I see it before it hits him. A shadow. A lurking ball of darkness. A move so powerful it'd kill him. He's strong, no doubt. But if he takes that it's all over. It'd hurt, yes, But I'm fast. I know what it could hit, what it could do. But I also know what it can hit and what it can't. He doesn't see it, he's too busy leading us. Always leading us. He's got a spark in his eye, a smile on his lips. If he gets hit it's all over. I can't. I can't let that happen. His smile is all too important.

It hurts. It burns. There're too many colors in my eyes and I can't concentrate. I took it to my face. It was the best option. Less I take the hit to my head. But it's too late to go back. Much too late. I can see his mouth moving, the panic in his eyes. He's so worried about me, that Grovyle. I wish he'd just focus on himself for once.

He's holding me, yelling something. I can't hear him. Not that I'd willingly ignore him, no, never. But I really can't focus. I'm trying, I am. I know what he's saying is important, it always is, but I can't hold on.

The colors are fading. I think I'm gonna pass out. Sorry Grovyle. I hope you're not too mad at me once I wake up.

I'm not happy.

Not that I'm usually grumpy, really.

I'm an optimist. I like to see the best in what's given to me. If I get a bad apple, why cry? There's so much potential in the bad luck we get. If I focus enough, there's always a positive in a dreary situation. Say, trapped by Dusknoir? Well, at least we know where he is! I trip and fall? Hey, a boost to my immune system! Food poisoning? Less of an appetite! There's almost always a positive. But, right now? Right here and now?

Nope. No positive.

"Aghh…" I groan, because hey, if I voice my pain it'll obviously go away "Grovyle...you alright?"

There's a shuffling to my side, a soft moan, and eventually, I hear a: "Yeah, you okay?"

I blink, face burning. There's a light shining in my eyes and I cover them with a hand. "Maybe...my face hurts. What happened?"

Another shift, and while I can't see it, I know Grovyle is sitting up. He grunts, stretching. I open a single eye to watch him raise his claws, arms twisting above his head and chest shrinking. He lets out a tired sigh. "I...think something hit us. You took the brunt of the attack, but…" he shakes his head.

"Ha...nice," I mumble. My face really, really hurts.

I swallow.

"I...don't feel good."

I hear Grovyle shift again, this time towards me. I know Grovyle would rather die than admit his weaknesses, but I'm not Grovyle. I don't hide my feelings. If I'm down I'm down.

"Move your hand."

I do so, making sure to give him a stink eye for effect. It's my way of coping.

"Fuck!"

I gasp. "Grovyle, language!" I say it as a joke, but Grovyle never swears. He's the kind of guy you'd trust your children with. And maybe even your children's children.

"No, this is bad. Stay down. I'm serious. Don't move!" and then he's gone.

Well, like that wasn't worrying. Grovyle may have been the better of the group, but he sure as hell lacked in the 'don't panic' department. I mean, I could recognize his concern and his distress, but if "Fuck, don't move", isn't worrying, then I don't know what is. I groan again, because hey that's productive, before slowly sitting up.

I hiss. Ouchy. Big ouchy. I blink, and woah it got way lighter all of a sudden, before looking down.

"That's why," I say, and wow, mystery solved! I'm gushing blood down my face. Amazing. Perfect. I'm now even less happy than before.

Rubbing a finger down my temple, I wince. I can't exactly trace the wound, but I can tell it's large. It's right between my eyes, jutting just above my eyebrow, before sliding down to my left cheek. Remarkably, the wound hasn't touched either of my eyes, because hey, I like seeing as much as the next guy. But God does it hurt. It's not like I've never been seriously wounded before. It happens when you live in a fucked dystopian future. But this is probably one of the worst wounds I've gotten in a while. I mean, small nicks and scratches are a given, but a huge ass gaping wound down the side of my face? Not exactly apart of the plan, but hey, I guess Christmas came early for Dialga.

"Payden!" Grovyle shouts, and oops, right, 'don't move'. I've never been very good at that.

"Aheh, whoops."

"Is this the past?" I ask, because Grovyle is already kinda mad and changing topic go!

"Yes. It is. Lay back."

I do so, albeit slowly, and Grovyle holds my face. I'd laugh if it didn't hurt as much as it did.

"This….is gonna scar."

Wow, Grovyle is so smart! So cool! "Woah, how'd you guess?"

