Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me-e! Happy birthday to me! Yep. As of March 9th of 2020 I'm 22 years old, and if I play my cards right, I've got another 22 in me before I die of some monumentally stupid thing I do. I know how I can be.
As he ran, Logan couldn't help the words his mind was screaming at him. That he should go back and help Ben because of the time they'd spent together. Ben had been nice to him, and yet he abandoned him. When Ben needed him, he left him to whatever the feral Zoroark was going to do to him. The one person in over a year who had been kind to him despite his efforts to the contrary, and he had run away. 'How could you do this to him? He was nice to you? You could have helped him!' Normally, he'd have a mental debate about why he left, but he didn't have a good answer.
Ben was utterly furious. How could Logan have done this? He knew Logan wasn't exactly the kindest soul in the world, but this was just a dick move. In his hour of need, he'd been left for theoretical dead. As he growled at Logan's figure as it was going up a hill, he was lifted to his feet. As this was a Zoroark, which could use illusions to communicate, and even integrate into human society, he was "spoken" to. "Move it. We're going on a little walk." Ben was then shoved roughly to the ground.
Logan scrambled up the nearby hill. The sooner he got away, the sooner he could try to start feeling better about himself. As he reached the top of the hundred foot tall hill, he turned back and watched Ben being shoved. "I abandoned him..."
He heard a voice behind him. "I'm surprised." Logan turned around and saw a familiar green haired face. N. "Logan I believe?" Logan gave a small nod. He was too upset with himself to fight or argue with him. "I'll admit, when Ghestis informed me that you could be valuable to us, and that he thought he could get you to join us in Team Plasma, I thought he'd lost it. Yet that, was a thing of beauty. You freed yourself from him. A Pokemon breaking free of their trainer's control is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen."
"I betrayed him..."
"Look, based on how you behaved to him, I can guess he most likely took you from your home against your will. That's what trainers do, they take Pokemon and ruin families. It's good that you broke free. Now, I know Ghestis wants you to join Team Plasma, but if you want, you can return to your pack."
"I didn't have a pack... I lived alone... and he caught me because I tried to kill him..." Logan was now defending what Ben did. He felt so bad for what he had done.
"Well then you should join us. I'm the king of Team Plasma. I make sure all our Pokémon are treated well." Logan knew he was part of Team Plasma, but he didn't expect him to be the one in charge. He opened his mouth to say more, but Logan cut him off before he could go on.
"What about him? What will happen to him?" Hopefully he would be allowed to leave without any issues. Maybe that would make Logan feel a little bit better.
"He'll probably have his Pokémon taken away and then I'll have someone return him to a place of his choosing. I can promise you that he will not be harmed in any way." The words were a bit of a relief to Logan, but it didn't do anything to dispel the horrid guilt in his stomach. "Look, if you decide to join us in Team Plasma, you will be held in high regard. Pokémon like you represent what we strive for. Unity between humans, anthros, and Pokémon. You basically represent all of it as an anthro Pokémon. Human/anthro thought process, and Pokémon ability. You could have everything you want with us."
Logan thought back to when he had spoken with Chuck back in Castelia. 'Don't compromise. Do what makes you happy first and foremost.' What did he want? He needed to answer that question. 'What do I want? I... I want... I want someone to care for me... I want someone to be there for me when I lose my way. That's all I want.' "I already had what I wanted..."
N looked at him with a mixture of surprise and worry. "What? With him? Please don't kid yourself. You're a Zoroark. You don't need anyone. You have immense strength and abilities. Listen, I need to go make sure my Zoroark has this handled. If you want to join Team Plasma, just stay here, if not, then you can do whatever you want. Just trust me when I tell you, you don't need him."
With that, N began to walk back towards his Zoroark. As Logan looked back to where Ben was, he noticed that Ben had bit the feral fox on the arm. He was struggling very much, and though he had no chance of getting away, he seemed to know the Zoroark wouldn't hurt him, so he did everything within his power to fight. If Ben had drawn blood, N's concern was kind of warranted. Infection in all that.
N's last words had stuck in Logan's head. 'You don't need him.' Yet...
