Chapter 102: I'll always protect you

Point of View Naomi

One month ago

A light drizzle came down from the bleak clouds above. The drizzle dampened the dirt ground of the forest my brother and I were trekking through. The time of day was lost through the thick blanket of gray, but if I had to guess, it was probably past noon.

Dante and I continued on our way. I carefully glanced at the leafeon when I was sure he wasn't looking. Regret was quick to build up inside of me, doing this was a mistake, but I couldn't just continue hiding with Stark like this. Over the past few days everyone has been noticing my absence, especially WPA. Since the moment Stark got away they were been on the hunt for him, they weren't happy to know he was alive once more.

"Hey, how far are you dragging me out here? What's the big deal? You know I hate gloomy weather," Dante grumbled as we kept up our pace.

"We're almost there, I promise, just tad bit more," I nervously reassured him while averting from eye contact.

"Yeah… you said that like an hour ago," Dante griped with the leaves on his body sagging low.

Most of the walk from there was silent. Dante just did as I asked and followed my lead. I just couldn't guarantee he'd be okay with this once I got him where I wanted him. For the next half hour we walked in one direction, most of everything looked the same to me out here, it would have been difficult for anyone but me to remember the exact path I took, but luckily navigation was one of my specialties.

In a small opening I came to a stop, "Hey Dante?" I calmly began as I turned towards him. "Listen, I need you to meet someone, and I need you not to be an overly protective brother for once," I asked Dante as I nuzzled against him to butter him up like I always did when I was a child… sadly this still managed to work from time to time.

"Naomi… exactly who am I meeting? You haven't acted like this since you wanted me to help you get out of trouble when you were younger." Dante gently pushed me back from him and stared me down, almost as if he was reading me like a book.

For a moment I fidgeted in place, unsure of how to even present this whole thing. I really didn't want to tell Dante, but if I was going to do what I was going to, then he needed to know. "Remember that someone I told you about that I liked?" I started as Dante cocked his head to the side.

"You didn't bring me out here to talk about the past did you? You know we can find a private place that isn't miles from Shalour, right?"

"Dante, he's alive."

Dante practically jumped in surprise from the statement. "What do you mean he's alive?"

"She means I'm not dead," The voice of Stark called out. Dante and I both spun to the right to see the white umbreon revealing himself from behind a tree.

"Naomi get back!" Dante shouted as he lowered towards the ground as he readied to pounce like a predator towards Stark.

"Dante no!" I screamed as I jumped on top of him just as he leapt upward. Dante and I both smacked into the ground, causing mud to spatter all over the two of us.

"Naomi, stop this, he's going to-"

"Don't! I brought you here to talk with him! Not this!" I screamed as my claws dug into my brother's skin to keep him in my grasp. Dante pushed himself up with little effort as my paws wrapped around his waist. "I didn't bring you here to fight him, I just wanted us to sit down and talk!"

"Don't you dare fucking tell me this freak umbreon is your friend, or even someone you had a thing for," Dante growled as he looked dead ahead and his ears began to move back. I couldn't see his expression from where I was, but I could tell from his constant growling and snapping of his teeth that he was beyond furious. The muscles in my arms tightened as I realized this was a mistake.

"You don't understa-"

"I don't want to understand this wreck. He's a killer, not only that, a child killer!"

Stark let out a long breath. "I told you this would be pointless, why would anyone try to trust me?"

"Dante, can you just listen for one-" Dante quickly spun in a circle, causing me to fly off his back. Ribs first my body pounded against the muddy ground.

"I'm not listening to this bullshit Naomi," Dante spat out as he glared at me, his eyes burning with resentment towards Stark. His eyes shifted back towards Stark. While Dante watched with fury, Stark remained in a much calmer state. His eyes peered at the leafeon, but his stance drooped low, his tail sagged, and his eyes lacked any sign of confidence in ameliorating this situation. The umbreon who once could fix any bad situation was helpless towards convincing my brother to understand.

"How the Hell did you fall for this guy? Are you really that desperate Naomi?" Dante spoke lowly.

"It's not like that…"

"Then what is it! I don't get it, don't you have any morals? I mean what could you possibly see in him?"

"Just stop, you're being a jackass," I lashed out.