He rolls his eyes. "Focus."

Grabbing his treasure bag, (well, our, but I refuse to lug that heavy ass bag around), he pulls out one of the last rolls of gauze. It's tiny and spotted with both of our blood, but Grovyle doesn't care and I don't either. He snags a piece of it, the thing already halfway past its prime, before searching through his bag again.

"Awe look, there's some of your blood on it too! We're just so close!" It's a bad joke, and doesn't make much sense, but the small tick of a smirk I see makes the joke work.

"Close your eyes."

"Bondage, classy."

He scoffs. Oops, right, sexual innuendos aren't his thing. Too bad I'm racked with em. Ahah.

Closing my eyes as instructed, I feel him wrap a good portion of the cloth around my face. He tugs on it a few times, testing the durability, before tying it. It's somewhat tight and a little uncomfortable, but I know he's trying to stop the bleeding and I can't complain.

"Is that ok?" he asks. It's not, but whatever. I adjust it so I can see out of one eye at least, and nod.

"Yeah, it's good. You know where we are?"

He pauses, and something akin to confusion crosses his face before he shakes his head. "No, but I will soon enough." he pulls out a worn map, already fraying at the edges. Shaking it open he lays it onto the ground.

I blink.

"That's not dirt."

He smiles. "Nope."

He waves a claw beside him, and for the first time since waking, I see a world different from any I've seen before.

Water, moving water, gently sways along a coast full of sand. Krabby, which are placed quite aways, blow gentle bubbles into the evening sky. A sun, (an actual sun oh my god!) beams down on the seashore, alighting the world with a tinge of orange.

It's almost too much.

Almost.

"Grovyle!" I say because he's the only familiarity here. "We...we made it!"

A true twinkle graces his face. "Mmh."

There's a lot I wanna say. I want to cry, to scream, to kiss the sand beneath me. I want to praise the heavens and hug Grovyle and dance and I want so many things. But I can't. All I can do is smile. Because we made it. We made it!

"Wow."

"Mmh."

He refocuses on the map, and try as I might, I can't look at him. All I can see is the ocean before me and the beauty that follows.

"We're...off track. But, we are indeed in the past." he waves the map in front of me and I startle. I take it.

My eyes scan the yellowed paper. There're a few towns, a few villages, but his claw stays on one. It's a tiny little place, with only a population of less than two hundred.

"Treasure town?"

"Yeah."

"Huh…" and then I say, "That's kinda far from our target."

He grimaces. "Yes...after you took the hit, I…" he frowns, stopping, as if realizing something. "Wait…"

I smirk. Not because I'm happy, (I am but that's not important), but because I'm pretty sure I know what's coming next.

"Payden…"

"Me" I supply, because haha I'm boned.

"You...you pushed me out of the way. You, what did you…"

Right. Grovyle was gonna figure it out anyways. He's smart like that. Maybe too smart. Honestly, nothing ever escapes him. To bad peace was never an option.

"Sooo", I push back a strand of hair, "I might have seen a lil somethin' comin' towards you. And, well, since I like presents, I took it instead." I laugh at the end. I laugh seeing that jokes are funny, and if I laugh, maybe he won't fli-

"Payden!"

His face contorts into one of anger and discomfort. The leaf on top of his head starts swaying, and I hold back a wince. Nope. Grovyle was not happy.

"Well, before you chew me out", (because that was inevitable), "maybe I should put on that disguise?"

He stops. A moment of recognition passes before him, and he blinks. "Oh. Right."

He rummages through his bag once more, this time being careful as to what he touches. Scanning the innards of the sack, he clicks his tongue. "Give me a second."

I nod. "Yeah. I'm gonna go wash up."

At this, he doesn't reply, but I know that's only because he's multitasking. Getting up, thankful that my distraction worked, I stretch. My legs sting and my feet tingle, but the blood rushing back into my body is reassuring. Wandering my ways across the shore, careful to stay out of view of the Krabby, I adjust myself adjacent to the ocean. Kneeling, I scoop some of the salty water into my hands before scrubbing the muck from them. A human, a very short human, with copper red hair stares back at me. They have a long, angry mark spanning across their face, with a makeshift cloth wrapped around their head like an eyepatch. Blue eyes watch the water wearily, as if judging the reflection. I giggle. That human is me. That poor, shipwrecked human is me, and Grovyle is stuck with them. He has been for quite some time.

