Hey hey, finally. *kicks ff.net* And Um. . . I lied last time, about what's in this chapter. That's next chapter. I decided it would be a lot simpler to close a few points that advance the plot right now.

Actually, I forgot. :p Silly me.

Chapter 33: Closing All Holes

Phil came across a small town on his trek across the thick forest. He hoped that they took pokédollars, which was the only currency he had at the time. He was fortunate in that they did.

The traveller sat down in a local restraunt, his head aswim with the events of the last few days. He fought Skye. He broke up with Jenna. He left his pokémon behind. Nothing seemed to be going his way. But . . . he could always hang on his revenge cycle.

But why did he do it? He had everything. . . or used to. No he was nothing more that a soldier of fortune, looking to enact his justice upon the villain who set everything wrong.

If he had only kept his eye on Jenna longer. . .

No. That's of the past. Jenna willingly left him, and that's how it is. And Skye. . . he would come back for him. . . maybe he would kill him this time. Yeah, that's what he should do. . . and the world would fall right back into place. . . And after that. . . they could go home and everything would return to normal. . . but Jenna's parents wouldn't be breaking up. . . and his father wouldn't be the raving moron who only cared about sports, and his mom would actually stop worrying about his grades and just love him and for the sake of all that is good and pure just hug him once in a while. . .

Phil broke down and cried over his bottle of root beer. If only a fantasy like that would come true. . . and not one of his wilder ones which just did.

(He made sure beforehand to sit in a dark corner of the place so he could be left alone with his thought, however they might turn up.)

Phil drew his sword and examined it. To think that he started out with the thought that everything would turn out alright. . . he'd fooled himself before long enough to see that happen. . . but he hadn't been strong enough. . . Now he was. That strange mist had given him power enough to stop probably even Mario. . .

And he'd have enough left over to take out Skye. . .

And then there was always the possibility that Sean was still the rock headed fool he had always been. . . if he was actually here, he could do the world another favor. . .

And Ben. . . that moron. He thought he was so smart, what with his genius IQ and all. . .

Phil caught himself. What was he doing? All those were his friends. He'd known them since his gradeschool years. Why was he plotting their demise?

Had he missed something?

He didn't really care right now. He had a headache the size of Tokyo. It was nearing nightfall, and he decided to turn in to the nearest hotel. He had the money. . . even if he didn't, he always had a big sword. . .

To say the least, Phil's appearance made an impact on the clerk at the registration desk. If you'll recall, Phil had left his shades behind twenty miles ago. The piercing yellow eyes and the sharp blade didn't do much of anything to get Phil a room any quicker at the moment, just made things go slower from the fearful and slow movements of the reception clerk.

Phil gave a light kick to the desk, startling the man, and made things move a lot faster.

Meanwhile, inside Bower's Throne Room. . .

"Your lordship. . ."

"Evening, Kanderbery. You may rise."

"It's about the newcomers."

"What about them?"

"There's a group of people outside looking for some of them."

"Who?"

"Huh?"

"Who is it?"

"The people outside or the ones they're looking for?"

"The people outside!"

"Sorry, your highness. The people outside appear to be humans of some authority."

"Not mine. Who were they looking for?"

"The pokémon hybrids."

"Ha! Send them away."

"Who?"

"The humans, you dolt!"

"Sorry your kingship. Right away your kingship."

The strange turtle like creature stepped out from the massive wooden doors. "I'm sorry, but King Bowser does not grant you permission to enter. You may leave now."

"Hold on one second!" Rico shouted, "We've been tracking these two or three fugitives for the last week! I don't care about your stupid king!"

"King of what?" Todd asked, which almost inclined Rico to smack him upside the head.

"King Bowser Koopa of Darkland, of the Mushroom Kingdom, of course."

"Mushroom Kingdom. . . Mushroom Kingdom. . . where have I head that before?" Todd asked to the air.

"I don't care!" Rico shouted, "I'm going to see that the law is carried out! We'll take the place by force if necessary!"

"Well then," The turtle-like thing at the door said, "I'd like you to meet Bow Wow."

"Bow Wow?"

"The Chain Chomp."

"Chain Chomp?"

Todd and Rico practically flew back into their jeep, which was closely tailed by a speeding man-eating cannonball on a rope.

Inside Bowser's keep about the same time. . .

Robert filed into his private room slowly. There was no rush, even if it was the most exciting night there had been in a while. Robert lit the lamp that was in the corner of the room.

"Robert. . ."

Robert jumped at the mention of his name. He turned to see his dad sitting on top of his bed. "Dad. . ."

"Robert, there's something I want to ask you. . ."

"What is it, dad?"

"Do you trust Jenna?"

This came as a complete surprise to Robert, who had prepared himself for anything except a subtle question like that. And it struck him odd that he really didn't know. But he didn't want his dad to know that. "Why do you want to know?"

"Well. . . It's the boy she's been around. . ."

"Skye. Yeah. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what to expect. Jenna's been spontaneous about certain choices lately. . . well not lately, but since I've been noticing."

"Since when?"

Robert gulped, "Um. . . six years ago. Probably even earlier."

Trent sighed. "I figured as much."

"What's wrong?"

"Robert, have I been a good father?"

This question did not come as a surprise, as Robert had been half-expecting him to say it the first time. But he was wishing that it wouldn't come up.

"Um. . ."

"I thought so."

Robert heaved a sigh. "It's not that, its just that. . . I don't think a normal family would have a person like Jenna. But then again I don't know if we're a typical family or not. . ."

Trent's shoulder's sank, and he glanced sideways at the ground. "Parenting should have come with instructions. . ."

"Nobody's ever mastered it, dad. I at least know that."

Trent inspected his oversized claws a moment. "Does it really matter now? Is it too late to change everything? We're stuck here forever and there's not one thing we can do about it?"

"Well. . ." Robert knew that Ben would probably think up of something sooner or later, but it was the other parts of the question that got to him, "I'm the last person you should probably be talking to about this, dad. . ."

"You're the only person I can talk to right now."

That made sense. "So what are you going to do now?"

Trent looked up at Robert. "Apologize. Try to make it up to you."

"Don't you understand, dad? You always say you're the one who's at fault. To apologize would be toughening up on us."

"And it's too late for that." Trent started to break up in tears, "I just hope I'm wrong. . ."

----

So NEXT TIME is the dark forest thing with a plot twist you wouldn't believe even if you were reading my mind right now. Well, you might believe it if you could do that. . .

And now, send in a character for Final Fantasy: the last hero. I'm not joking. This story is not going to start until I get all the spaces filled.