Chapter 28

Well, I don't really know what to say. I want to get these stories going but things are just so hard right now. But I finally think I'll be able to get this story going.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter and keep checking back for updates.

(Matthew POV)

It didn't take us very long to get ready and head out the door. We didn't really say much, we'd tell a joke or two, but not much else.

When we arrived William and Chris were standing there, William looked up and smiled when he saw us, Chris did not.

"Well, you guys are actually early this time, I guess there's a first for everything." He laughed as he spoke.

"Well, I guess we just wanted to get this day going you know." Nicholas chuckled back.

"Since you both are here; I guess we can get moving. We're going on a retrieval mission today. Somebody thought it was a good idea to go exploring in the old caves to the north." He told us.

"Retrieval mission, that sounds like a rescue mission to me William." I spoke quietly, quickly regretting my decision.

"Sorry, but I'll call it what I want. And besides, if I have to risk my life for someone who constantly gets themselves in trouble, it's a retrieval, not a rescue." William raised his voice as he spoke.

I was surprised at his sudden attitude, I looked over at Chris, but he rolled his eyes and started to walk forward with William. Nicholas had also started moving so I ran up next to him. He spoke quickly before I could say a word.

"Yeah, probably best not to make sarcastic remarks with William, he doesn't like it very much. He advised me.

I shook my head in understanding and continue to follow, not daring to say another word unless spoken to.

(1 hour later.)

We had arrived at the location to find out that the client wasn't even there. Apparently someone never took the job posting down. William was not pleased at all, I really couldn't blame him though, this whole trip was for nothing. When we finally arrived back in town, William shouted and kicked a nearby post.

"I can't believe we went all the way out there for nothing, what idiot doesn't take down the job posting when claiming it!" He shouted at no one.

"Calm down William, we've still got plenty of time left, let's just go get another mission." Chris spoke, trying to calm William down.

"Chris, by the time we pick another job it will be too late, It'll be dark before we get back, just go home for the day, I'll figure this out later. Matthew you go home too, Nicholas stay here, I want to talk to you." William ordered

I didn't have to be told twice, I turned around and started heading towards my home. During the entire walk, I couldn't help feel as though someone was following me. I kept turning around to see that no one was there but the feeling never went away.

I was about ten minutes out when I saw that there was someone standing in front of me. I squinted to get a better look and gasped when I saw who it was. It was the very same Machoke that hated my guts more than anything in this world.

I couldn't understand it, why in the world was this ignorant brute in such a nice area of town, all I did know was that I couldn't let him see me. I didn't have Nicholas or William to protect me, who knows what would happen if we were to come face to face. I quickly dove into a nearby bush and started to sneak past him. I was about halfway through when I heard a very loud crack from down on the ground. I poked my head outside and saw that he had stood up and was looking all around.

"Whose there, come out here right now!" He shouted at no one.

I desperately moved as fast as possible until I had made it out of the shrubbery. I was confident that I was all in the clear, until I heard a very familiar voice booming right behind me.

"You, I should have known it would be you or that other twerp you hang out with!" He shouted at me.

I tried to ignore him and walk away, but he was having none of it. He dashed forward and grabbed my arm, preventing my escape.

"look, just leave me alone sir, I don't want any trouble." I begged him.

He sighed and loosened his grip on my arm before turning me around to face him.

"Your luck punk, if I didn't think I'd get in trouble, I'd beat you into the dirt right now. I'll let you go after you tell me what you were doing in that bush." He ordered in his threatening voice.

"Fine, I was hiding from you, I didn't want to get into a confrontation with you so I was going to sneak by you." I answered in a quiet voice, terrified of this crazy thug.

He let go of my arm and pushed me to the ground, he was about to hit me, but he stopped at the last minute.

"You little liar, your sneaking around because you were going to steal from these hard working Pokémon! I Wasn't going to hurt you, but your lying changed my mind, too bad no one is here to save you this time!" He shouted before grabbing me and hitting me with a Brick Break.

I wanted to defend myself, but fear was starting to take over, there wasn't any way I could stop this guy by myself. Before he could get any closer to hit me, something came out of nowhere and struck him on the back, causing him to go forward. I looked behind his and saw a familiar Riolu standing there ready to battle.

"Sorry pal, but I can't let you do that, that's my team mate your threatening there." Chris said in as strong of a voice he could muster.

"So, Chris, you would lower your values all for someone who is nothing but a low life thug? I've never been more disgusted in my life." Machoke taunted Chris, trying to set him off.

"Listen here you maniac, that so called thug saved my life and Williams, not to mention the client and heck, even Nicholas. Matthew is a good Pokémon, and I won't let you hurt him!" Chris shouted at the top of his voice.

