Arron felt like shit.

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he registered was the worst headache in recent memory, a horrible throbbing near his forehead that wouldn't quit. He wrapped both of his paws around his head as best he could, but it was no use.

The second thing he noticed was that the sunlight burned. His eyes could barely register what was going on around him, as he was too busy squinting to prevent the pain. He wished he could curl up into a ball and die.

Why?

He really appreciated some of the benefits of being an undead, soul eating spirit: he didn't have to worry about silly things like headaches. Now that he had a physical, mortal body, every affliction reminded him just how fragile he was. He couldn't just channel his energy to heal himself quickly anymore, he had to actually take care of himself and not ram his head into concrete in an effort to kill a massive tiger-dog. He had to be less reckless, or he could actually end up dying.

The third thing he noticed became relevant after his headache became manageable and he could somewhat see around him: he didn't know where he was. Now, the last thing he remembered was he had been fighting a bunch of police dogs in an alleyway between two shops, and then something hit him in the head. That explained a lot.

But he wasn't in the city, he was in a small clearing devoid of life. Trees hugged the edges, forming almost a wall of sorts. Mosses and lichens hugged a few scattered rocks and logs, and the grass was tall and unruly, but there were no birds singing, or bugs chirping, no rustling beyond the occasional gust of wind. As far as he could tell, nothing lived here.

He grit his teeth, but regretted it immediately, noticing that his nose was broken. He whined and stood up, stretching to ease some of his cramped and tired muscles before shaking himself off of any dust and dirt that could have attached itself to his body. Moving forward carefully so as to not trip over himself due to his blurry vision and terrible coordination, he headed for the edge of the clearing, but before he could cross the treeline he ran into an invisible wall, causing his broken nose to flare up even more. With an enraged growl, he swiped at the wall to no avail, feeling his paw bat off of it like it was plastic instead of passing through, and before long he tried to unleash an cero, only for the ice shards to ricochet off of the invisible barrier and shatter once they hit the ground. Next he tried a Bala, charging up blueish-white energy onto the pads of his paw before unleashing it. This time, the barrier gave way ever so slightly, bending and encircling around the blast, before reflecting it back onto him and sending him flying backwards along with a shower of sparks and energy. The barrier was slightly charred and warped, but it rapidly reminded into its original shape, the black spot disappearing rapidly.

At this point, Arron was enraged at the idea of being contained by anyone or anything. Then an idea came to mind. Aizen had banned two things under the canopy of Las Noches: the Resurreccion of Espada 4 and higher, and the infamous Gran Rey Cero, a Cero so powerful that it could endanger the stability of pocket dimensions as large as Las Noches. He had been able to use powers similar to his Ceros and Balas, so why not a Gran Rey Cero?

Arron bit his tongue, feeling the warm, coppery tasting liquid dribble down his chin as he built up an energy so immense that he thought it would burst from his chest before he could react. He channeled it, using the blood in his mouth to empower it even more, to have it erupt from his maw like a supernova and ram into the translucent barrier, causing it to warp and sputter like melting plastic. Unlike his normal Cero, which was a spray of ice shards, this was raw, unadulterated power given solid form. The earth began to shake beneath him, rumbling like a beaten drum but he didn't relent, instead he forced even more of his energy into the blast.

As he fought with the barrier, the sky began to darken and the earth began to crumble from under him, and with one final burst of energy the barrier popped and began to deflate like a balloon as the world dissipated and he was yanked from his position and thrown forward with the force of a trebuchet.

Before he could gather his bearings, he was thrown into a wall on his back before tumbling down to the floor in a heap. But he didn't wait to get back up: he didn't want to be trapped again, and the Gran Rey Cero had drained him like nothing else so that wasn't an option anymore.

He focused his blurry vision and took in his new surroundings: he was in a small room of sorts, one that was constantly rumbling ever so slightly as if it was moving on tracks or driving down a road. Two beds were stacked on top of each other to the right side of him, and a small dresser was bolted to the wall on his left. A small window revealed that the room was, in fact, moving very quickly: trees and greenery rushed past at a very high speed, the dim light of an early sunrise or a late sunset peeking through tiredly.