"Get up, Naomi. We're leaving now," Dante demanded. "As for you, murderer, come near my sister again and I'll fucking smash your teeth and turn you in to WPA." Dante walked towards me as I slowly began prying myself off the ground. Dante grew impatient and clamped his teeth on my scruff and pulled me up.

"Don't touch me!" I screamed as I shoved Dante away.

"Fine, just start walking." Dante flung his paw in the direction he wanted me to go.

For a moment I hesitated as I looked at my older brother, then I glanced towards Stark as he watched the whole scene unravel. The umbreon didn't even know how to react. It was one of the few situations he had to deal with where he couldn't just murder someone and be done with it.

"Move it!" Dante snapped as he gave me a push with his paw.

"Will you stop!" I defended as I stumbled from the push. I took a few steps as I peeked back at Stark, the umbreon's eyes growing wider as we were pulled away from each other.

"I'm… I'm not going with you," I spoke out loud as I quickly scurried away from Dante.

"Naomi, don't test me," Dante growled as he stomped his paw down.

"Listen, I came here to talk, and I'm going to tell you what I have to say and you're going to listen," I spoke sternly to my brother while my insides began to shake down to my inner core.

"I already told you, you're not going to have anything to do with this guy."

"I told you to stop!" I yelled at him. Adrenaline began pumping through my veins as my heart pounded. At this very moment, everything I wanted to say became lost in my mind. I opened my mouth to speak, but my mind couldn't even think of a proper starting point.

"Naomi, it's fine," Stark whispered from behind. "Just say what you need to say, I won't let him take you if that's what you want." Stark's words calmed my nerves, his very voice was like a drug that put my heart at ease. Having someone standing behind me was what I needed right now. Stark kept a short distance between us, I think we both knew what would happen if he approached me.

I exhaled all my worries as I faced my brother. "Dante, I'm leaving Shalour with Stark today. I brought you out here to make amends with him, but it's clear you won't. Stark and I have been through a lot over the years, he protected me when I felt alone and scared. If Stark wasn't there with me, I would have died. He tried his hardest to keep me from being like him." Dante began to show his teeth as I spoke, but I just had to put faith in Stark that he'd protect me if Dante tried to take me. "You've always been there for me Dante. From the beginning you kept me safe, but when the time came when you weren't able to protect me, Stark was there. He's weighed my life over his on countless occasions. I wanted you to make amends and learn he's a good guy because I wanted you to come with us today. I thought we could all find somewhere to live and start over, forget everything and make the best with what we have," I told Dante from the bottom of my heart. After my long speech I glanced back at Stark, a small smile managed to form on his muzzle, but it only lasted for a brief moment.

"So that's your plan." Dante snapped my attention back towards him. "Just going to abandon what you having going on here for that?"

"Well, we have to. The WPA will be searching for Stark, and he's going to get caught hanging so close to Shalour. Stark and I talked and we agreed on a good hiding spot to hang low until time passes."

"You were always such a smart child, what the hell happened to your big dreams of working with humans as a scientist?"

"We went over this already," I muttered.

"If you stay with him you'll never get what you've always wanted. If you stay with me I'll help you get there, but living in secrecy with him will seal that you never get what you want in life," Dante argued.

"Just stop. None of that matters to me anymore. My whole life I thought I would be happy doing that, but I think I just want to be happy with Stark now. Maybe I won't ever get to do that, but I'd given up on that before I even met Stark."

"You know… I really thought you were smart, but you're acting like a real dumbass right now."

"Really? How? I thought you of all people would tell me to follow my heart and not what others wanted me to be."

"Yeah, but never once would I tell you to do this," Dante retorted.

"You're acting like Dad right now!" I rose my voice.

"Really Naomi, how? Humor me."

"You're telling me how to live my life! Dad always wanted me to be something I wasn't! And right now you're trying to force me to not do what makes me happy!"

"Okay fine Naomi! If you want to get knocked up by a psychopath murderer then do it! Have fun telling stories to your children about all the victims daddy killed!"

"You know what Dante, I fucking hate you!" I screamed at the leafeon, and the forest fell dead silent.

