Chapter 21

Well I'm back with another chapter if this story. My new story seems to have hit off pretty well, so I may make it a priority story like this one. We'll just see how things go, anyway, I want to thank you all for choosing to read my stories.

I still need some OC's for this story, if I can't get some, I'll have to make them myself. All OC's will be in future chapters, I'm not ready for them just yet. So for now, I'll build up to the moment.

(Matthew POV)

It has been a week since that day, Nicholas was finally able to return to treasure town. We had gotten everything ready and met at the entrance if the village. We were waiting on Chris, who had yet to show up. William was beginning to lose his patience. He was tapping his foot and continuously sighing.

"Where is he, he shouldn't be taking this long." William shouted.

"Why don't we just leave him, I'm sure he'll find his way home." I suggested.

"I don't like that Matthew, what did I talk to you about last week." William scolded, upset with my remark.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't being serious, it was just a joke." I whimpered, which seemed to calm William down.

Just then, Chris had finally arrived, looking rather sick

"I'm so sorry about being late William, I felt horrible when I woke up this morning. I still do." Chris said weakly.

"Chris, you look terrible. Are you going to be able to make it back?" Nicholas asked.

"I'll be fine, I been through worse, I can live through this. Though I am a little concerned about headed down like this." Chris responded quietly.

"Are you sure, we can wait a while to head down if you want to wait and see if you feel better." William suggested.

"No…" Chris retorted, "The sooner we get home, the sooner I can go to bed and rest." Chris did, look terrible. I could tell he just wanted to stop talking and start heading out.

William just sighed and headed out, with us following, he didn't like it when his teammates didn't feel well, but he can't convince us to do something we don't wat to do. I had suddenly noticed something weird, Lucario wasn't here, I thought William said he would help us get Nicholas home.

"William, where is Lucario, I thought he was supposed to be here to help?" I asked.

"He's waiting at the entrance, he wanted to find the best way to get to the bottom." William answered.

We returned to our awkward silence. One thing I noticed about this team is there doesn't appear to be much talking on the job. I don't know if this was normal or not, but I decided it would be best to keep it to myself for now. Maybe I'll bring it up to Nicholas later. I looked over to Chris, he looked like he was going to hurl. I couldn't understand why, but I felt kind of bad for him, yeah I know, why bother feeling bad for someone like Chris. I know he hates me and I don't like him, but I don't want him to get hurt, he has a family and friends who love him dearly. I don't know if he feels the same way to me, but I don't really care.

I suppose I was staring too long, because Chris was now glaring at me, partially irritated, partially confused. Though anybody staring at you would look weird.

"What are you staring at me for? Keep your eyes to yourself!" Chris shouted.

"I'm just curious, how are you feeling right now, can you keep going?" I asked, which seemed to anger Chris more.

"Why do you care!? You're just a jerk who doesn't care about anybody but himself." Chris screamed before clutching his stomach, looking very nauseated.

I looked down at the ground, that's the last time I concern myself over at him. William had stopped and was glaring at Chris.

"Chris, that was very rude. Matt asked you how you were doing, he was just worried, you didn't have to talk to him like that!" William shouted, raising his voice.

"Yeah right, he doesn't care about anybody but himself. He's just saying that just to impress you." He retorted.

Nicholas wanted to say something, but I wasn't going to give him the chance, I had already had enough of him. I actually showed care towards him, and he treats me like trash. Without even thinking, I walked over and punched Chris in the face. He fell to the ground and was looking up at me glaring at me.

"How dare you! I Actually asked how you were doing and you call me a selfless jerk. I Don't understand why you hate me, I'm not a criminal, I can' take you anymore. I hate you!" I shouted on the verge of tears. William tried to calm me down, but I shrugged him off.

"Matt please calm down, it's ok." William spoke in his normal voice.

"No! you don't understand, nobody does. I don't want this to be my whole life, I did what I had to survive. I'm not a criminal." I shouted, beginning to cry.

"I know you're not a criminal, your just misunderstood. I Won't let anyone hurt you. Please just calm down." William continued to comfort me.

"Matthew, please don't cry. You're not a criminal, you're a kind and compassionate Buizel." Nicholas said, patting me on the back.

"Two people saying I matter isn't enough. I'm useless, I am just a delinquent jerk!" I yelled before running away.

I just wanted to get away to myself for just now. I ran for a few minutes before stopping to rest. I was at the edge of a cliff, I sat down for a while. I just wanted to think about my life for a while.

I wish I had never been separated from my family, life would be so much easier. Now, even if I join an exploration team, others still won't trust me. And what will that make them think about the rest of the team. William took a very big risk in letting me join, he knew that the townsfolk would never approve a criminal joining the famous team Dominators. I don't deserve any of this, I deserve to be in jail right now.

Maybe what I'm doing right now isn't right. William risked his entire team on me, what am I proving by running away like this. Maybe I should go back there, I promised William and Nicholas I would be there no matter what, and look what I did, I ran away. William and Nicholas were right, I have them and my parents and siblings, I have others who care, and as long as I have them, maybe life won't be so bad after all. It was definitely wrong to run off like that, I think I'm going back now, I'll apologize to William and Nicholas, I'll make things right.

I got up and started walking back towards the team. I have to make things right again, I just hope William will accept my apology, I don't want to be alone again.

