Okay, here's chapter ten. Okay this might be the last chapter until after Christmas… Maybe. I'll be back after Christmas Day though. So you can threaten me for another chapter then, or not… I don't know how much you guys demand these chapters. But, man. Ten chapters, that's a milestone in my books. Except I don't have any books… Hmm. Well this is weird. Anyway, sadly due to my horrible failure to remember the Anime, this whole story will probably be a bad mix of the anime, the games, and my own twist. So, I hope everyone's okay with that. If not, well too bad, I can't really do better at the moment. I'm lazy. By the way I know I said I don't care about reviews anymore, but that doesn't mean I won't welcome them and reply to them. Plus a good story can be made great if the audience is involved and given what they want, and the best we to do that is reviews, so don't hesitate if you decide to give me a piece of your mind. But, make it friendly okay? Don't write out your hate at me, because I can write it back and let's not ruin the story with my hateful review replies at the bottom, okay? Just saying. Also, I appreciate suggestions for the story, but they won't necessarily be put in the story. So go read the story I took longer than I should have to write, or if you skipped this block of text entirely and are already reading it, you should read these too. I sometimes post important stuff in here. Sometimes. So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Kwanza, gift-giving, whatever you celebrate, enjoy it, and if you don't celebrate anything you should. Don't be so anti-social. At least have a get-together or something.

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Chapter Ten – Separation of Friends

David's POV(I said it was temporary…)

"Do I really want to go home? I mean what would do I even have there? Nothing. No family, I wouldn't have been in that hell hole of an orphanage if they cared. No friends, they all left after high school. I don't even know where any of them are. And anyone else I meet is just after my money. It would figure, all anyone ever wants is money. I didn't even want all that money anyway, that's why I gave it to charity, and they would make better use of it than I would. They only person I really have is Riolu, and he couldn't even come with me, if I left. They government would take him or some thug would. I wouldn't even be able to hide him."

"You don't belong here…"

"Shut up! You're not helping, okay? If I shouldn't stay then why don't you tell me way I should go?"

"…"

"That's what I thought. This is practically a land of opportunity. I can become a trainer like I always wanted; I can catch pokémon and challenge gyms. I can complete the Pokedex after finding all the pokémon."

"You never did that in the games."

"You're a killjoy you know that? Just because I never did it in the games, doesn't mean I can't IN the game. And you know it was a lot more difficult in the games. Plus all you have to do here is look at them and they're added. So I don't even have to catch them."

"You wouldn't use them all anyway."

"You're right. I wouldn't want them to sit in some PC box forever. You know, I'm getting off subject here. I thought I was pondering whether or not to go home."

"Yes, and I was going to say-"

"Hey, David! Hold on!"

I turned to Ash and the others running up to me. In my mental conversation I guess I forgot I wandered off on my own.

"Are you okay?" Bianca asked seeming concerned.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." I replied.

"So you wanna head over to Sandgem town then?" Ash asked.

"Sure, let's go."

We walked the remaining distance out of Twinleaf town and headed onto Route 201. It was a pretty boring walk, I took the time to think about what I wanted to do pertaining to whether to leave this dimension or not. I must say, I'm getting sick of my mental battles, they are not really helpful. The mostly lead me from thinking about it. Hmm. Maybe that's what my other 'self' is trying to do… I'll have to confront him… er, I mean me about it. Anyway we soon made it to Sandgem town and we headed over to Professor Rowan's lab. We entered the lab and introduced ourselves to Professor Rowan. We talked a little, well I didn't I was too busy thinking. Professor Rowan gave Ash and May upgrades to their Pokedexs. I didn't need one since I had mine included already. I think I heard a little about Ash being registered for the Pokémon league, and where May could register for contests. I heard a little about Dawn coming here a little while ago. And her choosing Piplup as her starter. I felt Bianca glance at me, but I paid no heed. I heard Ash introduce me and I said a polite hello before I went back to thinking. I could tell Riolu was concerned about me continuous thinking, but I gave him a quick reassuring glance. Soon after we left and headed for the Pokémon Center as the sun went down. As we went to get rooms there, we encountered a small problem.

