Renny: Because I'm sure you all want to get on with the programme, I'll do the disclaimer straight away.

Green: You mean I'm doing it. Renny doesn't own pokemon.

Renny: Yep. On with the show!

OOOOOO

-Azalea town, outside the Gym-

"Tick . . ." Green whispered faintly.

"Oh, you like this little one, hm?" Merek smiled, looking down at Tick. "Now what do you think might happen if I said I liked a good omelette?"

As the image came to his head, Green felt like he wanted to throw up.

"Tell me your name, or I'll take that egg from you and boil it alive." Merek growled.

All Green could do was stare at the man with wide eyes. Inside his mind, he was hearing a million and one voices, all of them screaming at him to run or do something, but he couldn't move and Merek was still staring at him. He couldn't see Ice's reflection in those cold eyes anymore.

"Tell me your name." Merek repeated again. "Tell me, boy."

"I . . ."

"Don't do it kid." Ice hissed.

"My name . . ."

"That's it, boy." Merek smiled, though Green still saw the coldness. "Tell me your name."

"Kid!"

"M-my name is . . ."

"Come on, come on . . ." Merek coaxed. Ice whispered something, and Green didn't think before he repeated it.

"My name is Jaden Iron." Green said blankly. Merek immediately slouched and sighed, taking the sword away. He seemed to realise his mistake and put it back to Green's throat.

"Great, I was hoping for someone who we could ransom." Merek muttered, glaring at the trees around them. "Well, since you told me your name, you can live."

Green sighed in pure relief.

"But you'll still be our prisoner."

And then chocked on nothing.

oooo

-The pokemon centre-

Merek had forced Green (alias Jaden to Merek) to return Ice to his ball, which Green did without complaining because seriously who the heck questioned a madman with a sword to your throat? Unfortunately Green almost got himself killed when Merek told him to return Tick, but luckily the boy managed to explain Tick's little situation. He also managed to convince the sadistic man that Tick was just a normal Togepi. Green hoped to Mew that Tick had enough sense now to not use his Extrasensory.

Merek grumbled something and shoved Green into the pokemon centre, the sword still trained on his body. However, the position had changed and was now on his back as the small boy stumbled into the health building. He glanced up and saw Red and Blue and the rest of the town's inhabitants sitting in a large huddle near the desk where the Nurse usually was. He could also see the Nurse herself sitting near the desk as well, and a bunch of Sovereign grunts were standing guard.

"Get this brat to the other lot." Merek muttered, shoving Green towards a random woman in the white armour.

"Yes sir." She nodded.

The woman pushed Green over to where the others were, and then shoved him into the group roughly. A couple of people caught him and then helped him sit down, right where Red and Blue were sitting near the middle of the group.

"You alright?" Red asked instantly.

"M' fine." Green sighed, looking down at Tick, who was wide eyed and staring around the room with fear.

"Is Tick ok?" Blue murmured.

"I . . . That Merek guy nearly killed him." Green mumbled, curling up a bit so he could shield Tick from the view of Team Sovereign grunts.

"Where's Ice?" Red whispered. Green nodded to his belt and knew both of them understood.

There was a silence for a few seconds, one which was only filled in by Merek arguing with a couple of grunts who had a tiny splash of black on their armour. By now Green had figured out that these people were probably doing some sort of knight honour thing, but he doubted any of them actually had any honour to speak of. People who tried, or threatened, to kill babies generally didn't.

"What happened to you two?" Green asked, looking away from Merek and back at his fellow Trainers.

"They . . . caught us." Red muttered. He sounded ashamed of himself. "Apparently they'd been expecting us from the start, and they overwhelmed us in seconds and then took us here. What about you?"

"Merek found us and well . . . held me at sword-point because he wanted to know my name." Green said. "Just in case I was someone he could use for ransom or something."

Red and Blue stared at him in shock. Green hurried to calm them down.

"I-I didn't tell him my real name!" Green whispered urgently. "I lied and said what Ice told me, Jaden Iron. Ok? So please, just use that name until this is all sorted out, ok?"

"Well, it's a nice name." Blue shrugged. "So, how did he try to kill Tick, anyway?"

"He threatened to boil Tick alive if I didn't give him my name." Green said flatly. "He also said he likes omelette. I don't like omelette. If I could slap him, I would."

Red laughed and quickly made it look like a cough when one of the Sovereign grunts looked over. The grunt looked away after a second or two, and Red started grinning again.

"Slap him, huh?" He snickered. "You are such a Mommy to Tick, you know?"

"I've already said I know, so why are you teasing me when it doesn't matter?" Green frowned.

"M-Mama?" Tick whimpered. Green looked down at him and patted his shell gently.