A hiking bag and a set of satchels were stacked on the floor next to the bunk beds, and two people were sleeping, but all Arron could see were silhouettes under the sheets. Arron thought about opening the door and leaving, but he remembered that he didn't have hands so he doubted he could do it without being detected. The window was out of the picture entirely, it was sealed shut with a lock.

Before Arron could scheme further, one of the silhouettes rose, revealing a young boy around the age of thirteen with choppy black hair and almond skin. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and looked around, not seeing Arrons perfectly still form hiding in the corner and attempting to blend into the shadows or at least, not at first. He checked the floor right next to his bed, looking for something, before checking the bed above him, probably to confirm that his traveling partner hadn't fallen on the floor before he let out an ugly yawn and stretched his arms.

Then he spotted Arron backed into the corner of the room, his light blue eyes focused on the boy. The same boy he had seen in the woods. He didn't know how he hadn't recognized his unique blue-eyed gaze or his uniquely dark skin tone before, but he knew that this made things worse. How could he justify hurting this child to escape?

More importantly, how was he even here? The last thing he remembered was him being surrounded by police dogs and officers. How did he end up in a train car with the two boys he'd seen exploring in the woods?

He frantically searched for a getaway when he spotted a small sphere peeping out from one of the satchels: a black and yellow ball that was smoking and sparking as if it had been overloaded with energy…

Now, catch him Goh!

Arron's heart sank. He had been captured. He didn't know exactly what that meant, but he knew it wasn't good. The boy, Goh, he presumed, quietly shimmied out of bed and approached Arron carefully, still in a T-shirt and Boxers. Arron growled and bared his teeth, showing the kid he wanted nothing to do with him, but the boy wasn't deterred.

"It's okay, I don't want to hurt you. I just want to see what's wrong."

I'm not your pet, kid.

But of course, he couldn't understand him. The boy just kept coming closer, and something instinctual in Arron snapped. He bit the boy's hand and held on until he could taste blood. Goh yelped and fell backwards on his ass, scooting back as far as he could from Arron. Ash must have finally heard the commotion, as he fell off of his bed in an attempt to become untangled from his sheets and yanked his bedspread off his head to see what was going on. He saw a growling Arron and a Goh backed up against the wall, cradling his bleeding hand on his chest and sobbing quietly.

Ash rushed over to see what was going on and found that Goh's undershirt was soaked in blood. Then he saw that Arron's teeth were dripping in blood as well. In a split second, he shook the sheets on the floor to awaken his yellow rat, pikachu, and pulled out several of his pokeballs.

Arron snarled and his singed mane rose to make him look larger, causing Pikachu to react violently and release a thunderbolt, shocking everyone in the room, including Arron. After several seconds of high voltage pain, everyone but Pikachu was laying on the ground, smoking. Goh still had his hand wrapped in his shirt, which was now dripping blood. Ash crawled up to him and checked his hand again, before picking up Pikachu.

"Pikachu, I need you to get help, go find security and lead them here." Pikachu nodded and waited patiently at the door as Ash carefully scooted around Arron so as not to cause another outburst and opened the door ever so slightly to allow Pikachu to squirm through. Arron attempted to squeeze through the crack, but it was too small, and Ash successfully grabbed Arron by the exposed scruff of his neck, where the armored plates of his neck and back met. He struggled at first, but when Ash squeezed harder, Arron found that he couldn't move, and Ash held him on the ground, placing his other hand on his lower back and forcing his hind legs to spread out on the floor and prevent him from escaping. Arron kept snarling, just to keep up appearances, but he was essentially trapped once again.

"I don't know what your problem is, but I'm sure Goh was trying to help you. And how do you respond? You bite his finger off! Who does that?"

Arron stopped snarling after he heard that. He bit the boy's finger off? He hadn't meant to, he only wanted to scare the boy away. Arron didn't realize it, but he had stopped snarling and had begun whining.

Ash's expression didn't change. "I'm not letting you go until Goh is safe." And with that, Ash dragged him across the floor and towards Goh, who had begun to shiver.

"Now, you are going to apologize, and you are going back into your ball until we get home."

Arron didn't make a sound, so ash put more pressure into Arron's neck, squeezing the scruff and the nerves within, which made Arron dizzy. "Apologize, now!"

Arron let out a small whine, and Ash took that as an apology. He picked up the ball, and pressed the small white circle in the center, returning Arron back to his prison.

