Did it all really start five years ago? No, not really. It's more like five and a half. Still five, but five with an asterisk. I'm nineteen now, but when it happened, my birthday was months away. I was thirteen.

That's important. Me being thirteen is...very important.

Everyone says the early teenage years are life changing because your whole world just ends up changing on you. Well, they weren't wrong. When I was thirteen, the whole world did change on me, but not in the ways it does for anyone else. Graduating school, I felt nothing gained or lost. There weren't any major changes in our family. Mom was still gone. Dad was still working. Spectral's overall mood had changed but it'd become consistent enough by this point. Everyone was healthy. The future looked bright.

So what happened?

How do I explain this…

I suppose the easiest way would be an old saying. Old but true.

The truth hurts.

––––––––––

Early spring. The air was warm, the skies were clear, and the sound of cooing Pidove had begun to return to the once cold-stricken lands of Unova. It was the perfect day to go outside, relax in the sun, and play with friends and family in the warm weather on a Friday afternoon after school had let out.

But instead, that afternoon, thirteen year old Luca was sitting around indoors, bored and grouchy. He knew what the weather was like. He'd have loved to go outside and play with anyone. Anyone. He didn't care if it was one of the local kids his age or just a random Pokemon he'd find in the wild. It just had to be someone.

But I couldn't because of her. She said no.

I don't hate her. I don't think I could ever say such a thing, even back then. She was a fine woman. I respected her. I'd go so far as to say I loved her. She treated me much kinder than I'd ever expected her to. I still feel bad for sometimes doubting her sincerity.

She'd offered to take complete care of him for a full month. Food, housing, attention, all the works. No father supervision required. He was allowed to bring Ephraim with him. He got to keep his odd sense of style without any apparent judgement. On his second day there, she made the correct assumption that Luca needed glasses, something that Elliot had never imagined his sons needing, and she listened when Luca said he'd prefer to wear contacts to glasses.

I'm still wearing those contacts today. Thank goodness for it. My father would've been too scared to take me to an eye doctor I'm sure. She was incredibly helpful.

...No Helpful is an understatement. All the things she did for me, all the things she wanted for me… She had an ulterior motive at the end of the day, sure, but even with that, I know she genuinely cared for me every second of every day. Even today, I wonder if that's what it feels like to have a mother.

All Luca needed to do in return was listen whenever she told him to do something. For the most part, he complied. She'd never asked anything unreasonable out of him. Anything that could be taken as unusual or out of line, she'd always preface exactly what she was about to ask of him without excluding any facts.

But of course, on this day, she asked me to stay put and do nothing. Just relax in one room so as not to get in the way of anything. I knew she trusted me to stay out of the way—she said as much—but she didn't want to risk anything. So, into the room I went, claiming a corner and sitting there, bored out of my mind. Ephraim was with me then, but he was fast asleep. And just when the solitude began to hit its peak…

Luca heard the door behind him slowly opening, followed by the sound of footsteps entering the room. He didn't bother turning around to greet his guest. He already knew who it was.

"Hey, Luca. Busy?"

No response. The guest took it as an invitation to step in a little bit more.

"I thought I'd check in on you. I'm not interrupting you, am I?"

"There's nothing to interrupt," Luca sighed. Despite this, he signalled the visitor inside. "So the company is nice."

"Luca…"

The man stepped inside, closing the door behind him and making his way in front of Luca, who was sitting on the ground with his head low. The man was far older than Luca, looking to be somewhere in his mid to late sixties, if not his seventies. It was difficult to discern, as his hair didn't yet show many signs of graying. However, from the way he moved to the sound of his voice, it was clear this was a senior.

The first thing he saw once fully in the room was Ephraim asleep in the corner opposite of Luca. "Asleep… You've been alone all this time. You're bored, aren't you?" he asked, reaching down and putting a hand on Luca's shoulder.

"Yeah…"

"You don't like being locked up in here."

"Mhm."

"Me giving you these slow rubs on the back is getting awkward."

