Side Story 04/05 – In need of Friends

Nuvema Town – Pokemon Laboratory

It was five in the late afternoon, an hour left until the laboratory closed for the day. On the phone in laboratory were a Gardevoir talking to her friend Espeon over the phone, something which she at first thought was a catch up talk or a friendly chat between two friends who have not seen one another in months. But before Gardevoir could ask her friend how the others have been since they left, Espeon interrupted her desperate for her to shut up and listen.

"Gardevoir, listen to me closely when I say this; we need your help. Heck, we need everyone's help with what is about to take place." Gardevoir instead of reading out loud at every word what was in her dictionary to everyone close by she liked to talk too had set the book down on her lap and listened in. The tone of voice from Espeon showed she was serious, and when Espeon was serious in these talks, she knew she had to listen. "Bad things have happened recently… Sakura and Isaac are both dead, killed by the enemy… t-this morning…" Gardevoir gasped and covered her mouth with her paw in shock. "As for the others, we are alright. Sakura and Isaac's Pokemon are going to be returned back to the laboratory tonight, but we need help, Zack needs help. So far it's just a few hundred Savior soldiers all preparing to fight Team Doom very soon, me and Latias. We need you to gather as many of our friends as possible to come over and help Zack take down Team Doom."

"We could come over before it gets too dark. The professor should be able to transfer our Pokeball's over to where you are."

"Right now we are at Opelucid City Pokemon Center. Hurry Gardevoir; gather the others so we can help Zack take down these fuckers. Help us Gardevoir, you are our only hope… movie references at its finest, HAH!" And that was just what Gardevoir did. With a confident nod, she stood up and headed out towards the laboratory garden in search for her friends and assembles a team to fight Team Doom alongside her friends in need of help.

Her first destination was by the tree located at the center of the garden, the usual hangout spot where she and the others like to sit, talk and play together. On cloudless days like this, with the sun just setting over the horizon leaving an orange hue in the sky, she would often find them there watching the sun set until eventually they would head on back inside. But today, she could only find Dewott with his mate pregnant Meowstic and daughter sleeping between the two.

'This will be easy' thought Gardevoir as she approached them. 'Dewott is Zack's best friend, he would never abandon him. I guess we will all be in Opelucid City within less time than I had imagined…'

"I don't want to go." He shrugged. "I don't see the point on going."

"B-but Dewott, we need your help. Soon, Zack is about to fight Team Doom alongside Espeon, Latias and a few hundred Savior members left remaining. We need all the help we can get." Gardevoir pleaded, kneeling down to be at eye level with him. "I know together we can survive this, we have survived much worse."

"That time was a mistake… fighting Team Annihilation barely holding onto our lives… fighting some kind of deity who had wanted to trap all life for us to become his food so he could live forever whilst placing us in a dream-like state, travelling to different regions fighting against crime lords and evil people nonstop, we could've been killed!"

"B-but we weren't." She stuttered, hoping that Dewott would soon change his mind, ready to fight against Team Doom. She didn't want to come back empty handed with her being the only one to appear. "We fought together, we endured the pain and held out to the end to defeat our foes. We can't abandon him when he needs us. I for one am not going to let him go and fight by himself against those awful people"

"What you guys are all doing is suicidal, it's stupid. I'm not going to a part of this, not when the egg is about to hatch. I want to be there to see my child hatch from the egg. Zack shouldn't have gotten involved, but he did and his friends followed him anyway, only to end up dead. I'm not going to die for his idiotic fight."

"D-Dewott, Zack is your friend. He needs you." Dewott didn't say anything as he walked back to be with his family. Gardevoir thought Dewott was his friend, this was unlike him. In the past he would've helped, but now he wouldn't. "Zack's mom died, in case you have forgotten that, Dewott." Dewott stopped. "His MOM, Dewott, right in front of him. I thought you were his friend. I'm going, and I am pretty sure the others will help."

Dewott scoffed and walked away from Gardevoir towards his family. "If the others die when you are out there, don't blame me for me not being there. It was there stupid idea to leave our home to go on this suicidal mission he has us going on." Gardevoir paused and watched Dewott return to his family. 'He just wants to be with his family…' she thought, 'No use forcing him, but still… why did he have to say this was stupid? Wouldn't he do the same thing if something were to happen to his loved ones?'