"Um guy's there's five of us and only four beds to a room." Brock said.

"Well what should we do then?" Bianca asked.

"Well we could split up so one person isn't alone in a room." May suggested.

"That's sounds good." Ash said.

"I'm guessing the simple guys in one room girls in the other?" I asked.

"Why not?" May said. "Any complaints?"

No one said any.

"Well then that's settled." Brock said as we all headed up to the rooms.

Brock, Ash, and I headed into our room, the third one on the left side of the hall, and Bianca and May headed into the one next to us on the right. Inside the room was basically what you would expect, a square room with two bunk beds, one on the left, and one on the right. Against the wall between them was a small dresser with a window above it. Brock claimed the top bunk on the left and Ash took the one underneath him. I took the bottom one on the right. I took off my bag and leaned it against the bed, I then unzipped my hoodie the rest of the way and folded it neatly on my bag. Afterwards I crawled into the bed and Riolu crawled beside me. Saying our goodnights to each other we all drifted off to slept, although I swore I heard Ash whisper goodnight to May. I smiled on the inside and drifted off as well.

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I woke up to Riolu poking me.

"Ugh. Okay I'm up." I muttered.

Yeah… not much to remember about waking up a part from that… I was really tired, and half-asleep. But I do remember waking up to eat. But, that was pretty boring. So I'll skip ahead. I walked outside with the others and we headed for Jubilife City.

"You know I heard there is a store in Jubilife that sells Pokétches." I said.

"Huh, what are those?" Ash asked.

"Well they're basically watches but they come with all sorts of helpful apps that can help you on your journey." I explained.

"Cool, I want one." Bianca said.

"Why would I need one when I can do it the old fashioned way, right Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Pika!"

"Ash, there's a reason it called the old fashioned way." May complained.

Just then, a large, pink, mechanical hand came from nowhere and grabbed Pikachu. Apparently it had a friend, for another came about and grabbed Riolu.

"What the…?!" Brock shouted.

"Riolu!" I shouted.

"Pikachu!" Ash also shouted.

"What's going on?!" I exclaimed.

"Hahahahaha" came a trio of voices.

"Listen is that a voice I hear?" asked a female voice.

"It's speaking to me loud and clear." A male voice answered.

"Melting on the wind…"

"Past the stars…"

"And in yer ear!" A new voice said.

"Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace…!"

"Dashing hope putting fear in its place…!"

"A rose by any other name is just as sweet...!"

"When everything's worse our works complete."

"Jessie!"

"And it's James!"

"And Meowth, now dat's a name!"

"Putting the do-gooders in their place…" Said Jessie.

"…Team Rocket…" James added.

"…In yer face!"… Meowth finished.

Three figures, the female, Jessie, the male, James, and a meowth, named Meowth, stood in a hot air balloon shaped like a Meowth that was up in the sky.

"Team Rocket!" said everyone but Bianca and myself. (A/N: Yeah, I didn't forget about them.")

"Who's Team Rocket?" Bianca asked.

"Give me back Riolu right now, you worthless trash!" I shouted.

"Trash!?" Listen to me you no good twerp, you wouldn't know beauty if it struck you in the face!" Jessie shouted.

"You're right, if it was your 'beauty' I'd probably be killed by it. Now give me back Riolu!"

"Why you little…!"

"Easy Jessie, let's focus on the task at hand!" James said.

"Yea, we got da twerps' pokémon, now let's get outa here!"

"Fine, I still don't like that twerp."

"Swellow, go!" Ash called, releasing said pokémon. "Use Ariel Ace on that balloon!"

"Swellow!"

Swellow flew up towards the balloon at blinding speed, disappearing right before the balloon, only to reappear on the other side. I thought it was strange as the balloon had no damage at all. Swellow flew back to us surprised.