Goh barely registered ash shaking him, the pain of losing his ring finger hurt that much. He was rocking back and forth on his side, clutching his bleeding hand into his shirt and applying pressure to his oozing stub to slow the bleeding. He felt the terrible, aching sting of an exposed bone, and it hurt far more than the severed flesh. His finger was somewhere on the floor, along with his family ring.

He didn't know where it went, he honestly didn't care at the moment. All he wanted was to curl up into a ball and cry. Why? Why did this pokemon hate everyone so much? It attacked people for food instead of begging, it killed an innocent man, and it bit Goh's finger off when he wanted to help it.

Most pokemon weren't this violent: they were empathetic creatures who could understand body language. They rarely killed when attacked, often choosing to flee or disable rather than kill humans. This kind of behavior was completely unprecedented, at least as far as Goh knew. But this pokemon was none of those things: instead, it was violent, ruthless and distrusting of everyone, as if all it knew was violence. Is that why nobody had heard of this pokemon before? Did it just hate people and avoid them when they could? Or was it that anyone who came face to face with them didn't live to tell the tale?

Goh felt a new hand on his shoulder, one larger and more calloused than Ash's. It forced his hand from his bloody shirt and examined it before dabbing the bloody stump that was once his finger with something that stung, like peroxide. He then began wrapping some form of gauze to the stump and clipping it down with a metal finger cast. Then a small needle was gently inserted into his shoulder, and it's contents helped numb the pain. He looked up to see an old man with a grey beard and rimmed glasses pulling out medical scissors from his satchel and cutting his ruined shirt off before handing him a towel.

"Are you alright, son? You got a good bite."

Goh sucked up his tears and nodded, and allowed the man to help him to his feet. Adrenaline was still running through his veins, and he could hear his blood pumping in his ears, but at least the pain had subsided. The old man gave him a small shake and checked his face and chest for any other wounds.

"I'm glad you're okay. The showers will open in an hour, so clean yourself up and get comfortable. I sent your friend to get you some breakfast."

"Thank you sir."

The old man nodded. "No problem, young man, just doing my job. Make sure not to bother you stub."

"Where's my finger? Can't you reattach it?"

The Dr. Shook his head. "I'm sorry son, but the pokemon that bit you had some sharp teeth and a strong jaw. Your finger was practically torn apart." He gestured to a small item on the floor, his ruined finger: it had been crushed in multiple places.

Goh took deep breaths to stay calm and not become sick, and the old doctor held his shoulders to keep him upright and reassure him. "It's okay, young man, it's just a finger. You'll survive without it." Goh nodded as he leaned on the old man for balance, hisbhead spinning. He lead Goh to his bed and sat him down, examining him for any other injuries. "Did the pokemon harm you in any other way? Any scratches or bites? Any pain or bruising? I need to know so I can disinfect them and patch them up."

Goh shook his head and slumped into his lap, still tired and shaken. The good doctor stood up and dusted off his shoulders.

"Alright son, if you need any help, just call. I'm Dr. Jorgensen, and I'm glad you and your friend are safe. Just make sure to be more careful around the pokemon you just caught: you'd usually be fine, but some pokemon can be a bit irritated or scared, and might not respond well."

Goh nodded, cradling his hand in his lad. "Thank you, doctor. I appreciate your help."

Dr. Jorgensen nodded. "I'm just doing my job, son. Now stay safe." The food doctor walked out of the room and closed the door, leaving Goh with in a messy room and his negative thoughts. His finger stump began to numb and calm, allowing him to focus less on the pain. He rummaged through his bag and got a notepad, holding a pen in his good hand.

Pokemon is hostile towards everyone, including those who caught it. Proceed with caution.

Goh wanted to make sure that Professor Cerise had the information he needed: he didn't want any of the researchers to be harmed, and he knew if the pokemon attacked Goh for approaching it, it would surely attack Professor Cerise if he attempted to draw blood or physically assess it for himself.

Why not just call him?

Goh pulled out his Pokegear and dialed Professor Cerise's number. It rang twice before he picked up.

"Oh, good morning, Goh, it's really early: I figured you and Ash would still be asleep." Professor Cerise was in a bathrobe with a cup of coffee in one hand and the other running through his uncombed hair. He had a small smile on his face, but it died as soon as he saw Goh's expression. "Goh, I know that look, what happened?"