"Yeah, well I'm dead to you anyways," Dante muttered. "I'm sorry for looking out for your safety, but I'm apparently not appreciated for looking out for you all these years," Dante added as he turned from me. "Oh yeah, you should hear about what your mate did to your poor espeon friend."

"Espeon friend?" I repeated as Dante turned around and stormed off. "Ebony…?" I said as I remembered that Ebony evolved. "Stark, what does he mean by that?" I asked as I turned towards the white umbreon.

"During the fight last night things got carried away… And the espeon may have ended up in the line of fire once or twice," Stark responded nervously.

"Wait… you tried to attack-"

"It wasn't on purpose, a lot was going on at the moment, it's all kind of a blur," Stark quickly answered.

"As long as you didn't hurt her," I sighed.

An awkward silence lingered as I paced back and forth in silence. Eventually my legs grew a bit tired and I sat down. My mind slowly wandered back to the argument with Dante. Everything in that whole conversation seemed fuzzy. I could hardly even remember everything that happened other than the last words I'll ever get to speak to Dante, 'I fucking hate you.' My choice of a goodbye left a rather bitter taste in my mouth, this was worse than how I originally left my family the first time, but now I'm leaving Dante emotionally wounded as our last memory together.

"Naomi…?" Stark whispered to me as he rested his chin on my shoulder and rubbed against my neck. "You know you don't have to leave your brother for me. I want you to be happy, I'll understand if you want to be with family," Stark softly talked into my ear.

"Dante will come around eventually. I know he's coming off as a bad person there, but he only got that angry because he wants to help... Dante just doesn't know how to respond to this right now, he needs time to think, a lot."

"And you're sure you want to be with me… You know their are plenty more pokemon out there who are more suited for you… Pokemon who won't have a past like mine… Pokemon that can give you a normal and happy life. Someone you won't have to live in fear with."

I nuzzled my head against the side of Stark's head as he continued to rest his on my shoulder. "You're right, I should go," I plainly spoke as a small sneer formed.

"Wait, what?" Stark quickly withdrew his head from my shoulder.

I let out a small giggle from the shocked look on Stark's face, it was cute in a way. "I'm just messing with you, but jeez you should have seen the look on your face." Stark and I both broke into a laugh, but it quickly died down and we went back to our gloomy states. "I know you may lack confidence in being a good example of a decent pokemon, let alone a lover, but let's be honest… neither of us are good examples of anything… except a good example of a bad example. So I really am happy with being with you."

Stark's gloomed expression turned to a hardly visible smile. "Thank you…"

One month Later

The sound of jagged coughing echoed through our dark den. My eyes slowly peeled open from the pained noises coming from Stark. It took me a moment to remember falling asleep with Stark by my side, but it seems that Stark's sickness woke him up before me. For a moment I remained still and tried to get just a little more sleep, but Stark's coughing continued and I realized that he could probably use some comfort right now.

I slowly pushed myself off the cloths we had laid down as a bed in our new home. Our den was a dark one, but being night creatures also meant we could develop night vision if we lingered in the dark long enough. Carefully I navigated through the open tunnel of our den until I found Stark.

The white umbreon panted as his head hung low and his body slouched towards the rock ground. Blood dripped from his open mouth and mixed in with a puddle of crimson on the ground.

"It's happening again, isn't it?" I asked Stark as I came by his side and carefully wiped some of the blood from his blood stained chin.

"I can't take this anymore… it's just getting worse every day," Stark whimpered as he panted to no end.

"The doctor should have results back on what's wrong with you soon. Just hang in there and we'll get you the help you need," I tried to reassure Stark, but the umbreon lacked a response. For the next few minutes I waited by Stark's side as he caught his breath. After he felt a bit better we moved to the back of our den where I laid Stark down so he could attempt to sleep through the pain. As Stark lie on his side, I laid down behind him and placed an arm over him and held him close to me. For as long as he needed, I would be here for him.

It had been around a month now that Stark has had this sickness, actually almost the moment we left Shalour together. At first it started off small, but as the weeks went by it developed into something much worse. I tried everything I could to treat Stark myself, herbal remedies, medicine, and many other methods, but the most I could do was ease his pain. It took a good while to find a trustable doctor that wouldn't have a single chance of figuring out who we were.

For the next ten minutes the only noise that came from our den was Stark's winded breaths, that is until he asked me something. "What if the doctor can't help me? What will you do?"