Seeing as though she had no luck with Dewott, she decided she would try her luck elsewhere with her next Pokemon to see was Golurk who had been helping out in the garden by moving large boulders and fallen down trees to clean up the garden a little after last night's storm had knocked down several trees at the corner of the garden. Gardevoir had climbed up a steep hill to find Golurk moving large tree trunks into a pile of other logs for when a team would arrive and remove them, only to see an incredibly large white Pokemon besides Golurk, helping it by picking up and carrying each fallen tree one at a time with ease.

"Golurk, do you have a minute to talk?" Gardevoir asked, sitting beside the pile of logs. "I know you are busy, but this is about Zack."

Golurk stopped as well as the larger Pokemon Gardevoir had never seen before, assuming it was another Pokemon who happened to have been dropped off by another trainer and was assigned by Professor Juniper to help Golurk out with the fallen trees. "I received a phone call from Espeon recently and she tells me that Zack needs us to come to him in Opelucid City to help him fight against Team Doom. Sakura and Isaac were killed by Team Doom members, so close to their hidden lair. I have been tasked to gather as many as I can to travel to Opelucid soon."

"Is he alright? How is Zack doing?" The larger Pokemon chirped, flapping its wings excitedly at the sound of Zack's name. Gardevoir looked up at the Pokemon with a confused look, surprised that this Pokemon knew who he was. Assuming this Pokemon already knew who he was because Golurk, well it likes to tell stories about their past adventures to the other younger Pokemon living at the garden at 'story time' during the afternoon.

"Miss Gardevoir." Golurk spoke after placing one of the trees it was carrying over to the many piles of collected fallen trees. "This is Lugia, one of Mr Zack's Pokemon from his younger days as a Savior member. It left the group to find out more about itself. It came back to check on Zack and us all for a reunion before it had to go back to its clan."

"My lady." Lugia bowed to Gardevoir, offering her a picked flower. Gardevoir accepted it and used it as a bookmark for her dictionary. "Is Zack alright?"

"He's fine, but his friends Sakura and Isaac were killed today. The Savior members are gathering for the final assault on Team Doom. Zack is going to need all the help he can get if we are to defeat Team Doom. He can't do this alone."

"I shall join Mr Zack to help him defeat Team Doom." Golurk said, walking beside Gardevoir, ready to leave.

"I'm in too." Lugia said as it stood up, flapping its wings. "We should get the others. When do we leave?"

"We still have to gather Totodile and Bayleef, and then we can leave for Opelucid City via Pokeball transfer to the Pokemon Center." Gardevoir, Golurk and Lugia both walked as fast as they could in search for Totodile and Bayleef. She was unsure whether or not she should tell them about if Dewott would be coming with them or not. Lugia or perhaps Golurk would've tried to argue with him, fight with him to come with us. But Dewott wouldn't come, he refused to. If he didn't want to help them fight against Team Doom, then that was up to him.

Totodile and Bayleef were at the lake by the time Gardevoir, Golurk, and Lugia had arrived to see them playing with their children splashing around in the water. Their appearance didn't faze the young Pokemon, but one Pokemon did surprise the two adults, an old friend they hadn't seen in years. "Lugia!" Totodile and Bayleef said at the same time as they ran together up to Lugia opening its wings to pull them in for a giant hug. Gardevoir explained to the couple about the situation that was happening right now, and that Zack needed their help.

"Of course we'll help…" Bayleef nodded before looking at her children playing in the lake. "But please let us say our goodbye's to them. Zack has done so much for us, how could we abandon him now when he needs us? Totodile," Bayleef turned to her mate. "We have to help him, he's our friend."

"I know…" Sighed Totodile, holding her paw with his own. "it'll be hard on the kids." Together, the two parents walked over to their young and called them over, out of the lake and onto the grass, telling them how they had to leave to help out a friend who needed them. They cried, begged not to leave them, but they told the young Pokemon that they had to. Gardevoir had wanted to get this done and over with. All of them would be at the center within minutes after Espeon had told them of the situation. But being separated from a child was tough for the parents, Totodile and Bayleef would be leaving their children here for who knows how long and if at all they or any of them would be coming back. So Gardevoir allowed them all the time they needed.

Two hours, it had taken Two hours since Espeon last called, for Gardevoir to gather the others together to help fight against Team Doom with Zack. Their final fight, and after they would go in early retirement, a life away from The Savior's, away from the dangers of the missions, just to live a happy life.

With the group seemingly all gathered, they walked together back to the laboratory ready and able to fight alongside their friends to help take down Team Doom and come back home together.

Trivia:

This side story was focus on everyone's perspective, their thoughts, their fears rather than follow Gardevoir to recruit the others.