Never Helps

"What... what was this place, anyways? I can't remember. I... I didn't get very far on my journey. Before, yano, everything started to fall apart." Kotone tacked the last bit on, almost as if she were apologizing. Crystal looked at her, a hard look to her face.

"Quit apologizing." Crystal said.

"I didn't-" Kotone started, appalled at Crystal's command.

"Yes, you are, just with more words. You think like that and you are going to die. Don't apologize. Buff up your mentality." Kotone huffed, catching her breath in her mouth and slightly puffing her cheeks for a moment. Childishly rebellious. Crystal sighed tiredly, standing up, and leaning her shoulder against the wall, listening. Although Gold was more on the people friendly side than Crystal, he silently agreed with her. And he suddenly realized, being polite wouldn't help them, not now.

"She's right, Kotone." Gold said. Kotone turned to him, her face looking slightly hurt. The good guy was telling her off to.

"...Fine! Take sides!" Kotone said and got up, stomping over and sat down heavily behind some big plastic containers, not waiting to get an answer to her questions. Gold sighed heavily, stretching back against the wall and yawning. Let her pout. He was too tired to deal with her. Gold narrowed his eyes. His eyes went to Crystal as she slid down the pile of junk she had been sitting on and she leaned against Gold's shoulder. They were silent.

"Anytime you quit acting like a brat, we're ready for an apology." Crystal called sternly. There was a huff from the other side of the boxes, and then a rustle, and then finally silence. Gold nudged Crystal with his elbow before wrapping his arm around her shoulder, leaning his head tiredly against hers.

"Shuddup Crys." Gold told her with a small sigh.

"I know. I'm not being compassionate." Crystal said and sighed back, not sounding very sorry.

"Nah, that's never been your style." Gold closed his eyes, "Let's get some sleep." Gold raised his voice, "Come on', Kot, join us."

"I'm fine." Kotone said huffily, and then shut up, her Maril abruptly squeaking. Gold shrugged. She kinda annoyed him too. She needed a good slap of cold reality, on the cold floor.

Despite the discomfort of their situation, they eventually settled down to sleep.

Gold found himself walking... a field of flowers everywhere, red and purple, sure, but mostly the yellow of dandelions. Grass as far as the eye could see. At the edges of his vision, and far, far off in the distance he could see trees. But they were miniscule. A dab of blue that might be a lake, might be a piece of sky through the trees. Might be anything. It was just so, so blue. He shivered. He'd never liked clearings. There was something ominous about them. Now that he thought about it, he really didn't like the color blue, either. He saw black figures, humans, maybe a Pokemon, in the distance, and his shiver became more violent. He hunched over partially, shivering more violently than he had before. He turned away, and suddenly he was surrounding by buildings. Red smog swirling everywhere, overwhelming even the vastness of the skyscrapers, smelling of gasoline. He turned around and the blue sky of the field seemed to swamp him, overwhelming the green of the grass and the smell of dirt and open air. He turned to the red, blue, red and back to blue. Something irked him, neither seemed like a good choice. Why was-

Gold was awakened by a vigorous shaking of his Typhlosion.

"Huhn? What is it girl?" Gold stared at her, puzzled by her frantically swinging head, his own head groggy from sleep, but his heart thundering like he'd ran miles. It took him a second to realize her nostrils were frantically flaring and she was sniffing. Suddenly, he let loose a shrill whistle.

"EVERYBODY UP!" He demanded in a loud voice. He could hear the crackle of flames, but he didn't see fire yet, or see any kind of glow, nor did he see smoke, but he could smell that wretched gas. Looks like their pursuers had doubled back while they had slept. Crystal was on her feet, blinking the sleep away and focusing on him.

"Gold!" Crystal said.

"Where's Kotone?" Gold looked around frantically, and Kotone wasn't there

"Kotone!" Crystal barked, running up the hill of trash and looking around. The windows were still sealed, and the entrance they'd come through was very obviously blocked by fallen debris. Gold ran forward, and looked behind the containers she'd moved behind. There she was, unmoving.

"Kotone, wake up!" Gold grabbed her, shaking her, but her eyes weren't opening. The gas must of gotten to her, and she'd gone to sleep far, far too soon, "Kotone, now, wake up, NOW!" When her eyes didn't so much as flutter, he smacked her cheek as hard as he could. There! That made her eyes fluttered. Crystal came to them just then, her fanny pack buckled to her hips. They both hauled her up, and as Gold hauled her up, he had to raise his voice above the rumbling and sound of flame, "Get the window! THE WINDOW!" Crystal jumped to the task. She snatched a dirty towel in the floor and wrapped it around her knuckles, jumping up on a crate she'd moved beneath the window last night, and steadied herself quickly, knocking the glass outwards, swiftly hitting all the shards and sweeping them away. She should have done this last night, she should have, but she had been too exhausted. She tossed her hip packs through, then hopped down, looking at Gold.