Luca chuckled as he passively observed the man's hand slowly yet gently going up and down Luca's upper back. "Yeah it kinda is."

"Yep." The man instantly took his hands off Luca. "Sorry."

"You're good."

The man stood up now, backing away a bit to give Luca his space.

"Are you upset with her?" he asked.

"A little." Luca said back. "Like...I get why she did this, but I feel like she could have done something else."

"I agree."

Luca looked up briefly with hope in his eyes. "And you're sure you can't let me go?"

"You remember what your father said. Aurea's the one in charge of you, not me," the man said, sounding solemn. "She should have prepared further in advance for this. I'm sure she would have, but of course—"

"She forgot," Luca finished, lowering his head again. "How does one forget about a whole field trip happening at the place you own?"

"My daughter is a busy woman," the man said, smiling a bit. "She didn't mean to forget, I'm sure. But with everything we do around here, some things are bound to slip our minds. Even professionals aren't safe from an overcrowded memory. I've felt my age cause my memory to suffer already."

He was a good man. I liked him. But he sure talked about his age a lot. I didn't really consider him that old. I don't think I ever learned his actual age, and I'd feel very awkward about calling him to ask.

"Hey, Cedric? What do you two study?" Luca asked suddenly.

"Hm?"

"Like...you've been researching Pokemon and stuff your whole life, right? What do you study? I've never known. I'm curious. Teach me. Pass the time a bit."

"You really don't—? Well, when's the last time one of us made a headline worthy discovery..." Cedric looked away for a moment, pensive. "How does she explain it again to kids your age? Uh… Are you familiar with the study of Pokemon origins?"

Luca's head perked up at the sound of this, but he looked extremely confused. "You mean like...the cartoon?"

I can't believe I said that...

Cedric looked just as bewildered. "What!? No! Not the cartoon! Why would we spend our life's work studying a cartoon made for kids and teens!? Why would anyone—? Well...I suppose there are people who would do that. Psychologists and the like. But my daughter and I are not such people. It is not the purpose of this laboratory."

"So Pokemon origins as in...where Pokemon come from?" Luca asked.

"Yes! Much better."

"Oh." Luca suddenly looked much less interested, but this didn't deter the man in the slightest.

"It's been our life's goal to find out the origins of every single Pokemon out there. The idea of being able to know where a species of Pokemon came from...where it was born and created and how it evolved…to say that it fascinates us is an understatement. I don't even know if I could put the feeling into words. That's what we study here."

"And uh...how close are you guys to getting to that goal?"

"Aurea and I have made great strides to understand the origins of Pokemon. We've travelled not only all over Unova, but around the whole world in search of even small hints at the origins of Pokemon."

"But how close are you?"

"I can't say."

Despite his lack of passion in the topic, Luca somehow found himself half-infuriated. "What!?"

Cedric immediately went on the defensive. "No no! Not that kind of 'I can't say.' I'd tell you if I knew, but I don't know!"

"You don't?"

The old man took a deep breath. "We don't know how many Pokemon are out there that still haven't been discovered, Luca. For all we know, there could be thousands of species that we have no idea about. Even if we were to document every known Pokemon's origins, there would always be more work cut out for us in the future. The research never ends."

"Oh." Luca's face suddenly lit up. "OH! And that's why—Ohhhhhhhh."

"What is it, Luca? Realize something?"

Luca nodded. "Aurea gave me a long speech last week after I told her that my father never told me why he sent me here to you guys. She said a lot of things that I didn't understand...though now it all makes slightly more sense."

Cedric looked taken aback. "What? Your father never told you? Really?"

"Yeah. He just kinda asked my brother and I to play rock-paper-scissors and the loser would need to go with him on a long trip. I lost, so the next day I was brought here, was informed I'd be staying here for a month, and that I was to follow all of Aurea's orders."

"That's...not a very good way of doing things," Cedric said, sounding disappointed.

Life's already hard when you're a single parent with two teenage kids. Life's even harder when you're my dad raising us...

"Oh trust me. Dad knows. Would you believe me if I said that the reason he did things so hastily and poorly was because he forgot that he was supposed to bring one of us over till the day before?"