"It's gonna be ok, Tick." Green whispered. "Ame and Twin are still out there somewhere, they'll save us."

"Who're Ame and Twin?" A woman with a little girl asked quietly.

"His Pidgey and Geodude." Blue explained to her.

" . . . We're doomed." A man sighed.

"Hey, they're both smart!" Green snapped at him. "Neither could get caught, so shut up!"

"I'm sure they'll save us." A teenager muttered sarcastically.

"This is why I don't socialise with humans." Green sighed, burying his hands in his face. "You have no faith. At all."

"We have faith." Red reminded him.

"Yeah, but these people don't." Green grumbled, tightening his grip softly on Tick. "Sometimes I just wish I couldn't get into these things, you know . . .?"

"I know the feeling." Red sighed. "But we can't just ignore something like this, Green. These people could kill if they wanted to. Out of the three of us, you're the one who needs to be extremely careful, remember?"

He did remember. It was a constant reminder when he listened to his pokemon's voices, and it was a reminder whenever he looked at Twin and saw the nameless Spearow being killed by her own claws. Yes, he had forgiven her for that, he understood why she did it, but he couldn't help it. Green sometimes wished he could erase his memory, but that wouldn't solve anything would it?

"Green?" Blue murmured, shaking his shoulder. "You alright?"

"Huh? Um, yes, why?" Green blinked, looking up from Tick.

"You looked scared." Red said, frowning in worry. "Are you sure you're alright? That little brain . . . thing . . . that Elm said was installed into you . . . it's not hurting is it?"

"N-no . . . I'm just thinking, that's all." Green told them.

"About what?" Blue asked.

" . . ."

Red sighed and was about to speak, but he was interrupted. Merek's loud and slightly horrifying voice rang out and pretty much forced the room's inhabitants to listen to him.

"Attention all prisoners!" The sadistic man shouted. "I have news for you!"

"This should be good . . ." One grunt nearby muttered to himself.

"I will make a bet with you all." Merek continued as if he hadn't heard, grinning with an evil glint in his eye. "There will be a duel taking place soon. One that is for your freedom! One of you and one of my men will battle outside of this . . . monster centre. If you win, I will leave peacefully with my grunts. If we win, we will not leave and we will keep you as hostages until the league pays the ransom!"

"Well, that doesn't sound so bad." Someone whispered. "Maybe I should volunteer . . ."

"And the duel will be a duel to the death!" Merek cried.

The person who had spoken shut up instantly. There was a completely shocked and terrified silence as Merek's words sunk in, but somehow not one person moved or tried to speak. Not even the Sovereign grunts were speaking to Merek or even between themselves.

"And one other thing." Merek went on. "Since Team Sovereign do not use monsters, the battle shall be a sword fight instead of a monster battle, like you 'Trainers' usually do."

Oh, things were looking better already.

"Who here knows how to handle a sword?" Merek shouted to the prisoners. "Which of you will be brave enough to step forward, or be forced into the battle!?"

"He certainly knows how to speak." Red breathed.

"Does anyone know how to handle a sword?" An old woman called.

"Not me! I've never even seen one before now!" Someone else called back.

"What about you? You look like a swordsman!"

"What!? No way, I couldn't!"

"There has to be someone!"

"But they're all experienced with swords, and not one of us know how to use the stupid things!"

Green listened to them argue amongst themselves silently. He was probably going to say something, if only to spare whatever poor soul got shoved into the fight. He could save a life just by speaking up, but why? Why would he do that, when these people had done nothing for him? Green blamed it on Red and his stupid heroic acts, making Green think like that.

"Man, I feel sorry for whoever gets forced into the fight . . ." Red sighed, watching the chaos around them.

"I do too." Blue scoffed. "But it won't be one of us, right?"

"Right." Red nodded.

Both went quiet. It took Green a couple of seconds to realise they were both staring at him expectantly, but he said nothing and glanced away.

" . . . Green." Red said. "If you're about to do what I think you're about to do . . ."

"But . . . I know how to fight with one. My old Master taught me." Green whispered.

"Green, no." Blue gasped. "You can't just . . . what about your Grandfather? What about your sister?"

" . . . Gra- Oak's a liar, and my sister . . . tell her I love her." Green said. "Can you . . . look after Tick for me, please?"

"No, no!" Red cried quietly. "Green, you can't do this. This . . . this isn't like you!"

"So what?" Green smiled slightly. "I blame you and your heroic acts. They rubbed off on me. Take him, please?"