"What? How is that balloon still in the air?" Ash asked surprised.

"Hahahahaha" laughed the trio. "We reinforced our balloon with a tougher material! It can't be cut!"

"Ash! I have an idea! Has your Swellow ever carried someone before?" I asked.

"Um, no he hasn't. Why?" Ash replied.

"Well, if you're willing, I would like to ride Swellow up to the balloon!"

"What!? That's crazy!" May shouted.

"Hmm, how about it Swellow? Think you can do it?" Ash asked.

Swellow, not wanting its pride hurt, replied in agreement. "Swellow! Swel swellow!"

"Alright then. Let's go for it!" Ash said.

Swellow bent a little to allow me to climb on, which I did a little awkwardly.

"You're out of your mind."

"That's a funny statement coming from a voice in my head." I thought back.

"You're still crazy."

"Hey, we both saw the results of that test; I'm only 26% crazy."

"That doesn't make a difference."

"Whatever."

Swellow flew straight up towards the balloon, I tried to hold on as well as I could. Swellow was definitely not big enough to carry a human, no matter how much I weighed. We flew in close to the arm with Pikachu on it. I would rather have gone for Riolu first but Pikachu was okay. I leap off Swellow and grabbed on to the arm.

"What's that twerp doing!?" Jessie screamed. "Meowth, shake him off!"

The arm began swinging wildly in attempt to throw me off.

"Agh! Screw you hag! I'm not letting go!"

"Why you…! Meowth, give me that!" Jessie shouted, snatching the remote.

If possible, the arm swung even more wildly. I slowly inched towards Pikachu; emphasis on slowly. I didn't want to fall off as Swellow wouldn't be able to handle catching me. Luckily I had grabbed on close to the hand, so I didn't have to go far. Soon I reached Pikachu; I carefully reached into my pocket and pulled out my screwdriver. I found a screw and began loosening it, which was incredibly difficult to do when you're on a swinging arm. It took me awhile to get the screwdriver on the screw, but I managed to do that and loosen the screw. After maybe five painfully long minutes the screw came out. I figured there would be more, but the hand suddenly released Pikachu. He fell a little ways until Swellow caught him, taking him to Ash down below. I don't know how far down below, I didn't look because THAT would be a bad idea.

"Agh! That twerp freed Pikachu!" Jessie sounded really pissed.

"Not to worry…! Go Cacnea! Use Pin Missile!" James shouted. "Ow! I didn't mean on me!"

Cacnea let go of James's face and launched the attack. "You've got to be shitting me…" I thought; right before the attack hit me.

"Auuuughhhhh!" I screamed. "That REALLY hurt! What the hell is wrong with you!?"

"He's still hanging on? Use it again, Cacnea!"

"Oh come on- Owwwwwww!"

I felt blood running down my legs, which felt like they were on fire. My bag had protected my back… mostly.

"Swellow, Pikachu! Let's help David out!" Ash yelled.

As their attacks flew overhead the swinging arm stopped. Making it easier to turn around and climb towards the balloon, since I couldn't reach Riolu here. I made great progress across the arm, and I was soon at the balloon's basket. Luckily, Team rocket was distracted, so I carefully tried to climb into the basket to get the remote. That would have worked but my legs bucked slightly from the pain and I fell into the basket.

"Hey, how did da twerp get up here!?" Meowth cried.

I quickly got up and lunged for the controls, only to get knocked back be Jessie.

"You made a terrible mistake coming up here, twerp!" She spit the word 'twerp' out.

"Give… me… my… Friend!" I lunged again.

"Not on yer life! Fury Swipes!" Meowth shouted, lunging at me at the same time.