"Oh?" Cedric chuckled. "That sounds like a certain somebody that I know."

Aurea.

The two shared a laugh together, before settling down back to silence as Ephraim stirred at the noise.

Yep. I was at the Juniper Laboratory in Nuvema Town, placed under the supervision and care of Professor Juniper herself, as well as her father, Cedric Juniper. Reason? I'll keep that to myself. But I spent a good three weeks there in the presence of those two and their whole lab crew. Fun times for the most part.

That day there was a field trip from a school in Accumula Town to come and learn and explore about the Juniper lab. School trips to the lab were apparently rather common, even if the lab was in an isolated corner of the region. Even my school took a trip there once or twice. Cheren went, though Spectral and I didn't. We were too young.

Of course, I didn't know then that it would be my last day at the lab...

After a few minutes passed, Luca asked, "Could you ask her if I could go outdoors?"

"Hmm?"

"Like, y'know… It's a nice day outside. And me being outside means I'm not in the way of the field trip. That's the only reason she put me in this room in the first place."

"Well…"

Cedric thought it over for a bit. Aurea's orders sounded absolute earlier, and she was the chief authority of him. And yet...the thought of Luca being cooped up indoors all day long made him pity the boy. It felt wrong to deny him the chance to stay upbeat and happy.

"Okay," Cedric sighed. "I'll ask her."

"Really?"

Cedric pulled out his phone in response, spent about a minute typing, and then showed Luca the screen. On it was a simple text that Cedric had sent to Aurea, saying, "Luca is asking if he can spend the duration of the field trip outside instead of waiting around inside."

"How's that? Did I miss anything?" Cedric asked.

No response. Luca's gaze was firmly fixed on the phone. At some point, he chuckled a bit, but still didn't say anything.

"Luca?"

"She sent an emote," Luca finally responded. "The surprised Minccino one. And she's still typing back."

"Oh? What did she say?"

"Nothing yet. … Ah." Luca pumped his fists into the air. "Yes!"

Cedric was already smiling. "And?"

"'Why didn't I think of that? Beautiful day out… Please take him outside. I'll come get him when I'm done.' Word for word."

Happiest I'd been all day. Happiest I'd be all day.

Cedric turned the phone back towards him, reading over the message for himself and smiling. "Well, there you have it." He looked over to the corner of the room, nodding his head towards the sleeping Bulbasaur. "I know you want to take him everywhere with you, but…do you really want to take Ephraim along? He looks quite comfortable back there."

Luca replied without any hesitation, "Yes please."

"Even if it means waking him up?"

"He's already awake."

"That doesn't mean I'm not sleepy," Ephraim groaned, his eyes still closed and body unmoving. "I want a slow day today. Is that too much?"

Luca walked over to Ephraim and picked him up. "How about you sleep outside with the fresh sunshine instead?"

"Mmm...that does sound nice… But I'm already here...sleepy here..."

"You're coming with. No argument."

"Fiiiiiiiiine…"

Now with Ephraim comfortably in his arms, Luca turned back around to Cedric, still smiling. "We're ready."

"Weeeeee're readyyyyyyyy," Ephraim mimicked, nearly nodding off to sleep again. "Let's...go outside…"

"You two are ready for anything if you have each other." Cedric smiled as he opened the door out of the room. "It's always refreshing to see a strong relationship between Pokemon and owner. It's one of the most rewarding parts about this job, even if we don't focus our studies on it."

"Well, I'll still be here for a week," Luca replied. "Our bond won't be going anywhere."

Boy was I wrong.

Cedric, Ephraim and I all left together. We wanted to make our way to the front exit and just head to Route 1 from there, but of course, we also wanted to avoid any and all contact with the touring students. So we decided to take a "back route" through the lab. Just a longer route to the front door, but it essentially guaranteed we'd avoid all the students.

Or so we thought.