My head rose up in surprise that he would even consider that, "I don't want to talk about that Stark."

"What if I'm a loss cause?"

"You aren't though. You'll get treated, I know you will." Stark remained silent for a while and I allowed my head to rest on the blankets we had below us.

"Naomi… if I die what will you do?" Stark asked as he turned his head to look at me out of the corner of his eye.

"Stark… You're scaring me, I really don't want to think about something so horrible. Just please stay-" I stopped in mid sentence from the sound of a rock rolling around, creating a light echo through the den.

"Stay here," I told Stark as I pushed myself upward.

"It's probably nothing," Stark said as I quietly moved towards the sound.

The den was silent, and I knew Stark was right, but I couldn't just ignore these things when we were both wanted. I turned a corner and a strong force clamed its claws down on my neck and forced me to the ground. I opened my mouth to scream but I noticed the sickle horned creature holding me to the ground with his massive paw.

"W-What are you doing here?" I shuddered as Grayson kept his paw over me.

"I'm here to talk to you and Stark," Gray answered.

Point of View Vincent

Silently I sat on the dirt ground patiently in a grass field with a few trees surrounding us. Sitting to my left side was Scarlet and Merrick. The burning flame on Merricks back flickered as a breeze passed by. It has been around thirty minutes that we have waited here without exchanging a single word. Most of this past month has been a lot of dead silence between us, mostly due to us all being split up. I guess that's the price we pay for starting a war in Shalour, everywhere we go we have to watch out for the police.

For the most part I've barely been getting by. A white espeon doesn't really go unnoticed, and I guess their is a hefty reward on my head for being responsible for controlling a Legendary and using it to wage a war. I've been mostly moving at night, finding food was also a big challenge. I'd actually say I lost a significant amount of weight due to not being able to eat properly, my ribs were just starting to show as well. Scarlet on the other paw seemed unfazed, she has mastered the art of stealth, therefore eluding all contact with others was a simple task… If only she stuck with me this past month, would have made things much easier on my part. Merrick was probably the one I had the most contact with. He and I kinda worked as a team… but there was only so much we could do to help each other. On top of all of this, I was under constant stress of keeping Zygarde under my influence. At times I could feel the Legendary regaining control, especially now that my mind is weakening, the Legendary slowly breaks free of my control.

I continued to ponder the past month for a minute, but then In a flash Mandus appeared, his bullet-like speed blowing the leaves off of the withering trees surrounding us.

"It seems all but one is here," Mandus nonchalantly began as he crossed his arms and leaned against a tree. "Enough time has passed since our last move, it's time for us to make another," Mandus spoke with a pause as he glanced at each of us.

"Great, what're we going to do to those WPA assholes now?" Merrick sneered as his flames grew in size excitement.

"Not WPA," Mandus stated. "We have no reason to continue a fight against them, I only wished to fight them to take attention off the umbreon. It seems our planned failed in the end though," Mandus glanced at Scarlet for a moment, but took his gaze off her and looked up towards the vast blue sky.

"Mandus, I apologize, but we had no idea what was wrong with him. I feared he may have died if I didn't-"

"I trust your judgement, Scarlet," Mandus assured her. "Either way, the umbreon has gone missing from what I've gathered. We'll hunt him down later, I have a feeling he'll turn up sooner or later."

"Then what is our next move?" I asked the lucario.

"We proceed with the plan, the umbreon is pivotal to achieve the end goal, but for now we'll hunt another."

"Who?" Merrick asked as he leaned forward towards the lucario.

"Xerneas," Mandus said with a pause, giving us each a moment to take in the main purpose of the mission.

"Mandus, we're two members short this time!" Merrick complained. "I love the idea of doing that, but Zygarde was supposed to be one of the weaker Legendaries, and all but you almost died going against that thing," Merrick spoke frantically.

"You seem to forget two things," Mandus said as he moved from the tree and faced his back towards everyone as his cloak blew in the wind. "We'll have Kane with us this time, and the godly power of a Legendary under our control. Xerneas may be the Legendary of life itself, but it stands no chance against our might."

"Alright... I guess we can make this work one way or another," Merrick nodded in agreement. "How're we going to find this Legendary though?"