'What do I want? I want... no... I...' Logan had not confronted his emotions in this sort of context for so very long, that he didn't know what to think. He was having an internal war with himself. Part of him wanted to just keep running. Bury this part of his life and just live and die alone as he felt was destined for him. Another part wanted him to run back and save Ben. Apologize profusely and hope Ben wouldn't hate him. 'You don't need him.' How could he make this choice? The rest of his entire life may hang in the balance. 'I... I need...'
'You don't need him.'
Slowly, Logan began to smile. "Actually, I do. I need someone to care for me... to make me better... and right now, he needs me." He bolted down the hill on all fours. "So I need to do this!" He slammed his shoulder into N's back. N ended up face planting and began rolling down the hill. The impact had seriously hurt his back. It would be a while before he could get back up with how much of a blow his spine had taken. Logan didn't stop to check on him or make it worse for him. He barreled towards N's Zoroark and Ben, who were now facing away from him. As he got within a few feet, he got on all fours, and then delivered a punch right to the side of his head. He was knocked off of his feet and sent airborne for a few feet. "Stay the fuck away from my trainer!"
Ben spun around. "Logan?"
Logan looked back and nodded. "I'm here for you. You can count on me. Let me handle this joker." Logan faced his feral counterpart who was quite clearly shaken.
The smaller fox growled. "That was a total sucker punch!"
Logan switched to Pokespeak. "Yeah, I just wish I'd have made it a claw to your neck. Consider yourself lucky I didn't." They both got on all fours and began to circle. Logan had a confident smile on his face, while his opponent wore a furious scowl. After a few moments of feeling each other out, they both charged. Right as they were about to reach each other, they got to their hindlegs and began trying to bite and claw at each other. Within moments, both foxes had multiple lacerations on their arms. Their claws cut through flesh with ease. Logan shoved the other vulpine to the growled and sunk his teeth into his shoulder. This was met with a loud cry of pain and a retaliatory punch to the face. Logan released his grip and held his cheek, which was bleeding pretty heavily after a blow of that level. When he removed his hand it was pretty bloody already. "Heh, you got me pretty good with that one! Come on!" He stormed up to the other Zoroark and used his larger size and longer reach to grab his chest fluff. He threw him to the ground and knelt on his chest before he could get up. He held up the index claw in his right hand and began to lower it towards his enemy's eye. Both of his clawed hands came up and grabbed Logan's. Trying to push it away. Logan placed his left hand on his right wrist and pushed down with all his might. "Sorry to do this, but I need to ensure that you don't try anything like this again. I think this should be a good message, don't you?" Slowly, his larger size was allowing him to overpower his foe. The claw got closer and closer to his left eye.
"W-wait! Stop please! I'll leave, just don't do this!" Logan ignored this and pressed on. His claw got closer and closer. It was less than an inch from half blinding N's Zoroark.
"LOGAN STOP!" Logan looked back. Ben was looking at him with pleading eyes. "Let him go. He got the message. Just look at him!" Logan returned his eyes to his opponent who was staring at the claw with desperate eyes. He was crying because he was so afraid. Logan stopped pushing down. The feral fox laid back and began panting in relief and exhaustion. He'd put everything into fighting against Logan, now his arms felt like they were on fire, coupled with all the blood loss, he was feeling pretty weak.
Logan grabbed his ear and pulled him close. "I don't care what N says or does, you will not come after us again, and you will not touch him." After that, Logan didn't deliver another punch, or scratch him, or anything. He just got off of him. "Now go tend to your trainer. He could probably use some help standing for a bit." His advice was taken as the feral Pokémon went over to the hill where N was still down with back pain. Logan went to check on Ben in the meantime. "Are you ok?"
"I've got a few bumps and scuffs, but I'm ok. Oh, and by the way." Ben punched Logan in the chest. It didn't do much, but it did cause some pain. "That's for abandoning me." He then threw his arms around Logan. "And that's for coming back."
Logan was startled. He was sure Ben would ridicule him heavily for what he did. Yet, he seemed to be forgiven. After a few moments, Logan hesitantly reached down and hugged Ben in return. "I'm so sorry... I'm gonna be better... I swear it. For you."
