Loool I managed to make a few readers think I was going to kill off one of Riley's boys! XD It's not that obvious a hint, guys! Xx

Chapter Seven

The following morning was quite uneventful. I bade Mum goodbye as Skye, Sora, Caz and I piled into Dad's Jeep at around nine-thirty on route to Viridian City – where I prayed like hell that the Gym Leader would be there so I could challenge him.

"Seriously," I laughed to everyone. "What kind of a fucking name is 'Green', anyway?"

"No clue, but I think it's a pen name or something," Sora mused, smirking in a way that eerily matched Skye's wicked grin.

"Either that or his mother was hooked on Sleep Powder," Caz giggled as Dad parked up. "Oh, are we there?"

"We're there," Skye smiled as he opened the car door.

I got out and, to my surprise, Osian burst free of his Pokeball and stretched luxuriously. "Damn, it feels good to be home!" he said.

I frowned. "You're originally from Viridian?" I asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He shrugged. "I don't know," he murmured. "I guess it was because of all that time I was with that asshole who abandoned me."

I nodded and linked arms with him. "Don't worry, babe. If I do end up meeting this prick, we'll show him what a dream team we are!"

"Dirk!"

I frowned at Osian's original name and looked around moments before a gorgeous Charizard barrelled into him. Her wings were tucked away in the same way Solae tucked away his, but her bright orange hair flowed in the wind as she hugged Osian.

Osian looked completely stunned. "Errica?" he breathed, gently pushing her off so he could look at her. "How?" His expression became one of disgust. "How fucking could you, you evil fucking bitch?!" he screamed at her, shoving her away with an incensed look on his face. "You could have stopped him! Why the fuck didn't you?!"

Errica, the Charizard, instantly had tears in her eyes, a dainty hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry," she said softly, blinking before the tears could fall, which they did. "I couldn't do anything."

Osian still looked enraged and that look became even harsher as a guy of around twenty-five came over with a pissed expression. "You bastard," he muttered, glowering.

"Errica," the guy said in an admonishing tone. "I told you not to run off."

She hung her head. "But…But, Kyle, I found Dirk."

Kyle, the guy, was brunette with cold, dead eyes that could have belonged to a Duskull. Dressed all in grey, he was the exact type of Trainer I took an instant dislike to. With the way he gave Osian a look one would give a rancid piece of meat on their dinner plate, I lost it.

"So you're the nasty fuck who abandoned an adorable young Eevee in Unova without giving a fuck as to who or what would hurt him," I said slowly, narrowing my eyes at him.

He raised a brow. "And you're the idiot who paid out for a Water Stone to make this worthless piece of crap evolve?" He scoffed, shoving his hair out of his eyes. "You wasted your money, girly."

"My name," I snapped, "is Riley. I'm assuming you're Kyle, from what Errica said."

Errica looked fearful. I was concerned about her, and his other Pokémon if Osian was that angry about being abandoned. He still glared unrelentingly at Errica and Kyle, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles went white.

Kyle laughed. "What of it?" He looked at Osian with that same disdain. "You're not even a good specimen of an already terrible Pokémon. I'm glad I gave you up when I did."

"You asshole!" Skye and Sora both snarled at the same time.

Caz went one better with her insult; "You obnoxious, arrogant, abusive cunt!" Never let it be said that my little Asian wasn't vocal. "How dare you insult Osian!"

He scoffed again. "Osian's that weakling's new name?" he purred dangerously. "You couldn't even pick a good name."

"You, young man," Dad interjected before I could say something, "obviously know nothing about Osian's namesake."

Kyle raised a brow. "Professor McCabe. Nice to meet a hero in the flesh."

Dad didn't look impressed. "Do not disrespect my daughter's Vaporeon like that again. Osian's name has a special meaning in the Ancient Tongue, which you are probably too thick to ever have heard of. Riley knows this – it's the real reason she named him Osian. His name means 'water jewel', a title usually reserved for the legends Kyogre and Suicune because of their beauty and power." He snorted while regarding Kyle with a look he used when he was examining a badly wounded Pokémon. "You think I haven't noticed the nasty bruise on your Charizard's arm? You might want to choose your next words very carefully."

Kyle looked at Dad for a moment, then at me with a slimy smile. "I challenge you to a double battle. If I win, I take Dirk back and the other Pokémon you use alongside him. If you win, I'll give up the two Pokémon I used to you."

I shook my head. "I'll take the double battle, but if I win, all I want is for you to admit that Osian is stronger than you ever gave him credit for."

Errica shook her head frantically behind Kyle, her eyes pleading. Osian looked at her sternly and nodded. She looked ready to vomit from stress.

Kyle rolled his eyes. "You're sentimental. That'll be your downfall, hussy."

"Hey!" Skye growled. "Do not insult Riley. You don't even fucking know her!"

He raised a brow. "Oh?" He moved back with Errica and returned her to her Pokeball. "I'll let you have the first move, just because I'm in a very good mood."

"Let me at him," Osian snarled, his aqua blue eyes shimmering with passionate hate. "I need to make him see I'm not weak, Riley."