As we made our way through the lab, I caught a glimpse of a lone boy—most likely a student—wandering the halls. The way he worriedly looked down every single hallway and moved about in careful and silent steps made me think that he was very lost and trying not to get caught after being separated from the pack. Cedric didn't even notice him at first. By the time I grabbed his attention to spot the kid, he'd already ducked behind a corner in the room ahead, which was the room where Aurea gave the new Pokemon trainers their starter Pokemon. Talk about a detour.

Cedric seemed far more concerned than I was. I thought that was good. It meant he was taking what I was saying seriously. He trusted what I was saying. At that point in my life, I wanted that. It made it easier for me to talk to others if they took me seriously.

But I quickly learned that Cedric was not concerned because he thought the kid was lost and alone. I was a sheltered thirteen-year old boy then. Maturer than most kids my age, sure, but also carrying with me one fatal flaw that, on this day, would prove to be my first of many downfalls. One that would be ripped away from me in just a few short months.

Trust.

Cedric immediately went into action upon hearing Luca's statement about the boy in the hall. He forced Luca to stand behind him as he took aggressive steps towards where Luca claimed he saw the child. When Luca tried to approach behind Cedric, the man stopped him and gave him a clear order in a hushed voice. "Stay right here. Don't move."

"But—"

Cedric hushed him without any hesitation or remorse, before turning his attention back towards the room in front of him. He slowly pulled out his phone and started dialing a number that Luca couldn't make out. And with his finger hovering over the button to send the call, Cedric suddenly leapt into action, making his presence known with a loud step forward and a strong "Excuse me! What are you doing back here!?"

Luca heard another voice after this, though he couldn't make out what they'd said. What he could hear, though, was the sudden scramble of several footsteps, and Cedric giving an even louder "Hey!"

Everything happened so fast after that… I saw that same kid making a beeline out of the room, running like his life depended on it. He looked rather surprised when he saw me as he turned the corner out of the room, but given my expression of fear and confusion, combined with my hands preoccupied with holding Ephraim, I looked like I was going to do nothing to him. And he was right. I was going to do nothing to him.

That was until Cedric showed up right behind him, chasing after him and shouting to me, "Stop him!"

It all clicked inside my head only after he'd run past me. I suddenly turned around and barely caught a glimpse of him ducking into a random doorway. After that, I wasted no time joining the pursuit, taking off into the room behind the kid, only to end up watching in shock as he seamlessly fit himself into the thin vertical opening of the window. Now, suddenly, he was outside, continuing his running escape.

He was gone. That was it. Just as quickly as we'd found him, he'd gotten away. I made my way up to the window and saw him running off to Route 1, his figure slowly getting smaller.

"Where did he go!?" Cedric asked, entering the room in a panic. It didn't take a long survey to see that Luca was the only person in the room. "He came in here, right? Where did he…"

Cedric saw the open window. He saw Luca standing beside it, looking outside. He looked around the empty room again.

"Did he? Motherf—! He got away!"

I let him get away.

Cedric immediately turned to his phone and put it up to his ear. "He got away," he repeated into the device. "He escaped through a window. Luca and I both saw it. Where's he headed?"

"Route 1," Luca said, still looking out the window. "He's still going."

"He's going towards Route 1," Cedric repeated. "But I don't know if the police will be able to—"

"I'm going after him!" Luca said, wasting no time in making his way through the window just like the boy before him had.

Cedric briefly stopped talking into his phone. "Luca—What!? What are you—"

"I said I'm going after him!" By now, the teen was outside, still holding tightly onto his Bulbasaur. "I'll try and bring him back!"

"Luca wait!"

But it was too late. By the time Cedric had opened his mouth, Luca had already darted off towards Route 1 in pursuit of the kid. "Damn it!" He held his phone up to his ear again. "Luca just climbed out the window and decided to follow the kid. Said he wants to bring him back. He didn't even give me a chance to stop him, and I'm pretty sure he has Ephraim accompanying him. … What, me? No! Even if I could fit myself through that window, I couldn't possibly keep running pace with two sprightful young teenagers in the open plains! Don't pin this on me, Aurea!" Cedric gave a long sigh as he leaned up against the wall to catch his breath. "Oh Luca… Don't do anything reckless..."

