"Maybe I'm crazy - yeah, a little naive, but the light at the end is brighter than it used to be. Got a long way to go, but I know I believe that the light at the end is brighter than it used to be."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUwi1yUGk0Y

The above music video ("Brighter" by Patent Pending) inspired this quick little drawing. That and I felt that we as the readers of Cubone's tale deserve to see Cubone just this once without his mask on. Is this a completely non-canon appearance, or a sign of things to come in Book III? Who knows! All I know is that I wanted to draw it.

Regardless of whether this vision comes true (and I'm serious... I really DON'T know), the attitude of the song lyrics describe Cubone's attitude perfectly, I think. To Cubone, the world is bigger and better than the darkness and pain we always see. He mourns the past, but never ever gives up hope for a brighter future. A world where humans and Pokemon can live together in piece. We can all hope together that one day his dream will come true.

---

(Minor spoiler note: I should note that I've changed the size of Cubone's Thick Club to be roughly the same size as him. I'll amend that into the descriptions of the item in the books at some point. Consider this more or less how he'll be carrying it around as he trains to be in the PRT, however.)