I nodded and palmed Quinn's Pokeball, then reconsidered and gripped Solae's instead. "Let's go, Osian! Solae, help us out!" I released my Volcarona from his Pokeball and smirked at Kyle's slightly surprised face. "Didn't think I had something as rare as Solae, did you?"

He smirked. "I must say, this will be exciting," he murmured. "Go, Raze, Petra." He released his Pokémon – a male Flareon and a female Tropius.

I mentally ran through all of the moves Flareon and Tropius could learn, then smiled sweetly before calling out my orders. "Solae, let's start things off with Zen Headbutt on that Flareon! Osian, add Ice Beam to the mix against the Tropius!"

Osian let loose a low battle cry, thrusting an exceptionally powerful and beautiful beam of icy power at the Tropius. Kyle called for Raze to dodge with one of those powerful Flareon leaps but Solae was trained on him, leaping with the help of a quick thrust of his wings. His Zen Headbutt smashed into Raze's forehead, the impact harder from Solae's quick thinking. Solae leapt back, back flipping to his hands and then to his feet.

"Raze, use Toxic on that worthless Vaporeon," Kyle snapped. "Petra, Air Slash on the Volcarona."

As he was about to start forward, Raze paused, looking at Osian carefully. "Petra, its Dirk!" he said to his partner before she could launch her Air Slash attack.

"What?" she asked, frowning at Osian. Realisation dawned on her face. "No! Dirk, it's so good to see you!"

Osian's mouth twitched. "Fuck you, Petra," he spat venomously. "C'mon, Raze. What're you waiting for? You wouldn't have hesitated to Toxic me before."

"Solae, get in there and use a close-range Hurricane!" I called while they were stunned and unresponsive to Kyle's protests.

"Rip its wings off!" Kyle roared at Raze.

Raze caught Solae before he could unleash the devastating winds upon them and, to my absolute horror and disgust, tore Solae's right wing out of his back.

"NO!" I screamed, running to get between Raze and Solae with tears in my eyes.

Osian was quicker, grabbing Raze by the neck and hauling him to the ground. He sat on the Flareon's chest, hammering punch after punishing punch to his face while tears streaked his cheeks.

I caught Solae as he fell backwards, one heavy wing landing on the ground with a fleshy thump, followed by the other two. He stared up at me, stunned and in shock. I literally didn't know what to do.

"Daddy!" I screamed, turning Solae onto his front and using a knife to rip open the back of his T-shirt. "Daddy, help!"

He was at my side in an instant, examining the wound as Skye held me tightly. "Bring over the wing!" he shouted at Caz and Sora.

They did as they were told, bringing over the three heavy wings. Since Volcarona had six wings, they were able to fly with a minimum of four.

"Kat, help him," Dad said, releasing his Audino. "Use Heal Pulse as we reattach the wings."

Kat looked shaken but did as she was told as Caz and Sora moved the wings into place on Solae's profusely bleeding back.

I got up and touched Osian's shoulder as he continued to pummel Raze. He stopped and looked at me, blood spattered across his face from how much he had broken the Flareon's facial bones. Absolute rage burned so mercilessly on his face I barely recognised him. "Leave it," I murmured, stroking his back gently. "Solae needs us more."

He breathed heavily from the exertion, nodding once and getting off of Raze's chest. Thankfully, he was still breathing. Osian hid his face in my neck, holding me close. "What I did to him is less than what Kyle will do to him," he whispered in my ear. "Put in a report with the police before he catches any more Pokémon. I don't want to see any more Pokémon suffer because of him."

I nodded, meeting Kyle's eyes. His face was completely impassive as he returned Petra, who had been utterly dumbstruck throughout the enraged attack. He looked at Raze, who was out completely cold, and took out his Pokeball. Before my eyes, he dropped the Pokeball and smashed it to smithereens beneath his foot.

"I have no use for a Flareon with useless sentimentality," he spat at Raze. "You're on your own."

I looked over at Solae, where Kat was reattaching his wings while he just lay there, still and immobile. Caz and Sora were holding each other while Skye kept his fingers on Solae's pulse. Dad was positioning Solae's wings carefully, trying to match them to the deep grooves in his back.

"Osian," I murmured, looking at Raze with pity. "Do you think…we should-"

He looked at me with a look that said he would protest. I was about to speak when he murmured, "We should. Errica and I aren't the only ones who have suffered because of Kyle. When Raze was an Eevee, Kyle had Errica use Flamethrower on him over and over until he was burned over most of his body. It disappeared when he evolved and Kyle did nothing to help ease his pain the way you did with me. Kyle deserves nothing from anyone except pain."

I nodded and knelt beside Raze as he started to come around. "Raze, sweetie," I murmured, shaking him gently. "I know it hurts to talk right now. Kyle released you."

His puffy eyes went as wide as they could despite being swollen shut, tears leaking from them. His jaw was dislocated and it seemed both his right eye socket and both cheek bones were shattered so if he spoke, he would be in agony.

"I can take you to the Pokémon Centre," I told him softly. "They'll heal you up perfectly and, if you want, you can come with me instead of being put up for adoption. Would you…consider that?"

He stared at me with those large amber eyes and nodded, sealing his fate as Solae let out a piercing cry.