Thank you all so much for your reviews! This week's chapter is a little shorter but the next one is extra long!

WhiteyWolf28 (as always), Squidzi Galaxi (Thank you *again*), gwencarson126 (hey that's my last name...am I supposed to say that?), Nightwing52 (I'm totally willing to post what I wrote for the Shinx story if people are interested! If not, I'll just PM you! It was like 7k before I converted it for Sunny.) Roxxy.G (Don't worry about your writing, English is my second language too, everyone has to start somewhere :)) CallmeCrazylol (Sunny has Blaze but as for other abilities/moves, we'll have to wait and see), Gamelover41592 (That's the plan. Drives me crazy when people have pokefics where no one ever evolves!)

Sunny woke up in a dark and damp basement, in a cage, feeling quite sore. He shifted around a couple times before he realized the gravity of the decidedly bad situation he'd found himself in. And there was shouting from above. Angry shouting, and impacts that shook the floor, sending off sparks of dust. Someone, or many people, more likely, were out there fighting. And it sounded like Luffy.

But how did he get here? Sunny wondered, standing up to check the locking mechanism. It was a usual cage with a latch, also secured with rope. Not exactly cyndaquil proof-at least not this one.

Sunny blew out a thin stream of flame for several seconds until the rope was charred and brittle. It only took a tug or two after for the rope to snap.

Now for the lock. Sunny pushed himself up to the door and slid his arms out of the cage, with all the dexterity he could manage. He didn't know why everyone in this world seemed to assume he was unintelligent just because he walked around on four legs, but for that moment, he was very thankful for human's lack of understanding of those different than them. He moved the latch up, then yanked it to the side so it unlocked, then did the same with the lower one. He'd had to figure out how to get a cage like this open in the past, and he was just glad that he had that knowledge now, as the cage door swung open and let jumped down to the floor, running up the stairs and outside toward the shouting.

Outside was a mess. Sunny could barely follow what was happening and ducked under a chair near the door facing the pool as he attempted to process the scene. Luffy was there, and so was Nami, and Usopp, and Zoro, and what that Sanji?

Luffy looked like he had just started trading blows with the man who had caught Sunny before and the rest were fighting against other blue people, except for Nami, who was standing to the side, Luffy's strawhat on her head, covering her mouth as she tried not to cry.

Sunny managed to shake himself out of his reticence as the brown fish-person who had knocked him out before pointed at him and shouted, "Hey, it's that fire mouse, how did you get out!"

There was nowhere to go but forward, with the clanging of weapons and impacts of fists all around. And who would he be if he turned proverbial tail just as his friends had arrived?

Sunny charged forward toward the man, igniting his flames. With the starting distance between him, he now had a chance to fight the way he'd attempted to earlier against him. He let his throat heat up and it's consistency changed until he was a few feet away from the man, where he exhaled a thick, black smokescreen.

"What the—?" The man started to backpedal, but the cloud of cinder extended further around him.

I have about ten seconds to make this count, Sunny thought, pushing forward. He couldn't see in the thick fog either, not that it mattered. He knew exactly where the large man was, that he was taking uneven steps back. With his considerable speed, Sunny skirted around him, turned his back to him, waited a second, put his weight on his front legs, and nailed a double kick to the man's ankle.

"Agh!" the man cried out, his arms lashing out instinctively, but Sunny was too low to the ground to be hit. There wasn't quite a crack like he'd expected so Sunny had to improvise slightly and whipped around to bite the injured ankle, which he could see now. The smoke was beginning to clear. He pushed his teeth in further as the man reached down to grab him, and he moved out of the way, raking his teeth to the other side as he went. He yelled out as the smoke finally cleared.

"Huh? It's the rat." Zoro said, dropping out of his sword stance in surprise.

Why is that the only thing people say when they see me? Sunny lamented while turning to him and greeting him with a dubious "Cyn!"

Then jumped out of the way as the man punched a hole in the cement. Sunny retreated over to Zoro, who actually looked pretty badly hurt, with bloodied bandages stretching across his entire chest. The fish man followed furiously, limping slightly as his ankle dripped blood onto the ground.

