Yay! Mac and Dusty have finally escaped! Hopefully they can reach the poor boy still in a nightmare. (Forgot about him, didn't ya?)

By the way, if any of you are bored an in need of another story to read, check out my other storyA Multifarious Conundrum. That would TOTALLY make my day. It follows the game FireRed with the main character being Leaf. I renamed her Macie though, and her starter Pokémon is Blaster, a male Squirtle. Check it out if you have time!

BTW, the game at the beginning is called "Topic". You and a partner come up with a topic, in this case it's Pokémon, and then one person says the name of an item that pertains to the topic. The next person has to come up with the name of an item also in the topic, but the starting letter has to be the last letter of the previous word.

"Houndoom."

"Misdreavus."

"Starly."

Dusty stopped to think for a minute before clenching his hands into fists and smacking his forehead with an open palm.

"Dang it, Mac! How come you're so good at this game?" Dusty asked, at a loss for a Pokémon name that started with "Y". Mac giggled and smiled up at him through strands of her hair.

"Seth taught it to me. We used to play it on our way to the library or on the boat that was headed for Iron Island." Mac said, trying to keep from crying at the thought of Seth. Surprisingly, she managed to swallow that lump of clay and smile at Dusty. The two teens had become great friends during their time as prisoners in the Old Chateau and traveling through Eterna City. They had stopped last night at the pokécenter and this morning, they were up and headed for Celestic Town. Dusty shook his head and pulled out a map.

"Hmmm… it looks like we'll have to cross through a small section of Mt. Coronet on our way through to Celestic Town." He said as he put the map away. Mac nodded and Misdreavus sat on top of her head, mad at the fact he couldn't do that for three days. (It was during the time Mac and Dusty were prisoners at the old Chateau). Mac had the rest of her Pokémon out and enjoying the scenery because of the fact that they had been stuck inside their pokéballs for so long.

Shuppet was floating next to Mac, snuggled up to her shoulder, Haunter was floating directly behind her, Duskull was annoying Murkrow (like usual), and Drifblim took up the rear of the ghostly parade.

"Murk, murk!" Murkrow squawked angrily as Duskull pulled out one of his feathers. Mac turned to see what was going on. Murkrow lifted a wing and pointed to Duskull. He was holding the loose feather and looking up at Mac with sheepish red eyes.

"Duskull, let's not annoy poor Murkrow right now. I know how much fun it is, but I think you're going to give him a heart attack."

Duskull nodded and held the feather out to Murkrow. He took it, glaring daggers at the floating skull Pokémon. Murkrow placed the feather back in his wing and Duskull tried to keep from laughing. The poor bird flew over to Mac and sat on her unoccupied shoulder. Mac reached up a hand to stoke his feathers and he leaned into her touch.

"You know, if you evolved, Duskull would leave you alone."

Murkrow pulled away from Mac, gave her an angry glare, and flew off her shoulder to land on top of Drifblim. Mac shook her head and chuckled.

"What's the matter with him?" Dusty asked. Bewilderment was clear on his face. Mac shrugged.

"He's completely opposed to evolving into his next form. He thinks it's girly and almost bit my finger off when I showed him the Dusk stone I had." She giggled again. "I'm always trying to change his mind and that happens."

Dusty nodded and looked behind him at the seething Murkrow. Murkrow was probably venting his feelings to the bored Drifblim.

Mac became lost in her thoughts again when she saw the sulking Duskull. He lived to tease people and Pokémon, but whenever he had no one to tease, he'd retreat into himself and become quite unapproachable. Mac smiled sadly as she saw the crack on the side of his "skull" near the left eye hole. She remembered that day clearly…

"Gosh, you stupid, worthless Pokémon!" A man with brown hair and green eyes yelled angrily at the small Duskull. He retreated as far as he could into the shadows. "You're so useless, I could scream! Just hit the target for Arceus' sake!"

Duskull created a small ball of ghostly energy and shakily tossed it at the target of a Starly. It missed entirely. The man groaned and smacked his forehead angrily.

"Can you be any more worthless!" he yelled. He reeled back his fist and punched the unsuspecting Pokémon in the head. Duskull felt dizzy and crashed to the floor, unconscious. The last he remembered was a little girl's scream.

—

Mac had been trying to find a place to live with Murkrow and Misdreavus because she had just found out that her parents were lost at sea. Murkrow was seated on her left shoulder and Misdreavus was on top of her head. Yelling had gotten there the girl and her Pokémon's attention and they went to investigate. They came upon a man yelling into the shadows, but upon closer inspection, Mac saw a cowering Duskull. She remained hidden until the man struck the poor defenseless Pokémon. She couldn't help but scream.

The man turned to her direction and pulled her out of her hiding place.

"What do you think you're doing?" he snarled. Mac, frozen in fear, only struggled slightly to get out of his iron grasp. "Do you know what I do to people with roaming eyes?" Mac, no older then ten, fell completely limp. Tears flowed from her eyes as she closed them. She had just lost her parents, and now she was going to die here.

"Staravia, use gust!" a boy's voice called. A large gray bird flapped its wings and sent a powerful gust of wind towards the man. It hit him, knocking Mac out of his grasp. "Now use peck!"

The bird Pokémon began to viciously attack the man until he ran off covering his wounds.

"Return!" he yelled. The bird returned the boy's awaiting pokéball. He turned to look at Mac. He was not much older than her with dark eyes and black hair. He had a gold bar earring and was dressed in dark jeans and a tight black t-shirt.

"Are you okay?" he asked and offered her a hand. Mac nodded, taking his hand. He helped her up and stay on her feet. "I'm Seth by the way."

"Mac."

She stumbled over to the unconscious Pokémon and lifted him into her lap. She traced the crack in his mask gently as the Pokémon groggily opened his eyes.

"A-are you okay?" she asked. Seth knelt by her side to peer at the Pokémon. Duskull nodded slowly. "Let's get you some help."

"Canalave is just over here. There's a pokécenter there that can heal him for you." Seth said. Mac followed carrying Duskull with Misdreavus and Murkrow following closely behind.

Not too long after that incident, Duskull joined Mac's team and she and Seth became best friends.

Duskull lifted his head when he realized Mac was looking at him. She smiled at him and he came up next to her. He laid his head against her left leg and the two red orbs in his skull faded. He closed his eyes in other words. Murkrow, clearly done venting his feelings, flew over to Duskull. He nuzzled the ghost Pokémon with his beak and gave him a reassuring nod. Duskull's eyes brightened and he followed the bird Pokémon behind Mac to do Arceus knows what.

Mac smiled. At the pokécenter after rescuing Duskull, Murkrow and he had become really close. Duskull always teased him and Murkrow may get agitated too easily, but deep down, the two's bond could never be truly broken.