"Vincent." Mandus turned towards me. "I trust you have Zygarde hidden in a safe place?"

"I do," I nodded.

"Use Zygarde to locate Xerneas. Intercept his mind, go deep within his memories and find out everything it knows. We need every advantage possible if we wish to defeat our foes."

I nearly flinched from what he was asking. Controlling Zygarde was already exhausting, I've barely had energy for anything ever since I've been manipulating it, but now going through Zygarde's memories… I've already tried this before, the memories of a Legendary are locked more tightly than anything I have ever seen. It's almost similar to how my brother's mind was locked up recently. It was all strange though, because it should have been more of a challenge to influence Zygarde than to read his memories.

I let out a disappointed sigh, "I can do that but…"

"But what?" Mandus pried.

My ears and tail lowered just from the thought of how daunting this was going to be."I've tried accessing his mind before. It's tightly locked up, I don't know if I have enough power to unlock and keep my influence over Zygarde at the same time. If I try that, it is very possible that I will lose control of Zygarde."

"What will you need to get it done then?" Mandus asked.

"More psychics around my level," I answered.

"Anything else?" Mandus asked.

"Just a capable psychic who can help take stress off me. Also I could use a small bit of time with Zygarde off my mind… it's really starting to wear me down," I told the lucario. I know it was self centered to ask for a break, but if this kept up I was going to break.

"Very well, I have an old acquaintance who'll be of use to us. Two days worth of travelling with minimum stops."

"And is this psychic trustworthy?" Scarlet asked.

"She's trustworthy."

"I suppose we have no better options, so let's seek out this pokemon you speak of."

Point of View Stark

"You've got ten seconds to tell me what the hell you're doing here, Gray!" Naomi shouted from the other side of our cave.

My eyes shot open and I quickly jumped to my feet. Without a second of delay I ran towards Naomi. I panted in exhaustion, it felt as if my lungs were on fire. I quickly turned the corner to see Naomi pinned down by an absol. I jumped towards the absol. He quickly turned towards me and jumped back as an ice beam charged in his mouth.

My mouth opened to counter with dark matter, but instead blood shot out of my mouth. I hacked violently as I spat out my own blood, feeling dizzy I fell onto the ground hardly conscious.

"Stark!" Naomi cried out as she got up and ran in front of me as a protective shield. "Get out of here or die! I'm not asking you again, Grayson!" Naomi snarled at him. Her ears flattened against her head, her backside arched upward, and the fur on her body stood upward. "Leave!" She snapped her teeth at the absol.

My eyes came in and out of focus on the absol, but then there was a click in my head. It was so many years back, but I just barely remembered that face. I remembered what Sam and I did to him and his friends. Not only that, he was the same absol I saw in Shalour. I seemed to have missed that due to my excitement at the time, but I now remembered his face, and the faces of those I killed that day.

The absol stood his ground, he did not react with any form of violence. "Naomi, stand down. I said I am here to talk, don't make things harder than they need to be," The absol ordered Naomi.

"Just what the hell do you want from us?" Naomi growled, barely keeping her temper in control.

"I'll say this once more: I am here to talk, nothing more," the absol repeated himself.

"Naomi, just he-" I broke out in another coughing fit, it felt as if each cough was slowly killing me. "Just hear him out," I managed to finish.

The absol's eyes narrowed in on me, his eyes were filled with fire, but he took his eyes off me and kept his gaze afar from my own.

"What's wrong with him?"

Naomi loosened up a tad, but she still remained a bit tense. "He's sick," Naomi answered with a venomous attitude.

"I see," the absol replied without much care. "White umbreon, Stark, I have questions for you."

I breathed heavily as I pushed myself off the ground. Naomi used herself to help assist me, and once up she allowed me to lean against her for support.

"Ask what you're going to," I spoke weakly.

"Get comfortable, this is going to be a very, very long talk," the absol muttered before his teeth gnashed together. "I'm going to ask you what I was sent here to ask, but when I'm done we're going to have a very long talk about something personal, do you remember what I'm talking about?" I gave a weak nod in response, I knew full well that this absol wanted to spill my blood all over this cave. I would too if someone was to harm Naomi.

