--Aiden...Day That Never Ended

I suppose I was happy for Lyle, he was a good guy; his face still had the widest smile I had ever seen, his eyes shining bright. Belle herself was happy too, feeding off the joy that her owner felt. Even Flint was happy, his large feet shaking the ground with his dancing steps. The only person who wasn't happy was Willow. Don't get me wrong, she looked the part, her smile seemingly happy, her whole posture not giving away a thing but her eyes... They held a shine, but hers was from tears. Could she not be genuinely happy with her friend?

'I guess I should call this guy out?'

I looked to Lyle, and shrugged. I wasn't really too bothered, we had plenty of time to do what we needed then travel back to Quiyelle. I knew Willow would hate me for this but, as hard as it was to admit it, I wanted to fit in here. I wanted to be human. I didn't want my memories to be taken from me forcefully, that was true too, but I wouldn't mind living like this. I didn't see why she had such an objection. She would want to talk all about this capturing business later but I couldn't say anymore than what I already had, I would just be repeating myself and she would just get upset. I guess human girls were more emotional.

'Okay, let's check him out.'

I heard Lyle shout in excitement, but I wasn't really too excited about his new Pokémon. Still, I turned my gaze, to catch the blue ball being thrown into the air, releasing a white light and soon, there was a Zangoose with us.

Strong. That was my first instinct, and loyal. But then again, weren't all Zangoose? I guess you can't really tell if any Pokémon is unique to its species until you've studied them for a while. Every species had traits; it would be more likely for you to see one with a different coloured pelt than with unique characteristics. Still, it turned to look at all of us, Flint, Willow, Belle, me then finally resting on Lyle.

It was scary, for that brief moment, that Zangoose looked at me as if committing my face to its memory, but I didn't know whether that meant he wanted to be my friend or just kill me. Either was possible. His face gave nothing away and I suppose I was slightly distracted by its long claws, gleaming a deep black shade in the sunlight.

'Wow. Well... what do you think Aiden? Willow?'

Lyle was as astounded as I was, his eyes scanning the whole creature over before turning to us. I gave off a low whistle; knowing that would satisfy Lyle as a reply. Willow, too choked up with her emotions, nodded, her eyes shining brighter than before. She was close to breaking. Flint was happier for him though, his loud bellow expressing what he felt quite clearly.

'Thanks Flint. Hey, Willow, you okay?'

'So, um, you gonna think of a name for him or do you think he can choose it for himself?'

I joked lightly, trying my hardest to clear the air, and keep Lyle from concentrating too much on what was wrong with Willow. Still, the unnamed Zangoose looked at me, his eyes now questioning, but still stern. It seemed that all if its species were stuck with that expression.

'Well... name wise, I reckon I should do it because otherwise he may just be named 'Zangoose' for eternity and I just don't think that's right.'

I nodded along with him, I did agree with what he said, but I did think that the creature should play some part in it also... I didn't know Lyle well, but I knew that trainers could name their Pokémon something as bad as 'Superdude'. Sort of humiliating.

'Let's see, you're strong, I mean those claws of yours look pretty sharp. And you have a pretty mean expression there... would Calibre suit you?'

Calibre? As in the gun? It wasn't my Pokémon, but I wasn't sure whether it suited him, but Lyle was taken with it, shaking with excitement. I guess he'd already decided.

'That's it! That's it! That's what you're going to be called!'

Where was the mature trainer I had seen before? They had looked professional, commanding Belle well but now, I guess the realisation of his success had just hit him. Looking to Willow, I saw she had given up getting upset over this, it had happened, too late to change it. She hadn't really fought against me earlier, maybe she was accepting that this was the way things happened here.

By this time, Belle was inspecting the new arrival but Flint was deciding to relax in the sun, verging on the edge of sleep. Still, Calibre wasn't looking any calmer, keeping a wary eye on the glaceon. He knew that this was the one who'd beaten him.

'The sun's beginning to head down, if we head back to the town now, we may make it back before dark.'

I observed quietly, knowing that I had to wake Lyle up from whatever day dream he was in. But instead of frowning at me for being too careful, like I had expected, he smiled at me and reached a hand out to ruffle the top of Calibre's head.

Too quick, too quick had all of this happened. I wasn't really concentrating, why hadn't I been paying attention? Somehow, even without really seeing it, I could catch every movement. It wasn't in slow motion, but my reactions were sped up, possibly with the adrenaline rush from fear, and I could see it like that.