––––––––––

Something I've always taken pride of in myself is my physical well being. It's been a strong trait of mine ever since I was a little kid. I've always wanted to be strong and fast and bulky, and I'm happy to say that am.

Of course, I'm much more physically capable now than when I was thirteen. I got my job at Floccesy Ranch three years ago. They wanted someone who was good with Pokemon and who was in good physical condition for the position, and well, it's hard to beat me in the "good with Pokemon" department. Working at a farm is rough work, but damn if I don't love it. My body's solid, my stamina is plentiful, and my strength is not to be trifled with. If only my body actually looked the part.

But, even at a younger age, I still got to enjoy the boons of a consistent workout regime to build my body. My father and I would do a morning jog to and from school together every weekday, and on weekends we would roughhouse in the backyard for an hour. Spectral never joined us. He never found it interesting or fun. But me, I loved it. The passion hasn't died out.

And it didn't die in me that day.

Screeching to a halt, the thief gave in, doubling over and taking a few heaving breaths of air. The kid behind had been chasing him for almost two miles now. He'd always considered himself a good runner, but weird as his outfit was, whoever was chasing him was clearly no joke in the athletics department.

And so he changed tracks.

"I've finally got you!" Luca shouted from behind, seizing his opportunity to close the distance between him and the thief. As he got closer and closer, it became more and more apparent that the run was having the same draining effect on Luca.

If Ephraim wasn't in my hands, I'm pretty sure I'd have keeled over and kneeled to rest.

With heavy pants, Luca continued speaking. "I'm not...gonna let you take...another step… Oh god… You're...done…thief…."

And of course, his anxiety quickly changed to amusement.

"Well, you got moxie, kid, I'll give you that."

"Don't tease me," Luca said in one breath, aggressively pointing at the thief. "I made it this far."

"Hey, not teasing, genuinely impressed!" He raised his hands in surrender. "But neither of us can keep running like this. We gotta find another way to settle."

"Another way to… What are you...talking about?" Luca lowered his arm and nodded his head back the way they came. "You...come with me…. You see what's...in my hands, yeah? You don't have a choice."

Ephraim groaned. The long and bumpy run in Luca's grasp had woken him up, but now he was shaken and uncomfortable. "Man...I'm being used as a threat now?"

"Work with me here," Luca muttered through grit teeth.

I wish I'd never said that.

Not that it mattered. He came prepared.

"Wow, good thing I picked you up, eh?" The thief looked at the poke-ball in his hand. "I never fancied myself a battler, but I'm running out of options."

Luca's eyes widened and he took a defensive step back. "Oh of course that's what you stole."

The man tapped the ball's button.

So we both chose the hard way.

As Luca's precious Ephraim was dropped to the ground, the thief's Poke Ball burst open, the light from within forming into a Pokemon that stood right by the thief's side. Though it was barely shorter than Ephraim, just one look at it made the hero and his Bulbasaur gasped in horror.

The round pink nose. The orange and brown body. The curled tail ending in a red ball. The...yawn as if it had just woken up from a nap?

"What's going on?" the Tepig nonchalantly asked, facing the totally wrong direction. When it saw that there was nothing interesting in front of it, he slowly turned himself around to eventually lock eyes with Ephraim, who had lost a good bit of his initial fear at seeing a fire-type. "Oh hey. You don't look like you're from around here."

His gaze eventually made its way up to Luca. "You don't look like you're from around here either."

I wanted to save him so badly...but there were many times where I wanted to smack that Tepig, too.

"Oh, a Tepig!" the thief said. "Aren't you a cute little porker. That's some luck, getting a fire type to counter grass."

Luca gaped a bit. "You didn't even know what you took?"

"Oh, was I chosen from the lab? That's awesome!" The Tepig started to smile at his new owner. "Thanks man. It's gonna be fun hanging out with you."

"Uh, yeah, sure. We're gonna get along just fine."