"Well, I hope you're ready for battle, because once I'm done with you, you'll wish you were never born!" Machoke yelled in return before returning into his own battle pose.

I had managed to get off the ground and stand on my own two feet, ready to fight. I didn't know if we could win, but we had to try, no matter what.

(Meanwhile, elsewhere in Nicholas's POV)

I had no idea why William wanted to speak to me, but I had a strong feeling it wasn't good. All of the usual thoughts were starting to come to mind, what did I do, what did I say. Once Matthew and Chris were far enough away, William finally spoke up.

"Listen up Nicholas, I've got two things I want to say to you, first, when I tell you not to do something, don't do it. Second, I know it was your idea going into town to talk to Magnezone." William scolded me.

I looked down the ground and sighed, I knew I was going to get yelled at. But I just didn't understand why, I Didn't do anything wrong. He cleared his throat to signal that he wasn't finished telling me off.

"No I'm not mad at you, just promise me you won't get you or Matthew into any more trouble." He begged.

"William, I'm sorry I've been acting so stupid, I promise it will never happen again, Ever." I promised him.

He thanked me and patted me on the shoulder before having a change of emotion.

"Now, on another topic, I figured how we can get Matt to cheer up. How about we throw a big party and fill the table with Matthew's favorite foods and do whatever he wants?" He suggested.

"That's not a bad idea, of course, we should ask Matthew's parent for help. There's no way we can do all of that by ourselves." I told him.

"OK then, it's settled, we'll start planning the whole thing tomorrow." He answered in agreement.

Since the issue was resolved, we started to head home when we could hear faint screams. We didn't know where it was coming from, so we ignored it at first. When we were getting closer to home, it seemed as if it was getting close, we were starting to get really worried. Finally, after what felt like minutes, I started to feel as if I recognized the voices from anywhere.

"William, that sounds like Matthew and Chris." I whispered in his ear.

He continued forward in silence for a moment before screaming.

"Oh no, I think your right Nicholas, come on, they could be in danger! He yelled as he started to run down the path.

I was quick to follow behind; we would arrive at the area in a few minutes. I didn't know what was going on, I only hoped we'd make it there in time

(Back to Matthew POV)

Things were not going very well for me and Chris, he was kicking our butts. He had just slammed Chris with Submission before striking me with another Brick Break. We were weak and running out of energy, we couldn't keep this up much longer.

"Matthew, this guy's a lot stronger than us but I have an idea. We need to attack at the same time, I'll take his left and you his right on your signal." He instructed.

I nodded and turned my attention back to Machoke. Chris had far more battle experience than me so I wouldn't dare question him.

"What, are you to so scared of me that you're not even going to make a move. Oh well, I guess I'll have to finish you off then." He taunted before charging straight for us.

I waited for the right moment before shouting to go. Chris charged a force palm while I went for aqua jet. Machoke seemed to be caught off guard given by the look on his face. I thought that we had finally done it until I saw the change in his expression. He was grinning, Chris saw it as well. We tried to pull out of our attacks but it was too late. He stopped both of our attacks and proceeded to slam us into each other, then striking us both with Karate Chop sending us straight into a tree.

"You think two little brats could defeat me, I've spent years training to become stronger. You'll never win!" He Mocked us before attacking us once more.

I couldn't tell how much more I could take, but I don't think he cared. At this point, I figured he was going to kill us. I had managed to crawl over to Chris to check on his wounds.

"I'm sorry Chris, this is all my fault." I struggled to speak, horribly weak.

"It's okay, Matthew, I chose to come here, and you know what, I'm happy I did." He mumbled in return, smiling.

It didn't matter, Chris was suffering all because of me, and if Machoke didn't kill us, I don't think I live through the guilt. I looked up when I heard footsteps and saw Machoke standing above me.

"I think I will start with you Buizel, oh and don't worry, it will only hurt a lot." He spoke with such hatred in his voice.

I cowered and closed my eyes when he raised his fist, but I never felt the blow coming. When I opened my eyes, someone had grabbed his arm and stopped him from hitting, he turned around to see who it was and gasped in surprise, revealing to me who my savior really was. It was a Floatzel, and he only said a few words to the thug.

"Get away from my son you Bastard!" He shouted, before striking Machoke with a Razor Wind, sending him flying.

Machoke got up with even more anger on his face and was ready to battle.

"Are you really going to face me, you know how that Will go for you." My father advised him.

"I'm not scared of you Floatzel, I'll destroy you!" He shouted before charging.

