A/N: For those who read my other fanfiction, "Silence", you could treat this as basically the same location, slightly earlier than it. Snivy and Oshawott are out of the picture, but we have Delphox and Greninja now.

If you didn't read "Silence", the pokemon have basically been taken away from their homes when a war between some countries started. They were taken away by the enemy. They're currently trapped in some building.

(And again, mild romance!)

Unworthy

by Bell Marilli

"Why do you want to torture yourself?" Greninja asked softly clutching his scarf-like tongue absentmindedly. The fox turned her head to look at him slightly, giving him a bored, sideways glance. He flinched at her blank gaze and watched as a smile creeped its way to her lips, curving upwards ever-so-slowly. This usually was done when she was annoyed.

"Torture... myself?" Delphox echoed, turning around fully to look at him. "I'm not torturing myself. I just enjoy shocking my own living daylights out. Is that so wrong, Greninja? Or perhaps you'd like me to stop?"

"N-Nothing." Delphox had long melted off the iron ball chained to their feet, but she couldn't teleport, or find any other escape route. Her kind was not meant for jumping, either. She did something very peculiar, grasping the electrical fence to give herself a zap. Greninja never dared to go very near her; he was scared she'd somehow obtained electrical powers and would zap the living daylights out of him. But still, he was worried for her. They'd been childhood friends. "B-But you should s-stop hurting y-yourself."

"...But why?" If one thing, Greninja never knew her crush on him existed. For years. Now, it still hung on by a shred, but Delphox concealed it so well after many years. The fox began walking to him, tail swishing behind her. "Does it matter if I hurt myself? I don't think anyone cares. Except for you, Greninja. But I can't help but laugh at how much of a failure I am."

Greninja bit his bottom lip. "Y-You're not a failure." He'd grown very scared of his childhood friend. He didn't know why he hung around her anymore. Clearly, the masochistic fox could stand her own ground. "Y...You've done things o-others don't d-dare t-to."

Delphox's eyes brightened at her crush's compliment directed to her. "Oh? You think so? Then, tell me..." her voice was genuinely curious, like a child's, "why did such a... non-failure end up in prison?"

The frog gulped. "This isn't prison. T-This—I think, maybe—is something that will happen to all of us one day. So does it matter? You're not a failure, Delphox, you aren't."

The fox flinched at her name, her eyes narrowing considerably. "Then if you'd kindly explain to me, what have I done to prove myself worthy of the title 'non-failure' I've never done anything right, not once, not ever. I know myself better than anyone, and you know it's true. I don't mean to upset you or to insult you, but no one knows me so well."

Now, that was hard. Greninja paused and smiled slightly. "Well, you've burnt the iron ball away. No one has dared to do that. You've chased so many leaders of the prison away and they've never come back. That's never happened. I think your bravery deserves a clap or two. And do you know what will make you much more of a 'non-failure'? If you escaped."

Taken aback, Delphox stared at Greninja incredulously. "Oh, you want me to escape? I can't do that, Greninja. I can't jump well enough and I will not leave you behind. Ever. Besides, others deserve more freedom than I do. What makes you think that I—"

"Burn my iron ball off, please?"

"Greninja, what are you—"

"Please?"

Delphox bit her bottom lip at her best friend, also her crush, and nodded. She knelt down, then pressed her paw to Greninja's iron ball that was chained to him. Focusing, she unleashed a flurry of flames at the iron ball, causing Greninja to squawk slightly; Delphox panicked and immediately withdrew her fire. The heat was enough to melt most of the iron ball, and she released a gentle flame to finish up the rest.

Then, Delphox slowly stood up, staggering. She glanced at him, rolling her eyes. Greninja could tell what she meant: So what's the big deal now? He grinned at his masochistic friend, watching as she walked over once more to the electrical fence. He saw her press her paw to it, letting out an electric shock and zapping her, hearing her yelps and laughter. It was sickening, really. Greninja, carefully, ran forward, felt his leg free again and pulled his childhood friend away from the abuse she was giving herself. She gawked at him, blushed ever-so-slightly, and whipped herself out of his arms.

"We can escape, now!"

Just as Greninja expected, Delphox stared at him incredulously. The frog grinned sheepishly—of course she had no idea what he was talking about! Laughing to himself and reaching out for her arm, Greninja smiled at her warmly. Delphox stared right at him and didn't fight back when he grabbed her furry arm. Huh, so smiling at her played her right into oblivion. Funny.

He wasn't scared of Delphox at all now. She just needed some reassurance, and that was all. Greninja pulled her back, feet brushing against the dying grass. Delphox stared, tears escaping and damping her fur.

"Snivy would want this more than I would," the fox suddenly muttered, pulling away. "Snivy's the leader. She's always wanted to escape."

Greninja smiled at her. He thought Snivy and Oshawott would both manage to escape—but they would never know about Snivy's cruel fate crashing upon her soon enough.

"Oh, don't be silly. Snivy is a smart girl. She'll know what to do soon enough," Greninja reassured Delphox, wrapping his arms around her, not catching her immense blush and squeak of protest. "The war looks like it's ended. Good for us. We'll manage to walk through fields of peace. We'll migrate to another safer place, if possible."

Delphox didn't know he was a great jumper and knew all sorts of escape techniques. Perhaps he'd ended up liking her, perhaps he'd just have we're best friends feelings for her, it's up to you to decide. All that made their escape so great was their attempt at an escape was the only one ever made successfully, the escape of a masochistic fox and an extremely plain frog.

A/N: Gosh, that was... just plain awful writing. I really need to be more active now...