I learned much later that he was planning to sell the Tepig on the black market. Apparently lab Pokemon are worth a fortune there, since they're bred to have great IVs and egg moves.

The Tepig cheered a bit. "Cooool. And who's this guy? Friend?" He gasped excitedly. "First time rival? It's gotta be. You've both got starters. Ooh, but you got the better starter here. Though, is this guy foreign?"

"No," Luca drawled. "I'm from here. In Unova."

"Wherever you're from, I'm sure we can all settle this over a picnic?" The thief tried for a winning smile. "Come now, I have type advantage! We don't want things to get messy, yeah?"

"I made it this far," Luca repeated, unable to hide the snippets of doubt in his voice. "We're...gonna beat you. Even without types."

Ephraim briefly looked back at Luca. "Hey man...are we sure we wanna do this? Cause like, I dunno, he kinda has a good point."

No, I didn't want to do it. But I felt like I had no choice.

"It's like...one Pokemon," the thief said. "No need to be stingy. Besides, he likes it with me? Right, little guy?"

The Tepig nodded. "I mean, you seem cool so far. The one thing I didn't want was a hyper trainer. You fit so far."

"He STOLE you!" Luca shouted. "You were taken against everyone's will!"

That attracted attention. Several wild Pokemon that were totally uninterested in two trainers having the beginnings of a rivalry suddenly stopped and began to stare at us both. But not another human anywhere to be seen...

"Are you jealous?" the Tepig asked, tilting his head a bit. "You seem jealous. Maybe because we have the type advantage for our first battle, huh?"

The thief grinned, showing off his pearly whites. "See, you could separate us, but then who's the villain, hmm?"

"It's still you!" Luca said, clenching his fists. "S-stop talking! You wanted a fight! Ephraim, come on!"

Ephraim sighed again. "Fine...first battle for both of us I guess."

"It's your funeral." The thief shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, Tepig. Hit him with an ember attack."

The Tepig nodded, raising his head and preparing to attack. "You got it, chief…chief uh..." He lowered his head and looked back to the man he was calling his trainer. "You uh...you never gave me your name, man."

"The name's Black," he said. "Chief works too. Fun nickname, I guess. Actually wait, should we be focused on the—"

"Ephraim, tackle!"

"Nothing personal, Tepig!" Ephraim charged forwards at the Tepig, closing the gap between the two Pokemon and ramming his body into the fire type.

And so it began. My first Pokemon battle.

"Oh shit!" Black cried as the Tepig went tumbling head over heels. "You uh...you okay there?"

The Tepig picked himself off the ground without much trouble. "Yeah I'm okay." He made his way back to Black's side. "Let's make sure you don't lose your first rival battle, yeah? Rumors said that whoever wins the first one is more likely to win all the future ones. We don't want that."

"Definitely not," Black said, wracking his brain to think up moves for the Tepig to use. "Uh….use that tackle move thing...but like, when it's on fire? What's that move called?"

"Flame charge?" the Tepig asked. "Yeah I know that one."

"Flame charge, yeah! Use that then, pal! Take the sprout down!"

"Got it, chief!" The Tepig began to coat itself in fire…

And I made a startling revelation.

"You...you understand him," Luca said, looking at Black. "How…"

"Hey, I could ask you the same question," Black said. "Whatever helps you understand the Pokemon probably also applies to me!"

"But that's not—"

"Incoming!" The Tepig cut Luca off mid-sentence as he leapt across the grass, ramming into Ephraim with enough force to send the Bulbasaur flying into Luca's arms.

After a successful catch, Luca looked down at Ephraim in horror. "You didn't dodge?" he asked.

"Yep, I'm totally fine, thanks for asking," Ephraim groaned, leaping out of Luca's grasp.

I think that was the first time Ephraim gave me sass where I felt hurt and not loved.

"That worked pretty well," Black noted, impressed. "Just keep using that move, Tepig!"

The Tepig flashed a happy grin. "Call me Caesar, Chief!" he said as he began to engulf himself in flames again.

Caesar, I really wish Black didn't steal you.

