Last chapter got the most views out of any of the other chapters. I really love that I can write a story and have it make someone's day. So here's today's chapter.

Chapter 7: Collision Course

Once we exited the restaurant, Lexi burst out

"Hey, I have and idea. I want to show you something." She started walking towards the forest we had entered last night. I followed Lexi to the opening in the woods to find a small sign with a brief warning:

LOSTLORN FOREST
ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK

The words were fading, probably written a long time ago. The forest wasn't as dangerous at they said, right?

As we entered the forest, I had a sneaking suspicion that we we're going to be ambushed by wild Pokémon. But nothing came. We walked for a while until I finally calmed down enough to speak.

"So, why are here?" I always wanted to know what was going on and why.

"I want to show you a really cool spot here. It's a place I like to visit once in a while." She seemed eager to show me the spot, with her almost jumping as she walked. 'I wonder what she's so excited for.'

We walked until we reached a hidden path that tore through the brush to take us to our unknown destination. Lexi slid through the bushes with ease, while I got stuck in their thorns in the most ungraceful way possibly. She stifled a laugh, and after I shot a glare at her, we continued. Soon we discovered a large clearing with a small lake in the middle. The water was crystal clear. I gaped in amazement.

"Wow. What is this place?"

"Crystal Lake. Famous for its water that's so clear you can always look straight to the bottom."

I looked down at the water at my feet. Her words were true. I could see the small Water types swimming around at their own pace throughout. I glanced to my right and stopped. Out of the trees, a large, brown beetle was emerging. It had two silver pincers on its head, and a mouth like a set of razors. And it was walking towards us at a brisk pace.I walked away from the water, bared my fangs and got into a fighting stance.

"Get away from us now, or else." I growled at the bug, who showed no signs of stopping. In fact, it actually started running at me head on.

"What are you doing?"

"Protecting you!" I waited, waiting for the bug to make its move.

Lexi's POV

When I heard those two words, I froze. They bounced and echoed off the walls in my head.

Protecting. You.

This wasn't the only time someone had spoken those words to me. The last time was about two years ago...

Two Years Ago:

We felt like we we're on top of the world. Our team had just been promoted to silver rank (it was only the second-lowest rank, but we we're still excited by the fact that our team was moving up in the world) by Garchomp, and we decided to celebrate. As we made our way to Crystal lake, though, we were ambushed. They surrounded us so no one could escape.

The squad of bandits called themselves the Brute Gang. It consisted of the following:

Rampardos
Lucario
Archaeops
Zoroark
Bisharp (who I assumed to be the leader).

The Bisharp spoke first. His tone was menacing and sharp, like the blades on his arms."Now who here is the leader of this pathetic group?"

The founder of our team stepped forwards. The founding was a year ago. He was so considerate to let me name our rescue team. My best friend. His wings were black and tipped with yellow, and his crest was white and orange. His beady black eyes were staring at our ambushers. He spoke with all the pride he had, ready to protect us at any cost. That bird, that Fletchinder, was Flare.

"I am."

The vile leader spoke again. "Now I would suggest you hand over all your valuable possessions to us, or there will be consequences. I'd also like to add that resistance will be futile." His bladed arm started pulsing a dark purple aura.

"Never. I would never give up anything to evil scum like you." He then started to fly up as high as he could.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled.

He said the words spoken not two moments ago, by my newest friend

"Protecting you!" He then rocketed towards the sky, dived back down and strafed the Bisharp with an ember. The bandit yelped in pain as he flew over head.

"Argh!" He stumbled a little, then righted himself. "That, my friend, will cost you dearly." The Bisharp's arm then was coated in a sheet of rock, and as Flare came back down for another pass, the Bisharp jumped up to intercept Flare with his arm. I gasped in realization as the two continued on their collision course.

Stone Edge.

Those two words were some of the last he spoke to me.

Present:

And the flashback ended.

Then, I watched the little black Zorua brace for his first fight, on a similar collision course

Chris's POV

Once it got close, the bug lunged and went for my legs. I narrowly avoided the attack (Low Sweep), then countered with a set of Fury Swipes. My claws cut into the bug's body. One, two. One, two. One, two. Once I finished my attack, It tried to use bug bite on me, bit I evaded it, then went for another set of fury swipes. Once my attack ended, though, the Bug ceased

"Hey man, I didn't mean ya no harm." The voice was male. Once he said this, the Pinsir started to change. He was enveloped by a black mist before revealing himself in an entirely new form.

His body was now a dark gray. On his chest was a group of black fur with tufts of it extending over his shoulders. His face was fox-like, with gray ears lined with red inside. The most notable feature, though, was the length of hair that stretched from his head to his lower legs. The color was blood-red, with spikes sticking out occasionally, tipped with black. It took me no time to figure out what he was.

Zoroark.

"Why'd you go attackin' me like that, man?" He spoke as if I had known better.

"Well, I presumed you were wild, with Pinsirs being native to the forest, and all. And it wouldn't hurt if you didn't charge at me. Plus, I was only trying to protect my friend here." I looked over to Lexi and motioned for her to join our friendly conversation.

As she walked up to us, the Zoroark seemed to recognize her.

"Hey, I've seen you before. You're.. uh... what's your name?"

"I'm Lexi, and this is Chris." She pointed towards me.

"Hi."

"Well, it's to meet ya kiddos."

The fox then came over to me and studied me closely. A bit too closely.

"Hey, you're kinda freaki-"

"Shhhhhh."

He examined me for a few more seconds, then went back to his place.

"Alright. First off, you new here? 'Cause there aren't many of my kind 'round here."

"Yes I am." I responded to his question confidently.

"Second, why are your eyes like that? You should have blue eyes, like me." I looked at him and noticed, to his word, his eyes were the typical bright blue. Then I came up with a clever way to cover up I was human.

"Both my parent shad these color eyes, so I guess they got carried onto me."

"Okay kid, I haven't done this before but, I have an offer for you. You want to train with me? Ya know, after all your missions and stuff."

I was surprised by the stranger's offer. I didn't know what to think of it.

"Uh, I don't know, maybe." I turned around and had a minor conference with Lexi

"Do you think I could train with Zeke?" I whispered. "Like he said, after all our missions are done "

"I don't know, he seems kind of suspicious to me. but, if you get into trouble, it wasn't my idea."

I turned back around. "Alright, I think my answer is yes."

"Good to hear. We'll start tomorrow."

When Lexi looked up, the sky was almost an orange color.

"Aw, crap! We gotta go!" She grabbed my arm and dragged me across the forest floor about ten feet before I got up and started to run.

The last words I heard were, "See ya then!"

Yay! New character introduction! Another thing: about halfway through writing this I hit some control + something else and I lost almost half the story. It was infuriating, but I survived. Anyway, you know what to do.

~DZ13