I HAD had a written first draft of this chapter somewhere... but I lost it... So let's see if this is any good with me winging it! Here we go!

*Some time later*

Hima's father finished placing a marker on the grave and stood up next to Hima. He wrapped his arm around Hima's shoulder and said, "I'm sorry, Hima. I did what I could to stop it in time, but I was too late."

Hima stared down at the grave and said, "Why? Why did this happen?"

His father looked out into the woods and said, "I don't know, Hima. Sometimes bad things just happen."

"But why?" Hima asked, not taking his eyes off the grave.

"I don't know. It's just the way life is, Hima," he said with a rough sigh.

"Why did it have to happen to him though?" Hima asked, with tight fists.

"Sometimes," his father said with a slight shrug, "bad things happen to people we care about."

Hima stared intently at the grave. "It's hard," he said hoarsely.

"Yes," his father said, "it is. It's not easy to take, but it's something we all have to face some time or another."

"It's not fair though," Hima said with a whisper.

"I know it isn't. It's not easy on anyone, Hima," his father said, rubbing Hima's shoulder. "Bad things affect more people than the people they happen to."

"Like a friend?" Hima said, looking up at his dad.

"Or a brother?" Mack thought depressively.

"Yes, Hima. Friends and family alike. But they can still get through it with time."

"That's easy for you to say," Mack thought with a scoff.

"I'm so sorry, Mack," Hima said, looking down at the sad fawn. "I know he was someone important to you." Mack only stared at the ground. Hima wasn't sure what to say. He thought for a moment and then, "But… Bad things don't have to keep happening." Mack blinked and looked up at Hima. "This doesn't have to happen again. Me and you, we can put a stop to this."

"…Really?" Mack thought. "This is your moment to segway into this? Right now?"

Hima could see the irritation in Mack's eyes. "I… I'm sorry. It's too soon. I just thought that maybe this bad thing would make you want to take action before any other bad things could happen."

"This is more than just some bad event," Mack thought, shaking his head. "It's a horrible event, and I really can't just go running around risking my life too. That would devastate mom if she found out we were both dead. I'm sorry, but this really is the worst time to ask me this. I need some time to clear my head."

Mack began to walk off. "Mack, wait!"

Hima's father placed his hand on Hima's shoulder, "give him some space. I'm sure that when he's ready, he'll be back." Hima looked at his father then back to Mack as he disappeared into the brush.

Hima wasn't too excited about going back to school. He would be even less thrilled if he ran into the boys from his class, especially if they decided to pick a fight with him again. Luckily the first person he ran into was a friendly face. "Hey Hima!" Jessica called out as she walked up to him. "How was your break?"

Hima kept on walking. "Well it was… memorable."

Jessica kept pace and asked, "so does that mean you got a new pokémon to show us all during presentation?"

Hima was silent, but the silence was cut short as the bell soon rang. They both ran off to class and Hima was eager to just get through to the end of the day. The teacher called attention to the front of the class, and a boy sitting next to Hima called attention to him. "Hey, Hima, we didn't finish our battle. Don't you wanna make mommy and daddy proud of their son and pokémon?"

Hima rolled his eyes and groaned. "I'm not going to battle you. I don't have to prove anything to you guys to show I'm a good trainer."

"You're no trainer," he taunted with a chuckle. "You're just a kid without a real pokémon."

Hima slouched in his chair. "I have pokémon. They're my parent's pokémon but I still have pokémon. I'm no worse of a trainer for that than you are."

"Yeah," the kid scoffed, "you are. You don't belong at this school. It's for trainers, not wannabes."

Hima was already ready for another school break. He didn't want to be somewhere that he felt unwanted. But a glance out the window perked his interest. He saw a white furred season pokémon looking at him from outside the building. "Sir, could I be excused?" he quickly asked. Once excused, he made his way out of the building and quietly called out to the sawsbuck to come to a more hidden area.

Hima came out of the building and quietly beckoned the sawsbuck to a more secluded area. "Mack?" he asked hopefully, "Is that you?"

Mack smiled. "No, it's Zekrom… Of course it's me!"

Hima lit up and asked, "What happened to you?"

"What?" Mack thought. "A guy can't evolve?"

Hima looked both happy and confused, "what are you doing here?"

"Well," Mack thought in a sarcastic tone, "I was taking a little stroll and thought I'd drop by and say 'hi.'"

Hima asked, "Did you follow me all the way here?"

Mack raised an eyebrow. "Not at all! It was just a coincidence that I came all this way alongside you in the tree line. Maybe it was you that followed me."