"Uh...Luca? I can't take another one of those," Ephraim said, looking back in worry.

"Uhh...uhh…"

It was here where I realized this wasn't playful roughhousing with Dad in the backyard. I was fighting someone. For real. And they wanted to win. And so did I. And when this realization hit me, I broke out into total panic and my thoughts began to fly all over the place.

To make matters worse, I still felt extremely worn from the long run. Though I looked fine enough, I felt ready to collapse on the floor from exhaustion at any moment. The newfound anxiety from battle did not help this.

"T-then we just don't get hit, right?" Luca said. "You dodge, we're fine."

"Can I?" Ephraim cried.

Caesar smiled with delight. "Here we go!"

"Yes you can, Ephraim! Move!"

Ephraim leapt for his life over the incoming Tepig, clearing the attack and landing behind him.

Luca pumped a fist into the air. "Now grab him with your vines! Throw him backwards!"

As Caesar skidded to a stop and the flames around him died down, he found himself trapped in a firm grasp by Ephraim's vines. Struggling proved ineffective as he got hoisted up into the air, only to be thrown down to the ground next to Black.

"Crud. You okay, little guy?" Black said, worriedly watching the fallen pig. "We might be a bit outclassed here, huh."

Luca cheered a bit, though it was hard to stay excited with the exhaustion from the running still prominent in his breathing. "That's right! That's what you deserve!"

"Owww…" Caesar picked himself off the ground and shook the dirt off him. "Mean! What did I do to deserve that?"

Luca's attitude suddenly flipped. "Wait what? No, I was talking about Bl—"

"Hey man, you tackled me too," Ephraim said, looking worried. "Was that too hard, though?"

"You tackled me first…" Caesar sighed. "Okay, Black. We're winning this. I'm into this now. Come on!"

At that point, I facepalmed and lowered my head in defeat. I knew I'd just blown my opportunity to convince Caesar to come back with me peacefully. And Black seemed to catch that, too.

"I'll give you one last chance to back down, kid," Black warned, real sympathy in his tone. "I got type advantage, and Caesar here doesn't want to go back anyway. Really don't want to hurt anyone, so let's just call it a draw."

"I… I…"

I had nothing. I just felt...tired, pained, and defeated.

As Luca struggled to answer, Ephraim turned towards Luca in fear. "Hey...you okay?"

"Too slow!" Black snapped. "Caesar, blast him with some smoke with your nostrils!"

"One ember, coming up, chief!" Caesar took a deep breath and fired small, burning orbs of fire from his nostrils at Ephraim as his back was turned.

Luca's head rose as Caesar spoke. "Wait, Ephraim, no!"

Too late. When Ephraim turned around to react, he got an immediate face full of hot embers. He got sent flying into me again, and if I'd reacted faster, maybe I'd have caught him again. Instead, he hit my legs, and the force of the impact caused me to trip and fall forwards. I only barely caught myself before my face hit the ground. And when I tried to shake Ephraim awake...

Ephraim gave no response outside of a pained moan.

"Word of advice; know when to run," Black said, smiling indulgently. "Now, does this need to escalate to the point where we have to leave you with third degree burns, or do you get the message?"

At this point, most of our "spectators" left. Out of the corners of my eyes, I saw many once interested Pokemon turn away and sigh. Only one or two were still actively watching and listening, and they looked like they could leave at any moment.

It...angered me, somehow. Somehow the Pokemon leaving us, combined with Ephraim's quick and untimely KO...made a new feeling well up in me.

"How could you…" Luca slammed a fist into the dirt. "First you steal him...then you use him to hurt others…"

"Jeez, this guy doesn't like you, huh?" Caesar asked, looking at Black. "But we won! Right?"

"Yeah, he's not stupid enough to get fried." Black sneered at Luca. "Are you, kid? Let's scram, Caesar."

"No!" Luca rose from the ground, pointing threateningly at Black. "Criminal! You need to be taught a lesson!"

"How thick is your skull?"

Surely thicker than yours, Black.