"Tagging out? Guess I'll finish this one up," Zoro grinned, slashing toward his new opponent. The fishman swung out a fist, aiming for the Zoro's wounded chest, but his punch was stopped with the edge of Zoro's sword, spurting blood from his fingers.

The green haired man narrowed his eyes. "You should know better than to use your fists against a swordsman," he grunted as a fist impacted with his stomach, spreading the bloodstain. "And you should also know I promised my captain I would never lose again." And with that, he put a third sword in his mouth, spun and charged the man. By the time he flicked the blood off his sword, the man had fallen to the ground.

Sunny was flabbergasted at the swordsman. He knew he was ridiculously powerful, if only by the time he spent training and his sheer aura. But then he collapsed onto one knee, clutching his side.

This is bad, Sunny thought, running up to him. In the middle of the battlefield.

Behind them, an explosion of water went off, as Luffy was dragged underwater by the sword-nosed pirate and the splashing continued. Immediately after, Sanji shouted an expletive and dove after him, ignoring his fight.

Sunny bit Zoro's pant leg, attempting to guide him away from the battle as a few drops of blood curled down his fingers, but he resisted.

"I'm not walking away, either," he said, pulling away and began to pull off his boots to dive after Luffy and Sanji. He was breathing hard and Sunny had seen more focused eyes from confused weedle. The opponent Sanji had been facing was now being peppered by small projectiles by Usopp, who was perched on a high ledge. Nami looked like a deer in the headlights, hand up to secure Luffy's hat to her head. Sunny was glad to see besides looking devastated, she didn't have that desperate hungry look to her and she was relatively unscathed.

Sunny caught motion in his perpetually squinted eyes. The fishman was lifting up his gaze, still clear and predatory. His hand was moving to his pocket when Sunny made a split second decision and charged, closing the space between them yet again. He was grateful to have seen the minuscule motion. Usually, his vision wasn't this sharp, especially not better than Zoro's, who evidently hadn't.

Sunny locked his teeth around the man's wrist and bit down as hard as he could, digging into the hard cement ground and pulling his arm away from his pocket with everything he could muster, jerking his mouth from side to side. A cyndaquil's teeth weren't meant for attack, but they were small and sharp and with leverage, just enough to puncture its rough skin.

The fishman hissed in pain and reached out to swat Sunny, who registered the movement in the fishman's body but only held tighter in response. His fire blazed to life. If he's going to hit me, I'm not going to be the only one getting hurt, he thought.

But before the fist could come down on him, a sword slid easily between the two, an inch above Sunny's head.

Zoro smiled from his crouched position as the meaty fist cut itself on his katana for the second time. Zoro was barefoot and bloodied, but the look on his face was determined now. He held his katana still, his experience as a swordsman letting him expertly negate the recoil. Sunny felt a few splattering drops fall on his head but he held on, closing his eyes tighter.

"That's not a good idea," the swordsman said to the fishman. Then he glanced down at Sunny. "You're an aggressive one, aren't you? Get out of here, he's mine, you're getting in the way."

Sunny wasn't going to mess with him with that look on his face, besides, he'd used most of the tricks up his sleeve. Sunny released the man as he pulled and backed away toward the hedges to survey the scene. Sunny hadn't intended to jump into the fight unless Nami had been alone and desperate but he'd entered the fray almost without thinking.

Without thinking, he corrected, he had had no idea how strong the Strawhats or their enemies were. He easily could have had every bone in his body crushed.

Luffy, dripping wet but rescued from the water, had begun his face off with Arlong in earnest, rubber fists flying into their hideout and sending up plumes of dust.

Usopp fired small yet accurate projectiles at stray fishmen but they were almost all accounted for. Sunny headed for Nami, who was watching the quickly collapsing building with tears in her eyes. Tears of relief. Relief that Sunny hadn't had the words or strength to provide. He'd been a prisoner as much as Nami in the end. Nami fell more than crouched to the ground when she saw the small creature approach. Her hand went to the brim of the straw hat again.

"You're okay…I was worried what they'd done to you," she reached out a hand as if to say he was fine, and maybe she might be too.

Maps and papers flew out the window and levels of the building came crashing down.

"Nami!" Luffy shouted, "YOU'RE FREE!"

Nami's hands went to her mouth and she heaved a loud sob.

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