Chapter VIII

Down I fell, tumbling into the darkness, then even more darkness. My ears were ringing when I woke up. I leaned up and sitting next to me was Leon holding Oscar and Kell, who were both now covered in bandages.

"I hope you don't mind," Leon said solemnly.

"I used most of your medical kit." I nodded.

"Yeah, it's fine." I had a hard cough into my hand and Leon looked over at me.

"Are you okay?" I just held up my hand at him.

"Yeah, don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

I looked down at the ground beside me. Sitting there was the tube. I laughed my way into a cough.

"What have I done?"

Leon looked back over at me.

"Hey, this isn't your fault," Leon said, as he patted my back.

"How? None of this happened until I showed up and ruined your utopia."

"It was bound to happen eventually, you just happened to be the person who was here when it happened."

"Well, isn't it just a dandy mess I've gotten myself into. I just want to go home, I always thought, wouldn't it be amazing to see the "wonderful" world of Pokémon. But, I guess all worlds have a war."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small medal in the shape of Palkia.

"I told the others to get to the boat I came here on, you can find it on the beach on a large rock formation east of here."

"What? And leave you here? No."

"Just go."

"No."

I sighed and stood up.

"Fine then, let's go."

Leon smiled. "That's the spirit."

I put the tube in the first aid kit and carried it in one arm, as I carried Oscar in the other. It took us about ten minutes to find a way out of the cave. But when we did. We found we were on the edge of the woods just outside of town. We made our way to the beach and east to the same rocks that started it all.

We climbed up them and into the boat. We went deeper into the boat and I called out, "Hey Jack, are you in here?"

I heard a rustling and from behind a box came Jack and an Eevee who I assumed was Ona and from behind the other crates came an Abra and an Archen, who I also assumed were Zina and Archie. I set Oscar down and Jack ran over to him.

"Hey, don't worry he'll be ok." Jack hopped on top of some crates and stood eye to eye with me.

"What did you do? Did you bring them here?"

I looked down at my feet, "I… I don't know." Jack just stared at me, "Get out. Take your "tube" and go home."

"I can't. It needs to be recharged."

Jack just kept staring me down.

"Let me see it."

I opened the first-aid kit and set it next to him. Suddenly, electricity began to spark around him as a lightning bolt shot out and hit the tube. The tube whirred and lit up. I picked it up and looked at the screen.

"Now," Jack said. "Go home."

"No!"

I turned to my left, Leon stood there staring right back at Jack.

"This isn't his fault!"

A familiar whooshing noise filled the small room as a beam of red light shot out from my belt and standing there was the Riolu that he freed.

He looked up at Jack and said, "He saved me from my old master. My new master is way nicer than my old one!"

I looked back up at Jack, "I'm gonna save them all."

"What?"

I clenched my fists and repeated myself, "I'm gonna go get all those kidnapped Pokémon back."

Jack just looked at me then down at Oscar, "He wanted nothing more than to one day to be a trainers partner, and look where that got him. Your all the same, your trainers, but, for just a moment you made me think I was wrong."

Jack turned away from me and for the first time, I noticed a scar on his back, a scar that I'd never seen before, just under some thin fur.

Jack continued with sadness in his voice, "Not every Pokémon here was born here."

I leaned over and embraced him, "What are you-," I just shushed him and held him a few seconds longer before he began to almost silently sob into my shoulder.

"Don't worry," I said reassuringly. "Oscar's going to be ok, and we're going to get all the taken Pokémon back. I promise."

I let go of Jack and he wiped his eyes and cleared his throat.

"How?"

I looked down and pulled a pokéball off of my belt and said, "Well assemble a team."

No sooner had the words left my mouth when I felt a claw on my shoulder, I turned and Leon smiled at me.

"I'm in!"

I heard another voice say weakly, "Me too." I looked down and saw Oscar sit up, "I'm not out of the fight yet."

Jack hopped down and handed Oscar some berries which he ate quickly, "Well now I certainly feel better."

Jack looked up at me then said, "If he goes then I'll go too."

I smiled, "Jack, I don't know what happened in your past. It's your business, and I won't force you to get in a pokéball."

Jack just stared me down confidently, "No, I can do this for my home… and for my friends. He said gesturing around him. "Old and new." He ended the sentence by gesturing towards me.

I smiled, "Alright then, call me old fashioned, but, we need a team name…"

"Legion."

I looked at Leon, "I like that. How'd you come up with that?" Leon smiled and said almost so quiet I didn't hear him, "Just a name from another life."

Authors Note: Special thanks to The FieryCharmeleon for editing this chapter! Go check him out here: u/10351331/