In spite of his confident tone, Black stepped back a little. "Caesar, he so much as twitches, burn him to a crisp."

Luca lowered his arm and clenched a fist. "You little—"

"Don't hurt the Chief!" Caesar shouted, rearing back and preparing to fire off another ember.

Luca immediately recoiled, fear filling his face. "Wait, no!"

I jumped back, falling to the ground once more, immediately regretting my decision. I looked away. I held my hands out in front of me and everything, preparing for the worst. I imagined maybe I'd end up with some third, maybe second degree burns. I'd be left there on that field in Route 1, wounded until Ephraim woke up or someone passed by, and brought right back to Juniper's lab as a failure.

And yet...that never happened.

He saved me.

Just as Caesar was about to unleash his attack, he was abruptly knocked to the side, causing the embers to go haywire into the air and miss entirely. As the Tepig forced himself back on his four feet, the same figure that interrupted his attack scampered over to Luca's side, standing in front of the boy and his Bulbasaur.

"Sue me," said a new, determined voice. "I'm not standing around to the side and watching some poor human kid get burnt today."

A small dog with cream and brown fur bore its fangs at Black. "Try it!"

Maurice.

He'd been watching from the sidelines since my earlier outburst. Now he was in the fray.

Luca looked down at the Lillipup before him, his face a mixture of confusion and fear. "What are you–"

"Get your head out of the gutter and focus, kid. He's playing you."

"Oh no, I'm terrified of the level two wild puppy that's come to save the day," Black said, rolling his eyes. "Caesar, try not to hurt him too badly."

Maurice the Lillipup scoffed. "Talk if you want. This is the side with a fresh new Pokemon that isn't suffering battle wounds. Meanwhile you..."

As the Lillipup spoke, Caesar struggled to get back to his feet, coughing smoke as he shook his head. "That's cheating…"

"Uh, you okay? How's your health looking?" Black asked the Tepig in concern.

I looked to Caesar, then to Black, then back to Caesar. That feeling from before returned, even stronger this time.

"You're...hurting him," said Luca.

"You and the dog are cheating," Caesar sighed as he rubbed one of his cheeks. "Two fights...not easy."

"Then uhh….we're out of here," Black decided. "Light up the grass, block the way."

"Aye aye..." Caesar did as Black asked, using ember to set the grass between them ablaze.

"You got spunk!" Black called, scooping up the Tepig and sprinting away. "Maybe we'll meet again! I wouldn't mind taking you on one more time!"

And just like that...they were going.

Maurice wasted no time at all in hot pursuit, shouting a loud "Hey!" as he took off behind them.

"What? No! You're not going…"

I reached out a hand and took a step forward. I had every intent to pursue them, despite the fire and fatigue. I'd have run another mile if I had to. Heck, I'd have chased them to Accumula Town.

But my body disagreed with me. After just one step, I collapsed completely, falling to all fours with my head hanging above the ground. Soon the air around me got smoky from Caesar's blaze, which combined with my awful panting from the run over, made it nearly impossible for me to breathe at all.

Somehow in spite of my whole body telling me no, I still tried to reach out towards Black.

"No! W-why…"

At the sound of Luca's now raspy voice, Maurice skid to a stop and turned around, letting out a faint "Oh no." His gaze shifted back to Black, who kept running further and further away with the injured Caesar in his hands.

"That little…"

He spat a curse under his breath and turned back around, running around the fire to Luca's side. "Hey! Kid! Back up, you're breathing in the smoke!"

Luca didn't respond. The fire that Caesar lit was already beginning to die, but that didn't stop the Lillipup's concerns.

"Hey! C'mon! Back your head up! Get off the ground!"

Luca continued to blankly stare forwards. "Ephraim...Aurea...I…"

"I said move!"

Maurice used force that time. He ran under me and tackled me right in my chest in an attempt to get me away from the dying fire.

What it ended up doing was knocking the wind out of me, causing me to keel over on my side as my struggle to catch my breath magnified multiple times. The last thing I remember before passing out was Maurice in front of my face saying "Oh damn it!"