As soon as his hand had made contact with Calibre, the Pokémon had lashed out, one set of claws forcing the hand away from him, the other pushing up, into Lyle's jaw. Then, before my mind had processed those images, a light blue blur hit Calibre, leaving Lyle to fall to the ground, bleeding. Even at this speed, Belle was too fast to see, fury spurring her on. What could I do? I was watching this, stunned, knowing that I should do something, stop the fight, help Lyle but I couldn't move, I guess my body was to still catch up with me.

The blood, the blood, the awful blood. Even with the fight raging on, my eyes were fixed on Lyle's limp body, this was torture. But, before a few seconds had passed, my reactions caught up with me. This sudden release left me stunned, but before I left to run for Lyle, I looked to Willow, she was as shocked as I but as soon as she looked at me, she held the same message as me:

Help.

Willow

I never realised. That what I did to humans, what I did to protect the others around me, was evil. I had never killed anyone before Hannah, just injured them, but what Calibre had done to Lyle, I was angry with Calibre but also shocked. He could fight the allure of the great ball? It could have been his instincts, caught off-guard by Lyle but no Pokémon would have retaliated that strongly. No wonder Belle had fought back so hard. It was the same for the treeko with me. But now the battle was almost over, the flash of colours slowing in pace.

Aiden had ran to Lyle's side, trying to control the bleeding, feel his pulse, help in any way he could. I couldn't help him, I was back in the memory of Hannah's death and the blood, the terrible blood, was too much to bear. I collapsed to my knees, feeling useless but before I could shed a tear, Belle had finished with the Zangoose and ran to her trainer's side. Calibre was sorely beaten, his skin torn and fur bloody and in patches. Was it what he deserved? He had attacked a person yes, but that trainer had attacked him first with a Pokémon and imprisoned him. Then again... it was Lyle, nothing could justify attacking my friend.

'Willow! Come help me move Lyle!'

I looked at Lyle, or what had been Lyle, and shook my head furiously. I couldn't, I just couldn't.

'Willow, this is not the time. Come here!'

'You shouldn't move him, he could have broken something. Just call an ambulance.'

'You think I have a phone on me? The town is miles away!'

Belle intervened in our argument and pawed at Lyle's pocket. She was calmer than both of us and she had a very good reason of why not be. Aiden reached into Lyle's pocket carefully, and found a phone. An old fashioned phone but it seemed to work well. Aiden shouted some desperate words in the phone while I managed to make my way over to him, avoiding looking at or touching Lyle and any of the... blood.

'They'll be here soon. They said to keep pressure on the wounds.'

How deep had that punch hit? Through to the brain? I hadn't been fast enough to catch a good enough view but I could imagine it would be pretty bad. I rested my hand on the ground and felt my hand touch something. I first retracted my hand hastily, thinking it was blood or something else as horrible but, looking down, I saw the great ball, Calibre's ball.

I lifted it to my face, noticing that there were no notches, no splatters of blood on it even though Lyle had been holding it. Would Lyle still want Calibre? Would he remember what had happened? If he did survive this. The ball gleamed in the light, too innocent to cage such a beast. I felt the hidden energy emerge from within me and the ball broke in two, cracks appearing around the edges of the halves and soon they disintegrated too. A purple light shone around both the pieces of the ball and Calibre but now he wasn't Calibre, he was another Zangoose.

'What did you just do?'

Aiden was looking at me with the same expression I had looked at him that day in the shop. But I wasn't panicking; I felt pride in what I had done. But Aiden mustn't know that I had done it just to feel a link to Quiyelle.

'Do you really think that Lyle would keep him? Do you think they'd keep him alive? At least this gives them both a second chance.'

'You think that thing deserves one after what he's done to our friend? You know the real reason why you've done this but you can stick to that if you want to.'

I glimpsed up at Aiden but he was too busy focused on Lyle. Belle too, was watching Lyle's face, not daring to move, only the slight movements showed that she was alive, not just a statue. The both of them, who knew what would happen if he didn't wake? I was sure that Aiden was linking this to Hannah's death, just as I was, but Belle, she would not forget this. She would never forgive the former Calibre.

'-Rupt.'

I was surprised to see Flint at my side, and not Aiden's. He looked down at me, his eyes gentle and comforting. He knew I was tearing up inside, this internal conflict. I was Calibre...

'Thank you.'

He may not be able to understand why I said that. But, as we sat there waiting for the ambulance, he waited with me, stayed with me.

---

I guess with me being away this weekend, I wanted to get this done now, the only time I've ever worked on this during a school week (no, Friday evenings do not count).

Poor Lyle, another filler chapter but at least it's given me more ideas on where to go with this. Oh but there is a big twist coming, you shall see.

Thank you

MoonLynx