"Up."

"Crystal, go-"

"UP!" Crystal glared at him, and took Kotone from him. Gold's eyes darkened. Crystal might not be able to fit because of her hips. He got up, hoisting himself up, having to bend his arms and stretch them slowly, too slowly for his liking until he could haul himself up. Gold turned reached inside the window, wincing from the pain of his shins, stabbed by pricks of glass. He'd have to pick the shards out later, but thank God he had his tennis shoes on. Kotone, lifted by Gold and Crystal, wheezing and coughing her lungs clear and starting to wake up, was lifted above the glass and got out without a scrape. Crystal hoisted herself up, and just as she feared, she got stuck by her hips.

"Goddammit!" Gold hissed, eyes narrowing, and he kicked the wall. Crystal squirmed, trying to lay diagonally to give herself more room. She raised her hands to Gold and he grabbed them, pulling. Slowly she started to pull through, and she groaned as her skin was scraped from her hips. There was a whoosh of air from inside the room, as fire finally reached it, but by then, Crystal was out, kneeling and putting her fanny pack on herself as fire licked at the their backs from the window.

"Goddamn is right, this town wants every bit of blood and skin we got." She got up, starting to run with Gold and the disorientated Kotone.

As they burst out into the street, stumbling slightly, Gold's eyes widened in shock. The streets ahead of them and off to one side were blazing with fire. The fire, building on the tall city buildings, was so high that it was making the air red and bright, as if night wasn't even happening.

"Oh my God, they're burning the city down..." Gold stared in wide eyed shock as the fire ravaged and spread. He could see purple gas seeping out from alleys, where the fire hadn't spread yet.

"Gold we gotta go, come on, come on-" Crystal tugged at his arm urgently, glancing around frantically. Her moves were getting sluggish, from staying on this high level of alert, and her eyes weren't as bright as they were yesterday, "Gold-"

"SQUAK!" A Golbat burst above a building, its alert eyes catching sight of them.

"CAL!" Gold stared at the beast, and rage erupted in his chest. He whipped his fishing rod away from his back and cast the sharp hook at the squawking bat. It fell short by several feet, and Gold pulled it back bitterly. Its mouth widened and its voice heightened in pitch as it released a Screech. Gold grit his teeth, clamping his hands over his ears tightly and glaring at it angrily, releasing his Typhlosion and starting to go after it.

"I'm gonna crisp that motherfucking BAT-" He started to go after that wretched thing, wanting to wring it for what its masters had done to this once busy, bustling city. This place that had once been so full of people you couldn't go two steps without bumping into someone or catching sight of a new shop or some attraction. It wasn't right, it wasn't fair. He was jerked off balance by Crystal grabbing his arm and very forcefully starting to drag them off.

"We can't do this now, I know you wanna kick their asses, so do I, but we HAVE to get to Elm! TODAY!" She kept jerking him, and Gold turned after a few seconds of staring at that bat, who was still screeching and making his everything tingle and hurt. Suddenly it dipped out of sight, and he knew it was getting its master. He turned and ran for his life.

They made it several streets before Kotone lost it, her glazed eyes filling with tears.

"NO! NO! I QUIT! If we give up, they'll go easy on us!" Kotone screeched, suddenly stopping and digging her feet in. Gold, attached to her by a hand, jerked to a stop, and he whirled on her.

"Kotone, now is NOT THE TIME to have a GODDAMN LACK OF SANITY!" He tugged on her, but she resisted. Fed up, he grit his teeth angrily and snatched her up, putting her on his shoulder. They didn't have time for pit deep hopes, nor did they have time to snap her out of it, if she COULD be snapped out it. This goddamn girl had been a hindrance since he'd picked her up the first time. He ignored the pounding on his back from her fists, the flailing of her legs and ran as fast as he could. There was a stitch on his side. Crystal snarled beside him, grabbing Kotone's legs and carrying her with him.

Tacked together by Kotone's body as they were, they all fell as that goddamn Golbat slammed into them, tackling them to the ground.

