at him, his eyes soft. “So if you’re ever concerned about whether you treat Pokémon as only a weapon…you don’t need to. Because someone who didn’t care wouldn’t have bothered to make sure we liked each other first.”
Rufflet rubbed its head against Ike’s face, as if to punctuate the point. Ike chuckled. “Well, if you both say so.”
Night had fallen, and it seemed that the other mercenaries had already gone to their tents. “Let’s go to bed,” Ike said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to learn more about what’s going on with the Noble Pokémon tomorrow.”
Together, they went to join the others.