I sat down next to him.

"You know, it can't keep going on like this. One of us is going to have to break. I'm not a quitter, you know. I don't capitulate, ever."

"Well, you should start now." He snapped at me, his furrowed brow furrowed further.

To combat this, I raised my eyebrows.

"Because you asked?"

He laughed with a sharp nasal sound. "Right - I've forgotten that you seem to care about what I want."

I pulled out Pokeball from one of my pockets and studied it.

"You know that there is no choice. There's only one way to survive in this world. These are the only charities people will give. You can't eat without having to battle for it. People will challenge you for your three blankets. Your parents finally left you to live on your own - what did you think would happen?"

He began to pull his hair and the aggravation increased. "I don't care about any of that! I'd die in an instant before I catch a Pokemon."

"Why? You'd die before you succeed or you'd kill yourself to save the trouble."

"Both!"

I sighed. "Look, let me put it to you this way. Why is it bad for you to own a Pokemon?"

"It isn't! The Pokemon don't mind It's everything else! The system! I damn the Pokeballs, but I damn this society more. We shouldn't need to battle to eat! We shouldn't need to battle to sleep! Battling should be a choice, but people will take everything you have if you don't!"

I scoffed. "Well, that's the way things are. What will you do about it?" I offered him the Pokeball.

He stared at it but didn't see it.

I sighed - well, he's going to die.

But as I withdrew my hand with the Pokeball on it, has hand whipped out and snagged it from my pale hands.

I split into a grin. "Ugh! Finally, you've come around."

He gripped it tight in his hand. "Come around? Yeah, in a way I have come around." He opened the empty Pokeball. In it there was nothing - it had caught no pokemon yet.

"You know, I've realized something. This world of ours... it's one where the strong rule over the weak, and where those who have power abuse it. It needs to change if the world is ever going to grow into something more than it already is. The strong will always rule over the weak - the Pokemon will ensure that. But others can hold them in check."

"What do you mean?" This rhetoric was unlike anything I've heard from him before

He tossed the Pokeball up and down in the air. "I need power if I want Change. This is the only reason I'm taking this Pokeball. I'll destroy this damned system from inside out. I will unite Kanto so that no city can command another. I will make it so that you'll never need to worry that someone will rob your hard-earned food.

He stopped short when I scoffed. "You? Unite the world? How do you plan on doing that - the cities hate each other. All you'll be doing is throwing yourself into the crossfire."

He growled. "I will do it! This farce has to end. Who can be happy when everything they've known and loved can be ripped away from them in an instant? Who are we to allow this to continue."

I gulped, then steeled myself. "I'm not asking you to rob or hurt anybody! All I'm asking you to do is to defend yourself with Pokemon! Nothing more, nothing less!"

"Then what about food?"

I stopped short. "W-what?"

"We need food, you know. We can't live without it. What about clothes? What about shelter? Cities won't protect the citizenry. They rile them too much against others to make them care about the leaders. I said that there's no way to live under this system, not without fearing for your life. Tell me, what kind of person would I be if I didn't change that"

I balled my fists. "You can't do this! You'll die - all the leaders, once they find out what you want to do, will be gunning for you. You won't be able to survive!"

He began to laugh. "Why worry about how I'm going to survive when I'm not already living?"

I cast around for rebuttals. "Didn't you say you'd die before you caught a pokemon? Will you go back on your word?"

He let out a laugh. It was a normal laugh - I'd heard it many times before. Yet it struck a chord deep within me, unnerving my soul. "I'm already dead. The real me died a long time ago."

Then he laughed, his body a glowing rainbow. "But you know, I've come back to life." I stepped back - he wasn't kidding. A supernatural light surrounded his form.

A single feather flew from the rain clouds as a single beam of light, a spotlight, fell on his form.

He gripped the Pokeball in his hand. "I'll give you one chance. You can stay behind, and contribute to this awful society. I won't care, and I won't mind. You are your own person. But I won't bother with you anymore. Our paths will separate forever. If you don't want that, you can come with me."

The decision was easy to make. For every time he's annoyed me, he's brought me two smiles. For every frown, a million laughs.

Not to mention the whole 'chosen by Arceus' thing he is radiating. That sort of makes the decision a lot easier - you don't fight with God unless you're Giratina.

I sighed. "Fine. You win." I walked over to him. "Let's do this."

His eyes, already on what appeared to be a diminuitive Rhyhorn, showed compassion.

Regardless of the trials that we would go through, to unite Kanto.

I knew that I would always be at his side.

My Friend.

My Champion.