"Tell me exactly where Crimson is hiding," The absol demanded as his claws dug into the ground, I could see that he was growing impatient with the sight of me. I leaned against Naomi more as the question was asked. While I did hate Crimson Dawn, I still liked some of the pokemon there, I don't know if I'd be happy with selling out the few I did like.

"Well?" The absol asked impatiently.

"Crimson had a hideout in a pokemon civilization near Geosenge. It was in the forest that is northeast to Geosenge. Although I can't guarantee they are still there, they aren't dumb," I answered with a bit of disgust in myself. This whole time I was some spy there, but I grew accustomed to those around me at the time. Sure they were all messed up pokemon trying to do messed up stuff, but they treated me with respect, something I've only gotten from a few others. If I had chosen to, I could have left Crimson Dawn at any time. They wouldn't have stopped me, they treated me like a living being, not a killing tool.

"And are you lying to me? How come I've never heard of this pokemon civilization?"

"I don't know, Crimson Dawn was constantly on the move," I lied to the absol.

"Next question: I need to know everything about Mandus, the leader of Crimson Dawn, and one of his followers Vincent, an espeon."

I leaned up from against Naomi as I was caught off guard by that question. "What's so important about Vincent?"

"That doesn't concern you," The absol sharply replied.

"I'm not answering anything then," I snapped at him. "For once in my life people treated me like a living being, I can't just sell them out like that." Instantly after finishing my sentences I felt regret… I have no idea why I cared, I've never cared for anyone besides Naomi… Why would I put us in danger for them?

"If you don't cooperate I have orders to kill both of you, and believe me, I'm more than happy to give you what you deserve after what you did to my friends," The absol responded.

"Wait. Stark, do you know him?" Naomi asked with astonishment. Naomi looked at me, but my mouth remained clamped shut, never to open up on this topic in front of her.

"What, too proud to show her your true colors, you murdering bastard?" The absol snorted. "Don't act like it never fucking happened, I'll kill you here if you do." The absol began to growl with years of hatred built up.

"I'm not going to stand for you threatening me or Naomi like this. I could care less what happens to me, but Naomi is off limits."

"Think I give a damn about what you say? My friends didn't deserve what they got, you have no right to claim that someone is off limits. A monster like you deserves to rot in Hell."

"Either way, you're not going to kill me, I have info you want," I responded to him with a small sneer forming.

"You're already set on not talking."

"Even if I do talk you're going to try and kill us."

"Yeah, I didn't have intentions on letting someone like you roam free." The absol stated as he glanced at Naomi. "Naomi, come with me and there is a chance I can save you. Your brother is the one who told us you left with Stark. He's desperate to see you again, he told us all about your argument and how you left with Stark. Even your brother realizes that this is a ridiculous doomed relationship, he realizes that every second you're with him you're in danger. Otherwise I wouldn't be here right now and we would have never known you left with him."

"Just shut the Hell up!" Naomi rose her voice up in a vicious snarl. "I'm sick of everyone just trying to tell me what to do! I don't give a damn if Stark has a dark past, I don't care if it's dangerous, I trust him and I feel safe with him! Go tell Dante to stay the Hell out of my life! I'm not some little kid anymore, I'm a full grown adult and I can own up to my decisions!" Naomi finished yelling. She breathed heavily after her speech, but quickly got over her winded state.

The absol let out a scowl as he glared at the two of us, "Naomi you're putting me in a very tough situation right now, I don't want to put you down, but I can tell if I do what I came here to do, I won't have a choice."

"You touch Naomi and I'll put you right with the rest of your fri-" In a flash the absol lunged towards me as he swung an ice like blade that formed on his right paw. I quickly jumped on Naomi and the two of us fell to the ground, just barely avoiding the attack.

"You fucking prick, I'll kill you!" Gray yelled as a hail storm shot from his maw. Naomi and I both quickly rolled out of the way. I winced in pain as a few shard of ice impaled my hip.

In a quick motion I jumped up on my feet and shot a shadow ball at the absol. The absol quickly slashed the ball of dark energy and it exploded into a thick fog of darkness that lingered in the cave.

"Naomi!" I shouted as I ran to where I saw her last. I found her, pulled her up with my teeth and guided her to follow me. The two of us ran as fast as we could towards the exit of the cave.