He clung to my face, scratching the ever-loving crap out of it. Never felt a Fury Swipes on the face before? Let's just say anyone who had before, such as Ash, got lucky. They got slashed, maybe twice? I'm pretty sure I got more than that. I stumbled backwards with Meowth on my face. I grabbed him and managed to throw him off, and into Jessie's face. Unfortunately, I was still off-balance. I fell back and the side of the basket must have been weakened, because it broke under me. I fell more and realized I was no longer in the balloon.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Riolu!" I screamed.

I was absolutely terrified. I finally saw how high up in the air I was… Way higher than anyone would like. Still screaming, I fell through the air spinning. I saw everything spin, sky, ground, sky, ground, sky, pond. Wait, pond? There was a pond underneath me.

"Great… That's so much better."

"What is it because you can'-"

Splash! Hitting the water felt like hitting concrete. All my senses flooded with fear as I tried to swim back to the surface. I had fallen pretty deep; farther than I had ever been in water. I struggled to swim up, swirling my arms around quickly. I felt myself go down deeper, and my legs began to numb from the cold water and the pain from the previous pokémon attacks. Soon I couldn't move them at all as I felt my air supply disappearing. Then it was gone and I struggled hard to move, coldness swept over me entirely. I tried to keep my mouth closed as I knew that opening it would be the worst thing to happen. Sadly, my willpower faltered and my mouth opened, flooding with water that rushed down my throat. I felt my limbs numb out, as everything faded into darkness. Right before I passed out I felt something wrap around my abdomen.

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I woke up coughing up large amounts of water. Very slowly I felt my vision return and I sat up.

"*cough* Ughhh. Wha… what's going on?" I asked.

"Phew, that was scary. You had us worried, David." Ash said.

"You nearly drowned, we were all worried." Bianca added.

"Yeah, we had to resort to mouth-to-mouth." Brock said.

"Um, who-who did that?"

"Well um… that person would rather not be known." May said slowly.

I shuddered, either from cold or the thought of who gave me mouth-to-mouth, but something else came to my mind.

"Where is *cough* where is Riolu?"

My question was met with silence.

"Where is he?" I asked again.

Bianca came up to me and placed her had on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry David, Team Rocket got away… They took Riolu." She said sadly.

All I felt was a mixture of sadness and anger. No. Not anger… rage, pure uncontrolled rage. Hate, rage, sadness, and disappointment in myself was it, nothing else. I quickly moved away from Bianca and the others, and towards a tree. I quickly punched it, letting out my anger. Blood came from my knuckles, but I didn't stop. (A/N: Warning, the following is slightly more graphic than the rest of the story. P.S. Remember the anger issues I said David had? Yeah…)

"WHY!? WHY DID YOU TAKE HIM!? YOU GODDAMN BASTARDS! I'LL KILL YOU ALL! GIVE HIM BACK! AAAAUUUUGGGHHH!"

I punched the tree again, feeling a crack in my hand. Pain flooded it only making me angrier. I instead kicked it, releasing anger that way.

"I'LL FIND YOU, FUCKERS! YOU MESSED WITH THE WRONG PERSON! I'LL CUT OUT YOUR ENTRAILS, STUFF THEM DOWN YOUR THOAT AND OUT YOUR ASSES! I'LL… I'LL…"

I collapsed on the ground, tears streaming down my face.

"I just want him back… I just want him here…"

I heard someone come up behind me, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned slowly to see who it was.

"It's alright David." Bianca said gently. "I'm sure we'll get him back."

"I hope so; he's my only friend…"

"He's not your only friend, we're here to."

"Yeah, your right."

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Well, that was certainly different huh? Yeah some conflicting emotions in this one. And it kind of kills the holiday spirit, doesn't it? That was purely unintentional, I assure you. This will probably be the last one before the holidays, seeing as this one took forever. Had a little bit of a writer's block, but I broke that block with my Iron pickaxe (a.k.a. the Team Rocket part, and yes it's a Minecraft reference.) So yeah, can't think of much else to say.

Review Replies:

Species Unknown: This reply will sound strange after the chapter, but… Yeah, Bianca. Don't you just love unexpected surprises?