"FOUND YOU!" A loud human's voice screeched from behind them, "FOUND YOU! HAHAHAHAHAH! SLUDGE BOMB!" Crystal gasped and then screamed as a flat out sludge hit her in the back. Gold and Crystal dragged themselves up, Crystal's face turning red with exertion. That was the second poisonous attack she'd been attacked with. They heaved Kotone's now limp body, having gone unconscious somewhere between now and the ground, and stumbled forward. With squawk the Golbat was back, in their faces, its feet wrapped around Kotone's arm and mercilessly lifting her. Gold and Crystal struggled, pulling against it, but it lifted her up, dislocating Kotone's arm and pulling her out of reach. Gold cursed and started running, only to be tackled by the Houndoom, and then Kotone was completely out of sight, gone from his life. Crystal kicked at the dog with her tennis shoe and it bit down on her foot, making her yelp. As she kicked, she was lashed in the back with a whip, "Hahaha, you can't escape from me! I'll catch you, and you'll come to fear the name Proton!" Again she was lashed, this time her arm getting tangled in the whip's length. With a grunt, Gold jerked his hip, pushing his pokeball button into the ground. When he saw the white trunk starting to appear in white light, he called his command.

"Poison Jab!" Donphan thrust its tusks at Houndoom, heaving it off and throwing it through the air. With a jerky twist of its body, Houndoom landed on a nearby rock, crouching down and leapt off, crumpling the Donphan into the ground, where it struggled to throw him off. Gold ran to Crystal, and jerked the whip forward, tugging Proton off his balance. Crystal gathered the whip and lashed it at Proton, who caught it expertly and jerked it out of your hands.

"You SERIOUSLY thought you'd attack me with my OWN WEAPON?!" Proton grinned and snapped her in the shin with a crack, making her howl with agony, bloody starting to pour down her bare skin from the metal tip.

"Where's your partner, creep?" Gold snarled, his eyes flashing as his Donphan jabbed repetitively at the Houndoom. Proton's eyes widened as he lashed out with his whip, and Gold was forced to hop backwards.

"NONE OF YOU CONCERN!" With a grin her started to push them backwards. Gritting his teeth, eyes flashing fire Gold was forced backwards again. He had seen the forest line from before Proton had caught up to them, it was close, but too far for the way they were being dogged. With a rattle of its Pokeball, Typhlosion came out, standing on all four legs beside him, too weary to stand on too.

"Girl?!" Gold's eyes widened in shock. With a tired and determined flex, her sharp bristle of fire burst from her neck. But the flames were slow and tired, "Girl, get back in your ball, now!" Typhlosion bristled when the beam of light hit her, shaking it off and refusing to go back in. With a roar a column of flame blasted Proton off his feet and flung him backwards. The flame quit, only to have smoke spewed out every which way, fanning the area. When Gold touched her, getting her to run, she bristled and his hand came away burned. She shoved him away and flames went up between them. Gold stumbled backwards, the high grass at his feet turning into flames and running into the bushes. He watched in horror as his started sealed herself off from him and continued to use her flame to hold him off.

"Gold, we have to go." Crystal gripped his arm and they started to run towards the forest. He knew they didn't have a chance without her. His only other Pokemon was weary from battle, and his others had been left with Elm for either healing or protection. He didn't have a choice. His Ambipom couldn't even reach her. He couldn't reach her. With a growl of anger, Gold ran into the forest with Crystal.

"LEAVING YOUR PRECIOUS POKEMON TO DIE?!" Proton yelled to them, a goodbye. It took everything in Gold to keep running, and not try and wipe that laughter from that asshole's body. Even through the darkening shadows and density of Ilex, they could see the flickering shadows of the fire. Behind them, they heard Proton laugh, and then there was a sickening crack and a roar of pain. More roaring sounds of fire, and then they were too far away to hear anymore.

An hour into the forest...

"Four." Crystal dredged forward, a feeling of weight heavy on her shoulders.

"What?" Gold trudged beside her, his gaze on his feet. Maybe if he didn't look at the horizon, at the fact that their destination never seemed to get in sight, maybe he just wouldn't give up.

"Two Pokemon gone. Meganium. Togekiss. Gone before I even got back to you. Typhlosion to protect us. Kotone makes a fourth loss." Crystal ran her hand up her face and back over her head, exasperated, put out, depressed. Feeling down. Gold's eyes narrowed, as he felt a thread of guilt and pity along with his own pain.

"I know." He couldn't say he was sorry. It wasn't his fault, and he couldn't help her. And he couldn't help his precious baby girl, the starter who'd been there all along through his journeys. It didn't seem right she wasn't here, right when they were heading back to Elm for some food and rest. Oh God, it hurt.