(William POV)

Everything was going terrible, Matthew and Chris got into it and now Matt has run off. I walked over to Nicholas and touched his shoulder, he jumped slightly before turning and smiling. We continued to smile before I went back to frowning and glaring at Chris, who was sitting silently on the ground.

"Chris, I want you to apologize the minute we find him." I ordered.

"What, but he's the one who punched me in the face. Why should I have to apologize." Chris yelled in response.

"First of all, do not yell at me! And second, he had every right to hit you, what you said was cruel and inappropriate. You're going to apologize or you won't have a team to come back too, NOW!" I yelled, angry of the disobedience.

Chris went silent for quite a while, I don't know what he was thinking about, but I'm not going to harass him about it. He then looked up at me, he looked a little sad.

"Maybe your right, what I said was really bad. I need to go find him." Chris responded.

"Well you won't have to go far." Nicholas said, pointing behind Chris.

Matthew was coming back, I could tell he had been crying, he looked terrible. I wanted to make him feel better, but before I could, Chris spoke up.

"Listen Matthew, about what I said….." Chris started before Matt cut him off.

"I don't care what you have to say, it's all lies anyway." Matthew coldly responded.

"Matthew, please listen to what he has to say, please." Nicholas begged.

"Fine, but don't think that I'll believe any of it." Matthew said blankly.

"What I said was disgusting and inappropriate. I was putting too much judgement on you without even knowing you. I hurt you, bullied, and made you feel insignificant, and I'm sorry." Chris said apologetically.

All three of us just stood there dumbfounded. Chris just apologized, the Riolu that had never been sorry in his entire life just apologized for something he did. Matthew didn't even say anything, he just stood there looking like an idiot, then again, so did I

"Chris, you said terrible things about me, you made me feel like I was just a waste of space." Matthew said sadly.

"I know what I said, it was absolutely disgusting for me to do that. I never should of said what I said, I hope you can accept my apology." Chris spoke quietly.

"I don't think I can, I like to believe in second chances, but this isn't possible just yet. I forgave Nicholas, but it took me a long time to. I really will try, but I won't promise anything." Matthew responded.

Chris smiled slightly before frowning and clutching himself again. He looked terrible, but he won't let us stop, he said he just wants to get home. But what if he falls or something, I can't let Chris go on while he feels like this.

"Chris, I think we should stop and try again tomorrow. You don't look so good." I suggested.

"No, Nicholas waited forever to get to go home, we're going to keep going regardless as to how I feel. Forget about me, let's just keep going." Chris responded, steel bent over.

There wasn't any part in arguing with Chris, if he sets his mind to something, it's going to happen. I just gave up and resumed walking, it didn't take us long to get to the cliff's edged.

When we go there, Lucario was standing at the edge, looking up at the sky, I swear this guy is so weird sometimes. One time, I could have sworn I heard him talking to himself about voices in the wind or something. He certainly is different, but if I hadn't of met him, I'd probably be dead right now. He's bailed me out of so many problems, it's a wonder he isn't the one getting praised for our effort. I asked him about giving him some credit once before, but he turned me down. Something about not really getting in the public eye or something.

He turned around and faced me when I walked up behind him. He looked, calm, almost as if he was at peace. He spoke with a quiet but demanding voice as always when he spoke.

"William, I assume your all ready to head down?" He asked me, I nodded in response.

"All right then…" he continued, "Nicholas probably is in no shape to climb down himself, so I'll be helping him do so. You three will go down ahead of me incase by some chance we should fall, if we do, I want you to grab him, not me." Lucario ordered, we all continued to acknowledge without words.

He looked over at Chris, who was currently leaning over the side of the cliff. I shouldn't really have to say what he was doing, it's sort of self-explanatory. Lucario slightly concerned but also quite irritated as well.

"What is wrong with you, did you eat something bad, or just not get enough sleep?" Lucario questioned the Riolu.

"I think a combination of the two. Don't worry about me though, I've been through worse." Chris reminded all of us weakly.

"Whatever, just as long as you don't mess up anything. I'd hate for you to get yourselves injured again, or worse." Lucario Said blankly before coming over and grabbing Nicholas.

"You know, I could probably handle myself guys, really." Nicholas stated.

"Sorry, but after everything that happened, we aren't taking any chances." William answered.

The three of us began our descent down to the bottom before Lucario started down, holding on to Nicholas. I could tell the Dewott wasn't happy about the whole situation, but he'll just have to make due for now. The climb down was pretty simple, Lucario had found the easiest way down to the bottom. It didn't take very long before we were almost at the bottom. Chris looked as if he was about to pass out. I was very worried that he would fall and we'd lose him for good.

I asked him how he was doing, but he only responded with a groan, he clearly wasn't doing good at all. I just hoped we got to the bottom before he made any mistakes, unfortunately, I was wrong. Just as the thought crossed my mind, Chris yelled in shock before he began slipping, he was about to fall down and there wasn't anything I could do about it. I closed my eyes because I didn't want to see it. I shouldn't have let him go, we should have never done this. Chris was going to die, and it was all my fault.

End of Chapter 21.

I love doing this at the end of chapters. It always is a good way to end a chapter. He just made amends with Matthew and now this, sucks don't it.

If the chapter needs work, I open to suggestions, I never get any so I just go with the flow. If anything needs adjusting, tell me, I will fix it and then re upload the chapter. And when a chapter is short, or doesn't go into a lot of detail, it means I was really busy.

Story progression for all my stories will continue as soon as possible, I've just been very busy. Thank you, and goodbye.

Shiv740