My father only smiled before quickly moving to the side. Machoke kept going past and was hit with a hydro pump which sent him flying into a rock. He got up and tried again, but received the same results. The difference in power was enormous, but Machoke didn't seem to care, getting angrier every time he failed. He desperately tries to hit father several times more, but still continued to miss. My father smiled before launching his special move, Ice Punch. A move he had always promised to show me. The attack hit Machoke square in the jaw, causing him to fall on the ground.

"Let me get something clear to you, I have had years of training. Both on a team and with the federation itself, you could never dream of beating me. Now do yourself a favor and walk away." My Father suggested to him.

We all looked over to the left and saw William and Nicholas coming from down the path. Machoke looked like he was ready to go once more until he saw them coming. He got up off the ground and tried to walk away.

"Hold it right there Machoke!" William shouted.

"No, let him go, we have to get help for Matthew and Chris. You take Chris home; I'll take care of Matthew." Father ordered

William and Nicholas grunted in frustration before running over and helping Chris up. He kept shouting he didn't need help, but kept falling down every time they let go. After a quick Scolding from my father, Chris stopped arguing and let them help. Once the three of them had disappeared, my father had turned around to help me stand, but was surprised when I was already up and hugging him.

"Thanks for saving my dad, I don't know what would of happened if you hadn't shown up." I thanked him as I held onto him.

"I was walking home when I saw what he was doing, it took everything I had not to kill him on the spot." He told me.

"I don't know if I can walk on my own, could you give me a hand?" I asked him.

He nodded and put his arm around me, telling me to lean against him. We walked in silence for a while, we never did talk much. But today was different, I didn't want to do this anymore.

"Dad, I wanted to tell you that I love you and I'm sorry for all the bad things I've done, and I'll never do anything to make you upset ever again." I blurted out.

"Matthew, I love you too, but where did all that other stuff come from?" He questioned me.

"What do you mean, I've screwed up so many times there's no way that you could still think I'm anything but a screw up." I spoke sadly, looking towards the ground.

He stopped walking and held me a little tighter, before looking down at me with a serious look on his face.

"Matthew, I want you listen to me. I love you more than anything in this world and I would die if it meant you would live. There is nothing in this world that could ever make me think less of you in anyway. Didn't we just go over this a while ago?" He said with sincerity.

"Yeah, I guess we did a little bit." I chose to shrug off the question at the end.

"Well, regardless if we did or not, my opinion hasn't changed, nor will it ever. Now we're almost home, I want you to rest up for the rest of the day once we treat your injuries, do you understand me." He ordered.

"I promise; I'm actually looking forward to some rest." I joked around, trying to lighten the mood, but still clear of my Father's demands.

The two of entered the house shortly after with caution, once mom saw me, we knew she would go crazy. We were halfway up the stairs when she did end up spotting me. Her choice of words wasn't pleasant. But she immediately grabbed me from my father and ran up the stairs and into their room. She ran into the closet and came back with a box I could assume was a first aid kit. She pulled out everything she need and started to take care of the worst injuries first.

"So what in the world happened to you Matthew?" She asked me.

"I was attacked by this Machoke. Chris showed up and tried to help me, but we were no match. If dad hadn't show up, I don't know what would have happened." I explained to her, making sure she knew how important Dad had been.

"Well, I'm just glad your all right, Chris wasn't hurt too bad either was he?" She questioned me as she made me eat some Sitrus berry.

"I really don't know, William and Nicholas are taking him home as we speak, I hope he is." I said with great concern in my voice.

She reassured me that Chris would probably be ok and to go to bed a rest for the rest of the day. Once dad had helped me into my room, I flopped down on my bed, almost immediately feeling the full effects of the entire day. As I slowly drifted off to sleep, I hoped that Chris was all healed up and ready to do the same, and wait for a better tomorrow.

End of 28

So this is another chapter that I had at 50% completion for the longest time. Because I wanted to get this story going, I decided to keep it as is instead of redoing the whole thing. Chapter 29 will be all from fresh and filled with plenty of ideas I developed while on hiatus.

I can't help but feel this could have gone a little better, like a developed battle scene, but I'm still getting better with those. I am for one happy to have Matthew bond with his father at the end there, but the question is, will things stay so good between the two? You'll just have to wait and find out.

IMPORTANT STORY INFORMATION

A post TSOM is in the drafting faze to be prepared for release when I am ready. If you want to know a little bit more about Nicholas, check out my DA page, I'm starting a Bio story over there. I might do one of Chris on here if I find the time.

SSP is still on hold, I'm having writers block really bad for this story.

The Deadline chapter will be released sometime this coming week 7/1-7/7.

I thank you for your support and appreciate any reviews or comments you leave, Until next time

Shiv740