Goh lifted his injured hand up to the screen and Professor Cerise's eyes widened. "Are you… missing a finger? How did that happen?"

Goh rubbed his eyes and sighed. "The new pokemon we captured forced his way out of his pokeball earlier this morning. He tried so hard that the ball began to smoke and when it opened he was thrown into the wall. The commotion woke me up, and I tried to calm him down, but before I could he bit my ring finger off and tore it apart."

Professor Cerise had his hand over his mouth in shock. "I… I'm so sorry, Goh. Has it tried to communicate or express any emotion?"

Goh shook his head glumly. "Nothing beyond growling and snarling. This pokemon, it hates… everything. Anyone who comes near it is met with instantaneous hostility. Ash tried to take it out of its ball last night and it nearly killed Pikachu. It hates pokeballs, the train, pokemon food, anything and everything related to humans and pokemon together it hates. It's like it sees itself as a prisoner."

Professor Cerise set his coffee mug down and scratched his unshaved chin. "That is quite a pickle. I don't blame you for trying to comfort the pokemon, Goh; normally, that would be considered a practical and reasonable response for smaller pokemon. But this pokemon needs to be treated differently from now on, from a distance, so we can more easily gain it's trust. And I think you are the perfect candidate to do so!"

"But, Professor, it just bit my finger off, it hates me."

Professor Cerise's eyes softened. "I doubt it hates you, Goh, it's just angry and scared, and it most likely is used to having a large territory with its own space. But you need to understand, are a very smart young man. I mean no disrespect towards Ash, but he isn't exactly the sharpest knife in the block. But his strengths lie elsewhere, which makes him just as much as a valuable and capable research assistant as you are. You are well studied and much more temperate and cautious than Ash, and I think you have the patience to truly make a connection with this creature, one that goes beyond just a research project, but a deep, bonded relationship like the one you have with Raboot."

Goh's eyebrows rose ever so slightly. "Are you sure Professor? I… how can you say I'm patient and cautious after what Ash and I did the other day? We disrupted a police investigation and we lied to Officer Jenny, that can't be swept away."

Professor Cerise nodded his head. "True, but the fact that you admitted to it and defined exactly what your mistake was shows some level of maturity. I realized last night, Goh, that I had made a mistake: I had asked what you had done, but I never asked why. I never asked for your motivations behind capturing that pokemon and lying to Officer Jenny. So why did you do it? I want to know."

Goh was silent for a moment before he answered the Professor's question. "We felt inadequate, Professor. We had been traveling all over the neighboring regions at your expense, all to just catch pokemon that you already know everything about. Ash and I, we didn't feel like research assistants, we still felt like little kids."

Professor Cerise nodded. "I understand, Goh, and I appreciate your self awareness. The truth is, you two still are kids, and it's summer: you should be having fun. Don't try to grow up too fast. That being said, I realize I haven't been taking either of you seriously: you both have goals and dreams, and you both want to contribute. The fact that I haven't realized that is my mistake, and my mistake alone."

Goh nodded, still somewhat downtrodden. But the Professor just smiled. "I'm going to talk to your parents again, tell them what I just learned. You two will still be suspended for a week, but I am going to make sure that your parents know that you learned your lesson, and that you only meant well. Sometimes people do the wrong things for the right reasons, and while a mistake was still made, it wasn't done out of malicious intent. Besides, your parents miss you, and you two need to become grounded again if we are going to start some actual research."

"I understand Professor, thank you."

"Anytime, Goh. Say hello to Ash for me."

"I will, Professor."

Ash walked into the room holding two donuts wrapped in wax paper just as Goh hung up. He spotted Goh's slightly better attitude and perked up, Pikachu hanging onto his cap and ducking to avoid the metal doorframe.

"Hey, Goh, are you feeling any better?"

Goh nodded and fiddled with his metal finger cast ever so slightly. "Yeah, the adrenaline isn't making me want to vomit and my hand doesn't feel like it was gnawed off by a zigzagoon anymore, so I guess I'm feeling better."

Ash nodded and sat next to him, the metal beefcake creaking slightly from their combined weight. He handed Goh a pink frosted donut and took a massive bite out of his own. "So that Doctor Jorgensen guy fixed up your hand?"