I push my hair out of my face, and Grovyle meets me by the ocean side. His reflection is vastly different. A green gecko with sharp iris and a yellow sclera, along with a pinkish-red belly and green skin, (much different from my pasty epidermis). Multiple tiny scars litter his skin, but the most prominent scar is along his side, deep and pink. I remember when that had happened. It wasn't a good memory.

"You ready?"

I blink, before turning to face him. He holds a tiny orb, shiny and blue and so much smaller than his hand.

I smile. "Yeah, might as well get it over with."

Honestly, I had no idea what I'd be turned into, but that was okay. As long as Grovyle was with me, I'd be okay. I knew that.

"Alright. Stand still."

Doing so, I take one last deep breath before everything goes dark.

"Payden, wake up."

I groan.

"Payden. Get up!" A hand prods at my side, and I whine. "Five more minutes Ryder…"

Another hand joins the other, and just like that, I'm awoken from my beautiful nap.

"Mmm...what... you dumb baby." I hiss, blinking. I let out a yawn.

"Payden seriously get up, Pokemon are coming!"

And just like that the innocence I just held shatters and I raise my head, eyes wide. Shaking the sand off of me, I only have a second to gain my bearings before I hear voices.

Grovyle leans down, whispering: "You're a Riolu. Don't freak out and let me do the talking."

I nod, dimly, and scurry behind Grovyle. It doesn't hit me till I'm already behind him that I'm a Riolu, and I hold back a pitiful whine. I don't know how to fight! Shit, I can barely walk straight, let alone use my fists! If I was like, I don't know, a Charmander, that would have been so much cooler! I sigh.

I peek around him, also noticing how much smaller I am now. I used to be taller than him, me being 5'2 and him being a measly 2'11, but now I can only guess I must be around 2'2, if not smaller. I frown. No more height jokes then.

"Hey! Stop! Give it back!"

I raise a brow, searching for the voice. Only when Grovyle nudges me to the direction of the voice am I met with four other Pokemon, directly across from us.

"Heh-heh-heh! What a loser!"

"Whoa-ho-ho! Can't even stand up to us, huh?"

"N-no! That's n-not true! Give it back, Koffing!"

Grovyle frowns, mouth tensed into a line. I look to him for guidance, but he doesn't move.

An Eevee, smaller than even myself, struggles to grab at two other pokemon. While familiar with the race of the Eevee, (the species being relatively common), I'm not too sure about the other Pokemon.

"Woah-ho, Nah, I quite like your little treasure! I think I'll keep it. What do ya say, Zubat?"

The bat-like Pokemon grins. "I think that's a perfect idea! We'll give it to the boss and sell it!"

The Eevee gasps. "What? No! Please!"

The smaller pokemon makes grabs at the two others, but they both easily dodge her. "If you want it so bad, I think you'll hafta come and get it, Heh-heh-heh!"

"Woah-ho-ho, as if the chicken would ever!"

The two break out into chuckles, then turn. Before leaving, however, the bigger of the group pushes the Eevee aside, and she tumbles to the ground with a whine.

Grovyle and I watch as they both hurry inside a nearby cave, clearly, (and thankfully) not noticing us or not caring too.

"Oof…" I mumble, sharing a glance with Grovyle. Of course, he doesn't share my concern, but he does seem somewhat bothered.

"That looked like it hurt," I say, again, as if to spark a conversation.

Grovyle seems to get the hint, before turning to me and shaking his head. "No."

"But-!"

"No, Pay-Riolu, we aren't familiar with this world. It's best to stay out of it. Look, let's find-Payde-Riolu!"

But I've already started walking towards the Eevee

...

...

AN: Hey, this is my first fanfic. Basically it's an Au of what happened if Grovyle and the Hero actually made it. I haven't really seen one of these around so I decided to take my own spin at it. This is for fun, so I'm not gonna be taking constructive criticism, but any major errors (like spelling) you can point out and I'll decide if I want to fix them or not. This story will update sporadically, but usually at least once a week. I plan for it to have around twenty or so chapters, but we'll see. Also, the hero, Payden, is nonbinary. They use they/them pronouns but it won't be brought up much. Anyways, please review and tell me what you guys thinks so far!