I've yet to see anyone write a fanfiction about the Itemizer Orb, so here it is; I based it off the idea that the player character can be hit with the orb — which can actually happen in-game. I hope you like it.

The Pokémon blocking the stairs was massive. It was several meters taller than our scrawny team of a Squirtle, a Pikachu, and a spindled Grovyle from the future. It was tall enough to where its head scraped the top of the dungeon ceiling and debris rained down to cover us in a sheet of foul-smelling dust.

Pikachu trembled next to me, and, quite frankly, I don't blame him. We had never even seen a Pokémon like this before, and none of us could identify it.

"W-w-what is that thing…?" he moans, gasping for breath.

I only swallow hard in reply and cringe, knowing I can't give a definitive answer. But I know what it will be.

"P-Pikachu!" I gasp, an idea dawning on me like those sunrises that are so beautiful. "Grovyle!"

"What is it, you have some sort of idea what this thing is?" he asks, panic bleeding into his strong tone.

"No."

"Ugh."

"No, but I have a plan! For how we can defeat it!"

All three of us peer through the dungeon room's opening and continue to stare at the oversized monster, pacing in front of the stairway like it was its self-appointed guardian.

"It'll see us no matter what we do," Grovyle hisses, peeved, "so what do you have in mind besides brute force?"

I rustle around in my bag, bite my lip hard when I can't find it right away, then gasp and yank it out when its blue sparkle catches the dungeon light all around us.

Pikachu gasps and huddles in close to me, his breath close to my cheek. "It's an itemizer orb."

"Ooh. Good call…if we can hit it without missing."

"Don't worry about that! Pikachu can throw his moves far and accurately, right, Pikachu?" Pikachu freezes and nods quickly, face beginning to match his rosy cheeks. And then he suddenly deflates. We both give him a sharp, concerned look that by Pikachu's reaction, seemed to match a bit.

"I can't. My arms got injured last time we went to find a time gear. Grovyle's been so gung ho over this whole thing, no offense to you, so my arms have never yet had a chance to heal." He seems to brighten a bit when he looks at me, though. "But you can. I've seen you whip items by throwing your body in a circle! it's so cool!"

"Wha-? Oh. Yeah, I guess I could do it…" I smile sorrowfully. "Sorry. I forgot about your injury."

"It's no problem!" he saws with a great grin on his face.

"We should get going. You ready to do this…? I just got you back, I can't lose you now." Grovyle says, worry pursing his lips shut as he looks at me with pure, primal fear reflected in his eyes.

I nod, though deep down, I'm hesitant. "Yeah. Don't worry about me, 'kay? I'll be fine, it's not as if Pokémon can catch orbs."

"I suppose." He nods as well, exhales slightly, turns away from us, then turns back. "Okay. Get out there! We'll be right behind you."

"'Kay!"

I glance quickly through the entrance once more, firmly adjust my bag, and grip the itemizer orb almost as tight as I held Grovyle's hand in front of the portal… I jerk. What?

Casting aside my worries and giving my two partners a smile, I step directly in the path of the Pokémon's sight and whip the orb as hard as I can, spinning in a vicious circle as I do so.

When I regain my balance, I just see the flash of mirror panels across the Pokémon's massive body before I catch sight of the orb hurtling back toward me. I barely even see it. It was so fast.

The orb hits me violently right center of my chest and oddly just sticks there, silent, glowing, pulsing.

I turn around, eyes large, tremors I feel shiver down through my bones, and let out a tinny whimper to my friends, staring at what had happened as if…a-as if…

As if what?

As if I was dead?

As if I was some monster waiting to happen?

What if a —

"Aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Pikachu shrieks so abruptly that it makes me whip around, wheezing out a gasp. "Aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!'

I scream out my partner's name, her name, just as she twitches violently. A sharp, splintered crack fills the air, and the orb firmly adhered to her chest breaks like an egg, spreading out its deadly, pale legs like a Spinarak just after hatching. The orb's fragments fall to pieces at her feet, and so does my sanity.

Why didn't I see this in my Dimensional Screams?

The orb begins to move its legs testingly, almost begrudgingly, and lifts them all up with an freakish shiver, much like a nightmare. It plunges them down with a speed that prevents me from even screaming, and I feel a burning sensation in my chest. When I try to make a sound, all that comes out is a strangled bubbling noise. I suddenly can't breathe.

The legs lift out of the eight gash marks oozing on my skin. It plunges them in again, tighter, harder, squeezing with a viciousness that I cannot seem to match with anything I have ever felt in the past or the future.

I attempt another scream, only to taste a metallic stench dripping from my mouth. What is this…? This…this red…

I double over with a strained gasp as I cough. The orb is suddenly gone. My eyes open to find Grovyle, his arms wrapped around me, his head gently against mine.

Maybe I screamed. Maybe Pikachu screamed. I don't really know.

A burning scalds my entire body, and I feel myself waver, my vision crackle to black. I can still feel pain. I am still awake. It hurts-!

My eyes drift up to her face, tipped upward, eyes so dead looking as her mouth just is open, open as far as it would possibly go in a silent scream. I tighten my hands in agony as steam rises and curls from her body, burning my skin, though I refuse to let go, I will never let go.

Her skin turns unnaturally smooth and glass-like. Her small features dissolve into a faceless form, collapsing and bubbling, and I try to follow her shrinkage; my knees hit the floor as I hold a tiny, shivering creature with no identifiable features to mark her as a little turtle Pokémon.

What can I do to help you…? I can't do anything, can I?

"Why am I so useless?!"

My breathing becomes rough as she further mutates, curling up into my hands and dying in front of my eyes.

A scream rips from me. Pikachu has fallen silent — there's only incessant sobbing behind me.

"Why do you have to suffer?! Why do you have to go through this?! Why?!"

A small purple bandana clinks to the ground, its rescue badge letting off a small, soft glint.

There were no more words either of us could speak. No terms we could use to comfort each other. It took only a second, yet it felt like forever to me; probably for Grovyle, too.

I see Grovyle pick himself off the ground, lean down to scoop something up, and then there's a long pause of silence; then, he shrieks something so incoherent that I had to wonder if it was even a real word, and launchs himself at the Pokémon. It falls with a critical hit. One blow with enough of our rage to fell a giant.

He turns around, face greyed and streaked with wet lines, and puts his arm around me, handing me an escape orb that seemed too shrunken to be normal, but it was the regular size. I just was not seeing it correctly.

I was seeing my best friend.

My paws begin to shake as the orb glistens with little drops that roll down its surface and to the floor below.

No job is worth this. No rescue mission is worth this.

At the same time, we hold the orb tightly and shatter it to the ground. Light encases us, and the first sight to greet us was the sunrise.