Spearow was starting to all but get used to the dim environment of his sphere. It was better than his old nest, but it still makes him a bit claustrophobic in some degree. The silence is inviting compared to his time with the old flock, where even at night they would be loud until sunrise.
There were uncommon times where he could pick up voices outside the ball. They can be hard to hear sometimes, while sounding clear on other times.
Right now, he noticed he felt healed from the injuries he had sustained from his...battle.
Everything happened far too quickly for his mind to process, and it still feels like that. But what Rhydon's human said to his own triggered him oh so badly along with his trainer, fueling him with an anger he had never felt for a long time.
He sighed to himself, a sour look on his face. That was one other thing that caught him off guard: his anger. In that field, never had he felt such a large surge of fury towards someone or something. It was an anger channeled to protect all things that his flock has been, from dreams to the dedications his human and partner holds, he follows with a small spark of wonder and admiration. A major contrast to his previous flock, where anger is fueled by the most simplest and stupid things and used to slaughter and terrorized.
*beep!*
Spearow knew what that sound meant when he pulled himself out of his thoughts. At the exact moment, a shine twinkled beneath his talons as a flash erupt and engulfed him from down under, followed by the tug of an unseen force carrying the bird through the currents.
What felt like minutes, the light dispersed around him, and he found himself on the big sleeping nest humans use. He doesn't really understand what makes this comfortable since his claws tend to get stuck on it.
"Spearow,"
Spearow looked up and gazed up at his trainer who has his arms crossed with an unreadable look. Spearow can feel a weighing pressure under those gaze that makes the air almost suffocating. Still, he kept his usual Spearow glare, something he had a habit of using to keep a defiant face.
...
...
...
"Where did I go wrong with you?"
Those weren't what Spearow expected to hear as he blinked in surprise, seeing how the human's composure changed to a self-loathing look of shame as his eyes turned away. Still dumbfounded, he watches as his human lowers himself to the floor, turned to have his back face the nest, and sat down to the right of the bird while resting his back on it.
"Back at the battle, I never knew on what level of trust you have towards me...or what level of trust I have for you or myself," the human mumbled, legs pulled to his chest while eyes staring up looking with a frown and eyes slightly diluted of the shine Spearow had seen during his time with the trainer, "I was starting to realize how distant my connections and understanding with you and the others are compared to my connection with Pikachu. I always tell myself I will never be as good of a trainer for any of you as-"
"Hold the feathers, what?!"
Spearow did not know what came to him, but he found himself flapping in the air in front of the human- no, Cade's face with a baffled but equally upset look. Everything he heard sounded wrong to him, a way that is very foreign but misdirected.
"Y-you're the one apologizing for what happened? You're the one taking the blame for all of it?! By Ho-oh's name, I was the one who should be apologizing for that mishap of a battle! I went in blind and fought that lug of an opponent without your orders! I disobeyed you! I rebelled against you! I rushed in without hearing you or letting you plan the course of attack! I'm the disgrace here! What can my expense be good for if I cannot work with my flo-wack!"
Spearow was caught in surprise when human hands grabbed him and now, he was very closely face to face with his trainer whose eyes shined with anger, horror, and fierce intensity.
"Do not think one bit that I will just throw your life away for my own gains or someone else's, Spearow!" his trainer, legitimately, growled protectively, "I will make myself bleed and look at my own seeping blood to tell myself that no life, not even yours, is an expendable waste. I do not care if you Pidgeotto loss the power to fly, Pikachu losing his electricity, Metapod and Kakuna being stuck in their current stage for the rest of their lives, or Rattata being difficult because of her own trauma. You are all MY Pokémon, and never did I ever think of having you all was ever a regrettable mistake,"
Silence overcame them both as Spearow processes every word and emotion put into what his trainer just said. Something in him pulsed as soon as his mind finally caught up to them, though he still felt unsatisfied.
"That still does not excuse me for going against you at the battle," Spearow lowly said, trying to rectify his previous actions.
"And Pikachu told me you trust me enough to guide you in that fight, yet I just stood in the sidelines doing nothing as I watched you handle Rhydon on your own," Cade said, pointing out his own faults.
"I still went against you, ignoring your care for my own recovery,"
"And I'm taking your fall as my own, as I'm responsible for you and everyone else, from actions to decisions,"
"But you're not even-"
"Oi!"
Spearow cut himself as he craned his head around enough to see that Pikachu by the swinging wall of wood, forepaws on his hips with a flat expression and a quirked eye. It only lasted for a few seconds before Pikachu's expression deflated to a worried frown, scampering over to the human's right side and pressing against his side.