"Just keep running," I panted as we saw light at the end of the cave. Once outside we were both met by a drizzling rain and the muddy ground, but that wasn't important. "Just keep running and don't stop, even if I can't keep up," I instructed Naomi. If things get bad, I'll hold him off," I told Naomi as we navigated around the swamp-like mud pit forest. Naomi and I jumped over fallen trees, ducked under branches, and jumped over large puddles of water that formed.

Naomi and I ran until we made our way towards the flooded part of the swamp that would be hell to get through due to the deeper waters than usual.

"Stark, we can't stop here, he's going to catch up," Naomi begged as she tugged on my arm.

"I know, I know," I said as my head hung low and I felt like I was going to vomit from being so out of breath. As my adrenaline began to die down, I felt a strong sting in my side. I looked towards my left hip to see blood seeping down from two shards of hail that stuck out of me. I sucked in a deep breath as I clamped my teeth down on one of the shard of hail and yanked it out. I repeated the process for the other piece as well, and my hip stung with more pain than when I thought things couldn't get much worse, I began to cough violently again.

"Shit," I managed to say between coughs. Blood mixed in with the muddy ground as my head rose back up. "I'm fine, and I told you not to stop," I spoke sternly.

"I'm not leaving you!"

"Listen, I don't care if I die here today, but I'll be damned if anything happens to you, now go," I ordered her.

Naomi and I both ran through the deep water. Luckily Naomi and I knew where the shallow parts were, so The water level only went up to my torso, for Naomi it was about up to her neck since she was shorter. Naomi and I both moved as quickly as we could, until Naomi tripped and went under.

"Naomi!?" I yelled as I stuck my head under and pulled her out. Naomi spat out a mouth full of muddy water.

"Found you!" The voice of the absol shouted. I glanced back to see an ice attack charging in his maw, but instead of shooting it at us he shot an ice beam at the water and created an ice path for him to run on. The absol hopped up on his ice path and ran towards us with a speed that we had no chance of outrunning.

With a loud grunt I forced myself to jump out of the water and towards the absol. My right paw lit up with dark matter as I flew towards him. The absol quickly opened his maw and shot a hail attack. Like a shotgun each shard of ice impaled me all over, some shards just barely missed my eyes. In mid flight I let out a yell of pain as my blood dripped down me from everywhere. In a swift motion the absol jumped towards me and tackled me. His fangs were quick to lock down on my upper shoulder just below my neck. My yell grew louder as I splashed into the mucky water and inhaled water immediately. His fangs released me and I tried to get up, but a firm paw to my chest held me under.

The water was mucky, I couldn't see a damn thing from here. I tried to move his paw, but his strength overpowered my own. I clamped my mouth shut as I tried to resist the urge to breathe, the fact that I already got water in my lungs made it all the harder. It didn't take more than five seconds for me to feel like I was going to explode and suck in anything I could. A few more seconds passed and I felt dizzy, I needed air, I needed it or I was going to drown. I began to panic as I clawed at his leg and tried with every ounce of strength to break free, but soon I lost the strength to even grasp his arm.

Just right when I felt like I was going to give into the screaming urge to breath, the paw pulled back and I immediately surfaced. My first reflex was to breathe, but instead it turned into a coughing fit. I coughed out a mixture of blood and water from my lungs, and after I took in a sweet breath of air.

While breathing in more air, the sound of snaps and growls got my attention. I quickly spun around to see the absol with Naomi on his back. The absol thrashed around as he tried to get the umbreon off of him. Her teeth clamped right down on the same spot he got me, the shoulder. The absol jumped and ran in quick circles before he slammed Naomi against a tree. Naomi let out a cry as she fell from the absol.

"Stop…" I faintly spoke as I tried to move towards them, but my body felt as if it was asleep and didn't want to respond at me pace. "Stop," I begged as the absol stood over the struggling umbreon.

"Naomi, it's not too late, I don't want to do this," the absol pleaded to Naomi, the look in his eyes showing hesitation. "I don't want to kill you, you're not a bad poke-" Naomi lashed upward, her maw releasing a ball of dark energy. The absol flinched downward in an attempt to shield his eyes. A explosion pushed the absol back and he splashed into the water.

