VK-

I woke up on a bench, staring up at the ceiling. A boy was patching me up. The back of my head was warm and wet with blood.

"Hey, rise and shine! I got you pretty hard there!"

I sat up and looked at him.

"Ah, I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Kobi, the Fursan City Gym Leader. That guy over there in the corner is V, the Wirwin City Gym Leader."

I glanced at the boy in the corner. They both seemed to be around Nick's age.

I began to speak. "Where am I?"

The boy in the corner, V, opened his mouth. "You could've called it Gensinge once. Not much of a towering city, if you ask me."

Kobi glanced V, and looked at me. "Ya see, we were called out by Dedric. A, 'Gym Leader Meeting', or something of the sort. We were caught up in the destruction, and found some kid with a bullet hole in his leg here inside the PC. We have him back in one of the emergency rooms resting. He had a picture of you, and said that those two Pokèballs were yours."

"Did he tell you his name? Anything at all?"

V walked out of the shaded corner. "He said his name was Nick."

Kobi led me to a small room, where Nick was laying. There was no getting around it: one of the admins put a bullet in his leg and left him to die. I turned to Kobi.

"Where did you learn any of that, anyways?"

"Basic survival. If you can take care of yourself, taking care of others is easy."

"You can say that again."

V appeared out of nowhere. "Don't take our decision to help you lightly. We don't need someone screwing up everything."

Kobi shot V a glare. "Doesn't get along well with others. He gets better when you get to know him."

"If you hadn't insisted, I would have ignored Dedric's stupid request."

"Oh, and he hates Dedric. And the Estrada City Gym Leader, whoever he or she is. I really don't know. Only he and Dedric do."

I looked back at Nick. "You think he's okay?"

"Judging by the bullet hole, I'm pretty sure it'll take a while. Who knows? Maybe he'll just walk it off. He seemed to be able to survive the impact."

Nick's eyes flickered open. "What the hell… where am I now?"

"Calm down, man. You're still at the Pokémon Center. We found your friend. Rather, he found us. All we did was hit him with a piece of wood."

Nick sat up, cringing from the pain in his leg.

"Take it easy. The last thing you need is to pass out."

V shrugged. "It isn't like it bothers me at all."

Nick and V met each other's gaze, both icy cold.

"Good to see you, Nicklaus. Nice to know that what doesn't kill you really does make you stronger."

"Can it, V. I don't need any crap from you. Hey, you, is there any way out of the city? I have to- no, VK and I have to find a friend of ours."

Kobi looked at me in shock. "Wait… you're VK? The Estrada Gym Leader sent out an 'anonymous' letter saying to look out for you. Nice to meet you, I suppose."

He put his arm out for a fist bump. The room was quiet.

"C'mon man. Meet me halfway."

Nick wakes up just as VK asks if he'll be okay? PLOT CONVENIENCE :D

Nice to see everything getting better for VK. He found Nick, made two (one, perhaps) new friend(s), and even survived taking a 2x4 to the head.

Yes, I know both new characters in real life. Hell, one of the new characters is a really good friend of mine. The two of us, as well as Esther Admin Marcus, make up the three cofounders of a top-secret production group. I might tell you more in the future.

VibraKnife - Makes more delicious sandwiches than I Am Darkrai, any day.