"….I blame you for making me this clingy," Pikachu huffed, looking up at both of them, "and will you two just stop with the blame games already? Otherwise, you will be having a third player in the form of an electric mouse who can electrocute his Type weaknesses,"
Spearow looks to his trainer as the human snorted in a half-hearted gesture, putting the avian on his head fur to use a hand to scratch the mouse's head.
"I should always remind myself that no matter how I see it, Pikachu's power is not as strong as what it could be,"
Spearow looked to his trainer with confusion as a wistful smile on the human's face. The avian felt his trainer's head tilted down a little as he crossed his legs and puts the mouse in his lap. He watches as his trainer lightly yet humorlessly chuckles with a hand to his face.
"It's kinda funny that you have a lot of faith in me and secretly trained to not disappoint me, while I was putting some faith on Pikachu who is not even on the same exact level as his counterpart," a heavy sigh followed, "My entire life has always been revolving around my admiration towards Pokémon. Their appearances, elemental typings, the powers and abilities, the absurdity of what they can bring and defy. I can't even begin to tell any of you of how much this world had both healed and broke me for the last eight years of my life…
"My mistake right now is not giving you all the chances to grow and show your skills," Spearow felt the steeled resolve in the tone as the boy lowers his hand and averts his eyes up to try and see the bird, eyes softly glistening to meet Spearow's gaze, "And I want to fix that,"
Spearow looked at those eyes for a few heartbeats, mind racing at everything. But there had been one question in his mind…
"Who… who is Cade?" he chirped.
"Ain't that the million dollar question," the boy said, eyes diverting to the side as his back laxed on the nest's frame, "Cade is a boy who had grown admiring the world of Pokémon, learning to love them thanks to the only family member he had. Now, he is carrying the heavy responsibility of fulfilling and trying to keep the story of Ash Ketchum in route, trying not to change or ruin his life,"
"And he shouldn't forget that he's not alone in this," Pikachu quipped up, arms crossed with a proud smirk on his face, "He has the one and only, fantastical, legendary Pikachu by his side,"
Spearow watched his human lightly bonk the rodent's head, "Not for the next six regions you are,"
The two fell into a bicker that made Spearow feel all but forgotten. Still, the avian took this light moment to collect his thoughts on everything right now, how things came to be from the moment he was free from that imbecilic tyrant to becoming the first land Spearow to go head on with a Rhydon.
He had gone through feats that he never expected to achieve in just a few days.
On the top of his trainer's head, Spearow could not help but smile slightly through his beak. His current flock is surely an odd bunch, but it's the right type of bunch he could not help but happily be a part of.
His human is thoughtful regarding what the avian thinks, what the other Pokémon thinks. Maybe taking the responsibility thing a little too serious, but that was besides the point.
Pikachu, a rodent with an smug attitude but a deep care for the human.
Rattata, skittish and feisty and prefers to be in the human's nest carrier thing.
Pidgeotto… still a sore topic.
Finally, Kakuna and Metapod, both excelling with dedication to soar the skies. Embarrassingly enough, Spearow's the inspiring flyer that the two currently looked up to.
It certainly left him with mixed feelings being around the group, but Spearow feels proud for the first time in his life since he hatched.
"By the way, Spearow?"
Once again, his attention turned to his human who is looking up at him.
"You are allowed to call me Cade," the human- no, Cade spoke, "Sorry for being a difficult human being,"
Spearow feel the same warmth he had felt upon Cade's proclamation of the bird's importance to him as much as the rest. He shook his head and lightly pecked his trainer's forehead.
"We're not being difficult to each other. We just don't understand the other well because we never tried to talk it out, and I want to apologize for my part as well," he crooned. "I want to start again: I am Spearow, and I will gladly be your wings,"
He sees Cade smile at him, Pikachu nodding in approval.
It was a moment of new winds for Spearow, which both scares and excites him. But he would push through it.
For the flock. With the flock. His flock.
The moment was halted by the sudden jolt of the human's head, the avian sensing a shift in his trainer's expression.
"Pikachu," Spearow heard the human spoke, sounding as if he had realized something stupid.
"Yeah?" the mouse asked.
"I realized just now that I have been understanding everything Spearow had said,"
….
…
…
Brown marble eyes twitch and a painful head turn from the electric rodent made Spearow realize that what he assumed on Cade's tone was accurate.
"Cade, for the love of all things ketchup, tell me your joking?" Pikachu asked both softly and painfully.
Spearow decided to bail out at this moment and for the first time, fly away from the duo. Just in time to avoid the electrocution of his trainer who was left soot black on the floor, but that did not stop Pikachu berating Cade's ears off.
An odd bubbly sensation built-up in the bird's throat and for the first ever genuine time of his life...
Spearow laughed.