He held out Tick to Red and Blue. Tick was trying to turn around but Green held firm, determined not to look at his face. If he looked at Tick, he wouldn't be able to do this. Blue took Tick from him and hid his face in her chest, and Green set Ice's ball onto the floor in front of Red. He didn't need to look at Ice to tell that the Croconaw was gaping at him.

Then Green stood up.

There was an instant silence as he picked his way out from the group of hostages. The whole of Team Sovereign stared at him, along with Merek himself, as Green made his way over to the white and black armoured man.

"I'll do it." Green told him. "I'll fight for them."

"You? Little kid?" Merek laughed. "Hah, I like you. When you lose, I'll save an eye of you or something, alright?"

Despite how much the image, again, made Green want to vomit, he nodded slightly and stayed as still as he could.

"Well, then. Jaden accepts the bet!" Merek called. "Now who in my team will step forward to battle against him!?"

For a second no one moved. Green turned around to see Red and Blue, along with Tick and Ice (still in his ball thankfully) watching him in despair. The grunts around them were glancing at each other, probably wondering why exactly Green had taken the bet without even complaining.

And then a man with blue hair stepped up, grinning and confident. He walked up to Merek and bowed briefly, then straightened up and looked down at Green with another smug grin.

"Well, it looks like we have our duellers! Jaden and Daren!" Merek cried. "Come, we shall take this outside."

I'll take something else outside if you don't shut up and get on with it. Green muttered in his head.

Merek led the two outside of the pokemon centre and a few feet away from it, where there seemed to be a large white circle about the size of four or five small Dragonite curled into balls. Merek directed both of them to stand right in front of it, facing the pokemon centre. Then the remaining grunts marched the rest of the prisoners outside, probably to watch Green get torn apart by the much larger male next to him.

"Give them the swords." Merek ordered a nearby grunt. She nodded and dashed off, and then came back with two of the swords that had a blue cloth on.

She walked up to Green and Daren and held out the swords, the left one to Daren and the right one to Green. But then the one being offered to Daren started shaking, and suddenly Green found himself holding a strange sword that seemed to . . . blink at him happily.

"Um . . . Ok . . ." The woman muttered, backing away slightly. She quickly gave Daren his sword, and then rushed off, glancing back occasionally at the sword Green had.

He took hold of the hilt with both hands as his old Master had taught him, and felt a small hum in head, much like back at Elm's lab when the little . . . thing was installed into his head. Green worried that this sword was actually alive, and that it was probably really angry about being manhandled and also used for battle like this. But something in the hum reassured Green and made him feel like it wasn't going to hurt him.

"Now then, you may begin when both of you are in the ring!" Merek shouted.

Daren moved into the white circle, which Green knew was the ring by obvious looks, and waited. The boy glanced around quickly and saw a grunt standing by with a white thing in her hand, and guessed that she was the one who'd made the circle.

"Hey!" Daren called. "You fighting or what, brat!?"

The old insult sparked in Green's head, and he made his way onto the opposite part of the circle and faced Daren, who got into a one-handed sword pose. Green ignored the obvious charge and bowed to him, as his old Master taught him, and then straightened up to look Daren in the eye.

"A real swordsman always shows respect to his opponents, no matter how pathetic they may be." Green told him smoothly.

"Why you little-"

Daren broke off, screaming. He charged at Green aimlessly, probably hoping to get the fight over in a single blow. Of course, Green was going to stall for as long as he could so then Twin or Amethyst could find them and get them out or something if that nature.

Green waited until the last moment before sidestepping Daren's attack easily, using his smaller size to slide under the white armoured man's arm. Quickly he assessed the sword he was using.

It was heavy and completely made from metal. The only thing not made from metal was the cloth, which moved around wildly even though there was no wind to make it move. The eye blinked at Green, almost looking happy again, but the boy shrugged it off as adrenalin playing tricks on his head. Or maybe fear.

His old Master had taught him that no matter the size of the sword, he could use it just like a stick could be used to attack someone and hurt them, despite how fragile they were. Even if this sword was heavier than what Green was used to, he could use that and made his swings harder and also more powerful. And seeing as Daren was probably going to leave a lot of his vital points open, probably out of anger or whatever, Green would be able to hold him off.

Not kill him. Green had originally intended to die in this so then everyone else could get out, but now he had a small chance because he'd remembered that Twin and Amethyst were probably nearby. And one way to alert them to his presence was . . .

The boy smirked and hit Daren's armour with the side of the blade, making a loud CLANG noise echo around the whole town. Daren howled and staggered back a little, before spinning around and giving another swing. His sword seemed to be heavier than Green's did, as he swung slower than what Green was used to. That gave him a second to move out of the way, backwards, and hit the side of the sword against his armour again.

Daren grunted and tried another swing, but Green moved again.