"More or less."

Ash didn't seem satisfied. "Are you sure? You seem a bit glum."

Goh gave him a deadpan look. "I just had my finger bit off by a pokemon that hates everything. You were acting the same way when Pikachu nearly became pokemon food." With the reference to Pikachu's close call the night before, the little yellow rat jumped off of Ash's hat and into his satchel, curling up into a ball and peeking up at them. He let out a timid little pika pika, as if to say 'don't remind me.'

Ash didn't respond, choosing to just keep eating his donut in silence. Goh set his donut down on the bed rewrapped in its wax paper and buried hisbhead in his hands. "I talked to Professor Cerise while you were gone. He let me know that we weren't in as hot of water as we were last night, and he'd work everything out, but my mom is going to kill me now, Ash. I wish my parents were more like your mom, Ash. I had to beg my parents for a month for them to even consider letting me join this lab assistant internship, and they only finally signed me up for it as a birthday present. But now they're going to take me out of it the moment they hear that even a hair on my head was nudged in the wrong direction. They freak out over scraps and bruises, Ash, how do you think they'd react to their one and only child having his finger bitten off by a rabid pokemon? They'll have a conniption fit! I'd be lucky to ever leave the house again!"

Ash wasn't convinced. "I'm sure you're over-exaggerating, Goh, Your parent's are awesome. They didn't freak out when they saw us riding on my dragonite, so they can't be that crazy."

"You don't understand, Ash, they care about public appearances enough to keep a straight face, but when we were alone I was chewed out for being reckless and they made me promise never to do it again. Not only did I not keep that promise, but we've done many more dangerous things after that. I'm going to lose everything that I've worked so hard for, Ash! I'm never going to catch mew, or become a pokemon researcher. I'm going to be forced back into my traditional private school and they're going to never let me around pokemon again." Goh began to sob lightly as Ash patted him on the back.

"I'm going to be there for you, Goh, and I'm going to help you convince your parents to let you stay at Cerise Laboratory, and to keep letting you learn about Pokemon."

"It's no use, Ash. They don't listen to anyone."

"I don't care, Goh, I've got your back."

"Why, Ash? There's nothing you can do. They'll just throw you out."

"Because we're partners, and partners stick together."

Goh looked up to see Ash giving him a weak smile. "Thanks, Ash. I don't know how I'd live without you."

Ash nodded and gave him a hug, which Goh reciprocated. "You should get some more sleep, Goh, you look like the living dead. I'll call my mom and see if she can help you with your situation."

"I don't mean any disrespect Ash, I love your mom, but what can she do about this? She's the exact opposite of my Parents."

"She's still a parent, Goh, She understands. If anyone can convince them to give you a little more freedom, it's another Parent."

"Maybe you're right, Ash. Hopefully."

"Just don't think about it right now, you'll have nightmares if you keep thinking about it. Just think about happy thoughts, like catching Mew."

Goh chuckled weakly. "That'd be the day, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah it would."

He and Ash sat there for a while, enjoying each other's company. They didn't really think about it, but their bond had gotten just a little stronger.

"With all due respect, Walker, your son only lost a finger. He's in perfect health."

"He lost his finger, Professor! I wouldn't call that 'perfect health.' Why wasn't I informed of this sooner? I knew I should have never allowed him to join this hazard of a program. I don't care if he begged for months, it was too dangerous and it was a mistake!" Walker's words dripped with venom.

"Because the incident occurred only this morning. He was treated immediately and was found to have no other injuries. Let me repeat myself, Walker; your son is fine. Furthermore, this internship isn't a hazard."

"Your definition of fine is very different from mine, Professor. In the last twenty four hours, my son has nearly been killed by the same pokemon not once, but twice!"

"You are over-exaggerating, Walker, the creature is barely a third of his size."

"Don't think I didn't do my research, I know how dangerous that hellspawn is! It seriously wounded half a dozen pokemon and permanently disabled two more. All but one with type advantages, might I add. And not only did you allow my child to keep the pokemon, but you kept it in an environment where it could harm him. You are clearly inept."

"And clearly you are not calm enough to be rational about the consequences of the action you are about to take. I called you with a purpose, Walker, not to just reassure you. Goh loves this internship. He gets to see the world, do what he loves, and interact with pokemon. Don't destroy what he sees as what he wants to dedicate his life to, Walker."

