Chapter 2

If the look on Mewtwo's face could be described in words, it would have probably been put down as "Apocalyptic." Its eyes glow bright red as its split-colored skin gleamed in the moonlight. This monster was way larger than the average Mewtwo, or at least what they were SUPPOSED to be. It stood well over twice Shrimpy's height. Scary wasn't even the right word for this abomination. Its hands were much larger than Shrimpy's face by at least two-fold. The worst part of all was it had no intention of letting him pass.

The man stood silent for a long while as people ran frantically away from the stare down between man and beast. Not a word was spoken for over a minute, Shrimpy too afraid to move, Mewtwo simply studying the man he was looking down on.

At last Mewtwo made his move.

Without warning he began to ripple in dark energy. The air around Mewtwo began to move back and forth in a patter all around his body. Slowly it turned purple, then to almost black. Seconds after, small debris picked up from the area and around him, and the air pressure began to intensify. Shrimpy, realizing what was about to happen, begun to run.

He didn't care where. He just took off. Anywhere but standing toe to toe with that giant was better. Anywhere his feet and legs would carry him. He just had to get away from there. He ran, faster and faster, away from Mewtwo and destroyed building. He tried not to look back, but he couldn't help himself. Multiple times he would look as he ran. Mewtwo hadn't moved, but the energy around him was growing. Even though he had ran this far, he could still feel it just as strong as he could before. Would you ever break free from this horrible feeling?

Nobody else was around anymore. Everybody had gone away. Shrimpy aimed now for a dark alleyway on the right. He knew the alley would cut through a large block and run into a larger street in the city. He had to find more people. Being alone was more than dangerous. It was deadly. Finding a crown was his only hope. Maybe together they could fight. Maybe together they could stand tall....

He quickly shook his head. What was he thinking? That monster, or Mewtwo, was huge. He couldn't get over what he was seeing still. That Mewtwo was real. It was directly in front of him. It could have killed him. However, thinking about it wouldn't solve anything at the moment. He just had to get out there. He lifted his head back up and began to run.

Only to find Mewtwo standing in front of him once more.

This time there was nowhere to hide. He couldn't get around him. All he could do was run backwards, but that wouldn't be enough to avoid the attack. A smile actually came over his face. He was foolish to think he could escape Mewtwo. He just closed his eyes. This has to be a dream, he thought. It must be. Once he dies he will wake up. He dozed off on the couch. He would just come back to the real world there, away from all this terror.

Mewtwo held his hand out. The dark energy moved quickly from surrounding his body and condensed itself into a ball in the palm of his hand, which was pointed out directly towards the man. This would all be over shortly. Reluctantly, Shrimpy put his hand down and accepted his fate.

The ball of energy went off and the explosion hit. Buildings burst into dark flames and began to crumble on top of Shrimpy and Mewtwo. There was little chance of survival. The sounds of terror overtook them both, and they fell into the darkness.

It took Shrimpy a minute to realize he wasn't dead. Instead, he was alive and well, somehow. After the shock wore off, he looked up in front of him to see what had befallen the scene. Mewtwo was lying on the ground, still alive, but dazed and slowly starting to get up. This was his time to run. He didn't waste the opportunity, and began to turn around to run.

That's when the other one caught his eye. He stopped before he ever really started to run away and turned around. Another pokemon was in front of him. The large, golden blob stood in front of him, the look in its eyes distant, confused, and carefree. Shrimpy could not believe his eyes. The monster looked at him and spoke.

"Wooooobbbuuufett!"

It was a Golden Wobbufett.

It was his Golden Wobbufett.

Shrimpy didn't know what to do. Wasn't sure how to react. This pokemon, no, his pokemon, saved his life from Mewtwo. Was this all a dream? It seemed so real. It had to be real. That's when the feeling finally hit him. He had to throw away all sense of logic to understand what had happened, but he was a smart man, and slowly it began to grasp him what had happened before him. Those pokemon in front of him, all the events that had happened, and these monsters he had known since he was a kid was real. All of it was real.

Shrimpy leaned down and hugged Wobbufett. "You saved me!" he said smiling. "Thank you so much!"

"Wooooobb?!" the pokemon screamed. Wobbufett shook Shrimpy off and began to run hurriedly around him. When he got to the end of the alley where Shrimpy had started to run in, he turned around and screamed at Shrimpy once more. "Woobb Woooobufett!" and hurried around the corner of the debris that was once a building.

Shrimpy didn't have to see anymore. Even if this was a dream, it was real enough for him not to want to die. The pain he felt, and anxiety, it was real enough to try. He followed Wobbufett without reply. The pokemon led Shrimpy down a series of alleys and roads for about ten minutes. Every turn Wobbufett made it to, he took without hesitation. Shrimpy followed obediently, deciding fast enough that it seemed as if Wobbufett knew where he was going, or at least trying to go, that he wouldn't interfere.

After running few more minutes, an explosion occurred behind the two. Shrimpy looked back around to see what and where it came from. He was no surprised to find that it came from Mewtwo's direction. Without thinking, he turned back to Wobbufett.

"He's back up! We have to get out of here!" he yelled at the blob. Wobbufett reacted as if he understood perfectly, and took off, running faster than seemed physically possible for those legs under him.

Shrimpy reached out as Wobbufett took off, increasing the distance. "I meant both of us...not just you..." he said in sarcasm. Wobbufett was just as sporadic as he was in all the games. "Guess I've got to keep up. He's probably scared too...if he even knows what that is." Shrimpy sighed and continued to run.

They didn't worry about Mewtwo, only running. The danger behind them was left behind in favor of focusing their own feet to keep going as fast as they could. They ran for another ten minutes before Wobbufett finally stopped. Shrimpy put his hands on his knees, breathing hard from the run. "This is ridiculous." he mumbled. "Where are we?" he asked before he could look.