CLANG!

"Agh!"

Daren missed the hit. Green hit him again.

CLANG!

"Come here, you little brat!"

Green sidestepped the attack again and hit Daren.

CLANG!

"Stop playing with me!" Daren roared.

He suddenly got a lot better at the sword fighting, and then started swinging wildly at Green, who just barely managed to get out of the way of all the swings. Each time Green tried to hit his armour, Daren somehow managed to block his attacks and try to hit him back, forcing Green to go onto the defensive instead of just keeping a steady pace.

Then, Green saw an opening. It was Daren's helmet, the one place the man hadn't bothered to try and parry against so far. All Green had to do was try and feint in a blow to the legs . . .

The boy glanced down and made as if to hit Daren's legs with the sword. Instantly the Sovereign grunt's sword went down to stop the fake blow, and Green quickly hit upwards to attack his helmet. The thing flew off and somehow Green's sword forced him to keep going with the hit, cutting right into Daren's chin and then into his head.

Green froze. Daren stayed still on the end of his sword, head still pierced on the blade, and his own sword slipped out of his grasp limply. All Green could hear was complete silence. Then he felt a rush of terror, and he quickly yanked the sword out of Daren's head, and watched the man's body fall to the ground. The boy looked at the sword he was holding, and saw blood and some pink stuff on the blade, and he felt utterly sick. For the third time in one day, he wanted to throw up whatever food he'd had.

Someone started shouting for someone else to leave, and then suddenly Green was collapsing to the floor onto his hands and knees, dropping the sword somewhere nearby, and staring at the body in front of him blankly. He felt numb and clutched at his stomach, which was extremely unsettled. Then someone put their hand on his shoulder, and he looked up into Red's worried face. Blue was beside him, holding Tick who was silent but wide eyed.

"Green . . ." Red whispered softly.

His words snapped Green out of his numb daze, and then everything in his stomach came up. Green heaved and then vomited on the ground, coughing violently. He felt a hand rub his back, and took a little bit of comfort in it.

"Mama . . .?" Tick murmured, out of Blue's arms and on the ground, standing nearby but not in Green's vomit. "A-are you ok?"

Green said nothing to him. He held out his arms weakly and watched Tick walk right into them, and held the baby Togepi to his chest tightly. Green curled up, not even caring that his forehead was probably resting in his vomit, and felt himself shake.

Someone's hand, too big to be Red or Blue's, pulled him up gently. Thankfully they didn't get him onto his feet, because Green honestly didn't trust himself to walk or even stand without falling over. The Nurse murmured soft words he didn't hear and wiped his face gently, but not one bit of it registered in his mind.

I just killed someone.

Red said something to the Nurse and she nodded, and then stood. Blue followed her with a short glance at Green, and then Red brought out a pokeball containing a Croconaw. He let the pokemon out, and watched.

"Kid." Ice's muffled voice said. "Kid, listen to me. You're just in shock, that's all. You'll be fine once this is all over, alright?"

Green nodded, barely even feeling his body respond. Ice turned to Red and then he couldn't hear them anymore, and a few moments later Red was picking him up. The emerald eyed boy curled into his chest and clutched at Tick, who murmured wordless coos to him. Green couldn't care less if people were watching.

Red took him into the pokemon centre, exchanged a few words with the Nurse and Blue, and then took Green to a room with two beds. He felt Red settle him down onto one of them, and Green curled up on his side, still holding onto Tick. Ice crawled onto the bed after, silently.

"I'll be back in a bit, ok?" Red murmured. "Me and Blue are gonna go and find Amethyst and Twin for you, Green. Do you understand?"

Green nodded but didn't speak to him. He heard a muffled sigh from Red, and then watched the crimson eyed boy walk out of the room. The second Red was gone, Green whimpered and felt his eyes water up.

"Kid, I said you'd be alright." Ice murmured, sitting and facing him. "Now . . . how about you go to sleep for a while, alright?"

"I . . . Ice . . .?"

"Yeah, kid?"

"C- . . . can you tell . . . a story . . .?" Green whispered faintly. Ice's look softened considerably, and he nodded.

"Sure, kid. A few hundred years ago, there was a bird by the name of Lugia. This bird was said to have been given special powers, and was honoured by many of the humans that roamed the planet . . ."

Soon, Green felt his eyelids getting heavy. Though he wanted to hear the end of the story/legend that Ice was telling him and Tick (who had fallen asleep anyway), he wanted to sleep as well. So, Green shifted a little and closed his eyes.

OOOOOO

Renny: In which a massive problem is created by the fact that Green killed a man.

Green: W-WHAT!?

Renny: Meh. Read, review and comment!