"My son's safety matters more than his passion, Professor. I don't care if he loves pokemon more than anything else, it's just a phase. One day he'll grow up and appreciate the choices we've made for him, and you have no say in this, I don't care if you lose a guinea pig for your research, there are many other irresponsible parents out there for you to take advantage of."

"Do you hear yourself, Walker? You are going to break your son's heart and shatter his dreams, and he is going to hate you for it. Don't do this!"

"I can and will do what is right for my son, Professor. Now, we're done with this conversation."

"This isn't over, Walker, you hear me? We're not done!"

"Noted, Professor. Have a good day."

And with that, Walker hung up on Professor Cerise. Professor collapsed in his chair and buried his head in his hands before dragging them across the desk and throwing everything on it onto the floor in a fit of rage. Chrysa must have heard him, as she came rushing in and saw his research papers and office supplies on the ground.

"Are you alright, sir? I heard you arguing with a man named Walker, is everything alright?"

"Chrysa, remember when I told you about the incident involving Goh's finger?"

"Yes sir, I do. What seems to be the problem?"

"That was Goh's father. Apparently, he is incredibly… protective of his son. He wants to pull Goh out of the Cerise Internship Program."

"Well, that would just break the boy's heart! Why would he do that? I understand their concern, but that incident was completely detached from the original purpose of the internship program. It's like never going on a road trip again because you got food poisoning from one restaurant during the road trip!"

"Apparently they're very overprotective, Suffocatingly overprotective even. Essentially Goh had begged his parents for months to allow him to join this program, and they'd only let him join if he promised he hadn't been injured."

"That seems like a stretch," Chrysa said while she picked up and stacked his papers into a neat pile before placing them neatly on his desk again. "They must have known that this internship would involve a little danger, he would be traveling across the nearby regions and investigating pokemon phenomenon occasionally."

"I have a sneaking suspicion that Goh didn't tell his parents everything. I believe the majority of the details were omitted by him."

"If I may, sir, I doubt that. I had helicopter parents as well, and they would have combed the website for anything and everything they could get their hands on to determine whether this program was safe enough for their approval, or more likely, they took a leap of faith and decided to allow him to taste a smidge of freedom in exchange for his unwavering vigilance. And, when he had his finger bitten off, that sacred path of trust-" Chrysa emphasized the last part with extra sarcasm, "-was shattered, permanently."

"That seems ludicrous."

"You say that, sir, but you've never had parents like mine or Goh's. You've never had to deal with parents who wouldn't allow you within five feet of a boy without adult supervision. Parents like this aren't normal parents, for better or worse, and they take everything involving their children as seriously as possible, often to the utmost extreme if they deem it necessary; All to keep their little bundle of joy safe. This works for a little while, they might even succeed as parents in the beginning because that is how you raise a young child, but when they start to grow independent, to question the system that had worked so well thus far, the entire house of cards tumbles down into distrust and anger."

"You sound like a psychologist, Chrysa. Did you ever consider a field of mental health?"

Chrysa scoffed. "I could never do that. It's too depressing. I took a course on hands-on psychiatric care in university since I had a free slot and I ended up wanting to hang myself half-way through the semester, no dark pun intended. No, I just have personal experience with people like Goh's parents. And while I've never had a child and I'm not planning on having one anytime soon, I consider all the young boys and girls who enter this Laboratory to be more or less family, so to speak. But being the second in command of this laboratory means that I am required to be hands off with them most of the time, otherwise I would hinder the purpose of the internship program."

Professor Cerise nodded. "And I appreciate all you do, Chrysa: you've helped me so much. You and Ren keep this facility running, without you I would be lost."

Chrysa giggled. "Thank you, sir, but I have a feeling you're just buttering me up."

"That's such a negative way of saying it. But I do need your help again; I'm going over to see Goh's parents personally. I have to stop them before they destroy this young boy's life, and I need your expertise."

"Of course, Professor, I'd be glad to assist you."

"I'm surprised you agreed; I didn't think you'd want to deal with Helicopter parents again."

Chrysa took a sip of her coffee before sighing. "You must have misunderstood my spiel then, Professor, because I have just as much skin in the game as you do.