Naomi stood petrified as a dark energy faded from her maw. Not a single breath left as she stared where the absol landed with her eyes wide. Seeing her state, I began to move towards her, my body was finally managing to cooperate after nearly drowning. Halfway through stumbling towards Naomi, the absol surfaced from the water. Naomi's eyes widened at the damage she caused.

The absol winced in pain as blood gushed down from a large portion of his horn missing. The absol looked Naomi in the eyes, as his own became drowsy. The absol's stance weakened and his legs began to shake, no doubt he was going into shock from blood loss..

I closed in on Naomi just as the injured absol turned towards me. His teeth gnashed together in rage for one last moment before he turned and ran in a sloppy motion, leaving a trail of blood from his shoulder and horn in the brown water.

I let out a breath of relief before I focused my attention on Naomi. Naomi was no longer petrified, but the remorseful look in her eyes managed to say all I needed to hear. It was similar to that look she always had when she had to hurt someone when working for Jack.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked Naomi.

"I… I know he was trying to kill you… but I didn't really want to do that. I just wanted him to leave."

"You did what you had to, and because of that we're going to be okay."

"I don't feel like anything is going to be okay," Naomi stammered out. "WPA is going to be searching and trying to kill both of us from now on… We can't stay in Kalos… We have to leave."

"And you're sure that's the right choice?" I asked Naomi.

"There is no future left for us here. We have nothing left for us here either way. We're both wanted, we can't go into civilization ever again, I don't even know what to do because I can't leave Kalos." Naomi became hysteric as tears broke from her eyes.

"Why can't we?" I asked.

"My medicine. If I don't take it I'll lose my memories, I'm already running low to begin with... And once it's out I'm done… My memories will fade, I won't even remember you or even my own name." I remained silent as Naomi continued to break down. There had to be a way for me to protect and keep Naomi's health well, and I do have one way.

"Naomi," I said as I looked her in the eyes. Naomi wiped a tear away with her paw as she looked towards me. "We both know people who will help."

"Stark you can't mean… They'll just use you again!" Naomi argued.

"It's only a matter of time before they contact me again. I'm lucky enough they let me run away to begin with, they're just waiting until I can be of use to them again."

"There has to be a better way though."

"Let's be realistic. We need your meds and protection, if I work for Genesis they'll provide for us. You said it yourself, they offered you a job when they found you. We're going to go to them, I'm going to ask for work in exchange for our safety and meds. Who knows, maybe they can help me out with my sickness as well. But, we are out of options at this point Naomi, if we continue to live like this we're going to end up dead before too long."

Naomi remained silent for a moment as she thought of what to do. Just when I was about to push for an answer she opened her mouth to speak, "I don't like your idea one bit… But you're right, at this point, we have no choice."

"Alright, let's head back to the cave quick and get and any belongings we can bring and get out of here as fast as possible." Naomi gave me a weak nod in agreement.

The two of us began to move through the water as quickly as we could. Our pace only quickened once we made it to dry land. Despite the fact that I was always winded, I didn't stop for anything. After a small run we made it to our den.

"Grab everything you need," I sternly told Naomi. Naomi didn't even waste a second, she chose a brown sack with her medicine that was near empty. As for my choice, I grabbed a small bag that had a small bit of food that would last us a few days.

"It's kind of sad," Naomi started as she looked around the cave on the way out. "I hated this place so much, but over the weeks I grew to like it," Naomi admitted.

"It's fine,. We'll find something better in the future, something more deserving for you."

"I'll just be happy if we make it to Genesis in one piece," Naomi worried.

"We will, I promise," I assured her.

We finished up in the cave and hurried away from the swampy area that was our temporary home. For now, we were on the road. Every turn could be full of danger, but no matter what, I will protect Naomi. My biggest fear now was crawling back to Genesis…

Chapter End

Author Note: Well that ends another chapter I guess. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing lately, I was astounded with how much attention last chapter got, it really does mean a lot to me, thanks.

Special thanks to The pokemon Melody and genericgamer207 for editing this chapter, this chapter really came out great thanks to the two of them.

PS - apparently the next Pokemon Mystery Dungeon was announced. It'll include all 720 pokemon. Sounds fun, I can't wait.