Wobbufett had led him to the airport. Well, what use to be an airport. Now it looked more like a graveyard.

"Wob wob wob wobbufett fett." Wobbufett spoke, this time in a calmer manner.

Shrimpy looked up at the pokemon to find him staring off in the distance. At the far edge of the airfield was a small plane with lights on.

There were people outside of the plane. Shrimpy saw this and immediately smiled. He had a way out. He sighed, and then began walking. "Come on. Let's go." he motioned for Wobbufett as he began to walk inside the gate to the airfield. He laughed out loud over this. He had known Wobbufett for half an hour, but already he felt a bond with him, as if he really was his pokemon. He didn't question it. He kinda liked it, actually. For the first time he wondered if this really was real.

That changed fast after he heard the roar of monsters behind him.

He didn't want to turn around, but he knew he had to. Slowly his head rotated to see the horde behind him: Nidokings, Onyx, Salamence, Houndooms, and Tyranitars were all ready to pounce on them. None of them looked very happy. Shrimpy began to back away from them, careful not to startle anybody.

"Wobbufett.....when I say so...run..." he whispered.

No reply.

"Wobbufett!" He whispered again, this time louder than before.

Still no reply.

"Wobbufett!!!!!" he turned around this time to search for his partner.

He was already running.

"Whaaa!" Shrimpy said in surprise. He didn't have time to dwell. He just ran. He had to get there before the plane left.

As soon as he took off, the horde behind them began to follow. They were even louder than before, each of them screaming, howling, and roaring in rage. There was something odd about these pokemon, Shrimpy though. Most pokemon, according to the story, were not this hostile. Something had to be making them go into rage like this. Something had to be controlling them...

Mewtwo.

Still, he couldn't be thinking about this anymore. He had to focus on running. He was getting tired fast, and it was still a ways away from the plane. The people had seen them, however, and were anxiously waiting for him to arrive. He only hoped they would wait for him once they saw the horde behind him closing in. Not likely, but he had to try.

They ran on, Wobbufett had slowed down to let Shrimpy catch up. Once they were running together, they both picked up speed. The gate slowed the pokemon behind them down, but now that they were past the gate, they were beginning to catch up. At this rate, they wouldn't make it to the plane.

But final a glance of good luck fell on Shrimpy tonight. The plane still hadn't left, and in front of him was a sight for sore eyes. From the sky, the golden flash of light began to get closer and closer. At first he wasn't sure what it was, but as the flash grew closer, Shrimpy knew he would be safe tonight.

The horde behind them didn't stand a chance against the magnificent Golden Lugia.

Without hesitation, Lugia spread its wings and flew only a few feet over Shrimpy's head. It opened its mouth and unleashed a strong burst of energy upon the horde. They all flew aside and fell. Their large group shattered in the awe of such a pokemon.

"Hell yea!" Shrimpy shouted. How could this night get any more dramatic? At each turn, he was saved by his own pokemon. He had never been happier to see these golden wonders.

By now he was at the plane. There were only two other people here: a younger in the pilot seat and an older woman waving at him to get on. Once she was certain he would make it, she ran on herself. Shrimpy ran on shortly afterwards and closed the door behind him. Wobbufett followed after.

He closed the door and immediately sat down with a sigh of relief. "Thank you guys...so much..." he said.

The old woman smiled. "It's not a problem, young man. Once we saw you, we knew we had to wait. Here" she handed him a bottle of water. "Relax now. We are getting out of the city."

Shrimpy took the water and downed it, happy to be out of that mess. Wobbufett was standing around awkwardly, looking at everything as if it were a complete mystery. He guessed it was a mystery for these creatures, these....whatever they were. They couldn't be real, could they? But that gut feeling told him they were.

Then it hit him. The woman had said nothing about Wobbufett. He decided to bring the conversation up.

"You don't seem surprised about my friend here." Shrimpy stated.

The old woman smiled. "No, I suppose I'm not. It's kind of hard to be surprised when one follows me around as well." When she spoke those words, a creature came out from the cockpit area. It was small, but seemed very confident. Shrimpy immediately recognized it as Farfetch'd. "It seems that the ones we own in the game are out there somewhere. They are looking for us...since we are there masters. Just like this little one."

Farfetch'd jumped up on her shoulders and screamed, as if to confirm what she said.

Wobbufett walked up to Shrimpy and stood still. Shrimpy stood back up and steadied himself. His legs were hurting now after he sat down for a few minutes. "The game? You mean TPPC?" he asked.

The woman shook her head yes. "That game, though I haven't been on in awhile. You might know me as Pokeholic."

It made sense to Shrimpy now. This had to be real. Something happened tonight that would forever change his life, and the lives of thousands of others. His train of thought disintegrated into air as his phone rang. He picked it up. Kife was calling him. He answered the phone.

"Yes?" Shrimpy said immediately.

"What the hell just happened?" Kife said.

Shrimpy sighed. "We've got a lot to tell..."

"I would say so." Kife replied. "This has been declared a national disaster. It's not just here. All over the US is being ravaged. It's too crazy to be real, but it's happening."

Shrimpy didn't want to believe what he was hearing, but he had no choice. "We need to meet. Get a hold on the others."

"Alright. Where at?" Kife asked.

"I don't know. I'm with Pokeholic right now. Long story. Just get a hold of the others and I'll call you back."

"Alright. Just call back soon. This is insane." Kife replied.

Shrimpy hung up the phone. He looked over at Pokeholic. "Where can this plane take us?"

Pokeholic shrugged. "How far do you need to go?"

"Washington D.C." came the reply.