Hima started to look a little concerned. "Mack, this is a trainer's school. Pokémon are required to be in pokéballs unless their trainers have explicit permission to have them out."

Mack shook his head. "Of course they do."

Hima looked at Mack with anticipation in his eyes. "Do… Are you… Does this mean that you want to be in a pokéball? Because if you don't, I'd understand. But you'd have to leave before somebody saw you."

"What?" Mack laughed. "No, I hear pokéballs are quite nice this time of year… Man, I'm really being sarcastic today." Mack turned serious. "What do you think I'm here for? I thought things over, talked with a few people and my mom… I think this is what's best for everyone, especially you and me. I got to avenge my brother's death somehow, don't I?"

Hima smiled and asked, "So... do you want to be my pokémon?"

Before Mack had a chance to respond in any way, someone seemed to have found them out. "Well, well, well! Look at what we found!"

Hima was shocked to see a group of guys from his class walking over. "How did you get the teacher to dismiss you all? That doesn't seem right."

The leader jeered, "What do you care? Besides, there are other matters at hand. It looks like mommy and daddy got a new pokémon for the wannabe trainer."

Hima was done dealing with these kids. "He's not my parent's pokémon, so just knock it off."

"What?" one boy asked, surprised. "You mean that's your pokémon? I don't believe it! If it's really your pokémon, then call out to it and make it walk over to you."

Hima looked to Mack expectantly, "…Mack?"

Mack stood there for a moment before shaking off any doubt. "Alright, alright. I'm coming, Hima." He walked over to Hima and looked to the boys who watched in disbelief. "Happy now?"

Hima smiled up at Mack and Mack smiled back. "He is a trainer!" one of the boys called out.

Hima looked back to the gang of misfits. "See? I do have my own pokémon. Now will you just back off?"

"Not a chance!" the leader called out. "You still owe us a battle!"

Hima started to get frustrated, "We have to get back to class. There's no time for a battle."

"There's always time for a little battle! It's just a quick one on one battle. In fact, we won't let you leave until we do!" they threatened.

Hima sighed, "Mack?" he said looking up at him. "Do you feel like having your first official battle as a trainer's pokémon?"

Mack shrugged. "How hard can it be?"

Hima looked back to the guys and said, "Fine, but if I win then you got to promise to stop acting like you're better than me."

They all laughed. "If you win, huh? Well in that case we'll never bother you ever again!"

The leader stepped up and grabbed his pokéball. "Are you ready for this? I'm gonna warn you, I've only lost to the better graded students, so you better know what you're doing."

Hima laughed, "well then, it's a good thing I actually do my work."

The boy growled out, "Go, Duosion!" And out came a green floating mitosis pokémon. "Quick, use-"

Suddenly, out of nowhere Mack was struck into a wall. "Ow…"

"Hey!" Hima shouted, "You said this was a one on one battle!"

The leader laughed, "it is! That was Future Sight!"

Hima was shocked, "Could that move really have lasted this long?"

"I don't think that counts as my turn," the opposing kid said, smiling. "Duosion, use Psyshock!"

The duosion glowed purple and blasted a blue ball of energy at Mack. "Mack!" Hima warned. "Look out!"

But before Mack could react, he was struck, throwing him back at the wall again. "Okay, not cool! Hima! Tell me to use Megahorn!"

Hima stood there, thinking over what he'd learned about season pokémon's attacks. "Mack, use Faint Attack!"

Mack groaned, "Of course, when I need you to read my mind, you don't." Mack got up and dashed –full of dark energy- at the duosion. He stuck it and it flew onto the ground.

"Ouch!" the duosion said in pain. "Is that the best you got?" it raspingly taunted.

The leader of the group of misfits called out, "Duosion, use Telekinesis!"

The mitosis pokémon laughed and it's eyes glowed green. Then Mack started to float in the air. "Hey! What are you doing?" he panicked.

Hima started to get worried, "Mack, it's not over yet! Use Energy Ball!"

Mack started shooting green orbs at the duosion, but the duosion would just float out of the way. "You'll have to do better than that!" it cackled.

"Duosion, use Hidden Power!" the other trainer called out. The duosion shot out a blast of energy and it struck Mack… but it only made Mack twitch.

"Hey," Mack laughed, "cut that out!" The duosion was shocked that it did hardly anything to Mack. Then, Mack started to feel the grip of the telekinesis weakening. "Come on!" he shouted to Hima. "Say 'use Megahorn!' Quickly!"

Hima looked into Mack's eyes and realized Mack knew what to do. He started to slowly say, "Mack, use…" he saw Mack lowering his horns and Hima remembered two moves Mack might be readying to use. He made his best guess, "-Megahorn!"

Mack smiled and as soon as he felt himself falling, he ducked his head down and directed himself toward the duosion. He landed on the ground with a running start and flew into Duosion. "Take that, you little green blob!" The mitosis pokémon went tumbling to the ground and only let out a gruff sigh before collapsing. Mack exhaustedly said, "hey, I did it!"

Hima shouted out, "Mack! We did it!"

"'We?' Oh! Yeah, we did it." Hima ran over to Mack and hugged him. "Okay, okay! I get it, huzzah and stuff. Let go of me!" he thought as he tugged away.

The group of boys all looked at each other, stunned. "…I swear you had him," one boy said.

"Yeah, you looked like you were doing great," another said.

The leader stood there, eye twitching. "No way! There's no way you beat me! You cheated somehow!"

Hima looked over to the guy. "I'm not the one who attacked twice in one turn."

The kid growled, "Fine! Take your win! It doesn't prove anything. You're still just a dork." He begrudgingly stormed off and the others followed.

Hima looked at Mack. "You look pretty tired. If you want there is a pokémon health office that we can stop by."

Mack raised an eyebrow. "This is just a way to coax me into a pokéball, isn't it?"

Hima laughed, "I'm not sure what you're thinking, but I'm not kidding. I think we should heal you up before doing anything else." Hima pulled out the pokéball. "Here it is."

Mack looked at it inquisitively. "Huh. I thought it'd be bigger." Hima pressed the button on the ball and it grew. "…Okay, that was weird."

Hima looked up at Mack. "Are you ready?" he asked with a smile.

Mack smiled back and thought, "As I'll ever be."

Hima smiled and said, "Cool," and wrapped his arms around Mack's neck again.

"Would you knock it off with the hugs? I get it, we're friends. Now stop!" he thought, shaking Hima off of him.

As Hima stood back –pokéball in hand– Mack suddenly realized what he had just said and it threw him down memory lane. He remembered the first time Hima gave him a biscuit, watching Hima sketch pictures of pokémon, defending him at the bridge. And all that and more made him truly understand. "We're friends."

Hima walked into the class room and the teacher looked at him curiously. "Hima, glad you could rejoin us. You were out for quite a while."

Hima stuttered, "Um… Yeah, I just thought I'd stop by the health office and get my pokémon," he tried to hide a smile, "healthy for presentation."

The teacher scolded, "Although that was smart to think of your pokémon, that was something you could have done before class. Please take your seat."

"Yes sir," he said as he walked over to his spot with the boys who sit near him looking at him, irritated. The teacher continued on with his speech and Hima leaned forward toward Jessica. "Psst!" he whispered. "Hey Jessica!" She turned slightly in his direction. "I was thinking that maybe you would want to hang out after class? I know a place that's pretty cool."

She smiled and said, "Sure, Hima. I'd love to!"

Hima smiled and said, "I could show you a pretty cool tower."

"Ahem," the teacher loudly coughed. "Hima! Is there something you'd like to share with us?"

Hima –embarrassed– said, "No sir."

"Good," the teacher said, turning toward the rest of the class. "If there is nothing else worth speaking up about, we should begin the presentations. We'll start with introductions."

As the students stood up and presented their pokémon, Hima started to think over everything that's happened over the last year.

A student stood up and said, "This is my pokémon, Krokorok," as Hima remembered how crazy Mack seemed to be the first time he encountered him.

Another student said, "This is my pokémon, Trubbish," while Hima thought of the first time Mack let him pet the flower on his head.

Yet another student introduced their pokémon, "Klang." Hima thought of all those times that he and Mack would sit at the bridge, just hanging out. And it comforted Hima to be reassured of something he'd believed all along.

"Hima?" the teacher asked. "Please introduce us to your pokémon."

Hima took out his pokéball, tossed it to the ground, and out came a sawsbuck, standing proud. "This is Mack… and he's my friend."

Wow... Last chapter was REALLY long... I hope you guys like that! :] ...I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say now that the story is all done and over with... "Tada?" "And that's the show?" ...I don't know... whatever... Hope you all enjoyed it! I had fun writing it and I hope you all had fun reading it.

I now have introduced the sequel to A Shot at Friendship, Diamond Eyes! If you enjoyed this I hope you check out the sequel!